To date we know four major Sumerian narrative poems dealing with the rivalry between Uruk and Aratta. They are written in standard literary Sumerian, and were composed very probably near the beginning of the second millennium. Together they may be said to constitute the “Matter of Aratta”. The use of this term, however, already indicates a first problem area. Is the mention of Aratta, and the theme of its defeat by Uruk in a struggle for supremacy, a sufficient reason to regard the poems as a group, or are there other and more formal features allowing us to define them as belonging to a specific type of narrative poetry?
A survey of the contents shows that there are indeed more points of concurrence than the mere struggle between cities. In every poem, a challenge is laid down by one of the rulers. This challenge, which may be military or diplomatic, is taken up by the other party so that, whatever the outcome, the ambitions of the challenger are held up for a while in the middle part of the poem. A major role is played by a messenger type who is instrumental in gradually bringing about the solution. These mediations may be merely repetitive, but can also be incremental, or a combination of both. Furthermore, parts of his mediating function may be taken over by others: champions may be used to effectuate the messages. Finally, in every tale the struggle ends with Uruk's victory, gained by non-military means, and exemplified by Inanna's behaviour: she ultimately grants victory to Uruk. These basic characteristics may be seen as a framework to all poems, and schematically represented as:
Initial situation: virtually equal protagonists; challenge and response: deadlock.