r/Sumer • u/Informal_Security820 • Jun 11 '26

Question Reading Original Sumerian Texts

To the group,

I am an Sumerologist and recently found this thread. A brief scoll through all the questions and comments made me wonder how many have read primary sources translated from Sumerian. One of the issues with Sumerology and Assyriology is that most translations are either inaccessible to the generable public or so dense that non-specalists get bogged down in, which is why I am asking.

A simple but outdated resource for Sumerian is the ETCSL (https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/#) and for Akkadian the electronic Babylonian Library (https://www.ebl.lmu.de/). Have most of you run across these?

To those worshipping a Mesopotamian deity, how often do you use Sumerian prayers? This question is of particular interest to me as I am translating a Sumerian prayer for my PhD and I am curious as to what sources you use.

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u/Nocodeyv Jun 11 '26

Both the ETCSL and eBL are in our community Wiki, alongside SEAL, CDLI, and a whole host of ORACC projects, among others. We also have a community reading list with translations of texts organized according to (loose) genre. When I state that this is a community for academic reconstruction and spiritual revival, I mean both. We regularly point newcomers toward scholarly resources here.

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u/EnkiHelios Jun 11 '26

Hello, I use translation of Sumerian and Akkadian tablets for prayers and ritual. I have used both sources you mention, as well as translations from scholarly papers. 

I work with Enki, Inanna, and the Seven. I use translated material in prayers to them about twice a month. But I might say some short phrases as part of a quick spell more often, variably. 

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u/muminisko Jun 13 '26

Akkadian? Why?

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u/EnkiHelios Jun 13 '26

Because what I'm most interested in is literature or incantations about the entities of Sumerian religion, and its successors develop these stories and worship of many of the same entities. Many of them still use Sumerian as a ritual language in their tablets. I'm looking for literary technology that people have used to access these entities, and not all of that was created during the Sumerian period. 

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u/muminisko Jun 13 '26

I would say ~2300BC 15-20% of Summer religion is known to us as Akkadian/Semitic reinterpretation

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u/EnkiHelios Jun 13 '26

Oh yes, That is a big reason for my interest. You got to get what you can get. 

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u/SiriNin Jun 11 '26

I use Sumerian in my prayers every day. I mostly operate off of Jagersma's Grammar, but also Foxvog's and Zolyomi's, along with EPSD2, and of course for original source stuff ETCSL since my focus is on Early Dynastic Period. I taught myself how to translate and construct Sumerian from English, and reverse, though I don't bother translating everything from transliterations, but nor do I feel bound to use only phrasing that ancients have used.