Finally read most of this after moving it around for 40+ years. Interesting interpretations of the poetry and legends by Wolkstein and interesting history of the discoveries of the texts and of the history and culture of Sumer by Kramer.

Recommended by BMcH. Crazy, like a trip to the zog people, only it's my relatives. I once had a "wild-haired enkum-creature" as a pet. My copy is from the Erie, Illinois high school and still has the date due sheet and the pocket for the library card. Nobody ever took it out. ( )

A collection of mythological stories about the Sumerian Goddess Inanna, gleaned from stone tablets from 2000 BCE. The stories begin with Inanna rescuing a Huluppu tree from the wild waters of the Euphrates River. Other stories relate to Inanna gaining wisdom from the god Enki after getting him drunk on beer, her courtship and love with the shepherd Dumuzi, her descent into the Underworld and its consequences, and several hymns of praise in her honour.

The second half of the book is an academic examination of the stories, starting with a Sumerian history and cultural background from cuneiform translator Samuel Noah Kramer, an exegeseis of the tales themselves by folklorist Diane Wolkstein and descriptions of the various artworks photographed in the book.

I found it fascinating not only because the stories were strong: Innana's strength and character shine through undimmed by the intervening millenia; but also for the cross-disciplinary academic collegiality of the authors and the story of the excavation and translation of the tablets themselves. ( )

this is wonderful

2016 (review can be found at the link - which is a LibraryThing page)
https://www.librarything.com/topic/220674#5635221 ( )

Here we have the collected translations of the Inanna cycle of tales from Ancient Sumer. Along with the tales there are commentary from both Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Kramer on the way in which the original tablets were found and how the translations were made.

Kramer's part focuses on how the pieces of the tablets were found by different excavation teams and how he and a few others eventually connected the various pieces and figured out that they were part of the same story cycle.

After the tales, there are a series of hymns also dedicated to Inanna. Many of these seem to be either for marriage rites or temple/altar worship based on the text.

If, like me, you're interested in learning more about some of the earlier myths from the "cradle of civilization," this is definitely a book worth reading. ( )