Gudea Cylinders

The complete Sumerian temple hymn inscribed on the two terracotta cylinders of Gudea, ruler (ensi) of Lagash (c. 2125 BCE), discovered at Telloh (ancient Girsu) in 1877 and housed in the Louvre (MNB 1511 and MNB 1512). Spanning thirty columns on Cylinder A and twenty-four columns on Cylinder B, it is the longest surviving literary composition in Sumerian and celebrates the rebuilding and dedication of Eninnu, the temple of the warrior-god Ningirsu. Cylinder A recounts Gudea's dream-vision of Ningirsu, Nisaba, and Nindub, its interpretation by the goddess Nanshe, the fashioning of a sacred chariot and incubation of a second dream, the purification and mobilization of Lagash, the importation of cedar, stone, copper, silver, gold, and lapis lazuli from distant lands, the molding of the first brick, and the construction of Eninnu. Cylinder B describes the induction of Ningirsu and his consort Bau into their new sanctuary at the New Year festival, the appointment of the divine court and household, the sacred marriage in the bedchamber, a seven-day jubilee of justice for the orphan, widow, and daughter, and the banquet and blessings of the gods. The English text is based on the translations by Stephen Langdon (1911) and George Aaron Barton (1929).