Adapa and the South Wind: Language Has the Power of Life and Death (Mesopotamian Civilizations)

Izre'el, Shlomo

ISBN 10: 1575060485 / ISBN 13: 9781575060484

Published by Eisenbrauns, 2001

About this Item

Fine Condition. No dust jacket. No marks on the text block. No marks of previous ownership or inscriptions. Nice tight copy, does not appear to have been read.; 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. Seller Inventory # 61300

Bibliographic Details

Title: Adapa and the South Wind: Language Has the ...

Publisher: Eisenbrauns

Publication Date: 2001

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: No Dust Jacket

Edition: First Edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

The scholarly world first became aware of the myth of Adapa and the South Wind when it was discovered on a tablet from the El-Amarna archive in 1887. We now have at our disposal six fragments of the myth. The largest and most important fragment, from Amarna, is dated to the 14th century B.C.E. This fragment of the Adapa myth has red-tinted points applied on the tablet at specific intervals. Izre'el draws attention to a few of these points that were missed in previous publications by Knudtzon and Schroeder. Five other fragments were part of the Assurbanipal library and are representative of this myth as it was known in Assyria about seven centuries later. The discovery of the myth of Adapa and the South Wind immediately attracted wide attention. Its ideology and its correspondence to the intellectual heritage of Western religions precipitated flourishing studies of this myth, both philological and substantive. Many translations have appeared during the past century, shedding light on various aspects of the myth and its characters. Izre'el unveils the myth of Adapa and the South Wind as mythos, as story. To do this, he analyzes the underlying concepts through extensive treatment of form. He offers an edition of the extant fragments of the myth, including the transliterated Akkadian text, a translation, and a philological commentary. The analysis of poetic form that follows leads to understanding the myth as a piece of literature and to uncovering its meanings. This study therefore marks a new phase in the long, extensive research into this Mesopotamian myth.