Inanna's Influence On Sumer Culture

The authors of this book approach Inanna as the most predominant deity of Sumer, as her influence on Sumer culture was quite vast. In addition, her identity was retained when Sumer and Akkad were unified under a single political entity (Wolkstein and Kramer 1983, xv). Religious texts – like myths, poetry, and hymns – were less about procedure, and more about the stories of the deities themselves. This book, containing such primary sources needed for my essay topic, provides many cited images of the original stelae these texts come from as well.
The contents of the book that will help me the most in my essay, however, shall be the analyses that are given near the end. The texts presented in this book come a period of time prior to the unification
of Sumer and Akkad, so there are different perspectives of Inanna. However, they are quite similar overall; the general conceptualization of her being a fertility goddess remains. The analyses touches upon the similarities and differences between the perspectives and how they have changed over time. The two chapters I shall be referring to the most for this essay will be Kramer’s Sumerian History, Culture, and Literature and Wolkstein’s Interpretations of Inanna’s Stories and Hymns. The former chapter provides socio-cultural context from Sumerian history, which I will need in order to accurately compare literature on Inanna with the people worshipping her at the time. Also, Sumer is the culture I plan on focusing on. Wolkstein’s chapter critically analyzes some of the prior hymns verse by verse, which will supplement my own interpretations of the texts with that of a scholar’s.