The Temple Scribe in Chaldean Uruk

Abstract

The education and activities of the Eanna temple scribe in sixth-century BC. Uruk varied little from what they had been prior to the Chaldean era. The cuneiform writing system was still in use, and Akkadian economic documents continued to be composed and literary texts preserved in a manner not unlike that of previous periods. These traditions, however, did not preclude the scribe’s attending to his own private business affairs or prevent his engaging in the collection or composition of literary documents that reflect either his own personal interests or the necessity to prepare materials with decidedly political overtones. The result of these endeavors is a body of texts which, in many respects, indicates both the influence of spoken Aramaic or written Akkadian and the everchanging political situation (from both official and private perspectives) in southern Mesopotamia in the Chaldean period.