Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

Letter from Sharrum-bani to Shu-Suen about keeping the Martu at bay

~1800 BCE·Old Babylonian

Translation · reference

High confidence
Say to Cu-Suen, my lord: this is what Carrum-bani, the 'Sage of the Assembly', your servant, says: You sent me a message ordering me to work on the construction of the great fortification MurÏq-tidnim. You presented yourself before me (1 ms. has instead: A messenger presented himself before me), announcing: "The Martu have invaded the land". You instructed me (1 ms. has instead: You have imposed on me as a task (?)) to build the fortification, so as to cut off their route; also, that no breaches of the Tigris or the Euphrates should cover the fields with water. When I was setting out, their ...... from the bank of the Abgal watercourse to the province of Zimudar.

Source: ETCSL c.3.1.15: Letter from Sharrum-bani to Shu-Suen about keeping the Martu at bay. 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.3.1.15

Why it matters

Transliteration

Scholarly note

Composition c.3.1.15 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.3.1.15: Letter from Sharrum-bani to Shu-Suen about keeping the Martu at bay. 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.3.1.15.

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