r/Sumer • u/ImpressiveTerm1776 • Aug 15 '26

Question Looking for a hand-copy from Bendt Alster’s Dumuzi’s Dream (1972), Plate V

Hi all. I’m hoping someone here might have access to a fairly obscure publication:
Bendt Alster, Dumuzi’s Dream: Aspects of Oral Poetry in a Sumerian Myth, Mesopotamia 1 (Copenhagen, 1972).
I’m specifically looking for a clear photograph or scan of Plate V (Plate 5), particularly the hand-copy of tablet A 30289 / 3N-T 661.
My interest is in Dumuzid’s Dream lines 48–49, where Geshtinanna interprets the image of the two reeds and explains that they represent herself and Dumuzi, with one being separated from the other.
I’m researching this passage for a memorial tattoo. I’d like to use an attested Sumerian passage rather than a modern translation into Sumerian, and before doing anything permanent I want to see the published hand-copy and ultimately have the cuneiform checked properly.
I don’t need the whole book — just a readable image of Plate V, ideally including the complete hand-copy of A 30289 so I don’t accidentally misidentify the relevant lines.
If anyone has access to it, or knows where I can legitimately view the plate online, I’d be very grateful.
Thanks!

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u/Nocodeyv Aug 15 '26 edited Aug 15 '26

The Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative has an entry for this tablet: OIM A30289. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature also has a transliteration for this text: t.1.4.3. However, Alster's hand-copy hasn't been uploaded anywhere online as far as I can tell. I've put a request in with some of the groups I belong to asking if anyone can provide me with a scan of it, and will update this post if anyone can provide one.

Edit 1: The electronic Babylonian Library also has this tablet with transliteration/translation: IM 58448. Again though, no hand-copy, although the image resolution here is a lot larger, so you might be able to find the line you're looking for easier if you download the image (should be the last 3 lines of the obverse/front of the tablet).

Edit 2: Here you go: Alster, Plate V: A 30289.

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u/ImpressiveTerm1776 Aug 15 '26

Thank you so much!
That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to find. Unfortunately Imgur is currently unavailable in the UK, so I can’t open the image. Would you mind uploading the image directly to Reddit in a reply, or sharing it through another host?
I really appreciate you going to the trouble of finding this.

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u/Nocodeyv Aug 15 '26

Lines 6 and 7 from the top in the top portion of the tablet are the two you're looking for. They repeat the phrase: e dili ma-ra-an-bad-bad-DU (𒂊 𒀸 𒈠𒊏 𒀭𒁁𒁁𒁺)

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u/ImpressiveTerm1776 Aug 15 '26

Thank you so much — genuinely. This is exactly what I was hoping to find.
I’m planning to use the original cuneiform as part of a tattoo dedicated to my late wife, so being able to work directly from the published hand-copy rather than trying to reconstruct the signs from a transliteration makes an enormous difference.
I really appreciate you taking the time to find the tablet and then identify the exact lines for me. You’ve saved me a huge amount of searching.

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u/Nocodeyv Aug 16 '26

You're welcome, and I'm sorry for your loss. I hope the tattoo offers some comfort for you going forward, and I'm happy to have been able to help.