Prayer to Enlil for Simbar-Sipak

http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu

 

(Texts: All Artifacts, Color Coding, & Writings in Bold Type With Italics Inside Parenthesis, are Added by Editor R. Brown, not the Authors, Translators, or Publishers!)

(gods in blue mixed-breed demigods in teal)

 

          (reverence paid by king to Earth Commander Enlil)

       For the god Enlil, supreme lord, exalted, king of the universe,

         august leader, sovereign of heaven and netherworld, who decides the fates,

         venerable, splendid, whose rulership cannot be equaled among all the gods,

         king of the gods, lord of the whole expanse of the heavens,

         at whose utterance all the Igīgū (Igigi) gods moan in fear and at the giving of whose order(s)

         (Aia & spouse Utu come before Commander Enlil)

         all the Anunnakū (Anunnaki) gods shake like reeds, lord of Ekur and Nippur, who dwells in Ekurigigal, his lord:

 

       Simbar-Šipak, just king, (his) respectful servant,

         who administers correctly the rites of the gods Anu and Dagan (Enki) (and) duly performs their cultic rites,

           (giant mixed-breed Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar I artifact, 1,125 B.C.)

       (With regard to) the throne of the god Enlil in Ekurigigal which Nebuchadnezzar (I), a previous king,

         had made — during the reign of Adad-apla-iddina, king of Babylon,

         hostile Arameans and Sutians, enemies of Ekur and Nippur,

         who desecrated Duranki, upset in Sippar — the ancient city (and) abode of the great judge of the gods —

         their cultic rites, plundered the land of Sumer and Akkad, (and) overthrew all the temples.

 

       The goods (and) property of the god Enlil which the Arameans had carried off

         and (which) the Subartu had (subsequently) taken (from them), at the command of the god Enlil

          exalted ruler of the gods, lord of lords —

           (Marduk, patron god of Babylon)

         the god Marduk — king of the universe,  who has the power to make (a region) desolate and to resettle (it) —

       (and) the god Utulu terror of (his) enemies, slayer of (his) foes — an Assyrian recognized the goods

         (and) property of the god Enlil and brought (them) into Baltil (Aššur).

         It returned from Baltil to i[ts] place in Duranki.

         (blue-eyed Earth Colony Commander Enlil, his commands are final)

       Simbar-Šipak, viceroy for the god Enlil, wise, beloved of the god […], reverent shepherd,

         who is assiduous toward the sanctuaries of the god Enlil, the knowledgeable one,

         was exceedingly concerned about the renovation of Ekur and Nippur.

 

       He had constructed and set [up] a throne (made) of mēsu-wood — the durable wood —

         whose mountings were made of ṣāriru-gold and [whose] form was extra large,

         (in sum, a throne) suitable for his (Enlil’s) august position as supreme god.

          (Marduk, patron god over Babylon, & later Egypt)

       On account of this, when the god Marduk — the great lord, Enlil of the gods, s[up]r[eme] (deity) —

         sits upon this throne, may the fate of Simbar-Šip[ak] — just king, shepherd,

         (and) his (the god Marduk’s) favorite — be esta[blished] favorably.

 

       Colophon on ex. L

       Written and collated according to its original.

       (By) the hand of (mixed-breed descendants) Marduk-šarrani,

         son of Rīmūt-Nabû, son of Lūṣi-ana-nūr-Irra, descendant of Sîn-leqe-unnēnī,

          (IshtarInanna (Nanaya, a mixed-breed king & daughter)

         the lamentation-priest of the goddesses Ištar (Inanna) of Uruk and Nanāia (Nanaya, Nabu’s spouse),

         one privileged to enter the temple of the goddess Kanisurra (unidentified), [scribe] of Eanna.

 

       Tablet of Rīmūt-Nabû, descendant of Sîn-leqe-unnēnī,

         the lamentation-priest of the goddesses Ištar of Uruk and Nanāia,

         one privileged to enter the temple of the goddess Kanisurra.

 

       Written in the month Kislīmu, on the first day.

 

       Colophon on ex. 2

       [That which is (written) upon the thr]one at Nippur [(…)].

            (E-kur, Enlil‘s residence in his patron city-state, Nippur)