Sumerian Mythology Resources

The R package sumer provides tools for analyzing and translating Sumerian cuneiform texts. This guide walks you through the installation of R, RStudio, and the sumer package step by step. 

1. Installing R and RStudio

On the page https://posit.co/download/rstudio-desktop/ you will find links to download R and RStudio.

R is a free programming language developed specifically for data analysis and statistical computing. You do not need to know how to program in order to use R — for the sumer package, it is sufficient to enter individual commands. R runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

RStudio is a free user interface for R. While R itself only provides a command line, RStudio offers a convenient working environment in which you can enter commands, view results, and display graphics. RStudio requires an existing R installation — therefore always install R first, and then RStudio.

2. Installing the sumer Package

Enter the following command in the Console of RStudio (the window at the bottom left):

install.packages("sumer")

R will download the package along with all its dependencies and install it. This only needs to be done once.

3. Configuring Graphic Output

The sumer package uses the graphics library ragg to correctly render cuneiform characters. You need to set this as the default graphics backend in RStudio:

1. Open RStudio.
2. Go to Tools → Global Options → General → Graphics.
3. Set the backend to AGG.
4. Click OK.

4. Loading the sumer Package

After installation, you can load the package in any R session with:

library(sumer)

5. Opening the Vignettes with the Tutorials

You can open the vignettes with the tutorials using:

browseVignettes("sumer")

The Sumerian-English dictionary, which is available for free download here, is published under the CC BY 4.0 license. This means that you need to cite it as a source in publications (including the version number). As the dictionary is constantly being updated, please check this website occasionally for updates.

The dictionary can either be viewed as a text file or conveniently used together with the R package sumer.