all texts

The Theogony, attributed to Hesiod of Boeotia, is the foundational Greek account of the origins of the cosmos and the genealogy of the gods, composed in hexameter verse. Before time there was Chaos, then Gaia (Earth), Tartaros, and Eros. Gaia produces Ouranos (Sky), with whom she mates to produce th…

The Story of Sinuhe is widely considered the masterpiece of ancient Egyptian literature. Written during the Middle Kingdom, it survives on more papyri and ostraca than any other Egyptian literary work, suggesting it was central to scribal education. Sinuhe, a courtier, overhears news of a king's ass…

One of Egypt's earliest adventure stories, the Shipwrecked Sailor is a rare example of Egyptian narrative fiction set outside the divine sphere. A sailor returning from a failed expedition is consoled by a subordinate, to whom he recounts how his ship sank in the Red Sea. He washed ashore on a magic…

The Egyptian Book of the Dead — known to its creators as the Book of Coming Forth by Day — is a collection of magical spells and instructions intended to guide the deceased through the Duat, the Egyptian underworld, and into the afterlife. Spell 125, the most celebrated, depicts the Weighing of the…

The Pyramid Texts are the oldest surviving corpus of religious literature in the world, inscribed on the interior walls of five royal pyramids at Saqqara during the Old Kingdom. First written for Pharaoh Unas (c. 2375–2345 BCE) and subsequently adapted for other rulers, the 800-plus utterances were…

The Contendings of Horus and Set is a satirical mythological narrative preserved on Papyrus Chester Beatty I. It recounts the eighty-year tribunal before the divine council — the Ennead — to determine whether Osiris's son Horus or his uncle Set should rule Egypt. The text is remarkably irreverent: R…

Nergal and Ereshkigal survives in two recensions: a short version found at Amarna in Egypt (c. 1400 BCE) and a longer Standard Babylonian version from Sultantepe. Both tell of the god Nergal's journey to the underworld and his unexpected relationship with its queen. When Ereshkigal cannot attend a d…

Adapa was the first of the Seven Sages — the apkallū — created by the god Ea to teach humanity the arts of civilisation, given extraordinary wisdom but not eternal life. While fishing, he broke the wing of the South Wind after it capsized his boat and was summoned before Anu, the sky god. Ea coached…

The Myth of Etana concerns the Sumerian King List's legendary king of Kish who "ascended to heaven." Etana, king of Kish, is blessed with everything except a son and heir. Shamash directs him to find a wounded eagle — earlier, the eagle had betrayed a compact with a serpent by eating its young; the…

The Anzu Myth tells of a monstrous lion-headed eagle who steals the Tablet of Destinies — the divine object conferring authority over all of reality — from the god Enlil. Anzu was appointed by Enlil himself to guard his bathing chamber; beholding the tablet daily, he is seized with ambition and snat…

Erra and Ishum is a five-tablet Babylonian epic composed during a period of political instability around 800 BCE — one of the most psychologically intense works of ancient literature. Erra, god of war, plague, and violent disorder, is roused from dormancy by his weapons, which taunt him for inactivi…

The Epic of Aqhat concerns a young hunter whose extraordinary divine bow attracts the fatal desire of the goddess Anat. The craftsman god Kothar-wa-Khasis presents the righteous man Daniel with a magnificent composite bow, a weapon of unsurpassed quality. Anat sees it and offers silver, gold, and im…

Ludlul bel nemeqi — "I will praise the lord of wisdom" — is a four-tablet wisdom poem sometimes called the Babylonian Job. The protagonist Shubshi-meshre-Shakkan was once wealthy, respected, and devout; without explanation, his god and goddess have turned away. His prayers are ignored, his divinatio…

The Babylonian Theodicy is a sophisticated acrostic dialogue poem in 27 stanzas of eleven lines each — the first syllables of each stanza spelling out the name and title of its author, Saggil-kinam-ubbib. Two friends debate the problem of divine justice: a sufferer orphaned young who has worked hone…

Enki and the World Order is a long hymnic myth celebrating the god Enki's role in organising civilisation. After an opening of self-praise, Enki sails to various lands — Meluhha, Magan, Dilmun — establishing their character and prosperity. He sets the Tigris and Euphrates flowing, fills them with fi…

Inanna and the Me concerns Inanna's cunning theft of the me — the divine decrees that govern all of civilisation — from the god Enki in his underwater palace at Eridu. Enki, captivated by Inanna's presence and somewhat drunk, lavishes her with me one after another: the high priesthood, descent to an…

The Kumarbi Cycle is a series of related Hittite mythological texts dealing with the succession of divine kingship in heaven, preserved among the archives of the Hittite capital Hattusa. In the beginning, Alalu holds kingship, served by the young god Anu. After nine years, Anu defeats Alalu. Kumarbi…

The Myth of Telepinu is the most complete of the Hittite "disappearing god" myths. Telepinu, god of agriculture and fertility, is seized with unexplained rage, puts his shoes on the wrong feet, and storms off to the steppe to sleep. Immediately: fires go out on hearths, gods suffocate in their templ…

The Epic of Kirta follows a king who has lost everything: his wives have died one after another and he has no heir. The god El appears to Kirta in a dream and instructs him to muster his army and march to the kingdom of Udum, whose king Pabil holds a daughter, Hurray, destined to be his wife. Kirta…

The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest known extended narrative poem, composed in Akkadian and surviving in multiple recensions across more than a millennium. It follows Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, who is two-thirds divine and one-third mortal. The epic opens by praising Gilgamesh as a man of great wisdom…