TheElectronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL) is an onlinedigital library of texts and translations ofSumerian literature that was created by a now-completed project based at theOriental Institute of theUniversity of Oxford.[1]
This project's website contains "Sumerian text, English prose translation and bibliographical information" for "over 400 literary works composed in the Sumerian language in ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) during the late third and early second millennia BCE." It is both browsable and searchable and includes transliterations, composite texts, a bibliography of Sumerian literature and a guide to spelling conventions for proper nouns and literary forms. The purpose of the project was to make Sumerian literature accessible to those wishing to read or study it, and make it known to a wider public.[1]
The project was founded byJeremy Black in 1997 and is based at theOriental Institute of theUniversity of Oxford. It was funded by the University along with theLeverhulme Trust and theArts and Humanities Research Board. Various other bodies have been involved in the project includingAll Souls College,Oxford, theBritish Academy, the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA) and theHungarian Academy of Sciences. Contributors to the project have included Graham Cunningham,Eleanor Robson, Gábor Zólyomi, Miguel Civil, Bendt Alster, Joachim Krecher and Piotr Michałowski.[1] Other libraries from theUniversity of Chicago and theUniversity of Pennsylvania now usually follow the ETCSL in regards to abbreviations.[2] Funding for the project ended and it was closed in 2006, but the web site remains available.
