Songs from Ancient Sumeria

Governor Gudea of Lagash, the Good Shepherd

In Ancient Sumeria, music was taught in the scribal schools and a form of

musical notation in cuneiform was used for two millennia. Musicians were

important in both the temple and the palace. Their instruments included

pipes, lyres, various drums, clappers, flutes, lutes and harps.

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A composition was identified by musical genre based on either the instrumentation

or the text format; it was marked in the superscript or subscript of the text on the

clay tablet. Among these were the šìrkug (a sacred song or incantation), the adab (a

praise song), the tigi played with kettledrums, the eršemma (a lament with

tambourines). It seems the balbale was a ritual recitation while theeršahunga might

have been a song of healing or exorcism, for which the balang drum was considered

effective.

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THE STATE OF LAGASH

The ruins of the ancient city of Lagaš (Shirpurla) are located northwest of the

junction of the Euphrates and Tigris at Al-Hiba, about 22 km east of the modern

town of Ash-Shatrah in Iraq. Lagash was a flourishing urban centre by ca. 2400 B.C.E.

The ancient site of Nin Sirara (contemporary Surghul) is around 10 km from Al-Hiba.

At the beginning of the third dynasty of Ur, Sirara was a temple complex in the

suburb or section called Nina or Nimin. Nearby Girsu (today’s Telloh), about 25 km

northwest of Lagash city, was an early religious centre of the state.

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GUDEA THE GOOD SHEPHERD

The city-state of Lagash produced a remarkable number of Sumerian literary texts

under the rule of Gudea (ca. 2150–2125 B.C.) and his son Ur-Ningirsu (ca. 2125–2100

B.C.).

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Gudea was a humble ruler who called himself ‘ensi’ (governor) rather than king

(lugal). He ruled according to the Sumerian concept of the good shepherd (sipad

zid). “He provided protection for the orphan against the rich, and provided

protection for the widow against the powerful. He had the daughter become the

heir in the families without a son. A day of justice dawned for him. He set his foot on

the neck of evil ones.”*

Gudea’s inscriptions mention the building of irrigation canals and temples for which

materials were obtained from far afield. Cedar wood from the Nur mountains in

what is now Turkey, quarried stones from Lebanon, copper from Arabia, gold, metals

and precious stones from the Sinai, Magan (Oman?) and Dilmun (Bahrain?), timber

from Meluhha (Baluchistan) and Gubbio (Goa?).

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The most ancient ritual text of the Near East is an inscription about the building

activities of Gudea. It is the longest known text in the Sumerian language written on

the two largest cuneiform cylinders yet discovered. The text of the Gudea Cylinders

contains a building inscription, votive inscription, hymns and a description of ritual.

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Gudea had a dream in which he was commanded to build a temple. Because he did

not clearly understand the dream, he visited the oracle of the goddess Nanshe at

Sirara. Gudea was instructed to lay out the temple in alignment with the "holy stars".

A description of this visit to the temple of Nanshe in Sirara, called Hymn to Nanshe,

makes mention of the title of a particular song, translated as 'The Temple Has Been

Granted Powers from the Abzu'.

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She adorned the shepherd Gudea with all her precious divine powers. Gudea, the

ruler of Lagac, placed the lyre among the tigi drums and placed the holy balang

drum at its side. While sacred and harmonious songs were performed before her,

the kintur instrument praised the temple. The chief musician played the ibex horn for

her: the song 'The Temple Has Been Granted Powers from the Abzu' – the sacred

song of the Sirara temple about the princely powers – was performed.

Gudea mey kalkallana shu munabdudu sipad shag kugge bi inpaddani. Gudea ensi

Lagashake ab henun tigia munigub, balaj kug daba munigub, shir kug shir hamunna

munnadua, kinturre ey immi. A tarah nar gale shu munabtagge: “Ey abzuta mey

namtaba” ey Sirarakika shir kugba menumba mundu.

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LINKS & SOURCES

http://EzineArticles.com/1122672

http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=c.4.14.1&display=Crit&charenc=&lineid=c4141.32#c4141.32

http://sumerianshakespeare.com/25401/index.html

http://enenuru.proboards.com/thread/161/reconstructing-mesopotamian-music#ixzz5Tl0Mqaqo

http://enenuru.proboards.com/thread/161/reconstructing-mesopotamian-music#ixzz5Tl1Q2KED

www.ancientpages.com/2016/12/12/mesopotamian-music-stele-that-commemorates-gudea-king-of-lagash-in-
temple-foundation-ceremony/

www.mesopotamiangods.com/sumerian-music-tablets/

www.sonusantiqva.org/i/O/EdeOrganographia/1999SumeriansEgyptiansGreeks.html

www.schoyencollection.com/music-notation/sumerian-music/earliest-music-record-ms-2340

The Musical Instruments from Ur and Ancient Mesopotamian Music by Anne Draffkorn Kilmer
https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-musical-instruments-from-ur-and-ancient-mesopotamian-music/

Music in Ancient Sumeria – History and Importance by Arnav Saikia

https://amazinghistoryfacts.wordpress.com/2016/05/16/music-in-ancient-sumeria-history-and-importance/

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