Sumerian Mythology: Captivating Myths of Gods, Goddesses, and Legendary Creatures of Ancient Sumer and Their Importance to the Sumerians

by Matt Clayton

If you're looking for a captivating collection of Sumerian myths, then keep reading...
This book includes tales of gods and goddesses, both major and minor, as well as kings and heroes, both historical and mythical. One such king is the hero of what many scholars believe to be the first written epic: Gilgamesh.

In addition to creating connections between the human world and the divine, Sumerian myths explain how the world came to be in the first place. These myths establish the cosmic order, which places the greater gods, or Annunaki, at the top of the hierarchy, with the lesser gods, or Igigi, below them.

Heroic strength capable of bringing mountains to their knees is the province of both male and female deities in Sumerian myth. The god Ninurta does battle with the evil Asag and rearranges the mountains to allow the Tigris and Euphrates to flow, while the goddess Inanna brings down Mount Ebih in revenge for the mountain’s refusal to do the goddess reverence.

The original Sumerian texts of these stories are poetic in nature and often contain a significant number of repeated phrases. For the purposes of this book, the stories have been rendered in prose and the repetitions have been smoothed out in order to make the language flow as such. A glossary of names and places for modern readers who may not be familiar with Sumerian mythography is included. But however these stories are transmitted, they will always tell us how this ancient people understood their world and their place in it, as well as about the customs and relationships they found to be most important.

In Sumerian Mythology: Captivating Myths of Gods, Goddesses, and Legendary Creatures of Ancient Sumer and Their Importance to the Sumerians, you'll find the following Sumerian myths and topics covered
Tales of Gods and Goddesses Tales of Kings and Heroes Inanna and the Huluppu Tree Enkidu in the Underworld Gilgamesh and Huwawa Gilgamesh and Aga And much, much more! So if you want a captivating collection of Sumerian myths, click the “add to cart” button!

Genres: Mythology, History, Nonfiction

110 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 15, 2019

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good basic selection of Sumerian myths with some introductory material. The myths were interesting.

[Eduardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Few civilizations in history fascinate me as much as the Sumerians, who died out about four thousand years ago, having lived and thrived in the region of Mesopotamia for thousands of years theretofore, and who spoke a language isolate—an immediate draw for me as a language nerd. This neat little book recounts some of the tales these people probably told each other around a fire, in town squares, in alehouses, in households as warnings or lessons for children—or as propaganda to legitimize the rule of certain kingly figures. It is quite short yet mighty interesting, and it leaves you with the urge to hunt for more of these ancient tales, to learn more about their civilization and their values and culture. Also, at least for me, it is overwhelming, awe-inspiring, to think that over four thousand years after the Sumerians ceased to be as a people we can miraculously know any one thing about them—to think that they had essentially been forgotten until people started digging and found an entire world buried beneath years and years of dirt, memory, and war.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm extremely happy to have encountered the books on mythology by Matt Clayton, as it contains exactly what I want: A book that not only retells the myths, but also goes into the cultural details of said stories. Even if I think there's a lot more that could be said about each story and that the separation of notes and text may have been better if separated further, this is still incredibly encouraging.

[jeanmarie t corrieri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating

I really really enjoyed these stories, myths, history type stuff. Being acquainted with Enki and Enlil, it was wonderful to live in their world, see things thru the Sumerian eyes/ perspective! It literally brought me back in time, way back, to a time when mans gods physically lived among them. If you're into this kind of thing, you will spend a pleasant several hours.

[Liam Malone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe one of the best books I've read in years! This includes all the great mythic stories and could be a starting point for reading deeply into the Epic of Gilgamesh and Sumerian history & myth in general.

[Faith Moreno-Peace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read.

Good read, a little more about the main legends than I was hoping to read about instead of the mythology but still just as interesting. I also did not know that much about Gilgamesh which was cool to hear/learn about.

[Kevin Stumpf · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping to learn more about the history of Sumerian Mythology. This was more of a collection of mythological stories involved in the religion itself than a history of the religion itself. That may be confusing to some, but I was not wanting to read the stories, but the history of the stories.

[Andrei Sebastian Cîmpean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it.

[Alexander Westerlund · Rating 1 out of 5]

Riktigt dålig.

[Barry Dewey-Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sumerian mythology is another great read from Captivating Histories. Each story is prefaced by a useful analysis which adds to the enjoyment of the text. The author also does a great job of editing the more tedious aspects of some stories and highlights where the original text is missing or incomplete. I'd definitely recommend it.

[Arran Ubels · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting