Position in chronology
A song of Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inana J)
Written in modern English
Dumuzid's beloved sister — also beloved of Durtur and born of a good bull's seed, a true lady by birth — filled the cattle-pen with butter and cream and kept the sheepfold supplied with milk. On the high plain she is Jectin-ana, though several phrases around her name are too damaged to read. Then grief for her brother overtook her: the girl tore at her eyes, her mouth, and her buttocks — a part of the body the text says is not spoken of to men. She made her way to the palace tavern and stopped a minister coming out to question him.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSL"...... beloved sister of Dumuzid, beloved ...... of Durtur, ...... seed implanted into the womb by a good bull, my lady, born to ladyship! With her aid the cattle-pen was filled with butter and cream, with her aid the sheepfold was long provided with milk. On the high plain, my ......, you are Jectin-ana. O girl, ...... indeed! Your little ones ...... indeed! Unug ...... indeed! Kulaba ...... indeed! ...... you are ......." Because of her brother, the girl lacerated her eyes and lacerated her mouth; she lacerated her buttocks, the place not spoken of to men. She made her way towards the tavern of the palace. The girl questioned a minister who was coming out of the palace.
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.4.08.10 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.4.08.10: A song of Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inana J). 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.4.08.10.
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