An independent re-rendering of this witness. A Vigslist translation.
Like the Heart of a Mother Who Bore Me — Eršahunga 103. “May your heart, like the heart of a mother who has borne children, return to its place for me.” Colophon: copied by Nabû-kabit-aḫḫēšu, son of the palace scribe, in the reign of Sargon.
An independent re-rendering of this witness. The edition of record is Stefan Maul, “Herzberuhigungsklagen” (1988), pp. 348–350 — Eršahunga 103 (German). This witness also stands in English: the ORACC BLMS corpus serves English translation cells for it (after Maul, p. 348), adapted for BLMS by Jeremie Peterson, and the eISL score Q003198 serves the same English, reviewed and adapted for eISL by Steve Tinney. Maul, BLMS, and eISL are credited in full below. No first-English claim is made for this piece.
This witness was checked against the eršahunga pocket census (143 records) and THE SONGS collection on 2026-10-22 and is absent from both. (Its neighbours BM.122647, Ešh 104, and BM.123377, Ešh 12, ARE in the census and in THE SONGS, and are not rebuilt here.) Edition of record: Maul, ‘Herzberuhigungsklagen’ (1988), pp. 348–350, Ešh n103, copy Tf. 55 — German; the English renderings served by BLMS and eISL are credited below.
One fragment: BM.121055, Kuyunjik collection, British Museum — "10 + 8 lines of inscription," Neo-Assyrian script. Genres on the record: Literature → Lamentations → Eršaḫuĝa. CDLI number on the record: P414367. No photograph on the record. The obverse is mostly gone; the reverse carries the prayer's heart and the tablet's full colophon.
An eršahunga is a "heart-stilling" prayer: the worshipper begs an angry god's heart to come back to its place. This fragment keeps almost nothing of the anger and almost all of the asking. Its two standing lines are the cycle's most famous simile, the one Maul's whole book is named for: may your heart, like the heart of a mother who has borne children, return to its place for me; like a mother who bore me, like a father who bore me — return to its place for me. And then the colophon tells us whose copy this was: the 8th tablet of the Eršahunga series, 27 lines counted, written out by Nabû-kabit-aḫḫēšu, son of the palace scribe, in the reign of Sargon, king of Assyria. A palace scribe's son copied the mother's-heart prayer for the king's library. The prayer survives because the empire filed it.
Transliteration exactly as the record serves it; S = Emesal Sumerian. Counts: 20 line-units — 0 whole, 4 part, 16 fragments, 0 invented (obverse 12; reverse 4; colophon 4).
Dragon scan (standing order): no ušumgal, muš-serpent, mušḫuššu or bašmu stands on this witness.
1–2. E₂ GU₂ G[I₄ ...] · GIŠ IG# x [...]
Traces — "house," "door." (Fragments.)
3–7. me-e umun-e# [...] · umun ur-[sag ...] · umun {d}[x ...] · KA [x] x [(x)] x x x [...] · ri-x [x] x-bi-iš? [...]
"I am [...] — the lord — the lord, the hero — the lord [god …] — mouth/word [...]" (Fragments — the eršahunga's opening address, worn to its titles.)
8–9. e umun x x e#-ne#-eg₃-m[u-x ...] ·
"O lord [...] his word [...]" · "To my lord — make glorious the word(s) [...]" (Fragments — the bilingual pair form shows here: Emesal line, Akkadian line.)
10–12. e en ti-la-gu₁₀-n[e ...] · x x x [...] · x [...]
"O lord, my life [...]" and traces end the face. (Fragments.)
1′. [x x x] mu?# x [...]
Traces. (Fragment.)
2′. [umun {d}en]-bi-lu-lu# [...]
"The lord Enbilulu [...]" (Fragment — the god addressed is named here, restored on the record: Enbilulu, Enlil's canal-inspector.)
3′. ša₃#-zu# ša₃ ama-tu-ud-da-g[in₇ ki-bi-še₃ ha-ma-gi₄-gi₄]
"May your heart, like the heart of a mother who has borne (children), return to its place for me." (Part — the mother's-heart line, the reason this tablet was copied.)
4′. ama tu-ud-da a-a tu-ud-da#-g[in₇ ki-<(bi-š₃ ha-ma-gi₄-gi₄)>]
"Like a mother who bore (me), like a father who bore (me) — return to its place for me." (Part — the second half is carried by the record's ditto restoration, printed as such.)
5′. DUB.8.KAM@v ER₂.ŠA₃.HUN.GA₂ 27.AM₃ MU.Š[ID.BI.IM]
"8th tablet of the Eršahunga (series). 27 is its line-count." (Part.)
6′. GIM SUMUN-šu₂ SAR-ma E₃#
"Written according to its original, and taken out (collated)." (Part.)
7′. tup-pi {m}{d}AG-DUG[UD-PAP-MEŠ-šu₂ DUMU A.BA E₂.GAL]
"Tablet of Nabû-kabit-aḫḫēšu, son of the palace scribe." (Part.)
8′. ša {m}LUGAL#-[GI.NA MAN KUR aš-šur{ki}]
"Of Sargon, king of the land of Assyria." (Part — LUGAL-GI.NA, "the king is legitimate," is Sargon's throne name, as written.)
Maul 1988 (German) is the edition of record; the English renderings served by ORACC BLMS and the eISL score are credited above. The reading here is an independent re-rendering of the witness. Published 2026-10-22. A Vigslist translation.
Built 2026-10-22 from Wave A1's live eBL fetch.
Nuvira Technologies conducts this research with AI assistance, cross-verified against the primary sources to scholarly integrity standards. Uncertain readings are marked; broken lines are left broken.
— Richard Vigslist, Founder, Nuvira Technologies
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