Unread Atlas
Letter from Lipit-Eštar to Nanna-ki-aĝ about driving away the enemy (Q000565)
Literary, Old Babylonian, Nippur · c. 1900 BCE–1600 BCE
Open in the reader & map →See it among all tablets
| Designation | Letter from Lipit-Eštar to Nanna-ki-aĝ about driving away the enemy |
|---|---|
| ID | Q000565 |
| Language | Sumerian |
| Period | Old Babylonian · c. 1900 BCE–1600 BCE |
| Genre | Literary |
| Find spot | Nippur |
| Coordinates | 32.1271, 45.2300 |
Transliteration (ATF)
From 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)
Machine draft. The right-hand column is machine English from ixmon/atf-to-english (atf-en-t5base-F, 2026-10-17), generated line by line from the transliteration. It is unreviewed and is not a scholarly translation.
| Line | ATF | Machine English (draft) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | {m}{d}nanna-ki-aŋ₂ ra-bi-si₂-ka₃-tum-ma | Nanna-kīya, the rabisikatum priest |
| 2 | u₃-na-dug₄ | he did praise for him. |
| 3 | {m}li-pi₂-it-eš₄-tar₂ lugal-zu na-ab-be₂-a | Lipit-Eštar, your king, should say: |
| mu erin₂ lu₂-kur₂-ra-ke₄ lugal u₃-na-dug₄ šu mu-e-taka₄ lu₂-kur₂-ra-ke₄ u₃-ne-dug₄ šu bi₂-taka₄ | year: “The king appointed the troops of the enemy, he appointed the enemy. | |
| {m}at-ta₂-ma-nu-um lu₂ lugal-a-ni-ir bi₂-in-sag₉-ge arad | Abattamnum, the man who pleases his master, is his servant. | |
| dirig-zu-še₃ arad lugal-a-ni-ir na-X lu₂ | Igi-zuše, the servant of his master ... | |
| a-na-aš-am₃ ŋe₂₆-e X nu-zu-ŋu₁₀-ta za-e šu ŋar lugal-zu li-bi₂-in-gi₄ erin₂ šu šag₄-še₃ i₃-ŋal₂-a-ŋa₂ nam-lu₂-ulu₃-ba li-bi₂-ŋar | Why do you not know ...? You should return the hand of your king to its place. The people should return to their places. | |
| 7A | ne-eš₂ erin₂ mu-un-ŋa₂-ŋa₂-e | This is what the troops are carrying. |
| a₂-še 2 li-mu-um erin₂ lu₂ {ŋiš}šukur 4 3 lu₂ {ŋiš}šukur giŋ₄ | labor, 2 eponymy of the troops, man of the šukur-vessel, 4 3 man(s) of reed, | |
| 2 li-mu-um erin₂ lu₂ {ŋiš}pan 4 lu₂ {ŋiš}pan giŋ₄ | 2 eponymy of the troops, one man of reeds, 4 men of reddish wood, | |
| 2 li-mu-um erin₂ lu₂ dur₁₀-tab-ba im-mu-e-ši-sar 1 lu₂ dur₁₀-tab-ba giŋ₄ im-ma-sar-eš | 2 eponymy of the troops, the men of Durtaba he wrote. The men of Dutaba wrote a reed. | |
| 11 | lu₂-kur₂ iri-gibil-a al-dur₂-ru-ne-eš | The enemy dwells in Iri-gibil |
| 12 | ki-tuš-bi-ta sar-bi₂-ib | write down from its dwelling place |
| 13 | X X šu i₃-ŋar-re-ne nam bi₂-X x | ... they will decide a fate |
| 14 | iri dili-dili zag-ba zag-za en-nu-uŋ₃-bi ak-X-ab | (Sum) The city, the one with a single shoulder, the guard(?) ... (Akk) The single city, its shoulder, watch(?) |
| 15 | iri-bi šu-zu-ta la-ba-ra-e₃ | Its city has not come out from your hand |
| 16 | nam-lu₂-ulu₃-zu ŋar-bi₂-ib | “Seize your humanity! |
| 17 | a-ma-ru-kam | It is an amaru. |
Sources & licences
- 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 2026-10-18.