A HYMN TO ENLIL-BANI.

(W—B. 160.)

W—B. 160 is a six-sided prism pierced perpendicularly by a round hole. It contains about 175 lines in total, making it the longest document currently published concerning Enlil-bani, the eleventh king of the Isin dynasty (2201—2177 B.C.).

The tablet is dated in the 17th(?) year of Samsu-iluna, 2063 (?) B.C., which is more than a century after the reign of Enlil-bani. The prism was recovered at Ellasar and proves that these hymns to deified kings of the preceding period continued in use under the rulers of the Semitic kingdom of Babylon, or at least attracted the religious and literary interest of the scribes in the older Sumerian cities of that period. A fragment of a hymn to the same king is published in my "Historical and Religious Texts," No. 38.See Obv. 10.

Two Babylonian chronicles preserve a tradition that Enlil-bani was not the son of his predecessor Girra-imitti, but a gardener who was placed upon the throne by his predecessor to continue the dynasty (there being no heir to perpetuate the line).KING, Chronicles concerning early Babylonian Kings II 12+15. For tablets dated in his reign see "Sumerian Grammar," p. 17; CHIERA, PBS. VIII, p. 70 and SCHEIL, RA. 14, 151.

W—B. 160. Col. I.


7.	Light of the lands
8.	In princely power . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9.	Who the totality of decrees putteth on.
10.	Unto the boundary of heaven and earth,
11.	The wide dwelling peoples he caused to dwell.
12.	The favorite of Enlil.
13.	Whom Ninlil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
14.	A scepter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
15.	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
16.	A far famed staff.
17.	The multitude of people thou . . . . . . .
18.	Whom Enlil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
19.	Far-famed son of Sin.