Ancient Near East, Volume 1: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures

I bought this book along with its companion: Volume II - A New Anthology of Texts and Pictures, because it was time for me to see for myself what the the original sources had to say about the Ancient Near East.This volume, which first was published in 1958 contains over 70 ancient texts and about 280 black and white photographs of artefacts from the Ancient Near East. The ancient documents include those from Mesoptamia, Egypt, Canaan, Israel, Assyria from the period about 2500BCE to about 500BCE. The editor states that the selection of texts was made from the point of view of relevance to the biblical Old Testament, having been taken from the original larger anthologies of texts (ANET) and pictures (ANEP) which were originally published in 1955 and 1954 respectively.The texts themselves have cross references to the original text number, the relevant illustration number, and the specific biblical passages where there seems to be some point of contact, The translations were made by 11 eminent scholars, all of whom have provided an explanation of the content and meaning of the texts which they have translated, as well as providing useful notes on aspects of the text which might require clarificationI found the translations to be generally quite readable, but they definitely had to be read with full care and concentration to understand them. Some, being somewhat fragmentary, are rather more difficult to follow than others. In reading the texts, I was, of course completely dependent upon the translations and the interpretations of the scholars themselves, but at least I am now starting to have a fuller understanding of the cultures of the Ancient Near East.3 of the 18 Egyptian texts in the book were included in Miriam Lichtheim's Ancient Egyptian Literature Volume 1: The Old and Middle Kingdoms, and I noticed that the translations in this book had been somewhat shortened. Except for a difference in style, however, I did not notice any significant differences and found it very interesting to compare the two translations. All in all, I am very happy to have read this book, which will probably serve me as a useful reference from now on. As so much work has been done on ancient text translations in the 35 years since the two parent volumes were published, and the price of these full anthologies was in excess of US$250, I am glad I chose to buy the shortened versions. That is not to say that I won't buy them sometime in the future, but in the meantime, I want to be selective about the next set of texts to read, and have decided, as a next step, to read Volume II and III of Miriam Lichtheim's translations of Egyptian texts, and William L Moran's translations of the Amarna Letters

Absolutely recommended for anyone who is interested in studying the culture and writings of the ancients in the near east. Many documents are translated and there is a gallery of photographs of items and what they are/signify. Some of the language used in translation is a tiny bit dated (the occassional thee and thou and so forth) but that doesn't diminish an excellent resource.

This book by Pritchard best serves serious historians though not necessarily those specializing in the Near East. Indeed the images and the translations are valuable for the mythologist or the art historian. I have found it to be very useful in my own research.

This is one of those books that is not very accessible to the casual reader with no previous knowledge, but very well worth sticking with. It contains a large number of texts - history, myth, hymns, poetry of many kinds - from about 2000 BC to the the 4th century BC. Many of the texts are damaged, some more severely than others, and this is indicated in the notes and text. Those with an interest in the Old Testament should find it very valuable as a help to their understanding of the religions and cultures with which Israel interacted, but this selection deserves to be widely read. There are about 200 black and white photographs of archaeological finds, in the back of the book - which is almost worth buying for them alone. If you have ever wanted to know more about the Canaanites, Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, in their own words, this is an excellent place to start. Those with an interest in comparative religion should find much of interest to them. What might put some people off, is that the texts do look a bit unsightly. Where words are missing, and impossible to restore with any certainty, plenty of dots appear. Italics, Roman type, square brackets, and dots, may make some texts look messy. But the damage should not be exaggerated. There is even a certain amountain of humour at times. And there is an index of Biblical references. There is a second volume as well, some of the texts in which fill up gaps in the texts printed in the first.

This book is an excellent intro. to mans cultural, physical and spiritial beginings. The culture is emphazised in layman terms for better understanding. The book outlines the kingdoms of Sumaria, Egypt, and also the tribes of the different nations along with an understanding of the people living in each one. I found it valuable.