Author Description

In Babylonian studies 'Wisdom' is used to cover a group of texts similar in scope to the Biblical Wisdom Books: discussions of suffering, teaching on the good life, fables or context literature and proverbs. These texts are not only of considerable literary merit, but are also of great importance to all students of the ancient Near East in revealing the thought patterns of the ancient Babylonians. In addition to the cuneiform texts, copied direct from the tablets, each work is given in translation, and an introductory chapter sets forth the cosmological background against which the works are to be set. Philological notes and a glossary complete the volume.