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Sumerian · Book

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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

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Editorial Sumerian literature Sumerian royal Assyrian royal Assyrian archives

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Page 19 / 95

~1808 BCE·Old BabylonianEditorial

Sumerian King List (Weld-Blundell Prism)

The single most influential Mesopotamian king list — the model for every later attempt to chronicle the deep history of the region. It transmits the political theology of divinely granted kingship, an idea that would echo through Babylon, Assyria, and into the Hebrew Bible. The Weld-Blundell prism (WB 444) at the Ashmolean is the most complete surviving copy.

Religion & Myth·Writing & Literature

~1800 BCE·Old BabylonianOur engine

CDLI Literary 000343, ex. 056

(obverse, fragmentary) 1. [...] ... [...] 2. [When they] offer [(the river with its water)] to you, do not accept it! 3. [When they] offer [(the field with its grain)] to you, do not accept it! 4. "[Give us the corpse] hanging from the peg," say to her! 5. [One of you sprinkle the plant of] life, one [the water of life], over [her] ... 6. [...] ... [...] (remainder broken)

Religion & Myth·Writing & Literature

~1800 BCE·Old BabylonianOur engine

CDLI Literary 000365, ex. 048

Young man, free-born son, ... [in] the mountain, what [...]? Utu, let me speak a word to you — give [your] ear to my word! Let me greet you — may you pay heed to it! In my city a man dies, and the heart is stricken; a man perishes, and [my] heart [is heavy]. I craned my neck over the city wall: corpses floating on the water ... [made the river] overflow [...]. And I too ... [...] — shall it be so for me? [Thus] it shall be. The tallest man ... [cannot stretch to heaven ...] (remainder broken)

Religion & Myth·Daily Life

~1800 BCE·Old BabylonianOur engine

CDLI Literary 000365, ex. 053

(Beginning broken) 1. "[... if today you are going to] enter [the mountains ...], 2. [...] youthful Utu should [know about it from us]. 3. [...] the decisions concerning [the mountains are Utu's business]; 4. the decisions concerning [the mountains] of felled cedar are youthful Utu's — Utu should know about it from us." 5. [Then] Gilgamesh took hold of a white kid; 6. he clasped [a brown] kid, a sacrificial offering, [to his breast]; 7. [in his hand] he held the holy staff before his nose, 8. as he spoke to [Utu of heaven]: 9. "[Utu, I am going to] enter [the mountains] — [be my] helper! 10. […

Religion & Myth·Daily Life

~1800 BCE·Old BabylonianOur engine

CDLI Literary 000365, ex. 058

1. [...] he set [...] toward [...] 2. [By the life of] my own mother, divine [Nin]sun(?), and my [father], holy Lugal[banda]! 3. May I [become again(?)] as if slumbering in wonder(?) on the lap of my own mother Ninsun. 4. For a [second] time he indeed said it to him: 5. By the life of my own mother Ninsun and my [father(?)], holy Lugalbanda! 6. Whether he be a [hu]man, whether he be known(?), whether he be a god [...], 7. my steps that I have set toward the mountains I shall not set back toward the city! 8. The faithful slave, who would soothe(?), who makes life seem sweet, 9. answered his mas…

Religion & Myth·Daily Life

~1800 BCE·Old BabylonianOur engine

CDLI Literary 000561, ex. 004

obverse (fragment, three lines preserved): [A cl]od that has been bathed in water — dust has come into my eyes. A dog, when it gnaws a corpse, its chest heaves up. The great dragon (ušumgal), having smitten heads (i.e. having slain) [...] (remainder broken)

Sumerian King List (Weld-Blundell Prism)

CDLI Literary 000343, ex. 056

CDLI Literary 000365, ex. 048

CDLI Literary 000365, ex. 053

CDLI Literary 000365, ex. 058

CDLI Literary 000561, ex. 004

A balbale of Inana (Inana A)

A balbale to Enki for Ishme-Dagan (Ishme-Dagan E)

A balbale to Enlil for Ur-Namma (Ur-Namma G)

A balbale to Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inana A)

A balbale to Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inana B)

A balbale to Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inana D)

A balbale to Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inana E1)

A balbale to Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inana F)

A balbale to Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inana G)

A balbale to Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inana O)

A balbale (?) to Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inana P)

A balbale to Inana and Dumuzid (Dumuzid-Inanna C)

A balbale to Inana as Nanaya (Inana H)

A balbale to Nanna (Nanna A)

A balbale to Nanna (Nanna B)

A balbale to Nanna (Nanna C)

A balbale to Nanna (Nanna D)

A balbale to Nanshe (Nanshe B)

A balbale to Ninazu (Ninazu A)

A balbale to Ningishzida (Ningishzida A)

A balbale to Ningishzida (Ningishzida B)

A balbale to Ninurta (Ninurta F)

A balbale to Shara (Shara A)

A hymn of Inana for Ur-Ninurta (Ur-Ninurta A)

A hymn to Asarluhi (Asarluhi XA)

A hymn to Bau's Beneficent Protective Goddess (Bau A)

A hymn to Enki for Ishme-Dagan (Ishme-Dagan X)

A hymn to Enlil for Samsu-iluna (Samsu-iluna F)

A hymn to Enlil for Samsu-iluna (Samsu-iluna H)

A hymn to Haia for Rim-Sin (Rim-Sin B)

A hymn to Hendursanga (Hendursanga A)

A hymn to Inana for Hammu-rabi (Hammu-rabi F)

A hymn to Inana (Inana C)

A hymn to Inana (Inana F)

A hymn to Ishkur for Ur-Ninurta (Ur-Ninurta F )

A hymn to Kusu

A hymn to Marduk for Abi-Eshuh (Abi-Eshuh A)

A hymn to Martu (Martu B)

A hymn to Nanna (Nanna E)

A hymn to Nanna (Nanna G)

A hymn to Nanna (Nanna M)

A hymn to Nanna (Nanna N)

A hymn to Nanna (Nanna O)

A hymn to Nanshe