SOURCE: “The Alleged Sumerian Influence upon Lamentations,,” in Vetus Testamentum, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, April, 1968, pp. 198-209.

In the following essay, McDaniel examines and rejects the supposed relationship of Sumerian literature to Lamentations, basing his conclusion in part on the fact that the parallels that exist are general and that no convincing means of transmission has been found.

Sumerian literary catalogues from the early second millenium contain the titles of numerous lamentations over the destruction of Sumerian city-states, including Akkad (Agade), Eridu, Lagash, Nippur, and Ur, and over the whole land of Sumer¹). Portions of most of these lamentations have been recovered, and parts of several of them have been published in translation, including the “Lamentation Over the Destruction of Ur”²), “The Second Lamentation for Ur”³), the “Lamentation Over the Destruction of Nippur”⁴), and the “Lamentation Over the Destruction of Akkad”⁵).

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