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]
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]
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]
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:
It is composed in the standard emegir dialect of Sumerian. [10]
Eridu is an archaeological site in southern Mesopotamia. Eridu was long considered the earliest city in southern Mesopotamia. Located 12 km southwest of Ur, Eridu was the southernmost of a conglomeration of Sumerian cities that grew around temples, almost in sight of one another. These buildings were made of mud brick and built on top of one another. With the temples growing upward and the village growing outward, a larger city was built. In Sumerian mythology, Eridu was originally the home of Enki, later known by the Akkadians as Ea, who was considered to have founded the city. His temple was called E-Abzu, as Enki was believed to live in Abzu, an aquifer from which all life was believed to stem.
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The Lament for Ur, or Lamentation over the city of Ur is a Sumerian lament composed around the time of the fall of Ur to the Elamites and the end of the city's third dynasty.
Aratta is a land that appears in Sumerian myths surrounding Enmerkar and Lugalbanda, two early and possibly mythical kings of Uruk also mentioned on the Sumerian king list.
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Sumerian religion was the religion practiced by the people of Sumer, the first literate civilization of ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerians regarded their divinities as responsible for all matters pertaining to the natural and social orders.
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The lament for Sumer and Urim or the lament for Sumer and Ur is a poem and one of five known Mesopotamian "city laments"—dirges for ruined cities in the voice of the city's tutelary goddess.
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