Lament for Uruk

The Lament for Uruk, also called the Uruk Lament or the Lament for Unug,[1] is a Sumerian lament. It is dated to the Isin-Larsa period.[2]

Remains of a ziggurat in Uruk

History

The Lament for Uruk is one of five known Mesopotamian "city laments"—dirges for ruined cities in the voice of the city's tutelary goddess, recited by elegists called gala.[3] It was inspired by the Lament for Ur.[4]

First written in c. 1940 BCE,[5] the Lament was recopied during the Hellenistic period, when Babylonia had again been overrun by foreigners.[6][7]

Map of Mesopotamia around the time of the writing of the Lament for Uruk

Text

The Lament is 260 lines long, being composed of 12 kirugu (sections, songs) and 11 gišgigal (antiphons).[8]

Numbered by kirugu, the lament is structured as follows:

  1. storm of Enlil (storm in Uruk)
  2. storm of Enlil (storm in Uruk)
  3. storm of Enlil (storm in Sumer)
  4. weeping goddess; the poet addresses Sumer
  5. weeping goddess; the poet addresses Uruk
  6. weeping goddess; the poet addresses Uruk (?)
  7. lost
  8. lost
  9. lost
  10. lost
  11. prayer; the poet addresses the gods
  12. prayer; the poet addresses Inanna[9]

It is composed in the standard emegir dialect of Sumerian.[10]

See also

References
  1. Mattila, Raija; Ito, Sanae; Fink, Sebastian (March 11, 2019). Animals and their Relation to Gods, Humans and Things in the Ancient World. Springer. ISBN 9783658243883 – via Google Books.
  2. "Tablet - CBS13856 | Collections - Penn Museum". www.penn.museum.
  3. Hirsch, Edward (April 4, 2017). The Essential Poet's Glossary. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 9780544932098 – via Google Books.
  4. Ehrlich, Carl S. (January 16, 2009). From an Antique Land: An Introduction to Ancient Near Eastern Literature. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9780742563476 – via Google Books.
  5. Block, Daniel I. (March 27, 2014). By the River Chebar: Historical, Literary, and Theological Studies in the Book of Ezekiel. ISD LLC. ISBN 9780227902318 – via Google Books.
  6. Collins, John Joseph (September 21, 2001). Seers, Sibyls, and Sages in Hellenistic-Roman Judaism. BRILL. ISBN 9780391041103 – via Google Books.
  7. Porter, Paul A. (September 21, 1985). Metaphors and Monsters: A Literary-critical Study of Daniel 7 and 8. Paul A. Porter. ISBN 9780969202707 – via Google Books.
  8. Bachvarova, Mary R.; Dutsch, Dorota; Suter, Ann (February 15, 2016). The Fall of Cities in the Mediterranean: Commemoration in Literature, Folk-Song, and Liturgy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107031968 – via Google Books.
  9. Bachvarova, Mary R.; Dutsch, Dorota; Suter, Ann (February 15, 2016). The Fall of Cities in the Mediterranean: Commemoration in Literature, Folk-Song, and Liturgy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781316483169 – via Google Books.
  10. Suter, Ann (February 5, 2008). Lament: Studies in the Ancient Mediterranean and Beyond. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-971427-8 – via Google Books.
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