Canonization of Cuneiform Literature

Name: Canonization of Cuneiform Literature
Start: -750
End: -612

Type Event Region Mesopotamia Time c. -750–-612

Around the 7th century BCE, the court and temple scribal systems of Assyria and Babylon systematically organized and standardized the Sumerian-Akkadi…

Timeline

c. -750–-700Scribal centers of Babylon and Nippur · BabyloniaTraditional scribal schools in Babylonia organized Sumerian literature with Akkadian translations, establishing conventions for column layout, section numbering, and standard prologues, providing models for reproduction throughout the empire.
c. -668–-627Nineveh · AssyriaAshurbanipal ordered tablets collected from Babylon and elsewhere, establishing a systematically classified royal library at Nineveh, containing myths, epics, prayers, scientific texts, and catalogues, making it the most important material repository of the Mesopotamian literary canon.

Sources

The Libraries of Nineveh — A. K. Grayson (1987)
Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature — Benjamin R. Foster (2005)