Journey to Nina and Narration of the Dream to Nanshe

3 He stepped aboard his roofed barge, 4 and at her city Nina, at the quay of Nina, he moored the boat. 5 In the courtyard of the goddess of Sirara, the ruler lifted his head toward heaven. 6 He offered bread and poured out cold water; 7 to Nanshe he went and brought a prayer:

8 “O Nanshe, queen and high priestess, queen of precious decrees, 9 queen who like Enlil determines destinies, 10 O my Nanshe, your word is faithful 11 and excels all others! 12 You are the dream-interpreter of the gods; 13 you are the mistress of the lands! O mother, let me relate now the dream:⁠

14 In the heart of the dream there was a man: like heaven was his stature,⁠ 15 like earth was his stature; 16 as to the crown of his head, a god was he; 17 at his side was the storm-bird; 18 at his feet was the hurricane; 19 at his right and at his left a lion lay couched. 20 He commanded me to build his temple, 21 yet I do not understand who he is.

22 Daylight rose for me over the horizon. 23 Then there was a woman—who was she not, who was she? 24 She wore the sheaves of her hair like a crown on her head; 25 she held a sacred stylus of refined silver in her hand; 26 she had set down a tablet of the favorable stars of heaven,

Texts in conversation

Nebuchadnezzar's Statue Dream Echoes the Dream of Gudea

Ancient Near East, Sumerian · Hebrew Bible

Summary

In the Dream of Gudea, the Sumerian ruler sees a giant divine figure described from head to feet that needs interpreting. Daniel echoes the form when Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a giant statue described the same way.

Passages

Gudea Cylinders A iv 14

Ancient Near East, Sumerian · The Building of Ningirsu's Temple

14 In the heart of the dream there was a man: like heaven was his stature, 15 like earth was his stature; 16 as to the crown of his head, a god was he; 17 at his side was the storm-bird; 18 at his feet was the hurricane; 19 at his right and at his left a lion lay couched.

2125 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gudea Cylinders

Daniel 2:32

Hebrew Bible

31 “You, O king, were watching as a great statue—one of impressive size and extraordinary brightness—was standing before you. Its appearance caused alarm. 32 As for that statue, its head was of fine gold, its chest and arms were of silver, its belly and thighs were of bronze. 33 Its legs were of iron; its feet were partly of iron and partly of clay.

200–101 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Daniel

References

... There are some striking similarities between the image in Gudea's dream and that of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2:31-33. The central figure of both was a giant (statue of a) man. Both figures are described beginning at the head and then moving to the chest or arm area, and finally the lower regions of the body (belly, legs, and feet). Moreover, in both dreams there is a sequence of actions surrounding the central figure. Of course, the images are not the same, and Gudea's is not described as a 'statue,' but rather as a living figure of the god, Ningirsu, commanding Gudea to build his temple. The actions associated with the figure also dissimilar (compare Cylinder A iv.22-v.10 and v.19-vi.13 with Daniel 2:34-45). Although Ezekiel's theophany (Ezekiel 1) is textually distant from his temple restoration vision (Ezekiel 40-48), one could nevertheless also argue for some level of transformed correspondence between it and Gudea's description of Ningirsu ...

Richard E. Averbeck, “The Cylinders of Gudea,” in The Context of Scripture, Volume II: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World, ed. William W. Hallo and K. Lawson Younger Jr. (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 420.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Journey to Nina and Narration of the Dream to Nanshe

Gudea Cylinders54 columns

Nebuchadnezzar's Statue Dream Echoes the Dream of Gudea

Summary

Passages

Gudea Cylinders A iv 14

Daniel 2:32

References

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