Position in chronology
An adab to Enlil for Bur-Suen (Bur-Suen B)
Written in modern English
Someone — the name or epithet is lost — surpasses heaven and earth alone, stands prominent among the Anuna gods, and speaks words that cannot be overturned. This is Nunamnir, whose decisions no one can change, who sits in terrifying majesty as the foremost among the Great Princes, enthroned in the shrine of Nippur, in Dur-an-ki, in the E-kur temple where fates are decided. When mother Ninlil, equal in rank to the Great Mountain, embraces him, a voice says to someone — the surface is too damaged to read who speaks or who is addressed — that someone has been chosen. An unknown number of lines are then lost entirely.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSL...... who alone surpasses heaven and earth, the exalted one, prominent among the Anuna gods, whose utterances cannot be overturned! Nunamnir, whose decisions cannot be altered, proud one imbued with terrifying awesomeness, who alone is exalted (1 ms. has instead: who alone is eminent, the foremost one) among the Great Princes, has taken his seat in the shrine of Nibru, in Dur-an-ki, in E-kur, the temple where the fates are determined, in the holy shining temple. When mother Ninlil, who is equal in rank with the Great Mountain, embraces him ......, ...... says to ......: "...... chosen in the heart by ......." unknown no. of lines missing
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.2.5.7.2 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.2.5.7.2: An adab to Enlil for Bur-Suen (Bur-Suen B). 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.2.5.7.2.
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