Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material / Céline Debourse -- Copyright Page / Céline Debourse -- Acknowledgments / Céline Debourse -- Abbreviations / Céline Debourse -- Chapter 1 Introduction / Céline Debourse -- Chapter 2 Status Quaestionis / Céline Debourse -- Chapter 3 Textual Sources for the Babylonian New Year Festival During the First Millennium BCE / Céline Debourse -- Chapter 4 The New Year Festival Texts / Céline Debourse -- Chapter 5 Analyses / Céline Debourse -- Chapter 6 The Historical and Textual Framework of the NYF Texts / Céline Debourse -- Chapter 7 Conclusion / Céline Debourse -- Appendix 1 Correlation NYF 2-3// NYF 4 / Céline Debourse -- Appendix 2 Glossary of Akkadian Words in the NYF texts / Céline Debourse -- Bibliography / Céline Debourse -- Indexes / Céline Debourse.

Editing and examining source-critically for the first time the Late Babylonian ritual texts dealing with the New Year Festival, this book proposes an incisive re-interpretation of the most frequently discussed of all Mesopotamian rituals. The festival's twelve-day paradigm is dissolved in favor of a more historically dynamic model, with the ritual texts being firmly anchored in the Hellenistic period. As part of a larger group of texts constituting what can be called Late Babylonian Priestly Literature, they reflect the Babylonian priesthoods' fears and aspirations of that time much more than an actual ritual reality.

Description based on print version record.