Origin/Historian/Author: Sumer, Nippur (ca. 2400 BCE)
Source: Sumerian Liturgies and Psalms, By Stephen Langdon, 1919
Full Text Below
(Nippur Fragments)
OBVERSE COLUMN I
(Lines 1 – 22 defaced)
23. [Temple] in holy Kes builded.
24. [Temple(?)] in holy EN-HAR builded.
25. [Temple] like ….. nun, like heaven exceeding all.
26. [Temple] like the pure ….. clothed in
27. [Temple] like heaven the illumination of the lands.
28. [Temple] like ….. tur in the earth founded.
29. [Temple] like ….. roaring, like a young bull bellowing.
30. [Temple] in whose ….. the hearts of the creatures of the Land …..
31. [Temple] in whose ….. the soul of life of Sumer …..
32. [Temple], great ….. , attaining unto heaven.
33. [Temple], great ….. , attaining unto heaven.
34. [Temple], great ….. , attaining unto heaven.
35. [Temple ….. ], attaining unto heaven.
OBVERSE COLUMN II
1. ….. heaven and earth …..
2. ….. of the nether-sea …..
3. Temple which Anu …..
4. Enlil above all …..
5. The mother, Nintud oracles …..
6. Temple in Kesh …..
7. Like EN-UAR it has been made surpassing; verily man has brought solicitude for it.
8. Its hero like Assirgi has been
9. made surpassing: the mother verily has borne him.
10. Its lady like Nintud has been made surpassing. And then wailing began.
11. It is the second song.
12. Temple, in heaven resplendent, in earth …..
13. Temple, in heaven ….. , in earth …..
14. Temple, in heaven (like) a wild goat, on earth like a sheep..
15. Temple, in heaven (like) ….. , in earth like a roe …..
16. Temple, in heaven like ….. , in earth like a roe …..
17. Temple, in heaven like a dragon gleaming, on earth like the sunlight thou shinest.
18. Temple, in heaven like the sun arising, in earth like the new moon …..
19. Temple, in heaven shining, on earth loud crying.
20. Of the temple of heaven and earth three are its attendants.
21. Like EN-HAR it has been made surpassing; verily man has brought solicitude for it.
22. Its hero like Assirgi has been made surpassing; the mother
23. verily has borne him.
24. Its lady like Nintud has been made surpassing. And then wailing began.
25. It is the third section
(Ni. 8384)
1. [Temple ….. ] in splendor blazing, which Anu with a far-famed name has named.
2. [Temple ….. ] great, whose fate Enlil has grandly decreed.
3. [Temple] ….. of the Anunnaki, in the Land starlike gleaming.
4. Temple, peaceful dwelling place of the great gods.
5. Oh temple whose design in heaven and earth has been planned, thou art possessed of pure decrees. 6. Temple erected in the Land, where stand the chapels of the gods.
7. Mountain house, radiant with abundance and festivity.
8. Temple in whose place Ninharsag has instituted the breath of life of Sumer.
9. Great mountain house, made worthy of the rituals of purification, of its possessions nought changes.
10. Temple ….. ceases not to render decision.
11. Temple ….. unto the wide Land bearing.
12. [Temple] causing the multitudes of the Land to produce offspring, causing the seed to send forth sprouts.
13. Temple that gives birth to king, decreeing the fate of the Land.
14. …..
15. Like EN-HAR it has been made surpassing; verily man has wrought solicitude for it.
16. Its hero like ASSirgi has been made surpassing; the mother verily has borne him.
17. Its lady like Nintud has been made surpassing. And then wailing began.
18. It is the fourth section
(Ashmolean Prism)
COLUMN II
26. It is a city, it is a city! Its secrets who shall understand?
27. The temple of Kesh is a city! Its secrets who shall understand?
28. Within it the heroic ones administrate.
29. The oracles proclaimed grandly it executes.
COLUMN III
4. Like EN-HAR it has been made surpassing; verily man has wrought solicitude for it.
5. Its hero like Assirgi has been made surpassing; the mother verily has borne him.
6. Its lady like Nintud has been made surpassing. And then wailing began.
7. Section four it is
8. …..
9. …..
10. …..
11. Within it the heroic ones administrate.
12. Ninbarsag placed it in the bosom of the earth like a python.
13. Nintud the great mother …..
14. Sulpae the priest king lordship …..
15. Assirgi, the champion, …..
16. Urumas great prince in the (heavenly) plain has …..
17. The temple assembles the rams and bucks.
18. Like EN-HAR it has been made surpassing: verily man has wrought solicitude for it.
19. Its hero like Assirgi has been made surpassing; the mother
20. verily has borne him.
21. Its lady like Nintud has been made surpassing. And then wailing began.
22. It is the fifth section.
23. The temple like the sun on the vast foundation stands.
24. Like a white bull on the landscape it reposes.
25. …..
26. …..
27. …..
(28-30 illegible or lost on all the variants)
31. …..
32. …..
33. …..
34. …..
35. …..
36. Like EN-HAR it has been made surpassing; verily man has brought solicitude for it.
COLUMN IV
I. Its hero like ASSirgi has been made surpassing; the mother
2. verily has borne him.
3. Its lady like Nintud has been made surpassing. And then wailing began.
4. It is the sixth section.
5. The sacred temple whose (?) is …..
6. The sacred temple of Keg whose ? is …..
7. In the temple whose high priests are the Anunnaki,
8. Whose sacrificial priests are the dim of Eanna,
9. The aisle ….. treads.
10. (The temple) unto which a beneficent lord has shown solicitude. ……
11. The libator(?), lord Enki.. ….
12. The baptizer ….. treads thee.
13.
14. The lord Isimu, the councilor …..
15. …..
16. ….. in sorrow abounds ….. the bound cry like birds (?I7
17. ……. .in desolation abounds ….. may direct aright.
18. Of ….. its joy was sweet.
19. Of ….. its joy was sweet.
20. …..
21. …..
22. Like EN-HAR it has been made surpassing: verily man has brought solicitude for it.
23. Its hero like Assirgi has been made surpassing; verily the mother has borne him.
24. Its lady like Nintud has been made surpassing. And then wailing began.
25. It is the seventh section