Excerpt from Sumerian Hymns and Prayers to God Nin-Ib From the Temple Library of Nippur It was my original intention to publish in this volume about 28 plates in auto graph. But as will happen occasionally in connection with difficult cuneiform inscriptions, after a detailed examination and analysis, a scholar will change his mind with regard to this or that particular inscription in question. Several of the tablets which first seemed to me to contain N I N -i B texts proved themselves to be N ergal compositions, historical texts, etc while others remained doubtful as to the god addressed in them. Anxious to offer only indisputable N I N - I B texts, I excluded all inscriptions in which the name of this deity could not be ascertained with absolute certainty. The excavations of Nippur, of course, have yielded a good many more nin-ih texts than here published. But it was the intention of the Editor and the writer to issue at once those texts which had been catalogued and, moreover, were excavated during the earlier expeditions, in order to put before scholars some of the material which furnished the key to the contention of the existence of the now rightly famous Temple Library. The fact, therefore, that only 15 plates of auto graph texts are published in this volume does not by any means indicate that the Temple Library of Nippur is exhausted as regards N IN -ib texts. Variety of texts is what seems to be desired above everything else at present. Shorter volumes following each other in quick succession are demanded. As soon as the variety of the contents of the library has been demonstrated, the Editor and the Publication Committee expect to return to the old method hitherto employed by them. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Special Features- Aims to show how The Gilgamesh Epic developed from its earliest to its latest form- Systematic, step-by-step tracking of the stylistic, thematic, structural, and theological changes in The Gilgamesh Epic- Relation of changes to factors (geographical, political, religious, literary) that may have prompted them- Attempts to identify the sources (biographical, historical, literary, folkloric) of the epic's themes, and to suggest what may have been intended by use of these themes- Extensive bibliography- Indices