Psalm to Enlil Containing a Long Intercession by the Mother Goddess. 15204 (No. 5)

This liturgical psalm in one melody adds one more document of this kind to the classical Sumerian corpus of old short musical services on which the later complex liturgies were based.[162] The title, árabu-(ģu) árabu-(ģu) múzu kúrra munmállašu záe alménna, arranged in seven dactyls, does not appear in the catalogue of old songs given in the Assyrian list, IV Raw. 53 Col. III. Since the greater part of the psalm consists in an address of the mother goddess to Enlil on behalf of Nippur, the composition is defined as an adoration of “my mother,”[163] an epithet applied to Innini by the singers in most liturgies. The psalm begins with twelve lines sung by the choir and addressed to Enlil. They then in lines 13-15 introduce Innini whom they represent in discourse before Enlil in lines 16-47. This part of the song service contains refrains characteristic of public worship. Theologically the text illustrates one of the most profound principles of Sumerian religion, the sympathy and concern of the virgin mother for mankind.[164] The great daily services of the standard prayer books represent her as a mater dolorosa and she with Tammuz shares the vicissitudes of mortal life. Our text is unique and noteworthy for one salient fact. It illustrates the scenes so common on Babylonian seals, where the mother goddess stands in intercession before the god, with one or both hands raised in supplication and the left foot advanced as though about to set it on the paved approach to the throne of the deity.

1. arâ-bu-(ģu) arâ-bu-(ģu) mu-zu kur-ra mu-un-ma-al-la-šú