A royal brick inscription of Ur-Nammu (E3/2.1.1.4; BM No. 90009)
Introduction
This post presents my translation of a royal brick inscription of Ur-Nammu wherein he documents his achievement of the construction of the temple of the god Nanna. Ur-Nammu was the founder of the Third Dynasty of Ur in ca. 2112 BCE. The fired clay brick with stamped inscription is currently housed at the British Museum (museum number: 90009); its dimensions are 37.5 cm. in length, 36.5 cm. in width, and 9 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 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.
Image and Line Drawing
Transliteration
Morphological Analysis
nanna lugal.ani(.ra) ur-nammu lugal uri(m).ak.e é.ani(.∅) mu.na.(n.)dù(.∅) bàd uri(m).ak(.∅) mu.na.(n.)dù(.∅)
Translation
For Nanna his king, Ur-Nammu the king of Urim built his temple (and) he built the wall of Urim.
Commentary
- The implied dative recipient of the verbal action is /nanna lugal.ani/ ‘Nanna his king’, marked as such with the implied dative marker for animate nouns (.ra).
- The agent of the verbal action is Ur-Nammu who is explicitely marked with the ergative case marker /-e/ after his titulary epithets (here ending with “king of Urim”).
- In a previously discussed brick inscription (E3/2.1.1.33) about the construction of Inanna’s temple, Ur-Nammu used the following longer titulary: nita kala(g).a lugal uri(m).ak lugal ki.engi ki.uri.ak.e ‘the mighty man, the king of Urim, the 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.
- Both verbs are ḫamṭu transitive 3rd sg. animate comprised of a conjugation prefix /mu/, dative verbal prefix /na/, and verbal base /dù/ ‘to build, construct’. Additionally, they are marked in the morphological analysis with an implied 3rd sg. anim. pronominal prefix /.n/ as well as implied zero-marked 3rd sg. obj. suffix.
- In this inscription, Ur-Nammu adds the important claim that he (re)built the wall of Ur, a detail lacking from E3/2.1.1.33.
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.
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)