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Sumer and Babylon · Lugal-e (The Exploits of Ninurta)

Sharur, the weapon that talks

EvidenceDocumentedThe text exists and is quoted from a published translation. What it describes is a separate question.What this means
ReferenceLugal-e (The Exploits of Ninurta)
Writtenc. 2100 BCE
SetMythic time
Ninurta's weapon Sharur flies ahead to scout the enemy Asag, reports back to him with advice, and fights on its own.

Summary by the editors. Translation: Summary in my own words

Read it literally

A sentient weapon that flies on reconnaissance. A drone with an AI.

What scholars say

Sumerian epic.

Looks like technology From the sky

Quick answers about Lugal-e

Where is Lugal-e found?

Lugal-e (The Exploits of Ninurta) (Sumer and Babylon). Translation quoted: Summary in my own words.

When was Lugal-e written?

c. 2100 BCE.

What do scholars say about Lugal-e?

Sumerian epic.

Rabbit holes in this passage

GodNinurtaAfter defeating an army of living stones, the warrior god Ninurta holds a trial of rocks, pronouncing a different fate on each kind of stone for how it behaved in the war. His weapon can talk, too; scholars read the myth as floods, mountains and irrigation dressed up as battle. What does a verdict on stones sound like?ObjectSharurIn a Sumerian epic from around 2100 BCE, a mace talks. Sharur brings its god news of a monster, flies over the mountains to scout the enemy, returns to brief him, and gives tactical advice, about four thousand years before anyone built a scout drone; scholars call it a personified divine weapon. What does a weapon say mid-battle?

Sources

  1. The Exploits of Ninurta (Lugal-e), ETCSL t.1.6.2, University of OxfordPrimary text

Scholarly dates are rounded. The wording follows the named public-domain translation.

Updated