#gudea

[beluosus]

[sumerianlanguage]

hi! might be a little out of your wheelhouse, but i was recently watching a video about math and sumerian architecture (we found a lost temple using maths sent by an ancient sumerian god | curator's corner w. matt parker) and at roughly 15:00, the curator says that this one bit of text translates to "to make things function as they should"

i tried to find a more in-depth translation of this but couldn't find anything, so maybe i'm just not looking in the right places, but any help would be great!

Hello, and thanks for sharing this video! Link is here for anyone who wants to watch, it discusses Sumerian math, architecture and Gudea. Note first that the text in question is written vertically along the statue's skirt, so you have to tilt your head to the right to be able to read the signs.

I couldn't seem to find a version of this statue in transliteration, but I do recognize some of the listed signs, so found a similar phrase: Ningdu irinake pa bie, which the ETCSL translates as "He had everything function as it should in his city." From that I was able to piece together the rest, as the initial ningdu "propriety, what is as it should be" is the same, 𒃻𒌌, and the verb pa ... e 𒉺 𒌓𒁺 "to show, make manifest" appears too, though here with bonus verb prefix muna- 𒈬𒈾 "for him/her". The third sign looks to me like a mistranscribed final -e 𒂊, the directive case ending.

So the full phrase would be Ningdue pa munae 𒃻𒌌𒂊 𒉺 𒈬𒈾𒌓𒁺. And searching for that led me to several instances of this phrase, which Oracc generally translates as "For [him]... he made an eternal thing appear" or "For [him]... he made it appear in its correct form", with the [him] being a person referred to earlier in the text. (The muna- prefix isn't gendered, so it could also be "for [her]" etc, but all the examples I found refer to a man or male deity.) See also the similar phrase at the start of The Song of the Hoe "Not only did the lord make the world appear in its correct form..." Ene ningdue pa nan'gamine.

I'd translate this phrase more fluidly/generally as "He made manifest the proper form/function for (so-and-so)". Parker's translation as an infinitive is an approximation given it's being pulled from context. I hope that's helpful!

[disease]

GUDEA WITH ARCHITECTURAL PLAN [circa 2150 B.C. | diorite | height: 29″]

[philoursmars]

Nouveau retour à mon projet de présenter la plupart de mes 55500 photos (et des brouettes).  Plus trop loin du présent….  

2016. Au Louvre-Lens, il y eut une expo : “L’Histoire commence en Mésopotamie”

- tablette de fondation - Girsu, époque Néo-Sumérienne, sous Ur-Bau, 2150 av.J-C.

- lion - Babylone, ép. Néo-Babylonienne, sous le règne de Nabuchodonosor II, 580 av.J-C.

- les 2 suivantes : clou de fondation - Girsu, époque Néo-Sumérienne sous le règne de Gudea 2100 av.J-C.

- scène sexuelle - Girsu, époque Amorrite, 1800 av.J-C.

- tablette de fondation - Girsu, époque  Néo-Sumérienne, sous le règne d’Ur-Bau 2150 av.J-C.

[adubsar]

The monumental royal cone of Gudea

Official or display cone excavated in Girsu (mod. Tello), dated to the Lagash II (ca. 2200-2100 BC) period and now kept in Manchester Museum, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.

Sumerian Text

(d)nin-gir2-su ur-sag kal-ga (d)en-lil2-la2 lugal-a-ni gu3-de2-a ensi2 lagasz(ki)-ke4 nig2-du7-e pa mu-na-e3 e2-ninnu anzu2(muszen)-babbar2-ra-ni mu-na-du3 ki-be2 mu-na-gi4

Source: CDLI

Translated text

For Ningirsu, the mighty warrior of Enlil, his master, Gudea, ruler of Lagash, made a fitting thing resplendent for him, and his Eninnu with the White Thunderbird he built for him and restored for him.

Source: P234000: royal-monumental cone

I see six names in the text, the names of two gods, the name of Gudea and the name of a temple [E+ninnu] (cuneiform e2 meaning temple), the name of the city of Lagasz (lagash(ki)) and the title ensi2 meaning governor and ruler.

Ninurta or Ninĝirsu (meaning Lord of Girsu) is the name of an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with agriculture, healing, hunting, law, scribes and war. He was the son of Enlil. In the text, Enlil is introduced as the lord of Ninĝirsu. (lugal-a-ni)

Ninĝirsu was honored by Gudea, who was the ruler of the city of Lagash (ensi2 lagasz(ki)-ke4).

Gudea mentions in the text that he built the Eninnu Temple (e2 ninnu 𒂍𒐐) with White Thunderbird for Ninĝirsu.

[geohistoarte]

Los Guteos

[artifacts-archive]

Nail of Gudea

Sumerian, ca. 2144-2124 BCE (Lagash II; Ur III [Neo-Sumerian])

Clay cones and nails were inscribed in the name of a ruler of a Mesopotamian city-state to commemorate an act of building or rebuilding, often of a temple for a specific deity. Deposited in the walls or under the foundations of these structures, the words of the texts were directed at the gods but would be found by later restorers.

[talonabraxas]

Anunnaki 𒀭𒀀𒉣𒈾 The earliest known usages of the term Anunnaki come from inscriptions written during the reign of Gudea (c. 2144–2124 BC) and the Third Dynasty of Ur. In the earliest texts, the term is applied to the most powerful and important deities in the Sumerian pantheon: the descendants of the sky-god An. This group of deities probably included the "seven gods who decree" An, Enlil, Enki, Ninhursag, Nanna, Utu, and Inanna.

[yamayuandadu]

I am interested to know about the 4 winds and what is their role in mythology

You’re in luck because while there isn’t much material, it’s fairly easily accessible - by reading Wiggermann’s The Four Winds and the Origin of Pazuzu you can learn 90% of what there is to know. However, since he doesn’t cover the myth(s) involving the South Wind, I figured a brief summary is in order - you can find it under the cut. All images are taken from Wiggermann’s article, and have been reproduced here for educational purposes only.

The four winds are the West Wind (Amurru; not identical with the god Amurru), the East Wind (Šadû), the North Wind (Ištānu; no relation to the phonetically similar Hittite designation for sun deities) and the South Wind (Šūtu; I’m not aware of any connection to the goddess Sutītu, who was essentially a deified Sutean - ie. “Southerner” - stereotype much like how Amurru was a deified stereotypical Amorite). The names are virtually always translated into English, so I’ll stick to following this convention here. The South Wind, who has a plenty of solo attestations as a literary character, is usually female, and the other three male; this reflects the grammatical gender of their names. However, there is at least one case where the North Wind is referred to with feminine terms regardless of that. It seems fairly consistent that regardless of their gender the four are treated as siblings, though. We know they shared the same mother but her identity is never specified. Not that unusual, really. In Mesopotamian astronomy, the winds’ names could also refer to specific constellations: North Wind is Ursa Major, South Wind is Piscis Austrinus, West Wind is Scorpio and East Wind is Perseus and the Pleiades. Note that some of these connections are not exclusive to them; Scorpio or individual stars forming it could be instead associated with Ishara, Ninigirimma, or even Lisin.

While it can be difficult to identify minor deities in Mesopotamian art, the four winds are distinct enough to make this fairly straightforward to researchers. All of them are depicted with wings and windswept hair (of course), but there are additional traits unique to each. The South Wind, as expected, looks feminine and typically has entwined legs; the North Wind is partially theriomorphic (the rest has no animal traits save for their wings); the West Wind is bent over in an acrobatic pose; and the East Wind is, essentially, a “generic wind” iconographically. The oldest example of a depiction of the group is a seal from Sippar from the nineteenth century BCE, which shows the four of them surrounding a weather god, presumably Adad:

Wiggermann based on this attestation suggests that the group might have originally emerged from the theological speculation of Adad’s clergy from Sippar, and that the seal might depict a set of statues displayed at his local temple. Hard to prove, but compelling, imo. However, personified winds occasionally can be found in earlier sources too: one of Gudea’s inscriptions poetically described the North Wind as a winged man, there’s also a seal from roughly the same period showing Adad, his spouse (presumably Shala) and a winged attendant who might similarly be a wind. However, they were not exclusively associated with the weather god - there is also at least one reference to them acting as messengers of Anu instead. South Wind sometimes appears as a servant of Ea, as well.

With time, the South Wind essentially overshadowed her siblings, and could be recognized as an independent wind deity. She eventually lost part of her original iconography: the wings vanished, but a standard horned crown started to appear on her head, indicating stabilization of her status as a deity. She plays a major role in the myth Adapa and the South Wind. The eponymous hero breaks her wing (or both of her wings) with a curse (notably no physical contact occurs), and as a result she stops blowing. Anu therefore summons Adapa to heaven. He plans to essentially deify him, but this doesn’t come to pass because Ea convinced him to refuse any gifts he might receive. 

In this article you can learn more about the history of this myth. Most notably, recently a new version has been discovered during excavations at Tell Haddad (ancient Me-Turan). This is relevant to your question since it seems to its compilers it was South Wind who mattered more than Adapa - the narrative is more concerned with her restoration than with its expected protagonist! Anu asks Adapa why did he break her wings, he seemingly does not answer, and instead the focus shifts to declaring a new destiny for the South Wind. Her arrival is said to bring an unspecified disease, which however is also cured by her departure. By breaking her wings, Adapa made her unable to leave, which seemingly meant the disease could not be cured. Interestingly, this might actually be the original form of the myth - in other words, it was originally about the South Wind, with Adapa as a side character, with the switch of importance only occurring later. 

Next to the South Wind, the West Wind probably fared the best once the group ceased to be depicted together. He absorbed his brother’s non-human traits, and in the Middle Babylonian period sometimes had the tail of a bird or stinger or a scorpion, and on top of that a set of talons. The acrobatic pose remained consistent, though. Wiggermann thinks that he was subsequently fused with the apotropaic image of Humbaba’s head to create a prototype of Pazuzu, but this remains speculative.

[jane-d-ankh-veos]

While drawing the Manager after MotR and comparing to my earlier pre-MotR attempts, I thought maybe I can also try to combine the canon version with what-have-been-in-my-head-for-years-of-text-descriptions – different eye colour (dark or brassy), a bit older, not as spotlessly smooth-faced...

Then I wondered if I’m too influenced by "Mesopotamian = beard" stereotype (in fact there are plenty of beardless kings in Sumerian and Akkadian art, such as Gudea or Ibbi-Sin, off the top of my head). Hmm, I thought, actually I can imagine him shaving while whistling nursery rhymes and casually ignoring that the mirror can’t properly reflect him without bleeding nightmares...

Then I remembered that in cultures where beards have significance, shaving it off is also usually a sign of mourning, self-shame or grief. And in MotR a whole city was destroyed just a few months ago, and a new one fell similarly catastrophically:

...so at that time May does have a reason to be in mourning (at least formally/ritualistically, if he wasn’t close to those he knew in the Fourth City). Even more, he might have been grieving since the First City, judging by how he always speaks of his story with no ability to let go.

Oh well. 5 years in Fallen London, and I still can’t think about him without this risk of unscheduled emotions. Even over visual design, forgodssake. (Though these cheekbones ARE heart-wrenchingly gorgeous, by the way.)

[tammuz]

Sumerian stone bust of the priest-king Guedea of Lagash, dating back to 2150 BCE. It is one of twenty-seven statues of Gudea that have been found in southern Mesopotamia. Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA.    

Photo by Babylon Chronicle

[sumerianlanguage]

If you had to pick the top five coolest sounding words in sumerian, regardless of what they mean, what would they be?

What an interesting question! I had my twitch community help brainstorm some words, and here's what we came up with.

My longtime favorite is ngarngarngar, which means "hospitality" or "careful preparation (as for a guest)". It's written 𒃻𒃻𒃻 so literally means "prepare-prepare-prepare".

I love shakira, which doesn't refer to a Colombian pop star but instead means "butter" or "butter-churn". I used it, along with shadibshezeda "bitter artichoke", in a haiku I wrote way back in the day.

One that I say often because it's so useful is gana!, meaning "let's go!" "yeah!" "indeed!" "you can do it!" etc. It can be used to encourage others but is most often used to encourage oneself: Gudea Cylinder A says Gana! Ganabdu! "Come on! I have to tell her about it!", wildly relatable in my opinion.

From my infamous Sumerian insults post, the one I use most often is agaashgi "most awkward person", which is both fun to say and incredibly useful. Check that post for more fun ones, like igibala "traitor" - if Sumerians had soap operas they'd definitely gasp igibala! at the most dramatic moment.

And twitch chat nominated the phrase kulinambura, from kuli "friend" and nambura "payment" - how I'd say "PayPal" in Sumerian. It rolls off the tongue, and what word is cooler than kuli?

If y'all have favorite Sumerian words, please share them in the comments or reblogs!

[jadeseadragon]

Statue of Gudea, Neo-Sumerian, ca. 2090 BCE, Mesopotamia, probably from Girsu (modern Tello, Iraq)

[philoursmars]

Retour à mon projet de présenter la plupart de mes 53880 photos (nouveau compte approximatif !)

2013. Le Louvre-Lens (collection permanente)

- rhyton avec pieuvre (à l’appui...) - Rhodes, 1375 avant J-C.

- “Goudéa, prince de Lagash” - Mésopotamie, 2120 avant J-C.

- Femme au kaunakès - Oxus, entre 2300 et 1700 avant J-C

- le démon Pazuzu - Assyrie, 800 avant J-C.

- retable - France, 1500

[shewhoworshipscarlin]

 Statue of Gudea, 2090BC, Mesopotamia.

[spiritsdancinginthenight]

Limestone head of Gudea or Ur-Ningirsu wearing the high-brimmed royal cap Neo-Sumerian, c. 2250-2000 B.C. From Babylonia / Sumer. Musée du Louvre. AO 2791