Sumerian Liturgies and Psalms

A scholarly edition collects translations and restorations of Sumerian liturgical and psalmic texts from the Nippur temple library, presenting didactic zagsal hymns, canonical liturgies, cultic odes, and communal laments. An introductory study explains the temple-school transmission and the evolution of lengthy prayer services, while annotated texts reconstruct hymns to major deities, ritual intercessions, mourning songs for ruined cities, and royal didactic poems linked to creation and flood motifs. The edition combines philological notes and tablet indexes to illuminate liturgical structure, textual variants, and the role of these compositions within early Mesopotamian religious practice.