Lugalbanda, Beer and Babes

From Lugal­ban­da:

An will fetch Ningue­na­ka for me from her moun­tain home — the expert woman, who redounds to her moth­er’s cred­it, Ninkasi the expert, who redounds to her moth­er’s cred­it: her fer­ment­ing-vat is of green lapis lazuli, her beer cask is of refined sil­ver and of gold; if she stands by the beer, there is joy, if she sits by the beer, there is glad­ness; as cup­bear­er she mix­es the beer, nev­er weary­ing as she walks back and forth, Ninkasi, the keg at her side, on her hips; may she make my beer-serv­ing perfect.”

13-02-16 Lugalbanda 1 Beer recipe13-02-16 Lugalbanda 2 Beer receipt

left: A Sumer­ian beer recipe. right: Receipt for a ship­ment of “best” beer from a brew­er, c. 2050 BC from the Sumer­ian city of Umma. 

text from:

(Elec­tron­ic Text Cor­pus of Sumer­ian Lit­er­a­ture) Lugal­ban­da and Enmerkar [Sumer­ian texts and Eng­lish translations]:

23657. Lugal­ban­da
23658. Lugal­ban­da and the Moun­tain Cave
23659. Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta
23660. Enmerkar and En-suhgir-ana

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