"So oral tradition continued to develop alongside written literature, and the primary purpose of recording stories in writing was not necessarily to supply individual readers with a coherent and connected account. Ancient stories were used for a multitude of purposes, often in extracts; attached to a ritual, to give authenticity or to provide an aetiology; to give the weight of some ancient tradition to a custom or to an incantation." p. xvi

"On the first, seventh, and fifteenth of the month I shall make a purification by washing. Then one god should be slaughtered. And the gods can be purified by immersion. Nintu shall mix clay with his flesh and his blood. Then a god and a man will be mixed together in clay." p. 15

"Would a true father have given birth to the rolling sea so that they could clog the river like dragonflies? They are washed...