A royal brick inscription of Ur-Nammu (E3/2.1.1.33; BM No. 90015)
Introduction
This post presents my translation of a royal brick inscription of Ur-Nammu wherein he documents the achievement of his construction of the temple of the goddess Inanna. Ur-Nammu was the founder of the Third Dynasty of Ur in ca. 2112 BCE and is renowned among other things for his architectural projects. The fired clay brick with stamped inscription is currently housed at the British Museum (museum number: 90015; acquired 1979); its dimensions are 32 cm. in length, 32 cm. in width, and 7.5 cm thick.
In what follows, we present the brick inscription’s image and line drawing followed by a transliteration of the cuneiform, a morphological analysis, translation, and brief morphological commentary. The text begins with the top of the left column and each case is read moving down the first column before preceding to the top of the right column, and so forth.
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.
Images and Line Drawing
Transliteration
Morphological Analysis
inanna nin.ani(.ra) ur-nammu nita kala(g).a lugal uri(m).ak lugal ki.engi ki.uri.ak.e é.ani(.∅) mu.na.(n.)dú(.∅)
Translation
For Inanna his lady, Ur-Nammu the mighty man, the king of Urim, the king of Sumer and Akkad, he built her temple.
Commentary
- The implied dative recipient of the verbal action is /inanna nin.ani/ ‘Inanna his lady’, marked as such with the implied dative marker for animate nouns (.ra).
- The agent of the verbal action is Ur-Nammu who is explicitly marked with the ergative case marker /-e/ after his titulary epithets (ending with “king of Sumer and Akkad”).
- Ur-Nammu calls himself the “king of Urim,” better known by the name of Ur (modern Tell el-Muqayyar). The /m/ is an auslaut.
- The direct object of the verb is the /é.ani/ ‘her temple’ marked in the morphological transcription with the implied absolutive marker (.∅).
- The verb is ḫamṭu transitive 3rd sg. animate comprised of a conjugation prefix /mu/, 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.
- The /mu/ conjugation prefix appears to be associated with a relatively high degree of agentivity and animacy (see Woods 2008, p. 111).
- Syntactically, the inscription comprises a front dislocated indirect (dative) object followed by the “normal” (expected) subject-object-verb word order (i.e. lit. “Ur-Nammu, the temple, he built”).
Bibliography
Frayne, Douglas R. Ur III Period (2112-2004 BC). The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Early Periods 3/2. Toronto: Toronto University Press, 1997.
Volk, Konrad. A Sumerian Chrestomathy. Subsidia et Instrumenta Linguarum Orientis 5. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2012.
Woods, Christopher. The Grammar of Perspective: The Sumerian Conjugation Prefixes as a System of Voice. Cuneiform Monographs 32. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2008.
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)