Hymn to Inana as Ninegala (Inana D): translation

^1-8Great light, heavenly lioness, always speaking words of assent! Inana, great light, lioness of heaven, who always speaks words of assent! Ninegala! As you rise in the morning sky like a flame visible from afar, and at your bright appearance in the evening sky, the shepherd (i.e. the king) entrusts (?) the flocks of Sumer to you. Celestial sign, ...... glory of heaven! All the countries are building a house for you as for the risen sun; a shining (?) torch is assigned to you, the light of the Land.

^9-10Inana, you are the lady of all the divine powers, and no deity can compete with you. Here is your dwelling, Ninegala; let me tell of your grandeur!

^11-19When bright ...... had raised its head in the Land, and when you live ...... with ......, the young woman ...... the hero for you, she has grasped ...... for you. ...... has brought the numerous ...... to you. They raise ...... to your ......; kids ...... are ordered, and your Egal-edina, the place of calm, has been arranged for you. You are the good woman who spreads a sense of awe perceptibly throughout the Land.

^20-21Inana, you are the lady of all the divine powers, and no deity can compete with you. Here is your dwelling, Ninegala; let me tell of your grandeur!

^22-36After the first watch of the night has passed, as like a shepherd you get up from the grass, you seize your battle-mace like a warrior, you fasten the guma cloth on your arms, and you bind on your indefatigable strength. Thus you appear brilliantly, together with An, in the city (probably Unug) . On earth, Inana, you emit awe-inspiring splendour from the holy dais. Your feet are placed on seven dogs, your seat is set upon a lion and a leopard. Cattle and sheep are brought to you for inspection. Lulal stands by your feet, bearing in battle the pitiless (?) udug weapon. Beside them the cultic attendants stand at your service, lined up for you beside the dogs. They have taken over the temple Gu-ena-ida, to provide for you.

^37-38Inana, you are the lady of all the divine powers, and no deity can compete with you. Here is your dwelling, Ninegala; let me tell of your grandeur!

^39-43The ...... dog (?) has brought the sheep close to you; the powerful dog (?) has ...... a wild bull ...... in its paws,
2 lines unclear
the lion, the warrior .......

^44-56Inana, in heaven you are lightning, on earth you move swiftly ...... against the foreign land that you are angry with, ....... When in your precinct and shrine the Ibgal you regulate the divine ordinances like the divine powers of An, when you regulate the heavenly ordinances like the divine powers of Enki and cause awe of you to reach up to the heavens, then your seat is on the ...... dais on the terrace by your Gate of Four Faces. Inana, you go into the interior of heaven like your father Suen; Ninegala, you appear like moonlight in your shrine the Ibgal, placing your foot on your ordinances, and dividing them among the ...... dogs (?).

^56-57Inana, you are the lady of all the divine powers, and no deity can compete with you. Here is your dwelling, Ninegala; let me tell of your grandeur!

^58-65When you hasten to where brambles and foul great thorns grow, when you stride along all the mountains, when you drink from puddles with the dogs, when you share the stall with the horses, when with the storm you reduce everything to a mere shadow, Inana, when you cause the rain to fall all day long, then your seat is in your E-kug-nuna at Eridug, on the dais where destinies are determined.

^66-76At the New Year, at the festival of Dumuzid, your spouse Ama-ucumgal-ana, lord Dumuzid, steps forward to you. ...... of weeping are brought to you, Inana, as offerings. The tubes of the underworld are opened for you, and memorial libations are poured down them for you. The en priests, the lumah priests and the nindijir priestesses, and the dead luzid and amalu, eat meals for you, to keep away the ghosts, and drink water for you, to keep away the ghosts. Your holy dais is set up beside them.

^77-78Inana, you are the lady of all the divine powers, and no deity can compete with you. Here is your dwelling, Ninegala; let me tell of your grandeur!

^79-87Inana, when you give judgement with An and Enlil; Ninegala, when you decide destinies on earth with Enki, when you shimmer (?), when you ...... to a mere shadow, when you come forth from the corner, when you come forth from the side, when you are to be seen on the horizon, Inana, when in your destructiveness you make storm-floods wash over everything, then the great en priests ......, then the igi-dua priestesses wear the tonsure for you, then your seat is on your Dais of Silence.

^88-92The young men fastened in neck-stocks ...... before you, the mother of the sick lays her child in your arms, the mother of the uprooted (?) ...... in your great hall. You cut the ...... of the weak, you release (?) ...... the weak.

^93-94Inana, you are the lady of all the divine powers, and no deity can compete with you. Here is your dwelling, Ninegala; let me tell of your grandeur!

^95-106When you act as a shepherd with the herdsman, when ...... with the cowherd you throw the halters on the cows, when you mix the butter, when you purify the milk, when you find joy in the embrace of your spouse Dumuzid, when you have pleasure in the embrace of your spouse Dumuzid, when you take your seat on the high dais in the great hall in your Kura-igijal where judgment is passed, then the people of the holy uzga stand there at your service.
1 line unclear
They cannot compete with you, Inana. As a prostitute you go down to the tavern and, like (?) a ghost who slips in through the window, you enter there.

^107-108Inana, you are the lady of all the divine powers, and no deity can compete with you. Here is your dwelling, Ninegala; let me tell of your grandeur!

^109-115When the servants let the flocks loose, and when cattle and sheep are returned to cow-pen and sheepfold, then, my lady, like the nameless poor, you wear only a single garment. The pearls of a prostitute are placed around your neck, and you are likely to snatch a man from the tavern. As you hasten to the embrace of your spouse Dumuzid, Inana, then the seven paranymphs share the bedchamber with you.

^116-117Inana, you are the lady of all the divine powers, and no deity can compete with you. Here is your dwelling, Ninegala; let me tell of your grandeur!

^118-125In the evening, when the stars return together again and when Utu enters into his chamber, when in heaven, Inana, you diffuse awesomeness like fire, and when on earth, Ninegala, you screech like a falcon, then you ...... in play and dancing.
1 line unclear
You go from moonlight to star, you go from star to moonlight.

^126-127Inana, you are the lady of all the divine powers, and no deity can compete with you. Here is your dwelling, Ninegala; let me tell of your grandeur!

^128-143 13 lines missing or unclear
The slavegirl ...... her mistress. ...... her house and property. ...... her child.

^144-145Inana, you are the lady of all the divine powers, and no deity can compete with you. Here is your dwelling, Ninegala; let me tell of your grandeur!

^146-158 7 lines unclear
...... you are the great goddess.
2 lines unclear
The levy of troops is brought into the broad square like a crouching dragon. The young woman abandons the E-mah, destroying the temple like my ....... The young man who has come to know your eminence makes a gesture of obeisance.

^159-160Inana, you are the lady of all the divine powers, and no deity can compete with you. Here is your dwelling, Ninegala; let me tell of your grandeur!

^161-1905 lines unclear
21 lines missing
1 line fragmentary
...... has presented (?) ...... to you there. Your position ....... If ...... beside the Egal-edina, then the evil demons and demonesses oppose it.

^191-192Inana, you are the lady of all the divine powers, and no deity can compete with you. Here is your dwelling, Ninegala; let me tell of your grandeur!

^193-204 1 line fragmentary
Inana, you are an object of admiration, like a charming young maiden. ...... has been opened for you. Mistress, your ...... priestess hangs the cuba jewels on you. The great ......, responsible for the ordinances,
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You enter house after house, you peer into lane after lane. Lady, when ......, when your emblem is displayed, maiden, when you stand in ......, you are covered in loveliness. Who ...... finds ...... in the sheepfold, ......, ...... prayer .......

^205-206Inana, you are the lady of all the divine powers, and no deity can compete with you. Here is your dwelling, Ninegala; let me tell of your grandeur!

^207-217Inana, you are the lady of the great divine powers. Your mother Ningal ...... great attributes. Your father Suen ...... great holy cows. Your brother, the youth Utu ....... Your spouse Ama-ucumgal-ana, the shepherd, lord Dumuzid, ....... Your beloved minister (?) Nincubur ....... Your beloved sister-in-law Jectin-ana .......
3 lines fragmentary or missing

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Revision history

24.xii.1998-11.i.1999 : JAB : adapting translation
02.xi.1999 : GZ : proofreading
23.xi.1999 : GC : tagging
21.i.2000 : ER : proofreading SGML
21.i.2000 : ER : converting to HTML 4.0
7.ix.2001 : ER : header and footer reformatted; substantive content of file not changed