Literature history

Achievements of Iraqs Civilizations November 25, 2023

Sumiran literature

documented a group of 
some five thousand tablets discovered in south of Iraq Mesopotamia and fragments inscribed with a varied assortment of literary works have also been unearthed, and these enable us to penetrate to a certain extent into their very hearts 
and souls the Sumerian belles-lettres rank high 
among the aesthetic creations of civilized man. They compare the Akkadians Assyrians and Babylonians, took these works over almost in toto. 
The Hittites, Hurrians, and Canaanites translated some of them into their own languages and no doubt imitated them widely The form and content of the Hebrew literary works and to a certain extent even those of the ancient Greeks were profoundly influenced by them As practically the oldest written literature of any significant amount ever uncovered

the lesser gods known collectively as the Anunnaki. Following a
brief five-line passage which tells of the Anunnaki’s homage to
Enki, Enki, for a second time, utters a paean of self-glorification.
He begins by exalting the power of his word and command in
providing the earth with prosperity and abundance, continues
with a description of the splendor of his shrine, the Abzu, and
concludes with an account of his joyous journey over the marsh-

Following another fragmentary passage whose contents are alto-
gether uncertain, we find Enki in his boat once again. With the
sea creatures doing homage to him and abundance prevailing
in the universe, Enki is ready to “decree the fates/’ Beginning,
as might have been expected, with Sumer itself, he first exalts
it as a chosen, hallowed land with “lofty
me where the gods have taken up their abode, then blesses its
flocks and herds, its temples and shrines. From Sumer he pro-
ceeds to Ur, which he extols in lofty, metaphorical language and
blesses with prosperity and pre-eminence. From Ur he goes to
Meluhha and blesses it most generously with trees and reeds,
oxen and birds, gold, tin, and bronze. He then proceeds to pro-
vide Dilmun with some of its needs. He is very unfavorably dis

Leaving farm, field, and house, Enki turns to the high plain,
covers it with green vegetation, multiplies its cattle, and makes
Sumugan, “the king of the mountains,” responsible for them. He
next erects stalls and sheepfolds, supplies them with the best fat
and milk, and appoints the shepherd-god, Dumuzi, to take charge
of them. Enki then fixes the “borders”—presumably of cities and
states—sets up boundary stones, and places the sun-god, Utu, “in
charge of the entire universe/’ Finally, Enki attends to “that
which is woman’s task/’ in particular the weaving of cloth, and
puts Uttu, the goddess of clothing, in charge.
The myth now takes a rather unexpected turn, as the poet in-
troduces the ambitious and aggressive Inanna, who feels that she
has been slighted and left without any special powers and pre-
rogatives. She complains bitterly that Enlil’s sister, Aruru (alias
Nintu), and her (Inanna’s) sister-goddesses, Ninisinna, Ninmug,
Nidaba, and Nanshe, have all received their respective powers
and insignia, but that she, Inanna, has been singled out for neg-
lectful and inconsiderate treatment. Enki seems to be put on the
defensive by Inanna’s complaint, and he tries to pacify her by
pointing out that she actually does have quite a number of special
insignia and prerogatives—”the crook, staff, and wand of shep-
herdship”; oracular responses in regard to war and battle; the
weaving and fashioning of garments; the power to destroy the
“indestructible” and to make the “imperishable” perish—as well
as by giving her a special blessing. Following Enki’s reply to
Inanna, the poem probably closes with a four-line hymnal passage
to Enki.
Here now is the translation of the extant text of the poem The poem is in the next post
Mousa Alsaibawi

The poem from Inanna ends with a four-line hymn stanza To Enki.

Enki is the Sumerian god of water, knowledge
He was later known as Ea He is the leader of the Anunnaki

Inana
Sumerian fertility goddess associated with dates, wool, meat, grain, thunderstorms and rain; later identified with Ishtar (q.v.), goddess of war and sexual love.

Inanna, the poem probably closes with a four-line hymnal passage
to Enki.
Here now is the translation of the extant text of the poem
(omitting, however, the first fifty lines, which are fragmentary
and obscure).
When father Enki comes out into the seeded Land, it brings forth
fecund seed,
When Nudimmud comes out to my fecund ewe, it gives birth to the
lamb,
When he comes out to my “seeded” cow, it gives birth to the fecund
calf,
When he comes out to my fecund goat, it gives birth to the fecund kid,
When you have gone out to the field, to the cultivated field,
You pile up heaps and mounds on the high plain,
[You] … . the .. . of the parched (?) earth.
Enki, the king of the Abzu,

Abzu : the name for fresh water from underground aquifers which was given a religious fertilising quality in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology. Lakes, springs, rivers, wells, and other sources of fresh water were thought to draw their water from the abzu. In Sumerian and Akkadian mythology, it is referred to as the primeval sea below the void space of the underworld (Kur) and the earth (Ma) above

overpowering (?) in his majesty, speaks up
with authority:
“My father, the king of the universe,
Brought me into existence in the universe,
My ancestor, the king of all the lands,
Gathered together all the trie’s, placed the me’s in my hand.

From the Ekur, the house of Enlil,

( Ekur is described in the Lament for Ur. In mythology, the Ekur was the centre of the earth and location where heaven and earth were united. It is also known as Duranki and one of its structures is known as the Kiur (“great place”)

I brought craftsmanship to my Abzu of Eridu.
I am the fecund seed, engendered by the great wild , I am the first
born son of An,

An Sumerian: 𒀭 An was the divine personification of the sky, king of the gods, and ancestor of many of the deities in ancient Mesopotamian religion. He was regarded as a source of both divine and human kingship, and opens the enumerations of deities in many Mesopotamian texts.

I am the ‘great storm’ who goes forth out of the great below/ I am
the lord of the Land,
I am the gugal of the chieftains, I am the father of all the lands,
I am the *big brother of the gods, I am he who brings full prosperity,
I am the record keeper of heaven and earth,
I am the ear and the mind (?) of all the lands,
I am he who directs justice with the king An on An’s dais,
I am he who decrees the fates with Enlil in the mountain of wisdom/
He placed in my hand the decreeing of the fates of the place where
the sun rises/
I am he to whom Nintu pays due homage,
I am he who has been called a good name by Ninhursag,
I am the leader of the Anunnaki,
I am he who has been born as the first son of the holy An/’
After the lord had uttered (?) (his) exaltedness,
After the great prince had himself pronounced (his) praise,
The Anunnaki came before him in prayer and supplication:
“Lord who directs craftsmanship,
Who makes decisions, the glorified; Enki, praise!”
For a second time, because of (his) great joy,
Enki, the king of the Abzu, in his majesty, speaks up with authority:
1 am the lord, I am one whose command is unquestioned, I am the
foremost in all things,
At my command the stalls have been built, the sheepfolds have been
enclosed,
When I approached heaven a rain of prosperity poured down from
heaven,
When I approached the earth, there was a high flood,
When I approached its green meadows,
The heaps and mounds were pi [led] up at my word

Adapa

Don’t you want to be immortal? Alas for downtrodden people!”
Adapa, the first of the antediluvian sages, is equated by some modern scholars with the biblical Adam. In the epic he rovokes the divine wrath and is summonef before the heavenly tribunal, where he is offered the bread of life. He refuses, and mankind loses the opportunity to win immortality as did Adam when, in the Garden of Eden, he failed to eat from the tree of life and instead tasted the forbidden fruit. The story breaks off when Adapa returns to earth still a mere mortal.

Tablet Inscribed in Akkadian
Mesopotamia iraq Nineveh, Neo-Assyrian period ca. seventh century
He (the god Ea) made broad understanding perfect in him (Adapa) to disclose the design of the land. To him he gave wisdom, but did not give eternal life … (The god Anu’s) heart was appeased, he grew quiet. “Why did Ea disclose to wretched mankind The ways of heaven and earth, Give them a heavy heart?… What can we do for him? Fetch him the bread of (eternal) life and let him eat.” “Come, Adapa, why didn’t you eat? Why didn’t you drink? Don’t you want to be immortal? Alas for downtrodden people!”
Alapa, the first of the antediluvian sages, is equated by some modern scholars with the biblical Adam. In the epic he rovokes the divine wrath and is summonef before the heavenly tribunal, where he is offered the bread of life. He refuses, and mankind loses the opportunity to win immortality as did Adam when, in the Garden of Eden, he failed to eat from the tree of life and instead tasted the forbidden fruit. The story breaks off when Adapa returns to earth still a mere mortal.
Adapa, in Mesopotamian mythology, legendary sage and citizen of the Sumerian city of Eridu, the ruins of which are in southern Iraq. Endowed with vast intelligence by Ea (Sumerian: Enki), the god of wisdom, Adapa became the hero of the Sumerian version of the myth of the fall of man. The myth relates that Adapa, in spite of his possession of all wisdom, was not given immortality. One day, while he was fishing, the south wind blew so violently that he was thrown into the sea. In his rage he broke the wings of the south wind, which then ceased to blow. Anu (Sumerian: An), the sky god, summoned him before his gates to account for his behaviour, but Ea cautioned him not to touch the bread and water that would be offered him. When Adapa came before Anu, the two heavenly doorkeepers Tammuz and Ningishzida interceded for him and explained to Anu that as Adapa had been endowed with omniscience he needed only immortality to become a god. Anu, in a change of heart, then offered Adapa the bread and water of eternal life, which he refused to take. Thus mankind remained mortal. The legend is preserved among the cuneiform tablets discovered during the 19th century in Ashurbanipal’s library at Nineveh.

Our Sources :

History Begins at Sumer (Philadelphia, 1956), Thirty­ Nine Firsts in Recorded History,  by Samuel Noah Kramer, in 404 searchable pdf pages.

Selected Writings of Samuel Noah Kramer, in 570 bookmarked and searchable pdf pages.

Green، M.W. (1981). “The Construction and Implementation of the Cuneiform Writing System

Samuel Noah Kramer University of Pennsylvania Press, 1972 – History – 130 pages

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  • Louvre Museum
  • Vatican Museums
  • British Museum
  • Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Rijksmuseum
  • Ashmolean Museum
  • Cleveland Museum of Art
  • Art Institute of Chicago
  • Field Museum of Natural History