Position in chronology
Ibbi-Suen 01
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSRI(i 1) Because of his great love for Suen, Ibbi-Suen, the protective god of his land, the powerful king, king of Urim, king of the four quarters, decided to extend Urim. On this account, in order to make the Land secure, and so that the south and the highlands surrender, he surrounded his city with a big wall whose archer's loopholes cannot be reached being (as high) as a verdant mountain range. He marked out the place of its foundation deposits in (its) foundation. (ii 7) The name of this wall is „Ibbi-Suen is the majestic canal-inspector”.
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Royal Inscriptions — scholar edition (Vienna).
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Why it matters
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.
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 Q001005.
Attribution
Image: CBS 17225 (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA) — from Ur (mod. Tell Muqayyar) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P227132). 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/Q001005/.
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