Position in chronology
A hymn of Inana for Ur-Ninurta (Ur-Ninurta A)
Written in modern English
When Inana appears in her glory, no one can keep pace with her — she blazes through the night in awe-inspiring splendour, and the great gods themselves are seized with fear at the sight of her. Her words carry the authority of An and the full weight of Enlil, and among all the divine ladies her powers are supreme. She brought the plans of kingship to perfection, determined to restore it, and resolved to deliver justice and stable rule to the black-headed people. From among all of humanity, she chose Ur-Ninurta — and the tablet's opening section breaks off there.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSL......, when she augustly appears, no one can keep pace with her, ...... glowing in the night, ...... with awe-inspiring splendour. The great gods are filled with fear at her ....... Her ...... utterances are as grand as those of An, and as weighty as those of Enlil. Inana is supreme, with multifarious divine powers surpassing the other divine ladies. She perfected the divine plans of kingship, so as to re-establish it, and she made up her mind and truly yearned to provide justice for the black-headed and to give them stable governance. From among the numerous people she summoned Ur-Ninurta…
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.2.5.6.1 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.2.5.6.1: A hymn of Inana for Ur-Ninurta (Ur-Ninurta 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.2.5.6.1.
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