Song of the hoe
Encyclopedia
The Song of the hoe or the Creation of the pickax is a Sumerian
creation myth, written on clay tablet
s from the last century of the 3rd millennium BC
.
s'; some examples are: The Debate between sheep and grain
; The Debate between bird and fish
; the Debate between Winter and Summer
; and The Dispute between Silver and Copper, etc. These topics came some centuries after writing was established in Sumerian Mesopotamia
. The debates are philosophical
and address humanity's place in the world. Some of the debates may be from 2100 BC. The song of the hoe stands alone in its own sub-category as a one-sided debate poem.
, numbers 80170, 132243 (unpublished) and 139993. Two tablets of the myth are held by the Louvre
in Paris
, number AO 7087 & AO 8898. One is held in the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin
, number 17378 and three at the Yale
Babylonian collection, numbers 5487, 7070 and 11941. Lines of the myth were discovered on the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
, catalogue of the Babylonian section (CBS), from their excavations at the temple
library
at Nippur
. Tablets from this collection, numbers 8111, 13122, 13382 and 13864 were documented by Edward Chiera
in "Sumerian Epics and Myths". Samuel Noah Kramer
included CBS tablets 8531, 10310, 10335, 29.16.23, 29.16.436. He also included translations from tablets in the Nippur collection of the Museum of the Ancient Orient in Istanbul
, catalogue numbers 1117, 2337, 2473, 2742. Other tablets were added from the "Ur excavations texts" in 1928 along with several others to bring it to its present form, which is virtually complete. The latest composite text and translation was produced in 1996 by H. Behrens, B. Jagersma and Joachim Krecher.
. The verb-forms and nouns also frequently start with, or contain the syllable "al" (or "ar"), suggesting the writer intended it for humour as a satirical school text or as a tongue-twister
. The song starts with a creation myth where Enlil
separates heaven and earth in Duranki, the cosmic Nippur
or 'Garden of the Gods
'.
The myth continues with a description of Enlil creating daylight with his hoe; he goes on to praise its construction and creation. Enlil's mighty hoe is said to be made of gold
, with the blade made of lapis lazuli
and fastened by cord. It is inlaid with lapis lazuli and adorned with silver
and gold. Enlil makes civilized man, from a brick
mould with his hoe – and the Annanuki start to praise him. Nisaba, Ninmena
, and Nunamnir start organizing things. Enki
praises the hoe; they start reproducing and Enlil makes numerous shining hoes, for everyone to begin work. Enlil then founds the Ekur
with his hoe whilst a "god-man" called Lord Nudimmud builds the Abzu
in Eridug. Various gods are then described establishing construction projects in other cities, such as Ninhursag
in Kesh
, and Inanna
and Utu
in Zabalam; Nisaba and E-ana also set about building. The useful construction and agricultural uses of the hoe are summarized, along with its capabilities for use as a weapon
and for burying the dead. Allusions are made to the scenes of Enkidu
's ghost
, and Urshanabi
's ferry over the Hubur
, in the Epic of Gilgamesh
:
Ninmena
is suggested to create both the priestess and king
. The hymn ends with extensive praisings of the hoe, Enlil, and Nisaba:
, irrigation
, drainage
and the ability to build roads, canals and eventually the first proto-cities. One of the tablets from the Yale Babylonian Collection was published by J.J. Van Dijk which spoke of three cosmic realms; heaven, earth and kur
in a time when darkness covered an arid land, when heaven and earth were joined and the Enlil's universal laws, the me did not function. Two of the major traditions of the Sumerian concept of the creation of man are discussed in the myth. The first is the creation of mankind from brick moulds or clay. This has notable similarities to the creation of man from the dust of the earth in the Book of Genesis in the Bible
. This activity has also been associated with creating clay figurines. The second Sumerian tradition which compares men to plants, made to "break through the ground", an allusion to imagery of the fertility or mother goddess and giving an image of man being "planted" in the ground. Wayne Horowitz notes that five Sumerian myths recount a creation scene with the separation of heaven and earth. He further notes the figurative imagery relaying the relationship between the creation of agricultural implements making a function for mankind and thereby its creation from the "seed of the land". The myth was called the "Creation of the Pickax" by Samuel Noah Kramer, a name by which it is referred in older sorurces. In Sumerian literature, the hoe or pickaxe is used not only in creation of the Ekur but also described as the tool of its destruction in lament hymns such as the Lament for Ur
, where it is torn apart with a storm and then pickaxes.
The cosmological position of the hoe does not fit into Charles Long
's categorization of cosmogenic myths. Creation has been suggested to have been the responsibility of different gods via different processes. Creation via a cosmological agricultural implement seems to occupy a unique place in the creation myth genre. The song was meant to be sung aloud with the repetition of the word hoe or "al" a total of forty five times in the text with common use of the two syllable
s together "al"/"ar". A cosmological link is suggested between the hoe's being and its doing; making everything prosper and flourish within a community
. Gary Martin discusses the sociological benefits of singing songs to a hoe, to remind people that they wield the implement of Enlil and of creation. That they can participate in creativity and work well to preserve and improve society
. He suggests that "perhaps by praising the simple tool of an extremely important group of laborers, and imbuing it with cosmological significance, those wielders of the hoe are themselves brought into a grand cosmological drama."
Sumerian language
Sumerian is the language of ancient Sumer, which was spoken in southern Mesopotamia since at least the 4th millennium BC. During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism...
creation myth, written on clay tablet
Clay tablet
In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age....
s from the last century of the 3rd millennium BC
Anno Domini
and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....
.
Disputations
Seven "debate" topics are known from the Sumerian literature, falling in the category of 'disputationDisputation
In the scholastic system of education of the Middle Ages, disputations offered a formalized method of debate designed to uncover and establish truths in theology and in sciences...
s'; some examples are: The Debate between sheep and grain
Debate between sheep and grain
The Debate between sheep and grain or Myth of cattle and grain is a Sumerian creation myth, written on clay tablets in the mid to late 3rd millennium BC...
; The Debate between bird and fish
Debate between bird and fish
The Debate between bird and fish is a literature essay of the Sumerian language, on clay tablets from the mid to late 3rd millennium BC.Seven "debate" topics are known from the Sumerian literature, falling in the category of 'disputations'; some examples are: The Debate between Winter and Summer;...
; the Debate between Winter and Summer
Debate between Winter and Summer
The Debate between Winter and Summer or Myth of Emesh and Enten is a Sumerian creation myth, written on clay tablets in the mid to late 3rd millennium BC.-Disputations:...
; and The Dispute between Silver and Copper, etc. These topics came some centuries after writing was established in Sumerian Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
. The debates are philosophical
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and address humanity's place in the world. Some of the debates may be from 2100 BC. The song of the hoe stands alone in its own sub-category as a one-sided debate poem.
Compilation
Three tablets of the myth are held by the British MuseumBritish Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, numbers 80170, 132243 (unpublished) and 139993. Two tablets of the myth are held by the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, number AO 7087 & AO 8898. One is held in the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin
Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin
The Vorderasiatisches Museum is an archaeological museum in Berlin. It is in the basement of the south wing of the Pergamon museum and has one of the world's largest collections of Southwest Asian art. 14 halls distributed across 2000 square meters of exhibition surface display southwest Asian...
, number 17378 and three at the Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
Babylonian collection, numbers 5487, 7070 and 11941. Lines of the myth were discovered on the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, commonly called The Penn Museum, is an archaeology and anthropology museum that is part of the University of Pennsylvania in the University City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-History:An internationally renowned...
, catalogue of the Babylonian section (CBS), from their excavations at the temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
at Nippur
Nippur
Nippur was one of the most ancient of all the Sumerian cities. It was the special seat of the worship of the Sumerian god Enlil, the "Lord Wind," ruler of the cosmos subject to An alone...
. Tablets from this collection, numbers 8111, 13122, 13382 and 13864 were documented by Edward Chiera
Edward Chiera
Edward Chiera was an Italian-American archaeologist, Assyriologist, and scholar of religions and linguistics.Born in Rome, Italy, in 1885, Chiera trained as a theologian at the Crozer Theological Seminary . He completed his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania...
in "Sumerian Epics and Myths". Samuel Noah Kramer
Samuel Noah Kramer
Samuel Noah Kramer was one of the world's leading Assyriologists and a world renowned expert in Sumerian history and Sumerian language.-Biography:...
included CBS tablets 8531, 10310, 10335, 29.16.23, 29.16.436. He also included translations from tablets in the Nippur collection of the Museum of the Ancient Orient in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, catalogue numbers 1117, 2337, 2473, 2742. Other tablets were added from the "Ur excavations texts" in 1928 along with several others to bring it to its present form, which is virtually complete. The latest composite text and translation was produced in 1996 by H. Behrens, B. Jagersma and Joachim Krecher.
Story
The poem is composed of the frequent use of the word "al", which means hoeHoe
Hoe may refer to:* Hoe , a hand tool used in gardening* Hoe , a Korean dish of raw fish* Plymouth Hoe, a public space in Plymouth, England* Hoe, Norfolk, a village in Norfolk, England* USS Hoe , a World War II US submarine...
. The verb-forms and nouns also frequently start with, or contain the syllable "al" (or "ar"), suggesting the writer intended it for humour as a satirical school text or as a tongue-twister
Tongue-twister
A tongue-twister is a phrase that is designed to be difficult to articulate properly, and can be used as a type of spoken word game. Some tongue-twisters produce results which are humorous when they are mispronounced, while others simply rely on the confusion and mistakes of the speaker for their...
. The song starts with a creation myth where Enlil
Enlil
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian era. Her poetry was widely popular in both England and the United States during her lifetime. A collection of her last poems was published by her husband, Robert Browning, shortly after her death.-Early life:Members...
separates heaven and earth in Duranki, the cosmic Nippur
Nippur
Nippur was one of the most ancient of all the Sumerian cities. It was the special seat of the worship of the Sumerian god Enlil, the "Lord Wind," ruler of the cosmos subject to An alone...
or 'Garden of the Gods
Garden of the gods (Sumerian paradise)
The Garden of the gods or Sumerian paradise is the divine paradise of the Annanuki, the gods of Sumer. Samuel Noah Kramer suggested the concept of a human paradise and the Garden of Eden originated from the Sumerians who were describing a land outside of Sumer...
'.
The myth continues with a description of Enlil creating daylight with his hoe; he goes on to praise its construction and creation. Enlil's mighty hoe is said to be made of gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, with the blade made of lapis lazuli
Lapis lazuli
Lapis lazuli is a relatively rare semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense blue color....
and fastened by cord. It is inlaid with lapis lazuli and adorned with silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
and gold. Enlil makes civilized man, from a brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
mould with his hoe – and the Annanuki start to praise him. Nisaba, Ninmena
Ninmena
Ninmena is a Sumerian mother goddess, who probably become syncretised with Ninhursag....
, and Nunamnir start organizing things. Enki
Enki
Enki is a god in Sumerian mythology, later known as Ea in Akkadian and Babylonian mythology. He was originally patron god of the city of Eridu, but later the influence of his cult spread throughout Mesopotamia and to the Canaanites, Hittites and Hurrians...
praises the hoe; they start reproducing and Enlil makes numerous shining hoes, for everyone to begin work. Enlil then founds the Ekur
Ekur
Ekur is a Sumerian term meaning "mountain house". It is the assembly of the gods in the Garden of the gods, parallel in Greek mythology to Mount Olympus and was the most revered and sacred building of ancient Sumer.-Origin and meaning:...
with his hoe whilst a "god-man" called Lord Nudimmud builds the Abzu
Abzu
The abzu also called engur, literally, ab='ocean' zu='to know' or 'deep' was the name for fresh water from underground aquifers that was given a religious quality in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology...
in Eridug. Various gods are then described establishing construction projects in other cities, such as Ninhursag
Ninhursag
In Sumerian mythology, Ninhursag or Ninkharsag was the earth and mother goddess, one of the seven great deities of Sumer. She is principally a fertility goddess. Temple hymn sources identify her as the 'true and great lady of heaven' and kings of Sumer were 'nourished by Ninhursag's milk'...
in Kesh
Kesh
Kesh may refer to:* Kesh , an ancient Sumerian city and religious center* Kesh, the former name of Shahrisabz, Uzbekistan* Keş, Azerbaijan* Kesh, County Fermanagh, a small village in Northern Ireland* Long Kesh, a prison in Northern Ireland...
, and Inanna
Inanna
Inanna, also spelled Inana is the Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare....
and Utu
Utu
Utu is the Sun god in Sumerian mythology, the son of the moon god Nanna and the goddess Ningal. His brother and sisters are Ishkur and Inanna and Erishkigal....
in Zabalam; Nisaba and E-ana also set about building. The useful construction and agricultural uses of the hoe are summarized, along with its capabilities for use as a weapon
Weapon
A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
and for burying the dead. Allusions are made to the scenes of Enkidu
Enkidu
Enkidu is a central figure in the Ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh. Enkidu was first created by Anu, the sky god, to rid Gilgamesh of his arrogance. In the story he is a wild-man raised by animals and ignorant of human society until he is bedded by Shamhat...
's ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
, and Urshanabi
Urshanabi
Urshanabi was the ferryman of the Hubur, river of the dead in Mesopotamian mythology. His equivalent in Greek Mythology was Charon.He is first mentioned in the myth of Enlil and Ninlil, where he is called SI.LU.IGI and described as a man. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Urshanabi is a companion of...
's ferry over the Hubur
Hubur
Hubur is a Sumerian term meaning "river", "watercourse" or "netherworld", written ideographically with the cuneiform signs . It is usually the "river of the netherworld" or "river of paradise".-Usage and meaning:...
, in the Epic of Gilgamesh
Epic of Gilgamesh
Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from Mesopotamia and is among the earliest known works of literature. Scholars believe that it originated as a series of Sumerian legends and poems about the protagonist of the story, Gilgamesh king of Uruk, which were fashioned into a longer Akkadian epic much...
:
Ninmena
Ninmena
Ninmena is a Sumerian mother goddess, who probably become syncretised with Ninhursag....
is suggested to create both the priestess and king
King
- Centers of population :* King, Ontario, CanadaIn USA:* King, Indiana* King, North Carolina* King, Lincoln County, Wisconsin* King, Waupaca County, Wisconsin* King County, Washington- Moving-image works :Television:...
. The hymn ends with extensive praisings of the hoe, Enlil, and Nisaba:
Discussion
Modern society may have trouble comprehending the virtue of extolling a tool such as the lowly hoe, for the Sumerians the implement had brought agricultureAgriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
, drainage
Drainage
Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from an area. Many agricultural soils need drainage to improve production or to manage water supplies.-Early history:...
and the ability to build roads, canals and eventually the first proto-cities. One of the tablets from the Yale Babylonian Collection was published by J.J. Van Dijk which spoke of three cosmic realms; heaven, earth and kur
Kur
In Babylonian mythology, Irkalla is the hell-like underworld from which there is no return. It is also called Arali, Kigal, Gizal, and the lower world...
in a time when darkness covered an arid land, when heaven and earth were joined and the Enlil's universal laws, the me did not function. Two of the major traditions of the Sumerian concept of the creation of man are discussed in the myth. The first is the creation of mankind from brick moulds or clay. This has notable similarities to the creation of man from the dust of the earth in the Book of Genesis in the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. This activity has also been associated with creating clay figurines. The second Sumerian tradition which compares men to plants, made to "break through the ground", an allusion to imagery of the fertility or mother goddess and giving an image of man being "planted" in the ground. Wayne Horowitz notes that five Sumerian myths recount a creation scene with the separation of heaven and earth. He further notes the figurative imagery relaying the relationship between the creation of agricultural implements making a function for mankind and thereby its creation from the "seed of the land". The myth was called the "Creation of the Pickax" by Samuel Noah Kramer, a name by which it is referred in older sorurces. In Sumerian literature, the hoe or pickaxe is used not only in creation of the Ekur but also described as the tool of its destruction in lament hymns such as the Lament for Ur
Lament for Ur
The Lament for Ur, Lamentation over the city of Ur or Prayer for Ur is a Sumerian lament composed around the time of the fall of Ur to the Elamites and the end of the city's third dynasty The Lament for Ur, Lamentation over the city of Ur or Prayer for Ur is a Sumerian lament composed around the...
, where it is torn apart with a storm and then pickaxes.
The cosmological position of the hoe does not fit into Charles Long
Charles Long
"Colonel" Charles "Chuck" Long is the founder of the America's Buffalo Soldiers Re-Enactors Association. "Colonel" Charles "Chuck" Long (born 1945) is the founder of the America's Buffalo Soldiers Re-Enactors Association. "Colonel" Charles "Chuck" Long (born 1945) is the founder of the America's...
's categorization of cosmogenic myths. Creation has been suggested to have been the responsibility of different gods via different processes. Creation via a cosmological agricultural implement seems to occupy a unique place in the creation myth genre. The song was meant to be sung aloud with the repetition of the word hoe or "al" a total of forty five times in the text with common use of the two syllable
Syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
s together "al"/"ar". A cosmological link is suggested between the hoe's being and its doing; making everything prosper and flourish within a community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
. Gary Martin discusses the sociological benefits of singing songs to a hoe, to remind people that they wield the implement of Enlil and of creation. That they can participate in creativity and work well to preserve and improve society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
. He suggests that "perhaps by praising the simple tool of an extremely important group of laborers, and imbuing it with cosmological significance, those wielders of the hoe are themselves brought into a grand cosmological drama."
Further reading
- Civil, Miguel., "Review of CT 44", Journal of Near Eastern Studies 28, 70-72: 70, 1969.
- Civil, Miguel., The Farmer's Instructions. A Sumerian Agricultural Manual. (Aula Orientalis Supplementa, 5) Editorial Ausa: Sabadell, 1994.
- Edzard, Dietz Otto., "U 7804 // UET VI/1 26: "Gedicht von der Hacke"", in George, A. R. (ed.), and Finkel, I. L., Wisdom, Gods and Literature: Studies in Assyriology in Honour of W. G. Lambert, Eisenbrauns: Winona Lake, 131-135, 2000.
- Farber, Gertrud., ""Das Lied von der Hacke", ein literarischer Spass?", in Klengel, Horst and, Renger, Johannes (eds.), Landwirtschaft im Alten Orient: ausgewählte Vorträge der XLI. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale Berlin., 4.-8.7.1994 (Berliner Beiträge zum Vorderen Orient, 18), Dietrich Reimer Verlag: Berlin, 369-373, 1999.
- Farber, Gertrud., "Sumerian Canonical Compositions. A. Divine Focus. 1. Myths: The Song of the Hoe (1.157)", in Hallo, William W. (ed.), The Context of Scripture, I: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World. Brill: Leiden/New York/Köln, 511-513, 1997.
- Jacobsen, Thorkild., "Sumerian Mythology, a Review Article", Journal of Near Eastern Studies 5, 128-152: 134, 1946.
- Kramer, Samuel Noah., Sumerian Mythology. The American Philosophical Society: Philadelphia, 51-53, 1944.
- Pettinato, Giovanni., Das altorientalische Menschenbild und die sumerischen und akkadischen Schöpfungsmythen. Winter: Heidelberg, 82-85, 1971.
- Wilcke, Claus., "Hacke - B. Philologisch", in Reallexikon der Assyriologie 4, 33-38: 36-38, 1972.
See also
- Barton CylinderBarton CylinderThe Barton Cylinder is a Sumerian creation myth, written on a clay cylinder in the mid to late 3rd millennium BC, which is now in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology...
- Debate between sheep and grainDebate between sheep and grainThe Debate between sheep and grain or Myth of cattle and grain is a Sumerian creation myth, written on clay tablets in the mid to late 3rd millennium BC...
- Debate between bird and fishDebate between bird and fishThe Debate between bird and fish is a literature essay of the Sumerian language, on clay tablets from the mid to late 3rd millennium BC.Seven "debate" topics are known from the Sumerian literature, falling in the category of 'disputations'; some examples are: The Debate between Winter and Summer;...
- Debate between Winter and SummerDebate between Winter and SummerThe Debate between Winter and Summer or Myth of Emesh and Enten is a Sumerian creation myth, written on clay tablets in the mid to late 3rd millennium BC.-Disputations:...
- Enlil and NinlilEnlil and NinlilEnlil and Ninlil or the Myth of Enlil and Ninlil or Enlil and Ninlil: The begetting of Nanna is a Sumerian creation myth, written on clay tablets in the mid to late 3rd millennium BC.-Compilation:...
- Self-praise of Shulgi (Shulgi D)Self-praise of Shulgi (Shulgi D)Self-praise of Shulgi is a Sumerian myth, written on clay tablets dated to between 2100 to 2000 BC.-Compilation:The myth was discovered on the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, catalogue of the Babylonian section , tablet number 11065 from their excavations at the...
- Old Babylonian oracleOld Babylonian oracleOld Babylonian oracle is a Sumerian myth, written on clay tablets dated to between 2340 to 2200 BC.The myth was discovered on the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, catalogue of the Babylonian section , tablet number 8322 from their excavations at the temple library...
- Hymn to EnlilHymn to EnlilThe Hymn to Enlil, Enlil and the Ekur , Hymn to the Ekur, Hymn and incantation to Enlil, Hymn to Enlil the all beneficent or Excerpt from an exorcism is a Sumerian myth, written on clay tablets in the late third millennium BC.-Compilation:Fragments of the text were discovered in the University of...
- Kesh temple hymnKesh temple hymnThe Kesh Temple Hymn or Liturgy to Nintud or Liturgy to Nintud on the creation of man and woman is a Sumerian myth, written on clay tablets as early as 2600 BC...
- Lament for UrLament for UrThe Lament for Ur, Lamentation over the city of Ur or Prayer for Ur is a Sumerian lament composed around the time of the fall of Ur to the Elamites and the end of the city's third dynasty The Lament for Ur, Lamentation over the city of Ur or Prayer for Ur is a Sumerian lament composed around the...
- Sumerian creation mythSumerian creation mythThe earliest record of the Sumerian creation myth and flood myth is found on a single fragmentary tablet excavated in Nippur, sometimes called the Eridu Genesis. It is written in the Sumerian language and datable by its script to 2150 BC, during the first Babylonian dynasty, where the language of...
- Sumerian disputationsSumerian disputationsThe Sumerian disputation or Sumerian debate is a topical short story created in the middle to late 3rd millennium BC. Seven major debates are known, with specific titles.The list of the majority of the known debates is as follows :...
- Sumerian religionSumerian religionSumerian religion refers to the mythology, pantheon, rites and cosmology of the Sumerian civilization. The Sumerian religion influenced Mesopotamian mythology as a whole, surviving in the mythologies and religions of the Hurrians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and other culture...
- Sumerian literatureSumerian literatureSumerian 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....
External links
- Cheira, Edward., Sumerian Epics and Myths, University of Chicago, Oriental Institute Publications, 1934. Online Version
- Song of the hoe., Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Robson, E., and Zólyomi, G., The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford 1998-.
- Composite text - The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford 1998-.
- Bibliography - The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford 1998-.