nd Epical Texts_, the writer arrives at a
definite stage in the interpretation of the religious material in the
Nippur collection. Having been privileged to examine the collection in
Philadelphia as well as that in Constantinople, I write with a sense of
responsibility in giving to the public a brief statement concerning what
the temple library of ancient Nippur really contained. Omitting the
branches pertaining to history, law, grammar and mathematics, the
following _resume_ is limited to those tablets which, because of their
bearing upon the history of religion, especially upon the origins of
Hebrew religion, have attracted the attention of the public on two
continents to the collections of the University Museum.

Undoubtedly the group of texts which have the most human interest and
greatest literary value is the epical group, designated in Sumerian by the
rubric _zag-sal_.(1) This literary term was employed by the Sumerian
scribes to designate a composition as didactic and theological. Religious
texts of such kind are generally composed in an easy and graceful style
and, although somewhat influenced by liturgical mannerisms, may be readily
distinguished from the hymns and psalms sung in the temples to musical
accompaniment. The _zagsal_ compositions(2) are mythological and
theological treatises concerning the deeds and characters of the great
gods. The most important didactic hymns of the Nippur collection and in
fact the most important religious texts in early Sumerian literature are
two six column tablets, one (very incomplete) on the Creation and the
Flood published by DR. POEBEL, and one (all but complete) on Paradise and
the Fall of Man. Next in importance is a large six column tablet
containing a mythological and didactic hymn on the characteristics of the
virgin mother goddess.(3) A long mythological hymn in four columns(4) on
the cohabitation of the earth god Enlil and the mother goddess Ninlil and
an equally long but more literary hymn to the virgin goddess Innini(5) are
good examples of this group of tablets in the Nippur collection.(6) One of
the most interesting examples of didactic composition is a hymn to the
deified king Dungi of Ur. By accident both the Philadelphia and the
Constantinople collections possess copies of this remarkable poem and the
entire text has been reconstructed by the writer in a previous
publication.(7) 1 have already signaled the unique importance of this
extraordinary hymn to the