A reading, published with its checks still open. A Vigslist translation.
Your Heart, Damu — a lament for the dying child-god. A lament for Damu, the dying child-god.
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.
kind stands on this witness's record — no copy, no edition, no discussion. The composition is a lament for Damu, and the balaĝ/eršemma corpus in Cohen's CLAM (1988, English) is the standing door: until the CLAM contents are eyeballed for a Damu composition matching these lines, no first-English claim is made. The witness reading stands on its own either way.**
Built 2026-10-22 from a fresh live eBL fetch (saved in ).
One tablet: BM.96112, Sippar collection, British Museum — "Part of a clay tablet with twenty and twenty lines of inscription; literary; Old Babylonian." Genres on the record: Literature → Lamentations (flagged uncertain). Photograph on the record. CDLI number on the record: P274236.
A lament over Damu, the child-god who dies. The obverse is wreckage with a few standing lines, and the standing lines are the cult's strange comfort: the dead god is installed — "My lord, the bull of Nanna's temple, at the temple of the festival they make you dwell. My Damu — Utu at the horizon — they make you dwell." Then the tablet turns, and the reverse is a litany over the god's heart, name by name as in the stilling litanies: your heart, Damu — may the man speak his prayer to you; your heart, Ištaran; your heart, the lord Šermalla; your heart, the lord of Egida — the refrain written out once and then carried down the column in ditto marks, the singer still asking the dead god's heart to be the place where prayer lands.
Transliteration exactly as the record serves it; S = Emesal
Sumerian. Counts: 35 line-units — 0 whole, 15 part, 20
fragments, 0 invented. The reverse litany's refrains are
carried by the record's ditto notation <(…)> and are counted
as parts on the K.15139 rule (pattern only, flagged).
Dragon scan (standing order): no ušumgal, muš-serpent, mušḫuššu or bašmu stands on this witness.
3′. [... m]u? eg₃ šu mu x [x x x (x)]
Traces. (Fragment.)
4′–5′. [...] ze₂ nu-zu-a-gu₁₀ [x x x] · [...] nu]-zu-a-gu₁₀ da-x [x x x]
"[...] my one who does not know the gall(?) [...]" (Fragments — the lament's 'my unknowing one' sounds twice through the break.)
6′. [...] x KI?.E.NE.DI [x x x (x)]
"[...] the assembly place [...]" (Fragment.)
7′. [...] a-ba i₃-ak-e# [x x x (x)]
"[...] who does it? [...]" (Fragment.)
8′–14′. [...] da# a-ba gi₄-in n[a-x x x] · [...] x i-bi₂-ba mu-na-bar x · [...] GA.GA gi₄-in eg₃ · [...] du i du₁₄? mu₂-a la-b[a · [...] u₃-mu-un-e eg₃ mu-ni-[x · ($___$) [(x x x)] mu-ni-[x x] · [x x x (x)] a-ni lu₂?-ra {giš}sar-sar-da i-b[i₂
Fragments — who will answer, an eye turned toward him, strife grown. (Fragments.)
15′. [u₃-m]u?-un-gu₁₀-ra ka-ta!(BI) e₃-a-zu im-me-d[e₃-en-TUŠ]
"[My lord], when you come forth from the mouth(?) — they make you dwell." (Part — the verb's complement is uncertain; printed with its flag.)
16′. [u₃]-mu#-un gu₄ e₂ {d}nanna e₂ ezen-na im-me-de₃-en-[TUŠ]
"My lord, the bull of Nanna's temple — at the temple of the festival they make you dwell." (Part.)
17′. {d}da-mu-gu₁₀ {d}utu an-ur₂-ra im-me-de₃-en-TUŠ
"My Damu — Utu at the horizon — they make you dwell." (Part.)
18′. da-zu gu₄ amaš-ne-a gu₂-da im-ma-e-la₂
"Your bull in the sheepfolds — they hang (it) on his neck." (Part.)
19′. u₃-mu-un-gu₁₀ igi du₈-a bar-zu e₂-bi de₃-du₃-du₃
"My lord, your opened eye, your outside — let its house be built." (Part.)
20′. {d}da-mu ša₃ gu₂-be₂ gi₄-a-zu lu₂-bi de₃-ti?-ti?
"Damu, your heart turned to the neck(?) — let that man live." (Fragment.)
21′. ($___$) ki-ru-gu₂ 1-kam-ma
"It is the first kirugu."
22′. ša₃-ba-ni mu-lu a-ra-zu-zu a-ra-zu de₃-ra-ab#-be₂
"In his heart — may the man speak his prayer to you, may he speak a prayer." (Part.)
1. ša₃ {d}da-mu-zu & mu-lu a-ra-zu-zu <(a-ra-zu de₃-ra-ab-be₂)>
"Your heart, Damu — may the man speak his prayer to you." (Part.)
2. ša₃-ab PI ga?-zu & mu-lu a-ra-zu-zu <(a-ra-zu de₃-ra-ab-be₂)>
"Your heart, [...] — may the man speak his prayer to you." (Part — the name is damaged.)
3. ša₃ u₃-mu-un-mu-zi-da-zu & mu-lu a-ra-zu-zu <(a-ra-zu de₃-ra-ab-be₂)>
"Your heart, Umunmuzida — may the man speak his prayer to you." (Part.)
4. ša₃ {d}ištaran-na-zu & mu-lu a-ra-zu-zu <(a-ra-zu de₃-ra-ab-be₂)>
"Your heart, Ištaran — may the man speak his prayer to you." (Part.)
5. ša₃ en še-er-ma-al-la-zu & mu-lu a-ra-zu-zu <(a-ra-zu de₃-ra-ab-be₂)>
"Your heart, lord Šermalla — may the man speak his prayer to you." (Part.)
6. [ša₃] u₃#-mu#-un e₂-gid₂-da-zu & mu-lu a-ra-zu-zu <(a-ra-zu de₃-ra-ab-be₂)>
"Your heart, lord of Egida — may the man speak his prayer to you." (Part.)
7′–9′. [x x x] x-e dim₃?-me-er mu-lu mu-un-zu-a-e · [x x x x m]u-lu ar₂ sag-ga₂-zu mu-un-zu-a-e · [x x x x x a]n-x-na-zu mu-un-zu#-a-e
"[...] the man who knows you [...] who knows your [...] praise [...]" (Fragments.)
10′–13′. [a-ra-zu de₃-r]a-ab#-be₂ i-bi₂-zu z[i-mu-ši-i]b de₃-ra-be₂ · [x a-ra-zu de₃-r]a-ab-be₂ gu₂-zu z[i?-mu-ši-ib d]e₃?-ra?#-[be₂] · [x x x x de₃-r]a-ab-be₂ ša₃-zu [x x x (x x)] · [x x x x x]-DU de₃-ra-ab-b[e₂ x x (x x x)]
"May he speak a prayer to you — may he make your eye turn toward him; may he speak a prayer to you — may he make your neck turn toward him [...]" (Parts/fragments — the litany's close, as far as the clay carries it.)
Door on the face as stated in the header (Cohen CLAM contents). Release holds behind the triple-check and Richard's read. Branding on any future publication: a Vigslist translation.
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