A mythic narrative about Inana: translation

SEGMENT A

unknown no. of lines missing

^1-71 line fragmentary
Holy Inana ....... The hero, youthful Utu, ....... At dead of night ....... E-ana ....... Inana ....... The great (?) heavens .......
unknown no. of lines missing

SEGMENT B

^1-61 line fragmentary
...... E-ana came forth from heaven, ...... the lady of heaven set her mind to capturing the great heavens, ...... Inana set her mind to capturing the great heavens, ...... set her mind to capturing the great heavens from the ...... of heaven, ...... youthful Utu, she set her mind to capturing the great heavens.

^7-9Holy Inana spoke to her brother the hero, youthful Utu: "My brother, I want to tell you something -- pay attention to my speech. ...... Utu, my twin, I want to tell you something -- pay attention to my speech."

^10-15Her brother the hero, youthful Utu, answered holy Inana: "My sister, I swear an oath by the life of heaven, I swear by the life of the rainbow (?) of heaven, my ......, ......, I swear by the life of my throne, by my majesty: I will follow what my sister says to me, I will follow what holy Inana says to me."

^16-23The maiden Inana answered her brother the hero, youthful Utu: "......, my spouse (?), has made love to me, has kissed me. I wanted ...... for him but ...... he did not give it to him. I hastened (?) with him ...... but majestic An would not give him E-ana. The heavens are ours, the earth is ours: E-ana should be captured from An. After you have taken ......, listen to what I say to you. Examine ...... for me, you must observe these instructions: ...... the evil wind, the south wind, against me."
approx. 23 lines missing

SEGMENT C

^1-41 line fragmentary
(Adagbir speaks:) "...... great net. ...... the flood. ...... the fisherman."

^5-13Holy Inana embarked (?) on the ....... The barge ....... The rope ....... The south wind, that south wind, rose up. The evil wind, that evil wind, rose up. In the distant heavens ....... Hienhi-sag ....... The fisherman ....... The reed thickets and the tall-growing reeds .......

^14-18Inana spoke to Adagbir: "Youthful Utu ....... The barge ......."
2 lines fragmentary
approx. 15 lines missing

SEGMENT D

^1-4 (Inana speaks:) "I ....... ...... the way ......."
2 lines fragmentary

^5-12Adagbir answered holy Inana: "My lady, you cannot ....... Your divinity ....... The fisherman ...... the south wind. My lady, if you travel on the barge, and he raises the south wind, that south wind, and he raises the evil wind, that evil wind, barges and small boats will sink in the marshes."

^13-15Whenever (?) he approached the ...... with his great net, as (?) it came out of the flood, the swelling sea, it lashed the water and made an evil .......

^16-19Holy Inana answered the fisherman: "If you are to find ...... E-ana ...... and I am to gaze in admiration ...... at that place, you said ...... the narrow passage."

^20-22Adagbir answered holy Inana: "...... through the reed thickets and the tall-growing reeds. For you ...... find E-ana, which came forth from heaven."

^23-25Adagbir, ...... of Enlil, ...... through the reed thickets and the tall-growing reeds. She gazed in admiration at E-ana which had come forth from heaven.

^26-28Cul-a-zida, An's herdsman, grasped the cosmic tethering rope in his hands. After he had brought the ...... forth from the sky, he overcame the protective deities. He ...... and kept it below the horizon.

^29-32Having drunk cleansing water from the Ulaya river, Inana stamped on the scorpion and cut off its tail. Like a lion it bellowed in an angry roar but its cries died down. ...... she threw it ...... and made it secure.

^33-38Having heard its ...... cries, ...... poured forth the ......, the clay of creation, ...... and laid it .......
2 lines missing
...... the great lady of heaven delivered those words to An.

^39-45Having heard those words, An slapped his thighs in ......, his voice filled with sighs of grief: "What has my child done? She has become greater than me! What has Inana done? She has become greater than me! From now on, the normal length of daylight becomes shorter, and daylight converts to night-time. From today, when the day's watch is three units long, daylight is equal to night-time." And now, when day began, it was indeed so.

^46-55An, who created gods and humankind, gazed at holy Inana (1 ms. adds: and addressed the favourite wife who travels by his side), unable to describe this arrogance, this arrogance -- An was unable to describe (1 ms. adds: to Inana) this arrogance, this arrogance: "My child, ...... you did not say ...... -- you were able to capture E-ana! Inana, ...... you did not say ...... -- you were able to capture E-ana! E-ana should be as firm as heaven, it should not be toppled (1 ms. has instead: its attractions should never be exhausted). Its name should be "The Settlement of the Land". (1 ms. adds: It should have no rival.) Mankind, all of the people, should prostrate themselves at her (?) feet." And now, under that sun and on that day, it was indeed so.

^56-60She had captured E-ana from An! She secured it ....... Now Inana speaks of the E-ana as the house that is the place of the lady. The goddess who has attained her triumphant position, Inana who has attained her triumphant position, declares in the good place: "I have captured E-ana from An."

^61-62Because you are unmatched among the Great Princes, maiden Inana, praising you is magnificent!

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Revision history

12.vi.2000-16.vi.2000 : GC, GZ : adapting translation
08.viii.2000 : JAB : proofreading
11.viii.2000 : GC : tagging
13.x.2000 : ER : proofreading SGML
13.x.2000 : ER : converting to HTML 4.0
7.ix.2001 : ER : header and footer reformatted; substantive content of file not changed