Position in chronology
A hymn to Suen for Ibbi-Suen (Ibbi-Suen E)
Written in modern English
The hymn addresses Nanna, the moon god, praising his divine powers and holy shrine, though several lines are too damaged to read. When Nanna takes his seat on the great dais he wears a gleaming crown, headdress, and diadem, and when he opens his mouth the divine powers are set in order. He gathers together the throne and those divine powers, seated with his head held high. The surviving lines then turn to Ibbi-Suen, who receives his royal authority from holy An, the lord who sanctifies divine power — but the passage breaks off before this thought is completed.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLYour divine powers ......, father Nanna, ......, ...... chose from the people ....... Youthful Suen, your holy shrine ....... An, you ...... your good crown and headdress on your head. When you take your seat on the great august dais ....... When you open your holy mouth, ...... the great ...... and the divine powers. ...... the royal crown, the holy headdress and the diadem, gathering together the throne and the divine powers, on the dais with head high ....... Mighty (?) one of the dais, ...... good seed ......, my Ibbi-Suen, ...... from holy An, lord who sanctifies the divine powers, who…
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.2.4.5.5 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.2.4.5.5: A hymn to Suen for Ibbi-Suen (Ibbi-Suen E). 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.2.4.5.5.
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