Position in chronology
A mythic narrative about Inana
Written in modern English
The opening lines are too damaged to read, and an unknown number of lines are lost entirely before the narrative resumes. When it picks up, E-ana has come down from heaven, and Inana has fixed her mind on one goal: seizing the great heavens. The thought is repeated, driving and insistent — she means to take the great heavens, and she is resolved. She turns to her brother, the young sun-god Utu, and tells him she has something to say: he must listen. She addresses him as her twin and presses him again — pay attention to her words.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSL1 line fragmentary Holy Inana ....... The hero, youthful Utu, ....... At dead of night ....... E-ana ....... Inana ....... The great (?) heavens ....... unknown no. of lines missing 1 line fragmentary ...... E-ana came forth from heaven, ...... the lady of heaven set her mind to capturing the great heavens, ...... Inana set her mind to capturing the great heavens, ...... set her mind to capturing the great heavens from the ...... of heaven, ...... youthful Utu, she set her mind to capturing the great heavens. Holy Inana spoke to her brother the hero, youthful Utu: "My brother, I want to tell you something -- pay attention to my speech. ...... Utu, my twin, I want to tell you something -- pay attention to my speech."
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.1.3.5 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.1.3.5: A mythic narrative about Inana. 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.1.3.5.
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