Read Chronology Themes Tablets Engine About

Menu

Read
Chronology
Themes
Tablets
Engine
About

Sumerian · Book

Reading the tablets…

A curated narrative reconstruction of humanity's first great civilization, sourced from the tablets themselves. Open scholarship, beautifully accessible.

The site

About the project The engine Dossiers FAQ Methodology Sources & licensing Provenance & ethics Contact & support

Legal

Privacy policy Terms of use llms.txt Sitemap

Independent scholarship · No academic affiliation · No institutional funding · Tablet imagery attributed per item via CDLI, ETCSL, ORACC, Wikimedia, and public museum collections.

Home
All tablets

The corpus

All tablets.

Every tablet in the corpus — sortable by date, title or period; filterable by theme and period. Use the controls below or change the URL parameters directly.

Search

Sort

Oldest first Newest first Title (A–Z)By period

Theme

Religion & Myth Law Economy Astronomy & Mathematics Daily Life Writing & Literature

Period

Ubaid Uruk Period Early Dynastic Akkadian Empire Ur III · Neo-Sumerian Old Babylonian Old Assyrian Middle Babylonian Middle Assyrian Neo-Assyrian Neo-Babylonian Achaemenid Persian

Source

Editorial Sumerian literature Sumerian royal Assyrian royal Assyrian archives

876 of 102,257 tablets · 4 filters activeClear filters

551–600 of 876

Page 12 / 18

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-Sumerian

ETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 14f

(1) The name of this (object) is: "Ninĝirsu cast his protecting arms over Iri-kagina like an anzud bird".

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 14g

(1) The name of this (object) is: "Ninĝirsu decided with Bau in favour of Iri-kagina in the temple of Unug".

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 14h

(1) The name of this (object) is: "Bau is the mother of Iri-kagina".

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 14i

(1) The name of this (object) is: "Bau is the counsellor of Iri-kagina".

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 14j

(1) The name of this (object) is: "Bau is the vigour of Iri-kagina".

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 14k

(1) The name of this (object) is: "Bau takes care of Iri-kagina's throne".

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 14l

(1) The name of this (object) is: "Bau declared: 'The crushing youth is Iri-kagina'".

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 14m

(1) The name of this (object) is: "Bau is the guide of Iri-kagina".

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 14n

(1) The name of this (object) is: "Bau is the true diadem of Iri-kagina".

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 14o

(1) The name of this (object) is: "Bau confirmed what was told by Iri-kagina".

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 14p

(1) The name of this (object) is: "Bau, who is worthy of the dais of Irikug, loves Iri-kagina".

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 14q

(1) The name of this (object) is: "Bau, the "May all bow down!" of Irikug, bore Iri-kagina to be a shepherd".

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 14r

(1) The name of this (object) is: "Bau, the daughter-in-law of Eridug, walks in front of Iri-kagina".

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 14s

(1) The name of this (object) is: "Bau stood by the entreaties of Iri-kagina".

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 14t

(1) The name of this (object) is: "Bau stood by the prayers of Iri-kagina".

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 14u

(1) The name of this (object) is: "Bau's love for Iri-kagina is never ending".

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 14w

(1) The name of this (object) is: "Bau is the protector of Iri-kagina".

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 17add (FAOS 05/1, Ukg 17, B)

(1) Guards of the city wall: Ebabbar. Iri-kagina, king of Lagaš.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 19add (FAOS 05/1, Ukg 19)

(1) Guards of the city wall: Nanše. Iri-kagina, king of Lagaš.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 20add (Amherst 003)

(1) Guards of the city wall: Lugal-metena. the man of Inim-duga. Iri-kagina, king of Lagaš.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 21add (FAOS 05/1, Ukg 21)

(1) Guards of the city wall: Ur-igi, the captain. Iri-kagina, king of Lagaš.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 22add (FAOS 05/1, Ukg 22)

(1) Guards of the city wall: Amar-ezen, the captain. Iri-kagina, king of Lagaš.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 24add (FAOS 05/1, Ukg 24)

(1) Guards of the city wall: Dundun, the captain. Iri-kagina, king of Lagaš.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 32add (FAOS 05/1, Ukg 32)

(1) Guards of the city wall: Inana-ursaĝ, overseer of the palace staff. Iri-kagina, king of Lagaš.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

URU-KA-gina 34add

(i 1') ... were the rulerś onion plots. (i 5') The team donkeys and the unblemished oxen .... (ii 1') Bau became the owner of all the households and fields of the female (members' of the ruler's family). ... all the households fields of the (ruler's) children. (iii 1') The ... of Niĝin are (entitled to) 180 loaves of bread and and 1 mud vessel of beer. (iii 5') The double men's toll through the gate (of the netherworld) is revoked.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2100 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Utuk/Uhub 1

(1) For Zababa, Uhub, ruler of Kiš, ....

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Amar-Suena 10

Dedicatory curse clause invokes Nanna and Ningal against anyone who displaces the statue, preserving the standard Ur III formula for protecting royal monuments through divine sanction rather than human enforcement.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Amar-Suena 12

Records Amar-Suena's construction of a royal jail at Ur — one of the earliest explicit textual attestations of a dedicated carceral institution in Mesopotamian history.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Amar-Suena 15

Dedicatory inscription of Amar-Suena for Enki's Abzu temple at Eridu, attesting the third Ur III king's building programme and his claim to universal rule under Enlil's authority.

Religion & Myth·Writing & Literature

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Amar-Suena 16

Records Amar-Suena's foundation of the first ĝipar (high-priestess residence) at Karzida, attesting the Ur III crown's active role in extending Nanna's cult into previously unserved cult centres.

Religion & Myth·Writing & Literature

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Amar-Suena 18

Preserves a royal titulary of Amar-Suena — 'king of Urim, king of the four quarters' — attesting the ideological claim to universal sovereignty that defined Ur III kingship at its height.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Amar-Suena 2009

A private votive dedication by a scribe's wife to the goddess Lamma, it attests the personal piety of literate households under Amar-Suena and the role of women as independent dedicants in Ur III religious life.

Religion & Myth·Writing & Literature

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Amar-Suena 21

Dedicatory inscription naming Taddin-Eštar as a royal child of Amar-Suena, adding a personal name to the otherwise sparse prosopography of the Ur III royal family.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Ibbi-Suen 01

Ibbi-Suen's own account of fortifying Ur's walls — the defensive building programme of the last king of the Ur III dynasty, undertaken as Amorite pressure and internal fragmentation were already straining the empire he claimed to rule.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Ibbi-Suen 2014

Dedicatory inscription naming Ibbi-Suen's personal deity Mešlamta-ea: one of the few surviving epigraphic witnesses to the personal piety of Ur III's last king before Ur fell to the Elamites.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Šu-Suen 03

Records Šu-Suen's systematic disposal of conquered populations — blinded men assigned to temple orchards, women to textile mills — documenting the Ur III state's institutionalised exploitation of war captives as temple labour.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Šu-Suen 2018

Dedicates a bronze axe to the god Šara on behalf of Šu-Suen, attesting the votive inscription habit by which Ur III officials tied personal piety to royal legitimacy.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Šu-Suen 27

A fragmentary royal inscription of Šu-Suen attesting the standard Ur III ideological formula linking kingship to Enlil's personal favour — evidence of how the dynasty legitimised rule through divine election language.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Šulgi 03

Dedicatory inscription recording Šulgi's construction of the E-ḫursaĝ palace-temple at Ur, attesting royal building patronage as a mechanism of divine legitimacy in the Ur III state.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Šulgi 06

Attests Šulgi's building works at the E-ana temple complex in Uruk, linking his patronage of Inana's cult to his claim over the dual title 'king of Sumer and Akkad.'

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Šulgi 09

Attests Šulgi's construction of the E-šeššeše-ĝara for Nanše at Lagash, placing royal temple-building patronage at the intersection of Ur III statecraft and the goddess's traditional role as divine judge of social justice.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Šulgi 10

Dedicates the E-šeššeše-ĝara temple to Nanše, goddess of social justice and boundaries, placing Šulgi's building patronage within the religious infrastructure that legitimised Ur III royal authority.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Šulgi 100add

Attests Šulgi's patronage of Martu, the Amorite deity, inside a Sumerian royal titulary — evidence that Ur III kings co-opted tribal gods to consolidate legitimacy on their western frontier.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Šulgi 13

Dedicatory inscription recording Šulgi's construction of Ninmarki's temple E-munus-gisa at Ĝirsu, anchoring the king's patronage of local cults within his broader claim to rule all Sumer and Akkad.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Šulgi 15

Dedicatory inscription anchoring Šulgi's construction of the Bagara temple to Ninĝirsu at Lagash — evidence that the Ur III kings extended royal building patronage to cults beyond their capital at Ur.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Šulgi 20

Attests Šulgi's construction of the E-dur-anki, anchoring his building program at Ur to the goddess Inana and the ideological fusion of military power with divine patronage in the Ur III state.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Šulgi 2001

Votive dedication to Ninhursaĝa naming Šulgi by his full titulary — 'king of Sumer and Akkad' — attesting the ideological claim to universal kingship that defined Ur III imperial identity.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Šulgi 2032

A priestly dedication to Ninmarki and Nanše for Šulgi's well-being, attesting how Ur III cult officials used votive inscriptions to link temple service with royal legitimacy.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Šulgi 22

Attests Šulgi's full titulary — 'king of Urim, king of Sumer and Akkad' — one data point in the composite epigraphic record mapping how Ur III rulers projected sovereignty across a unified southern Mesopotamia.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

~2050 BCE·Ur III · Neo-SumerianETCSRI

Šulgi 34

Dedicatory inscription naming Šullat and Haniš — storm-deity pair better known as heralds of the Flood in later myth — as recipients of a royal temple built by Šulgi, attesting their independent cult under Ur III patronage.

Writing & Literature·Religion & Myth

1…11 12 13…18