Position in chronology
A shir-namshub to Inana (Inana I)
Written in modern English
Inana speaks in the first person: as she travels by boat toward the abzu and enters Enlil's house, she is the queen who stands supreme over all mountains. Before Enlil's face she shines as pure emanating light. At the front of a battle she is the foremost power in all lands; in its thick she is the raw gut-force and heroic strength of combat itself. Moving along the rear of the battle she becomes a flood — what she carries there is lost, the line is too damaged to read — and taking her final stand behind the fighting, she is the woman who comes, though the exact force of that last phrase is uncertain in the original.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLWhen I ...... as I travel by boat, when I ...... as I travel by boat, when I, the queen, journey to the abzu, when I enter the house of Enlil, I am indeed the queen who is pre-eminent in the mountains. When I stand before the face of Enlil, I am indeed the emanating light. When I stand in the mouth of the battle, I am indeed also the foremost one of all lands. When I stand in the thick of the battle, I am indeed also the very guts of battle, the heroic strength. When I walk about at the rear of the battle, I am indeed also the flood bearing ....... When I take my stand behind the battle, I am the woman who comes (?).
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.4.07.9 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.4.07.9: A shir-namshub to Inana (Inana I). 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.4.07.9.
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