Inscribed Door-Socket of King Shar-kali-sharri

Here is a close-up, partial view of a stone door socket (German: T�rangelstein; French: crapaudine) found by John Peters near the ziggurat at Nippur. For his description of door-sockets see Door-sockets: weighty inscriptions in the temple. The doorpost turned in a shallow, hollowed out spot in the middle of the stone block. A second door-socket was also found. The two inscribed stone blocks originally flanked the main entrance to the Enlil temple constructed by King Shar-kali-sharri (2217-2193 B.C.). The work was actually begun, but not finished, by his father, King Naram-Sin (2254-2218). The ziggurat itself was not built until later by Ur-Nammu (2112-2095 B.C.). To get a sharper view of the cuneiform signs, take a look at the hand drawn copy of the inscription.

Photograph of Door-Socket of King Shar-kali-sharri

This inscription of Shar-kali-sharri, king of Akkad, is written in Akkadian with some Sumerian words as logograms (word-signs). It can be read as follows, with commas separating each line or case.

Column One: ^den-l�l, u-k�l-lim, ?ar-k�-l�-?�r-r�, da-n�m, LUGAL, a-ga-d�^ki, ^baD�M, �-kur, �, ^den-l�l, in nibru^ki, ?a DUB.

This column (excluding the last line) can be translated: Enlil revealed (that is, gave approval and instruction by divinatory sign). Shar-kali-sharri, the Mighty, the King of Agade, the Builder of Ekur, Enlil's temple in Nippur.

Column Two: ?u_x(SU)-a, u-?a-s�-ku-ni, ^den-l�l, �, ^dutu, �, ^dinanna, SUHU?-?u, li-s�-hu, �, ?E.NUMUN-?u, li-il-q�-tu.

This column (beginning with the last line of column one) can be translated: Whoever removes this inscription, may Enlil, Utu and Inanna tear out his foundation and destroy his progeny.

A few notes on cuneiform writing

The divine names in the inscription are preceded by a star or asterisk looking character, the determinative (word classifier) ^d, short for dingir "god/deity." Shar-kali-sharri mentions the deities Enlil (Nippur's main god, for whose temple the king sponsored construction work), Utu (sun god, guarantor of justice), and Inanna (goddess of love/war, main deity of Agade).
Place names are followed by the determinative for place ^ki, occurring here after the name of Nibru (that is, Nippur). Can you see what symbols are used to write the city name? Hint: compare lines 1 and 11 of column 1.
The character ? is pronounced as our sound "sh."
The Akkadian long vowels would be better represented with the macron, but the standard lists of entities for web browsers do not include vowels with macrons.

Cuneiform vocabulary here

Akkadian documents through many centuries mixed together word signs in Sumerian with the Akkadian words spelled out. Notice the word signs for LUGAL, Akkadian ?arrum, "king," ^baD�M, Akkadian b�n�, "builder," and �, Akkadian b�t, "house/temple of," DUB, Akkadian tuppam, "inscription/tablet," SUHU?, Akkadian i?d�, "foundation," and ?E.NUMUN, Akkadian zera, "progeny/seed."
Akkadian vocabulary used here include kullumu "reveal/show," dannum "mighty/strong," nas�ku Stem III "remove/eliminate," nas�hu "tear out/uproot," laq�tu "destroy" (Akkadische Handw�rterbuch offers "zur Vernichtung einsammeln, wegraffen").

This illustration is taken from John Punnett Peters, Nippur or Explorations and Adventures on the Euphrates: The Narrative of the University of Pennsylvania Expedition to Babylonia in the Years 1888-1890, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1897, Volume II, plate facing p. 242.

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This page was edited on 31 December 2000. If you have cuneiform questions or comments, please email Dubsar, the Cuneiform Scribe. If I do not respond promptly, the vendor supplying Fortune City's email service may be eating your mail for lunch. In that case, you can give a shout over to Dubsar's Sand Dune to get my attention. Thanks! � 1998 Erasmus Compositor, P.O. Box 25958, Baltimore, MD 21224.