“Towards the Mountain Range that Gave Birth to Me …”: A Reconstructed širgida Song of Ninurta from Old Babylonian Nippur (Ninurta J/L)

317 Introduction A reconstructed single column imgida tablet in the University Museum in Philadelphia furnishes the partial recovery of another širgida composition of Ninurta that features extensive self-praise of the deity. The preserved text appears to furnish a short version of Enlil’s union with Ninḫursaĝa leading to the flourishing of plant growth in the mountains beyond the borders of the Mesopotamian alluvium. This is invoked as background to Ninurta’s own exploits in the mountains.