This work contains the first English translations of a collection of Hittite myths. The translations are based on the original tablets on which the myths were written, and take into account recent textual discoveries and published studies on the texts. Revised and augmented, this second edition includes additional introductions to each myth and a newly published Hurrian myth, 'The Song of Release,' dealing with legal and social institutions in ancient Babylonia and Israel. Accessible to nonspecialists, the translations also preserve column and line count for the convenience of scholars.

A tribute to America's preeminent scholar of Hittite language and culture, Professor Harry A. Hoffner, Jr., of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. The thirty-four contributors, students, and colleagues treat topics as diverse as Hittite contacts with the Mycenaean Greeks, the topography of the Hittite capital, and various aspects of Hittite grammar and etymology.

In spite of the growing amount of important new work being carried out on uses of myth in particular ancient contexts, their appeal and reception beyond the framework of one culture have rarely been the primary object of enquiry in contemporary debate. Highlighting the fact that ancient societies were linked by their shared use of mythological narratives, Wandering Myths aims to advance our understanding of the mechanisms by which such tales were disseminated cross-culturally and to investigate how they gained local resonances. In order to assess both wider geographic circulations and to explore specific local features and interpretations, a regional approach is adopted, with a particular focus on Anatolia, the Near East and Italy. Contributions are drawn from a range of disciplines, and cross a wide chronological span, but all are interlinked by their engagement with questions focusing on the factors that guided the processes of reception and steered the facets of local interpretation. The Preface and Epilogue evaluate the material in a synoptic way and frame the challenging questions and views expressed in the Introduction.

Contains alphabetized entries on deities, concepts, practices, places, and objects related to the mythologies of cultures throughout history, and features color photos and sidebars. This volume covers Ach-Ara.

Green traces these motifs through the Mesopotamian, Anatolian, Syrian, and Levantine regions; he argues that, in the end, Yahweh of the Bible can be identified as a storm-god, though certain unique characteristics came to be associated with him: he was the creator of all that is created and the self-existing god who needs no other.'--BOOK JACKET.

Like the first volume in this series (WealthWatch, Pickwick, 2011) this book attempts to do two things: (a) examine the primary socioeconomic motifs in the Bible from a comparative intertextual perspective, and (b) trace the trajectory formed by these motifs through Tanak into early Jewish and Nazarene texts. Where WealthWatch focuses on Torah, WealthWarn focuses on the single largest section of the Bible—the Prophets. Where the ancient Near Eastern texts surveyed in WealthWatch include the Epic of Gilgamesh, Atrahasis, and the Epic of Erra, the texts examined here include Inanna's Descent, the Babylonian Creation Epic (enūma elish), the Disappearance of Telipinu, and the Ba`al Epic. Where the Jewish texts surveyed in WealthWatch include historical and sectarian texts, the texts studied here include Ezra-Nehemiah, the Epistle of Jeremiah and Tobit. Where the Nazarene texts in WealthWatch focus on the stewardship parables found in the Gospel of Luke, the texts examined here focus on several prophetic vignettes from the Gospel of Matthew and Acts of the Apostles.

The stories translated here all of ancient Mesopotamia, and include not only myths about the Creation and stories of the Flood, but also the longest and greatest literary composition, the Epic of Gilgamesh. This is the story of a heroic quest for fame and immortality, pursued by a man of great strength who loses a unique opportunity through a moment's weakness. So much has been discovered in recent years both by way of new tablets and points of grammar and lexicography that these new translations by Stephanie Dalley supersede all previous versions. -- from back cover.

The description for this book, The Old Enemy: Satan and the Combat Myth, will be forthcoming.

This book represents the first comprehensive, interdisciplinary presentation of ancient Near Eastern civilization. The author's study includes treatments of the history of language and systems of writing, the state and society, nutrition and agriculture, artisanry, economics, law, science, religion and magic, art, music, and more.

A professor of classics and visiting scholar at the Harvard Divinity school presents modern interpretations of traditional Greek and Roman myths that render classic themes accessible to a new generation of readers. By the author of Alexander the Great.

“Everyone who cares about the human adventure will find new information and new angles of vision.”—Martin E. Marty, The New York Times Book Review This extraordinary work delves into the subject of religion in the prehistoric and ancient worlds—humankind’s earliest quests for meaning. From Neanderthal burials to the mythology of the Iron Age, to the religions of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Israel, India, and beyond, it offers both an appreciation of the wide-ranging diversity of religious expression—and a consideration of the fundamental unity of religious phenomena. “Will arouse the interest of all historians of western religion, since it includes chapters on the religions of Canaan and Israel. However, the book must be read cover to cover if one wants to grasp the significance of its gigantic historical scope.”—Church History

The thirty-three articles in this collection (originally published between 1948 and 1992) were chosen from the corpus of bibliographical items authored by Hans Gustav Gueterbock over a span of more than sixty years. They give a rich and varied picture of ancient Hittite culture by one who literally grew up with the new discipline and experienced firsthand its most dramatic discoveries. Both the choice of articles and their sequence in this volume were selected by Professor Gueterbock. Articles deal with almost every conceivable aspect of ancient Hittite culture: history, literature, divination, mythology/theology, religious ceremonies, architecture, ethnic diversity, law, diplomacy, social structure, and administration. This diversity demonstrates Gueterbock's proficiency in all areas of Hittitological research.

How does a Christian render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and unto God what is God's? This book is the result of the Bingham Colloquium of 2007 that brought scholars from across North America to examine the New Testament's response to the empires of God and Caesar. Two chapters lay the foundation for that response in the Old Testament's concept of empire, and six others address the response to the notion of empire, both human and divine, in the various authors of the New Testament. A final chapter investigates how the church fathers regarded the matter. The essays display various methods and positions; together, however, they offer a representative sample of the current state of study of the notion of empire in the New Testament.

'With admirable erudition, Lopez-Ruiz brings to life intimacies and exchanges between the ancient Greeks and their Northwest Semitic neighbors, portraying the ancient Mediterranean as a fluid, dynamic contact zone. She explains networks of circulation, shows creative uses of traditional material by peoples in motion, and radically transforms our understanding of ancient cosmogonies.'---Page duBois, author of Out of Athens: The New Ancient Greeks --

The Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (DDD) is the single major reference work on the gods, angels, demons, spirits, and semidivine heroes whose names occur in the biblical books. Book jacket.

Presents retellings of both well-known and forgotten Greek myths along with information on how they have remained a vital influence in Western culture, from Renaissance painters to modern-day Hollywood.

This book tells the story of the thirty-year friendship between Robert Graves and Raphael Patai, and in particular, the story of the literary collaboration that culminated in their joint authorship of the Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis. The friendship between Graves and Patai began in 1947 when Graves, having read Patai's book Man and Temple, wrote him a 'fan letter' full of remarkable scholarly comments and reflections. It was the beginning of an exchange of letters between the two authors that led to their participation in each others books and studies, joint public appearances in lectures and interviews, mutual visits, and a lasting friendship. In addition to the nearly two hundred letters they exchanged that are published here for the first time, the book contains the full recorded texts of a long conversation between them about the Hebrew myths, a joint lecture in New York City, and a radio interview. It also includes the lecture Graves gave to the London Hillel Foundation on 'Hebrew and European Myths Contrasted,' and Patai's long essay on 'Myth and Hebrew Myth,' originally planned as an introduction to the Hebrew Myths but not published until now. The book discusses other writings produced by Graves and Patai and the reaction of the scholarly and literary world to their joint work and their major separate publications. Patai also allows a glimpse into the private lives of the two authors, including their struggles and successes, their frustrations and achievements. Robert Graves and the Hebrew Myths gives rare insight into the lengthy process of gestation that preceded the writing of the Hebrew Myths; the exchanges that led to the reconciliation of the two authors' different views and approaches; the meticulous care they invested in its planning, construction, and execution; and the production of the terse and dramatic presentation that characterizes the book. This volume is a unique account of a difficult but successful collaboration between two writers of very different characters, orientations, and talents.

This book surveys the important available books on mythologies of all parts of the globe and the cultural contexts from which the mythological traditions emerged. Written as a series of bibliographic essays, the guide opens with a description of major reference sources encompassing many cultures, as well as those tracing particular themes (such as that of the creation) across cultures. The other bibliographic essays discuss sources for studying prehistoric mythologies, the mythologies of West Asian peoples (Mesopotamian, Biblical, Islamic, and others), South and East Asian mythologies, European mythologies, American Indian mythologies (North, Central, and South American), African mythologies, and the mythologies of the Pacific and Australia. An appendix on contemporary mythology--mainly American--discusses a wide range of works that examine the beliefs, traditions, and dreams that manifest themselves in spectator sports, politics, advertising, and forms of popular culture in the United States. (RL)