Position in chronology
A shir-gida to Martu (Martu A)
Written in modern English
Martu is a hero, a mighty young god who rules the distant mountains all the way to their farthest edges. He has the raw strength of a savage lion and holds a sacred throne in the mountains, a place of purity. He radiates great terror, was fathered by the god An, and shines with an abundance of divine powers. His mother Ninhursaja built him a body of enormous proportions — though whatever purpose that last detail serves, the text breaks off before completing the thought.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLHero, august youth, who completely controls the distant mountains as far as their borders! Martu, august youth, who completely controls the distant mountains as far as their borders, who possesses the strength of a savage lion, who occupies a holy dais in the mountains, the pure place! Martu, who possesses the strength of a savage lion, who occupies a holy dais in the mountains, the pure place, who is imbued with great fearsomeness, whom holy An engendered, who appears gloriously with numerous divine powers! His own mother Ninhursaja gave him enormous limbs for his form, so that no one should…
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.4.12.1 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.4.12.1: A shir-gida to Martu (Martu A). 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.4.12.1.
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