A Sumerian Reader

I have been re-aquainting myself with Sumerian by translating some texts in a book called "A Sumerian Reader" by Konrad Volk.

The book grew out of some texts that the author put together to give students practice reading Sumerian. The author published the current version of the work in 1999.

The book is a slim volume that is highly useful to the student of Sumerian. Dr. Volk includes texts from three genres: Royal Inscriptions, Legal Texts (marriage contracts, slave purchases, etc.) and "Economic Documents". The texts are given in Sumerian characters and in transliteration. In all, 44 texts are presented in this volume.

The book also includes a Sumerian sign list (only for the signs used in this book), a Sumerian to English dictionary, a list of place names and personal names. Lists of divine names and Sacred Buildings are also given.

For those who have already learned Sumerian grammar, this book is a very good "next step" toward mastery of the language.