The Sumerians were a non-Semitic, non-Indo-European people who flourished in southern Babylonia from the beginning of the fourth to the end of the third millennium B. C. During this long stretch of time the Sumerians, whose racial and linguistic affiliations are still unclassifiable, represented the dominant cultural group of the entire Near East. This cultural dominance manifested itself in three directions: 1. It was the Sumerians who developed and probably invented the cuneiform system of writing which was adopted by nearly all the peoples of the Near East and without which the cultural progress of western Asia would have been largely impossible. 2. The Sumerians developed religious and spiritual concepts together with a remarkably well integrated pantheon which influenced profoundly all the peoples of the Near East, including the Hebrews and the Greeks. Moreover, by way of Judaism, Christianity, and Mohammedanism, not a few of these spiritual and religious concepts have permeated the modern civilized world. 3. The Sumerians produced a vast and highly developed literature, largely poetic in character, consisting of epics and myths, hymns and lamentations, proverbs and "words of wisdom." These compositions are inscribed in cuneiform script on clay tablets which date largely from approximately 1750 B. C. a In the course of the past hundred years, approximately five b thousand such literary pieces have been excavated in the mounds of ancient Sumer. Of this number, over two thousand, more than two-thirds of our source material, were excavated by the University of Pennsylvania in the mound covering ancient Nippur in the course of four grueling campaigns lasting from 1889 to 1900; these Nippur tablets and fragments represent, therefore, the major source for the reconstruction of the Sumerian compositions. As literary products, these Sumerian compositions rank high among the creations of civilized man. They compare not unfavorably with the ancient Greek and Hebrew masterpieces, and like them mirror the spiritual and intellectual life of an otherwise little known civilization. Their significance for a proper appraisal of the cultural and spiritual development of the Near East can hardly be overestimated. The Assyrians and Babylonians took them over almost in toto. The Hittites translated them into their own language and no doubt imitated them widely. The form and contents of the Hebrew literary creations 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, it furnishes new, rich, and unexpected source material to the archaeologist and anthropologist, to the ethnologist and student of folklore, to the students of the history of religion and of the history of literature.

Do you know that the Sumerians believed that: The moon was actually a god child conceived unintentionally by the God Enlil and a maid? Or that humans were first created to do the chores on earth for the Gods and Goddesses? The ancient Sumerians lived a difficult life, and this is reflected in their myths. However, also reflected in their stories is their love for justice and the values which they most supported, among them beauty, honor, and truthfulness. Some of the stories included are: How the world, the moon, mankind and animals were created The retelling of the Epic of Gilgamesh: the legend of the very first hero in history Ninurta and the slaying of the demon Asag The Myths of Kur: the Dragon Conqueror Inanna's journey to the underworld And many other amazing tales! Get this book and discover the fascinating world of Sumerian Mythology today!

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.

Sumerian history and mythology have been shrouded in mystery for thousands of years. These tales of the world's very first civilization is now being exposed to the light of day, fascinating men and women around the world. The stories of Enlil, Enkidu, and Gilgamesh are finding new audiences, people interested in learning about a world where the people felt and experienced very differently from how we do today. Sumerian mythology was so powerful that some of their gods found their way into different cultures, the most famous example of this being Aphrodite who began life as the Sumerian goddess Inanna. In Sumerian Mythology: Fascinating Sumerian History and Mesopotamian Empire and Myths, you will be exposed to the riveting tales of gods and heroes that formed the canon of the Sumerian religion.Sumerian civilization has become an intrinsic part of how we live today, even if most of us are unaware of it. The way that we measure time, observe the stars, and even plant and grow crops has a lot to do with the advancements made by the Sumerians more than six thousand years ago. And heroes like Gilgamesh have helped define what it means to be a hero today. They were men who became gods, earning their place in immortality in more ways than one. The Sumerians used their stories as a way to instruct others and how they lived and even to help themselves understand their world. Sumerian Mythology: Fascinating Sumerian History and Mesopotamian Empire and Myths, you will learn the formative tales of gods and heroes to help you understand who the Sumerians were and why they were important.Sumerian Mythology: Fascinating Sumerian History and Mesopotamian Empire and Myths explores the tales of gods and heroes in a concise, easy-to-read fashion. These tales of heroes and gods were deeply important to the Mesopotamian people and learning about them is the only way to understand the kind of world they lived in and how it was different from our own. It was a world of birds with the faces of lions, gods with the wings of birds, and seductive goddesses who symbolically married the kings of the various city-states. The Sumerians told many tales of gods like Inanna, An, Ashur, and Enlil, tales that helped the civilizations of Mesopotamia endure for nearly 4000 years. Indeed, European travelers to the Orient in the 18th century discovered that there were still districts where the goddess Inanna (more than five thousand years old then) was still worshipped in secret.The world of the Sumerians was unlike our own. The people at the heart of Sumerian civilization - living in modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, Turkey, and other places - these people were part of a culture so far removed from the way that we think and perceive today as to be almost unrecognizable. Sumerian Mythology: Fascinating Sumerian History and Mesopotamian Empire and Myths gives you the binoculars to view their world. It was a world of great empires: the Akkadian, Hurrian, Assyrian, and Babylonian. It was a world of legendary wealth and beauty. In Sumerian Myth, you will understand this world by gaining a summary of the major historical events and an in-depth exposure to the gods.In Sumerian Mythology: Fascinating Sumerian History and Mesopotamian Empire and Myths, you will learn all there is to know about Sumerian myth and history. You will learn about the Gilgamesh and Enkidu, the Anzu bird, who the major gods and goddesses were, who the important heroes were, and how Sumerian society left a legacy that continues with us today. Poets and historians recorded Mesopotamian tales on cuneiform tablets, but we have made the deciphering work easy for you.

The Sumerians were a non-Semitic, non-Indo-European people who flourished in southern Babylonia from the beginning of the fourth to the end of the third millennium B.C. During this long stretch of time the Sumerians, whose racial and linguistic affiliations are still unclassifiable, represented the dominant cultural group of the entire Near East. This cultural dominance manifested itself in three directions: 1. It was the Sumerians who developed and probably invented the cuneiform system of writing which was adopted by nearly all the peoples of the Near East and without which the cultural progress of western Asia would have been largely impossible. 2. The Sumerians developed religious and spiritual concepts together with a remarkably well integrated pantheon which influenced profoundly all the peoples of the Near East, including the Hebrews and the Greeks. Moreover, by way of Judaism, Christianity, and Mohammedanism, not a few of these spiritual and religious concepts have permeated the modern civilized world. 3. The Sumerians produced a vast and highly developed literature, largely poetic in character, consisting of epics and myths, hymns and lamentations, proverbs and “words of wisdom.” These compositions are inscribed in cuneiform script on clay tablets which date largely from approximately 2000 B.C.