Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

An ululumama to Nanna (Nanna J)

~1800 BCE·Old Babylonian

Written in modern English

Nanna is addressed as lord and glory of heaven, his appearance in the high skies blazing with radiance. He is king, glittering light, and crown of Ur — the great lion of holy An, firstborn of Enlil, seed of a bison, beloved of the gods. He inspires awe across the land, carrying the just crown and shining sceptre, sparkling over the high mountains, and filled with princely divine powers at the centre of Nippur. Seven lines are too damaged to read, and after a brief image of Nanna charging forward aggressively and never tiring, the surviving text breaks off entirely.

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

Translation — scholar edition

ETCSL
High confidence
Lord, glory of heaven, suited to ......, Nanna, whose appearance in the high heavens is adorned with radiance! King, glittering light, crown of Urim, Nanna, glittering light, crown of Urim! Great lion of holy An, first-born of Enlil, seed of a bison, beloved of the gods, great strength inspiring awe in the Land, with the just crown and the shining sceptre, sparkling over the high mountains, ...... of Enlil filled with princely divine powers, ...... in the centre of Nibru, highly skilled at examining ......, 7 lines fragmentary Butting ...... aggressively, ......, never tiring, ...... in…

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

Scholarly note

Composition c.4.13.10 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.4.13.10: An ululumama to Nanna (Nanna J). 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.4.13.10.

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