A Love Letter from Uruk
Notes to the Text
Or, How to become a Scribe in Mesopotamia
I am including these notes in case there are any readers who want to explore some of the topics raised in the book further.
Please don’t get bogged down in this – it is academic stuff. You can just enjoy the book on its own.
All this and much more is available in Celia Hammer’s Library.
I have, so far as possible, told stories that can be traced through more than one period in our literature. But all the stories I tell are rooted in the Ancient Near East — a 3000-year civilization stretching from 3500 BC to 332 BC (approximately).
In A Love Letter from Uruk I begin my exploration of the Ancient Near Eastern tradition in Sumer, where writing was invented around 3500 BC. Writing was developed to facilitate trade, and the Sumerians had to ‘discover’ that it could also be applied — probably first to letter writing and then gradually as a sophisticated tool for the development, implementation and propagation of knowledge.
There are lots of references to later literature in the book, not only in the captions to each chapter but also in the text, demonstrating the interdependence of the entire literary tradition.
Scorpions had to come into it because I remember the thrill I felt the first time I read this quote by Esarhaddon, King of Assyria (ruled 681–669 BC), describing the terrain on his campaign to Bazu (East Arabia), speaking in his own voice:
“As for the land Bāzu, a district in a remote place, a forgotten place of dry land, saline ground, a place of thirst, one hundred and twenty leagues of desert, thistles, and gazelle-tooth stones, where snakes and scorpions fill the plain like ants — I left Mount Ḥazû… behind me and crossed over to that district to which no king before me had gone since earliest days. By the command of the god Aššur, my lord, I marched triumphantly in its midst.”
Leichty, The Royal Inscriptions of Esarhaddon, King of Assyria (680–669 BC).
I included the rabid dog incident (ch. 4) both because rabies was a real danger at the time, and because I could tie it in to one of those many subsequent references (Harper Lee) that continue to enrich our response to the word ‘rabies’ and even ‘dog’.
Yuhong, Rabid Dogs in Sumerian and Akkadian. · Harper Lee (1960), To Kill a Mockingbird.
Here is the Old Testament version of the story of Cain and Abel (Qain and Habel) and the Sumerian source. The Old Testament story of Cain and Abel was drawn from a Sumerian debate (these were popular in Sumer) between a herder and a farmer. In the debate they conclude, as Ensi confirms in the story, that society needs both herders and farmers. In keeping with the Old Testament theme against syncretism (the worship of other gods), Ensi refers to the implication from the Old Testament story that Qain and Habel worshipped incorrectly. — Celia
Genesis 4:1–16 (ESV) — Cain and Abel
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.” And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” Then the LORD said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
… and the Sumerian debate between the herder and the farmer:
Dumuzid and Enkimdu (translation)
“Maiden, the cattle-pen …; maiden Inana, the sheepfold … bending in the furrows. Inana, let me stroll with you; … the emmer … Young lady, let me ….”
“I am a woman and I won’t do that, I won’t! I am a star …, and I won’t! I won’t be the wife of a shepherd!” Her brother, the warrior youth Utu, said to holy Inana:
“My sister, let the shepherd marry you! Maiden Inana, why are you unwilling? His butter is good, his milk is good — all the work of the shepherd’s hands is splendid. Inana, let Dumuzid marry you. You who wear jewellery, who wear cuba jewels, why are you unwilling? He will eat his good butter with you. Protector of the king, why are you unwilling?”
“The shepherd shall not marry me! He shall not make me carry his garments of new wool.” These words … the farmer to the shepherd. My king …, the shepherd, Dumuzid … to say …:
“In what is the farmer superior to me, the farmer to me, the farmer to me? Enkimdu, the man of the dykes and canals — in what is that farmer superior to me? Let him give me his black garment, and I will give the farmer my black ewe for it. Let him give me his white garment, and I will give the farmer my white ewe for it. Let him pour me his best beer, and I will pour the farmer my yellow milk for it…”
He was cheerful, he was cheerful, at the edge of the riverbank, he was cheerful… The farmer approached the shepherd there, the shepherd pasturing the sheep on the riverbank; the farmer Enkimdu approached him there. From the plain where he was, the shepherd provoked a quarrel with him.
“Why should I compete against you, shepherd, I against you, shepherd, I against you? Let your sheep eat the grass of the riverbank, let your sheep graze on my stubble. Let them eat grain in the jewelled fields of Unug, let your kids and lambs drink water from my Surungal canal. As for me who am a shepherd: when I am married, farmer, you are going to be counted as my friend.”
“I will bring you wheat, and I will bring you beans; I will bring you two-row barley from the threshing-floor. And you, maiden, I will bring you whatever you please, maiden Inana, … barley or … beans.”
The dispute between the shepherd and the farmer: maiden Inana, your praise is sweet. A balbale.
Pritchard, ANET: Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, pg. 41.
Debra has been paying attention in her English lit class. The metaphor is oblique and complicated, but in the poem Coleridge places the ‘Ancient Mariner’ in the tradition of Cain (amongst others).
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834), Romanticism (1800–1850).
I drew this nice domestic detail from a Canaanite lice comb found at Lachish in Israel, dated to anywhere between 1900–1500 BC (this is not exactly the same as Sumer in 2087 BC, Debra!). Debra hasn’t been to school in Uruk yet, so it’s utterly amazing that she can read anything at all, but anyway, her translation isn’t very good (if the inscription is the same). The actual inscription on this comb says (carved out of ivory — hence the reference to a tooth):
‘May this tooth root out the lice of the hair and the beard.’
Daniel Vainstub, Madeleine Mumcuoglu, Michael G. Hasel, Katherine M. Hesler, Miriam Lavi, Rivka Rabinovich, Yuval Goren and Yosef Garfinkel (2022), ‘A Canaanite’s Wish to Eradicate Lice on an Inscribed Ivory Comb from Lachish’, Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology 2: 76–119. doi.org/10.52486/01.00002.4 · jjar.huji.ac.il
Abraham draws on two Bilgamesh/Gilgamesh stories here. The beginning of this episode comes from the Epic of Gilgamesh itself. Here, Gilgamesh is accused of playing unruly games with the young men of Uruk:
‘He has no equal when his weapons are brandished,
His companions are kept on their feet by his contests.’
The remainder of the episode comes from an early Sumerian text, ‘Bilgamesh and Agga/Akka’, that was not included in the later Akkadian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh:
‘The envoys of Akka, Enmebaragesi’s son,
Came from Kish to Bilgames in Uruk …’
Translations from The Epic of Gilgamesh, tr. A. R. George. · You can read Chapter 17 here.
This episode is Debra’s version of Tablet 6 of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Debra does not know what to make of this episode where God makes his covenant with Abram (his name changed to Abraham only after he became a father). It seems likely to Celia that this episode is instrumental for Debra’s decision at the end of the book to continue in the path in which she has begun and which follows that taken by her father, in order to fulfil her own destiny — it may also have supported her during those times when her trust in having been given a task by God, and her purpose for being here, must have seemed unreal and even silly — until that moment in the back-yard with Leqi and Ilulu…
Genesis 15:7–21 (ESV)
And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates…”
The story that Nana relates, and that she discusses with Debra, combines elements from the Sumerian and the Old Testament versions of the Tower of Babel. Nana also (naughty!) includes an explanation for the confusion between bricks and cement from a ‘midrash’ (a rabbinical commentary from about 200 AD):
Sumerian version
In those days there was no snake, there was no scorpion, there was no hyena, there was no lion, there was no wild dog, no wolf, there was no fear, no terror, man had no rival. In those days, the land Subur, the place of plenty, of righteous decrees, harmony-tongued Sumer, the great land of the decrees of princeship, Uri, the land having all that is needful, the land Martu resting in security, the whole universe, the people in unison, to Enlil in one tongue gave praise…
S. N. Kramer, ‘Man’s Golden Age: A Sumerian Parallel to Genesis XI.1’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 63, No. 3 (Jul.–Sep. 1943), pp. 191–194.
Genesis 11:1–9 (ESV) — The Tower of Babel
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth.
The prayer to Nisaba that Nana pronounces as an example of the correct form to Debra and Leqi isn’t actually a prayer — it is what is generally known as a ‘wisdom’ text. (I don’t really have it in for translators, and certainly not for the translators of ancient languages and broken texts, but I do a little translation myself and I can’t help poking fun at the desperate words you sometimes come up with to translate something untranslatable. — Celia)
The advice of a supervisor to a younger scribe (E-dub-ba-a C)
“Nisaba has placed in your hand the honour of being a teacher. For her, the fate determined for you will be changed and so you will be generously blessed. May she bless you with a joyous heart and free you from all despondency… at whatever is in the school, the place of learning.”
Text from the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL), Oxford.
The prescient Ensi is quoting from Leviathan, pt. 1, ch. 13, by Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679 AD).
‘Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of war, where every man is enemy to every man, the same consequent to the time wherein men live without other security than what their own strength and their own invention shall furnish them withal. In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building… no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.’
Debra’s description of school in Sumer draws specifically on a praise poem attributed to the son of the king, ‘Lipit-Eštar’s Praise in the Edubba’. This text includes a lot of grammar, and many copies and fragments have been found. It is thought to have been a starter text for Akkadian boys learning Sumerian.
… The mighty do not perpetrate robbery, and the strong do not make the weaker ones into hirelings — thus you established justice in Sumer and Akkad, and made pleasant the life of everybody in the Land. Lipit-estar, king of Isin, king of Sumer and Akkad, to Nippur you are the Scribe… For holy Inanna in the region of Uruk, you, Lipit-estar, are her heart’s delight… Your praise shall never disappear from the clay in the Edubba; may every scribe therefore sing of this bliss and glorify you greatly… O leading shepherd, youthful son of Enlil, Lipit-estar, be praised!
H. L. J. Vanstiphout, Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Jan. 1978), pp. 33–61; and ‘How Did They Learn Sumerian?’, JCS Vol. 31, No. 2 (Apr. 1979), pp. 118–126. jstor.org/stable/1359932
I’ve also included the entire text of ‘Schooldays’, although it is heavy going, in order to include the references to caning that Debra mentions (sorry Debra, 9 canings), and the teacher’s coming to dinner that is described in ch. 29.
Schooldays
“Schoolboy, where did you go from earliest days?” “I went to school.” “What did you do in school?” “I read my tablet, ate my lunch, prepared my tablet, wrote it, finished it; then my prepared lines were prepared for me, and in the afternoon my hand copies were prepared for me. Upon the school’s dismissal, I went home, entered the house, there was my father sitting.
I spoke to my father of my hand copies, then read the tablet to him, and my father was pleased… ‘I am thirsty, give me drink, I am hungry, give me bread, wash my feet, set up the bed, I want to go to sleep; wake me early in the morning, I must not be late, or my teacher will cane me.’ When I awoke early in the morning, I faced my mother and said to her: ‘Give me my lunch, I want to go to school.’ My mother gave me two rolls, and I left her; I went to school.
In the tablet-house, the monitor said to me: ‘Why are you late?’ I was afraid, my heart beat fast. I entered before my teacher, took my place. My school-father read my tablet to me, said ‘The… is cut off’, caned me… The teacher in supervising the school duties looked into house and street in order to pounce upon someone, said ‘Your… is not…’, caned me.
Who was in charge of the courtyard said ‘Write’… Who was in charge of drawing said ‘Why when I was not here did you stand up?’, caned me. Who was in charge of the gate said ‘Why when I was not here did you go out?’, caned me… My teacher said ‘Your hand is not good’, caned me.
To that which the schoolboy said, his father gave heed. The teacher was brought from school; having entered the house, he was seated in the seat of honour. The schoolboy took his place, sat down before him; whatever he had learned of the scribal art, he unfolded to his father.
His father, with joyful heart, says joyfully to his school-father: ‘You open the hand of my young one, you make of him an expert, show him all the fine points of the scribal art… Pour out for him like good wine, bring him a stand, make flow the good oil in his vessel like water; I will dress him in a new garment, present him a gift, put a band about his hand.’
The teacher with joyful heart gave speech to him: ‘Young man, because you did not neglect my word, did not forsake it, may you reach the pinnacle of the scribal art, achieve it completely… may Nisaba, the queen of the guardian deities, be your guardian deity… Of your brothers, may you be their leader; of your companions, may you be their chief; may you rank the highest of all the schoolboys… You have carried out well the school duties, have become a man of learning. Nisaba, the queen of the place of learning, you have exalted.’ O Nisaba, praise!”
S. N. Kramer (1949), ‘Schooldays: A Sumerian Composition Relating to the Education of a Scribe’. · worldhistory.org — Schooldays
The ‘Song of the Sword’ that Ilulu sings with his family to celebrate his homecoming. (If you read to the end, you’ll see where Haia got the idea from to treat Ilulu with a delicious, warm shower!) — Celia
Nibruta-lu, the son of the merchant Lugal-suba, has had this tin axe made for Nergal. Its wooden part is of arganum tree of the mountains, a wood which is superior even to the alal stone; its stone part is of antasura, a stone which has no equal. The arm of the man who strikes with it will never get tired. Should it break, I will repair it for Nergal. Should it disappear, I will replace it for him. May Nergal look after me during my life, and may he provide me with clean water in the Underworld after my death.
Jeremy Black, Graham Cunningham, Eleanor Robson and Gábor Zólyomi (tr.), The Literature of Ancient Sumer, Oxford University Press, 2004, pg. 157. ETCSL t.5.7.3
The ‘opening of the mouth’ ceremony — the induction of a new god in the Ancient Near East — was widely practised and is extensively discussed in the literature.
Christopher Walker and Michael B. Dick, ‘The Induction of the Cult Image in Ancient Mesopotamia: The Mesopotamian mīs pî Ritual’, pg. 102, in Michael B. Dick (ed.), Born in Heaven, Made on Earth — The Making of the Cult Image in the Ancient Near East, Eisenbrauns, 1999.
In this episode, just as in the Tower of Babel episode, Nana combines the Sumerian literary tradition (an incantation) with an episode from the Old Testament — a reference to an alternative circumcision tradition to that established by Genesis 17:10. — Celia
Exodus 4:24–26 (ESV)
At a lodging place on the way the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.
And from Kamadme, the Sumerian counterpart to the demon Lamashtu:
You are a kamad, you are an august queen, you are a wild cow, you know no sacrificial offering. Oh, be gone…! Be gone, depart! Be gone, depart!
Andrew R. George (2018), ‘Kamadme, the Sumerian Counterpart of the Demon Lamaštu’, in Sources of Evil: Studies in Mesopotamian Exorcistic Lore, eds. Greta Van Buylaere, Mikko Luukko, Daniel Schwemer and Avigail Mertens-Wagschal, pp. 150–157. doi.org/10.1163/9789004373341_006
Genesis 14 (ESV) — Abram Rescues Lot
In the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, these kings made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar)… Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled…
Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew… When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them… Then he brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his kinsman Lot with his possessions, and the women and the people.
Abram Blessed by Melchizedek
After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer… Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him… And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.” But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’…”
‘After learning the basics of the cuneiform script, students first studied four royal and divine hymns, then moved on to a tentet of heterogeneous Sumerian-language literary compositions that Steve Tinney (1999) has dubbed the Decad, which included “The Hymn to the Hoe.”’
Piotr Michalowski, ‘Where’s Al? Humor and Poetics in The Hymn to the Hoe’, pp. 195–200 in Why Should Someone Who Knows Something Conceal It? Cuneiform Studies in Honor of David I. Owen on His 70th Birthday, eds. Alexandra Kleinerman & Jack M. Sasson. ETCSL tr554
The Sumerian King List is a long document from which the teacher has extracted only that part of the list that was included in the Old Testament. The arguments about how the names should be transliterated, and how much they actually do correlate with the biblical form of the names, are still raging. As this is a novel and not a treatise, Debra is correlating the names without further discussion. Both Debra and Celia love the way our literary heritage can reach way back into the distant past and restore to us those raw elements of our early existence (lamb, ground, rest, descendant, living son…) that were then, and continue to be, deeply meaningful:
Galumum [‘lamb’]: reigned 900 years
Zugagib [‘scorpion’]: reigned 840 years
Aripi (or Ademe), son of Mashgag: 720 years
Etana, the shepherd, who went to heaven, who subdued all lands: reigned 635 years
Pilikam: reigned 350 years
Enmenunna: reigned 611 years
Melamkish: reigned 900 years
Barsalnunna: reigned 1200 years
Meskingashir: ruled 325 years
Enmeirgan: ruled 420 years
Lugalbanda: ruled 1200 years
Dumuzi [‘living son’]: ruled 100 years
Gilgamesh: ruled 126 years…
Barton (1915), A Sumerian Source of the Fourth and Fifth Chapters of Genesis. ETCSL t.2.1.1
The two letters that Debra describes here have been inserted by me (not Debra’s fault) and come from very different times and places — definitely not Sumer 2087 BC. I hope you enjoy them anyway! — Celia
The Yavneh-Yam letter was found at Mesad Hashavyahu in ancient Philistia near the Mediterranean coast and has been dated to 639–609 BC. It is recognised the world over by its opening line: ‘Your servant is a reaper!’ — the cry of an ordinary man against the inescapable forces ranged against him:
Let my lord, the governor, listen to the word of his servant. Your servant is a reaper. Your servant was in Hasar-’Asam, and your servant reaped, and finished, and stored the grain during the days prior to the sabbath. When your servant had completed the reaping, and stored the grain during these days, Hoshabyahu ben-Shobi arrived, and he confiscated the garment of your servant when I had completed the reaping. It is already days since he took the garment of your servant. And all my brothers — who are reaping with me — can testify on my behalf… If I am innocent of any wrong, give back my garment; and if not, it is the governor’s right to consider my case and send word to him so that he restores the garment of your servant.
Translation by K. C. Hanson (adapted from Albright 1969:320); Hebrew text adapted from Gibson 1973:28. kchanson.com — Yavneh-Yam
The world’s oldest customer complaint comes from the city of Ur (in the direction of the Persian Gulf from Uruk) and is dated to approximately 1800 BC. — Celia
‘Tell Ea-nasir: Nanni sends the following message. When you came, you said to me as follows: “I will give Gimil-Sin (when he comes) fine quality copper ingots.” You left then but you did not do what you promised me. You put ingots which were not good before my messenger and said: “If you want to take them, take them; if you do not want to take them, go away!”
What do you take me for, that you treat somebody like me with such contempt? I have sent as messengers gentlemen like ourselves to collect the bag with my money, but you have treated me with contempt by sending them back to me empty-handed several times, and that through enemy territory… Take cognizance that from now on I will not accept here any copper from you that is not of fine quality. I shall select and take the ingots individually in my own yard, and I shall exercise against you my right of rejection because you have treated me with contempt.’
Chibber (2018), The World’s First Customer Complaint. Guinness World Records
The teacher who is so brave with his cane in the classroom comes to dinner. Nervously, he shelters behind his extensive knowledge of Sumerian wisdom literature, and quotes several not-very-applicable proverbs until he settles down under the impulse of Debra’s question — the same as the one her father asked her. In ‘The Instructions of Shuruppag’ you’ll find these proverbs, and that first proverb that he (appropriately) quoted when he met Debra (ch. 23). You’ll notice here too, just like Hamlet’s experience with Polonius, that too many proverbs quickly become pedantic and dull. — Celia
King Shulgi would have run about 200 miles in 24 hours. The occasional comparable feat has been accomplished in our time, suggesting that this episode is ‘true’. At that time, when there was so much more emphasis on physical strength and endurance, the feat would obviously have been great, but within reach for some people — one of them being their energetic king, who had brains as well as brawn, because he commemorated the occasion himself with this poem:
A praise poem of Shulgi (Shulgi A)
I, the king, was a hero already in the womb; I, Culgi, was born to be a mighty man. I am a fierce-looking lion, begotten by a dragon. I am the king of the four regions; I am the herdsman and shepherd of the black-headed people. I am a respected one, the god of all the lands.
I am a child born of Ninsun. I am the choice of holy An’s heart. I am the man whose fate was decided by Enlil… I am a knowledgeable scribe of Nisaba; I have perfected my wisdom just as my heroism and my strength. I cherish righteousness but do not tolerate wickedness.
So that my name should be established for distant days and never fall into oblivion, so that my praise should be uttered throughout the Land… I, the fast runner, summoned my strength and, to prove my speed, my heart prompted me to make a return journey from Nibru to brick-built Urim as if it were only the distance of a double-hour.
Then I arose like an owl, like a falcon, to return to Nibru in my vigour. But a storm shrieked, and the west wind whirled around… Thundering storms made the earth quake, and Ickur roared in the broad heavens. The rains of heaven mingled with the waters of the earth. Small and large hailstones drummed on my back.
I, the king, however, did not fear, nor was I terrified. I rushed forth like a fierce lion. I galloped like an ass in the desert. With my heart full of joy, I ran onward… I celebrated the ecec festival in both Nibru and Urim on the same day! … Truly I am not boasting! Wherever I look to, there I go; wherever my heart desires, I reach… Nisaba be praised!
Text from the ETCSL, A praise poem of Shulgi (tr24201).
The qabum (story-teller) tells the Mesopotamian story of the flood. The story in Gilgamesh itself comes from another Mesopotamian epic, The Atrahasis. But we’re going with the story in Gilgamesh.
‘The Flood Tablet’, the eleventh tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic, describes how the gods sent a flood to destroy the world. Like Noah, Utnapishtim was forewarned and built an ark to house and preserve living things. After the flood, he sent out birds to look for dry land (British Museum).
‘The huge importance of the royal libraries found at Nineveh by Layard and Rassam first became widely known in 1872 when, sorting through the Assyrian tablets in the British Museum, the brilliant George Smith came across what remains the most famous of Gilgamesh tablets, the best-preserved manuscript of the story of the Deluge. His reaction is described by E. A. Wallis Budge…: “Smith took the tablet and began to read over the lines… and when he saw that they contained the portion of the legend he had hoped to find there, he said, ‘I am the first man to read that after two thousand years of oblivion.’ Setting the tablet on the table, he jumped up and rushed about the room in a great state of excitement, and, to the astonishment of those present, began to undress himself!” One hopes the George Smith who made his discovery public was a figure more composed and fully clad, since the occasion was a formal paper delivered to the Society of Biblical Archaeology in the presence of Mr Gladstone and other notables. This must be the only occasion on which a British Prime Minister in office has attended a lecture on Babylonian literature. Assyriology had arrived, and so had Gilgamesh.’
A. R. George (tr.), The Epic of Gilgamesh, Introduction, pg. xxiii.