The Babylonian Myths: A Guide to the Ancient Gods and Legends (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780500029886)

The mythology of ancient Babylon is a rich and largely unexplored treasury, encompassing both the great Akkadian epics and the earlier Sumerian literary tradition. The myths offer scenes as vivid and unforgettable as any Greek drama: a goddess trapped in the Underworld; King Etana flying to Heaven in search of an heir; the king of the gods, driven mad by the noise of humankind, and summoning a flood to crush the world.

The Babylonian myths were familiar to millions of people over thousands of years--people who spoke different languages, came from different classes and climates, suffered different pains, and had very different views of the divine. From the best-known Babylonian story, the Epic of Gilgamesh, to the story of humanity's creation and its near total destruction in the waters of the Flood, these myths remind us that even contradictory forces such as love and loss, creation and destruction, are connected and teach us to see both sides of every issue. They all speak to us as the experiences at the very core of being human. Exploring to what extent Babylonian myths influenced the stories of surrounding cultures, including the Hebrew Bible and Greek mythology, and based on the most recent research, this book brings myths that are among the oldest of humanity to a wide contemporary audience.