Version 1
SEGMENT A
(beginning of 1st kirugu)
4 lines missing
The roaring storm covered it like a cloak, was spread over it
like a sheet. It covered Eridug like a cloak, was spread over it
like a sheet. In the city, the furious storm resounded .......
In Eridug, the furious storm resounded ....... Its voice was
smothered with silence as by a sandstorm. Its people .......
Eridug was smothered with silence as by a sandstorm. Its people
.......
Its king stayed outside his city as if it were an alien city. He
wept bitter tears. Father Enki stayed outside his city as if it
were an alien city. He wept bitter tears. For the sake of his
harmed city, he wept bitter tears. Its lady, like a flying bird,
left her city. The mother of E-mah, holy Damgalnuna, left her
city. The divine powers of the city of holiest divine powers
were overturned. The divine powers of the rites of the greatest
divine powers were altered. In Eridug everything was reduced to
ruin, was wrought with confusion.
The evil-bearing storm went out from the city. It swept across
the Land -- a storm which possesses neither kindness nor malice,
does not distinguish between good and evil. Subir came down like
rain. It struck hard. In the city where bright daylight used to
shine forth, the day darkened. In Eridug where bright daylight
used to shine forth, the day darkened. As if the sun had set
below the horizon, it turned into twilight. As if An had cursed
the city, alone he destroyed it. As if Enlil had frowned upon
it, Eridug, Ec-abzu, bowed low.
1st kirugu.
It cried out bitterly: "O the destruction of the city! The
destruction of the house!"
Its jicgijal.
A second time the storm destroyed the city -- its song was
plaintive. ...... was breached (?). ...... intensified the
lament. It cut the lock from its main gate. The storm dislodged
its door. ...... It stacked the people up in heaps. ...... on
its own destroyed it. It turned ...... into tears. ......
defiled ......
1 line missing
...... It distorted its appearance. ...... It distorted its
appearance. It circled its ...... wall. It overturned its
foundations. Throughout his city, the pure, radiant (?) place,
the foundations were filled with dust. It cast down its
ziggurat, the shrine which reaches up to heaven, into a heap of
debris. The loftiness of its awe-inspiring door-ornament,
befitting a house, collapsed. It cut down the gate, its
Great-Ziggurat of Heaven and Earth Covered with Terrible
Awesomeness, its shining door, and it broke through its bolt. It
ripped out its doorframe. The house was defaced.
2nd kirugu.
The destruction of Eridug! Its destruction was grievous.
Its jicgijal.
At its lion-faced gate, the place where fates are determined, it
mutilated the copse (?) forming the architrave of the house
....... Ka-hejala and Igi-hejala, the doorkeepers of the house,
....... Prematurely they destroyed it utterly. They completely
altered ....... At the gate of the fattening-shed, the
animal-fattener ...... the great offerings. Its birds and fish
were neglected there. Destruction ....... Throughout his house,
radiant (?) in silver and lapis lazuli, tears .......
The hired man and the governor ....... The festivals ......
grandly ....... Holy songs, songs of all kinds ....... The cem
drum and ala drum ....... The great divine powers, all the
divine powers ....... The place of the gods of heaven and earth
....... The judgment by the king, the holy sceptre at his right
side, ....... The en priestess, lumah priest and nindijir
priestess .......
The minister Isimud ....... Strangers to the house ...... its
side. Eridug, Ec-abzu, ...... silently. The enemy ...... the
cleansed tugmah robe. ...... a man ...... the people .......
Along with the fluids spilled from his guts, his blood spilled
forth. The ......, which like the azure sky was embellished
forever, ...... grasped .......
3rd kirugu.
2 lines fragmentary
Its jicgijal.
...... distressed and anxious ...... like a pigeon .......
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The birds of the destroyed city ...... a nest. The ukuku bird,
bird of heart's sorrow, ...... the place. Pain ....... The area
became entangled in wild thorn bushes. It ...... wild thorn
bushes. The Cimackians and Elamites, the destroyers, looked at
the holy kettles which no one may look at. In the E-jectug-
Nisaba, the house of wisdom, ...... covered over ....... The
divine powers which embellish the abzu ....... When the holy
treasures stored in the treasury were put ......, when, like a
mist lying heavily on the earth, ......, they went like small
birds shooed from their hiding places.
7 lines fragmentary
unknown no. of lines missing
SEGMENT B
(continuation of 4th kirugu)
Father Enki uttered a lament for himself .......
4th kirugu.
Bitterly Father Enki uttered a lament for himself.
Its jicgijal.
Because of this, Enki, king of the abzu, stayed outside his city
as if it were an alien city. It bowed its neck down to the
ground. Eridu's lady, holy Damgalnuna, the faithful cow, the
compassionate one, clawed at her breast, clawed at her eyes. She
uttered a frenzied cry. She held a dagger and a sword in her two
hands -- they clashed together.
She tore out her hair like rushes, uttering a bitter lament:
"You, my city whose woman does not dwell there, whose charms do
not satisfy her -- where is a lament uttered bitterly for you?
Eridug! You, my city whose woman does not dwell there, whose
charms do not satisfy her -- where are tears wept for you? I
fall like a bull in your lofty ...... falls ....... I am .......
My heart ...... queen ......."
unknown no. of lines missing
(incorporating end of 5th kirugu)
SEGMENT C
(continuation of 6th kirugu)
1 line fragmentary
...... far away ...... the great gods. The lord Enlil, king of
the lands, looked maliciously at Sumer. He demolished it. He
destroyed the Ki-ur, the great place. He razed with the pickaxe
all of the shining E-kur. He destroyed it but did not abandon it
-- at the lunches, in his great dining-hall, they call his name.
Aruru, the sister of Enlil, destroyed her city Irisajrig. In Kec,
the creation place of the Land, the people saw inside its holy
sanctuary where daylight had been unknown. She destroyed it but
did not abandon it -- at the lunches, in her great dining-hall,
they call her name. The lord Nanna, the lord Acimbabbar,
destroyed his city Urim. He decimated the Land with famine. He
committed a sacrilege against the E-kic-nu-jal. He struck at its
heart. He destroyed it but did not abandon it -- at the lunches,
in his great dining-hall, they call his name.
Inana, the queen of heaven and earth, destroyed her city Unug.
Fleeing from the E-ana, the house of seven corners and seven
fires......, she destroyed it but did not abandon it -- at the
lunches, in her great dining-hall, they call her name.
( Damgalnuna speaks:) "My beloved, who has ever seen such a
destruction as that of your city Eridug!"
6th kirugu.
"My beloved, for how long was it built? For how long is it
destroyed? ...... adornment of the abzu."
Its jicgijal.
"Lord Enki, who has ever seen such a destruction as that of your
city Eridug? Who has ever seen such a misfortune as that of
Ec-abzu, your house?" No one goes up to his offering terrace. At
the lunches, in his great dining-hall, they do not call his
name. Enki, king of the abzu, felt distressed, felt anxious. At
the words of his spouse, he himself began to wail. He lay down
and fasted.
My king, you must not be distressed, you must not be anxious.
Father Enki, you must not be distressed, you must not be
anxious. Son of An, return your heart to your Ki-ur and your
attention to your city. Living in an alien city is miserable --
return your attention to your city. Living in an alien house is
miserable -- return your attention to your house. What can
anyone compare with this city? -- Return your attention to your
city. What can anyone compare with this house? -- Return your
attention to your house. Eridug's day is long. Its night is
over.
May your throne say to you "Sit down". May your bed say to you
"Lie down". May your house say to you "Be rested". May your holy
dais also say joyfully to you "Sit down". May your father An,
the king of the gods, satisfy your heart. A person, a humble
man, brings you a lament over your wife's faithful house. When
he sings it before you, may that person soothe your heart. When
he recites a prayer, look kindly upon him.
7th kirugu.
It destroyed your ...... and struck against your house.
Its jicgijal.
...... and may he restore it for you.
2 lines fragmentary
Do not hide like a criminal .......
A version
from Ur
(UET 6 142)
SEGMENT A
House of princely powers, standing in mighty water -- the
waters have receded from it ....... One can walk on its wide
swamp. Within it grow wild thorn bushes. The delightful boat
Antelope of the abzu -- the waters have receded from it; ......
its sheepfold ...... the wharf. They were Sirsir, the tutelary
deity, and the man who rides the boat. At the prow ...... was
hurled down in front of them. Evildoers destroyed the house, and
its rites were disturbed.
At the giguna shrine, the sacred house, evildoers ....... The E-unir
-- the shrine raises its head as high as heaven. Its shadow
.......
At the great gate, the lion-faced gate, the place where fates
are determined, evildoers ....... They set fire to its door. Ka-hejala
and Igi-hejala, the doorkeepers of the house, ....... ......
Enki, at the ...... place, ...... its people. ...... the
destroyed place, the abzu ...... the powers of the Anuna gods.
3 lines fragmentary
unknown no. of lines missing
(continuation of 3rd kirugu)
SEGMENT B
Eridug ....... City in the reed-beds ....... In Eridug, bull
and cow ....... Without being a marsh boar ....... Eridug, like
a bull ....... The lady of the city cried, "My city ......!"
3rd kirugu.
Father Enki! O your house, o your city, o your people ...... the
mountains.
Its jicgijal.