Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

A tigi to Nintud-Aruru (Nintud A)

~1800 BCE·Old Babylonian

Written in modern English

Nintud — Lady Aruru of the temple at Keš, born in the mountains, that pure and holy place — is the supreme mother of every land. She has appeared blazing with the terrifying ferocity of a lion, and from her have come the en priest, the lagar priest, and the king himself, born on the sacred throne-dais. The passage repeats this declaration in full: Nintud, lionlike and awe-inspiring, is the source of priest and ruler alike.

A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.

Translation — scholar edition

ETCSL
High confidence
Lady Aruru of the house Kec, born in the mountains, the pure place! Nintud, supreme mother of all lands, mother Nintud, lady Aruru of the house Kec, born in the mountains, the pure place! Nintud, supreme mother of all lands, has appeared with the hair-raising fearsomeness of a lion. She has given birth to the en priest, has given birth to the lagar priest. On the holy throne-dais, Nintud has given birth to the king. Nintud has appeared with the hair-raising fearsomeness of a lion. She has given birth to the en priest, has given birth to the lagar priest. On the holy throne-dais, Nintud has given birth to the king.

Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).

Scholarly note

Composition c.4.26.1 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.4.26.1: A tigi to Nintud-Aruru (Nintud 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.4.26.1.

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