The Literature of Ancient Sumer

"This book, published in 2004, is a fascinating anthology which grew out of a project called the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature , based at the Oriental Institute of the University of Oxford. Although some of the compositions in it were probably first recited or sung, the translators have not tried too hard to be poetic, and the English is very readable. Short, informative prefaces to the texts make this an extremely accessible introduction to the world’s most ancient literature. The chapter that I want to highlight in this book is the Keš temple hymn , because it is one of the very oldest literary works known to us. There are fragmentary sources from around 2500 BCE, and — unlike much other ancient literature — it seems to have changed very little over time. It is a hymn to the temple of Nintud, the birth goddess, divided into eight ‘houses’, or verses, each ending with rhetorical questions extolling the greatness of Keš, Nintud, and her warrior son Ašgi. The concluding lines repeat the unsettling phrase “draw near, man… but do not draw near!” stressing the awesome power of the temple and the divine presence within. There is also a later poem to Keš temple in this anthology, attributed to Enheduana — the earliest named author — and hymns in her name to the magnificent Inana, described as a supreme deity who makes lesser gods “tremble like a solitary reed”. The sheer variety of genres and topics in the oldest literature is a joy. Sumerian was used to record everything from sales deeds, court documents and medical texts to narrative myths, heroic tales, sorrowful laments, and hymns of extravagant praise. There is also ‘wisdom literature’ such as proverbs, animal fables and instructions; this book features The Instructions of Šuruppag , which is of a similar ancient vintage to the Keš temple hymn . Disputations were also recorded, some of which are like early rap-battles, with taunts and insults flying back and forth, as in The Debate Between Bird and Fish . Verses about Gilgamesh and The Flood Story are especially noteworthy because of their influence on later writing. Some chapters are intriguing as windows onto a very different time, but many still resonate with us simply as beautiful literature."