Sumerian Mythology - The earliest deities of ancient Mesopotamia (67)
The Lament for Sumer and Ur – Poem 4: Mourning Nanna and the restoration of Ur
Enlil then answered his son Nanna (Suen, Sin): "The judgment uttered by the assembly cannot be reversed. The word of An and Enlil knows no overturning. Ur was indeed given kingship but it was not given an eternal reign. From time immemorial, since the Land was founded, until people multiplied, who has ever seen a reign of kingship that would take precedence for ever? The reign of its kingship had been long indeed but had to exhaust itself. O my Nanna, do not exert yourself in vain, abandon your city."
Nanna who loves his city left his city. Nanna took an unfamiliar path away from his beloved Ur. In order to go as an exile from her city to foreign territory, Ningal quickly clothed herself and left the city.
Laments sounded all along its city wall. Daily there was slaughter before it. Large axes were sharpened in front of Ur. The spears, the arms of battle, were prepared. The large bows, throw-sticks and shields gathered together to strike. The barbed arrows covered its outer side like a raining cloud. The people of Ur, who had once stood up to the enemy, but had no strength to take up arms, and who had not died of starvation or from weapons, were forced to follow suit.
(...followed by a grisly description of a collapsing city... omitted)
…The statues that were in the shrine were cut down. The cook, the dream interpreter, and the seal keeper did not perform the ceremonies properly. They stood by submissively and were carried off by the foreigners. The priests of the holy uzga shrine and the sacred lustrations, the linen-clad priests, forsook the divine plans and sacred divine powers, they went off to a foreign city.
In his grief Nanna went down on his knee in front of Enlil, the father who begot him: "O father who begot me, how long will the enemy eye be cast upon my account? O Father Enlil who begot me, the fate that you have decreed cannot be explained, as for my hairstyle of lordship and the diadem with which I was crowned." …… he put on a garment of mourning.
Enlil then provided a favourable response to his son Suen Nanna: "My son, the city built for you in joy and prosperity was given to you as your reign. Destroying the city, overthrowing its great wall and battlements: all this too is part of that reign. …… the black, black days of the reign that has been your lot. As for dwelling in your home, …… indeed Ur shall be rebuilt in splendour, the people shall bow down to you. There is to be bounty at its base, there is to be grain. There is to be splendour at its top, the sun shall rejoice there. Let an abundance of grain embrace its table. May Ur, the city whose fate was pronounced by An, be restored for you." Having pronounced his blessing, Enlil raised his head toward the heavens: "May the land, south and highland, be organised for Nanna. May the roads of the mountains be set in order for Suen. Like a cloud hugging the earth, they shall submit to him. By order of An and Enlil it shall be conferred."
Thus the youth Suen Nanna could enter again into the E-kiš-nu-ĝal. In Ur Ningal could enter again into her E-kiš-nu-ĝal.
シュメール神話～古代メソポタミア最古の神々(67)
シュメールとウルの滅亡哀歌〜第4歌：服喪するナンナ神とウルの復権
エンリル神は息子のナンナ神（スエン、シン）に答えた：「アンとエンリルの言葉は、覆すことができない。ウルは確かに王権を与えられたが、永遠の支配権を与えられたわけではない。太古の昔、国ができてから、人々が増えるまでの間、永遠に優先される王権の統治を見た人はいるだろうか？その王権の統治は実に長かったが、それを使い果たさなければならなかった。ナンナよ、無駄な努力をせず、その都市を捨てよ」
自分の都市を愛するナンナ神は、その都市を離れた。ナンナは愛するウルから離れて、慣れない道を歩んだ。ニンガル女神は、自分の都市から異国の地へ亡命者として行くために、すぐに服を着てその都市を出た。
ウルの市壁周辺では嘆き声が響いた。毎日のように殺戮が行われ、大きな斧が振り回され、戦いの武器である槍（やり）が準備された。大弓、投石器、盾が集まって攻撃をして、雲霞（うんか）のごとく弓矢が張り巡らされた。かつては敵に立ち向かったウルの人々も、武器をとる力もなく、餓えや武器によって死ななかった人々も後追いをするしかなかった。
（…都市の崩壊する無惨な描写が続く…中略）
...神殿にあった像は破壊され、料理人、夢占い師、玉璽保管役は、儀式を行えなかった。彼らは従順に傍観し、異邦人に連れ去られた。神聖なウズガ神殿の神官と神聖な除霊師、リネンを着た神官は、神の計画と神聖な神の力を見捨てて、異国の都市に行ってしまった。
悲しみに暮れたナンナ神は、自分を生んだ父エンリル神の前でひざまづいた：「私を生んだ父よ、いつまで私のせいで敵の目が向けられるのか。私を生んだ父エンリルよ、あなたが定めた運命は、私の貴族の髪型や冠をかぶった髪飾りを見ても、説明がつきません」...... 彼は喪服を着た。
次にエンリル神は、息子のスエン・ナンナ神に好意的な回答をした。「我が息子よ、そなたの喜びと繁栄のうちに建設された都市は、そなたの統治のために与えられたものだ。都市を破壊し、その長大な壁や城壁を破壊することも、すべてはその統治の一部である。...... 統治の黒い、黒い日々があなたに与えられた。そなたが自分の家に戻ることについては、...... 確かにウルは華麗に再建され、人々はそなたにひれ伏すだろう。その土台には恵みがあり、穀物があるはずだ。その頂には輝きがあり、太陽はそこで祝賀するだろう。豊かな穀物でその食卓を包み込ませよう。アン神に運命を宣告された都市、そなたのウルが回復するように」
祝福の言葉を述べた後、エンリルは天に向かって頭を上げた。「南と高地の国がスエン・ナンナ神のために統制されますように。スエン・ナンナ神のために、山道が整えられますように。雲が大地を包み込むように、人々は彼に服従するだろう。アン神とエンリル神の定めにより、それは授与されるであろう」
こうして青年スエン・ナンナ神はエキシュヌガルに戻ることができた。 ウルではニンガル女神も再びエキシュヌガルに入ることができた。
