Mesopotamian Chronicles (writings From The Ancient World)

Mesopotamian Chronicles Writings from the Ancient World Theodore J. Lewis, General Editor Associate Editors Billie Jean Collins Jerrold S. Cooper Edward L. Greenstein Jo Ann Hackett Richard Jasnow Ronald J. Leprohon C. L. Seow Niek Veldhuis Number 19 Mesopotamian Chronicles by Jean-Jacques Glassner Edited by Benjamin R. Foster MESOPOTAMIAN CHRONICLES by Jean-Jacques Glassner Edited by Benjamin R. Foster Society of Biblical Literature Atlanta Mesopotamian Chronicles Copyright © 2004 Society of Biblical Literature Original title: Chroniques Mésopotamiennes, presentées et traduités par Jean-Jacques Glassner, copyright © 1993 by Les Belles Lettres, Paris. English translation arranged with the approval of Les Belles Lettres from the original French edition, including additional material supplied by the author. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to the Rights and Permissions Office, Society of Biblical Literature, 825 Houston Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30329 USA. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Glassner, Jean-Jacques. [Mésopotamie. English] Mesopotamian chronicles / by Jean-Jacques Glassner ; edited by Benjamin R. Foster. p. cm. — (Writings from the ancient world ; no. 19) Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 1-58983-090-3 (paper binding : alk. paper) 1. Iraq—Civilization—To 634. I. Foster, Benjamin R. (Benjamin Read) II. Title. III. Series. DS73.2.G5313 2004a 935—dc22 2004012445 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, recycled paper conforming to ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) and ISO 9706:1994 standards for paper permanence. To Hayyim Tadmor, with respect The past . . . is a reconstruction of the societies and human beings of former times by men and for men caught up in the network of today’s human realities. — Lucien Febvre, preface to Charles Moraze, Trois essais sur Histoire et Culture Concerning the flood, and Noah: it was not by chance that he took so long to build his ark. No, Noah wished to delay the flood, he dragged out the work, feeling that something of the sort would happen, that it was for a purpose that God had given him the order to build the ark. Noah was not anxious to separate himself from the world, steeped in evil, yet nonetheless familiar. He felt nostalgia for the present world, which belonged already more to the past, to a remote past that would fall into oblivion, for the waters would wash away all the roads leading there, and would carry off everything that could allow anyone to form some idea of it. . . . Noah suffered from nostalgia for the present, because he was alone in possessing a future. . . . The new world was unknown. — Saulius T. Kondrotas, L’Ombre du serpent For the supreme honor, to which the king attached the highest value, was to triumph over the gods of his enemies, whom, in spite of their gods,