43. _d.__Nin-lí-ga-ge im ... na er-ni-šéš-šéš_ 43. Ninliga ... weeps bitterly. 44. _a uru-gul-la é-gul-la-mu gíg-ga-bi im-me_ 44. How long? oh my destroyed city and my destroyed temple, sadly I wail. 45. _gè-pàr-azag nam-en-na-ba_(_198_)_ šu-ba-e-lá-[lal]_ 45. Of the holy “Dark Chamber” the priestly rites are suspended. 46. _en-bi gè-pàr-ta ba-[da-an-ḳar ki-erim-e ba-ab-KA(du)]_ 46. Its high priest from the “Dark Chamber” has been taken and unto the land of the foe has gone. 47. _d.__Nin-a-zu-ge_ ... 47. Ninazu(199) ... 48. _d.__Nin-ģar-sag_ ... 48. Ninharsag ... 49. _tu-(ģu)-gim_ ... 49. Like a dove ... 50. _a uru-gul-la é-gul-la-mu gíg-ga-bi im-me_ 50. How long? oh my destroyed city and my destroyed temple, sadly I wail. ... ...(200) LAMENTATION TO INNINI ON THE SORROWS OF ERECH. 13859 (POEBEL NO. 26) This well preserved single column tablet is published by POEBEL in PBS. V 26. The composition reflects the standard theological ideas found in the canonical psalms and liturgies. The mother goddess Innini is represented as a divine mother wailing for the misery of her city and her people. The calamity consists in the pillage of the city and its holy places by a foreign invader, who is repeatedly compared to an ox. Like the ordinary psalms of public service the singers abruptly introduce the goddess speaking in the first person as in lines 16; 18-20; 33-4. But the lamentation does not have refrains and at the end the style approaches nearly that of a prayer. The tablet also bears no liturgical note at the end. For these reasons and because of the general impression which the lines leave with the present interpreter, he classifies this text as the product of a scholastic liturgist of the Ur or Isin period whose work was not incorporated into the corpus of the official breviary. OBVERSE 1. _zabar aga-[zu?] im-gūr-gūr-ri_ 1. Oh pure one thy(?) crown overawes. 2. _til-igi-da_(_201_)_-zu ... im-bi-bi-ri_ 2. Thy proceeding arrow scatters the.... 3. _zíd_(_202_)_-gu-šig suģur-sū-lal (ģa)-da ... -kùr_.... 3. Meal of the ... bean to the beared skate-fish thou givest to eat. 4. _eg ģa sĭg eg-eg ģa sŭ-lum-ma-gim im-bul-_[...]— 4. She that gives fish to the stream, in the streams fish (as numerous) as dates she causes to dart about. 5. _gud-dam ra e-sir unug-(ki)-ga-ge šár-ám mu-na-ab(?)- ... uš_ 5. Rushing like an ox in the street of Erech like a multitude(?) he followed(203) 6. _šár-ra giš-KU-A_(_204_)_ mu-na-an-dúr-ru-ne-eš_ 6. Multitudinously in the habitations they dwelled. 7. _šattam-a-ni lugal gab-gál_(_205_)_ ki-gub-bu-ne ba-ra-è_ 7. Her precentor,(206) the defender king, whither they go, went up. 8. _ugnim-e igi-im- ma- an- sĭg_ 8. The hosts of peoples she beholds. 9. _nar-e li-du-a šu-i-ni-in-gí ŭb_(_207_)_ šu-na be-in-šub_ 9. The singer refuses to chant and from his hand has thrown the drum. 10. _ni_(_208_)_-nag-a-zu ni-nag-a-zu_ 10. Thou drinkest not; thou drinkest not.