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Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C.
Book Description:
"The Sumerians were a non-Semitic, non-Indo-European people who lived in southern Babylonia from 4000-3000 B.C.E. They invented cunieform writing, and their spiritual beliefs influenced all successive Near Eastern religions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They produced an extensive body of literature, among the oldest in the world. Samuel Noah Kramer spent most of his life studying this literature, by piecing together clay tablets in far-flung museums. This short work gives translations or summaries of the most important Sumerian myths." (Quote from sacred-texts.com)
Table of Contents:
Publisher's Preface; Preface; Introduction; The Scope And Significance Of Sumerian Mythology; Myths Of Origins ; Myths Of Kur; Miscellaneous Myths; References And Notes; Supplementary Notes; Endnotes
About the Publisher:
Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, Esoteric and Mythology. www.forgottenbooks.org
Forgotten Books is about sharing information, not about making money. All books are priced at wholesale prices. We are also the only publisher we know of to print in large sans-serif font, which is proven to make the text easier to read and put less strain on your eyes.
"The Sumerians were a non-Semitic, non-Indo-European people who lived in southern Babylonia from 4000-3000 B.C.E. They invented cunieform writing, and their spiritual beliefs influenced all successive Near Eastern religions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They produced an extensive body of literature, among the oldest in the world. Samuel Noah Kramer spent most of his life studying this literature, by piecing together clay tablets in far-flung museums. This short work gives translations or summaries of the most important Sumerian myths." (Quote from sacred-texts.com)
Table of Contents:
Publisher's Preface; Preface; Introduction; The Scope And Significance Of Sumerian Mythology; Myths Of Origins ; Myths Of Kur; Miscellaneous Myths; References And Notes; Supplementary Notes; Endnotes
About the Publisher:
Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, Esoteric and Mythology. www.forgottenbooks.org
Forgotten Books is about sharing information, not about making money. All books are priced at wholesale prices. We are also the only publisher we know of to print in large sans-serif font, which is proven to make the text easier to read and put less strain on your eyes.
211 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1944
468 people are currently reading
1743 people want to read
About the author
Samuel Noah Kramer
45 books120 followersDr. Samuel Noah Kramer, Ph.D. (University of Pennsylvania, 1929; born Simcha Kramer), was a historian, philologist, and Assyriologist, particularly renowned as an expert in the language and history of Sumer. He was Clark Research Professor Emeritus of Assyriology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was also Curator Emeritus of the Tablet Collections.
Dr. Kramer is often credited with the virtual creation of Sumerian cuneiform literature as an academic field, in which he wrote some 30 books for both academic and popular audiences. was a member of the American Oriental Society, Archeological Institute of America, Society of Biblical Literature and American Philosophical Society, which awarded him its John Frederick Lewis Prize.
Dr. Kramer is often credited with the virtual creation of Sumerian cuneiform literature as an academic field, in which he wrote some 30 books for both academic and popular audiences. was a member of the American Oriental Society, Archeological Institute of America, Society of Biblical Literature and American Philosophical Society, which awarded him its John Frederick Lewis Prize.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
March 8, 2014
I'm not quite sure if I have the same e-edition as shown... I ran across it on Amazon while looking for a different book on Hittites, the way ya do ya know, and snabbled it up because it was only three bucks.
It is fairly short, but gives several myths as pieced, literally, together by scholars up to the middle of the last century. It makes me want to look for something more recent, that captures the last 50 years of archeological progress. The Sumerians are especially interesting because 1) all knowledge of their civilization that lasted for nearly two millennia was entirely lost for many many centuries and 2) they seem to have invented cuneiform. Also, one may here trace the roots of several major myth patterns found in the mythologies of later peoples of the region.
Particularly fascinating was a sideways look into the challenges of assembling cuneiform texts when the pieces of, sometimes, the same original tablets are scattered in museum basements across several continents. I wonder if the wonders of getting absolutely everything up on-line are changing this task?
Kramer has a general history of the Sumerians as well, to which I am tempted -- he writes lucidly -- but again, it is now an older work. Hm. I shall poke around a bit.
A good start, and recommended as such.
Ta, L.
It is fairly short, but gives several myths as pieced, literally, together by scholars up to the middle of the last century. It makes me want to look for something more recent, that captures the last 50 years of archeological progress. The Sumerians are especially interesting because 1) all knowledge of their civilization that lasted for nearly two millennia was entirely lost for many many centuries and 2) they seem to have invented cuneiform. Also, one may here trace the roots of several major myth patterns found in the mythologies of later peoples of the region.
Particularly fascinating was a sideways look into the challenges of assembling cuneiform texts when the pieces of, sometimes, the same original tablets are scattered in museum basements across several continents. I wonder if the wonders of getting absolutely everything up on-line are changing this task?
Kramer has a general history of the Sumerians as well, to which I am tempted -- he writes lucidly -- but again, it is now an older work. Hm. I shall poke around a bit.
A good start, and recommended as such.
Ta, L.
December 26, 2017
The edition I read is rather outdated by now, being published in the 1960s, and the author constantly referring to translation only just beginning of some of the key Sumerian texts. Nevertheless, I read it with that caveat in mind and as a basic primer for further reading, to get a rough idea of Sumerian cosmogeny. For that, it served its purpose.
February 5, 2020
Okurken insan Sümerlilere hayran kalmadan edemiyor. Zevk alarak okuduğum bir kitap oldu ama başlangıç için okunacak bir kitap değildi. Keşke ilk "Tarih Sümer'de Başlar" ı okusaydım. O sebeple okurken bazı yerleri anlamakta zorlanmadı değil.
April 3, 2017
Sümer mitolojisine giriş için güzel bir kitap olduğunu düşünüyorum. Yine de keşke önce Tarih Sümer'de Başlar'ı okusaymışım.
November 11, 2025
habiendo leído La historia empieza en Sumer, se nota lo desactualizado. Alguna que otra traducción habría, pero era más relleno y resumen que la traducción en sí.
May 3, 2015
Sümer okumalarına başlamak için iyi bir kitap, Kramer kitabın ilk bölümünde Sümer dilinin çözülmesi hikayesini anlatıyor ve bulunan tabletlerde geçen konulara kısaca değiniyor, ikinci-üçüncü ve dördüncü bölümlerin tamamı tabletlerden örnek metinler ve Kramer'in açıklamaları ile Sümer mitlerinden oluşuyor.
September 8, 2016
Kitabı 2.defa okuyorum, her okuyanın yapıcağı yorumların dışında şunları söylemek istiyorum.
Tarih sümer'de başlar kitabını okuduktan sonra bu eseri elinize alın.
ve sümerler hakkında yazılan kitaplar biraz güncel hale gelmeye başladı, crawfordlard, krammerin talebeleri, muazzez çığ hanımım yayınları derken....21.yüzyıl için güncel kaynaklardan da mutlaka beslenin.
Tarih sümer'de başlar kitabını okuduktan sonra bu eseri elinize alın.
ve sümerler hakkında yazılan kitaplar biraz güncel hale gelmeye başladı, crawfordlard, krammerin talebeleri, muazzez çığ hanımım yayınları derken....21.yüzyıl için güncel kaynaklardan da mutlaka beslenin.
May 3, 2013
Great book! It does not get into detail but it is highly recommended for beginners in Sumerian Mythology! Very summarized but not shallow.
July 19, 2018
While a bit outdated, it's still an excellent introduction. My edition came with an updated introduction as well, which corrected some of the old scholarship.
September 21, 2024
Sümerler ile ilgilenen herkesin okuması gereken kitaplardan,
Kramer hoca bu konunun en bilgili ismi,
Kitap çevirisi muhteşem orjinal dilin getirdiği sadelik ve akıcılık da buna katkıda bulunmuş olabilir, okuması çok rahat ve duru bir kitap olmuş, Kabalcı yayın evine ve çevirmen Hamide Koyukan'a teşekkürler,
Kitabın içinde çevirisi yapılan birleştirilen çivi yazısı orjinal metinler ve buluntularla birlikte anlamları açıklanan motifler de mevcut, kitaba araştırma yazısı havası katmış,
Mısır uygarlığı dışında bilinen en eski medeniyet, arkalarında yazılı kaynaklar bırakmaları bizler için çok değerli,
Sayın Muazzez İlmiye Çığ'ın da kitaplarında belirttiği gibi çivi yazısı örneklerinin birçoğu İstanbulda müzede saklanmakta ve keşfedilmeyi beklemektedir,
İnsanlığın inandığı şeyler zamanla değişse de ana fikir önceki düşüncelerle örtüşüyor,
Kültürü, inanışları, tanrıların görevlerini bile sonraki uygarlıklara öncü olmuş bir medeniyet,
Umarım kazı çalışmaları devam eder ve hikayenin eksik kısımları tamamlanır
Kramer hoca bu konunun en bilgili ismi,
Kitap çevirisi muhteşem orjinal dilin getirdiği sadelik ve akıcılık da buna katkıda bulunmuş olabilir, okuması çok rahat ve duru bir kitap olmuş, Kabalcı yayın evine ve çevirmen Hamide Koyukan'a teşekkürler,
Kitabın içinde çevirisi yapılan birleştirilen çivi yazısı orjinal metinler ve buluntularla birlikte anlamları açıklanan motifler de mevcut, kitaba araştırma yazısı havası katmış,
Mısır uygarlığı dışında bilinen en eski medeniyet, arkalarında yazılı kaynaklar bırakmaları bizler için çok değerli,
Sayın Muazzez İlmiye Çığ'ın da kitaplarında belirttiği gibi çivi yazısı örneklerinin birçoğu İstanbulda müzede saklanmakta ve keşfedilmeyi beklemektedir,
İnsanlığın inandığı şeyler zamanla değişse de ana fikir önceki düşüncelerle örtüşüyor,
Kültürü, inanışları, tanrıların görevlerini bile sonraki uygarlıklara öncü olmuş bir medeniyet,
Umarım kazı çalışmaları devam eder ve hikayenin eksik kısımları tamamlanır
Read
June 1, 2018Yazacağım sonra bir şeyler.
February 13, 2019
This edition actually has 130 pages, including suplementary notes.
February 5, 2024
When I read the line: "In the course of of the past hundred years, approximately five thousand such literary pieces have been excavated" I felt shivers all over.
Really enjoyable readthrough. Similar to humanity before we discovered these ancient tablets I didn't know a thing about the Sumerians. Last year I got increasingly interested on the history of humanity. This is one of those branching paths to me. It's really fascinating to see some of the ancient stories link back so far. (such as the flood even if it is mostly incomplete.)
It's a book like this that really shows you how civilized and complicated people were even in ancient times. The ancient records being free from being mischaracterized is great. It came from them, the peoples. (Unlike say, the biased views of roman scholars on "Barbarians")
The Creation Of The Pickaxe and Inna's Descent To The Nether World were my favorite myths.
There was a bit of a start to the epic of gilgamesh in there as well. With Enkidu in the nether world.
Really enjoyable readthrough. Similar to humanity before we discovered these ancient tablets I didn't know a thing about the Sumerians. Last year I got increasingly interested on the history of humanity. This is one of those branching paths to me. It's really fascinating to see some of the ancient stories link back so far. (such as the flood even if it is mostly incomplete.)
It's a book like this that really shows you how civilized and complicated people were even in ancient times. The ancient records being free from being mischaracterized is great. It came from them, the peoples. (Unlike say, the biased views of roman scholars on "Barbarians")
The Creation Of The Pickaxe and Inna's Descent To The Nether World were my favorite myths.
There was a bit of a start to the epic of gilgamesh in there as well. With Enkidu in the nether world.
June 6, 2018
An older work from Kramer. I can appreciate it because it shows the development of the myths as they were being found and pieced together. What you find here that is incomplete in later works will become complete. Not an essential read as it is unless you are either interested in the development of his earliest researches or it is the first of his works you have the chance to read, but either way it is still a good read.
June 20, 2022
Excellent book about Sumerian mythology, I highly recommend!!!!
December 12, 2024
It has a lot that's good, but honestly, it's quite out of date. There are better options out there.
August 17, 2025
Interesting book in part for the overview of the Sumerian mythologies, though given the age of this book (published 1944 and revised in 1961) you can find more updated books about the mythology. The other interesting part, though it is a little dry, is the author's description of how different fragments of recovery tablets were used to piece together the stories. Adds a little 'twist' to an otherwise quick read.
February 22, 2024
This little monograph (and I do mean little), a real classic in Sumerology, covers the Sumerian mythology known up to the mid 40s - that is more or less the issue with it for the modern day.
Although it works perfectly fine as a little intro to Sumerian history, mythology and maybe culture if you know nothing much about it, if you happen to have already studied Assyriology, even briefly, or any bit of Mesopotamian literature (and thus mythology), then this book will offer you very little indeed. It can hardly be blamed for it, since Kramer was one of the leading Sumerologists of the time and many of the poems here had been translated for the first time here, or published in book form, in a coherent mythological vision, for the first time here. It's a classic in the studies of Near Eastern myth and religion for a reason!
However, today, it strikes me as deeply simple: unless you truly just need an introduction to it, I would rather recommend something like The Harps That Once...: Sumerian Poetry in Translation, or even a visit to the ETCSL in search of the poems here. If you read any book at all on Mesopotamian literature/mythology, you're nearly guaranteed to know the basics of how cuneiform writing came about, the difference between Akkadian and Sumerian, how Sumerian was used, etc, so you should be golden.
Once again, this is not to diminish the efforts of great Assyriologists like Kramer - more of a way to tell readers that much more has been discovered, translated and written in the meantime.
Although it works perfectly fine as a little intro to Sumerian history, mythology and maybe culture if you know nothing much about it, if you happen to have already studied Assyriology, even briefly, or any bit of Mesopotamian literature (and thus mythology), then this book will offer you very little indeed. It can hardly be blamed for it, since Kramer was one of the leading Sumerologists of the time and many of the poems here had been translated for the first time here, or published in book form, in a coherent mythological vision, for the first time here. It's a classic in the studies of Near Eastern myth and religion for a reason!
However, today, it strikes me as deeply simple: unless you truly just need an introduction to it, I would rather recommend something like The Harps That Once...: Sumerian Poetry in Translation, or even a visit to the ETCSL in search of the poems here. If you read any book at all on Mesopotamian literature/mythology, you're nearly guaranteed to know the basics of how cuneiform writing came about, the difference between Akkadian and Sumerian, how Sumerian was used, etc, so you should be golden.
Once again, this is not to diminish the efforts of great Assyriologists like Kramer - more of a way to tell readers that much more has been discovered, translated and written in the meantime.
May 5, 2017
I'm kind of bummed that this book is old, older than I thought it to be when I checked it out at the library. I think this is a fine example of a great man's work on a subject whose knowledge (or what could be salvaged of it) had been scattered to the four corners of the earth. I also think this book is merely a declaration of progress, which isn't a terrible thing, it's just a bit disappointing to the unsuspecting reader. What did I expect, though? I must remember how unbelievably ancient the fragments are that Kramer was working with. It has definitely made me thirsty for current research and reconstruction efforts. There must be a "Where Are They Now?" of Sumerian anthropological and archaeological research.
March 26, 2018
This book was quite interesting. Sumerian tablets are the oldest ancient writings recording stories of creation, the flood, etc.. The Sumerians believed in a series of gods, but their stories were very similar to Phoenician, the Mesopotamian regions, Palestinian and even Israelites. The major difference being that they have changed the names of gods to their local ones and the people involved to more local names. It really makes you think. I would recommend this to anyone interested in Mythology, History, Religion and/or Nonfiction.
August 24, 2018
Çalışmaları için yazarımıza -bilim adamımıza- sonsuz teşekkür ediyorum. Üç yıldız vermemin sebebi kişiye ya da çalışmalara değil; bunu yapacak yetkinlikte de değilim zaten. Fakat başlangıç seviyesinde olan ve Sümer mitolojisini tanıtma amaçlı yazılmış bir kitaba göre hem önsözde hem de kitabın kalanında çok fazla arkeolojik -kazı, müze, kaşif, süreç- ayrıntısı var. Bu "fazlalığın" mitolojinin kendisini merak eden okuyucular için dikkat dağıtıcı olduğunu düşünüyorum.
July 26, 2018
Sumerian Mythology
Written in 1944 & revised in 1961, Sumerian Mythology represents a first strike at translation and interpretation of Sumerian Literature from the pre-Akkaddian period (3rd Millennium BC).
The 184 page book is composed of three parts: the preface/introduction/chapter one/and paragraphs throughout the main text; in which the author outlines the history of finding, deciphering, and translating Sumerian cuneiform texts in general and for the specific literary texts referenced in parts two & three.
Part two of the book provides prose summaries of the following: Myth of creation of the universe, several short myths on the organization of the Universe, Myths of Kur [a concept loosely translatable as Chaos, literal translation Mountain]; and three miscellaneous Myths of interest because of their biblical parallels [The Deluge, Inanna Prefers the Farmer, and the Marriage of Martu].
Part three of the book which is interwoven with part two are poetic translations of sections of the myths outlined in part two.
Comments: very interested by the concept of Kur - chaos, represented as a snake or dragon and it's defeat by Gilgamesh. Also of interest is the goddess Inanna - she is ubiquitous, powerful, smart and central to many of the myth cycles in a way less expressed for female characters in more recent mythologies..
This book is so intriguing but it is very old (70/50+ years). Questions:
1. Have new tablets/ tablet sections been discovered, unearthed and translated since 1944/1961?
2. Has the overall focus expressed in these myths been changed with the newer material? For example, sometimes our impress of a society is chance- where the archaeologists chanced to dig.
3. What else do we know from the archaeology record about Sumer before the invasion of the Semitic Akkadians?
4. What archetypical ideas are buried in these writings and how foreign or same are they to what we as Westerners drink with our mother's milk?
NOTE TO SELF
There is so much more to write about Sumerian Mythology - this book deserves a full analysis especial once combined with additional sources of information on Sumerian culture and through comparison with other cultures' myths.
Written in 1944 & revised in 1961, Sumerian Mythology represents a first strike at translation and interpretation of Sumerian Literature from the pre-Akkaddian period (3rd Millennium BC).
The 184 page book is composed of three parts: the preface/introduction/chapter one/and paragraphs throughout the main text; in which the author outlines the history of finding, deciphering, and translating Sumerian cuneiform texts in general and for the specific literary texts referenced in parts two & three.
Part two of the book provides prose summaries of the following: Myth of creation of the universe, several short myths on the organization of the Universe, Myths of Kur [a concept loosely translatable as Chaos, literal translation Mountain]; and three miscellaneous Myths of interest because of their biblical parallels [The Deluge, Inanna Prefers the Farmer, and the Marriage of Martu].
Part three of the book which is interwoven with part two are poetic translations of sections of the myths outlined in part two.
Comments: very interested by the concept of Kur - chaos, represented as a snake or dragon and it's defeat by Gilgamesh. Also of interest is the goddess Inanna - she is ubiquitous, powerful, smart and central to many of the myth cycles in a way less expressed for female characters in more recent mythologies..
This book is so intriguing but it is very old (70/50+ years). Questions:
1. Have new tablets/ tablet sections been discovered, unearthed and translated since 1944/1961?
2. Has the overall focus expressed in these myths been changed with the newer material? For example, sometimes our impress of a society is chance- where the archaeologists chanced to dig.
3. What else do we know from the archaeology record about Sumer before the invasion of the Semitic Akkadians?
4. What archetypical ideas are buried in these writings and how foreign or same are they to what we as Westerners drink with our mother's milk?
NOTE TO SELF
There is so much more to write about Sumerian Mythology - this book deserves a full analysis especial once combined with additional sources of information on Sumerian culture and through comparison with other cultures' myths.
November 7, 2022
book #40 of 2022: Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium BC (pub. 1972) by professor emeritus of Assyriology and curator emeritus of the tablet collections at the univ museum, UPenn, Samuel Noah Kramer. I’ve been sucking on this very short (103 pg) hard candy of a read for months. with descriptions of the excavation and translation processes and then descriptions and translations of the actual creation myths and other myths, it was a bit drier than I was anticipating, but this author’s work is definitely another career I could see myself in, so it wasn’t without its compelling moments. the book I’m actually focused on is the next one I’ll be reading on Sumerian mythology, which is prophetic and esoteric (occult), but I wanted to hit the basics first, since I’d never actually read them before. now I know the probable origin of the phrase “as above, so below”: the myth Iranna’s Descent in the Nether World. also, the Sumerian account is apparently the origin of the deluge (the flood), preceding and consistent with the Biblical account, with a change of names. also, if you’ve heard of the Anunnaki, they are from Sumerian mythology (see the creation of man myth). I can’t say I recommend it, unless you’re super into mythology, but i am and if there was ever a time to care about such topics, this is it, so I’m glad I finally got to this, the source of a lot of subsequent mythologies throughout the world, especially the Middle East (and yes, the Bible is very much included in that set, as is Egyptian mythology).
March 29, 2025
The author was significant in the study of Sumerian history and language. This book was originally published in 1944, and revised in 1961. He lived much of his life in Philadelphia after his family fled Ukraine during the pogroms. Sumer is the oldest known civilization, located in Mesopotamia, and its language was not Semitic. It was eventually overthrown by the Akkadians, but elements of its mythology were influential on the region, producing, among other things, the first extant written version of the flood myth. The book discusses various cuneiform tablets and includes translations. One of these is the creation story, briefly mentioned in numerous other myths, in which everything emerges from the sea, and heaven and earth are divided, partially facilitated by the air god Enlil. That the sky is some sort of separation between the land and the heavens is one found in other mythology, as with Atlas holding up the heavens in the Greek, or Shu separating Geb and Nut in the Egyptian, as well as the firmament in Genesis. The sky is said to have been made of lapis lazuli. The origins of other aspects of civilization are also addressed, including cattle herding, agriculture, and the invention of the pickaxe and plow by Enlil. The gods Enlil and Ninlil (convenient when the names of a couple almost rhyme) give birth to the lunar god Nanna, who in turn fathers Utu, the solar deity. Enlil and Ninlil are also the parents of three gods of the underworld. Another story has the water god Enki create a city that he makes float on the water of the Persian Gulf, a pretty fascinating concept that might have influenced such concepts as the floating island of Delos and Aeolia in Greek mythology. The gods created humans out of clay in order for them to produce food. And there are three known versions of a story about a god slaying a monster in the sea, likely an earlier take on the Babylonian tale of Marduk and Tiamat, with the heroes of each being Enki, Ninurta, and Inanna.
April 18, 2022
Still a Celebrated Sumeriologist After 100 Years
While Samuel Noah Kramer was an active Sumerian archaeologist as of at least 100 years ago, and much has come to light that further elucidated and continues to clarify (or not?) what little we knew/know about the Sumerians, even now, his efforts in attempting to shed some light on the enigmatic Sumerians is still appreciated by the younger class of Sumeriologists and others.
Kramer’s writing style makes it easy to want to continue reading, and in fact he’s one of the few archaeologists who doesn’t bore me to the point that I either fall asleep or I put the book down altogether.
As for the content, Kramer focuses – as the title states – on Sumerian Mythology, which even after a hundred years of explication by mainstream archaeology/academia has not been able to determine anything more than Kramer and his colleagues of that time period were able to provide. Unless, of course, one considers Zecharia Sitchin and the newer breed of Sumeriologists. But, I digress.
Excellent book. Highly recommended.
While Samuel Noah Kramer was an active Sumerian archaeologist as of at least 100 years ago, and much has come to light that further elucidated and continues to clarify (or not?) what little we knew/know about the Sumerians, even now, his efforts in attempting to shed some light on the enigmatic Sumerians is still appreciated by the younger class of Sumeriologists and others.
Kramer’s writing style makes it easy to want to continue reading, and in fact he’s one of the few archaeologists who doesn’t bore me to the point that I either fall asleep or I put the book down altogether.
As for the content, Kramer focuses – as the title states – on Sumerian Mythology, which even after a hundred years of explication by mainstream archaeology/academia has not been able to determine anything more than Kramer and his colleagues of that time period were able to provide. Unless, of course, one considers Zecharia Sitchin and the newer breed of Sumeriologists. But, I digress.
Excellent book. Highly recommended.
December 15, 2024
A bit dated but a quick read. Kramer is probably the best known of the original translators of Sumerian myth into English. Others have followed in his footsteps, filled in gaps by finding more complete copies of a text, and offered new and probably more accurate translations.
The real gem of this book are not the myths themselves, but Kramer's accounts before each translation of where the tablets were excavated, which museums they're stored in, and details about their physical condition (with photos in many instances). These are short narratives, anecdotes more than stories, but they offer a glimpse of the detective type work these early translators of cuneiform tablets were dealing with.
Kramer also offers explanatory summaries of what's going on in the myths. If you've read literal translations of Mesopotamian myth before, they can be a bit abstract with seemingly redundant phrases. It's not like picking up a volume of Homer or Ovid. Kramer's explanations are very helpful in understanding what is happening in a myth.
The real gem of this book are not the myths themselves, but Kramer's accounts before each translation of where the tablets were excavated, which museums they're stored in, and details about their physical condition (with photos in many instances). These are short narratives, anecdotes more than stories, but they offer a glimpse of the detective type work these early translators of cuneiform tablets were dealing with.
Kramer also offers explanatory summaries of what's going on in the myths. If you've read literal translations of Mesopotamian myth before, they can be a bit abstract with seemingly redundant phrases. It's not like picking up a volume of Homer or Ovid. Kramer's explanations are very helpful in understanding what is happening in a myth.
March 21, 2020
In the Introduction I enjoy following the path of individuals & universities involved in deciphering Sumerian. In the US the U. of Pennsylvania (University Museum) comes first, soon after the Oriental Institute at the U. of Chicago steps in. Having studied mythology at Penn State, Florida State & Catholic University I was living the study of comparative philology along with comparative mythology. It fascinates me that 26 years after graduating from CU I am relearning and learning anew so much. This book forms a page in a reading program to last all of 2020 on Mesopotamia and then the Egyptians and Minoans.
The bulk of the book recounts the creation myths which are interesting in that they assume like ancient Irish myth that some of the universe already existed, much like Christians believe God has always been.
The bulk of the book recounts the creation myths which are interesting in that they assume like ancient Irish myth that some of the universe already existed, much like Christians believe God has always been.
October 9, 2018
I've done more reading on ancient Egypt than Sumer and so picked this up wanting to get more background on another equally ancient civilization. I'm sure this book is dated at this point since it was published in the 1960s, nevertheless it was interesting learning about Kramer's work piecing together myths from different parts of tablets. I especially liked the pictures of the tablets with some transliteration, translation, and introductory commentary about the myths. The repetitive nature of Sumerian poetry reminded me a bit of classical Hebrew. I found the most interesting myth to be the Sumerian flood story. Perhaps because of the academic writing style I found this collection a little less engaging than others I've read resently, but all-in-all worth the time to review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 26, 2024
The author surveys and translates the earliest written stories of Sumerians (ancient Mesopotamia), examining their myths recorded on clay tablets in cuneiform from more than 2000 BC. But this is an old book published in the 1940s. I need to read a different book now, maybe another recent publication on the topic.
He presents the Sumerian pantheon, creation accounts, and heroic tales, Laments, wisdom literature revealing how these Sumerian narratives shaped the religious and cultural foundations of later civilizations that conquered the Sumerians like Chaldeens, Babylonians and even to the Isralites literature.
What I found particularly fascinating was the connection between the Sumerian city of Ur—traditionally associated with Abraham in biblical history—and the parallels between the biblical story of Cain and Abel and the Sumerian myth of the Shepherd and Farmer.
He presents the Sumerian pantheon, creation accounts, and heroic tales, Laments, wisdom literature revealing how these Sumerian narratives shaped the religious and cultural foundations of later civilizations that conquered the Sumerians like Chaldeens, Babylonians and even to the Isralites literature.
What I found particularly fascinating was the connection between the Sumerian city of Ur—traditionally associated with Abraham in biblical history—and the parallels between the biblical story of Cain and Abel and the Sumerian myth of the Shepherd and Farmer.
October 27, 2022
I enjoyed this collection. It covers a brief accounting of the history and culture and then a fairly complete collection of the myths and key heroes, gods and goddesses who figure in Sumerian mythology, organized by section, beginning with creation myths and includes actual translations to the extent that the tablets had been translated at the time of writing.
I found that there are many similarities to the myths and legends of other cultures and it is interesting to note how they differ as well as where they are the same.
If you have an interest in folklore and mythology or in ancient history, this is a good primer.
I found that there are many similarities to the myths and legends of other cultures and it is interesting to note how they differ as well as where they are the same.
If you have an interest in folklore and mythology or in ancient history, this is a good primer.
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