Most of them belonged to the pantheon of southern Mesopotamia, with northern deities being less numerous and these from more distant areas like Ebla, Mari and Susa absent altogether.
[5] Alongside compositions from Fara discovered in 1902 and 1903, the Zame Hymns have been described by Robert D. Biggs as "testimonies of the first great flowering of Sumerian literature".
[11] Support for this view has more recently been voiced by Krebernik and Lisman, who argue that based on Lisin's position in the hymns and the possible identification of her cult center as Abu Salabikh, it can be assumed that they were originally composed in this city to celebrate the foundation of her temple.
[13] Nicholas J. Postgate disagrees with their arguments, as according to him the fact Lisin's cult center is the final city mentioned does not necessarily prove the hymns were composed there.
[14][a] A different view has been advanced by Douglas Frayne, who argued that since both the second and second to last hymns focus on Uruk or Kullaba, the toponyms listed might represent the full territorial extent of an area which at some point was under the control of this city.
[17] Since cities in the proximity of Lagash are mentioned in the hymns, he assumes they were originally compiled before the rise of Ur-Nanshe to power, as it is known that from that time up to the reign of Urukagina the area was independent from Uruk.
[18] Joan Goodnick Westenholz assumed that the Zame Hymns were composed for both theological and political reasons, as a reflection of the existence of an "amphictyonic" organization centered on Nippur, due to the prominent position of this city and its tutelary god Enlil.
[5] The excavations were conducted in 1963 and 1965 by a team from the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, with participation of representatives of the Iraqi Directorate General for Antiquities.
[24] Other texts discovered in the same room include the myths Lugalbanda and Ninsumuna and Ezina and her children, the Abu Salabikh god list (in multiple copies) and numerous examples of UD.GAL.NUN.
[21] A new edition of the full sequence of hymns has been completed by Manfred Krebernik and Jan Lisman in 2020, though they also state that it should not be considered definitive, as uncertainties over correct translation of multiple passages remain due to the fact the order of signs might not necessarily reflect grammar and syntax in Early Dynastic texts.
[29] They are nonetheless considered difficult to translate, as in the Early Dynastic period cuneiform signs were not yet necessarily arranged in sequence in accordance with the lexical and morphological units they represented.
[30] Suffixes, postpositions, verbal morphemes and some determinatives (especially ki, used to designate toponyms) are left out, which might indicate the texts served as a memory aid for individuals already familiar with the hymns.
[32] Next to the god lists from Fara and Abu Salabikh, the hymns are considered the most important source of information about the pantheon and location of religious sites in lower Mesopotamia in the Early Dynastic period.
[33] The first 11 hymns focus on the most important deities (Enlil, Inanna, Ninirigal, Enki, Asalluḫi, Nanna, Utu, Ningal, An, Damgalnuna and Nin-UM) and their cult centers.