The Image of the Netherworld in the Sumerian Sources

by Dina Katz

Discussion of the Sumerians' concept of the afterlife. Topics investigated the location of the netherworld, the way to the netherworld, life in the netherworld; the gods of the netherworld, and more.

Genres: Mythology

Hardcover

First published April 1, 2003

Reviews

[Seph · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Image of the Netherworld in the Sumerian Sources" by Dina Katz is the most comprehensive academic analysis of the Mesopotamian afterlife available to-date, and a must-have volume for students of Mesopotamian mythology and revivalists of Mesopotamian polytheism. In this volume Katz gathers together and thoroughly explores all of the Sumerian dedicatory inscriptions, hymns, incantations, myths, and praise poems that detail the geographic, topographic, societal, and ecological conditions of the Netherworld, as described by Sumerian scribes in the third millennium BCE. The sole caveat I have, is that this is an academic work with a robust list of notes and citations, and an extensive appendix of translated texts with line-by-line commentary, that non-academics may find exhausting, but which I found as illuminating as the primary text, if not more so.

Assorted Text Information Lacking on Goodreads' Page

Primary text length: 249 pages
With appendices: 442 pages
With Bibliography and Index: 488 pages