Position in chronology
A balbale to Ninurta (Ninurta F)
Written in modern English
The poem opens with praise for Ninurta, hailing him as good seed and good semen, king chosen by Enlil. The speaker declares himself Ninurta's own man and pledges to call upon his name. As proof of the god's generative power, the poem moves through the animal world in turn: ewes bear lambs, goats bear kids, cows bear calves, she-asses bear foals — donkeys of some kind are also born, though the word describing them is lost. The list culminates with humans giving birth to children. The closing words, naming Ninurta as king, are too damaged to read.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLGood semen, good seed, King chosen by Enlil! Very good semen, very good seed, Ninurta, chosen by Enlil! My king, I shall call upon your name. Ninurta, I am your man, your man; I shall call upon your name. My king, ewes give birth to lambs, ewes give birth to lambs, the sheep of the fold are born; I shall call upon your name. My king, goats give birth to kids, goats give birth to kids, buck goats are born; I shall call upon your name. My king, cows give birth to calves, cows give birth to calves, cows and breed-bulls are born; I shall call upon your name. My king, she-asses give birth to foals, she-asses give birth to foals, donkeys ...... are born; I shall call upon your name. My king, humans give birth to children, humans give birth to children. Ninurta, king .......
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.4.27.06 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.4.27.06: A balbale to Ninurta (Ninurta F). 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.4.27.06.
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