Legends of the Kings of Akkade: The Texts.

• Author: FOSTER, BENJAMIN R.
• Position: Review

Legends of the Kings of Akkade: The Texts. By JOAN GOODNICK WESTENHOLZ. Mesopotamian Civilizations, vol. 7. Winona Lake, Ind.: EISENBRAUNS, 1997. Pp xiii + 410. $54.50.

This volume is an edition and commentary on twenty-five Akkadian texts that Westenholz believes focused on the Sargonic dynasty, especially the kings Sargon and Naram-Sin.

The difficulty of these texts sets them in a class by themselves, such that this is the first undertaking of its kind in the discipline. Every reader of Akkadian literature is deeply indebted to Westenholz for the colossal efforts she has expended in trying to penetrate the meaning of these compositions. They bristle with philological and epigraphic problems and were often badly copied by ancient scribes who may not have understood them well either. As Westenholz dutifully lists the proposals, readings, collations, and interpretations of generations of Assyriologists on some of these texts, the reader may experience an increasing sense of discouragement at how fragile understanding of Akkadian belles lettres can still be. At the same time, the reader's admiration for Westenholz's courage and industry in attempting a project so daunting should deepen, as she has carried out this understaking with distinction and brought new order and coherence to this corpus. Future discussion of these compositions and of their historical and literary context will perforce begin with her work.

Although the core of her book is the treatment of the texts, Westenholz offers on such matters as genre and narrative perspective. As the title of her work suggests, she leans toward a folkloric classification (p. 21). Her review of the literature shows that Assyriologists who have written about these texts agree on very little concerning their genre or placement in Mesopotamian written tradition. Westenholz finds all prior approaches to these texts deficient and unsuitable (p. 21), so we can look forward with anticipation to her promised second volume, where she proposes to deal with purely literary questions in more detail.

Turning to what the texts actually mean, Westenholz has the advantage, not available to older generations of Assyriologists, of the great dictionaries. These offer a treasury of educated guesses and possible parallel material, including new and rare vocables to consider for problematic groups of signs. Overall, the understanding of even often-discussed texts, such as the Amarna version of the "King of Battle"...