Before the Muses
Book description
Comprehensive collection of ancient Akkadian literature spanning three millennia. This larger, completely new, 3rd edition contains many compositions not in the previous editions; new translations of previously included compositions; incorporation of new text fragments identified or excavated since the last publication; all new footnotes; references and commentary brought up to…
Why read it?
1 author picked Before the Muses as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
This comprehensive volume (over 1000 pages!) presents three millennia of Akkadian literary texts in translation including myths, epics, wisdom literature, humor, hymns, and incantations. Read a husband’s lament for his wife who died in childbirth, an appeal to a god for help against enemies or the triumphant epic of an Assyrian king. Foster’s introductory comments and explanatory notes help readers appreciate the themes and literary techniques associated with each genre, and his translations are moving and eloquent. I love this book and return to it whenever I need a dose of beautiful ancient poetry.
From Sarah's list on introducing the ancient Near East.
If you love Before the Muses...
Tap Dancing on Everest
Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.
The team attempts a new route up…
Want books like Before the Muses?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 25 books like Before the Muses.
Share your top 3 reads of 2024!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,898
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like Before the Muses, you might also like...
Radical Friend
Radical Friend highlights the remarkable life of Amy Kirby Post, a nineteenth-century abolitionist and women's rights activist who created deep friendships across the color line to promote social justice. Her relationships with Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Sojourner Truth, William C. Nell, and other Black activists from the 1840s to the…
The Essence
The Bible is the greatest mystery novel ever written. It begins in the Old Testament with seemingly random accounts of ancient people in far away places with strange customs. There’s the prophecy of a coming Hero who will conquer the villain and restore peace to the land. The mystery reaches…
