About Exhibition
Let's delve into the extraordinary, wonderful, and historic literary works in ancient Mesopotamia.
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Jovelyn Villanueva
All Exhibitions by Artist
Instructions of Shuruppak
32 x 24.05 cm
• Mixed
The Instructions of Shuruppak is a collection of Sumerian proverbs that advise a son on how to behave. It is one of the oldest surviving literary texts in the world
Matter of Aratta
46 x 30.55 cm
• Mixed
The Matter of Aratta is the modern-day title for a collection of four poems – Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, Enmerkar and En-suhgir-ana, Lugalbanda in the Mountain Cave, and Lugalbanda and the Anzud Bird – concerning the rivalry between the cities of Uruk and Aratta and dated to the Ur III Period (2047-1750 BCE).
Eridu Genesis
42 x 38.97 cm
• Mixed
Eridu Genesis, also called the Sumerian Creation Myth, Sumerian Flood Story and the Sumerian Deluge Myth, offers a description of the story surrounding how humanity was created by the gods, how the office of kingship entered human civilization, the circumstances leading to the origins of the first cities, and the global flood.
Kesh Temple Hymn
46 x 45.01 cm
• Mixed
The Kesh Temple Hymn (c. 2600 BCE) is the oldest work of literature in the world, sometimes referenced as the oldest extant religious poem. It is a Sumerian praise song to the goddess Ninhursag and her temple in the city of Kesh, composed in eight sections of "houses" progressing from the temple's foundation to a cautionary welcome.
Ludlul-Bel-Nemeqi
38 x 21.66 cm
• Mixed
Ludlul bēl nēmeqi ("I Will Praise the Lord of Wisdom"), also sometimes known in English as The Poem of the Righteous Sufferer, is a Mesopotamian poem (ANET, pp. 434–437) written in Akkadian that concerns itself with the problem of the unjust suffering of an afflicted man, named Šubši-mašrâ-Šakkan (Shubshi-meshre-Shakkan).
Inanna's Descent to the Underworld
40 x 56 cm
• Mixed
The Descent of Inanna (c. 1900-1600 BCE) chronicles the journey of Inanna, the great goddess and Queen of Heaven, from her realm in the sky, to earth, and down into the underworld to visit her recently widowed sister Ereshkigal, Queen of the Dead.
Enuma Elish
32 x 60.13 cm
• Mixed
The Enuma Elish (also known as The Seven Tablets of Creation) is the Babylonian creation myth whose title is derived from the opening lines of the piece, "When on High". The myth tells the story of the great god Marduk's victory over the forces of chaos and his establishment of order at the creation of the world.
A Love Song of Shu-sin
28 x 16.04 cm
• Mixed
The world's oldest love poem is The Love Song for Shu-Sin (c. 2000 BCE) composed in ancient Mesopotamia for use in part of the sacred rites of fertility. Prior to its discovery in the 19th century, and its translation in the 20th, the biblical Song of Songs was thought to be the oldest love poem extant.
The Marduk Prophecy
32 x 25 cm
• Mixed
an Assyrian document dating to between 713-612 BCE found in a building known as The House of the Exorcist adjacent to a temple in the city of Ashur. It relates the travels of the statue of the Babylonian god Marduk from his home city to the lands of the Hittites, Assyrians, and Elamites and prophesies its return at the hands of a strong Babylonian king.
Epic of Gilgamesh
42 x 68.48 cm
• Mixed
The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic from ancient Mesopotamia. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, some of which may date back to the Third Dynasty of Ur. These independent stories were later used as source material for a combined epic in Akkadian.
