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The Balaĝ of Utu from Geneva

First English translation. A Vigslist translation.

October 22, 2026 · MAH 16066

The Balaĝ of Utu from Geneva. A balaĝ to the sun god: an aromatics-trade inquiry, a bedchamber prepared by Utu's vizier, a dialogue of Utu and Inana fixing days and months, and a god-litany of 110 lines by its own count.

First English translation. The edition of record is Antoine Cavigneaux, Journal of Cuneiform Studies 74 (2022), pp. 35–61 (French). No English translation of this text has been published before this page.

A witness reading in the house format. Published 2026-10-22; printed in Vigslist Translations (Piece 9, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.23587830).

Identification

Prior publication — the doors, on the face

1. Editio princeps: Antoine Cavigneaux, "Un Balag du dieu soleil Utu (MAH 16066)," Journal of Cuneiform Studies 74 (2022), pp. 35–61. Edition and translation in French. Under the program's English-first rule, a French-only edition is a verification eyeball, not a bar: no English translation of this composition has been published anywhere found tonight. Cavigneaux is credited as the text's editor; the restorations in [brackets] in the transliteration are his, made from the parallel OB litanies, and are carried here as his. 2. Peterson & Baragli, "Utu and Inana: A Sumerian Cultic Song…" (edition of the different tablet CBS 13978(+)) discusses MAH 16066's narrative sections in English prose and translates no part of it line by line. Noted here so the claim below is read exactly. 3. OBEL's team states the project's aim as transliteration and translation of the whole OB Emesal corpus; this text's translation has not appeared there as of tonight. If it does, this claim lapses for the covered lines.

Counts

105 served line-units (the tablet's own closing tally claims 181 lines for the complete composition; the preserved text is what is read here). Rev. i lines 1–5 are lost before the preserved litany begins and are not in the 105.

The reading

Obverse, column i — the aromatics inquiry (1st kirugu)

Obverse, column ii — the primordial dialogue (2nd–3rd kirugu)

Reverse, column i — the litany (continued)

(lines 1–5 lost)

Reverse, column ii — the litany (continued)

Reverse, column iii — the closing benediction

⚑ Dragon flag (for Richard, by name)

Rev. i 19: ᵈušumgal-an-na — Ušumgal-anna, "Great Dragon of Heaven" — stands in the litany as a god, named as a goddess's husband ("her husband, Ušumgal-anna"). The lemma in ORACC's own glossing reads the name as Ama-ušumgal-anna. This is the same divine name the program met on the Istanbul shelf — {ᵈ}ama-ušumgal-an-na on Ni 09828 and the ušum-gal-an gloss line on Ni 04189 (Story Wave 4). Here he is not Dumuzi's epithet in a lament but a litany god in an Old Babylonian balaĝ to the sun god, a thousand years of transmission away from the Nineveh copies. The word in the line is partly restored from the parallel litanies — the name itself is the editors' restoration and is flagged as such in the counts (part, restored).

Honest limits

Vigslist translations — internal build. Publication waits on Richard's read and green light, per program law.

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

More antiquities research: Antiquities Research

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