The Epic of Lee: Learning Akkadian

Greetings, readers. I'm delighted to have the pleasure of addressing you all here in the first of (apparently several) blog posts as part of the IDEA Grant program.

My name is Lee Garcia. I’m a current junior at Florida State University and this summer I'll be starting a project that I’ve always dreamed of: reviewing Akkadian literature.

You might be asking: “What is Akkadian?” or “What does Akkadian literature entail?” or “What is literature?” (if it's the latter I fear I can't help you).

Akkadian is an ancient–think four thousand years, give or take–Semitic language that was spoken and written throughout the Ancient Near East. It was written in cuneiform on clay tablets, and is the language of many famous ancient writings, including the flood myth, the Code of Hammurabi, and (perhaps most famously) The Epic of Gilgamesh.

Atrahasis, the flood story (from The British Museum)

The stele of Hammurabi (from the Louvre)

In the Fall 2025 semester, I will begin an Honors in the Major project focused on a comparative analysis of Ishtar–the Mesopotamian goddess of power, fertility, and change–and female magic workers of Greek literary tradition. Both Ishtar and these magic workers were associated with change, transformation, and boundary crossing, and I believe that such analysis could both resolve a gap in current scholarship and highlight certain dimensions of these figures that may otherwise go unnoticed.

However, my ability to perform this analysis is predicated on an understanding of the original literature: Ishtar’s qualities are described in Akkadian texts. Like any other language, translations of Akkadian works often fail to highlight the nuances present in the original text. And like any other language, the accessibility of English translation is dependent on field size, demand, and translator ability. Unfortunately, though our pool of Akkadian sources is not small, access to reliable, nuanced English translation certainly is. It is this particular hurdle that I now face and will attempt to overcome throughout the course of this project.

To this end, I will first engage with a Directed Individual Study (DIS) hosted by Dr. David Levenson of the Religion department here at FSU. Dr. Levenson has not learned or taught Akkadian (and though it goes without saying, neither have I), so this process will be more research-oriented than a traditional language learning DIS. We will build the coursework, methodology, and approach from the ground up.

At this time, I will prioritize the translation of texts focused on Ishtar. During the second half of the summer, I will refine my knowledge of Akkadian and focus on producing a literature review that identifies, discusses, and (hopefully) resolves notable translation issues within the texts covered.

Not only will this process produce a greater understanding of how to approach learning and teaching Akkadian, it will also aid my academic future at FSU and beyond. I intend to produce this Honors in the Major project over the course of the next year, and hope to pursue these studies at the graduate level. By beginning the language learning process, addressing this gap in scholarship, and presenting these findings to the greater Florida State academic community, I hope to gain the relevant experience necessary for elaborating on these issues later in my academic career.

It is an honor to be a part of this process, and I am excited for the months to come. With luck, my final blog post will be written on a clay tablet (or something like that).

Tablet from FSU’s special collections!