# Robert D. Biggs 1971: An Archaic Sumerian Version of the Kesh Temple Hymn from Tell Abū Ṣalābīkh

> Robert D. Biggs, 1971. 6 records on Mysteries Department cite it. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 61(2), pp. 193-207. Edition of the Early Dynastic IIIa…

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[Sources](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources)[Unread cuneiform: half a million tablets and the limits of Sumerian](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform)Robert D. Biggs 1971

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# An Archaic Sumerian Version of the Kesh Temple Hymn from Tell Abū Ṣalābīkh

Robert D. Biggs, 1971.

**Unread cuneiform: half a million tablets and the limits of Sumerian** Articledoi: **[10.1515/zava.1971.61.2.193](https://doi.org/10.1515/zava.1971.61.2.193)** 0

## What it's used for here

Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 61(2), pp. 193-207. Edition of the Early Dynastic IIIa copies of the Kesh Temple Hymn from Abu Salabikh (c. 2600 BC), about eight centuries older than the Old Babylonian copies and close to them except in spelling; Biggs notes the formidable obstacles these early literary texts put to comprehension. Used for the one Early Dynastic literary text that can be read through its later parallel.

## Cited by on this site 6 records

[The Abu Salabikh literary tablets (IAS), including the Kesh Temple Hymn and the Zame hymns](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform/artifacts/ART0DEDQRQ9Q3ZW/the-abu-salabikh-literary-tablets-ias-including-the-kesh)

ART

[The Abu Salabikh Kesh Temple Hymn is readable because its Old Babylonian duplicate of eight centuries later matches it…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform/evidence/EVD0DEDYS8MZGTA/the-abu-salabikh-kesh-temple-hymn-is-readable-because-its)

Evidence

EVD

[Scribes at Fara and Abu Salabikh copy the earliest Sumerian literature, including the Kesh Temple Hymn and the Zame hymns](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform/events/EVT0DEDP4P152NH/scribes-at-fara-and-abu-salabikh-copy-the-earliest-sumerian)

EVT

[Robert D. Biggs](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform/people/FIG0DEDNFSKFEYQ/robert-d-biggs)

FIG

[The unread cuneiform: half a million tablets and the limits of Sumerian](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform)

The mystery article

MYS

[Why do the Early Dynastic literary texts from Fara and Abu Salabikh resist reading, and can they be read without later duplicates?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform/questions/QST0DEDT3AM4NHK/why-do-the-early-dynastic-literary-texts-from-fara-and-abu)

Question

QST

## Cite it

```
Robert D. Biggs (1971). An Archaic Sumerian Version of the Kesh Temple Hymn from Tell Abū Ṣalābīkh. https://doi.org/10.1515/zava.1971.61.2.193
```

[Find it at doi.org](https://doi.org/10.1515/zava.1971.61.2.193)

Key

**SRC** 0DEDJ4RSV9CP

Kind

Journal article

Rights

The publisher's

Kept

31 Oct 2026, for editors

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[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

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