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Myths and Legends of the Ancient Near East
A collection of myths and legends from the four chief cultures of the ancient Near East: the Sumero-Akkadian, the Egyptian, the Ugaritic-Canaanite, and the Hittite.
206 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1970
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July 18, 2021This book re-tells a handful of myths from 4 ancient peoples: Sumero-Akkadian (4 myths), Egyptian (7), Ugaritic-Canaanite (3), and Hittite (3), plus one essay each on the peoples themselves, and one essay each providing an overview of their pantheon.
The stories themselves are useful to compare to those of other world religions, so while there's a relative paucity of the myths themselves (and many are less than 2 pages in length), if you're here for myths of cultures not typically available in English, you should probably consider reading a copy.
That said, there are 3 flaws here that stuck out to me. First. the author has a lamentably condescending attitude to earlier peoples. The book opens thusly:
It just smacks of the Victorian anthropologist comparing "primitive" man to much higher-evolved specimens such as himself. Perhaps Bratton doesn't intend that, but again, it stuck out.
Second, the author appears to have a particular axe to grind relative to Christianity and the Bible, particularly in later sections drawing constant parallels between these myths and stories in the Bible to show that the Bible evolved out of earlier mythological stories. It's not so much this perspective that I object to; it is its constant repetition that grew quite tiresome to me. Moreover, while this is interesting, the author doesn't do the same for other religious texts to which the modern reader might have handy. Again, it's less that he brings this up; it's more that it feels like axe-grinding.
Third, the myths themselves are rendered in a blunt, simple style that at times is charmingly child-like but at other times slides into a sort of flatness. Here's the first paragraph of the author's rendition of the Epic of Gilgamesh:
This is the very first myth in the book, and the use of simple sentence structure rubbed me the wrong way. I appreciate a simple style, but I felt like the story was being told by a 10-year-old at times.
Still, it's a useful book.
The stories themselves are useful to compare to those of other world religions, so while there's a relative paucity of the myths themselves (and many are less than 2 pages in length), if you're here for myths of cultures not typically available in English, you should probably consider reading a copy.
That said, there are 3 flaws here that stuck out to me. First. the author has a lamentably condescending attitude to earlier peoples. The book opens thusly:
The imaginative stories of children, when they spontaneously try to account for some...phenomenon beyond their knowledge, are a reenactment of myth-making among primitive men. In the childhood of the race men wondered how the world...was created....
It just smacks of the Victorian anthropologist comparing "primitive" man to much higher-evolved specimens such as himself. Perhaps Bratton doesn't intend that, but again, it stuck out.
Second, the author appears to have a particular axe to grind relative to Christianity and the Bible, particularly in later sections drawing constant parallels between these myths and stories in the Bible to show that the Bible evolved out of earlier mythological stories. It's not so much this perspective that I object to; it is its constant repetition that grew quite tiresome to me. Moreover, while this is interesting, the author doesn't do the same for other religious texts to which the modern reader might have handy. Again, it's less that he brings this up; it's more that it feels like axe-grinding.
Third, the myths themselves are rendered in a blunt, simple style that at times is charmingly child-like but at other times slides into a sort of flatness. Here's the first paragraph of the author's rendition of the Epic of Gilgamesh:
Gilgamesh, two-thirds god and one-third man, was a great hero and a warrior but he was also a tyrant. He built the walls of his city Uruk; he was unmatched in battle; he ruled with absolute power; and the people had to obey his slightest whim.
This is the very first myth in the book, and the use of simple sentence structure rubbed me the wrong way. I appreciate a simple style, but I felt like the story was being told by a 10-year-old at times.
Still, it's a useful book.
December 7, 2025
No matter how much of the Bible you think you know, prepare to have your head turned and twisted. Suggestion: cup of tea and snack prepped prior. It would also be wise to take it in sections and not necessarily in one chapter at a time.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews