Position in chronology
A praise poem of Shulgi (Shulgi X)
Written in modern English
Shulgi sailed to Uruk to claim its princely divine powers, and as he moored his boat at the quay of Kulaba, all of Sumer and Akkad watched in awe. He entered Inana's shrine at the E-ana temple bringing a great wild bull with raised horns, a sheep led at his right hand by an en priest, and two kids — one dappled, one bearded — held against his chest. There he dressed himself in the ma garment and set a hili wig on his head like a crown. Inana gazed at him with admiration and spontaneously began to sing; her words begin 'When I have…' but the text breaks off at that point.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLThe king sailed to Unug towards the princely divine powers. Sumer and Akkad marvelled at him as he moored the boat at the quay of Kulaba. With a large wild bull of the mountains with uplifted horns, and with a sheep led by the hand of an en priest at his right side, with a dappled kid and a bearded kid clasped to his breast, he entered before Inana in the shrine of E-ana. Culgi, the good shepherd, a heart in love, dressed himself in the ma garment and put a hili wig on his head as a crown. Inana looked at him with admiration and spontaneously struck up a song, singing the words: "When I have…
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.2.4.2.24 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.2.4.2.24: A praise poem of Shulgi (Shulgi X). 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.2.4.2.24.
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