CDLI Literary 000767, ex. 009 (P346241)
Literary, Old Babylonian, Ur · c. 1900 BCE–1600 BCE
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| Designation | CDLI Literary 000767, ex. 009 |
|---|---|
| ID | P346241 |
| 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 | Going, spending time, you(!?) have diminished(?) the working(?) |
| obverse 2 | Boaster (who goes) towards the field holding an agala sack |
| obverse 3 | Hireling (always) behind the prostitute |
| obverse 4 | Who carries a basket for collecting plants/food |
| obverse 5 | At harvest time, your labor does not match your sustenance |
| obverse 6 | Your are the one who(?) disappears from work, (yet) you stand/serve at the market price ... |
| obverse 7 | After you are to go to the house of a man (giving) a drinking party for a god(?) |
| obverse 8 | After you enter behind the man of the drinking party |
| obverse 9 | Beer foam is to be spattered upon you |
| obverse 10 | After you set your neck upon the ground (Akk. you bow down ...) |
| obverse 11 | Your own self, which (is so drunk) does not (even) know (how to use?) a hand, is denigrated |
| obverse 12 | (You) raise an afflicted hand in order to(?) eat food(?) |
| obverse 13 | Prowling about in that of the summer (for) shade |
| obverse 14 | Prowling about in that of the cooling day for the edge of the sunlight |
| obverse 15 | Idiot, slave(?) lying at the edge of the fire |
| obverse 16 | When you move (your joints)(?), your appendages split apart (your) skin/flesh |
| obverse 17 | Breaking into houses, digging |
| obverse 18 | Why would you quarrel (with me)? |
| obverse 19 | You are the one who has insulted, but it is not there in my flesh/skin (i.e., does not linger?) |
| obverse 20 | Come! Go out into the street with (me?) |
| obverse 21 | So that my(?) acquaintances have seen me(?) |
| obverse 22 | You (by contrast) are a barbarian who has not known the “rear” (i.e., impact?) of your words |
| obverse 23 | You are an uncouth one has not known anything |
| obverse 24 | You are one who does not abandon being a rogue |
| obverse 25 | (Mentally) blocked person, you cannot take hold of words |
| obverse 26 | Screamer(?) lying in the middle of the fire |
| obverse 27 | Prisoner/One who seizes from(!?) the basket of the temples, (the domain of?) its sagbur functionary(!?) is not valuable for him |
| reverse 1 | Squawker, shouter, the district is disturbed for (i.e., because of?) you |
| reverse 2 | Defiler who has not known any dignity |
| reverse 3 | Scorner who eats/consumes “that of the lap/limbs/base"? |
| reverse 4 | One (struck upon) the head(?), you(?) have not known the son of a man (i.e., the status of a man?)) |
| reverse 5 | "Slippery place,” you have not known a friend |
| reverse 5 | the expression ki ma-an-ze2-er, see Civil leichty FS, 60. |
| reverse 6 | (Self-proclaimed?) hero, stand and hold (a tablet?) |
| reverse 7 | (You) stand, and you do not (do it) right, (you) sit, and (you) did not (make it) good |
| reverse 8 | (You) count (up the lines to be entered on the tablet), and you do it (too) quickly (Akk. ... makes ... get lost), (you) write, and you(?) have to erase from it (because it was wrong) |
| reverse 9 | You(?) cannot read aloud from that which was written (on) the tablet (i.e., you can't read your own handwriting) |
| reverse 10 | You incise it (too) heavily, your(!) hand is pierced(?) (by the stylus?) |
| reverse 11 | For the purposes of counting (out the proper number of textual lines), it (the tablet) has not been made suitable, in order to be written upon, (its appropriate(ness)) is non-(existent) |
| reverse 12 | (And yet you say(?)) “if the tablet is too small (i.e., short(?)) for me, I will finish it quickly” |
| reverse 13 | (You are one who) has forgotten where he(?) stood (i.e., started?) |
| reverse 14 | (You are one whose) place where he(?) sat (i.e., stopped?) is scattered about |
| reverse 15 | One who has quit from good sense, one who shouts(?) (out of frustration) because of (his predicament?) |
| reverse 16 | Who was it that spoke to you? |
| reverse 17 | And what is it that is yours (that made you) come out for an argument? |
| reverse 18 | Stand, idiot, in order to have an argument! (But) you should not have an argument (again) |
| reverse 19 | It is the 3rd time (i.e., the 3rd extract in a series). Its (line) count is 45. (The composition) “Come, come on, let us compare.” |
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 | al#-gen# al-zal kin2#-e# ba#-an#-lal# | |
| 2 | ni2# bulug5# a-sza3-ga-asz#? {gesz#!?}a#-ga2#-la2# szu-sze3# la2 | |
| 3 | lu2-hun#-ga2# egir# [...]-x-ke4 | |
| 4 | gi-gur u2 de5#-ga [...]-il2#?-il2#?-i | |
| 5 | u4 buru14#-ka#? a2#-zu sza3#-gal#-[zu ...]-sa2#? | |
| 6 | kin2-ta ba-zah3#-me#?-en#? [...] x-bi#? gub-be2-en | |
| 7 | e2 lu2 dingir kasz#-de2#-a#-ka# [...] | |
| 8 | egir lu2 kasz-de2-a#-ka u3-ba-an#-[...]-en# | |
| 9 | ugu-zu-sze3 imhur3#? x-x-de3# x-x-[...] x x x-x-x | |
| 10 | gu2-zu ki-a u3#-ba#?-e#?-ni-gar tu-qa2-da?-ad | |
| 11 | ni2-zu szu nu-zu# a-ra-ab#-kar2 x-x-x-x | |
| 12 | ninda gu7-u3!?-ta#? szu pa4-hal-la ab-zi#-zi#-i x-ta-na?-szi | |
| 13 | e2-me-esz-ka gissu ni10-ni10# | |
| 14 | u4 szed10-da-ka x gaba u4#?-da ni10-ni10 | |
| 15 | lu2-tu15 x gu2 izi#-ka nu2#-nu2 | |
| 16 | bala-bala-e-da-zu a2#-szu-giri3#-zu# SU#?-a ab#-x-[...] | |
| 17 | e2 bur3-bur3 dun# [...] | |
| 18 | [a]-na-asz-am3 ga#-ba#-al# [...] | |
| 19 | in mu-e-dub2-ba#? su#-a nu#-gal2 | |
| 20 | ga2-nu e-sir2-sze3# e3-mu-de3 | |
| 21 | lu2 zu-[...]-x-ne igi he2-em-me-duh-usz | |
| 22 | [...] egir#? inim-ma-zu nu-e-zu | |
| 23 | [...-me]-en# nig2-nam nu-[e]-zu | |
| 24 | [...] tak4#-tak4#-a-x-[...] | |
| 25 | [...] la-ba-an-dab5-en x? | |
| 26 | [...]-ka nu2-nu2 | |
| 27 | [...] e2# dingir-ra-ne-ka [...]-bi nu-<mu>-un-na!?-kal-la | |
| reverse | ||
| 1 | [...] dag#-gi4-a a-ra-lu3-lu3 | |
| 2 | lu2# pe#?-el#?-[la2 ...] tuku#-tuku nu-e-zu! | |
| 3 | lu2-kar2-ra-ga#? nig2# ur2-ra gu7-gu7 | |
| 4 | lu2-sag-DU-a dumu lu2 nu-zu! | |
| 5 | ki-ma-an-ze2-er lu2 kal-la nu-e-zu! | |
| 6 | [ur]-sag gub#-ba#? szu#-bi#-sze3 la2-a | |
| 7 | i3-gub nu-mu-un-gi#-en i3#-tusz# li#-bi2#-in-sa6 | |
| 8 | i3-szid ba-e-ul4-en u2-ha?-li?-iq i3-sar szu mu#?-[...]-x | |
| 9 | nig2 im sar-re gu3 nu-ub-ta-de2-[...] | |
| 10 | dugud-bi ab-sar-re-en szu-ni al#?-zu-[...] | |
| 11 | szid-da-asz# la-ba#-ab-du7 sar-re-da-[...] in#?-nu#?-u3# | |
| 12 | dub ha-ma-tur ul4-la-bi ga-ab#?-til | |
| 13 | ki gub-ba-ni u2-gu i-ni-in-de2 u2-ha-li-iq | |
| 14 | ki tusz-a-ni i3-bir-bir-re | |
| 15 | dim2-ma ab-ta-szub-ba gu3 ab-ta-kirid-da | |
| 16 | a-ba-am3 gu3 e-ra-an-de2-ma | |
| 17 | a-na-zu al-gal2-ma du14-sze3 im-ta-e3 | |
| 18 | gub-ba lu2-tu15 ga-ba-al he2-mu-e-du3 nam-mu-ni-du3-du3-en | |
| 19 | a-ra2 3(disz)-kam szid-bi 4(u@v) 5(disz) ga2-nu ga-na ga-ab#-sa2#!-sa2!-en | |
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.