Came across a free PDF article on divination as science in Mesopotamia. Seems the people that had advanced knowledge of the heavens, including the outer planets and orbital mechanics of the most distant objects in our solar system believed you could discern the future...
Mesopotamia
PanBabylonianism: The Wellspring of Middle Earth PaleoBabble
I came across this essay recently. It's from the out of print book, Mesopotamian and the Bible, edited by Mark Chavalas and Lawson Younger. The essay is by Chavalas, a scholar of biblical studies and ancient Mesopotamia: Chavalas Assyriology and Biblical Studies...
Book on Artistic Depiction of Mesopotamian Deities Available Online in PDF
Tallay Ornan's important book, The triumph of the symbol: Pictorial representation of deities in Mesopotamia and the biblical image ban, is now available as a PDF for free download. Here's the abstract: This book analyzes the history of Mesopotamian imagery from the...
Cuneiform Lexical Lists: Another Reason Sitchin Was Wrong
The Ancient History website just published this short essay on cuneiform lexical lists -- basically, the ancient equivalent of bilingual (and otherwise) dictionaries for Sumerian and Akkadian produced by the ancient scribes. From the opening paragraph: Lexical lists...
The Pan-Babylonian Approach to the Hebrew Bible by Ancient Astronaut Theorists: Still Dead After All These Years
I've blogged before about "Pan-Babylonianism" -- the idea that the content of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) is basically plagiarized from Babylonian (more widely, Sumero-Mesopotamian) material. No serious biblical studies scholar or Assyriologist believes this...
Is the Book of Genesis Plagiarized from Sumerian and Akkadian (Mesopotamian) Sources?
This is a common claim by Zecharia Sitchin and those who adore him, like his webmaster Erik Parker, and Jason Martell. As I have blogged here before (here and here), this idea was common fare toward the end of the 19th century, due primarily to two historical forces:...
Free PDF Books on Ancient Sumerians, Akkadians, Etc.
Courtesy of the University of Chicago. Here are some titles (but follow that link): Gelb, The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character Gelb, A Study of Writing Frankfort, Kingship and the Gods: A Study of Ancient Near Eastern Religion as the Integration of...
Critical Edition of the Gilgamesh Epic Available Online
This is a steal, folks - especially if you can work in Akkadian. But even if not, Andrew George's magisterial work on the Gilgamesh Epic is a must. It's the most current scholarship on the original cuneiform text. The file features tablet transcriptions,...
Recent Online Dissertation on the Sumerian Deity Enki
Today I came across this published (2010) doctoral dissertation on the god Enki by Peeter Espak. it is entitled, "The God Enki in Sumerian Royal Ideology and Mythology." I decided to blog the link in the name of offering something useful to all those who want to read...
Where Was Abraham's Ur?
Let's file this one under "What you know may not be so." What could be more obvious than Abraham coming from the southern Mesopotamian (Sumerian) city of Ur? Plenty. Check out this three-page article I'm having my Ancient Israel students read this quarter (I...
Cuneiform Astronomy: The Planets in Mesopotamian Cuneiform Sources
I get asked all the time, "How do you know Sitchin is wrong about aliens in Sumerian tablets?" Short answer: Because I get my information from the actual ancient scribes. Here's one example among many that could be offered. It' s a free PDF paper (28 pp) on the...
Abraham Was from Ur in Mesopotamia . . . Right?
I don't think so, and I'm in good company. Why? You'll know that after reading this 1958 article by Cyrus Gordon, one of my favorite scholars: "Abraham and the Merchants of Ura." You'll wonder why it's been so overlooked.
Understanding Pan-Babylonianism
I've blogged about the 19th century academic trend (one is tempted to call it a craze) referred to as Pan-Babylonianism before. In simplest terms, this was the era following the heels of the decipherment of cuneiform, which made the literature of the ancient Sumerian,...
Why Learn Akkadian?
I know. You're thinking I'll say "because it is there." Here is a more practical answer from a review of an important recent lexical resource. Editor's note: above link is annoying and hard to read on a screen with pop-ups, ads, and images, so reproducing the content...
PaleoBabble Exchange with John Halloran, Sumerian Specialist
John Halloran has had a presence on the internet since 1996. He's the scholar who maintains the Sumerian Language Page. On that page one can find his online lexicon (dictionary) of Sumerian. That material was recently printed in hard copy book form and has been...