Journey to Nippur

The poliad god Nanna Suen decided to visit his mother Ninlil and his father Enlil at Nippur.

His mother's city, heroic

Nanna-Suen decided to visit.

The city of his mother Suen Ashimbabbar decided to visit.

The city of his mother and his father Nanna-Suen decided to visit.

I, said he, the hero, to my native city

shall I go. I shall go to my city: I shall go to my father Enlil-

I shall go and find my father Enlil!

I shall go to my city: I shall go to my mother Ninlil!

(..)

Thus did Nanna-Suen set off for Enlil's abode

(...)

As Nippur the head of his convoy reached

Tummal its end had not left

Along the wondrous quay, the quay of Enlil

At last did the barge draw (...)

He stopped before the sanctuary of his father and begetter.

Thence he called on his father's porter:

Open the temple oh, porter! Open the temple!

Oh porter oh usher, open the temple

Jean Bottéro, Samuel Noah Kramer, Lorsque les dieux faisaient l'homme : mythologie mésopotamienne [When the gods made man : Mesopotamian Mythology], Gallimard, Paris (1989)

Transaltion from the French Voyage de Nanna-Suen à Nippur, p. 128-142 (extracts). Translation by the course translator. For the full English version see http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.1.5.1#