As they were the fathers of the written word so were they the fathers of literature. The first poems were the ones composed by the Sumerians. The first religious stories were those written by the Sumerians. The first cosmological ponders were recorded by the Sumerians. It was Sumer that saw the Birth of Literature.
LIBRARY AT NINEVEH
Painting
Unknown
~一~
The Royal Library of Ashurbanipal predates the Great Library of Alexandria by four centuries. Constructed by the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal in the 7th Century BCE it was one of the largest collection of writings in the entire world. The Library at Nineveh housed over 20,000 written tablets. Among these were the Old Babylonian Version of The Epic of Gilgamesh. The tablets kept in Ashurbanipal’s library show a complete record of written language, from the first Sumerian writings, to the then-modern Neo-Assyrian writings. Much of the collection was destroyed when the library was burned during the fall of Assyria at the hands of the Babylonians, Scythians, and Medes.
Painting
Unknown
~一~
The Royal Library of Ashurbanipal predates the Great Library of Alexandria by four centuries. Constructed by the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal in the 7th Century BCE it was one of the largest collection of writings in the entire world. The Library at Nineveh housed over 20,000 written tablets. Among these were the Old Babylonian Version of The Epic of Gilgamesh. The tablets kept in Ashurbanipal’s library show a complete record of written language, from the first Sumerian writings, to the then-modern Neo-Assyrian writings. Much of the collection was destroyed when the library was burned during the fall of Assyria at the hands of the Babylonians, Scythians, and Medes.
GILGAMESH AND THE LION
Photograph
Jastrow
~一~
Before there was Heracles or Achilles or Samson or Beowulf there was Gilgamesh. He was declared as being two-thirds god and one-third man, his mother being divine Ninsun and his father a demigod himself. He is the first superhero to be written about. Originally five Sumerian poems about Bilgames (the Sumerian name for Gilgamesh), they were later combined and embellished into The Epic of Gilgamesh. The epic was composed circa 2100 BCE and later transcribed onto twelve clay tablets as well as in multiple Near Eastern languages and scripts.
We can see that Gilgamesh’s epic was a source of many other ancient writings, alluding to characters such as the biblical Noah (Utnapishtim in Sumerian) and the Great Flood. The Garden of Eden is thought to have been partly inspired by scenes from the epic. This was clearly an influential work on Homer, as according to Tzvi Abusch of Brandeis University, “[The Epic] combines the power and tragedy of the Iliad with the wanderings and marvels of the Odyssey. It is a work of adventure, but is no less a meditation on some fundamental issues of human existence.”
Photograph
Jastrow
~一~
Before there was Heracles or Achilles or Samson or Beowulf there was Gilgamesh. He was declared as being two-thirds god and one-third man, his mother being divine Ninsun and his father a demigod himself. He is the first superhero to be written about. Originally five Sumerian poems about Bilgames (the Sumerian name for Gilgamesh), they were later combined and embellished into The Epic of Gilgamesh. The epic was composed circa 2100 BCE and later transcribed onto twelve clay tablets as well as in multiple Near Eastern languages and scripts.
We can see that Gilgamesh’s epic was a source of many other ancient writings, alluding to characters such as the biblical Noah (Utnapishtim in Sumerian) and the Great Flood. The Garden of Eden is thought to have been partly inspired by scenes from the epic. This was clearly an influential work on Homer, as according to Tzvi Abusch of Brandeis University, “[The Epic] combines the power and tragedy of the Iliad with the wanderings and marvels of the Odyssey. It is a work of adventure, but is no less a meditation on some fundamental issues of human existence.”
ERIDU GENESIS
Ancient Sculpture
~一~
Enûma Eliš is a writing, known today as the Eridu Genesis. The text is written on seven clay tablets in Old Babylonian in the 12th Century BCE. Eridu Genesis consists of just over one thousand lines. It is to the Babylonians as Genesis is to followers of Abrahamic faith. Even since the first publication of Enûma Eliš it has been compared to the Jewish creation story in Genesis. It is thought by many modern secularists that the Jewish Creation Epic borrowed from the Babylonian Creation Epic. It seems as if the account in Genesis addresses specifically the content of Enûma Eliš.
Ancient Sculpture
~一~
Enûma Eliš is a writing, known today as the Eridu Genesis. The text is written on seven clay tablets in Old Babylonian in the 12th Century BCE. Eridu Genesis consists of just over one thousand lines. It is to the Babylonians as Genesis is to followers of Abrahamic faith. Even since the first publication of Enûma Eliš it has been compared to the Jewish creation story in Genesis. It is thought by many modern secularists that the Jewish Creation Epic borrowed from the Babylonian Creation Epic. It seems as if the account in Genesis addresses specifically the content of Enûma Eliš.
EPIC OF ATRAHASIS
Cuneiform Tablet
~一~
Composed during the reign of Hammurabi’s great-grandson, Ammisaduqa (1646-1626 BCE), is the Babylonian expansion on earlier, Akkadian manuscripts. The epic tells the story of the Great Flood, following the life of the last antediluvian king of the Sumerian metropolis Shuruppak, according to legend. King Atrahasis is the Sumerian counterpart to the Biblical figure of Noah. Atrahasis has had many names throughout the history. Also known as Ziusudra, in The Epic of Gilgamesh Tablet IX he is called Utnapishtim. In the later Mediterranean civilizations the name was Hellenized as Xisuthros.
Like the Eridu Genesis, the Epic of Atrahasis has many parallels with the Jewish account of the Great Flood. The gods became angry with man and the god Enlil prepared to wash man off the face of the earth. One sympathetic god, Enki, warned the wise and pious King Atrahasis of the impending flood. Atrahasis built a great boat for him and his family to survive. It was Atrahasis who refounded humanity in a postdiluvian world.
Cuneiform Tablet
~一~
Composed during the reign of Hammurabi’s great-grandson, Ammisaduqa (1646-1626 BCE), is the Babylonian expansion on earlier, Akkadian manuscripts. The epic tells the story of the Great Flood, following the life of the last antediluvian king of the Sumerian metropolis Shuruppak, according to legend. King Atrahasis is the Sumerian counterpart to the Biblical figure of Noah. Atrahasis has had many names throughout the history. Also known as Ziusudra, in The Epic of Gilgamesh Tablet IX he is called Utnapishtim. In the later Mediterranean civilizations the name was Hellenized as Xisuthros.
Like the Eridu Genesis, the Epic of Atrahasis has many parallels with the Jewish account of the Great Flood. The gods became angry with man and the god Enlil prepared to wash man off the face of the earth. One sympathetic god, Enki, warned the wise and pious King Atrahasis of the impending flood. Atrahasis built a great boat for him and his family to survive. It was Atrahasis who refounded humanity in a postdiluvian world.