Sumerian Mythology

Sumerian myths possess a rare originality that most myths worldwide lack. They were the first myths known to humans and formed the core of their earliest religion. Therefore, their sources were authentic, rooted in two unique elements: the fertile riverine nature of Mesopotamia and the agricultural culture that matured in Mesopotamia towards the end of prehistory. Nature was the primary living source for the emergence of Sumerian myths, and we can find the echo of nature, its laws, movements, and changes in all Sumerian myths. Sumerian imagination wove images of gods who controlled and moved all manifestations and forms of nature, primarily concerned with the conflict between water and air. The movement of planets and the positions of stars held prominence in this regard because they are part of the nature of the sky, and thus every celestial body and star became associated with gods, some of which enjoyed one or more myths. As for the agricultural culture that matured in Mesopotamia, it encompassed all qualitative developments in the creation and worship of gods and their symbolism for the cultures of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods.