Terracotta "mace head" shape
cylinder, hollow ovoid form, broad flat
end, and
a small circular aperture on the rounded
end.
The inscription is written in two
columns around
the entire piece.
The inscription commemorates King Sin-
iddinam's dredging of the Tigris River
to improve
the water supply for his city and
country. It
concludes with a statement of the daily
food
rations that workers received. The whole
project
was undertaken at the behest of and to
the
glorification of the great gods, and to
the eternal
credit of Sin-iddinam who "established
my name
for far off,
distant days." The inscription is known
from a
number of copies. Sin-iddinam was the
9th king
of the dynasty based in the southern
Mesopotamian city Larsa,
and is believed to have reigned c. 1849-
1843
BC. The inscription
translates as follows:
Sin-iddinam, might man, supplier of (the
city) Ur,
King of Larsa, king of Sumer and Akkad,
the king
who built the Ebabbar Temple, the temple
of (the
sun god) Utu, who restored the
regulation of the
temples of the gods, am I.
When (the gods) An, Enlil, Nanna and Utu
granted
to me a pleasant reign of justice whose
days
were long, by my wide-ranging wisdom
which
was brought to perfection and which
excels, in
order to provide clean water for my city
and
country, to extol my ways and to glorify
publicly
for later days my heroism, I prayed
intently to
(the gods) An and Enlil. When they had
accepted
my firm petition,
they commissioned me with their
unchanging
work to dredge the Tigris River and to
restore it,
thereby making a name for myself for
many days
to come.
Then, at the command of An and Inanna,
by the
good will of Enlil and Ninlil, with the
help of my
god Ishkur, and by the exalted strength
of Nanna
and Utu, I magnificently dredged the
Tigris, the
well-supplied river of Utu in my great
achievement. I directed its flow to the
border.
The line I had chosen, and regulated its
might to
the swamp, thus supplying uninterrupted
water,
an unceasing source of prosperity for
Larsa and
my country.
After I had dredged the Tigris, the
great river,
the wages of a man were: 1 kor of
barley, 2
quarts of bread, 4 quarts of beer, 2
shekels
(weight) of oil, this is what they
received each
day. I let no man have neither less nor
more.
With the labor of my hand I finished
that task.
By the command and decision of the great
gods I
restored the Tigris, the broad river,
and
established my name for far off, distant
days."
- (PF.5531)
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