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The Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin is one of the few literary works whose versions are attested in both Old Babylonian, Middle Babylonian and the Standard Babylonian of the late Neo-Babylonian period, a literary life of around 1,500 years. It seems to have earlier been titled ṭupšenna pitēma, or "Open the Tablet Box" after its incipit and was re-titled Naram-Sin and the Enemy Hordes, after its subject matter by its last Babylonian editor.
It is named after Naram-Sin of Akkad – a prominent monarch of the late 3rd millennium BCE, under whose suzerainty the Akkadian empire reached its zenith - and the Cutheans. The Cuthean Legend is a morality tale told for didactic purposes, rather than an epic grounded in historical events. In this respect it is unlike, for example, similar works like The Great Revolt Against Naram-Sin. The Cuthean Legend follows a traditional tripartite structure: introduction, narrative of events, blessing/cursing formula, common among similar pseudo-autobiographical narû-literature. Naram-Sin is the protagonist and his foes are the Umman Manda , variously described as Hurrians from Malgium, cave-dwellers and demonic bird-like creatures, depending on which version of the epic is consulted.