Frontmatter -- Preface -- Contents -- Standard Abbreviations -- Chapter 1. Reading Counterdiscursive Texts in the First Millennium BC -- Chapter 2. The Kassite Revolution -- Chapter 3. The Library of Assurbanipal and the Counterdiscursive Landscape -- Chapter 4. The "Babylonian Problem" and Scribal Dialogues of Counterdiscursiveness -- Chapter 5. Counterdiscursiveness beyond belles lettres in and out of Nineveh -- Chapter 6. Textual Hegemony and the Counterdiscursive Public -- Epilogue. The Legacy of Late Akkadian Countertexts -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary
The king in ancient Mesopotamia is often viewed as a figure above reproach. This volume problematizes this assumption through a critical investigation of several Akkadian texts that challenge royal policy. In most cases, the questions raised by these texts pertain to the king's relationship to the Babylonian god Marduk, an issue that becomes increasingly relevant during the Neo-Assyrian period