The World's Oldest Literature: Studies in Sumerian Belles-Lettres (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9789004173811)

Literature begins at Sumer, we may say. Given that this ancient crossroads of tin and copper produced not only bronze and the entire Bronze Age, but also by neccesity, the first system of record-keeping and the technique of writing. Scribal schools served to propogate the new technique and their curriculum grew to create, preserve and transmit all manner of creative poetry. In a lifetime of research, the author has studied multiple aspects of this most ancient literary oeuvre, including such questions as chronology and bilingualism, as well as contributing fundamental insights into specific genres such as proverbs, letter-prayers and lamentations. In addition, he has drawn conclusions for the comparative or contextual approach to biblical literature. His studies, widely scattered in diverse publications for nearly fifty years, are here assembled in convenient one-volume format, made more user-friendly by extensive cross-references and indices.

"Well-informed and sober, these essays offer rewarding reading for every area of biblical scholarship."
A.R. Millard

Author: William W. Hallo
ISBN-10: 9004173811
ISBN-13: 9789004173811
Publisher: Brill
Language: English
Published: 11/27/2009
Pages: 800
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 3.08lbs
Size: 9.60h x 6.70w x 1.70d

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2010 pg. 254