57 articles
Archaic tablets from Uruk
The archaic tablets from Uruk, also called the Uruk IV and III tablets, are about 5,000 proto-cuneiform clay tablets recording grain and livestock, dating to about 3350–3000 BC.
Archive of Abu Salabikh
The Archive of Abu Salabikh, also called the Abu Salabikh tablets, is a group of over 400 cuneiform tablets of about 2600 BC found at Tell Abu Salabikh, Iraq.
Barton Cylinder
The Barton Cylinder is a clay cylinder from Nippur, Iraq, inscribed with a unique Sumerian cosmogonic narrative, dated to about 2500 to 2340 BC and held in the Penn Museum.
Beveled rim bowl
The beveled rim bowl, also spelled bevelled rim bowl, is a coarse conical clay vessel mass-produced across Mesopotamia during the fourth millennium BC, the characteristic vessel of the Uruk culture.
Blau Monuments
The Blau Monuments are two inscribed stone objects of the late fourth or early third millennium BC, among the earliest known Sumerian inscriptions, held in the British Museum.
Bull Headed Lyre of Ur
The Bull Headed Lyre of Ur, also called the Great Lyre, is a gold and lapis bull-headed lyre from the Royal Cemetery at Ur, held by the Penn Museum.
Chronicle of Early Kings
The Chronicle of Early Kings is a Babylonian chronicle, known from two British Museum tablets, narrating kings from Sargon of Akkad to Agum III around 1500 BC.
Cones of Enmetena
The Cones of Enmetena are Sumerian clay cone inscriptions of Enmetena, ruler of Lagash, recording the Lagash-Umma border settlement and the building of Inanna's Emush temple.
Copper Bull
The Copper Bull is a life-sized standing bull of hammered copper over a wooden core from the Early Dynastic temple of Ninhursag at Tell al-'Ubaid, southern Iraq.
Debate between tree and reed
The Debate between tree and reed is a Sumerian disputation poem, cataloged as cSL 5.3.4, in which tree and reed contend in speech before a god judges.
Debate between Winter and Summer
The Debate between Winter and Summer, or Dispute between Winter and Summer, is a Sumerian poem in which the seasons Emesh and Enten contest before Enlil, who favors Winter.
Dynasty of Kish
The First Dynasty of Kish is the opening postdiluvian dynasty of the Sumerian King List, a largely legendary line of kings of the city of Kish in Early Dynastic Sumer.
Early Dynastic period (Mesopotamia)
The Early Dynastic period, also called the Early Dynastic Period of Sumer, was the era of competing Sumerian city-states in southern Mesopotamia, c. 2900–2334 BC.
Eduba
The eduba (é.dub.ba.a, "tablet house"; Akkadian bīt tuppim) was where ancient Mesopotamian scribes trained, known chiefly from Old Babylonian private houses such as Nippur's House F.
En (office)
En, meaning "lord", was a Sumerian title used by rulers of Uruk and, later, by high priestesses of the moon god Nanna at Ur, attested from about 3000 BC.
En-tarah-ana
En-tarah-ana is the fourth legendary king of Kish in the Sumerian King List, credited with a reign of 420 years, 3 months, and 3 1/2 days.
Enmerkar and En-suhgir-ana
Enmerkar and En-suhgir-ana is a Sumerian narrative poem of the Aratta cycle, in which Enmerkar of Uruk defeats the lord of Aratta through a magic contest.
Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta
Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta is a Sumerian epic poem, about 650 lines long, telling how King Enmerkar of Uruk won supremacy over the city of Aratta.
Ensi
Ensi (énsi) is a Sumerian title for a ruler or governor, used chiefly by the rulers of Lagash and later by provincial governors under the Akkadian and Ur III states.
First Dynasty of Lagash
The First Dynasty of Lagash, or Dynasty of Lagash I, ruled the Sumerian city-state of Lagash in southern Mesopotamia from about 2500 to 2300 BC, ending with Urukagina.
First Dynasty of Ur
The First Dynasty of Ur was an Early Dynastic Sumerian dynasty of the city of Ur, whose founder Mesannepada reigned from about 2560 BC and overthrew Uruk's last king.
First Dynasty of Uruk
The First Dynasty of Uruk, the second dynasty on the Sumerian King List, comprises twelve largely legendary rulers of Uruk, including Enmerkar, Lugalbanda, Dumuzi, and Gilgamesh.
Foundation figures
Foundation figures are cast copper peg figurines of rulers or deities that Mesopotamian builders buried in temple and palace foundations, above all in Early Dynastic Sumer.
Gilgamesh and Aga
Gilgamesh and Aga is a Sumerian poem about Aga of Kish, son of Enmebaragesi, whose war on Uruk ends with his capture and release by Gilgamesh.
Hymn to Enlil
The Hymn to Enlil, also known as Enlil A or Hymn to the E-kur, is a Sumerian hymn praising the god Enlil and his temple, the E-kur at Nippur in Iraq.
Inscriptions of Ur-Nanshe
The Inscriptions of Ur-Nanshe are roughly 40 surviving royal inscriptions of Ur-Nanshe, first king of the First Dynasty of Lagash, chiefly recording his building of temples, walls, and canals.
Instructions of Shuruppak
The Instructions of Shuruppak is a Sumerian wisdom text in which Shuruppak gives moral instruction to his son Ziusudra, with copies dated to about 2600–2500 BC.
Jemdet Nasr period
The Jemdet Nasr period, also spelled Jamdat Nasr, is an archaeological period of southern Mesopotamia, c. 3100–2900 BC, named after its type site near Kish.
Jemdet Nasr tablets
The Jemdet Nasr tablets are proto-cuneiform administrative records, chiefly grain accounts, found at Jemdet Nasr in central Iraq and dating to the late fourth millennium BC.
Kesh Temple Hymn
The Kesh Temple Hymn, also called Liturgy to Nintud, is a Sumerian hymn praising the temple of Kesh, its hero Ašgi, and its lady Nintur, preserved from about 2600 BC.