Position in chronology
RIME 3/1.01.07.037, ex. add1338
About this tablet
This is a classic dedicatory formula of Gudea, the famous ruler of the Sumerian city-state of Lagash around 2100 BCE, commemorating his rebuilding of the Eninnu — the great temple of the warrior-god Ningirsu, whose emblem was the mythical white thunderbird Anzu. Such inscriptions were inscribed on statues, foundation deposits, bricks, or cones and served to broadcast the king's piety and building achievements to the god and to posterity. Gudea is one of the best-documented Mesopotamian rulers precisely because of the many surviving copies of texts like this one, which follow a fixed literary formula: praise of the deity, naming of the king, and the declaration of temple construction.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This inscription honors Ningirsu, Enlil's mighty warrior-god. Gudea, the ruler of Lagash, made everything fitting and splendid for him. He built the god's temple, the Eninnu — known for its emblem, the great White Anzu bird — and restored it properly to its place.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineFor Ningirsu, the mighty warrior of Enlil, Gudea, ruler of Lagash, made fitting things resplendent for him. His Eninnu, (adorned with) the White Anzu, he built for him; he restored it to its place for him.
Our translation engine — Sonnet 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
nin-gir2-su ur-sag kal-ga en-lil2-la2-ra gu3-de2-a ensi2 lagasz-ke4 nig2-du7-e pa mu-na-e3 e2-ninnu anzu2-babbar2-ra-ni mu-na-du3 ki-be2 mu-na-gi4
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (Lagash II (ca. 2200-2100 BC)) — RIME 3/1.01.07.037, ex. add1338. This record has no stored scholarly English translation; the existence of published translations has not been checked; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: MU 4128 (Museum of Ancient Cultures, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P452255). source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-sonnet-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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