[1] It is named after Naram-Sin of Akkad – a prominent monarch of the late 3rd millennium BCE, under whose suzerainty the Akkadian empire reached its zenith - and the Cutheans (or inhabitants of Kutha).
[2]: 32–33 Naram-Sin is the protagonist and his foes are the Umman Manda (or Ummān-Manda), variously described as Hurrians from Malgium, cave-dwellers and demonic bird-like creatures, depending on which version of the epic is consulted.
The text then harkens back to the time of Enmerkar, the legendary Sumerian founder of Uruk, who offended the gods by not heeding their omens and whose failure to leave a memorial of his achievements caused Naram-Sin to be unable to pray for him.
Receiving an unfavorable omen, in an act of sheer hubris he brazenly repudiates it, "I will cast aside that (oracle) of the gods; I will be in control of myself" and sends forth three armies over three years, each one of which is annihilated.
Finally, Naram-Sin admonishes future rulers, describing his warning to them to heed the omens of the gods, recorded on a stela in a tablet box which he left in the Emeslam, Nergal's temple in Kutha, to protect themselves but at all costs to avoid or appease the hordes of Enlil.