Position in chronology
An adab to Nanna (Nanna H)
Written in modern English
This is a hymn addressed to Suen (the moon god), righteous lord and determiner of destiny, born to Ninlil and beloved son of Enlil's household. His divine powers are majestic gifts from An himself — powers no other god can match, decreed by Enlil and established by An, lord of the sacred lustration rites. Suen is called the sacred lion of the gods and the light of heaven. At that point a line survives only in fragments, and an unknown number of lines are lost entirely. What follows is a litany of sacred houses: a series of shrines in cities founded by An, most of whose names are too damaged to read, though the house of Lugalbanda and the house of Inana in Zabalam are legible.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLRighteous lord who determines destiny! Born to Ninlil, Suen, beloved son of Ninlil, Suen, having no rival in the E-kur, the house of Enlil: your divine powers are majestic divine powers granted by An! Your father, holy An, has bestowed upon you divine powers to which other gods cannot aspire. Enlil has decreed them to you in destiny. The lord of the holy lustration rites, An, has established them. ......, sacred lion of the gods, justly honoured, you are the light of heaven. 1 line fragmentary unknown no. of lines missing O house of ...... in ......, city founded by An! O house of ...... in ......, city founded by An! O house of Lugalbanda in ......, city founded by An! O house of ...... in ......, city founded by An! O house of Inana in Zabalam, city founded by An!
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Scholarly note
Composition c.4.13.08 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.4.13.08: An adab to Nanna (Nanna H). 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.4.13.08.
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