Artifact overview
3N-T 211 is an artifact (Clay Tablet) related to the mythological story named 'Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld.' The artifact's condition is Poor and it is currently located at National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad, Iraq, catalogued as record number 3N-T 211. The language of the text contained is Sumerian (Sumero-Akkadian Cuneiform writing system). Its estimated date is 1900—1600 BCE, which is a range based on available data and scholarship. The mythology associated with this artifact includes the Sumerian belief system and related deities: Inanna.
About this artifact
Basic details
| Type | Tablet Clay material |
| Condition | Poor |
| Date created | 1900—1600 BCE |
| Language | Sumerian |
| Writing system | Sumero-Akkadian Cuneiform (script) |
| Location | National Museum of Iraq National Museum of Iraq · Baghdad, Iraq |
| Digital access | CDLI No. P274954 Partially digitized |
| Myth portion | Lines 66-81 |
Provenience
| Discovery | Nippur, Sumer Present-day Al-Qādisiyyah, Iraq |
Museum record data
National Museum of Iraq
National Museum of Iraq · Baghdad, Iraq
Item specifications
| Museum No. | 3N-T 211 |
Mythological contents
Sumerian Religion
The contents of this artifact may depict or reference the following myths and deities associated with this belief system.
Associated myths and deities
| Myths | Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld |
| Deities | Inanna |
Cuneiform Digitial Library Initiative data help_outline
Core CDLI data
| CDLI record No. | P274954 |
| Composite No. | Q000343 |
| Period | Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC) |
| Provenience (origin) | Nippur, Iraq |
| Primary publication | CDLI Literary 000343, ex. 024 |
| Author/date | CDLI/2014ff. |
3N-T 211 is a clay tablet that contains lines 66-76 (obverse) and 77-81 (reverse) of "Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld," an afterlife myth in Sumerian cuneiform. The artifact is located at the National Museum of Iraq (Baghdad, Iraq) and may have been recataloged as museum number IM 058380. The small, circular shaped rock was discovered in the 1890s during excavations in Nippur and was published by William R. Sladek in 1974 as figure number three.
3N-T 211 was an important artifact for the decipherment of "Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld." William R. Sladek was the sole scholar who published the translation, transliteration, and sketch of the artifact in his PhD dissertation.[1] There are two other 3N-T series artifacts that provided usable translation text for this composition: 3N-T 499 and 3N-T 400.
Notes
Extended artifact data for 3N-T 211
See detailed information about this artifact from the entity that has access to it.
Location description
- National Museum of Iraq Baghdad, Iraq
Full address: National Museum of Iraq, Allawi, Baghdad, , Iraq
The Baghdad Archaeological Museum was established with the help of the British author Gertrude Bell in 1926. In the 1920s the Museum was under the Ministry of Public Works while under the Ministry of Education in the 1930s. Its collections are considered among the most important in the world and the Museum has traditionally exhibited collections featuring the 5,000 year long history of Mesopotamia in its 28 galleries. The original buildings (Old Museum building, Administration Building, Library, and Old Storage Building) were built on the present site with the help of the German Government in 1964-1966 and opened in 1966. The New Museum Building was built by the Italian Government in 1983. The newest building, the New Collections Buildin...
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Record numbers
| No. | Unknown |
| Digitized record | CDLI No. P274954 |
| Artifact access | Unknown |
Full artifact data
| Museum No. | IM 058380 |
| Period | Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC) |
| Material | Clay |
| Genre | Literary |
| Usable Lines | 15 |
| Language | Sumerian Cuneiform |
| Provenience (Origin) | Nippur, Iraq |
Record notes
About these data
| Retrieval date | Aug. 8, 2022 |
| Copyright | National Museum of Iraq |
Render
See a rendering of the artifact in images, text, and other form factors. Where available, a translation is included.
Digital scan
OMNIKA Reader
Good news. This original artifact is digitized and available in the OMNIKA Library.
Text: "ETCSL 1.4.1: Inana's Descent to the Nether World"
Sumerian ⟶ English a
| Line # | Translation |
|---|---|
| Source a Black et al., "ETCSL 1.4.1: Inana Netherworld." More info launch | |
All texts
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Mythological contents
This artifact contains mythological contents associated with Sumerian Religion. The main narrative mentioned may be Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld, a Afterlife myth. The deities depicted or mentioned in the artifact may be: Inanna.
Parent belief system
- Sumerian Religion · PolytheisticHeads up. This Religion belongs to the Mesopotamian collection on the basis of shared myths and deities.
Sumerian religion refers to spiritual beliefs practiced from ca. 4500-1900 BCE in Mesopotamia, or modern-day southern Iraq. Many deities were diffused into other Mesopotamian cultures.
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Associated myth
Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld Afterlife mythNuthsell
Inanna descends from the great above to the great below. She abandons several temples and heads for open country. She gives precise instructions to her companion—Ninsubur: Inanna says "if I don't return in three days, go to the temples and plead on my behalf." At the netherworld she enters and goes through seven gates before she is turned into a corpse. Ninsubur follows the instructions and tells Inanna's father Enkil what happened. He helps her by sending two a-sexual creatures to sneak in and bring her back to life. Once Inanna is alive she ascends while being escorted by demons from the netherworld. The demons allow her to trade her husband Dumuzi in her place.
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Deities depicted
CDLI data for P274954
The artifact named 3N-T 211 is listed in the CDLI database as record number P274954. It belongs to composite number Q000343 .
About the CDLI
Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative Est. 1998The Cuneiform Digitial Library Initiative (CDLI) is a collaborative project among the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Oxford, and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (Berlin, Germany). The project is funded by various universities and donors in the hopes of cataloging, translating, and digitizing artifacts with text in cuneiform script.
Record numbers
Record notes
About these data
| Retrieval date | Aug. 8, 2022 |
| Copyright | CDLI @ UCLA |
Artifact condition
The artifact named '3N-T 211' is appraised as being in Poor condition based on how much reliance is placed on other resources to make it complete and readable.
| Condition | Excellent | Just OK | Poor |
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  | |
| Completeness | More than 80% | 50 - 80% | Less than 50% |
| Fragmentation | Minor | Moderate | Significant |
| Damage | Minor | Moderate | Significant |
| Legibility | Highly readable | Somewhat readable | Unintelligible |
What's a 'joined' artifact?
A joined artifact is one that was originally part of the other and was broken or fragmented at some point in time. Joins are common among clay tablets because they may get broken during discovery and transportation. The join is notated with the + sign. For example, if tablets A000 and Z999 are joined, we would express this relationship by grouping them as A000 + Z999 to indicate they are related.
If the fragments are owned, maintained, and cataloged by separate museums then classifying the join relationship is critical for accurate translations.
Cite this page
OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. "3N-T 211 / Inanna's Descent." OMNIKA – World Mythology Index, OMNIKA Foundation, 01 May. 2019, omnika.org/stable/119. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
OMNIKA (2019, May 01). 3N-T 211 / Inanna's Descent. Retrieved from https://omnika.org/stable/119
OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. "3N-T 211 / Inanna's Descent." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation. Created May 01, 2019. Accessed October 9, 2025. https://omnika.org/stable/119.
