Position in chronology
A tigi (?) to Ninurta for Shu-Suen (Shu-Suen D)
Written in modern English
Ninurta is addressed as an ancient warrior of immense force — respected, powerful, fierce as a full-grown lion. He is a great wild bull, a battering ram against fortified walls, a flood that terrifies rebel lands and has no rival. He lays waste to enemy peoples, destroys cities, and reduces settlements to dust. Several phrases are damaged or uncertain: one manuscript reads 'imbued with fearsomeness' where another seems to describe a bolt of lightning, but both lines are too fragmentary to read fully. What survives ends with a declaration that Ninurta has spread the name of King Shu-Suen among peoples far and wide.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLAncient warrior, greatly respected and forceful, with the strength of a full-grown lion! Ninurta, ...... flood, great lion, fierce opponent in battle! Mighty one, who ...... the enemy peoples, destroyer of cities, who turns the settlements into dust! Ninurta, great wild bull, a battering ram who ...... great walls! Barsud. A flood which frightens the rebel lands, without rival! Ninurta, deathly hush, ...... bolt of lightning (?), ...... (the other ms. has instead: imbued with fearsomeness, ......, ...... the enemy). You have made the name of king Cu-Suen known among the widespread people.…
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.2.4.4.4 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.2.4.4.4: A tigi (?) to Ninurta for Shu-Suen (Shu-Suen D). 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.2.4.4.4.
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