Reading Sumerian Poetry

Sumer was the first literary culture in the history of the world, as early as 2500 BC. Dr Black explroes how we can "read" this oldest poetry today. His account is structured around the the narrative poem that treats the hero Lugalbanda and his enounter with a monstrous bird. An analysis of the oldest form of poetry. Sumer, in the southern part of Iraq, created the first literary culture in history, as early as 2500BC. The account is structured around a complete English translation of the fragmentary Lugalbanda poems, narrating the adventures of the eponymous hero. The study reveals a work of a rich and sophisticated poetic imagination and technique, which, far from being in any sense 'primitive', are so complex as to resist much modern literary analysis.