History of Literature

Bronze Age literature

Sumerian Egyptian Assyro-Babylonian

Classical literatures

Chinese Greek Hebrew Latin Pahlavi Pali Prakrit Sanskrit Syriac Tamil

Medieval literature

Anglo-Saxon Arabic Byzantine Dutch French German Indian Irish Italian Japanese Kannada Nepal Bhasa Norse Persian Telugu Welsh

Early Modern literature

Renaissance literature Baroque literature

Modern literature

18th century 19th century 20th century 21st century

v • d • e

Sumerian literature is the oldest literature in the world. The Sumerians invented the first writing system, beginning with cuneiform logograms, which evolved into a syllabary writing system. The Sumerian language remained in official and literary use in the Akkadian and Babylonian empires, even after the spoken language disappeared from the population; literacy was widespread, and the Sumerian texts that students copied heavily influenced later Babylonian literature.

Sumerian literature has not been handed down to us directly, rather it has been rediscovered through archaeology. Nevertheless, the Akkadians and Babylonians borrowed much from the Sumerian literary heritage, and spread these traditions throughout the Middle East, influencing much of the literature that followed in this region, including the Bible.

[edit] Literary Works

Important works include:

• A Creation and Flood Myth (translation)
• Three epic cycles:

• Two Enmerkar legends:

• Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta (translation)
• Enmerkar and En-suhgir-ana (translation)

• Two tales of Lugalbanda during Enmerkar's campaign against Aratta:

• Lugalbanda in the Mountain Cave (translation)
• Lugalbanda and the Anzud Bird (translation)

• Five stories in the Gilgamesh epic cycle:

• Gilgamesh and Huwawa (version A, version B)
• Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven (translation)
• Gilgamesh and Aga (translation)
• Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld (translation)
• The Death of Gilgamesh (translation)

• The Lament for Ur (translation)

[edit] See also

• Ancient Egyptian literature

[edit] External links

Ancient Near East portal

Literature portal

• The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
• Catalogue of literary works at the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature