Position in chronology
A balbale to Shara (Shara A)
Written in modern English
The opening twenty-nine lines are missing entirely, and the first surviving line is too damaged to read. What remains is a hymn of praise addressed to Shara. His divine powers are called most precious, and the god An is named as his father. His mother, the holy Inana, has seated him beside her on a holy throne and given him a good name. Several further lines are too damaged to read, though one intact phrase describes a lord shining forth in the midst of a dwelling place. Toward the end, Shara is addressed as a princely son who comes forth like the sun from his shrine, the E-mah.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSL29 lines missing 1 line fragmentary ...... great radiance ....... Cara, the song praising you befits you. Cara, your divine powers are most precious; father An, who has engendered you ....... Your own mother, holy Inana, has let you sit with her on the holy ....... ...... she is the Mistress. She has let you ....... She has called you by a good name. ...... joyfully in your ....... ...... dwells ......; the lord shines forth in its midst. 1 line fragmentary Cara, you ......, praying in the good and holy ....... ......, the princely son, grandiloquent ...... holy ......, coming forth like the sun from the shrine E-mah.
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.4.30.1 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.4.30.1: A balbale to Shara (Shara A). 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.4.30.1.
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