It is not clear that the legendary heroes whose exploits feature in several Sumerian literary narratives can be distinguished from gods. Usually their names are written with the same determinative sign used to write the names of deities, and it is known from documentary evidence that some received a cult and offerings. They were often considered to be the offspring of gods. Some, such as Lugalbanda, were envisaged as culture-heroes who had benefited mankind, while others, such as Gilgames, were considered to have ruled well-known cities in ancient times. However, it is precisely this connection to identified terrestrial locations that characterizes the figures we can call heroes.
If this is so, then equally, but for different reasons, it is difficult to distinguish some undeniably historical kings from gods. This is because during most of the period from which the Sumerian literature translated here derives, rulers considered themselves as deified in their own lifetimes. Their names, equally, were written with the determinative sign for deities, and temples were built in their honour, where they received a cult. Not surprisingly these rulers are described in extravagant terms, and their beliefwas that they shared divine parentage with the gods, and thus in some sense could be, for instance, the husband of the goddess Inana, or son of the goddess Ninsumun and therefore the brother of Gilgames. Such statements were part of the complex tissue of ritual with which rulers surrounded themselves; clearly, propaganda of this sort did not arrest the mortality of Mesopotamian kings when their time came, and a work such as The death of Ur-Namma comes to terms with exactly this problem.
None the less, it makes it difficult to draw a line where the legendary past ended and the historical past began. Several of the narratives have many of the characteristics of legends or folk-tales. In contrast to the Lugalbanda and Enmerkar narratives, which express in different forms the conflict between Unug and the legendary city of Aratta (Enmerkar and En-suhgir-ana, Lugalbanda in the mountain cave, and Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird), the five Sumerian poems about GilgameS, also ruler of Unug and in one tradition the son of Lugalbanda, present different events in that hero’s life. In three of these, Gilgames defeats different types of opponent: Aga, the king of Kis, the dominant city in the Semitic-speaking north (Gilgames and Aga, ETCSL 1.8.1.1); monstrous Huwawa, the divinely appointed guardian of the cedar forests (Gilgames and Huwawa, Group J); and the rampaging Bull of Heaven, the constellation Taurus brought to earth at the request of the goddess Inana (Gilgames and the Bull of Heaven, ETCSL 1.8.1.2). In a fourth poem, his servant and comrade in these exploits, Enkidu, is himself defeated by the Underworld (Gilgames, Enkidu, and the Underworld). And in a fifth (The death of Gilgames, ETCSL 1.8.1.3), the two companions are reunited in the Underworld; the theme of the death of a ruler and his state burial is also developed in The death of Ur-Namma.
The more or less historical events that form the background to Sargon and Ur-Zababa are at least in agreement with other sources, and the historical context is confirmed by original inscriptions left by both Lugal-zage-si and Sargon. The building by Gudea, a historical ruler of LagaS, of the temple of Ningirsu is presented as of cosmic import (see The building of Ningirsu’s temple). Meanwhile An adab to An for Lipit-Estar, a ruler of Isin, and Aprayer for Samsu-iluna, king of Babylon and son of the famous Hammurabi, both allude to the divine status of their royal addressees.
FURTHER READING
Fluckiger-Hawker, E., Urnamma of Ur in Sumerian Literary Tradition (University Press/Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: Fribourg/Gottingen, 1999) studies all the extant praise poetry written for Ur-Namma.
George, A. E., The Epic of Gilgamesh: The Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian (Penguin: Harmondsworth, 1999) gives all the Gilgames narratives in translation, with an extensive introduction.
Vanstiphout, H. L. J., Epics of Sumerian Kings: The Matter ofAratta (Society of Biblical Literature: Atlanta, GA, 2003) introduces and edits four legends of Lugalbanda. Westenholz, J. G., Legends of the Kings of Akkade (Eisenbrauns: Winona Lake, Ind., 1999) explores the literary traditions about Sargon of Agade and his grandson Naram-Suen, in Akkadian.
OTHER COMPOSITIONS ON THIS THEME INCLUDE
Group B A love song for Su-Suen Inana and ISme-Dagan
Group C Sulgi and Ninlil’s barge The cursing of Agade
Group D The lament for Sumer and Urim Group E An adab to Nergal for Su-ilisu
A hymn to Numusda for Sin-iqisam Group F A lullaby for a son of Sulgi A love song for Isme-Dagan Group G The debate between Bird and Fish Group H An adab to Bau for ISme-Dagan
A sir-namgala to Ninisina for Lipit-EStar A sir-namursaga to Inana for Iddin-Dagan A tigi to Enki for Ur-Ninurta An ululumama to Suen for Ibbi-Suen Group I Proverbs: collection 25
A hymn to Haia for Rim-Sin Group J A praise poem of Sulgi
A praise poem of Lipit-Estar Gilgames and H uwawa
World History
