Position in chronology
Lipit-Eštar 09add
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSRI(i 1) When I, Lipit-Eštar, the humble shepherd of Nibru, the true farmer of Urim, ceaseless provider of Eridug, the en priest suitable for Unug, king of Isin, king of Sumer and Akkad, the favourite of Inana, established justice in Sumer and Akkad, then I dug the moat of Isin, my royal city.
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions — scholar edition (Vienna).
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Why it matters
Lipit-Eštar frames canal construction as an act of justice — yoking hydraulic infrastructure to royal ideology a generation before his more famous law code.
Scholarly note
Sumerian royal inscription, published in the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI) by Gábor Zólyomi and collaborators. Translation reproduced from the ETCSRI edition. ORACC text Q004104.
Attribution
Image: E.111-2005 (Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P448650). source
Translation excerpted from Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions (ETCSRI), University of Vienna, edited by Gábor Zólyomi et al. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/etcsri/Q004104/.
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