Position in chronology
A song of Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inana V)
Written in modern English
Inana, radiant and adorned, full of joy, makes her way to Dumuzid — to his sheepfold, to his cattle-pen. She meets him on the road, and he comes toward her blazing like daylight. What follows is mostly lost: a few words survive about hands extended, branches sprouting, and buds unfolding, but several lines are too damaged to read, and the passage breaks off mid-thought.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLThe young lady, the king's kohl, Inana, Dumuzid's kohl, full of joy, adorned with loveliness, goes to the shepherd in the sheepfold, goes to Dumuzid in the cattle-pen. There on the the road she ...... the shepherd, the maiden Inana meets him on the path. Dumuzid comes forth like the daylight. ...... extended his hand to ......; ...... extended his hand to ....... ...... extended hand. 1 line fragmentary ...... enfolded in numerous buds, ...... sprouted branches, ...... heart .......
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.4.08.22 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.4.08.22: A song of Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inana V). 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.4.08.22.
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