A reading, published with its checks still open. A Vigslist translation.
Where Is He Laid? — an Emesal lament to Inanna. An Emesal lament worked on the da-nu₂ refrain.
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 — copy only (CT 58, pl. 40 no. 35). The readings on this tablet are unusually uncertain: the record's transliteration is thick with queried signs, and the refrain word da-nu₂ is rendered, not settled. The reading below keeps every flag the record carries. The composition may be an eršemma or balaĝ section for Inanna; Cohen's CLAM contents are the standing print door for the composition, and no composition-level claim is made here.**
Built 2026-10-22 from Wave A1's live eBL fetch (saved in ).
One fragment: BM.57502, Sippar collection, British Museum, Old Babylonian script. Genres on the record: Literature → Lamentations. Photograph on the record. CDLI number on the record: P274230. The text is Emesal Sumerian (S below).
A lament for a god who is lying somewhere, and the singer cannot stop asking where. Through the breakage one sequence stands: the maiden Inanna bore him, bore him — and then the refrain takes the tablet over, on both faces: ma-a-a da-nu₂ — "Where is he laid? Where is he laid?" — laid in the brickwork of Ekur, laid in Kiur, in the great place, while Enlil's name is spoken over the place where he rests. Whoever "he" is — the dying god of Inanna's circle — the tablet is the sound of the cult looking for the body.
Transliteration exactly as the record serves it; S = Emesal Sumerian. Counts: 26 line-units — 0 whole, 7 part, 19 fragments, 0 invented. Queried signs (#) are the record's own uncertainty flags and are kept.
Dragon scan (standing order): no ušumgal, muš-serpent, mušḫuššu or bašmu stands on this witness.
1′–4′. · [x har?-ra?-a]n?-na {giš}gigir-ra# x [...] · · [x x x]-x-e-ne ta mu-e-da-ab-x [...]
Traces — a chariot word ({giš}gigir) glints in line 2′. (Fragments.)
5′. [x x (x)] mu#-e#-la₂ mu-e-la₂ & ad?-g[a? ...]
"[...] you bore him, you bore him [...]" (Part — the doubled verb la₂, "to bear/carry," is the lament's first standing word.)
6′. [ki-sik]il {d}inana mu-e-la₂ mu-e-la₂ & ad?-ga x [...]
"The maiden Inanna bore him, bore him." (Part.)
7′. [u]nu₂ la₂ šuba la₂ mu-e-la₂ egi₂ dili {d}utu-[am₃ ...]
"[...] bore him — the princess, the unique one, is Utu [...]" (Fragment — the line's joints are the record's queries; the closing identification, egi₂ dili {d}utu-am₃, stands.)
8′–10′. [x] x dim₂ ša₃ diri ši-im-di & mu-lu ta x [...] · ša₃#-ba-ni im-DU & e-ne-eg₃-ni [...] · eg₃-bal-bal-e & mu-lu ša₃-ba-[na ...]
Fragments — "his heart," "his word," "the man of his heart" through the break. (Fragments.)
11′. mu-lu ša₃-ba-na mu-un-zu-a-e & a-ra-zu de₃-[en-na-ab-be₂]
"The man who knows his heart — let us speak a prayer to him." (Part.)
12′. ša₃ an gu-la mu-un-zu-a-e & ša₃ {d}mu#-u[l-lil₂-la₂ ...]
"Who knows the heart of great An — the heart of Mullil (Enlil) [...]" (Part.)
13′. ma-a-a da-nu₂ & ma-a-a da-[nu₂ (...)]
"Where is he laid? Where is he laid?" (Part — the refrain begins; da-nu₂ is rendered from nu₂, "to lie down/rest," and is flagged here as the refrain's open word, here and below.)
14′–16′. · ma ku₃# ma šen-na-ka & da-[nu₂ (...)] · u₃-mu-un#-na e-ne-eg₃-ga₂-ni & de₃-°\mu?°-kig₂ b[a-...]
Fragments — "in the pure [...], in the shining [...] he is laid"; "the lord's word." The record's own note to line 15′ compares a line of the immal gudede composition ("to the pure house, the shining house"). (Fragments.)
17′. še-eb e₂-kur-ra-ka da#-nu₂ e-lum-e e-ne-eg₃-g[a₂-ni ...]
"In the brickwork of Ekur he is laid, the exalted one — his word [...]" (Part.)
1. ki-ur₃? ki-gal-la da#-nu₂# & {d}mu-ul-lil₂-la₂ de₃-m[u?-...]
"In Kiur, in the great place, he is laid — of Mullil [...]" (Part.)
2. "In the pure house [...] he is laid." (Fragment.)
3′–7′ (rev. 3–7). geštin?# gal du₃? ku₇-ku₇? & de₃-mu-x [...] · [x] šen?#-na-ka & da-[nu₂ (...)] · [x {d}]a#-nun-na-ke₄-ne & de₃-mu-x [...] · [(x) NIN?] mah ki mah-a & da-n[u₂ (...)] · [x x (x)-n]a-ra & de₃-mu-x-[...]
The refrain's tail — "in the shining [...] he is laid"; "the Anunna [...]"; "the exalted lady(?) in the exalted place he is laid." (Fragments.)
8–9. [x x g]i?-a? & [...] · [x x x] & [...]
Traces. (Fragments.)
Door on the face as stated in the header (Cohen CLAM contents for the composition; the BM 59903 parallel unseen). Release holds behind the triple-check and Richard's read. Branding on any future publication: a Vigslist translation.
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