Position in chronology
A hymn to Nanna (Nanna N)
Written in modern English
Nanna blazes across the sacred sky, a brilliant and radiant lord whose divine powers are holy. He is the sole lord who lights the heavens from on high, and serves as counselor in both heaven and earth — though several phrases in these opening lines are too damaged to read fully. As he rises, he glows; whatever object or quality is described as holy and purifying — the word is lost — shines out for the king like good sunlight. The passage repeats: as Nanna comes forth and rises in radiance, that holy, purifying thing shines out again for the king like good sunlight.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLLuminous (?) brilliance that fills the holy heavens, an adept (?) exuding radiance (?), Nanna, your divine powers (?) are holy! Unique lord, luminous lord who ...... the heavens, shining in the high heavens, ......, adviser in heaven and on earth, ......, you are the god who ....... 2 lines fragmentary ...... as you come forth, ...... you rise in radiance. The ...... is holy and purifies. O, it has come forth for my king like the good sunlight! Nanna, ...... as you come forth, ...... you rise in radiance. The ...... is holy and purifies. O, it has come forth for my king like the good sunlight!
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.4.13.14 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.4.13.14: A hymn to Nanna (Nanna N). 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.4.13.14.
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