The basic narrative of Ni 12501 is one in which the storm god Ishkur is held captive in the netherworld (kur). Ishkur’s father, Enlil, convened a divine assembly, asking one of the other gods to retrieve Ishkur. However, only Fox volunteers to go. Fox successfully entering the kur by accepting the food and drink offered to him but hiding them in his receptacle instead of eating them. It is unknown whether Fox successfully completes the rescue1.
The story preserved on Ni 12501 is so far unique, and there is no evidence that detailed knowledge of it survived into later periods. Scholar Dr. Jana Matuszak2 examined the mythical narrative contained in the tablet hence adds significantly to our knowledge of Mesopotamian mythology, while also offering glimpses into the use of motifs in telling stories about the mythological past.
Noted that the Sumerian language has been dead for 4,000 years. Spoken by the people of Sumer, an ancient Mesopotamian civilization in modern-day Iraq, it is one of the world’s oldest recorded languages. It is also considered an isolate, meaning it’s not related to any known language.3
Footnotes
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Oster, Sandee. 2025. “Study Translates Fragmentary Ancient Sumerian Myth Around 4,400 Years Old.” Phys.org, July 22, 2025. Accessed August 27, 2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-fragmentary-ancient-sumerian-myth-years.html. ↩
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Matuszak J. OF CAPTIVE STORM GODS AND CUNNING FOXES: NEW INSIGHTS INTO EARLY SUMERIAN MYTHOLOGY, WITH AN EDITION OF NI 12501. Iraq. 2024;86:79-108. doi:10.1017/irq.2024.19 ↩
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Lee, Tori. 2025. “UChicago Sumerologist Translates Forgotten 4,400-Year-Old Myth.” University of Chicago News, August 15, 2025. Accessed [date]. https://news.uchicago.edu/story/uchicago-sumerologist-translates-forgotten-4400-year-old-myth. ↩