Annotations for Tablet #36 in the Library of Congress Cuneiform Collection
by: Jerald Jack Starr
Obverse: [x-] = Missing or damaged text {… } = explanatory comments
[Unknown number of lines missing]
1. You [x-x…]
2. Fate [x-x…]
3. Lu-mah, the abundant lord, is a bull [x-x…]
The Sumerian word for "king" is Lu-gal, which literally means "man-great". The subject of this story is Lu-mah, which likewise means "man-great". But instead of writing Lu-mah, the scribe writes Lu-mah(2), which is pronounced the same, but written with a different sign, making it “nonsensical” within the context of the sentence. This was meant to disguise the meaning of the text. To openly mock a Great Lord was a dangerous thing to do. The scribe could never "publish" this tablet, nor even quote it aloud at his local tavern. To offend a powerful ruler could have fatal consequences, as the story itself will soon reveal.
Lu-mah is the name of the Great Fatted Bull. He is named according to his character, like "John Bull" or "Mr. King". This may be the earliest known use of this literary convention.
Decoding Lu-mah is described in greater detail in the Transliteration.
4. May the fatted bull the abundant gift of fatherhood [x-x…]
5. Great Fatso is treasured. To the Great Fatso the workmen send [x-x…]
More word-play: Gal-niga, “great-fattened”, is an adjective used to describe livestock. The scribe places it at the beginning of the sentence, where the subject/noun should be, making it into a title for the bull. It is translated as “Great Fatso” because it is obviously meant to be derogatory. It's the Great Fatted Bull’s “lordly address”, like “Your Highness”, or “Your Majesty”.
6. He bellows, “To the bull bring gifts of food! To the bull send his Lady!"
Voice + bull + repetitive processing (to the bull. . . to the bull. . . ) is a literary device used to evoke the bellowing of a bull. The italics, needless to say, are my own.
Šaggal is a word that means both “food” and “fodder”, in keeping with the "man/bull" theme.
The Lord Lu-mah is calling for his wife --- the sign used is nin, “a titled Lady”, and not munus, “a woman” --- presumably for a conjugal visit (he's a bull, after all).
7. Lu-mah declares, "My abundant fate is like a Majestic Shrine
that accumulates up to the heavens!"
Notice how the word "abundant" is used repeatedly in the opening lines of the story to descibe everything about Lu-mah. Even his name (lu2=man, mah="to be or make large") could be interpreted as "fat man".
This sentence may be a reference to Esh-Mah (shrine-great), otherwise known as the Majestic Shrine, in the city of Nippur. In addition to being a shrine, Esh-Mah was also used as a storehouse for grain. It is, however, impossible to tell if the sentence is just a metaphor, or if a shrine is actually being built (by the workers mentioned in line o5). In either case, the sentence evokes the image of a great ziggurat to comment on Lu-mah's ever-increasing amplitude. The words are spoken by Lu-mah with unintentional irony. It is, of course, the Great Abundant Bull himself who is accumulating (in fatness and in possessions) up to the heavens. Throughout the story, the scribe uses verbs that mean "to accumulate" as a way of saying "to grow fat" (see Transliteration, line r5). "Accumulating" also suggests the acquisitiveness of a great lord, as soon will be shown, and the shrine represents it as his god-given right, the "divine right" of a king. The colossal shrine, and the Great Lord's great fatness, are symbols of his monumental greed.
8. He goes into the village, to make the rounds.
He wanders through the marketplace, feeling most important.
He passes by Grain Field #5. . .
He enters Grain Field #5, to fill his great bull hands!
Field #5 refers to a person's assigned parcel of land. The Sumerians allocated fields of farmland to local officials for their upkeep. Grain rations were also issued as a kind of salary. Grain rations appear elsewhere in the story (see line o6, Transliteration). The henbur grain mentioned in the next line refers to the grain kernels of a reed or rush.
The events of this story take place in the allotted farm fields that surround a Sumerian town or village. The setting is a microcosm of Sumer itself; the story is Sumerian history. The Fatted Bull is a local lord who thinks he is a king.
9. “I proclaim this field a gift! And this henbur grain I'll take!
"With many different wives for my virile self.
10. "And so with my labor, I support myself and my mother!”
His mother? In the middle of this kingly proclamation, he's talking about his mother?
It's for his mother, so it's for a good cause. A tyrant always has a good reason for what he is doing. This is the first of two "propaganda ploys" used by the Great Fatted Bull: Lu-mah isn't doing this because he wants all of the grain, or the many wives; he's doing it because he's the sole support of his sainted mother (who could fault him for that?). This sentence also lets us know that Lu-mah is still a young bull (man).
Given the context of the sentences, the term "labor" is somewhat ambiguous.
11. [x-x…] He gets into a great big argument.
Not surprisingly, he gets into a dispute with the owners of the field.
12. [x-x…] [?] do this” (?)
13. [Lord (?)] [x-x] [something, something]
The tablet is heavily damaged in this area.
14. Lord Fatso returns to his village. He proclaims, “I have yoked the bandits!”
Propaganda is the art of calling your neighbor a thief, to justify stealing his land. In modern parlance, this would be called "blaming the victim".
15. He drags the slave women and their captive kinsmen into his fortress.
This is the Great Fatted Bull's victory procession; where the king parades his captives through the streets in neck stocks, as illustrated in the middle of the page in the Translation. For now, Lu-mah is indeed a King.
For “kinsmen” the scribe writes šeš-na, “brother-man”; which could also be interpreted as “fellow man”. It is assumed that the father is also present.
The Sumerians, when they weren't fighting against foreign invasions, were often fighting against each other. Sumerian history is filled with numerous wars between the various city-states, when local lords battled for regional supremacy. During one of these wars, when so many lords were fighting, a Sumerian once asked, "Who was king? Who was not king?" The Sumerians seem to have accepted constant warfare as a matter of routine. This can be seen in the "year names" of the Sumerian calendar. Each calendar year, rather than being known by a number, was named for a significant event that occurred within it (e.g., "the year Amar-Suen became king"). All too often, it was "the year city X was destroyed", or "the year city Y was destroyed". Sometimes it was "the year cities X and Y were destroyed". During the reign King Shulgi, one year was named: "The year the cities of Simurrum and Lullubum were destroyed for the ninth time". This was the kind of world the scribe lived in. It might also have been the kind of world he died in, when yet another Fatted Bull (foreign or domestic) came roaring into town.(see cuneiform tablet in theImages section).
16. Lu-mah commands, “I order the father to trample his fields into mash!”
Grain mash: used to make fodder and beer.
“Our father’s fields” was an expression sometimes used to mean “homeland”. The symbolism of the passage is clear. It's like the Sumerian proverb, "The warring brothers destroyed their father's house".
"Su-ba" is the name of the hero of this story. Like "Lu-mah", the name of the Great Fatted Bull, it is written as a pun at the sign level. Also like Lu-mah, it's a name that describes the character's role in the story, while at the same time hiding his identity. Su-ba means "shepherd". See notes for line o18 in the Transliteration.
{He says to Su-ba, the "shepherd brother", son of the unfortunate father, and brother of the slave women: }
17. “I’ll sell you Pasture #5. Give me all your heaps of grain."
"Pasture #5": The father’s abundant field of grain, completely shorn of its crops to make fodder for The Great Fatted Bull, will become a "pasture”, fit only for the grazing of sheep. An added irony is the well-known fact that sheep are able to graze on sub-standard pastures that cannot support other kinds of livestock. The Great Fatted King is offering to sell to the son the ruined fields of the father.
Gur11 "grain heap": The shepherd brother's grain reserves (surplus grain that has been stored for later use) will become part of the Great Fatted Bull's "mountain of grain" mentioned in line r12.
18. [x-x…]-like, the shepherd brother.
The shepherd is always the "good guy” in any Sumerian story.
Sumerian soldiers. From "The Vulture Stele" of king Eannatum.
{The shepherd brother speaks: }
1. “I will not bow before the man who seizes pride, not wisdom.
"He is not a strong man.
Ki. . . su-ub: to prostrate oneself; literally, "to rub the nose on the ground". This is the ritualized bow that is performed in the presence a god. Lu-mah wants to be worshipped as a deified king.
“He is not a strong man” foreshadows the last line.
2. "Earth and Heaven are troubled by the men who rob and plunder!”
In ancient Sumer, a king was traditionally portrayed as a shepherd. He was depicted wearing a shepherd’s woolen hat, rather than the crown of a king, or the helmet of a warrior. (Not just kings, but even the gods themselves were likened unto shepherds. There's not a bad word said about shepherds in all of Sumerian literature). Any ancient Sumerian would instantly recognize the shepherd as The Good King of the story. Tablet #36 is really a story about the Good King vs. the Bad King.
3. Beating life, beating back and shoulders, like a storm arose the angry lord!
A Sumerian, unaccustomed to this kind of plot twist, would have been shocked by this sudden turn of events. The good king is introduced, and after a short speech, he's immediately beaten to death by the bad king. This is usually the part of the story where the hero prevails. But the scribe doesn’t actually say the shepherd brother is dead. The wording is deliberately ambiguous. It leaves some doubt as to the fate of the shepherd brother, and so “foreshadows” what comes later.
This is not a fight or a duel. The shepherd brother is a bound prisoner, who is yoked in a neck stock. “Beating back and shoulders” means a whip was used.
The lord’s violent reaction to the shepherd brother’s speech clearly shows why this tablet could never be published. Anyone who dared to criticize a great lord would suffer the same fate as the shepherd brother.
{The scene shifts to Lord Fatso’s victory feast.}
4. He eats his food like a pig. The Pig divides the fodder into five big bowls,
and with his hand, he crams it into his mouth --- and chokes it down.
The five big bowls hold the grain of Field #5 that the father has trampled into mash (fodder).
5. "My belly is bloated", he complains; while eating all the food
his hands can grab.
This sentence, and the previous one, allude back to line o8, "to fill his great bull hands".
6. A man, clothed in darkness, climbs in through the window.
The slave women rush to his side.
It's at first surprising to see women rushing towards a man climbing in through a window at night. Although confusing at first, this minor detail is the only clue we have as to the identity of the intruder. It forces us to recognize for ourselves the identity of the man emerging through the window. Although the intruder is never named, it is (of course) the shepherd brother. This is nonetheless a surprise development --- when last seen, the shepherd brother was yoked, bound, and beaten half to death. It's as if he's risen from the dead.
What's most telling is what's not said. The sisters do not express alarm when they see a man climbing through the window, nor do they show surprise when they realize that it's the shepherd brother. They do not give thanks to find him so miraculously free and alive, nor do they rejoice in their own deliverance. They simply go to his side, without a word, as if on cue. It’s as if they knew he was coming, which suggests they also somehow treated their brother’s wounds and aided in his escape.
They are in on the plot. The stage is set for the coup d’état.
7. The man says, “Here’s a gift! A permanent cure
for the bull's great indigestion!”
It’s a line straight out of Hollywood.
8. Nose to nose, the lord and the "man not his servant"{rebel, enemy}
throttle each other.
9. The lord opens his mouth and swears two oaths to his adversary.
10. He gasps, “Feed-grain. . . to abandon! This great eating to diminish!"
Had he not made these two promises, he would have been strangled to death.
11. His mother says, “The Fatted Lord is not a lordly one.
"As for me, I know to place no great trust in him.”
His own mother says that.
It's an odd thing for a mother to say about her own son, just moments after his attempted murder. No cries of shock and alarm? No anguished cries of "My son! My son! Are you okay?" No cries of outrage for this terrible crime? None of this. Nor does she act the least bit surprised by this sudden turn of events. Instead, she just calmly announces that she doesn't really trust Lord Fatso. She's acting more like a conspirator than a mother; and it sounds as if she's speaking for all of the conspirators. Could it be, that Lu-mah's own mother, the woman he supports with his "labor", is in on the plot against him?
Of course she is. A mother knows best: this line also foreshadows the ending.
12. His wife shares his mountain of grain with his slave women
and their slave companions.
What's this? The last that was heard of the long suffering Lady Fatted Bull was a brief mention at the beginning of the story, when she was being summoned (yet again) by the Great Fatted Lord. Now, suddenly, here she is again, cavorting with the slaves and their "companions"? ... the known conspirators? Come to think of it, she's the one with the most to gain from the attempted murder of Mr. Fatted Bull. She seems to have inherited the bull's domains, and her distribution of his "mountain of grain" with such largesse could be construed as some kind of "pay off". Isn't the spouse always the prime suspect in a case like this? Could the shepherd brother and his sisters really have suceeded without the wife as their accomplice? After all, she's the one with the means, the motive, and the opportunity.
But, seriously. . . Notice how the scribe doesn't actually tell us what happened behind the scenes, but he leaves a clue that leaves little doubt as to what really occurred: The wife is present when the Great Fatted Bull drags his captives into the fortress. She falls in love with the (handsome) shepherd when he stands up to the Bull and makes his speech about a man being wise and good. She then watches in horror as the shepherd brother is savagely beaten by her cruel husband. Afterwards, she secretly arranges for the shepherd's escape and for the sisters to treat his wounds. Some time later, she makes a clandestine visit. Words are said, plans are made. . .
You may, perhaps, think I am reading too much into the story. If so, consider this: It cannot be easy being married to the Great Fatted Bull. He's a greedy, demanding, gluttonous man who eats like a pig and who has a bull's appetites; and he's just violently demonstrated what happens to people who cross him. She has to be a desperately unhappy woman. Then the shepherd brother, the answer to her prayers and the solution to all of her problems, is hauled in before her; a prisoner, like herself. So, unless human nature has changed too much in the last 4,000 years, you tell me what happens.
It is easy for a modern reader, unaccustomed to rigid class distinctions, to miss the importance of this clue. A modern reader would assume that the wife inherits her husband's domains, and shares her bounty with those less fortunate, just because she's a nice lady. For an ancient Sumerian, however, this clue would have been a "dead giveaway". Even if he had been "in the dark" about what was going on up to that point, this would have opened his eyes. It must be remembered that the wife is a Lady, with a capital "L", the wife of a great lord. A Sumerian would have been shocked to see a noblewoman frolicking with the slaves in this unseemly manner. It just wasn't done. So her behavior would immediately raise suspicions, and eyebrows.
It doesn't take any great stretch of the imagination to realize that Lu-mah is probably the first cuckold in recorded history.
Notice how the scribe still insists on not identifying the "unknown assailant". It must be assumed by the reader that the shepherd and his father are the "companions". The shepherd is referred to as "the man" (climbing through the window), the "man not his servant" (rebel), the adversary, and the companion; but he is never identified by name.
Lu-mah's reign as a king did not last through his victory feast.
The moral of the story seems to be that the Good King (the shepherd brother) and the Good Queen (the wife) live happily ever after.
13. The fatted bull reaps one single twig of his henbur grain.
Notice how we go from hyperbole (a mountain of grain) in the last sentence, to understatement (a single twig of grain, not even a whole stalk) in this sentence.
14. “What? Only one?” His stomach knows a great hunger.
Well, he did promise to eat less.
{Then . . . }
15. An unmarried woman offers him a garden, with acres and acres of grain. . .
Grain Field #4!
In pasture he grows fat again.
The fields of grain seem to be some kind of dowry offering. The sentence is a comment on the inter-marriage between rich people and the nobility: She has the land, but no royal title (the sign used is munus "woman", and not nin "Lady"). He has the royal title, but no land. A king could often gain through marriage what he could not win by conquest.
"In pasture" has the same meaning as "out to pasture", with its usual connotations of grazing, "retirement", and stud.
16. The man goes to do his work. He walks in the pasture,
completely satisfied [x-x]
17. He converses with the neighbor woman [x-x]
18. The man is not strong, the woman not virtuous. . .
