As we saw was the case with the First Column of the text, the earliest
part preserved of the Second Column contains the close of a speech by a
deity, in which he proclaims an act he is about to perform. Here we may
assume with some confidence that the speaker is Anu or Enlil, preferably
the latter, since it would be natural to ascribe the political
constitution of Babylonia, the foundation of which is foreshadowed, to
the head of the Sumerian pantheon. It would appear that a beginning had
already been made in the establishment of "the kingdom", and, before
proceeding to his further work of founding the Antediluvian cities, he
follows the example of the speaker in the First Column of the text and
lays down the divine enactments by which his purpose was accomplished.
The same refrain is repeated:
The sub(lime decrees) he made perfect for it.
The text then relates the founding by the god of five cities, probably
"in clean places", that is to say on hallowed ground. He calls each by
its name and assigns it to its own divine patron or city-god:
(In clean place)s he founded (five) cit(ies).
And after he had called their names and they had been
allotted to divine rulers(?),--
The . . . of these cities, Eridu, he gave to the leader, Nu-
dimmud,