Position in chronology
A shir-gida to Ninurta (Ninurta A)
Written in modern English
Ninurta, warrior son of Enlil, fierce bull and rightful prince, takes his seat on An's throne-dais. His glory fills the temple E-šu-me-ša and the great shrine E-kur; he is a rigorous judge and butting bull who plants his foot on rebel lands. In his hand he holds a sceptre of gleaming precious metal, the true crown of An rests on his head, and he rises over the people as the new moon does — as Nanna shines across heaven and earth, as Utu crests above the cypress trees. He is a king born in the mountain women's chambers, second in rank to someone whose name is lost, and here the surface breaks off: at least six lines are gone.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLThe warrior, the lordly son of Enlil, Ninurta, the fierce bull, fit to be a prince, the hero manifest in E-cu-me-ca, the glory of E-kur, the rigorous judge, king, ...... of the gods, the butting bull, placing his foot on the rebel lands, Ninurta, the lord of E-cu-me-ca, has taken his seat on the throne-dais of An. Like the new moon he comes forth over the people. Like Nanna he is ...... in heaven and earth. He holds in his hand a sceptre of shining precious metal, and the true crown of An is placed on his head. Like Utu he comes forth over the cypresses; like Nanna he stands over the high mountains. The lord in the courtyard (1 ms. has instead: The lord, the king), ......, the king who was born in the women's chambers in the mountains, second in rank ...... at least 6 lines missing
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.4.27.01 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.4.27.01: A shir-gida to Ninurta (Ninurta 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.4.27.01.
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