Script

Cast

Research Notes

Images of Sumer

Costume and Scene Concepts

Music and Literature of Sumer

Links

Biographies of the Inanna Troupe

Agreement

Dates

Acknowledgements

Coming Soon

MUSIC AND LITERATURE OF SUMER

Listen to Music of Sumer

Notes on Music of Sumer

Notes on Literature of Sumer

Conditions of Antiquities in Iraq Today

QUICK NOTES ON LITERATURE

From Kramer’s notes – see Bibliography for The Sumerians, the section “Belles-Lettres”.

Repetition
Parallelism
Simile
Metaphor
Chorus
Refrain

Static epithets
Repetitions
Recurrent formulas
Leisurely detailed descriptions
Long speeches

The Sumerians were not big on closely knit plot structure. Narratives tend to ramble rather disconnectedly & monotonously and with little variation in emphasis and tone.

Lacked a sense of climax.

Myths & epics show little intensification of emotion & suspense as story progresses.

Peggy says: all this is very familiar to indigenous people.
Example: Inuit stories – same thing. Same lack of dynamic in music. Catch Phillip Glass – same thing. Tibetan sense of humor – same thing.

Often last episode is no more moving than the first.

Nor is there any attempt at characterization and psychological delineation.

Peggy says: OK. There is a good reason for this – gods & heroes tend to be broad types rather than flesh & blood individuals. The deities administer an impersonal process. Each has a different department of concern and they represent personifications of the forces of Nature. (Inanna complains to Enki she has no function). Those forces operate in the world and within the human being – so the deities that are without are also within. So here goes: gods image out the cosmic order, namely planets (they knew about 7 of the visible spheres: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus (Inanna) Mars, Jupiter and Saturn). The hierarchical order of the planets and the stars imprint on the psyche a visible archetypal pattern in the arts, architecture (see the Sumerian ziggurat also figured in the Maya temple and the Egyptian pyramid, et. al.) & in philosophy. And then, it stands to reason the society patterns itself symbolically as a cosmic model.

The mythology of the people of Sumer is grandiose and poetic. It refers to itself as ineffable and mysterious. Bear in mind, the species of homo sapiens was then 35,000 years old and people were scrambling to understand who they were – The aim of mythology is to open people’s minds but not in a way the mystery can be analyzed or talked about – but experienced. Also, humans everywhere even now, since we are 40,000 years old as a species, need to connect the transcendent world to the world of everyday experience.

Next – the social order of people needs to be connected to the mystery. The King or Queen sits in the center. He is the sun (heard that before?) – or the Moon. His or Her crown represents the light of sun or moon. His/Her court moves around the monarch like the planets and the lesser stars & constellations – Politicians etc. wear the costumes of the cosmos – hence, courtly protocol, hence stories, intrigue and so on.

But as we participate in this play about Inanna– WE are interested, in the function of mythology that carries the individual through the vagaries of Life because all mythology is a morality tale. It teaches the individual how to mature from the attitudes of childhood dependency to culturally defined adult responsibility. THEN mythology shows the way of old age and one’s passage beyond the Gates of the Underworld.

So – the society is coordinated as one large unit pointed to this mystery dimension.

* To read a good essay on this subject go to Joseph Campbell’s Myths of Light – New World Library 2003.