Position in chronology
A tigi to Bau for Gudea (Gudea A)
Written in modern English
Bau is addressed directly — gracious, beautiful, born of holy An, and beloved by Enlil. She came out of the heart of heaven carrying the divine powers her father An himself gave her, and those perfect powers are why the Anuna gods hold her in awe. The opening lines repeat in near-identical pairs, hammering the same titles and attributes twice: child of An, adorned with attractiveness, filled with great fearsomeness, the gods' most cherished lady.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLMy lady, gracious woman, child of holy An, adorned with attractiveness, Enlil's beloved one, who is imbued with great fearsomeness and issues from the interior of heaven, the cherished lady of the gods. Bau, gracious woman, child of holy An, adorned with attractiveness, Enlil's beloved one, who is imbued with great fearsomeness and issues from the midst of heaven, the cherished lady of the gods. My lady, you have brought the divine powers from the interior of heaven. Your own father, An, the king, has presented you with perfect divine powers, so you inspire respect among the Anuna gods. Bau, you have brought the divine powers from the midst of heaven. Your own father, An the king, has presented you with perfect divine powers, so you inspire respect among the Anuna gods.
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.2.3.2 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.2.3.2: A tigi to Bau for Gudea (Gudea 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.2.3.2.
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