Position in chronology
A balbale to Enki for Ishme-Dagan (Ishme-Dagan E)
Written in modern English
The opening line is missing, and several phrases throughout are too damaged to read. What survives praises Enki: his words carry power, he stands foremost among the gods, and he knows everything. He is An's counsellor and adviser to Enlil, the Great Mountain, and his rulings cannot be overturned. Patient and commanding, he rides upon all the divine powers and radiates a fearsomeness like Enlil's own. He is Nudimmud, lord of the holy dais, borne aloft by An and Urac — though the lines that follow are lost or broken.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSL1 line missing ...... in the holy heart ......, ......, whose words are powerful, who ...... decisions. ...... foremost of the gods, omniscient ....... ...... Enki, counsellor of holy An, adviser of the Great Mountain ....... ...... foremost of the gods, omniscient ....... ...... Enki, counsellor of holy An, adviser of the Great Mountain ....... Adviser, whose statements cannot be countermanded, whose ways ...... fearsomeness. Patient-hearted, who rides upon all the divine powers, who ...... like Enlil. Nudimmud ...... holy dais ....... Lord imbued with fearsomeness, borne by An and Urac,…
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.2.5.4.05 in the ETCSL catalogue. Sumerian literary text reconstructed from multiple cuneiform manuscripts, the great majority Old Babylonian (c. 1900–1600 BCE). Translation reproduced from the ETCSL edition.
Attribution
Image: .
Translation excerpted from ETCSL c.2.5.4.05: A balbale to Enki for Ishme-Dagan (Ishme-Dagan E). Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Robson, E. & Zólyomi, G. (eds.), The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=c.2.5.4.05.
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