The Mesopotamian literature is the artistic heritage represented in literary works that left humanity integrating the cultures of peoples Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians and Babylonians who dominated the territory of ancient Mesopotamia, now Iraq and Syria.
The Mesopotamian civilization flourished as a result of the mixture of these cultures and has been called Mesopotamian or Babylonian literature in allusion to the geographical territory that these cultures occupied in the Middle East between the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Cuneiform writing on clay tablet
Today Mesopotamian literature is studied as the most important precedent of world literature.
Characteristics of Mesopotamian Literature
-The main characteristic of Mesopotamian literature is the radical change it represented in the history of mankind.
-It was a writing with protoliterary purposes: the inhabitants of these lands went from using writing for merely administrative purposes related to the community, to using it to transmit legends, explain facts, news and changes.
-The cultures that formed it developed the first known forms of writing.
-Her works were carved in stone and clay and the writing used was the cuneiform (cuneus, wedge in Latin): wedges of different thicknesses arranged in different directions and angles to express different ideas.
-The signs of his writing had syllabic and ideological value, for this reason, deciphering them was a complex task.
-The presence of the mythological, religious and legendary element in their stories, in which they allude to the life, personality and traits of their gods, the mythical origins and the work of the creation of man.
Authors and outstanding works
The most prominent authors of the Mesopotamian civilization were the emperors Nebuchadnezzar II and Nabopolassar.
Next, the most representative works of the literary movement:
-The Enuma Elish: a religious poem that tells how the world was created.
-The epic of the Erra: a story about the great battles of primal chaos and cosmic order.
-The poem of Atrahasis: tells the story of a great flood, considered years later by specialists as the story that inspires the biblical work of Noe.
-The Gilgamesh poem: a Sumerian epic that recounts the adventures of the demigod Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu fighting monsters in search of immortality.
-The poem of Zú: the story of an evil bird that steals the tablets of destiny from the gods and of the warrior Ninurta, who undertakes the fight to recover them.
-The Code of Hammurabi: composed of 282 articles in which the main characteristics of Babylonian society are narrated, the regulation of family law, commercial activities, agriculture and sanctions for transgressions. This work is the first known code in the history of mankind.
Historic context
Mesopotamian literature originated in the ancient kingdom of Babylon, around 3000 BC.
The coexistence between Akkadians and Sumerians led to the writing going from being pictographic to being phonetic to later derive in the common writing of both languages, the cuneiform.
Sumerian oral literature was the forerunner. His first and best known story was the "Poem of creation" (7th century BC), a work of cosmogonic character that shows how Marduk, the main God of the Babylonian people, creates the world and man.
Their stories fell into 3 categories:
-Myths: stories about their gods (Enlil, Ninhursag and Enki).
-Hymnos: of praise to their gods, kings and their cities.
-Lamentations: songs about catastrophic events such as destruction of cities, wars, abandonment of temples and floods.
In Akkadian literature appears around the second century BC and their stories were:
-Religious: poems to their gods (Enuma Elish, Erra and Atrahasis)
-Epics: Gilgamesh poem, one of the first writings in world history
Babylon at the height of its culture was conquered by the Emperor Nebuchadnezzar II. The city was rebuilt and this resulted in it becoming the largest city in Mesopotamia, an important point for the expansion of its literary works towards Assyria and other neighboring kingdoms.
References
- Alvarez, BA (2001). Oriental Literature. Obtained from Ebrary: Ebrary.com.
- Epic of Creation. (sf). Retrieved on October 6, 2017 from the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Metmuseum.org.
- Mark, Joshua. (2014, August 15). Mesopotamian Naru Literature. Obtained from Ancient History Encyclopedia: Ancient.eu
- Oppenheim, A. Leo (1964 1977). Ancient Mesopotamia Portrait of a Dead Civilization. Obtained from The University of Chicago: Uchicago.edu
- Von Soden, Wolfram. (sf). An Overview of Mesopotamian literature. Retrieved on October 6, 2017, from Gatesways to Babylon: Gatewaystobabylon.com.