Position in chronology
A hymn to Inana (Inana F)
Written in modern English
Inana speaks: her father Enlil gave her the heavens and the earth, and with them lordship, queenship, battle, fighting, the stormwind, and the dust cloud. He crowned her head with the sky, set the earth beneath her feet as sandals, wrapped her body in the sacred ma garment, and placed the holy sceptre in her hand. The other gods are small birds to her falcon. While the Anuna gods mill about, she is the great wild cow — Enlil's own good wild cow, the one who walks at the front of the herd.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLMy father gave me the heavens and he gave me the earth. I am Inana! Which god compares with me? Enlil gave me the heavens and he gave me the earth. I am Inana! He gave me lordship, and he gave me queenship. He gave me battles and he gave me fighting. He gave me the stormwind and he gave me the dust cloud. He placed the heavens on my head as a crown. He put the earth at my feet as sandals. He wrapped the holy ma garment around my body. He put the holy sceptre in my hand. The gods are small birds, but I am the falcon. The Anuna mill about, but I am the good wild cow, I am the good wild cow of father Enlil, his good wild cow which walks in front.
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.4.07.6 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.4.07.6: A hymn to Inana (Inana 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.4.07.6.
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