A reading, published with its checks still open. A Vigslist translation.
“In the mountain,” three times. A mountain refrain, three times over.
Published as a reading. No first-translation claim is made for this piece. The checks that would settle such a claim are named in the notes below and are still open; the wording on this page claims nothing they have not settled.
Publication number: PRAK B 244 — copy no. B 244 in de Genouillac, Premières recherches archéologiques à Kich (PRAK, 1924–25: hand copies, no translations in the volumes). From Kish. Old Babylonian. Corpus ID: CDLI P344060; served to OBEL (Old Babylonian Emesal Liturgies), genre "Uncertain." Composition: Unidentified. Twelve line-ends. The obverse opens with the same two signs three lines running — kur-re, "in the mountain / in the land" — a litany's refrain fossil, after which the tablet gives fate (na-aŋ₂), property (niŋ₂-gur₁₁), purity (sikil), seed (numun), and grass, one word per line, and stops. Source: OBEL's served interlinear text, fetched and saved by Wave C (). OBEL serves no translation. carries a complete form). Scoped to the witness, doors on the face below. Counting rule used here: a line counts part if a complete verb form or a glossed phrase survives; fragment if only isolated words or traces survive; whole only if a complete clause survives intact. No line of this tablet reaches part.
Publication check (C3, Oct 22): no edition, translation, or discussion of PRAK B 244 found in the program's tree or in open search under its PRAK number or CDLI P344060. Doors left on the face: (1) The PRAK volume itself (copy of record). (2) Delnero, SANER 26 (Kish coverage; print-check wave). (3) CDLI's record (P344060) — unread; CDLI is still down.
Dragon/serpent flag: none. kur is the mountain/land, not a serpent word; nothing of the kind is preserved.
o 1′: kur-re x-[... ] in the mountain [...]
o 2′: kur-re x-[... ] in the mountain [...]
o 3′: kur-re ⸢ga?⸣-[... ] in the mountain [...]
o 4′: na-aŋ₂ [... ] fate [...]
o 5′: ⸢da⸣ ud x-[... ] [...] the sun [...] (traces)
o 6′: niŋ₂?-gur₁₁ [... ] property [...]
r 1′: NI [... ] [...] (a trace) [...]
r 2′: sikil? [... ] pure(?) [...]
r 3′: numun a-[... ] seed [...] water [...]
r 4′: MUNUS? NI [... ] [...] (traces) [...]
r 5′: u₂-ni [... ] her grass [...]
r 6′: x-[... ] [...] (a trace) [...]
12 served line-units: 0 whole · 0 part · 12 fragment · 0 invented.
A refrain with its song worn off. Three times the line begins in the mountain — the litany was still repeating itself when the tablet broke — and the words that follow, fate, property, seed, are the nouns of a blessing or a lament over a land. Which of the two it was stood in the middles of the lines. The build keeps the refrain standing, three times, the way the clay does.
Nuvira Technologies conducts this research with AI assistance, cross-verified against the primary sources to scholarly integrity standards. Uncertain readings are marked; broken lines are left broken.
— Richard Vigslist, Founder, Nuvira Technologies
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