Position in chronology
RIME 1.14.14.01, ex. 15
About this tablet
A fragment of a stone votive vessel dedicated to the god Enlil at his temple in Nippur by Lugal-kigine-dudu, a ruler of Uruk in the Early Dynastic period (mid-third millennium BCE). The inscription is a political statement in miniature: the king claims that Enlil himself granted him both 'lordship' over Uruk and 'kingship' over Ur — the union of two great southern cities under one man. Many copies of this dedication survive, showing how deliberately Lugal-kigine-dudu broadcast his double title at Sumer's holiest sanctuary.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
This vessel is offered to Enlil, king of all the lands, on behalf of Lugal-kigine-dudu. When Enlil personally called him to power — speaking to him with a true voice — the god joined two offices in his hands: the lordship and the kingship. So now he rules as lord in Uruk and as king in Ur. The inscription then begins to repeat the king's name, presumably to record his dedication of this vase, but the stone breaks off and the rest is lost.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineFor Enlil, king of all the lands — for Lugal-kigine-dudu: when Enlil truly summoned him (called to him with a faithful voice), and the lordship (en-ship) together with the kingship he combined for him — in Uruk the lordship he exercises, and in Ur the kingship he exercises. Lugal-kigi[ne-dudu ...] (the text breaks off here; the remainder of the dedication is lost on this exemplar)
Our translation engine — Fable 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
en-lil2# lugal kur-kur-ke4 lugal-ki-gen-ne2-du7-du7-ra u4 en-lil2-le gu3-zi e-na-de2-a nam-en nam-lugal-da e-na-da-tab-ba-a unu-ga nam-en mu-ak-ke4 uri5-ma# nam-lugal mu-ak-ke4# lugal-ki-gen#-[ne2-du7-du7-de3]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIb (ca. 2500-2340 BC)) — RIME 1.14.14.01, ex. 15. 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: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (P247703) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-fable-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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