Babylonian map of the universe.

Introduction:  where the tablet is introduced as the world's first political satire, the world's first comedy, and the world's first murder mystery.

Tablet #36:  shows photographs and line-drawings of the tablet; also includes a link to the Library of Congress cuneiform website, and a link to the CDLI's hi-res photo of the tablet.

Translation:  translation of the tablet, with minimum explanatory comment.

Annotations:  line-by-line translation with notes that give the historical context of the story and explains its hidden meanings and wordplay.

Transliteration:  the Sumerian words and their English equivalents, with notes on the translation. It also includes notes on decoding mahX, and Appendix A, which summarizes the ways the meaning of the text is obscured. Dull reading for anyone but a Sumerologist.

Sumerian images:  photographs of Sumerian art and artifacts.

The Royal Tombs of Ur:  The treasures of the Royal Tombs of Ur; included are: Exploration of the tombs, Lyres, Vessels, Jewelry, Miscellaneous, and Weapons.

The Standard of Ur, war:  a new interpretation of the events recorded on the Standard of Ur.

The Standard of Ur, king:  the identity of the king on the Standard of Ur.

The "Standard" of Ur?:  the original purpose of the Standard of Ur.

Akkadian seals:  Akkadian seal impressions showing the kind of skirts worn by the enemies on the Standard of Ur.

Vulture Stele translation:  translation of the inscriptions on the Vulture Stele of Eannatum.

Eannatum:  a brief biography of Eannatum.

Sumerian war chariots:  the high-resolution photographic restoration of two war chariots depicted on the Standard of Ur.

War chariots deconstructed:  shows the true appearance of the war chariots on the Standard of Ur.

Gudea translation:  historical background on Gudea; translation of Gudean foundation cone.

Gudea tablet:  photograph of a Gudean commemorative tablet.

The face of Gudea:  where I identify a bust in the Barakat Gallery as being Gudea, and not just "a priest" as described.

Ur-Namma translation:  historical background on Ur-Namma; translation of votive tablet.

The face of Ur-Namma:  where I identify the "unknown Sumerian ruler", at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as Ur-Namma. I also identify another statue at the Met as being Ur-Namma, rather than Shulgi, as labeled. A statue at the Baghdad Museum is identified as Ur-Namma.

The face of Ur-Namma, part II;  deals with the issues raised by the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the identification of the unknown ruler as Ur-Namma. 

I am Ur-Namma:  the life and death of Ur-Namma, as told in literature, and his resurrection.

Adventures in cuneiform writing:  my "adventure" learning cuneiform writing and translating Tablet #36.

The scribe:  scribes in Sumerian society; the scribe who wrote The Great Fatted Bull.

Scribal social ranking:  the social hierarchy of scribes on cylinder seal impressions.

Early Old Babylonian?:  discusses the date of Tablet #36 and its historic significance

A masterpiece:  a discussion of the literary merits of Tablet #36.

Links:  to other Sumerian websites.

Contact:  questions, comments, etc.

Detail of the map seen at the top of the page. Babylon is shown as the point at the center of the universe.