A reading, published with its checks still open. A Vigslist translation.
The Water My Brother Did Not Drink — Dumuzi traces. Traces of a Dumuzi lament.
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.
record's notes tie this tablet twice to compositions already in English: it is "partly parallel to Dumuzi and his Sisters, ll. 86–89," and Geller's review sends its column ii to Cohen, CLAM p. 520, a+26ff. Column 2′'s best lines survive only because the record restores them from that parallel — the brackets are the record's, and this build prints them as restorations, not as clay. Until the CLAM passage is eyeballed, no claim is made. The witness reading stands on its own either way.
One fragment: BM.82972, Sippar collection, British Museum — Sumerian literary, in a Late/Neo-Babylonian hand (the record's script field gives Neo-Babylonian; its description says Late Babylonian — both printed). Only the reverse is served. CDLI number on the record: P274199. The text is Emesal Sumerian (S below). No photograph on the record.
A sister is looking for her brother in the steppe, and the tablet is mostly the sound of her not finding him: your brother — the maiden — your brother — Mutin — to the steppe — water — Dumuzi — water, water. Then, in the second column, the parallel text lets four lines stand up, and they are the lament's wound in one sentence: the water that my brother did not drink — said twice, once for "my brother," once for Dumuzi by name — the water, return to your river; on the bank of the river he washed, in the Euphrates he stirred the water. The dead shepherd's uneaten, undrunk portion, given back to the river. Everything else on the tablet is traces around that.
Transliteration exactly as the record serves it; S = Emesal Sumerian. Counts: 23 line-units — 0 whole, 3 part, 20 fragments, 0 invented (reverse col. 1′: 12; col. 2′: 11). The 3 parts are the parallel-restored lines of col. 2′ and are flagged as restorations where they stand.
Dragon scan (standing order): no ušumgal, muš-serpent, mušḫuššu or bašmu stands on this witness.
1′–12′. x x [...] · šeš-z[u na-...] · ki-sikil š[eš-zu ...] · {d}mu-tin še[š? ...] · edin-še₃ KA [...] · a pa e₃# [...] · a ka-k[a? ...] · šeš-zu x [...] · {d}dumu-z[i ...] · a DI-a [...] · a DI-a# [...] · x [...]
Traces with a story in them: "your brother"; "the maiden — your brother"; "Mutin (Ĝeštinana's name in this register) — your brother(?)"; "to the steppe"; "water came out in the branch-canal"; "water at the mouth(?)" — and then the name itself, "{d}dumu-z[i," followed by two lines of nothing but the word a, "water." (Fragments.)
1′. [i₇-za gi₄-bi i₇-za gi₄-bi i₇-za gi₄]-bi#
"Your river — return! Your river — return! Your river — return!" (Fragment — wholly restored from the parallel; printed as the record gives it.)
2′. [a šeš-gu₁₀ nu-mu-un-nag-a-ri] a# id₂-za gi₄-bi
"The water that my brother did not drink — water, return to your river." (Part — restored from the parallel except its tail; see the header.)
3′. [a {d}du₅-mu-zi nu-mu-un-nag]-a#-ri# a id₂-za gi₄;-bi
"The water that Dumuzi did not drink — water, return to your river." (Part — the same line with the name spoken.)
4′. [gu₂ i₇-da-ke₄ bi₂]-tu₅-tu₅ {i₇}buranun-na a | bi₂-lu₃-lu₃
"On the bank of the river he washed; in the Euphrates he stirred the water." (Part — the parallel's restoration again; tu₅, "to wash/bathe," stands at the break.)
5′–11′. [...] šu# mu-um-ak šu-gu₁₀ urin-am₃ · [...] x me-ri mu-um-ak me-ri-gu₁₀ mud-am₃ · [...-a]m₃ e#-NE KU? am₃ me-en-ze₂!-en · [...-a]m₃? ku₇-ku₇-dam · [...-a]m₃ e#-NE KU? am₃ me-en-ze₂!-en · [...] x ku₇-ku₇-dam · [...] x zi?#-da?#
Fragments — "he made [...] with the hand; my hand is blood(?); he made [...] with the foot; my foot is blood(?)" — the searcher's own body wearing out in the steppe, in mud-am₃, "it is blood/clay," and the ku₇-ku₇ refrain, "it is to be lamented(?)" (Fragments, flagged.)
Doors on the face as stated in the header (Dumuzi and his Sisters ll. 86–89; Cohen CLAM p. 520 a+26ff.). Published 2026-10-22. A Vigslist translation.
Built 2026-10-22 from Wave A1's live eBL fetch.
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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