all texts

THE HOMERIC HYMNS ## I. To Dionysus * * * * (ll. 1-9) For some say, at Dracanum; and some, on windy Icarus; and some, in Naxos, O Heaven-born, Insewn; and others by the deep-eddying river Alpheus that pregnant Semele bare you to Zeus the thunder-lover. And others yet, lord, say you were born in…

*This translation is coming soon.* A public domain English translation of the Dialogue of Pessimism exists and is being prepared for this library. Subscribe to our email list at anunnaki.ai for updates when new texts are added.

## Tales of the Magicians One day, when King Khufu reigned over all the land, he said to his chancellor, who stood before him, "Go call me my sons and my councillors, that I may ask of them a thing." And his sons and his councillors came and stood before him, and he said to them, "Know ye a man wh…

*This translation is coming soon.* A public domain English translation of Ludlul bel nemeqi exists and is being prepared for this library. Subscribe to our email list at anunnaki.ai for updates when new texts are added.

*This translation is not currently available.* This Sumerian narrative recounts Inanna's voyage to the city of Eridu to obtain the divine laws and arts of civilization (the me) from Enki. No complete English translation was published before 1929. We are actively exploring ways to include this tex…

*This translation is not currently available.* The Epic of Aqhat, one of the few surviving Ugaritic narrative poems, recounts a young man's refusal to surrender his bow to the goddess Anat. The tablets were discovered at Ras Shamra in 1929; no translation could precede that discovery. We are acti…

*This translation is not currently available.* Enki and the World Order is a long Sumerian praise poem in which the god of wisdom organizes the cosmos, assigning roles to the other gods and to the elements of human civilization. No complete English translation predates 1929. We are actively explo…

WORKS AND DAYS ## The Two Strifes (ll. 1-10) Muses of Pieria who give glory through song, come hither, tell of Zeus your father and chant his praise. Through him mortal men are famed or un-famed, sung or unsung alike, as great Zeus wills. For easily he makes strong, and easily he brings the stron…

*This translation is not currently available.* The Epic of Kirta was found at Ras Shamra in 1929 alongside the Baal Cycle tablets. No English translation could exist before the discovery of the tablets. We are actively exploring ways to include this text. Subscribe to our email list at anunnaki.a…

THEOGONY ## The Muses and the Poet (ll. 1-25) From the Heliconian Muses let us begin to sing, who hold the great and holy mount of Helicon, and dance on soft feet about the deep-blue spring and the altar of the almighty son of Cronos, and, when they have washed their tender bodies in Permessus or…

*This translation is not currently available.* Nergal and Ereshkigal recounts the storm god Nergal's descent to the underworld and his union with its queen Ereshkigal. The short Amarna version (c. 1400 BCE) is highly fragmentary; the complete Sultantepe recension was discovered in 1951 and first t…

## Tablet I — Adapa, Sage of Eridu He possessed intelligence . . . , His command like the command of Anu ... He (Ea) granted him a wide ear to reveal the destiny of the land, He granted him wisdom, but he did not grant him eternal life. In those davs, in those years the wise man of Eridu, Ea had c…

## Chapter I Saith Osiris Ani, (4) Osiris the scribe Ani :— “Homage to thee, O Bull of Amentet, the god “Thoth, (5) the king of eternity, is with me. I am “the Great God near the divine boat, I have fought “(6) for thee. I am one of the gods, those divine “chiefs, who make (7) Osiris to be victor…

## I — Opening of the Mouth I. Mention has already been made of the "opening of the mouth" of the dead king: under the earliest dynasties this ceremony was performed on a statue of the king. Water was sprinkled before it, and incense was burnt, and the statue was anointed with seven kinds of ungue…

## The Battle Begins — Horus Receives the Winged Disk XII. In the three hundred and sixty -third year of Ra-Heru-Khuti, who liveth for ever and forever, His Majesty was in Ta-Kens,[FN#75] and his soldiers were with him; [the enemy] did not conspire (auu) against their lord, and the land [is called…

*This translation is not currently available.* The Myth of Telepinu describes the disappearance of the Hittite storm god's son — causing all growth and fertility to cease — and the rituals used to lure him back. Readable English translations first appeared in the 1930s; earlier versions exist only…

*This translation is not currently available.* The Kumarbi Cycle is a group of Hittite myths about a succession of divine kings — a tradition that likely influenced the Greek Theogony. The first adequate English translation was made by Hans Güterbock in 1946. We are actively exploring ways to inc…

*This translation is not currently available.* The Babylonian Theodicy is a sophisticated acrostic dialogue on undeserved suffering — each speaker's lines beginning with the same cuneiform sign — structurally and thematically comparable to the Book of Job. The first complete English edition was pu…

*This translation is coming soon.* A public domain English translation of the Anzu myth exists and is being prepared for this library. Subscribe to our email list at anunnaki.ai for updates when new texts are added.

The wise servant said, "Let thy heart be satisfied, O my lord, for that we have come back to the country; after we have long been on board, and rowed much, the prow has at last touched land. All the people rejoice, and embrace us one after another. Moreover, we have come back in good health, and no…