Babylonian map of the universe.



The Great Fatted Bull:  home page for Sumerian Shakespeare and The Great Fatted Bull.

Introduction:  where Tablet #36 is introduced as the world's first political satire, the world's first comedy, and the world's first murder mystery.

Tablet #36:  shows photographs and line-drawings of the tablet; also includes a link to the Library of Congress cuneiform website, and a link to the CDLI's hi-res photo of the tablet.

Translation:  translation of the tablet, with minimum explanatory comment.

Annotations:  line-by-line translation with notes that give the historical context of the story and explains its wordplay and hidden meanings.

Transliteration:  the Sumerian words and their English equivalents, with notes on the translation. It also includes notes on decoding mahX, and Appendix A, which summarizes the ways the meaning of the text is obscured. Dull reading for anyone but a Sumerologist.

The Great Fatted Bull and the CDLI:  the attempt by Robert Englund and the CDLI to discredit the translation of The Great Fatted Bull.

Robert Englund's Error List:  the numerous errors in Robert Englund's transliteration of Tablet #36.

Tablet #36 sign list:  a list of all of the signs used on Tablet #36 and their definitions.

Sumerian history:  a brief introduction to Sumerian history.

Sumerian images:  photographs of Sumerian art and artifacts.

The Royal Tombs of Ur:  the treasures of the Royal Tombs of Ur; included are: Exploration of the tombs, Lyres, Vessels, Jewelry, Miscellaneous, and Weapons. Also included is a page on Sumerian Necklaces (hidden) and a page on Pu-abi's Regalia.

What is the Standard of Ur?:  the original purpose of the Standard of Ur.

Standard of Ur narratives:  complete narratives of the Standard of Ur, war side,
peace side, and end panels.

Note: The following two pages are superseded by the Standard of Ur Narratives. They have been archived (hidden) but they are still available for research purposes.

The Standard of Ur, war:  new interpretation of the events recorded on the Standard of Ur.

The Standard of Ur, king:  the identity of the king on the Standard of Ur.


Akkadian seals:  Akkadian seal impressions showing the kind of skirts worn by the enemies on the Standard of Ur.

Eannatum:  a brief history of Eannatum the Great.

Vulture Stele translation:  translation of the inscriptions on the Vulture Stele of Eannatum.

Sumerian war chariots:  the high-resolution photographic restoration of two war chariots depicted on the Standard of Ur. Also included is a section on chariot tactics.

War chariots deconstructed:  shows the true appearance of the war chariots on the Standard of Ur.

Model of a Sumerian war chariot:  a scale model of the chariots on the Standard of Ur.

Gudea translation:  historical background on Gudea; translation of Gudean foundation cone.

Gudea tablet:  photograph of a Gudean commemorative tablet.

The face of Gudea:  where I identify a statue as being a realistic portrait of Gudea.

An unknown portrait of Gudea:  A portrait of Gudea not found in a museum.

The face of Ur-Ningirsu:  the identification of an Ur-Ningirsu statue in the Louvre Museum.

The face of Lugal-agrig-zi:  the royal scribe, son of Gudea.

Ur-Namma translation:  historical background on Ur-Namma; translation of votive tablet.

The face of Ur-Namma:  where I identify the "unknown Sumerian ruler", at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as Ur-Namma. I also identify another statue at the Met as being Ur-Namma, rather than Shulgi, as labeled. A statue in the Baghdad Museum is identified as Ur-Namma.

The face of Ur-Namma, part II;  deals with the issues raised by the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the identification of the unknown ruler as Ur-Namma.

I am Ur-Namma:  the life and death of Ur-Namma, as told in literature, and his resurrection.

Shulgi:  the last great Sumerian king.

The face of Shulgi:  identification of a Shulgi foundation figure showing his true appearance.

Who were the Sumerians?:  an exploration for the origins of the Sumerian people.

Other Sumerian kings:  brief biographies of kings not covered on other pages of the website. Pages include: 1) Enmetena  2) The Wars of Umma and Lagash, translation of an Enmetena foundation cone with annotations; and a transaltion of the Enmetena cone without annotations (hidden)  3) Enmetena silver vase, pictures and translation  4) Enmetena foundation tablet translation (ama-gi)  5) Urukagina  6) translation of his "Liberty Cones"  7) "The man of Umma" detailing the plundering of Lagash  8) Lugalzagesi  9) Lugalzagesi translation, inscriptions dedicated to the god Enlil. Also included is a page entitled Enmetena, not Urukagina, where I identify a tablet prohibiting polyandry as belonging to Enmetena rather than Urukagina as is commonly supposed. Two hidden pages, Enannatum translation and Ur-Nanshe translation, used in reference to the Wars of Umma and Lagash. Also included: Ur-Ningirsu, the son of Gudea. The biographies of Enannatum and Ur-Nanshe will appear sometime in the near future. The shepherd kings describes the shepherd ideal of Sumerian kings. The kings of Uruk were the original Sumerian shepherd kings.

The Princess Wife (introduction):  Princess Wife translation, annotations, transliteration, and Tablet BE 28,31 Sign List. Also included is Nu-nus, the main trick sign on the tablet.

The Princess Wife sequel, Introduction:  introduction to the sequel to the story of
The Princess Wife.

Princess Wife sequel, Translation:  translation of tablet MS 3228 in the Schøyen Collection.

Princess Wife sequel, Notes on the Translation: a description of the translation process.

Princess Wife sequel, Transliteration:  of tablet MS 3228 in the Schøyen Collection

Princess Wife the whole story, Translation:  combined parts I and II of The Princess Wife.

Princess Wife the whole story, Annotations:  the complete story of The Princess Wife.

The Great Fatted Jackass: translation of the story of The Great Fatted Jackass, and a   Transliteration of the tablet.

Sumerian trick signs:  a description of the "trick signs" used on tablets to hide the secret meaning of the texts.

Mesopotamian Prostitutes:  includes Munus-kin, the signs of a Sumerian prostitute,
                The Babylonian Woman, a statue found in Diqdiqqeh
                Six known Sumerian Prostitutes  (plus footnotes)
                The Babylonian Wife, another statue of the Babylonian Woman
                Babylonian Prostitutes in history, art, and literature
                In Bed, Babylonians in bed
                Temple Prostitutes, "Sacred Prostitution" in Babylon.
                In Flagrante Delicto, a comic cylinder seal

Sumerian queens:  the identification of Sumerian queens in the temples of Mari.

An Unknown Sumerian Queen:  A female Sumerian ruler.

Another Unknown Sumerian Queen: Identification of a statue in the Louvre as a portrait of a Sumerian queen.

Pu-abi, the Queen?:  Was Pu-abi  queen or just a noblewoman? Also includes Footnotes.

A Sumerian princess:  identification of a statue portraying the daughter of Gudea.

Sumerian lukurs:  is a lukur a priestess or a concubine?

The divine right to rule:  the date cluster as a symbol of royalty and the divine right to rule in ancient Mesopotamia.

Sargon's Victory Stele:  where I identify the defeated enemy and the captive king on Sargon's victory stele.

Sargon's other stele:  where I identify the defeated enemy on Sargon's other victory stele that is displayed in the Louvre.

Helmet: the King of Kish:  where I identify the kind of helmet with a knotted bun on the back as belonging exclusively to the King of Kish.

The Standard of Mari:  the identification of many Mari artifacts as being Sumerian in origin. Also included is a page on Mesopotamian clothing as related to the Standard of Ur and the Standard of Mari.

The battles of Ishqi-Mari:  the battles fought by the Akkadian king of Mari as shown on his cylinder seals.

The invention of writing:  the invention and evolution of Sumerian writing.

Adventures in cuneiform writing:  my "adventure" learning cuneiform writing and translating Tablet #36.

The Loring Tablet:  a cuneiform letter to Loring.

Sumerian scribe:  scribes in Sumerian society; the scribe who wrote The Great Fatted Bull.

Scribal social ranking:  the social hierarchy of scribes on cylinder seal impressions.

Early Old Babylonian?:  discusses the date of Tablet #36 and its historic significance.

A Masterpiece:  a discussion of the literary merits of Tablet #36.

Miscellaneous:  This section includes pages on the Gebel el-Arak knife,
the Hierakonpolis painting, Queen Ku-Baba, and more:

The Gebel el-Arak Knife:  the symbology of the famous Egyptian knife.

Hierakonpolis Tomb 100 Painting:  a narration the the events portrayed on the mural.

Idiot:  A rebuttal of Andrea Sinclair's drunken tirade against Sumerian Shakespeare.

Queen Ku-Baba:  the first Cinderella and world's first reigning female monarch.

Copied from the Standard of Ur:  definitely a copy.

Mace or vase?:  the misidentification of an artifact in the British Museum.

Links:  to other Sumerian websites.

FAQs, copyrights, etc:  Frequently asked questions about Sumerian Shakespeare.

Contact: questions, comments, etc.

Detail of the map seen at the top of the page. Babylon is shown as the point at the center of the universe.