Position in chronology
A praise poem of Shulgi (Shulgi Y)
Written in modern English
An unknown number of lines are missing at the top, and two more are too damaged to read. What remains has Enki, the lord whose decrees are final, entering proudly to make Shulgi's kingship last and to fill his reign with abundance. Enki assigned Utu — whose word stands above all others — to serve as a constable over Shulgi. Because Ninlil had given Shulgi her joyful blessing throughout the Land and had made his voice ring out in the assembly, Shulgi, the faithful shepherd of Sumer, praised her in the Ja-jiš-šua — her temple where lawsuits are decided fairly — in her august E-papah, a place charged with awe and admired by all foreign lands. The passage then breaks off mid-sentence.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLunknown no. of lines missing 2 lines fragmentary To make my kingship longlasting, to make abundance conspicuous in my reign, Enki, the lord whose utterances cannot be altered, entered it proudly. He assigned Utu, whose words are pre-eminent, as a constable to me. Since Ninlil had given me her joyful blessing in the Land, and had caused me to be heard in the assembly, I, Culgi, the faithful shepherd of Sumer, praised her in the Ja-jic-cua, in her temple where lawsuits are decided justly, in her august temple befitting her ladyship, in her E-papah imbued with terrible awesomeness, a place admired by all the foreign countries, within .......
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.2.4.2.25 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.2.4.2.25: A praise poem of Shulgi (Shulgi Y). 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.2.4.2.25.
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