Position in chronology
An adab to An for Lipit-Eshtar (Lipit-Eshtar C)
Written in modern English
An, the exalted lord who surpasses all other lords, the almighty grandfather of all the gods — a bull who makes seeds sprout, whose commands no one can countermand, who is clothed in awe on the mountain of pure divine powers and seated on the great throne-dais — has looked with lasting favor on Lipit-Eshtar. He has granted the prince a long life. Whatever An decrees stands firm; no god would dare oppose it. At the place where destinies are decided, all the Anuna gods assemble around him.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLThe august lord, pre-eminent, with the most complex divine powers, almighty grandfather of all the lords -- barsud. -- head high, surpassing everyone, breed-bull, who makes the seeds sprout, whose name is respected, spreading great terror, whose august commands cannot be countermanded, who is imbued with awesomeness on the mountain of pure divine powers, who has taken his seat on the great throne-dais, An, the king of the gods -- cagbatuku. -- has looked at him with long-lasting favour, has looked at prince Lipit-Ectar with favour. He has bestowed on him a long life, he has bestowed on prince Lipit-Ectar a long life. The words of what An says are firmly established; no god would oppose them. At the place of where the destinies are to be decided, all the Anuna gods gather around him.
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.2.5.5.3 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.2.5.5.3: An adab to An for Lipit-Eshtar (Lipit-Eshtar C). 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.2.5.5.3.
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