Position in chronology
CUSAS 32, 002
About this tablet
This is one of the oldest magical spells that survives in writing — an Early Dynastic incantation against snakebite, written in Sumerian roughly 4,500 years ago. The spell opens with the ancient formula 'enuru' and conjures the image of a serpent of the night rising from the Abzu, the freshwater deep, coiling and striking with venom in its mouth. At the end the tablet names its writer: Ur-gibil, a temple administrator who was also a scribe. Incantations of this age are extremely rare, and their archaic spelling and compressed grammar make them among the hardest Sumerian texts to read; much of the middle remains obscure.
Plain-language summary by the engine — meant as a doorway into the literal translation below.
Written in modern English
The spell begins with the old ritual word 'enuru' and calls up a night snake out of the freshwater deep. Its venom rises, its poison is dealt out in its mouth; the mouth reaches its target. The snake coils, and the great serpent coils with it. There follows a broken passage about a speckled field and two signs no one can now read. Then the speaker's voice: the snake stretches its mouth toward me, and with their tongues they thread me through. The last line of the spell is too damaged to follow. The tablet closes with a signature — Ur-gibil, temple administrator and scribe, [wrote it].
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — our engine
Our engineIncantation formula: [… snake?] of the night, the Abzu […] Venom comes forth — its substance is apportioned in the mouth. The mouth, its inner chamber, is made to attain (its aim). The snake coils; the great serpent (ušumgal) coils. The speckled field … (two unread compound signs) … [ … ] … … … The snake stretches out its mouth against me; with their tongues they fill me with fine threads. The snake, its mouth outstretched, … (unread) … let it not … (Colophon) The temple administrator (sanga) Ur-gibil, the scribe, [wrote (this)].
Our translation engine — Opus 5. Reads the photo, translates the cuneiform, and writes a plain-language interpretation. See methodology for limits.
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Transliteration
enuru# [x x musz?] ge6 abzu# [x] usz-e3 nig2-bi ka ba-ba ka nigar-bi sa2 du11-ga musz gurx(LAK051) uszum-gal gurx(LAK051) GAN2 gun3 |AxKU3| |AxLA2| [...] x x x musz ka ma-la2 eme#-ba gu di4-di4 ma-si musz ka la2-a |U4.KA| nam-ma-|SZUBUR+LAK589|-|SZUBUR+LAK589| sanga ur-gibil6 lu2# dub#-sar# [in?-sar?]
Scholarly note
Catalogue entry from CDLI (ED IIIa (ca. 2600-2500 BC)) — CUSAS 32, 002. No scholarly translation has been published; the transliteration is from the ATF (CDLI's Atf-Friendly format).
Attribution
Image: Schøyen Collection, Oslo, Norway (P253641) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. source
Translation excerpted from engine:claude-opus-5 (2026-07-12/v7-evolved).
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