Myths and Narratology
Narrative Form, Meaning and Function in the Standard Babylonian Epic of Anzû
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/bsor.v42i4.22Keywords:
myth, narratology, ancient Mesopotamia, literatureAbstract
This essay presents narratology as a strategy for analysis of written myths. It analyses the narrative form of a written religious narrative from ancient Mesopotamia known as The Epic of Anzû, suggesting that the narrative form of myths is a necessary object of inquiry for historians of religion; one that has consequences for our understanding of the meaning and functions of myths, of the religions that make use of them, as well as for broader discussions of religious narrative.
References
Annus, A. 2001. The Standard Babylonian Epic of Anzû. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project.
Annus, A. 2002. The God Ninurta in the Mythology and Royal Ideology of Ancient Mesopotamia. State Archives of Assyria Studies vol. XIV. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project.
Bal, M. 1997. Narratology. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Ebeling, J., Flückiger-Hawker, E., Robson, E., Taylor, J., and Zólyomi, G., The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford 1998–2006. Available at http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/
Black, J.A. og Green, A. 1992. Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia. London: British Museum Press.
Bottéro, J. and Kramer, S.N. 1989. “Ninurta le Preux”. In Lorsque les dieux faisaient l’homme. Paris: Gallimard, 338-429.
Brown, P. 2003. The Rise of Western Christendom, Oxford: Blackwell.
Detienne, M. and Vernant, P. 1991 [1974]. Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Translated from Les ruses d’intelligence: la Metis des grecs, Paris: Flammarion et Cie, 1974, by Janet Lloyd.
Cooper, J. 1978. The Return of Ninurta to Nippur: an-gim dím-ma, Analecta Orientalia 52. Roma: Ponteficio Istituto Biblico.
Dumézil, G. 1969. La heur et malheur du guerrier. Aspects mythiques de la fonction guerrière chez les Indo-Européens, Collection Hier. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Feldt, L. 2011. “Monstrous Identities. Narrative strategies in Lugale and some reflections on Sumerian religious narrative”. I F. Hagen, J. Baines et al. eds., Narratives of Egypt and the Ancient Near East. Literary and Linguistic Approaches, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 189. Leuven: Peeters, 123-164.
----- 2010. “Heralds of the Heroic – the functions of Angimdimma’s monsters”. E. Robson, H.D. Baker og G. Zólyomi, red. Your Praise Is Sweet - A Memorial Volume for Jeremy Black from Students, Colleagues and Friends. London: British Institute for the Study of Iraq, 69-92.
---- 2006. “Reading the Monstrous – Ninurta and the Turtle as an example of Sumerian heroic literature”. Feldt, L. and Eksell, K., red. Readings in Eastern Mediterranean Literatures, Arbeitsmaterialien zum Studien des Orients 18. Würtzburg: Ergon Verlag, 83-127.
Fireman, G.D., McVay, T.E., Flanagan, O.J. 2003. Narrative and Consciousness. Literature, Psychology, and the Brain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Geertz, A.W. and J.S. Jensen, eds. 2011. Religious Narrative, Cognition and Culture, London: Equinox.
Honko, L. 1984. “The Problem of Defining Myth”. Dundes, A., red. Sacred Narrative: Readings in the theory of myth. Berkeley: University of California Press, 41-52.
Hühn, P. ed. 2009. Handbook of Narratology, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Jensen, J. S., 2009. Myths and Mythologies - a reader. Critical Categories in the Study of Religion. London: Equinox.
Kramer, S.N. and Maier, J. 1989. Myths of Enki, the Crafty God. Oxford: University of Oxford Press.
Maul, S. 1999. ”Der assyrische König – Hüter der Weltordnung”. Watanabe, K., ed. Priests and Officials in the Ancient Near East. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. Winther, 201-214.
Michalowski, P. 2003. “The Libraries of Babel: Text, Authority, and Tradition in Ancient Mesopotamia”. G.J. Dorleijn and H.L.J. Vanstiphout, red., Cultural Repertoires. Structure, Function and Dynamics, Groningen Studies in Cultural Change III. Leuven: Peeters, 105-130.
Michalowski, P. 1995. “Presence at the Creation”. Tz. Abusch, J. Huehnergard, P. Steinkeller, Lingering over Words. Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Literature in Honor of W.L. Moran, Harvard Semitic Studies 37. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 381-396.
Nünning, A. and Nünning, V., eds. 2003a. Neue Ansätze in der Erzähltheorie. WVT Handbücher zum Literaturwissenschaftlichen Studium 4. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier.
Nünning, A. and Nünning, V., eds. 2003b. Erzähltheorie transgenerisch, intermedial, interdisciplinär. WVT Handbücher zum Literaturwissenschaftlichen Studium 5. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier.
Ochs, E. and Capps, L. 1996: "Narrating the Self". In Annual Review of Anthropology 25: 19-43.
Olson, G. 2011. Current Trends in Narratology. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Ryan, M.-L. 2004. Narratives Across Media. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Segal, R.A. 2004. Myth. A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Streck, M.P. 1998-2001. “Ninurta/Ningirsu”. Realleksikon der Assyriologie 9, 512-522.
van der Toorn, K. 2007. Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
van Dijk, J. 1983. LUGAL UD ME-LÁM-bi NIR-GÁL. Le récit et didactique des Travaux de Ninurta, du Déluge et de la nouvelle Création. Leiden: Brill.
Vanstiphout, H. 2003. “On the Old Babylonian Eduba Curriculum”, Jan W. Drijvers and Alasdair A. MacDonald, red., Centres of Learning. Learning and Location in Pre-Modern Europe and the Near East. Leiden: Brill, 3-16.
Veldhuis, N. 2003. “Mesopotamian Canons”. M. Finkelberg and G. Stroumsa, red., Homer, the Bible and Beyond. Literary and Religious Canons in the Ancient World, Jerusalem Studies in Religion and Culture 2. Leiden: Brill, 9-28.
Veldhuis, N. 2004. Religion, Literature and Scholarship: The Sumerian Composition Nanše and the Birds, Cuneiform Monographs 22, Styx. Leiden: Brill, 2004.
Wanner, K.J. 2009. “Cunning Intelligence in Norse Myth”. In History of Religions 48,3, 211-246.
Annus, A. 2002. The God Ninurta in the Mythology and Royal Ideology of Ancient Mesopotamia. State Archives of Assyria Studies vol. XIV. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project.
Bal, M. 1997. Narratology. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Ebeling, J., Flückiger-Hawker, E., Robson, E., Taylor, J., and Zólyomi, G., The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford 1998–2006. Available at http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/
Black, J.A. og Green, A. 1992. Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia. London: British Museum Press.
Bottéro, J. and Kramer, S.N. 1989. “Ninurta le Preux”. In Lorsque les dieux faisaient l’homme. Paris: Gallimard, 338-429.
Brown, P. 2003. The Rise of Western Christendom, Oxford: Blackwell.
Detienne, M. and Vernant, P. 1991 [1974]. Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Translated from Les ruses d’intelligence: la Metis des grecs, Paris: Flammarion et Cie, 1974, by Janet Lloyd.
Cooper, J. 1978. The Return of Ninurta to Nippur: an-gim dím-ma, Analecta Orientalia 52. Roma: Ponteficio Istituto Biblico.
Dumézil, G. 1969. La heur et malheur du guerrier. Aspects mythiques de la fonction guerrière chez les Indo-Européens, Collection Hier. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Feldt, L. 2011. “Monstrous Identities. Narrative strategies in Lugale and some reflections on Sumerian religious narrative”. I F. Hagen, J. Baines et al. eds., Narratives of Egypt and the Ancient Near East. Literary and Linguistic Approaches, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 189. Leuven: Peeters, 123-164.
----- 2010. “Heralds of the Heroic – the functions of Angimdimma’s monsters”. E. Robson, H.D. Baker og G. Zólyomi, red. Your Praise Is Sweet - A Memorial Volume for Jeremy Black from Students, Colleagues and Friends. London: British Institute for the Study of Iraq, 69-92.
---- 2006. “Reading the Monstrous – Ninurta and the Turtle as an example of Sumerian heroic literature”. Feldt, L. and Eksell, K., red. Readings in Eastern Mediterranean Literatures, Arbeitsmaterialien zum Studien des Orients 18. Würtzburg: Ergon Verlag, 83-127.
Fireman, G.D., McVay, T.E., Flanagan, O.J. 2003. Narrative and Consciousness. Literature, Psychology, and the Brain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Geertz, A.W. and J.S. Jensen, eds. 2011. Religious Narrative, Cognition and Culture, London: Equinox.
Honko, L. 1984. “The Problem of Defining Myth”. Dundes, A., red. Sacred Narrative: Readings in the theory of myth. Berkeley: University of California Press, 41-52.
Hühn, P. ed. 2009. Handbook of Narratology, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Jensen, J. S., 2009. Myths and Mythologies - a reader. Critical Categories in the Study of Religion. London: Equinox.
Kramer, S.N. and Maier, J. 1989. Myths of Enki, the Crafty God. Oxford: University of Oxford Press.
Maul, S. 1999. ”Der assyrische König – Hüter der Weltordnung”. Watanabe, K., ed. Priests and Officials in the Ancient Near East. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. Winther, 201-214.
Michalowski, P. 2003. “The Libraries of Babel: Text, Authority, and Tradition in Ancient Mesopotamia”. G.J. Dorleijn and H.L.J. Vanstiphout, red., Cultural Repertoires. Structure, Function and Dynamics, Groningen Studies in Cultural Change III. Leuven: Peeters, 105-130.
Michalowski, P. 1995. “Presence at the Creation”. Tz. Abusch, J. Huehnergard, P. Steinkeller, Lingering over Words. Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Literature in Honor of W.L. Moran, Harvard Semitic Studies 37. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 381-396.
Nünning, A. and Nünning, V., eds. 2003a. Neue Ansätze in der Erzähltheorie. WVT Handbücher zum Literaturwissenschaftlichen Studium 4. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier.
Nünning, A. and Nünning, V., eds. 2003b. Erzähltheorie transgenerisch, intermedial, interdisciplinär. WVT Handbücher zum Literaturwissenschaftlichen Studium 5. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier.
Ochs, E. and Capps, L. 1996: "Narrating the Self". In Annual Review of Anthropology 25: 19-43.
Olson, G. 2011. Current Trends in Narratology. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Ryan, M.-L. 2004. Narratives Across Media. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Segal, R.A. 2004. Myth. A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Streck, M.P. 1998-2001. “Ninurta/Ningirsu”. Realleksikon der Assyriologie 9, 512-522.
van der Toorn, K. 2007. Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
van Dijk, J. 1983. LUGAL UD ME-LÁM-bi NIR-GÁL. Le récit et didactique des Travaux de Ninurta, du Déluge et de la nouvelle Création. Leiden: Brill.
Vanstiphout, H. 2003. “On the Old Babylonian Eduba Curriculum”, Jan W. Drijvers and Alasdair A. MacDonald, red., Centres of Learning. Learning and Location in Pre-Modern Europe and the Near East. Leiden: Brill, 3-16.
Veldhuis, N. 2003. “Mesopotamian Canons”. M. Finkelberg and G. Stroumsa, red., Homer, the Bible and Beyond. Literary and Religious Canons in the Ancient World, Jerusalem Studies in Religion and Culture 2. Leiden: Brill, 9-28.
Veldhuis, N. 2004. Religion, Literature and Scholarship: The Sumerian Composition Nanše and the Birds, Cuneiform Monographs 22, Styx. Leiden: Brill, 2004.
Wanner, K.J. 2009. “Cunning Intelligence in Norse Myth”. In History of Religions 48,3, 211-246.
Published
2013-11-13
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Feldt, L. (2013). Myths and Narratology: Narrative Form, Meaning and Function in the Standard Babylonian Epic of Anzû. Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 42(4), 22-29. https://doi.org/10.1558/bsor.v42i4.22
