Sumerian literature

Sumerian inscription on a ceramic stone plaque.

Sumerian literature is the literature written in the Sumerian language during the Middle Bronze Age. Most Sumerian literature is preserved indirectly, via Assyrian or Babylonian copies.

The Sumerians invented the first writing system, developing Sumerian cuneiform writing out of earlier proto-writing systems by about the 30th century BC. The earliest literary texts appear from about the 27th century BC.

The Sumerian language remained in official and literary use in the Akkadian and Babylonian empires, even after the spoken language disappeared from the population; literacy was widespread, and the Sumerian texts that students copied heavily influenced later Babylonian literature.

Poetry

Most Sumerian literature is apparently poetry, ^[1][2] as it is written in left-justified lines,^[3] and could contain line-based organization such as the couplet or the stanza,^[4] but the Sumerian definition of poetry is unknown. It is not rhymed,^[5][6] although “comparable effects were sometimes exploited.”^[7] It did not use syllabo-tonic versification,^[8] and the writing system precludes detection of rhythm, metre, rhyme,^[9][10] or alliteration.^[11] Quantitative analysis of other possible poetic features seems to be lacking.

Literary works

Important works include:

• A Creation and Flood Myth (translation)
• Three epic cycles:
  • Two Enmerkar legends:
    • Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta (translation)
    • Enmerkar and En-suhgir-ana (translation)
  • Two tales of Lugalbanda during Enmerkar's campaign against Aratta:
    • Lugalbanda in the Mountain Cave (translation)
    • Lugalbanda and the Anzud Bird (translation)
  • Five stories in the Gilgamesh epic cycle:
    • Gilgamesh and Huwawa (version A, version B)
    • Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven (translation)
    • Gilgamesh and Aga (translation)
    • Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld (translation)
    • The Death of Gilgamesh (translation)
• The Lament for Ur (translation)

References

• Samuel Noah Kramer (1963). The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226452388.
• Thorkild Jacobsen (1987). The Harps that Once...: Sumerian Poetry in Translation. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300072785.
• Piotr Michalowski (1996). "Ancient Poetics". In M. E. Vogelzang; H. L. J. Vanstiphout. Mesopotamian Poetic Language: Sumerian and Akkadian. Styx.
• Jeremy Black (1998). Reading Sumerian Poetry. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0801435980.
• Jeremy Black; Graham Cunningham; Eleanor Robson; Gábor Zólyomi (2006). The Literature of Ancient Sumer. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199296330.

1. Michalowski p. 146
2. Black p. 5
3. Black et al., Introduction
4. Michalowski p. 144
5. Jacobsen p. xiv
6. Black et al., Introduction
7. Black p. 8
8. Michalowski p. 146
9. Jacobsen p. xiv
10. Black et al., Introduction
11. Black et al., Introduction

See also

• Akkadian literature
• Ancient Egyptian literature
• Cuneiform law
• Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
• Sumerian creation myth

External links

• The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
• Catalogue of literary works at the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature