CDLI Literary 000619, ex. 020 (P346150)
Literary, Old Babylonian, Ur · c. 1900 BCE–1600 BCE
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| Designation | CDLI Literary 000619, ex. 020 |
|---|---|
| ID | P346150 |
| Museum no. | BM — |
| Collection | British Museum, London, UK |
| Language | Sumerian |
| Period | Old Babylonian · c. 1900 BCE–1600 BCE |
| Genre | Literary |
| Find spot | Ur (mod. Tell Muqayyar) |
| Coordinates | 30.9607, 46.1063 |
English translation
By Peterson, Jeremiah · Via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative · CDLI (reuse with citation)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| obverse 1 | Its supreme farmer, the true shepherd of the land |
| obverse 2 | Born faithfully on a good day |
| obverse 3 | The farmer is the ornament in the vast field |
| obverse 4 | And therefore he comes(?) with many nindaba offerings |
| obverse 5 | (And therefore?) silence has not set into the sparkling Ekur |
| obverse 6 | Enlil, when you designed the pure settlement in the ground |
| obverse 7 | And therefore had Nibru ..., built in(?) your own city |
| obverse 8 | (And) sweetened the flesh (of) the Ki'ur complex, the mountain, the pure place |
| obverse 9 | (And) planted Duranki in the midst (of?) the 4 corners |
| obverse 10 | Its soil(?), the life of the land and the life of the (other) lands |
| obverse 11 | Its brickwork (consisting) of reddish gold(?) on(?) a foundation of lapis lazuli |
| reverse 1' | Prayed to him (with?) the holy šita prayer/ritual arrangement and the holy me |
| reverse 2' | (10) Great Mountain Enlil, without you |
| reverse 3' | Cities would not be built, settlements would not be founded |
| reverse 4' | The cattlepen would not be built, its sheepfold would not be accumulated(?) |
| reverse 5' | The king would not be exalted, the lord/en priest(ess) would not be born |
| reverse 6' | The lumah priest and erešdigir priestess would not be chosen by extispicy |
| reverse 7' | Among the troops neither general nor sargeant would possess (command over them) |
| reverse 8' | In the river/canal, the carp flood would not excavate the higher land |
| reverse 9' | Its end would not function properly in the deep(?) sea, (its) “tail would not undulate” (i.e., leave a wake) |
| reverse 10' | The sea would not have given birth to heavy (laden) treasure houses(?) by itself |
| reverse 11' | The fish of the deep water would not have laid eggs in the reedbed |
| reverse 12' | The bird of heaven would not found a nest in the broad earth |
Transliteration (ATF)
From Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative · CDLI: reuse of catalogue/transliteration data with citation of CDLI; images restricted (not fetched)
| Line | ATF | Machine English (draft) |
|---|---|---|
| obverse | ||
| 1 | [...]-bi# sipa# zi# kalam#-ma# | |
| 2 | [...]-ga# zi-de3-esz tu-da# | |
| 3 | engar# GAN2 dagal-la he2-du7-am3 | |
| 4 | szi#-im-da-DU nindaba gal-gal-da | |
| 5 | gesz-la2-bi nu-mu-un-DU e2-kur za-gin3-sze3 | |
| 6 | {d}en-lil2 a2-dam ku3 ki-a hur-ra-za | |
| 7 | nibru{ki} iri x ni2-za szi-im-mi-du3-du3-a | |
| 8 | ki-ur3 kur ki sikil su-a bi-du10-ga | |
| 9 | ub-da 4(asz)-ba murub4-ba dur-an-ki ki ba-e-ni-tag#-ga# | |
| 10 | 1(u) sahar-bi zi kalam-ma zi# kur#-kur-ra-[...] | |
| 11 | [...]-bi# ku3# husz#-a# usz8# [...]-gin3#-[...] | |
| reverse | ||
| 1' | szita ku3# me# [...] | |
| 2' | 1(u) kur-gal {d}en#-[...] | |
| 3' | iri{ki} nu-du3# [...] | |
| 4' | tur3 nu-du3# amasz#-[...] | |
| 5' | lugal nu-il2#-e# en nu#-u3#-tu# | |
| 6' | lu2-mah eresz-dingir masz2-a nu-mu-un-dab5#-be2# | |
| 7' | erin2-e szagina ugula nu-tuku-tuku | |
| 8' | i7-de3 a-esztub{ku6} u5-bi nu-du-un-du-un | |
| 9' | egir-bi ab su3-a si# li-bi2-ib-sa2 kun# nu-mu-x-x | |
| 10' | ab#-e# erim3 dugud ni2-ba nu-mu-un-u3-tu | |
| 11' | [...] engur#-ra-ke4 gesz-gi-a nunuz nu-mu-ni-ib2-nu2-nu2 | |
| 12' | [1(u) ... an]-na#-ke4 ki dagal-la gud3 la-ba-ni-ib2-us2-e#? | |
Sources & licences
- Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative · CDLI: reuse of catalogue/transliteration data with citation of CDLI; images restricted (not fetched) · Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI), https://cdli.earth/ ; cite CDLI and the P-number
- Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC default); per-file JSON license fields say: This data is released under the CC0 license (133618) · ORACC project editions, https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ ; cite the individual project (see texts.extra_json.project)
Cite the original edition and translator. Page generated by Unread Atlas from the public corpus export of 2026-10-11.