Position in chronology
A shir-namgala to Ninisina for Lipit-Eshtar (Lipit-Eshtar E)
Translation · reference
High confidenceHe (probably Enlil) told her, Ninisina, the great daughter of An, the great daughter-in-law, ...... : "That Lipit-Ectar should be your provider -- so let it be!" Cagbatuku. Ninisina (?) paid attention to Enlil's utterance. She answered with humility: "Father Enlil, god whose name is manifest, ......, Enlil; lord ......, your divine powers are the most ......, your instructions are the most precious (?). For the trustworthy shepherd ......, ...... lord Lipit-Ectar 2 lines unclear He has settled the people ......, he (?) has made the Land feel content. You looked upon him with your life-giving gaze: now decree him a true fate!
Source: ETCSL c.2.5.5.5: A shir-namgala to Ninisina for Lipit-Eshtar (Lipit-Eshtar E). 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.2.5.5.5
Why it matters
Transliteration
Scholarly note
Composition c.2.5.5.5 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.2.5.5.5: A shir-namgala to Ninisina for Lipit-Eshtar (Lipit-Eshtar E). 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.2.5.5.5.
Related tablets
Related sources
The single most important literary discovery of the 19th century. It rewired the understanding of the Bible's literary context and proved that the Mesopotamian flood tradition is older. It is the oldest surviving epic poetry in human history.
The literary tradition is no longer anonymous from this point. Authorship — the idea that a specific human voice composes a specific work — enters the historical record with her.
The single most influential Mesopotamian king list — the model for every later attempt to chronicle the deep history of the region. It transmits the political theology of divinely granted kingship, an idea that would echo through Babylon, Assyria, and into the Hebrew Bible. The Weld-Blundell prism (WB 444) at the Ashmolean is the most complete surviving copy.