|Site Map | Contacts | Links | Newsletter ||
Sumerian is probably the oldest known language. About 3000 BC the Sumerians started using abbreviated pictograms by pressing a reed stylus into clay tablets (Von Sodon 1994, 32-33). It is syllabic language which basically developed from simplified pictograms which became abstract. Many signs have multiple word and phonetic meanings so determinatives were used. The number of signs was later reduced to about 600. It is a very complex language.
Sumerian has stories similar to Genesis 1-11. Some the important texts are: Eridu Genesis which parallels Genesis 1-11, The Sumerian King List which is similar to Genesis 5, The Sumerian Flood Story, The Song of the Hoe which tells about the creation of the world and man, Enki and Ninmah which is the earliest text dealing with man's creation, Emerkar and the Lord of Aratta which deals with times before civilization began.