Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament


Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament edited by James B. Pritchard is an anthology of important historical, legal, mythological, liturgical, and secular texts from the ancient Near East. In spite of the name, the included texts have broad coverage and do not necessarily relate to the Old Testament. William W. Hallo, writing in the Journal of the American Oriental Society in 1970, described it as "a modern classic ever since its first appearance in 1950", because "for the first time it assembled some of the most significant Ancient Near Eastern texts in authoritative, generously annotated English translations based on the accumulated insight of several generations of scholarship scattered". It is conventional to cite the work as ANET. ANEP refers to a companion volume Ancient Near Eastern Pictures Relating to the Old Testament, featuring 882 black and white designs and photos. An additional volume of supplementary texts and pictures was published in 1969 as "The Ancient Near East: Supplementary Texts and Pictures Relating to the Old Testament". An abridgement of ANET and ANEP was published in a single volume in 1958 as "The Ancient Near East, Volume I: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures" with a 2nd edition published in 1965. A second anthology of supplementary material was published in 1975 as "Ancient Near East, Volume 2: A New Anthology of Texts and Pictures".

Publication

The book was published by Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, in 1950. A second edition, corrected and enlarged, appeared in 1955. A third further enlarged edition appeared in 1969.

Contents

I. Myths, Epics and Legends: Egyptian ; Sumerian ; Akkadian ; Hittite ; Ugaritic
II. Legal Texts: Mesopotamia and Asia Minor; Egyptian and Hittite Treaties; Hittite Instructions ; Documents from the Practice of Law
III. Historical Texts: Egyptian ; Babylonian and Assyrian ; Hittite ; Palestinian Inscriptions
Also:
  1. Rituals, Incantations and Descriptions of Festivals: Egyptian ; Akkadian ; Hittite
  2. Hymns and Prayers: Egyptian ; Sumerian ; Sumero-Akkadian ; Hittite
  3. Didactic and Wisdom Literature: Fables and Didactic Tales; Proverbs and Precepts; Observations on Life and the World Order; Oracles and Prophecies
  4. Lamentations: A Sumerian Lamentation
  5. Secular Songs and Poems: Egyptian
  6. Letters: Egyptian ; Sumerian ; Akkadian ; Aramaic
  7. Miscellaneous Texts: Egyptian ; Sumerian Love Song ; Hittite Omen ; Canaanite and Aramaic Inscriptions ; South-Arabian Inscriptions

    Translators and annotators