Position in chronology
A hymn to Hendursanga (Hendursanga A)
Written in modern English
The opening five lines are missing or too damaged to read. What follows praises Hendursaja, who holds divine powers beyond anything that could be asked of him. He is the one who gives counsel from the rooftops, who carries the staff among powerful lords and rulers, a shepherd watching over the teeming masses of people. He walks the city squares at night, in the middle of the watch, and at daybreak he opens the gates and throws the doors wide onto the street. The hymn then names him the accountant of Nindara, king of Nijin — though the description of that city breaks off mid-phrase.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSL5 lines missing or fragmentary ...... wise ......; Hendursaja, you have great divine powers, more than anyone could require. ...... who gives advice on the rooftops (?); you who among powerful lords are ......, who among rulers hold the staff, a shepherd who oversees the teeming people; ......, who strides about the city's squares by night at the middle of the watch; you who open the gates at daybreak, who make their doors stand open onto the street: Hendursaja, you have great divine powers, more than anyone could require. You are the accountant of Nindara, king of Nijin in its spacious…
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.4.06.1 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.4.06.1: A hymn to Hendursanga (Hendursanga 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.4.06.1.
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