The Sack of Ur (LKU 43)

A reading, published with its checks still open. A Vigslist translation.

The Sack of Ur (LKU 43). A city-fall fragment: the gods smite Ur, maidens are slaughtered in their chambers, and one man walks through the ruin with his name on — Enki-ušumgal, the Urukean; the dragon sits inside his name, and the build says exactly that.

Published as a reading. No first-translation claim is made for this piece. The checks that would settle such a claim are named in the notes below and are still open; the wording on this page claims nothing they have not settled.

historical-literary fragment from Uruk, copied in 1931 and never edited on its record: the great gods turn on Ur, young men and maidens are slaughtered, and a man named Enki-ušumgal walks through the ruin. The museum's own acquisition book names the subject in plain words: "the capture of Ur."

DRAGON FLAG, BY NAME: line 13′ carries the personal name {m}{d}en-ki-ušum[gal] — Enki-ušumgal, a man's name built on ušumgal, the great dragon. The flag is printed for the name, exactly as it stands: a man named for the dragon, not a dragon in the text.

Credits

• Copy: Falkenstein, Literarische Keilschrifttexte aus Uruk (LKU, 1931), no. 43 — a copy only. No edition, no translation of the fragment was found in any source checked.
• Subject (on the record): the Vorderasiatisches Museum's acquisition book: "Spätbabylonischer historischer Text: Einnahme von Ur" — a late Babylonian historical text: the capture of Ur. Excavated at Uruk (Feld/25).
• Doors on the face: the composition is unidentified on its record. The Late Babylonian historical-literary corpus (the chronicle and "historical epic" treatments) is the named check: falls. The two divine counsellors named in it — Namraṣīt, "light of the Igigi," and Ninmenna/Ningal — are the leads any identification will follow.

The witness

One fragment: VAT.14514, Neo-Babylonian script, Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin — from Uruk. Nineteen lines on one face. The record classes it as historiography and narrative. CDLI number on the live record: P414183. No photograph on the record.

What it says

A city is being destroyed and heaven is doing it. The great gods strike Ur and roar; troops slaughter the young men; maidens are slaughtered in their private chambers; daughters — the enemy's offspring — are gathered up. Something flies like a bird and hastens away. Then the divine council comes into focus: Namraṣīt, light of the Igigi, counsellor of the great gods; Ninmenna, Ningal, the beloved. Shrines are abandoned, emblems changed. And in the middle of the list of the ruined stands a single named man: Enki-ušumgal, the Urukean, firstborn of Sîn-[…] — the only human being the fragment names.

How to read this document

Transliteration exactly as the record serves it (unmarked lines are Akkadian, as the record serves them). Counts: 19 line-units — 0 whole, 13 part, 6 fragments, 0 invented. Fragments class.

The reading

1′. [...] x [...] (traces only)

2′. [...] x e-šu₂ uk-x [...] (traces only)

3′. [...] x x (x) [x (x) k]i iš-ša₂-d[a? ...] "[…] was dragged […]" (traces around one verb)

4′. [... UR]IM₂{ki} m[a-h]az DINGIR-MEŠ GAL-MEŠ i-ram-mu-um [...] "[…] smote [U]r; the great gods roared […]"

5′. [...]-MEŠ eṭ-lu-tu tu-ub-bu-ka ri-[...] "[…] the young men are slaughtered […]"

6′. [ar]-da#-a-ti ina maš-ta-ki-ši-na ṭu-ub-bu-hu GI[M ...] "[The m]aidens are slaughtered in their chambers, li[ke …]"

7′. [ma]-ra-a-ti ri-hi-it nak-ru i-laq-qit a-n[a ...] "[The da]ughters, the offspring of the enemy, he gathers t[o …]"

8′. [iṣ-ṣ]u-riš i-mu-u₂ it-tap-ra-šu TU[{mušen}-niš] "He flew like a [bi]rd, he hastened like a …-bird" (the second bird-name is broken)

9′. [{d}n]am-ra-ṣi-it nu-ur {d}i₂-gi₃-gi₃ ma-lik DINGIR-MEŠ [GAL-MEŠ] "[Na]mraṣīt, light of the Igigi, counsellor of the [great] gods"

10′. [{d}]nin-men-na {d}nin-gal hi-rat na-ra-[am-ti-šu] "Ninmenna, Ningal, the beloved of [his] heart(?)" (the last word is uncertain)

11′. [k]i-iṣ-ṣi i-zi-bu ut-tak-ki-ru si-m[a-te-šu-un] "They abandoned the [sh]rine(?); [their] emb[lems] were changed" (the first word is uncertain)

12′. a#-na ki-in-ne₂-e zaq-ru iq-ta-bu-u₂ a-[la-ka] "To the raised kinnû(?) they said: 'G[o]!'" (the place/object named is uncertain)

13′. [{m}]{d}+en-ki-ušum[gal] {lu₂}URIM₂-u₂ bu-kur₂ {m}{d}3[0-...] "Enki-ušum[gal], the Urukean, firstborn of Sî[n-…]" — the dragon flag stands here: ušumgal inside a man's name

14′. [l]i-i-pi reš-tu-u₂ he-ru-u₂ s[a-...] "[The f]irstborn son […] dug […]" (traces around words)

15′. [{m}]{d#}30-AD-DINGIR-MEŠ-KAM dup-pu-us-su-u₂ a-hu-ru-[u₂ ...] "Sîn-…-iddina(?), … his younger brother […]" (the name is damaged; the reading is tentative)

16′. [i]t-ti DINGIR-MEŠ GAL-MEŠ gim#-ri#-šu#-[un] "[W]ith all the great gods […]"

17′. [u]r-hi iṣ-ba-tu-ma i-[...] "They took the [ro]ad and […]"

18′. [x (x x)] x-di ša₂ qe₂-reb hur-sa-a-nu# [...] "[…] which is in the midst of the mountain […]" (traces around a phrase)

19′. [...] x-MEŠ?# [...] (traces only)

Doors and flags

• Doors standing: the Late Babylonian historical-literary corpus check (chronicles and historical epics) · the LKU 43 copy's own context in Falkenstein 1931.
• Dragon flag, by name: ušumgal — line 13′, inside the personal name Enki-ušumgal, "the Urukean, firstborn of Sîn-[…]." A man named for the great dragon, in a fragment about the fall of Ur. No dragon being appears in the text; the flag is the name, printed as the program prints names. No other serpent wording stands on the witness (line 8′'s birds are birds).

Built 2026-10-22 from a fresh 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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