Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms #221461

The material collected and edited in this book comprehends nearly all the temple liturgy of the official Babylonian and Assyrian religion yet published. By temple liturgy I mean services of public praise and penance. A sharp division must be made between public services and private services, a distinction which was observed by the Babylonians themselves. Religious literature in Babylonia originated from two dis tinct sources; on the one hand the priest of incantation exercised the mystic rites of magic over afflicted persons in huts in the fields; on the other hand the psalmists had charge of the public services of the temples. In the earliest period the Sumerians who created the entire form of Babylonian religious literature, had only these two classes of sacred literature. The temple services were called er — s'ein — ma's or psalms to the flute'; the incantations, mystic sacramental formulae and prayers of the private rituals bore the title me.