Aural Akkadian

Babylonian and Assyrian Poetry and Literature:  An Archive of Recordings

This website collects recordings of modern Assyriologists reading ancient Babylonian and Assyrian poetry and literature aloud in the original language. It is the first undertaking of its kind, and accordingly some explanation of its aims is called for.

It is intended to serve several purposes, some for Assyriologists, and some for the wider public. First, it aims to foster interest among students of Babylonia and Assyria in how these civilisations’ works of verbal art were read aloud in the past, and how they should be read aloud today.

Second, it provides a forum in which scholars who have theories about Babylonian and Assyrian pronunciation, metre, etc. can present a concrete example of how their theories sound in practice. (In this function the archive does not of course aim to replace scholarly discussion in established channels, but rather to provide a useful complement to written publications).

Third, as a record of the ways in which contemporary scholars read Babylonian and Assyrian, it will some day serve a historical function. Many great Assyriologists, including some who had influential theories of Babylonian metre and phonology, passed into history without leaving a single recording of how they read Babylonian and Assyrian. This archive will provide at least some record of how scholars read Babylonian and Assyrian in the twenty-first century.

Finally, but not least, the questions which students of ancient languages most frequently hear from laymen are: "How did they sound? And how do you know?". This website is meant to serve as an introduction to these issues, providing the public with some idea of how modern Assyriologists think Babylonian and Assyrian were pronounced.

THE OLD BABYLONIAN PERIOD

(c. 1900-1500 BCE)

Ammi-Ditana’s Hymn to Ishtar

Readings:

Karl Hecker

Doris Prechel

The Codex Hammurabi

Readings:

Epilogue xlix 18-28 and 53-80 Aage Westenholz

The Epic of Gilgamesh, Old Babylonian Version, Tablet II

Readings:

lines 1-38 Antoine Cavigneaux

lines 1-36 Stephanie Dalley

lines 1-239 Karl Hecker

lines 1-61 Jacob Klein

lines 85-111 Michael Streck

lines 1-47 Nathan Wasserman

lines 87-105 Aage Westenholz

The Epic of Gilgamesh, Old Babylonian Version, BM+VAT

Readings:

lines ii.0'-iii.14 Martin West

The Epic of Anzû, Old Babylonian Version, Tablet II

Readings:

lines 1-83 Claus Wilcke

Atra-Hasīs, Old Babylonian Version, Tablet I

Readings:

lines i.1-iii.16 Claus Wilcke

Diviner's Prayer to the Gods of the Night

Readings:

Michael Streck

Incantation for Dog Bite

Readings:

Michael Streck

THE FIRST MILLENNIUM BC

The Epic of Gilgamesh, Standard Version, Tablet XI

Readings:

lines 1-29 Stephanie Dalley

lines 1-163 Karl Hecker

lines 8-44 Victor Hurowitz

lines 1-34 Nathan Wasserman

lines 92-139 Martin West

The Babylonian Poem of the Righteous Sufferer (Ludlul bēl nēmeqi), Tablet II

Readings:

lines 1-26 Antoine Cavigneaux

lines 1-46 Mario Fales

lines 1-26 and 56-82 Brigitte Groneberg

entire Tablet Karl Hecker

lines 1-55 Margaret Jaques Cavigneaux

lines 1-55 Gebhard J. Selz

lines 1-33 Nathan Wasserman

The Babylonian Epic of Creation (Enūma elîš), Tablet I

Readings:

lines 1-13 Victor Hurowitz

Ištar's Descent to the Netherworld

Readings:

lines 1-125 Martin West

The Šamaš Hymn

Readings:

lines 15-52 Martin West