Gilgamesh epic in the context of "Shamhat"

Eridu Genesis, also called the Sumerian Creation Myth or Sumerian Flood Myth, offers a description of the story surrounding how humanity was created by the gods, the circumstances leading to the origins of the first cities in Mesopotamia, how the office of kingship entered this probably neolithical civilisation, and the global flood.

Other Sumerian creation myths include the Barton Cylinder, the Debate between sheep and grain, and that between Winter and Summer, also found at Nippur. Similar flood myths are described in the Atra-Hasis and Gilgamesh epics, where the former deals with the internal conflict of an organisation of Sumerian gods, which they try to pacify by creating the first couples of humans as labour slaves – followed by a mass reproduction of these creatures and a great flood triggered by Enlil (master of the universe). The narrative of biblical Genesis shows some striking parallels (however, excluding all references to a civilisation before Adam and Eve's creation), so that scientific research has long assumed prehistoric influences on the emergence of Mosaic religion.

Poetry as an oral art form likely predates written text.The earliest poetry is believed to have been recited or sung, employed as a way of remembering oral history, genealogy, and law. Poetry is often closely related to musical traditions, and the earliest poetry exists in the form of hymns (such as Hymn to the Death of Tammuz), and other types of song such as chants. As such, poetry is often a verbal art. Many of the poems surviving from the ancient world are recorded prayers, or stories about religious subject matter, but they also include historical accounts, instructions for everyday activities, love songs, and fiction.

Many scholars, particularly those researching the Homeric tradition and the oral epics of the Balkans, suggest that early writing shows clear traces of older oral traditions, including the use of repeated phrases as building blocks in larger poetic units. A rhythmic and repetitious form would make a long story easier to remember and retell, before writing was available as a reminder. Thus, to aid memorization and oral transmission, surviving works from prehistoric and ancient societies appear to have been first composed in a poetic form – from the Vedas (1500–1000 BCE) to the Odyssey (800–675 BCE).Poetry appears among the earliest records of most literate cultures, with poetic fragments found on early monoliths, runestones, and stelae.