A witness reading. A Vigslist translation.
The Lady in the Ekur — a hymn with its obverse gone. A hymn whose colophon stands intact though its obverse is lost.
A witness reading. This tablet is a witness to the hymn to Nungal (Nungal A, ETCSL 4.28.1): edited by Åke W. Sjöberg, “Nungal in the Ekur,” Archiv für Orientforschung 24 (1973), pp. 19–46, with additional fragments in Journal of Cuneiform Studies 29 (1977), pp. 3–6; translated in full at ETCSL 4.28.1, “A hymn to Nungal”; and re-edited by Pascal Attinger, “L’Hymne à Nungal,” Mélanges Wilcke (2003), pp. 15–34. What this tablet preserves is the composition’s closing section, lines 106–121. The reading below renders this witness’s text as its record carries it.
The tablet's copy of record is CT 58, pl. 32 no. 27. The record's note, Lambert's, is the whole introduction the tablet gets: "obv. virtually gone." What survives is the reverse of a 29-line hymn to a goddess in the Ekur, closed by a full colophon — the count, the month, and a year named for a city wall. The goddess is Nungal, named in the closing lines this witness preserves.
One tablet: BM.108866, British Museum — "repaired; much of one side lost"; eighteen lines of inscription per the catalogue description, 29 lines per its own colophon. Genres on the record: Literature → Hymns. Photograph on the record. CDLI number on the record: P274222.
The reverse is a woman's hymn turned toward a goddess, and its best lines stand whole. The singer sends her good (word) back to her god, begs that her praise not be torn apart, and then the hymn rises to its subject: the lady made her greatness appear; to the Ekur, the shrine, her beloved dwelling, she gave awe and radiance. A strange couplet runs through the middle — "from the pure cattle-pen may she be called a woman; from the pure sheepfold may she be called a woman" — the goddess praised out of the animal folds of the temple estate. And the tablet closes the way working tablets close: its count, 29 lines; the month, Du-kù; the 14th day; the year they built the wall of Akuṣum. The hymn is half-lost. Its paperwork is perfect.
Transliteration exactly as the record serves it. Counts: 25 line-units — 3 whole, 11 part, 11 fragments, 0 invented (obverse 6, reverse 19). The 3 whole units are the colophon lines, complete as written.
Dragon scan (standing order): no ušumgal, muš-serpent, mušḫuššu or bašmu stands on this witness. {d}GIR₃ in reverse line 14 is a divine name written with the GIR₃ sign, read here as it stands; it is not a serpent word.
1–6. [... n]e? ib? · [...] x-dib-be₂ · [...] · [...] x si-sa₂-e · [...] x-sum · [...] x-e
Traces — "who makes it straight," "who gives," and the rest is surface. (Fragments.)
1. šu ša₆-ga dingir-ra-na-še₃ im-ši-in-gi₄-g[i₄?]
"She returned a good (word) to her god." (Part — ša₆, "good," and gi₄, "to return," stand.)
2. lu₂-ulu₃-bi ka-tar-ĝu₁₀ he₂-si-il-la₂
"May that man not tear apart(?) my praise." (Part — ka-tar, "praise," stands; si-il, "to tear/split," is rendered with its flag.)
3. ($___$) nam-mah-mu he₂-em-me
"May my greatness be spoken." (Part — a short line, complete in sense, carried by the record's ditto spacing.)
4. a-ar₂-ĝu₁₀ kalam-ma kid₃-kid₃-da-bi niĝ₂-me-ĝar su₃-ga#!
"My praise [...] in the land; silence is spread over everything." (Part — niĝ₂-me-ĝar, "silence," stands; the line's middle is uncertain on the record.)
5. diĝir lu₂-ba-ke₄ su₃-ra₂-še₃ me-teš₂ hu-mu-i-i
"[...] the god of that man [...] may he praise fittingly [...]" (Fragment.)
6. i₃-li₂ tur₃-ku₃-ta munus he₂-em-me
"From the pure cattle-pen may she be called 'woman.'" (Part.)
7. ($___$) nig₂-saĝ-bi ha-ma-an-tu[m₃?]
"May its first portion(?) be brought to me." (Fragment.)
8. udu-ni amaš-ku₃-ta munus he₂-em-me
"Her sheep — from the pure sheepfold may she be called 'woman.'" (Part — the couplet's second half, line 6's twin.)
9. ($___$) nig₂-saĝ-bi ha-ma-an-t[um₃?]
As line 7. (Fragment.)
10. lu₂-ba {d}lamma-ša₆-ga-ni me-en ga₂-la₂ nu-d[ag?]
"That man — his good guardian spirit I am; I do not cease(?)" (Part.)
11. e₂-gal-la IGI-DU-ni me-en en-nu-uĝ₃ im-AK-k[e₄?]
"In the palace I am her/his front-runner(?); I keep the watch." (Part — en-nu-uĝ₃, "watch/guard duty," stands.)
12. nin-e nam-mah-a-ni pa-e₃ AK-a
"The lady made her greatness appear." (Part — a whole sentence on broken clay.)
13. e₂-kur e₂-eš₂ ki-tuš ki-aĝ₂-ĝa₂-ni ni₂ me-lam₂ šum₂-ma
"To the Ekur, the shrine, her beloved dwelling-place, she gave awe and radiance." (Part — the hymn's standing line: ni₂ me-lam₂, awe and radiance, given to the house.)
14. {d}GIR₃ {ĝeš}rab {d}a-nun-na-ke₄-ne
"GIR₃ — the fetter(?) — of the Anunna [...]" (Fragment — the line breaks off at the list it was starting.)
15. ($___$) nam-ma-ni lu₂ nu-zu
"[...] a man does not know his [...]" (Fragment.)
16. sag-kal me-na šu nu-TU-TU {d}nun-gal za₃-mi₂
"Foremost one [...] — Nun-gal, praise!" (Part — sag-kal, "foremost," and the closing za₃-mi₂, "praise," stand; the line's middle verb is the record's own unresolved TU-TU.)
17. šid-bi 29
"Its count: 29 (lines)." (Whole.)
18. {iti}du₆-ku₃ ud-14-kam
"Month Du-kù, 14th day." (Whole.)
19. mu bad₃ a-ku-ṣum{ki}
"The year: the wall of Akuṣum (was built)." (Whole — a year-formula closes the hymn; the city is Akuṣum, as written.)
Edition of record: Sjöberg, AfO 24 (1973); English translation at ETCSL 4.28.1. Published 2026-10-22. A Vigslist translation.
Built 2026-10-22 from Wave A1's live eBL fetch.
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