A royal brick inscription of Gudea (E3/1.1.7.44)
Introduction
This post presents my translation of a royal brick inscription of Gudea wherein he documents his achievement of the construction of Ning̃irsu’s É-ánzu-bábbar temple and a cedar hall within it. Gudea was the ruler of the city-state of Lagaš in the second half of the 22nd cent. BCE. He is known especially for his administrative achievements, into which the Gudea cones, cylinders, bricks, and statues provide insight. The É-ánzu-bábbar temple means the “White Anzu House” and should be identified with the better known É-ninnu-ánzu-bábbar (=Eninnu) temple at G̃irsu. The inscription is known from multiple copies only from G̃irsu and a few of unknown provenance (see here).
In what follows, we present the inscription’s line drawing followed by a transliteration of the cuneiform, a morphological analysis, translation, and brief philological commentary. N.b., I deviate in my morphological transcription from standard convention in a few ways. For example, I supply implied morphological structures that are not identifiable in the cuneiform writing through parenthesis, e.g. (.ra) for an implied dative, as well as the auslauts of words.
Line Drawing
Transliteration
dnin-g̃ir2-su | ur-sag̃ kala-ga | den-lil2-la2 | lugal-a-ni | gu3-de2-a | ensi2 [1] | lagaški-ke4 [2] | e2-anzu2mušen-babbar2-ra-ni [3] | mu-na-du3 | ša3-ba a-ga eren | ki di-ku5-a-ni | mu-na-ni-du3
[1] wr. PA.TE.SI = énsi ‘ruler’
[2] wr. ŠIR.BUR.LAki (or NU11.BUR.LAki) = lagaški
[3] wr. AN.IM.MI = ánzu ‘Anzu-bird’; wr. UD.UD = bábbar ‘white’
Morphological Analysis
ning̃írsu ur.sag̃ kala(g).a enlíl.ak lugal.ani(.ra) gùdéa énsi lagaš.ak.e é.ánzu.bábbar.ani(.∅) mu.na.(n.)dù(.∅) šà.bi.a aga eren ki di.ku5.(ak.)ani mu.na.(n.)ni.dù(.∅)
Translation
For Ning̃irsu, the mighty hero of Enlil, his king, Gudea the ruler of Lagaš built his E-ánzu-bábbar temple. In its center he built the ‘Cedar Room’, the place of his judgment.
Commentary
- The text comprises two verbal sentences, the first which concerns Ning̃irsu’s construction of the temple itself followed by a second sentence about the ‘Cedar Room’ within it.
- ning̃írsu ur.sag̃ kala(g).a enlíl.ak lugal.ani(.ra) ‘For Ning̃irsu, the mighty hero of Enlil, his king’: All of this marks the dative recipient of the verbal actions which is marked in the both verbal chains by the 3rd sg. dative prefix /na/. In the morphological transcription, therefore, we supply the implied dative suffix at the end of the phrase {ning̃írsu… lugal.ani}(.ra).
- gùdéa énsi lagaš.ak.e ‘Gudea the ruler of Lagaš’: This functions as the agent of both verbs and thus should be marked with the ergative suffix. In the cuneiform, this appears as the /-ke4/ sign which conceals both the genitive /-ak/ and ergative /-e/.
- mu.na.(n.)dù(.∅): The first verb of the sentence is ḫamṭu transitive 3rd sg. animate comprised of a conjugation prefix /mu/, 3rd sg. dative verbal prefix /na/, and verbal base /dù/ ‘to build, construct’. Additionally, it is marked in the morphological analysis with an implied 3rd sg. anim. pronominal prefix /n./ as well as implied zero-marked 3rd sg. obj. suffix.
- šà.bi.a ‘in its center’: wr. ša3-ba, the /ba/ is a contraction of the 3rd sg. inan. possessive suff. /bi/ plus locative /a/. The locative is also marked by the locative /ni/ in the verbal chain.
- ki di.ku5.(ak.)ani: ‘the place of his judgment’: di–ku5 is a compound vb. meaning ‘to judge’ (cf. di–g̃ar ‘to sue, make a legal claim’). The verbal base /ku5(d)/ by itself means ‘to cut’.
- mu.na.ni.(n.)dù(.∅): The second verb of the sentence is ḫamṭu transitive 3rd sg. animate comprised of a conjugation prefix /mu/, 3rd sg. dative verbal prefix /na/, locative verbal prefix /ni/, and verbal base /dù/ ‘to build, construct’. Additionally, it is marked in the morphological analysis with an implied 3rd sg. anim. pronominal prefix /n./ as well as implied zero-marked 3rd sg. obj. suffix.
Bibliography
Edzard, Dietz Otto. Gudea and His Dynasty. Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, vol. 3/1. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997.
Volk, Konrad. A Sumerian Chrestomathy. Subsidia et Instrumenta Linguarum Orientis 5. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2012.
About The Author
Gilgameš and Agga (Lines 1-17) 
Law Code of Lipit-Ištar (Laws 8-18; CBS8284) 
Gudea Cylinder A xviii 1-28 (E3/1.1.7.CylA) 
Gudea Cylinder A iii 1-29 (E3/1.1.7.CylA) 
Gudea Cylinder A ii 1-29 (E3/1.1.7.CylA) 
Gudea Cylinder A i 1-29 (RIME E3/1.1.7.CylA)