Women's Writing of Ancient Mesopotamia presents fresh and engaging translations of works that were composed or edited by female scribes and elite women of the ancient Near East. These texts provide insight into the social status, struggles, and achievements of women during the earliest periods of recorded human history (c.2300-540 BCE). In three introductory chapters and a concluding chapter, Charles Halton and Saana Svard provide an overview of the civilization of ancient Mesopotamia and examine gender by analyzing these different kinds of texts. The translations cover a range of genres,...

A collection of essays on possible methodological and theoretical approaches to gender within the framework of ancient Near Eastern studies.