the literature of ancient sumer This page intentionally left blank THE LITERATURE OF ANCIENT SUMER Translated and Introduced by jeremy black graham cunningham eleanor robson and gábor zólyomi 3 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan South Korea Poland Portugal Singapore Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Jeremy Black, Graham Cunningham, Eleanor Robson, and Gábor Zólyomi 2004 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data applied for ISBN 0–19–926311–6 13579108642 Typeset by Regent Typesetting, London Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Biddles Ltd, King’s Lynn, Norfolk ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This volume of translations has grown out of the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL) project. The project, directed by Jeremy Black, is based at the Oriental Institute of the University of Oxford. It has received funding from the following bodies: the University of Oxford (1997), the Leverhulme Trust (1997–2000), and the Arts and Humanities Research Board (2001–6). Graham Cunningham has worked full time for the project, as an editor and then senior editor, since 1997. Eleanor Robson worked full time for the ETCSL pilot project in the first nine months of 1997. She was supported in 1997–2000 by a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship and thereafter by a fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford. During both fellow- ships she acted as part-time technical developer for the project. Gábor Zólyomi worked full time for the ETCSL project as an editor in 1997–2000. Since then he has been supported by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA) and by a János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He was supported by a Humboldt Research Fellow- ship in 2003–4. We are extremely grateful to all those who have contributed source material to the project: Bendt Alster, Vera Benczik, Antoine Cavigneaux, Miguel Civil, Andrew George, Geerd Haayer, Bram Jagersma, Joachim Krecher, Marie-Christine Ludwig, Martha Roth, Yitschak Sefati, Steve Tinney, Herman Vanstiphout, Niek Veldhuis, Konrad Volk, Christopher Walker, Claus Wilcke, and Annette Zgoll. Images of UM 55-21-327 = 3N-T 436 are reproduced with the permission of the curators of the Babylonian Section, University of Pennsylvania Museum, and with the kind assistance of Kevin Danti. Figures 8, 10, and 20 are reproduced from J. Boese, Altmesopotamische Weihplatten: Eine sumerische Denkmalsgattung des 3. Jahrtausends v. Chr (Berlin, New York: De Gruyter, 1971) and Figure 19 from J. V. Canby, The Ur-nammu Stela (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2001), pl. 40 (detail), with the permission of the publishers; all others were drawn by the authors. The maps were produced by Vuk Trifkovic. We warmly thank our colleagues on the ETCSL project who joined us later—Esther Flückiger-Hawker (editor, 2001), Jon Taylor (editor, 2001–2), and Jarle Ebeling (technical developer, 2003– )—as well as other colleagues vi and students in Oxford and elsewhere who have contributed directly or indirectly to its success. We owe a particular debt of thanks to Tim Potts and Niek Veldhuis, who read the manuscript with great care and thought at very short notice. While we did not always agree with their comments they were always useful in helping us to clarify what we meant and how we said it. Naturally, we take full responsibility for all errors and infelicities that remain. Jeremy Black died while this book was in press. The other editors would like to dedicate it to him—our teacher, colleague, and friend. CONTENTS List of illustrations x How to use this book xiii Chronological table xvii INTRODUCTION xix The literature of ancient Sumer xix The tablets of ancient Sumer xxx The scribes of ancient Sumer xl The study of ancient Sumer l Further reading lxii A. HEROES AND KINGS 1 Enmerkar and En-suhgir-ana 3 Lugalbanda in the mountain cave 11 Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird 22 Gilgames, Enkidu, and the Underworld 31 Sargon and Ur-Zababa 40 The building of Ningirsu’s temple (extract) 44 An adab to An for Lipit-Estar 52 A prayer for Samsu-iluna 54 The death of Ur-Namma 56 B. INANA AND DUMUZID 63 Inana’s descent to the Underworld 65 Dumuzid’s dream 77 Ploughing with the jewels 84 Dumuzid and Enkimdu 86 A love song for Su-Suen 88 Inana and Isme-Dagan 90 A hymn to Inana 92 C. ENLIL AND NINLIL 100 Enlil and Ninlil 102 Enlil and Sud 106 viii Enlil and Nam-zid-tara 112 Sulgi and Ninlil’s barge 113 The cursing of Agade 116 D. THE MOON-GOD NANNA-SUEN 126 The lament for Sumer and Urim 127 A balbale to Nanna 142 A sir-namgala to Nanna 144 The herds of Nanna 145 Nanna-Suen’s journey to Nibru 147 E. THE WARRIOR GODS NERGAL, NUMUSDA, AND NINURTA 155 The dedication of an axe to Nergal 157 An adab to Nergal for Su-ilisu 158 A hymn to Numusda for Sîn-iqisam 161 Ninurta’s exploits 163 Ninurta’s return to Nibru 181 A balbale to Ninurta 186 F. LOVE AND SEX 188 Lu-digira’s message to his mother 190 A lullaby for a son of Sulgi 193 A tigi to Nintud-Aruru 195 Inana and Su-kale-tuda 197 A love song for Isme-Dagan 205 A balbale to Inana and Dumuzid 206 G. THE NATURAL ORDER 210 The Flood story 212 Enki and the world order 215 The debate between Sheep and Grain 225 The debate between Bird and Fish 230 The heron and the turtle 235 The home of the fish 240 ix H. THE HYMNIC GENRES 245 An adab to Bau for Isme-Dagan 247 A balbale to Ningiszida 250 A kungar to Inana and Dumuzid 252 A sir-gida to Ninisina 254 A sir-namgala to Ninisina for Lipit-Estar 257 A sir-namsub to Utu 259 A sir-namursaga to Inana for Iddin-Dagan 262 A sir-sag-hula to Damgalnuna 269 A tigi to Enki for Ur-Ninurta 270 An ululumama to Suen for Ibbi-Suen 272 I. SCRIBES AND LEARNING 275 A supervisor’s advice to a young scribe 277 Letter from Nabi-Enlil to Ilum-puzura 281 Proverbs: collection 25 282 The instructions of Suruppag 284 A hymn to Nisaba 292 A hymn to Haia for Rim-Sîn 294 A hymn to Ninkasi 297 J. THE DECAD, A SCRIBAL CURRICULUM 299 Literary catalogue from Nibru 301 A praise poem of Sulgi 304 A praise poem of Lipit-Estar 308 The song of the hoe 311 The exaltation of Inana 315 Enlil in the E-kur 320 The Kes temple hymn 325 Enki’s journey to Nibru 330 Inana and Ebih 334 A hymn to Nungal 339 Gilgames and Huwawa 343 Other thematic groupings 353 Index of compositions by ETCSL catalogue number 358 Glossary of Sumerian names 360 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Map of Sumer, showing the major cities mentioned in Sumerian literature xv 2. Map of the Middle East, showing major locations mentioned in Sumerian literature xvi 3. ‘To Nergal, his master’—stone mace-head dedicated in the reign of Abisare¯ xxvi 4. Nergal with dagger and mace, on a terracotta plaque of the early second millennium bce xxviii 5. UM 55-21-327 = 3N-T 436, University of Pennsylvania Museum (9.5 × 6 × 3 cm) xxx 6. Hermann Behrens’s handcopy of UM 55-21-327 xxxvii 7. A harpist on a terracotta plaque of the early second millennium bce xlvi 8. ‘The lion seized the cow and its calf’—animal combat scene on a stone plaque from Early Dynastic Nibru 10 9. ‘Bird with sparkling eyes’—Anzud depicted on an Early Dynastic mace-head 25 10. ‘Ur-Zababa appointed him cupbearer’—a royal banquet depicted on a stone plaque from Early Dynastic Nibru 42 11. ‘Ningirsu, I am going to build your house for you’—statue of Gudea with a plan of the E-ninnu on his lap, from Girsu 50 12. ‘The pala robe, the garment of ladyship, was removed from her body’—Inana in the Underworld, depicted on an Old Babylonian terracotta plaque 70 13. ‘My male goats were dragging their dark beards in the dust for me’—Dumuzid receiving offerings of goats and plants, on an Old Akkadian cylinder seal 78 14. ‘Man, let me do the sweetest things to you’—a love scene on an Old Babylonian terracotta model of a bed 90 15.