Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C.

Rating:
Summary: Out of date but still worth reading
Review: Any piece of scholarship that has a preface that baldly states that quite a bit of the following translations are wrong immediately throws out warning signals.
However, this is quite a useful handbook, even if the author pointedly tells the reader that "History begins at Sumer" is more accurate. It has that touch that encompasses all ancient historical secondary sources written in the early part of the twentieth century - a narrative style, whereby it is just as important to provide both a description of actions and a background of the people and methods that got the several thousand clay tablets translated.
Given today's somewhat dry "facts, facts, facts" attitude of most ancient historians, it is most refreshing because understanding those who compiled the work gives a better understanding of the translation.
The book excellently gives a rundown of the pantheon of Sumerian Gods, the acculturation of Sumerian mythology into Semitic and translates a goodly portion (sometimes inaccurately as the preface warns!) of the tablets.
Whilst any serious Sumerian scholar must move on to latter translations and works, this is a good starting point, particularly for those wanting to see a 'decipherment' in progress.