Mitologia y Religion del Oriente Antiguo, I: Egipto-Mesopotamia.

• Author: Rubio, Gonzalo
• Position: Review

By JESUS LOPEZ and JOAQUIN SANMARTIN. Estudios Orientales, vol. 7. Sabadell, Spain: EDITORIAL AUSA, 1993. Pp. 563. Pt 5096.

The book under review is the first volume of the series edited by G. del Olmo Lete, Mitologia y Religion del Oriente Antiguo. This ground-breaking series constitutes a landmark in the history of Orientalism in the Spanish-speaking world, with other volumes having appeared already.

The section of Egypt (pp. 11-204), by J. Lopez, is divided into six chapters that deal with pantheons, myths, funerary practices, and temples. It is an interesting, illustrated, and very readable presentation of Egyptian religion. Since the reviewer is not an Egyptologist, he will focus on the Mesopotamian section.

The section on Mesopotamia (pp. 206-494), by J. Sanmartin, is divided into six chapters that deal with such topics as sources, ideological context, pantheon, and popular religion and magic. Unfortunately, no illustrations have been included in this section. Sanmartin's broad approach, within the theoretical framework of phenomenology of religion, allows him to pay special attention to popular religion and magic practices without neglecting official cult and theology, which enriches the reader's understanding of the subject.

The book offers a wealth of texts. In general, Sanmartin's translations are excellent and quite idiomatic, for instance, etemmu translated as "anima" (p. 298). However, one may disagree with his understanding of me-lam as a sort of mask, "mascara" (p. 265 n. 102), instead of "aura." Also his translation of me in Gudea Cyl. A i 20 as "fuerzas" (p. 458) is arguable; one would prefer "imagen" (cf. S. Cohen, "Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta" [Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Pennsylvania (Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1973)], 165-68, 221). Regarding the transliterations, there are some inconsistencies, such as eme-gir15 (p. 252) and eme-gi7 (p. 254), and des4-tar and des4-dar (passim), and especially the unconventional damar.ud instead of damar.utu (pp. 340ff.). Some matters of detail should be pointed out:

P. 276. Sanmartin's interpretation of the name Enlil does not take into consideration Th. Jacobsen, "The lil2 of dEn-lil2," in DUMU-E2-DUB-BA-A. Studies in Honor of A. W. Sjoberg, ed. H. Behrens, D. Loding, and M. T Roth (Philadelphia: S. N. Kramer Fund, 1989), 267-76.

Pp. 301-2, 321-27. The discussion of the astronomic dimension of the cult of Inanna/Istar could have profited from W. Heimpel, "A Catalog of Near Eastern...