Sumerian, ugur hurrian, hatti, siberian steppe, anatolian. It concludes with a sketch of a number of theo logical, ethical, and literary ideas of the sumerians which seem. Fascinating sumerian history and mesopotamian empire and myths gives you the binoculars to view their world. A standing wave in an enclosed or partially enclosed body of water. When the gods came down from the heavens much needed to be done on the planet and they literally terraformed the earth in order to make it habitable while they mined its minerals from the soil. In 1976 author sitchin published his personal translations of the sumerian texts in a series of books called the earth chronicles. In samuel noah kramers book history begins at sumer he lists 39. For contextualizing sumerian mythology within mesopotamian religion, i recommend botteros religion in ancient mesopotamia. Sumerian mythology a study of spiritual and literary achievement in the third millennium b. His more popular books, such as sumerian mythology, the sumerians. Apr 27, 2019 sumerian male worshipper, 27502600 bc cc bysa 2. Sumerian religion was the religion practiced and adhered to by the people of sumer, the first. Mesopotamian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices of the civilizations of ancient mesopotamia, particularly sumer, akkad, assyria and babylonia between circa 3500 bc and 400 ad, after which they largely gave way to syriac christianity. Their religion recognized many gods, whose feats and escapades were described in.
Similarly the sumerian moon god nanna became the akkadian sin while the sumerian sun god utu became the akkadian shamash. The year 1956 saw the publication of my book from the tablets of sumer, since. History and overview sumer may very well be the first civilization in the world although long term settlements at jericho and c,atal hu. Norse mythology babre bayan, a suit of armour that rostam wore in wars described in the persian epic shahnameh. It is written in the sumerian language and dated to around 1600 bce.
I liked this book much better than his book history begins at sumer, but i say if you are looking to buy one book on the sumerians in general then you need. Captivating myths of gods, goddesses, and legendary creatures of ancient sumer and their importance to the sumerians clayton, matt on. Here are a couple of the most widely cited books on the sumerians. In the new testament book of revelation, babylonian religion is associated with religious. This is similar to cronos in the greek myths, who was overthrown by his son and was rarely talked about after. Do you guys know what the main sumerian innovation was. Plenty in this book brings the background of modern thought into the foreground. The sumerians and mesopotamia article khan academy. Mama the mesopotamian especially sumerian and akkadian mother goddess. The epic of gilgamesh penguin classics penguin classics. The gods of the mesopotamian region were by no means uniform in name.
Some have suggested the history in genesis is also a form of earlier jewish mythology in the same manner as the middle eastern texts. In some sumerian myths, enlil has been depicted as a kind of. In sumerian and akkadian mythology ninurta was a god of agriculture, hunting and healing, later associated with war. A comprehensive guide to mesopotamian mythology including myths, art. By samuel noah kramer preface introduction chapter i.
Traces of sumerian religion survive today and are reflected in writings of the bible. See more ideas about books, ancient mesopotamia and ancient civilizations. However, there is a huge degree of redundancy between the two texts. The dying god dumuzid spends half the year in the underworld, while, during the other half, his place is taken by. Armour of achilles, created by hephaestus and said to be impenetrable. Antu antum, anatum a sumerian goddess of creation, the feminine counterpart and consort of the skygod anu. As late as ezekiel, there is mention of a sumerian deity. One important note about the turkic people and their languages is that there are many forms of languages, from common turkish to the mutually unintelligible chuvash language, the. Sumerian mythology book ancient history encyclopedia. A list of 11 new mesopotamia history books you should read in 2020, such as. The religious development of mesopotamia and mesopotamian culture in general was not particularly influenced by the movements of the various. Captivating myths of gods, goddesses, and legendary creatures of ancient sumer and their importance to the sumerians. The ancient mesopotamian underworld, most often known in sumerian as kur, irkalla, kukku. The armour was invulnerable against fire, water and weapons.
This book is our first authoritative sketch of the great myths of the. Anglosaxon mythology armour of orvaroddr, an impenetrable silken mailcoat. According to sumerian mythology, in the beginning of time, humanoid gods ruled over our planet. An started out as the king of all of the gods, but later diminished in importance. Seiches and seicherelated phenomena have been observed on lakes, reservoirs, swimming pools, bays, and seas. The origin of humans according to ancient sumerian texts. Another main deity of the sumerian pantheon was enlil, an air god god of wind and storms, who was the son of an and ki. Sin, akkadian, sumerian nanna, in mesopotamian religion, the god of the moon. Mesopotamian mythology refers to the myths, religious texts, and other literature that comes from the region of ancient mesopotamia in modernday west asia. Sumerian literature, in proceedings of the american philosophical society85. A captivating guide to ancient mesopotamian history and civilizations, including the sumerians and sumerian mythology, gilgamesh, ur. Sumerian influence on ancient greece is seldom mentioned but there are books and articles covering this subject.
Sumerian mythology by samuel noah kramer goodreads. Bookkeeping was a feature of sumerian life, and very detailed records on clay tablets of. The god enki in sumerian royal ideology and mythology. Studies in universal and cultural history book series uuks. The sumerian creation myth can be found on a tablet in nippur, an ancient mesopotamian city founded in approximately 5000 bc. In that book, sitchin describes the anunnaki and their history in depth. She was called mami by the babylonians, the goddess who created mortals. Sumerian myths were passed down through the oral tradition until the. I havent read them myself, so i cant give you a personal opinion, but these are where i would start, given that they appear to be fairly foundational works in the scholarly community. Jacobsen, thorkild, the treasures of darkness, yale university press, new haven, 1976. This work covers sumerian, babylonian, canaaniteugaritic, hittite, and hebrew mythologic material in brief and with comparisons. This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and if not signed in for advertising. American anthropologist no people has contributed more to the culture of mankind than the sumerians, and yet it has been only in recent years that our knowledge of them has become at all accurate or extensive.
Sumerian mythology mythology and folklore the white goddess. In particular the societies of sumer, akkad, and assyria, all of which existed shortly after 3000 bce and were mostly gone by 400 ce. According to the ancient texts, each sumerian city was guarded by its own god. List of books and articles about sumeria online research. This book is our first authoritative sketch of the great. The major books on the sumerians crawfords sumer and the sumerians and the sumerian world and postgates early mesopotamia. Greek mythology armour of beowulf, a mail shirt made by wayland the smith. The latter text, the sumerians, copies many, many complete paragraphs almost verbatim from the former text, history begins. Sumerian pantheon thats a turkicgreek word from 2,000 years later consisted of primordial gods and then lesser gods, just like in turkic mythology.
Society and economy at the dawn of history all contain chapters on temples and religion in. The key requirement for formation of a seiche is that the body of water. Middle eastern mythology, penguin books, new york, 1963. The sumerians regarded their divinities as responsible for all matters pertaining to the natural and social orders 34 before the beginning of kingship in sumer, the citystates were effectively ruled by theocratic priests and religious officials.
Sumerian religion was the religion practiced and adhered to by the people of sumer, the first literate civilization of ancient mesopotamia. And even books and articles citing sumerian civilization among the foundations of the west such as. Book i of the earth chronicles the earth chronicles. The mythology of the turks is as vast as the land they occupied in history, which was most of eurasia. The sumerians thought that a great domed roof contained the sky, the stars, the moon, and the sun which lighted the cities beneath it. Turkey and elsewhere to examine sumerian tablets, but his main. Nanna is a sumerian deity, the son of enlil and ninlil, and became identified with the semitic sin. Be the first to ask a question about sumerian mythology.
Both books are outstanding for shining a light on the beginnings of history, literature, and civilization. Other sumerian creation myths from around this date are. Sin was the father of the sun god, shamash sumerian. Creation of animals in sumerian mythology springerlink. Reality is a computer generated consciousness hologram in which the characters it creates are programmed to believe it is real. Sumerian literary texts from nippur in the museum of the ancient orientto appear in the near future under the auspices of the american school of oriental research at bagdad and the american council of learned. Mesopotamian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices of the civilizations of ancient. Sumerian religion is the mythology, pantheon, rites, and cosmology of the sumerian civilization. The bulk of sumerian parallels can, however be found much earlier, in the book of genesis.
The mesopotamian pantheon ancient history encyclopedia. The occasional assyrian spelling of d nanna ar d suene is due to association with akkadian naannaru illuminator, lamp, an epitheton of the moon god. Sumerian mythology ancient sumerian tales of gods, goddesses, myths, and epics annotated the influence that ancient near eastern religion and the old testament left upon humans samuel noah 4. The sumerian religion influenced mesopotamian mythology as a whole, surviving in the mythologies and religions of the hurrians, akkadians, babylonians, assyrians, and other culture groups.
Captivating myths of gods, goddesses, and legendary creatures of ancient sumer and their importance to the sumerians matt clayton. Sumerian mythology mythology and folklore the white. The sumerian religion influenced mesopotamian mythology as a whole, surviving in. The sumerians regarded their divinities as responsible for all matters pertaining to the natural and social orders. It reached its peak around 6,500 years ago when it had the distinction of being a very advanced civilization with a sophisticated written language, magnificent architecture for the time, complex mathematics, and amazing astronomy. The general idea was imported into hebrew mythology as lilith, demoness of desolation, obsession, and madness. These works were primarily preserved on stone or clay tablets and were written in cuneiform by scribes. In his book sumerian mythology, first published in 1944 and revised in 1961, the scholar samuel noah kramer. May 24, 2020 whatever little is known of sumerian mythology is largely surmised from the modified, redacted, and in a sense, garbled versions of the babylonians who conquered the sumerians toward the very end of the third millennium b. Sumerian mythology, turkish mythology comparison, sumerian. Similarly, he observed that sumerians prayed to good gods against evil gods. Mar 29, 2011 some have concluded that with this supposed predating, along with storyline and some language similarity, the biblical accounts are a derivation from earlier sumerian legends.
A study of spiritual and literary achievement in the third millennium b. The two chief seats of nannassins worship were ur in the south of. Discover the best ancient mesopotamia history in best sellers. The origins of human beings according to ancient sumerian. Ninurta m sumerian mythology, semitic mythology derived from sumerian meaning lord and. Sumer, in mesopotamia, was called the land of civilized kings. There are many volumes of books dedicated to turkic mythology. Sumerian mythology, turkish mythology comparison, sumerian gods. According to the sumerian king list, when the gods first gave human beings. She was part of the creation of the first humans from blood and clay.
The semitic moon god suensin is in origin a separate deity from sumerian nanna, but from the akkadian empire period the two undergo syncretization and are identified. Enlil took over his fathers role as the king of the gods. Sumerian mythology ancient sumerian tales of gods, goddesses. Including some living primitive religions by vergilius ferm philosophical library, 1950. The earliest record of a sumerian creation myth, called the eridu genesis by historian thorkild jacobsen, is found on a single fragmentary tablet excavated in nippur by the expedition of the university of pennsylvania in 1893, and first recognized by arno poebel in 1912.
The main source of information about the sumerian creation myth is the. Find the top 100 most popular items in amazon books best sellers. Aru aruru, nintu the goddess who created the seed of mankind with marduk. Pages in category sumerian mythology the following 16 pages are in this category, out of 16 total.
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