Wisdom and Prayer: Philosophical Reflections in the Great Akkadian Hymns and Prayers

Among the first-millennium literary compositions, the so-called Akkadian “Great Hymns and Prayers” stand out for their great stylistic and linguistic complexity.¹ These long, composite works are remarkable because of their high-register literary style, poetic imagery, characteristic layout and interesting content. Indeed, the themes and thoughts these compositions occasionally reflect show affinity with several wisdom texts. In this contribution, I present the original motifs and ideas found in these “Great Hymns and Prayers”, showing how the ethical concepts intertwine with hymnic and penitential elements, and how they relate to some of the characteristic themes of Mesopotamian wisdom literature.