The volume The Expression of Emotions in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia offers an overview of the study of emotions in ancient texts, discusses the concept of emotions in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, and shows how emotions are described in the ancient texts. In the section dedicated to Ancient Egypt, scholars discuss emotions such as fear, depression, anger, feelings of pain, envy, jealousy and greed, with evidence from different text genres, as well as emotions from the Late Ramesside Letters and royal inscriptions. In the section dedicated to Ancient Mesopotamia, scholars present a wide range of perspectives on Sumerian and Akkadian literary and archival texts that treat emotions in different periods.
Shih-Wei Hsu, Ph.D. (2014), Free University of Berlin, is Associate Professor of History at Nankai University (P.R. China). She is an Egyptologist specialised in Egyptian language, rhetorical stylistics, development of royal inscriptions and kingship.
Jaume Llop Raduà, Ph.D. (2001), University of Barcelona, is Professor of Prehistory, Ancient History and Archaeology at the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain). He is an Assyriologist specialised in Late Bronze Age Assyria.
“The full Index of Subjects and Names at the end of the book show how rich this pioneering work is.”
- Marten Stol, in Bibliotheca Orientalis, LXXVIII N° 5-6, oktober-december 2021
Notes on Contributors
1 The Expression of Emotions in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia: An Introduction Shih-Wei Hsu and Jaume Llop Raduà
Part 1 The Expression of Emotions in Ancient Egypt
2 History of Horror: A Diachronic Overview of Fear(s) in Ancient Egyptian Texts Sven Eicke
3 “I Wish I Could Die”: Depression in Ancient Egypt Shih-Wei Hsu
4 Royal Rage and Private Anger in Ancient Egypt Ines Köhler
5 Everybody Hurts: Understanding and Visualizing Pain in Ancient Egypt Tara Prakash
6 “Without You I Am an Orphan”: Exploring Emotion and Interpersonal Pragmatics in the Late Ramesside Letters Kim Ridealgh
7 Indexes of Emotions in Pianchy’s Great Stela with Some Cultural Comparisons Anthony Spalinger
8 “Do Not Cast an Eye on Another One’s Goods …!”: Aspects of Envy, Jealousy and Greed in Ancient Egypt Alexandra Verbovsek
Part 2 The Expression of Emotions in Ancient Mesopotamia
9 Depression at the Royal Courts of Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal Greta Van Buylaere
10 Shaping Gender, Shaping Emotions: On the Mutual Construction of Gender Identities and Emotional Roles in Ancient Mesopotamia Agnès Garcia-Ventura
11 Emotions and Their Expression in a Religious Historical Perspective in Ancient Mesopotamia Margaret Jaques
12 Expressions of Joy and Happiness in Neo-Assyrian Mikko Luukko
13 From Landscape to Ritual Performances: Emotions in Sumerian Literature Anne-Caroline Rendu Loisel
14 Jealousy in Akkadian Love Literature: Zarpanītu in the Divine Love Lyrics Rocío Da Riva
15 Visible Death and Audible Distress: The Personification of Death (Mūtu) and Associated Emotions as Inherent Conditions of Life in Akkadian Sources Irene Sibbing-Plantholt
16 Gilgamesh and Emotional Excess: The King without Counsel in the SBGilgamesh Epic Karen Sonik
17 Pounding Hearts and Burning Livers: The “Sentimental Body” in Mesopotamian Medicine and Literature Ulrike Steinert
18 Fear in Akkadian Texts: New Digital Perspectives on Lexical Semantics Saana Svärd, Tero Alstola, Heidi Jauhiainen, Aleksi Sahala and Krister Lindén
Index of Subjects and Names Index of Sources Index of Words
All interested in the expression of emotions in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, and anyone concerned with related texts, languages, literature, cultures and history.