Position in chronology
A hymn to Enlil for Samsu-iluna (Samsu-iluna H)
Written in modern English
Someone brought offerings into the E-kur, the house of Enlil — the text is too damaged at the opening to say more. Then Samsu-iluna is named: the mighty king whose splendour covers all people, who has made wise decisions and inflicted defeat on hostile foreign lands. Several lines in the middle are too fragmentary to read. The passage ends in direct address: Samsu-iluna, good hero and lord of his land — it is sweet to praise you.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSL...... offerings ......, he brought (?) them into E-kur. In the E-kur, the house of Enlil, Samsu-iluna, the mighty king whose ...... awesomeness covers all people (An Akkadian gloss has: whose splendour covers all people) 1 line unclear (An Akkadian gloss has: reach ......) 3 lines fragmentary 1 line fragmentary (An Akkadian gloss has: by saving ......) The foreign lands ...... has wisely (?) made decisions (?) (An Akkadian gloss has: ......; who has inflicted defeat ...... on all hostile lands). Samsu-iluna, the good hero, lordly one of his Land (An Akkadian gloss has: Samsu-iluna, the good hero, lordly one of his land)! O Samsu-iluna, it is sweet to praise you!
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.2.8.3.8 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.2.8.3.8: A hymn to Enlil for Samsu-iluna (Samsu-iluna H). 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.2.8.3.8.
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