Position in chronology
A kungar to Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inana I)
Written in modern English
Inana insists that only her family's protection keeps Dumuzid from chasing her through the dark paths of the desert. She names them one by one: her mother, her mother Ningal, Ningikuga, her father Suen, her brother Utu — without any one of them, this young man would be pursuing her through those shadowed desert tracks. The passage breaks off mid-sentence after she begins addressing Dumuzid directly as "young —" and the rest is lost.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSL"If it were not for our mother, he would be chasing me along the dark (?) paths of the desert! If it were not for our mother, this young man would be chasing me along the dark (?) paths of the desert! If it were not for my mother Ningal, he would be chasing me along the dark (?) paths of the desert! If it were not for Ningikuga, he would be chasing me along the dark (?) paths of the desert! If it were not for father Suen, he would be chasing me along the dark (?) paths of the desert! If it were not for my brother Utu, he would be chasing me along the dark (?) paths of the desert! "Young…
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.4.08.09 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.4.08.09: A kungar to Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inana I). 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.4.08.09.
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