The City-Lament (Mourning a Fallen City)
A city thrown down by divine decree, its god driven out — and a poet who weeps the whole catastrophe into song.
When the great Sumerian city of Ur fell (c. 2000 BCE), poets composed sweeping laments over its ruin — and over Nippur, Uruk, Eridu, and the whole land. These city-laments voice overwhelming grief: temples thrown down, the people slaughtered or scattered, the patron gods forced to abandon their homes because the divine assembly had decreed the catastrophe. Yet they typically end in hope, as the gods relent and the city is restored. Composed partly to accompany the rebuilding of temples, the laments are among the most powerful expressions of communal sorrow in ancient literature — a whole civilization weeping over its dead cities.
Key passages(6)
The roaring storm covered it like a cloak, was spread over it like a sheet. It covered Eridug like a cloak, was spread over it like a sheet. In the city, the furious storm resounded ……. In Eridug, the
Tap to expand
…… entire land ……, …… struck, the palace was devastated. …… panic spread rapidly among the dwellings of the black-headed people. …… abandoned places …… in Sumer. …… the cities were destroyed in their
Tap to expand
After the cattle pen had been built for the foremost divine powers -- how did it become a haunted place? When will it be restored? Where once the brick of fate had been laid -- who scattered its divin
Tap to expand
He has abandoned his cow-pen and has let the breezes haunt his sheepfold. The wild bull has abandoned his cow-pen and has let the breezes haunt his sheepfold. The lord of all the lands has abandoned i
Tap to expand
To overturn the appointed times, to obliterate the divine plans, the storms gather to strike like a flood. An, Enlil, Enki and Ninḫursaĝa Ninmaḫ have decided its fate -- to overturn the divine powers
Tap to expand
The …… which had developed -- its wiping clean (?) was to be accomplished (?). The …… of heaven and earth put their divine powers …… to sleep (?). …… mortal man multiplied to become as numerous as th
Tap to expand