Position in chronology
A praise poem of Hammu-rabi (Hammu-rabi C)
Written in modern English
In the innermost shrine, Enki has truly honored Hammu-rabi — the king who loves purification rites and is at home among the sacred divine powers, skilled in precious plans, reverent, eloquent, and quick-handed. He is the shepherd favored by lord Nunamnir and beloved of mother Ninlil, the one who brings great food offerings to E-kur, who delights Enki, and who is cherished by holy Damgalnuna. Several lines are too damaged to read, but what survives records that Hammu-rabi has restored purification rites, plans, and divine powers in the shrine E-kiš-nujal, and honors Nanna and Ningal daily. The poem closes with an address to the young moon-god Suen, promising that Hammu-rabi will stand before him and fulfill all his requirements — though the final lines are fragmentary.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLEnki has esteemed him truly in the shrine, the august place -- the king who loves purification rites and is well-suited to the pure divine powers, the king who is skilled in the precious plans, who is reverent, eloquent and deft (?), the shepherd, favourite of lord Nunamnir and beloved of mother Ninlil, who ...... great food offerings in E-kur, who delights (?) the great prince Enki, ......, who is cherished by holy Damgalnuna: the good shepherd Hammu-rabi. The king has ...... everything in the shrine E-kic-nujal. Hammu-rabi, whose ....... Daily he ...... Nanna and Ningal. The king whose joy is ...... has restored the purification rites, plans and divine powers ....... He will stand there before you ......, o youth Suen, fulfilling ...... all your requirements.
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Scholarly note
Composition c.2.8.2.3 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.2.8.2.3: A praise poem of Hammu-rabi (Hammu-rabi C). 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.2.8.2.3.
Related tablets
Related sources
A surviving administrative record of named people and livestock in the Ur III period. Together with other archives, such accounts reveal the work of managing animals, deliveries and institutional responsibility.
A major witness to the Mesopotamian Flood tradition and its relationship to later biblical literature. The date of this particular copy must be distinguished from the older history of the story.
An object naming and depicting a powerful priestess and royal daughter around 2300 BCE. Enheduanna is also a landmark in named literary authorship, but that literary legacy must be distinguished from this disk’s dedication.