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A THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF OLD-8ABYLONIAN PERSONAL- NAMES
VOLUME -I
"
L
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A DISSERTATIO" SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF,DROPSIECOLLEGE
IN
CAN~IDACY
/
FOR TUE DEGREE OF
DbcTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ,
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I
BY
ALPIN WENDELL BOWES
'MERION, PENNSYLVANIA APRIL, 1987 ,
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The A•• rican JourDal afSe.itic L;.ang'Yages and Lit.etatur••• .
t
'.':'"
'fA.orit••·.. " '. ,
fUr Orient,foracbung.
.. f;;. auecellet.i, The A,orite. 9£ t.he Ur III (UPubblieaz1oni del S••inario di S•• it.isl'tiea,·· Ric.rehe I; Naple., 1966).
·•... period
.U. «. , \ 'fl." ~"
Ancient Si'pper R. Harria, Ancient Sipper; A De.ographic Study of an Old-Babylonian Cit.y (1894-1595 B.C.> ("Uit,geven van het. Nederland. Histori.c:h-· Arcbaeologi.eh Inat.it.uu:t 't.g Ist.anbul" II XX'XVI; Net.herlands, 19?5). AHG
J. J. St.a•• , .Die akkadiaehe Ha.ang.bung (IIMit.teilungen der vorderaaiatisch-aegypt..ischen G••ellachaft.," XLIV; Leipzig, 1939).
ANET
J. 8. Prit.chard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Text'Jlelating t.o the Old Testa.ent., 3rd ed. (Princeton, 1969).
AOAT
Alter Orient Mnd Alte. T.et.a.ent.
APN
K. L. Tallqv1at., Assyrian personal Ha!.a ("Act.a Societ.at.is Scient.ieruJl Fennicae," XLVIII/1; H.la1nk~, 1918). viii
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APNMT
,'H. B •. Hutt.on, A.or~te';ers9nal Names in t~' HA"r1~ Text._: A St.ruct.u'faJ.. and. Lexical St.udy· (Baltlaore, 1965).
Arch~ve.
d Orient. 41les t II
1 ,~2;
..
~en.Ya,
..
',( I·Haut.e. , , ".. 1980)., () -
I
ARM
ArChiye: rOllle. de,Mati~:
ARM
M. '9i9, H. Kizilyay, and F~ R. Kraus, Eaki aa~il zaaanina _it. Mippur hukuki veS1kila~i ('"Alt.babylonische Recht,aurkunden aua Nippur: Iat.anbul,' 1952) ....
Y,
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,
II
ArOr AS
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Aa.vriologlcal Studi••.
6sj.a.
ASSF BA
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Archiv Or1ent.Aln1.
BAP
Sosiet.8S.i4 Sciept.ialua Fepnies•• . Beit.rlge zur A••yriologie und semit.iaeben SpriqbWissensqhaft. B. Mei.sner, BeitrlS. zu. §ltbabyloniseben' Priyat.recht (""A••yrialogiac:he Bibl-iothek, XI; ,Leipzig, 1893). II
BASOR
Bullet.in of t.he A••rican Schools of Re.earch.
BBD
E. Grant, BabYl$nian Buaipe•• Docu.ent. of the Cla••ic.l Period (Philadelphia, 1919).
BD
L. Wateraan, Busine•• Docu.ent.. of t.he Ha•• urapi' period fro. t.he -Brit.ish Muaey• (London, 1916).
BE
The Babylgpi.n Expedit.ion of the Universit.y of Pepnsylyapia' •
BIN
B.bylpniao In.cript.ions 318.s I . Niea.
BiOr
B1bliot.heca Ori.nta!isu
BRM
BabYlonian Recgrda io the Library of J. Ejerpoot. lorg,o.
BWANT
Beisrlge ~ur ~a§eQ.cbaft yOI Alten ynd Neyen Te.~•••~.
.,.
Qriep,~
.
ix
in~t.he Co!lec~ion
o£
•
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,.I
co••on gender."
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Y~g.an~
Ki~ilyay.
H.
,apprQx~.at..1V.
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. .'" ·A. L,,!, ,Oppenl)ei., et. aI ... , eda., Tbe A'"lyrian Dict.ionary;gf tbe:Oriental Inatitute, of the Upivtt,rait.y oj' Cbieago (C,bieago, i95~- ) .. ~
, ,CAD
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I: E'. 'S. Edwards, ,e't.; al ... eda~, Tbe Cambridge Ancient ,H1et.ory~ Vola.' I-'ll, 3rd, edit.ion
. CAB
. (O...b~id9~! ·1:~70'-1~75).
9,
E. Grant. J ~ 990''''9[' Pocy"ent.. in t.h'e , S,it.b C9119'se', t..t.brary (Haver£Qrd, Pa., 1918).
Ii
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G,. 80y.1", CqOt.fibUiigD A l"hiatoir, /"y~!diq~.~., ~I.lr. d¥n•• t.ie ~abyloni.nne (Peri." 2:'928).. '~ . " .' if ' ,
o
coho Coperihagel\ '
'" cqho~t.at.i ve •
'.,
T.~Jacob.en,
Cuoeilor, T.,~ in the Nationa'l Ius.....:. Copenbagen, Cbief'ly of EcOpo.ical,~ontept.. (Leiden, 1939).
const.ruct .,
~
~
,
Cun.ilAr' ',Ten. ,fro' Babylonian Tablet. e ie, .1.n 1;h8 Brit'iah'lu.eua.
.t.,.
, f" • ,
v.rb'al
-
dative. '.
..,
deteJr.1n.t.~~••
I. Nekat.a,"'Deit.i•• io t.he Mari i-Co'1uabia Univeraity" 1974).
'" \(ohl-r 'I1U!.. ~. 'Ungnad. Haa....·. ..b!· a~ G.~at1;. , ' v o l a . rIll-V! (Leipzig" 1909-1923)~ .. ' " '\ , . D. A1 t.en Qr'ient. .( Wj.eabaden'; '196'7) .' ,.; .. ."
HSAO
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O~ Edz~rd~ ed~" H.id.l~Urg.t'St~die~ ~u~~
i.llpV.
iaperat.ive.
In£.
.in~i~itive.
int.erJ.
int.erJect.ion.
interrog.
interrogative.
lOS
Iarae1 Orient.al Studie••
;
,.'
;.p
,
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K. Noth_ Die lareeliti8cben PerloDennaaen
IPM ~
ia Rahaen der 9Iaeinaeait.t.chen Naaengebung ("Beitrlge zur Wia.~n8cha£t voa Alten und .euen Teata.ent," 111/10; Stut.tga~t, 1928; repri~t. edit.ion, Hildesheim, 19~6). .
JAOS
, • Journa'! of the Aaerican Orient.al Societ".
JCS
Journal of Cunei for" St.udiea.
.
" .,."JMES ~
;.
•
Journal of Near East.ern Studiea.
G}
J'RAS
Journal of the Ro,ya1 A81at1,c Societ.y·~
KB
K,ailJ.nschrift,liche B!.bliOt,httk.
xi I
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L' an"throponyJltie H. Li~.t., L'lntbtoponay!e 'su.frieJipe dana 1•• documents de la 3e dyna.t.ie'di'Ur;
..
'(~"Bjlbl'~oth~q~e de la.Facult.' d~ Philosoph!e
et. Let.t.re. d~Universit.' de Li.g.... ·CLXXXf Peri4h 1-968). '.
Mitteilungen deE V9~~.F.s1att·ch-~.~YPriacben G• •llscbaft· II
, verbal' s{e. (in t.he Glossary)"
N
v·
th~
gra••• tica~ .ections of
Nippur •
N
F. Po~pOriio. N:::t :: bu~tf: ;:--2?::a :1 un·
....
.-
A
Nabu
. di ~
b!l.
8
0_8
< __
Si_9
. 1
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2
the Middle and Neo-Assyrian by K. L. Tallqviat, A. T. Clay,
2
1
the Kassite by
and the Neo-Babylonian by K. L. Tallqvist.
3
Most
of theae works contain lists of namQS from the available t~blets and a glossary of the name el~~enta with their .eaning ..
Some early studies also atteapted to investigate the forms of the names.
For example, H.
Babylonian names 'into three forms:
Ran~e
divided all Old-
sentences r status
constructus formations, and single subatantives.
4
K. L.
Tallqvist gave examples of various two-'end three-element names and the hypocriatic or abbreviated names which developed fro. 5
them.
In 1939 J. J. Stamm published the .oat thorough study -
of Akkadian personal n•••8--0i. akkadische Nemengebung,
6
a
dissertation he had writt.n under the supervision o£ Benno Landsberger.
In .the introduction Stamm
di8cuaa~d
the v&rious
grammatical foras in which neaes appear, and then he deelt with the meaning o£ the names. di££e~ent
,eight
He divided all names into twenty-
categories, including greeting namea r
,1 Knut L.,allqviot, T Assyrian P ersonal Naaes
(IIA SSF ,"
XLVIII/1; Helsinki, 1918>.
2
Albert T. Clay, Personal Nam•• $[0. Cuneiform Inscript.ions of the C.sett.e perioA. (IIYOSR," I; New Haven, 1912).
3 Knut L. Tallqvist, !N~U~~~~~~II-B~~~~~~~gn
Gea u en ("ASSF," XXXII/2; Helsinki, 1905>. 4
EBPN, pp. 5-6.\
\
5 NBNr pp. xvi ff.
6.1ohann Jakob Sta•• , Die akkadische Ne.engebung (IIMVAeG," .
.
XLIV; Leipzig, 1 9 3 9 > . " '"
,/
3
thanksgiving
nam~s~
requeats~ complaints~
This analysia
etc .
.;
was a maJor advance Over the earlier studies of Akkadian personal names
sinc~~offered
more than Just a dictionary-
type definition of the n~.* elements.
together and provided some rationale for the existence
nam~s -~
It grouped similar
o£ each type of name. Stam.'s work is, however, too inclusive in nature.
It
included sources from all time periods (Old Akkadian to Late Babylonian) and all geographic loca~ions~ Thus~ one"cannot . ,~ get a picture of cha~~cteristics and peculiarities in a specific location or ti,e period~
Nonetheless, Stamm's book
is still the standard reference source for studying Akkadian personal names, even though it ia now over forty-five years old. Studies of Akkadian personal nalles aince Stamm, 'like the works of his predecessors, have been more specific with regards to time and place.
They have usually limited themaelvea
to a specific city or area, e.g. Nuzi
1
and Mari.
2
There
has also been an increasing interest in probing the name studies for mQre than Just lingUistic ends.
Several scholars
have used naae studies to investigate and portray the religious and sooial makeup of a population. which are 1
~~ioned
in
~he
The various gods
personal naa. . can be exaained
~o
cz::::::::::
Ignace 3. Gelb, Pierre M. Purves, and Allan A. MacRae, Nuzl Personal Naaes ("OIP," LVII; Chicago, 1943>. 2Haurice Birot, 3ean-Robert Kupper, and Olivier Rouault, Rtpertoire analytique, To••s I-XIV. XVIII et textes divers hors-collect"ion. Pre.i.re parti.: No•• propre. ("ARM," XVIii; Parie p 1979")J and 3ean Bot.t-6ro and AnClr6 Finet., R6pertoireanalyt.igue de. to••• I • V ("ARM," X~; Paris p 1954).
4 lan9ua9~
get an .ide,a bfthe pantheon 'in a city, and the Ila~
the nalles
giv. sOlle rough
~ix~ure
ethnic
e8t~.ate
of
of the linguistic and
Using this approach J. J. M.
of the population.
Roberts described the earliest Seaitic pantheon,l and I. Nakata has done the sea. for the pantheon at Mari.
i.
2
\
Muz! Personal Naaes by I. J. Gelb, P. M. Purves, and A. Ma~R8• .
,an
atudies-..
exc.llen~
A.
exaaple of a Ilodern ..,approach to nallle
The book contains the usual naJle list and glossary of
eleaents, in this Akkadian.
c~se
in Suaerian and Hurrian, as well as
It also has SOMe discussion o£ gra••atica'l foras 4nd
distinctions b,tw••n theophoric and non-theophoric naaes.
In addition, it Makes aOMe observations on the: nature of the panth.o~
, and the lingUistic mixture
are not exhaustive, but
th~y
~t
Muzi.
3
These reaarks
indicate the value of nell. studies
for understanding ancient societiea.
With all of the studies which have been produced in the past decades, one Might expect that everything which could
~~
said about personal- ~a••s haa been said, but that is not the caee.
There has been very 'little effort
~ade
to analyze and
synthesize the religious inforMation, which Can be gained from the personal neaes beyond Sta.a's categories.
Most religious
analysis stops with a discussion of the gods which Make up the pantheon. I
However, there ia Much More to be g.Lned fro. .
J. J. M. Roberta, The Earliest
~.itic
Pantbeon
(BaltiMore, 1972). i>
•
2
>-
Ic;hiro Nakata, "Deities in the Kari Texts" (Ph.D. dis~ertation, Columbia Univer.i~y, 1974).
3~ pp. 5, 282-284, 289-290.~
.
,
5
studying personal names than aimply a list gods in the
Q%
the most popular
pant~eon.
As early as 1910 C. H. W. Johns
no~ed
that personal name
studies could be used to discovor the peraonal
practiQal
~nd
1
religio~of
ancient Semitic peoples as distinguished :CroM the
official religion o£ the.~riests and maJor temples.
Johns '"
believed that each Babylonian family was free to select the personal naMes for their own children,. Uspontaneous,_'end free ,
from preJudice or distractions."
1
Therefore,. he
argtied~
personal name studies should be able to reveal the rel1gious v . concerns of the common Babylonian person in contrast to the official state religion.
Of cours.,. there are aome limitations
-to this type of investigati.
;
7
N_ture ang Scope of the.Preaen. Work The purpose o£ this dissertation is 'to investigate the personal rel1gion .0£ theophoric personal the four
~ities
All of the
01d-BabylQ~ian. tilkes
as shown in the
We'have uaed the nam.a attested in
na~ee.
of Ur, Laras, Nippur, and Sippar as
~ame6 at
each location have been grouped
~
sample.
'int~
cat.egories which represent- broad areaa of divine -involvel\EJlnt in the lives of mankind.
Oaissiona will be noted and
-
~
This type of cOllparative1study shQuld provide some insight into the popular There were
~eligious
ac~ually t~ree
-in Old-Babylonian times. of the lly~h8.
clim.te of each city.
levels of'religious
~elief
(1) The firat'level
~as
the religion
Theae stories of the Babylonian gods, .
'1'
goddessea have been tranalated
operating
a~d
and amply described and
analyzed in the many booka on ancient MeGopotam!an religiop (aee the Blbliography for many examples>. (2) The official religion of the state proyided a second ~
Ranger's listing of the various goda,lraligious personnel: and
r
"
offerings at each cit.y provides a basic, first. step in analyzing dO
1
'.
The maJor ones are tranalatect ,in J. B. Pritchard-, ad.. Ancient. Near E.at.ern Text.a Relat.i'nq to the Old Teat.ament. i 3rd edition (Princet9n, 1969).
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the official religion •.
f£
(3) The focus
'
c
this dissertation is on the thlrdJlevel,
,
.
the 'popular religion of the people.
This level is still
largely unknown because ther9 are few documents to illustrate ; it. However, a pr.oper analysis' of the onomastic evidence
,
.
..r'\.".
.'
w.ill provide satRe' preliJainary {indings whi'~ I!a¥ then be ;
•
•
I
We hope to ~harpen th~
supple••nted froll other sources. f
unClerstanding of Old-Babylonian popular
characteristics end variations of religiQus
.
' _ .
re~g~on
by ·noting .the "
e~p~es81on
at
four different·cities. The work is divided into ~wo Il-.in secticins. .
T,he first
~~~
chapter~ deals wi~h ~9~ p~'1er religious cli~ate of each of
these- four gods.
O~d-Babylonian
..
cities, how each
~ity
viewed its
The second chapter focuses on several llaJor
nalles,are found at the cities.
go~s'whose
The epithe-t;sfor eachJgo'd
"-
, will be d4[l-t.egorized at each city as in ,.t:he..~~~s~ section, .
scholars diVide this period, into.~wo parts.p:£' about. 200 130hanne. Renger,
··G8t.t.~rna.en in dar a~t.babylonisch.n
Zeit,'~ in Heidelkurqer St.udien zyll Altfim' 'Orkent, D. ~dzard (Wt••baden, 1~6'), pp. 137-171:
o.
edit.ed by ~
.. "
9,·
years each,,-"calling t.he £irat. t.he nIsin-Larse" period and
"
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the second the "Old-Bapylonian"
periO'~"
and other scho.lars
divide the period into tHree"l but we ~ill not make any such
~iatinctions.
'v
Four ancient Near Eastern cities have been selected fOr inveatigetio.n in t.hia paper:
'Ur,. Laraa, Nippur, 'and Sippar.
Their selection is based on t.wo conaiderat~ons: '£i~st" each
.'
of t.heaefcit.ies haa yielded a large 'enough number of OldBabylonian tablet. namea" and
~econd,
~o
provide, corpus of over·
t.hey are
~OO,theophoric'
'geographical~y d~_parat.e. '-
Two
~
of t.hem, Ur and L.rsa, are located in the extreme southern part of Babylonia.
~ippur
ia "in l:.he cent.ral regfon and
Sippar in, the north. ,The t.exts which have ,been used for this study only a
sampl~ng
.
"
of the tablets which
.'
h~ve
reprG~8nt
been found in each
city, aince many hundreds of tablets' are not yet published. ·' 1
Of
I
.
t.~e
published tablets which are available for study,.
~~o
"
(1) Only transliterated tablets,have been used, and (2) ~an
O~ly~ablets
whoae
definitely be pinpointed have been ae1ected.
or1gi~
Thia second
liMitation haa meant thah we have ignored all lettera.
It is
difficult to determine t.he ci'ty of ,esidence/origin of the pe9ple
mentione~
in let.ters, since let.t.ers were sent. from
one city, t.o another.
The, tablets which have been investigated ~
=
1WilliaJl W. Halld, review of Di. "zweita 2wischenzeit." Babylonians, by Dietz Ot.to E~zard, in Bibliotbeca Oriept.alis 16 (1959>, p. 2~4. ' "-
·, \.
10 in our st.udy are economj.c, legel, end edminist.ret.i ye texts. The school t.ext.shave alao been included, but t.heae present additional p~oblea. which will be discussed below •
.
•
Deteraining difficult.
w~ich't.ablets
belong to a city aay be
Often eerly archaeologists 'were not careful in ,..
identifying the find-spots 'of tablets.
Frequently, tablets
were purchas.d froa dealers,Qr bedouin who aistakenly ~t
,
i~entified thell with a site. (ls a result, Many collections "
have wrongly mixed together tablets from sever,l cities. Fqrtunetely, in recent tillee,scholera have painstakingly ,
,~
begun the task of sorting out the various colleetions. D. Charpin has publ~.he~ a list of the Ur aaterial. -
1------_·
2
-3
E. Stone's dissertation covers the Nippur tableta,
R. Harris's work onSippar list.s th. Sippar sources.
and 4
For
~he Larse aaterial there is no single authoritative li~'at present. well as R.
The bibliogrsphy of R. F. G.
B~~ger's
Sw~et's
dissertation
Handbuch del' Keilschriftliteratur
6
5
as
have
\
1
if
"
E.g. see Herten Stol, review o£ Early Old Babylonian Docullents ("YOS," Xlv.), by Stephen D. Siallons, in Journal of Cuneiforll Studi.s 31 (1979), pp. 177-183. 2 ' DOllinique Charpin~ Archives £allilial•• et propri6tt privA_ en BabYloni. inei.nne; Et.ude des docuaent.s de tlTell S1fr" (Geneva, 1980), pp. 55-60. 3SiOOB8. pp. 843-855w 4anci.n; Sippar, pp. 384-387. ~ 5 0- ~ Ronald F. G. Sweet, "On Pricea, Moneys, and Money Uses in the bId Babylonian Period tl (Ph.D. dissertation, , Universit,y of Chicago, 19~8), pp.21'7-~43. 6
"
Riekele Borger, Handbuch del' KeLlschri£[email protected], vol. III (Berlin, 1975>, pp. 45-41. '"
been used for ident.ifying t.hese sC;;urcea.
A complete' list 0%
all ~he t.ext."Lt.tiized is found in Appendix 1. ' ,;',
The nam.s used for t.his study-are limit.ed t.O Akkadian theophoric names of ' the Old-Babylonian Period.
The ent.ire '
corpus of Old-8abylonian personal names is not. t.heophoric, but. it. is difficult to .stimate t.he ratio of t.o non-theophoric. "vast
aaJori~,y"
~he6phoric
~
names
A. A. MacRae mak~s the st.atement. t.hat t.he
of Akkadian names at Nuzi are t.heophoric,
but h. do•• nbt give an exact
.
1
;:~"
,
perce~tage.
We did not. actively
keep track'of the non-theophoric.n.m.s, but we would estiaat.e that the percentage. of theophoric naaes at Ur, Larsa, Nippur, and Sippar is probably over fift.y percent. as well. p.rcentag8 may be even auch higher at.Nippur where a nuaber of school text. are included.
The la~ge
It would require a great
of'
deal of further'investigation to arrive at an exact percentage. The nuaber o£ theophoric na.es which appea~ in this 't
study are as follows:
rt._ ,.I
Tot.al theophor1c naaes at Ur
943
19"
Tot.al theophoric na••• at Laraa
1247
24"
Total theophoric naaes at Nippur
1350
26"
Tot.al theophoric naa.a at.
1598
31"
5138
100"
~ippar
Total theophoric naae. in this .tudy
Theophoric naa.s are usually coaposed of t.WO el.aent.a: divine ele.ent and on epithet. in t.he naa•• 1
·s
Either ele.ent aay appear firat
The divine el••ent ia:eit.her a-god'. na.e or aOMe
MPH, p. 287.
12
substitute £or it.
Such a substitute may be a general t.ra
,
£or an unnamed personal god, such as ilum (ngod n ), .u.!. (limy
god'~),
v
i l o ("his god"), a personal pronoun such as
att; (lIyou··)~l or another propnr name, such a8 a t.mple na•• , city name, river name, or family name like abum. ("father"). -It is very difficult to determine whether aubstitut. elementa .
Were actually thought of as divine, but they are· found with the aame epitheta as the gada. b.~lm
included.
. Hiri-Sipp.r ..".
Nam•• auch as Meri-Uri!
(US on
i.plied.,~ hav., •
"
Aa a consequenc., most of them,have
natqr. is highly
of Ur") and
of S~pp.r"), where no 1;.heophoric n.ture ia
been 8¥cluded.
,
(.uS on
r:
'.
severai elementa whos. theophor ic
~
q~estionable
(e.g. Nisapnu-- name· of a
; vv vv .onth, 'e•••••u - a religious featival" t,iturum - "bridge
ll )
have'- been incl uded becau.. they ar. u••d with' epi theta normally u.ed with deitio.. in
th~
El~••nta
of'this type are not&d /
Gloaaary (Appendix 6).
The epithet consiat. of ao.e type o£ deacription of the god, such aa an attribute, or & relationship, or a request, etc. This .econd element i . the crucial matter for our' study. Th. frequency of appear.nce pr
~.i ••ion
. -.
will .how the popular religious
of, these
p~ceptions
.leme~ta
of the ihhabitanta
of a city. C.rt.in theophoric n•••• which provide no evidence for the questions of ipt.r••t h.re have been omitted. A A v as Sioi., Sina;u., Abuni, and 8.1auDu are propably 8
'''-
l
'"•
, { i
Naaes such
13
theophoric r but they do not .how anything o£ the theological conceptions of the gods.
Likewisei' hypocorist.ic na.e.
such as'Ballt! and Ga,iIul h.ve been oaitted because they •
do not. contain a theophoric ele.ent. .nd there ia no possibility of painstakin~
learni~g
~'" ~.
what deity they re£er to without
.
prosopographic investigat.ions.
The task o£ .eparating Akkadian n•••• £roa
Suae~i~n
·;.. . "i.. .,..
naa.s is so••ti.e. rather difficult.. Wi~t lea~t
all naaea
spelled in,Ak
As a general principl;,;",,,,,t..
one element which is syllabically
dian have been included.
Thus r JRahy "aixed"
naae. which coa ine a Suaerian or AJRorite
~od
with an
Akkadian ele.ent have been retained. In addition r .oae naa•• with an Akkadian god and an Q
epithet writt.n in Suaerian have been includ.d despite the £.ct that there aay' be no syllabic spelling in Akkadian. For exaaple~ LV-XXX and ~iME-E§4-PAR have be.n included r but~not
,
d
"d'
LU- NANNA or,GEIE- GU-LA:
,
, type are
~
~
PUNU. an4 ZALAG.
O~her
ideogram. o£ this
Soa. ideograa. could
repr.sent either an ,Akkadian or Suaerian god,,! e.g. LV-dIl r
" cEN-ZU ·' '" d kUr and LU-,UTU.
There 1s'a good possibility that
so.e of theae are to be read 1n Akkadianratber than in Suaeri.n,,·but th.y have been excluded becau.e o£ their aabiguity.
Certain SUDerian
1d~~~r••s
which usually; repre.ent
Akkadian ele.ents!" the vast IU!lJor1ty of personal naaes have
al.oJ~en ,
inciuded" even though they could' be Suaerian" e.g.
mlJi.,. rLLAT" and, )J8U 4 • •
1
.:~
,,
Proble.s of Methodology This study haa inevitably been based on incomplete evidenco.
As a conaequence, we would like to note so.e
methodological probl•••• The first concerns the validity of connecting personal na.es with the city where a tablet was found.
The fsct that
a PQrson'. na.e, such aa Addu-iddina., ia found at Ur does not necessarily .ean that the name originated at Ur. Addu-iddinal could have been born in northern Babylonia and'.oved to Ur.
If so, hi. na.e, although found on a
..
tablet at Ur, .ay not reflect the religious beliefs of Ur. There is, however, no way to identify and re.ove na.es which els.where~'
might have originat.ed
Thus, it JIlay be more proper
.
to say that this study
..text.... o£ .. certain
.
an,ly~•• t~e
popular religion of the
lo~..~on 'r..t h t .
-
-~
~
th"n the loeat,ion 1t.. ~
.
..:
el~'.
The ••c;ond probl•• concerns the 'use of· schC?ol t.exts'. There is no
w~of knowin~ whet~er
school text was act.uallyJo
.'
~sed.
,No
every nalle mentioned in a lIlany were, for
dO.':I~t,
,
~
..
they appear in ot.her tablets, but SOil. JIlay b••n.
Th. Kippur school texts,
~hich
wel~
not have
are the moat numerous,
prOVide a good exa.ple o£ ~he problea raised by school texts. They seea si.ply to repeat the saae standardized epithets with each maJor god or theophoric
set~f
~l~ment.
Therefore
one Must b~wary 0.£ ,'dra~in9 Co~fusions~ .f,rom. the fact that I
-v /-
.
.
the epithet bast! occurs ten times at
~ippur,~
twice at Sippar, since all of the Kippur school texts.
but only
occurr~nces
.~~
are in
'In order to MiniMize this problem, we have
15
used names of real people whenever possible (i.e. references in economic, legal, and administrative texts have been given pre£erence over references in school texts).
However, there
are still many names found only in school texts. The thi"rd problem concerns the validity of drawing conclusions based on the oaissions.
The fact that Addy-ibni
does not appear in t~~~Ur texts may not mean that Addu-ibn!
1/
was never given to anyone at Ur during the period under consideration.
The availability of source materials is
dependent on chance £ind8, but there
a~e
many tablets still
I
buried at Ur, Larss, Nippur, end Sippar, and there are many tablets which are found but they are still waiting to be treated, and some names on tablets are destroyed or illegible.
,~
The name. studied here do not, then, represent a total picture of the population at any city. A
furthe~
consid.~at.ion
is t.he fact. t.hat. BlOSt. o£ the
documents represent busin.s. transactions.
dlearly, thoae
who di~,no~ have any~~ransactions recorded on tablet.s are not included.
Other names probably existed, but there is
., no way of knowing them.
/
,
.~
As with all ,empirical investigation, .the argument of
"
silence aay commonly be used. to support opposit.e viewa.so it is best to be cautious in basing conclusions on silence. All that one can do is· to not.e the patterns or trends which appear in the availablo evidence and then recall the in the evidence.
ga~a
Som. of these may well be filled 1n as a
'"J.
16
result o£ further archaeological excavations, and,every study must have a beginning. A final problem is the result o£ Akkadian.
There are many
o~
epi~hets
our imperfect knowledge whose exact meaning
-v v and/or nuance is still unc:lear,,__,e.g.tlU.stu, !!!!lJ,!.,a.,aru. •
,-:....
With such words the
-- .~.-:. ~
,,>-\
.
.'
.- -'
. :,~ .
dictionat.~e~'~nd~.
J. Stamm are often
.~
uncertain and/or in
d~aagree*ent.
As a result, the
classification of many of the olements in the Glossary is put forward.ea a tentative proposal which may need.,t.o be changed or adJusted by future inYestig3tiona.
. "
CHAPTER 1 A STUDY OF RELIGION~AT FOUR OLD-BABYLONIAN CITIES
In order to
£acilit~te ~he
analysisJo£ the thousands o£
theaphoric naaes which 1fe listed in the
Ap~endices, ~e
have
constructed a table
which 1s divided into twenty-five categories, each of which represents a quality o£ cilvine character.
The categories are br9ad enough to include .any
£acets o£ that quality, but they are specific enough to be
.
di~tin9uished
froM other qualities.
rn-a~ran9in9
the categories we have tried to go beyond
J. Sta•• 's broad cla..aification of thanksgiving names, praise Da.ea, attribute naaes, etc., and identify the reason £or the thanksgiving or the prsise or the attribute, etc.
So.etiMes ~
.,!'
this poses problems, because some names Might easily £it .~
two or t.hree categories.
int~ ~-
We have tried to be- is".!! aele~t.1v~ as ~'
._------}...
.
possible so that Most naaes are list.ed only once.
Nonetheless,
Many three-element neaes are listed twice because they contain two nan-theophoric elements. The categories are listed
b~ow
with a ,general heaQing
£ollowed by a short description or descriptive synonyms. A full analyeis of each category follows the table. 1.
~ction.
Elements of affection, love. 17
,~ .. ),..
'J
18 ~
2.
Asei.teDQe.
3.
B1£th.
Elementa of assistanc., help, support.
Elements concerning the birth, creation, or
naMing of the child.
4. 5.
Elements of
cOMpa~aion,
grace, mercy •
•
COMpensatiQn.
EleMents which indicate that the
d~ity
has compensated for the death of a previous family member by providing a new child. 6.
Consideration.
Elfallenta of c:onsidtu'atfon, hearing,
•••ing, reMeMbrance, understanding. 7.
Deliyer,nce.
Ele••nta of deliverance, salvation,
triUMph, victory, sparing. 8.
Greatness.
Ele.ents of greatness, maJesty, honor,
tmportance, goodne.s. 9.
Guidan
the construct state followed by the theophoric. element in the A
A
genitive (e.g. Ap11-51n,
"Th~
heir of S1n").
Soaetimes these
names are the nominal equivalent o£ a general statement na.e, and other times they are another form o£ an attribute name. These names "designate" a quality of the deity which has been experienced by the name-bearer or a relationship between the deity and 4.
t~e
name-bearer.
Requesta/wishes.
These names contain a verb in A
.
the imperative, precative, or cohortative (e.g. §An-pwtram, "0 Sin" release me~" or Sin-IU.ur, "May I see Sin·').
'
-They,:"
expreSa a direct request to the deity or a wish that something JIlay
~
-j-\"'-? - "Y . \ '~.5'
--\i-.
'AI
S!f< .
, ''',
• ,,: '
~--'.
3.9"
57
9.6"
56
3.5"
49
3.1"
•
~
,a.
87
TABLE: 2
13t
"
-
'Continued
Owner,ship
~
46
2.9"
2t8~'
14. . Presence
45
15.
Guidance
43'
2.~ ....
16.
Trust
37
2~3"
17.
A:f:£ection
35
2.2%
18.
Coapensat.1on
,
34
2 • 1"
19.
Joy
',)'
24
1.5"
20'.
Praise
24
1.5"
21.
RTer~nce
15
0.9"
22.
Justice
14
23.
Provision
13
~'.7 ...
.'
,,~.
0
,. ('
24.
Pa-rdon
10
25.
Wisdom
6
p,
..-,''''
.. ,
0.9"
0.8"
"
,.
.J
0.6" .
0.4" _~I
;
"" .' -\.\
.'
)
.
,,
,-
88 TABLE 3
~~
RANKING OF CITIES BY CATEGORY Category 1•
2.
Percentage o£ PNa in This Category
Ra-nk
A££ection (1 )
Larea
2.2"
'i6
Sippar
2.2"
17
(3)
Nippur
l.9"
17
(4)
Ur
1.6"
18
A.sistance
." t
/
(1 )
~lppur
6,9"
5
Sippar
3.9"
7
(3)
Laraa
3.8"
12
Ur
3.2"
14
.~.
3.
Birth
r_
(1)
Sippar
13.9"
2
(2)
Ur
13.3"
2
(3)
Larsa
11.6"
2
(4)
Nlppur
10.0"
2 -~
~
4.
AP--~
CO. passion (1)
Nlppur
9
4.4" -;.-'
..
-
Ur
(3)
La,rsa
,
_ 4.3" -~
-
~1"
Slppar
- -3: 8"
9,"
9 J,
r
(4)
- -.,..L....
. ~~ \-;' .~~
.;..4'.
9
1
• r
j
90 "~
~'.
10.
,
30y
11. '
(1)
Sippar:
Larsa
(3)
Nippur
(4)
Ur
19
..
,
.
'>-
.'
:' ~ '"
•
3ustice
....-1;
., "'"
..
.~ .
2S
oJ',) . • f
. -NipPU;r
,'"
;
Sippar
0.9"
(:3>
Larsa
'0: 7"
(4)
Ur
0.6"
21
5.4"
7
'/ '.
21
Ownerah*,p
12.
(1 )
_,·(2)
"
'"'1.0"
."
..
Ur 'Laraa
....
0'.
3.8"
,
(3)
Mippuz:;"
3.6"
(4)
Sippar
2.9"
10"'"
12 13 ~
13."
Pardon " (1)
I
Sippar
0.6"
24
.0.4"
24
(2)
Ur
(3)
~arsa.
0.4"
25
(4)
N1ppur
0.2%
·24 ~."
14.
Praise
)
.
'.
"
(1 >
N~ppur
(2) ,'Ur "
14
3.0" ,
2.0"
15 18
(3)
Larsa
1.7"
Sippar
1.5%
, ,-.b
'.
20
..t-
(
.
'.",
(j
.
,- •...
92
"
,
Q.Qnt.4nueq
TABLE 3. -
"
Sp,eak'~n~g o
. !
Sip-par
(1)
1-0
G .
.P
u
(2) '"
',Ur
j
.;
L.ara~ ~.
('3) ~r:
13
"
~J3.
0"
14 .'-
;i
21.
(4}
Nippur"
,,",
Sp~ct81,LR&.1,«'tionship .
.
Ur
(1)
1 -:.
(2)
Sip~ar
(~)
L.arss
(4)
Nippur
lS.1" ~
22.
11.2"
Streng~h
L.araa
(2)
Ur,
4.1"
Sippar{;, ,
3.5"
(4)
..
1
"',
(1 )
(3)'
23.
1
.
"
....
10 11
rhppu~
16
Trust (1)
L.oraa
(2)
Sippar
(3)
Ur
-
;-2.6" .,"
2".3"
16
1.9"
16
.0
(4)
24.
Nippur
1.S"
19 '"
Well-being I
(1)
Nippur
(2)
Sippar
(3)
L.arsa
(4)
Ur
8.4"
4
~
/' 6 4,.
•
,,"6 8
I)'
, !
93
. TABLE 3
Continued i
i"~.-
"..
25.
I ,~~.
".Nt·: p ur
'.. J
(2).~··.
.
U
"
:-~
(4)
Sippar:
.. .,.
"\
.
l',
Wisdom ('1-)• .
•
·a
Jf~
1.0"
22
0.5%
22
0.5%
24
0.4" •.. r
25
"
.""
~~
,/
I
r
f • .'
.>
,.
""
r
1'~
,.
, 94
~ i'
Analysis of the Evidence by Categories The
follow~ng .nalys~~
is based on the information
contained in Tables 1, 2 and 3.
We have tried to co.ment on
items which are significant for
~
,
repeat the tables in another
~\ia
study and not Just
formai~ ~
In analyzing each category one should keep in mind the I
totalnumper of thebphoric names at each c~ty.~ The number of . ,
names which sr. used and the
.
p~rce~tage
of the total are listed
.6
in the Introduction
(p. 11).
The cities with" a larger corpus
~
&-
of names would norMa,t1r>Y be 'expected to use elements more frequently.and with a broas1er range c.,f religious ideas, but this'is not always the case.
Deviations
fro~
the
e~pected
pattern are noted throughout the.' analysis • ~.
AFFECT~4
EAements of
a£f~ction
CATEGORY
A~
1 . l
.xpr.ss an emotional attachment
c.
betweep the deity and ~he name-bearer th~ough ~ords such as OIl ove ,"
'i
"desire," "£avor, i f etc.
Most
,
'i
the a££ec1ion is
of~en
from the deity, b~t sometim.s the name-bearer expresses ~.
,-
;
his/her
affectio~ ~or
I'
,
the deity (e.g. dadu)i . . ?~
As a
group~these
ele••nts rank
sixt~enth
to eighteenth
out o£ twe~ty-~ive categQr!ea at all four citieAI. in
approxi~ately
They appear
two percent o£ all theophoric names.
There are
not a large number of el.ments in this category··-only ten, and most az:.e not u,sed very o£ten, but the ones 1:.hat do appear are used cOJil.monly in moat o£ the cities. appear in only-one city. cities.
Three
~leDenta
Only 1:.wo elements appear at all fouF
Nine of the toen eleaents are found at I.ars•.and •
95
Sippar.
,-
ihe'most numerous eleme~is ar~ ereXu and raau and :
their nominel 'forms.
•
a
9
grotp~~~ ~ott pop~lar
Tha'former
at
Larsa, and the latter group is moat popular at Slppar. AlmQst all of these
~lements
names or designation names.
appeer in either attribute
The attribute naa. is £ar more
popular at Nippur and the designation name is far more popular at Sippar.
At Ur and Larsa the
~EGO~Y
t~o
forms are about the sa.e.
2. ASSISTANCE.
In this category the dei±y is portrayed as one who assists, helps, and aupports'mankind.
Theaeelements refer
to the normal day-to-dey assistance of the deity and not the extraordina~y
Deliverance)'.
help needed in times of crisis
~see C~~egory
7,
The high'popularity of this category indicates .~
that assfstance'was viewed as a normal part of the deity's activity' and could be called upon
frequent~y.
.
The elements in this category are used many tiaes. They are very
po~lar
at Nippur and Sippar (rank_d fifth to
sev~nth>, ~ut
someWhat less popular at Lersa and Ur (ranked
twelfth to fourteenth>.
Their frequency of appearance is most
noticeable at Nippur (6.9 percent>, while at the other three. cities it ranges from 3.2 to
3~9 perc~nt.
There are ninet.en different elements employed.
Six
~
of thea appear in all four cities, ana five at - only one ,-
city.
",
.
The most papular elements.at all locations are hazaru
and tillatu.
~
In
ad~ition,
~
several elements are used qUite A
,frequently at Nippur in the school texts, notably resu,
.
-
ainu, and 'nemedu.
Elements refering to the hand as a helping
96'~ -
instrument Cgatu,- imnu" im.! ttu > appea1" in this category. ~lso, one occupation word (;ukkallu> is used.
Witn-regard to ,form" attribute names are used in the Nippur~is
maJority of cases.
especially fond of this form.
There are also a number of general statements and exclamationsl questions. v'
The' exclamati6n/question £orm is used only with ~,
v
symma/summan.
No complaint'forms are used and very few
requests are employed.
~he eleJll~nts
,
,"',r
V
hazaru" imittu, and
."
-" '
8ykkallu are also used as tbeophoric elelents (see Table 22>.
. ,
CATEGORY 3.
8IRTH~ .~
".
.
~\.
.'1.
".
A
•
;-:-
\ ......
. . . . ...
Birth names contain'-~leJllezjta_~bl.ch 'describe the birtli" , '
creation" or naming of the ..
,';';
~nd
least
at Nippur (10.0 percent>.
There are thirty elements which are '" used in this category. Eleven appear in all four cities; city.
Nippur U3es
t~e
e~~~en
appear in only one
fewest elements" only tnirteen,out 0%
thirty" while ,Sippar.uses the most with
twenty~three.
for the sake of analysis we have.divided the thirty eleJllent~ into five g~oups. ~Each·group ~s concerned with a
different aspect of the birth of a child. I
Tbe first grQup concerns the ".ak\ing" or "forming" or ; ~, -"'--~.
-
.:-. .--~~
"producing" of the child by "'the deity. 'i
...
It includes the
-v v elements banu" eReau. habburu" 1nbu" l1ptu" nepestu" wapu" \
97
and zeru.
£requen~
Banu is clearly the most
element in 'chis
group, appearing in more than thirty-six peraonal, names
.
eec:h city.
f~~nd
Examples of liptu and inbu are g
a~
all~£pQr
at
'\
cities, but they are used only occasional'ly, excep't at,:Sippa~ Attribute names and general statements are the most
co~mon
:rorms in-this type of nall\e. ThCl second group deals wit.h the "giving
ll
o£ the child by
. Elements which express this thought are nadanu,
the deity.
-v -v -v V nadintu, nidint.u, nidnu, giasu, gist.u, 9.isu, ,erikti1, y
As a grotip t.hese elements appear
an'd serku. ,
\
any ot,her \type of birth name.
-
,.
;.,
. least
_.~.
.,
I
thirty-nine
-v Qiasu and its nominal forms
times at 'each city •
often than
Nadanu and its nqminal forl'8
are as popular as banu, occurring at
.
~ore
J
"
~re
another
,
common element., occurring at::least. ten t.imes at. each city. bulk of these namea,are
g~~~~l
The
statement forms with aome
~
'f.
designat.ion names, but. very few attribute names. The third group indicates the IInaming
of the child by the ,. v .. deit.y. This type includes the elements nabu, sumy, zakaru, ,. a~d zikry. Nabu is frequent.ly used at all four cities • . The other elements are seldom
u~ed
ll
y
except sumu which appear a
nine times at. Sippar. The fourt.h group of birt.h names indicat.es the number of c:hl1drfan in- t.he family.
v
"
Wedu and ait.tu indicat.e an only
V V -v···" child, a!!DJL. second chlld, .and salasu a third chilc;1.",·"'
very limited in the usage o£ different elements (£our
~r
less>.~
HalaKu and i t.s _nominal forms are the most £fequen't.,:~lements. They are especially populai-~n-the school texts at Nippur~ v The element. tiamu and it.s nominal £orms, expressing £ate or
dest.iny, appear five-times each at Larsa and Sippar, but only once at Ur and never at Nippur.
Inu appears frequently .}
at Sippar but. seldom in the ot.her cities. Wit.h regard to form, t.he at.tribute name
~s
the only
, l
frequent type.
There are some exalte_ position,names at
all four cities with
~.
CATEGORY 10. JOY. The category of JOY indicates divine pleasure and reJoicing.
The exact. reason for this reJoicing
fS
never
mentioned, but. the most. likely reason is-t.he birt.h of a child, 111
although this would not. apply to the personal name with siahu. This concept of "Joy" arid "reJoicing" is one of the least popular categories.
It is ranked at or near the bottom in
all cities except Sippar where it is nineteenth. .0
Ur has only
105
two personal names in this category, and Larsa and NfPpur h~ve
Only at ~ipv.r is th~re any/atte~pt
only a £ew more. ~
to use this
concept~
with £requency.
There are only three elements in this
~
-v
Sippar
~ ¥
' only one which is £ound at
Ria§~ is~the
uses them all.
~ategory •.
/".
all cities .. an,d, it. .is used .quite £.requent·lY at Sipps'r. ..
_f
~
"
'
'Designation names are the most popular £orm in this category. CATEGORY 11. JUSTICE. The elements in this category indicate thedeity'a ....
'lit.
done~
power to Judge .. to-Iftake.right .. to see that Justice is
.'
This is a'minor category .. but it doe~ ind~cate tha~ Justice ~
anq Judgment were a part o£
~
~he
divine character· and at
.
times
ne~ded .
to, be mentioned.
Th~.£requency
same at
al~cities..
o£ appearance o£ th_ae
el~ents
·4bout one percent or less.
is the
This category
ranks twentY-£i~i~or twenty~second at each location. ,
Six
'.
......
..
'
All sixa,re £ounq, at .
~-"
.
-
"oi • -
Sippar. \ Only two elements are used in all~cities--dayyanu ~.
and dinu.
__ ...----.,,~_.
,
--Y
,They express the cQncept o£ J~dgment.
other elements in this category Judgment which is Justice.
~eal
Three
with the resuit'
o~
..---'"
Both concepts are £ound' at all
cities except Nippur .. where only JUdg.ent appears.
Wheuher -=i
~
this,is
signi£1can~'or
not .is unclear.
The most £requent £orm is the attripute name. v
element .. iaaru .. also
appe~rs
as a
,,_,"::- n
One
theophoricelQme~t·
(see Table 22).
.
..
106
CATEGORY 12. OWNERSHIP. Ownership elements
ind~cate
that one party belongs to
another party or 'is, claimed by another party.
"
-
-
·the names in this category it is the to a deity.
In. moat o£ who belongs
name-bear~r
~n ~he
Howe;er, the concept is reversed
v,..
names
name~~earer
with !§y. where the deity is claimed by the and his/her £amily.; This is
not~a:large
category with Qnly six
-
-
~lements,
.
and
v
three o£ them are £orms o£ the'determinative pronoun (sa, v-
v
' The determinative pronoun is the most popular
sat,~~).
element, and it is £ound£--%'equently in: all cities, being The other elements are ~~e4_.uch
r-JJ.
,
:form a group which is q:uit.e popialfl1f. l .--
.~
"-'--'"
-Th~y_ $i=,Omprise ';'f-'$.~..... ~' : >:' ~ ~ ; -k;; ~~ '. frequency of usage is
ar~und
The
two percent.
The number o£ elements used is rather small (four), but they all appear at svery city except.Nippur.
Takalu and
tukultu are clearly the most popular elements for expressing one's trust in the divine, and Larsa and Sippar are the two places where they are used most often.
...
The other two elements
in this category
.
'.
119
Analysis of the Evidence by Form and Word Selection J
We have not listed the total figures for the eight forms. which are identified in this duplicates which are
list~d
s~udy
in two
because they include manycategories~
frequency of usage for each form generally
However, the
£ollow~
this
(
ranking:
(1) Attribute names,
(3) General statements, questions,
(6)
~4)
(2) Designation names,
Request~/wishes,
Exalted.position,
(8) Admonitions.
(S) Exclamationsl
Complaints,
(7)
The first three are used much more
frequently than the last five. The exalted position fora deserves a £ew extra comments. 5
Exalted position names are names which ascribe aQexalted position to the deity in relation to something , while Rev.rence has/less than 'one percent of'
the namea at any
~ity. T
The £act
. ,surpr-ise ,us • '
t~at
•
>
G,;,oup VI' is the smallest
g~oup
not
sho~ld
'>\-
The di~ine is the £ocus of' attention in /I~
,
ninety-fi~e percent-~i the theophoric n~mes. '
~,
percent of' the names potnt to a definite human
Only five ~esponse.
The number is naturally small because the divine important than the human, but
thes~
reminders that a human response
t~
i~
more
names in Group VI are
the divine is appropriate
., ,.:'
r :::\~ ,
_ '~
J ~: "
.....
I
f
/"-
-~'
'.':"'~
..
~
I
135 in a personal name. Qne
~ight
in Group V-I, divine?
wonder why there are no names of thanksgiving -
Is
th~s
l
not en appropriate human response to the
The same question has been asked of the Lord~s
Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13>
wher~no
word of thanksgiving appears.
The answer to both questions lies in the fact that thanks.giving is often expressed in vocabulary other
"thanks."
th~n
Many of the names in Groups I, IV,_ and V could ,be called 'thanksgivingnaJRes even though the word "thanks" does not appear. fo~
Thanks for a birth, for guidance, for deliverance,
compassion, etc. are implied constantly in the ,theophoric
names. '.
When that factor is taken into consideration, it is obvious that the hu~an response of Old-Babylonian~ is far greater than the five percent figure would indicate.
In
fact, one might even argue for the sake of argument that all theophoric names are human response. names, because even the
.
formation of a theophoric name is, in essenc'~, responding to tbe divine.
However, this is an
argumen~
in
seman~ics.
What is more important is that thanksgiving is also a part of Old-Babylonian ~heophoric names, but it does. no.t have a unique vocabula~y which can be lde~tlfied wi~h epec~fic elements •
•
.'
136
SUJftmary The following conclusions arise out of the preceding analysis sections. (1)
None of the twenty-five categories is completely :.'$1
at any city.
miss~ng
,
Some of the smaller categories Jftay
have only two or three names, but they are always represented (l
at each
This indicates that each/city used all of
locat~on.
the possible religious
concePt~s which
were available,
A
although the vocabulary is often diverae. f
(2)
'
There
~s
(
,
l
an overall pattern of usage' in Old-
Babylonian theophoric naJaee.
..
Certain categories usually
Gppear most frequently at each city, another set of categories usually appear somewhere in the middle frequency range, and a third set i8 2 and
a).
~sually
near the bottom (see Tables
/
For example, Special Relationship and Birth names
are ranked first
~nd
second respectively at every ,site, ,
~
of Compassion
are~ranked
na~s
ninth at every .ite, and names of /
Justice are ran,ked twenty-first or twenty-second at. every There are ~ome varl~tions in ~ome of the other
site.
categor~es,
,
of COUTse, but the overall pattern is very'
" noticeable.
What is true of the categories is also true of the
....
groups.
Groups of names tend to be ranked in the saJfte order
at each city (see Table '5).
Group I is alway. first" Groups
II and III are,always second or third, Groups IV and V are always £ourth or fi:fth, and/Gr.oup VI is always last. ; ! .;.,\
Again,
!
this suggests an overall '~ftt~rn.
I
Because the four qities which
\
137 are used in this study are geographically disparate, one can speculate that onomastic studies in other Old-Babylonian cities will probably reveal the same (3)
The
ove~all
n~ming
pattern.
naming pattern of no. 2 above does
not represent an organized plan of naming, but rather it points to a "comaon theology" of religious values all across '. ~>
Babylonia in the Old-Babylonian period.
1
The relative
importance of these religious values can be determined by studying,the interrelation and frequency of usage of various categories and groups of names.
For example, the fact that
the names in Groups I and II (Names of Divine Activity and Special Relationship> occur in apprOXimately fifty'percent of all theophoric names at all cities is significant. indic~~es
that Old-Babylonian worshipers wanted their gods
to be active, and they wanted to establish
•
them.
It
relation8~ip&
with
Likewise, the fact that the,divine characteristics of
Greatness, Strength, and Radiance are used far more frequent¥y than any other characteristics indicates that Old-,B'abylonian 1See Morton Saith. nThe Common Theology of the Anci,ht Near East," Journal of Biblical Literat.ure 71 (1952>, PP/~ 135-147. Smith makes the point that there was a common! theology' in the ancient Near East to which all peoples basically assented. The mythology of the ancient Nea~ East spoke of many goda, but most people were devoted to the' worship of only a single deity. This deity was seen as creator, the only true 90d~ etc., 'and was flattered with aany expressions of, prais&. The same vocabulary was 'used with each deity. For sources, 5mith?used primarily the literary works from ANET, edited by· J. 8. Pritchard, and he included eVidence from many cultures, e.g. Egypttan, Hittite. Babylonian. etc. Our onomastic study would tend to confira Saith'. conclusions.to some extent. However, see chapter 2 for a more detailed analysis of the differences between the maJor deities. .~.
138
worshipers liked maJestic, awe-inspiring, s1perheroes £or their gods.
Other significant religious values have already
been discussed in the analysis section on groups. (4)
The religious differences between cities are
mainly matters of minor emphasis rather than items o£ maJor theological concern.
It is true that Ur uses names of
Deliverance and Ownership, and Larsa uses names of .;
Consideration. and Nippur uses names of Assistance
~nd
(
Praise and Provision and Well-being, and Sippar uses names -'q.."{;
of Birth,and Greatness and Joy more frequently than '/','the other' cities. in
It is also true that each city uses names
other'e~'tegories
less frequently than the other cities.
",
'.
However,'these differences are only local variations on a common theme •.. The overall priority of theological values is clearly outlined above).
i~
the ranking of the groups (see no. 3 I
The variations at each city simply indicate minor
preferences or dislikes. The city which is most di£ferent than the others is Nippur.
It has the highest or lowest percentage of names
in £our out of the six groups.
Even so, the overall order
of the groups is still the same as at the other cities. Undoubtedly, the statistics at Nippur are influenced by the fact that sixty pergent of the names are from school texts. When more tablets from Nippur are published. we
~ay
find
that Nippur is much closer to the other cities than at first prOJected.
CHAPTER 2 A STUDY OF THE KAJOR DEITIES AT FOUR OLD-BABYLONIAN CITIES Chapter 1 dealt with the general religious cliaate in the Old-Babylon'ian cit:.ies o£ Ur~ Laraa~ Nippur~ andt'Sippa'r" by .;
analyzing the non-theophoric eleMents in the per~onal Aaaes froa those cities.
This chapter will focus on five aaJor
deities at those four cities.
The purpose of this chapter
is to note differences in the way in which each 'deity is viewed at the four locations.
The personal naaes which are
used,with each o£ these deities will be the evidence which is analyzed in this study. ,1
We have selected five deities for analysis based on t:.heir appearance in at:. least thirty different:. personal naaes "
at:. each city. §aJ\!lal.
v
and
Other deities, including Aya, Aaurrua, Enlil. Erra.
Karuduk~
and
Ninurta~
appear in at least thirty different
personal na.es in at leaat one cities. ~
....
Addu~~a~ Istar~ Sin~
The deities are
80
city~
they have been excluded.
has been excluded
~ecause
but not in all four Also. the generic tera
it does not indicate a specific
deity's naMe (see the Glossary).
However~,~
is the Moat
frequently uaed theophoric eleaent at all cit:.iea except at where Sin is aore frequent.
Ur~
,
....
A
co~plete
lia~ing
of all deities
and theophoric eleaents with their frequency of usage is given 139
140 in Table 22 at the end of this chapter.
-~
The popularity o£ specific in Table 6 below.
de~ties
at each city is given
All theophoric'eleaents which occur in
at least thirty different personal names 'are listed in this table along with the number of tiaes they appear at each location. , TABLE 6 - ,...
J'
MOST FREQUENTLY USED THEOPHORIC ELEMENTS
\
,\
Nippur
Larsa
Y.!:.
Sippar
A
1.
Sin
200
ilu
2.
ilu
187
Sin
231
i,lu
243
ilu
297
202
ahu
148
§aaa:
220
A
...
§ aaaa .v
123
v Iatar
38 34
3.
§aaa:
70
4.
Ea
46
5.
v Iat.ar
6.
Addu
~
§aaa~
117
Sin
54
abu
116
Addu
67
Ea
52
Sin
105
v Iat.ar
66
Addu
50
Enlil
Ea
48
Erra
37
54
Marud\lk
44
40
Enlil
43
32
Erra
37
AlIlurrua
30
A
" Ii
8.
Enlil
36
Ea v Istar
9.
Aaurrua
31
Addu
7.
A
93
----75
206
Aya --~---~
47 ~-.-
....
Ninurt.a
10. 11.
Each analysis of the five lIlaJor deities is divided into four sect.ions.
The deit.y is first int.roduced With a general
descript.ion of his/her nat.ure and charact.eristics baaed primarily on inforlllation froa the ayths where this deity appears and general studies of Old-Babylonian religion. The second section ia a table
ot
all the
ele.~ta
used with
141 each deity.
Then there follows an analysis of each deity
using the personal naae a.ter!.1 at each city. analy.is we have used the 6aae
twenty~five
In this
categori•• and
.~.
aix groups which were used in Chapter 1.
Finally, the
exaainaeion of each deity j.s auaaarized with strengths and weaknesses noted at each
ci~y.
This part of the study is not
wi~bout
it. skeptics.
As
far back aa 1917 with the little evidence which was.available then, A. T. Clay
~oncluded
h
that a co.parison of the Babylonian
deities was pointless since aoat of the 'deities were given the aaae attribute•• All •••• to have had the ability to p~otect, to direct, to preserve life, to grant prosperity, etc.; in ahart, it i. iapossible to differ.ntiate and develop froa the naaes the religious beliefs yf the people with reference to thia or that deity. Clay'. conclusion perspective.
However,
~ay
a
be partially correct fro. a broad
clos. exa.ination of the peraonal
naae'evidence indicate. that all with the aaae epitheta.
d.iti~s
ara not described
!There are aoae aaJor oaia.iona
which indicate that deities had individual
~leraonelities
characteristic. which were known to their worshiper..
and
Also, ,
the personality of each deity varies soa.what froa city to city.
Theae difference. will be noted iA this chapter.
~J 1 Albert T. Clay, "N••ea (Babylonian),·' Encyclopedia 2f Religion ,nd Ethic.. IX. edited by J.a•• H••ting. (Edinburgh, 1917), p. 142a.
..
142 Addu 1.
Introductioq Addu was a
storms. central
god associated with rain and thunder-
w.a~her
He was the principal rain god of the herdsaen o£ 8abylonia~
whereas Ninurta was a aore popular rain
god with the farmers to the north.
Hia association with
rain storMS reveals a dual aspect to his character.
He ~-~-""-
could be destructive or helpful.
He was often pictur8d~
thundering across the heavens in his lightning bolts and
hail~
chariot~
slinging
but his presence was welcoaed by
the herdsa.n who need.d the rain for their grazing
ar.as~
1
He was pictured sy.bolically in the ani ••l fora of e bull or a flash of lightning.
In later tiaes Addu was associated
with §.aaX as an oracle-god. v
Addu was identified with the Sua.rian god ainor
and the West Seaitic god Hadad.
diety~
Iskur~
a
The weather •
god also played a aaJor role in the Hittite and Hurrian pantheons.
Addu was also known under the naae Wer/~er.
The total nuaber of personal na••s with Addu is one hundred eleven.
The naaes are cliatr ibut,ed aaong the four
cities aa folilows: naaea (4.0
Ur - 34 naaes (3.6 percent)
p.rc.nt)~
Sippar - 67
Nippur - 40 naaes (3.0
~
Larsa - 50
p.re.nt)~
percent>.2
iT. 3acb••n~ Treasures. p. 135. 2
.
i
Th... ~ero.n~a9.. are ba••d on the total 'nUMber of theophoric n ••• at each city: Ur - 943. Lorea - 1247. Kippur - 135 • Sippar - lS98~
....
143
Addu is most popular at Sippar where his naae is the £ourth ~oat
com.on theophoric elem.nt
A
kaftu
- None
Wiadoll --~.
,GROUP IV
- BIRTH
NAKES
Birth
~ A
A
~
-
zakaru zeru
- None
Co.penuet-ion
GROUP V
-
/}
NAKES OF DIVINE ATTI,TUDE
A:f:fec:tion -v (verb) ere.u
1
1
0
0
nerellu
0
1
1
1
rallu
0
0
0
1
-
0
0
0
1
0
0
O~
1
A
tera.u Co.peeeion duaqu
~ '':-''''
t>
I \.
~
appears at. Larsa and Sippar. -quly One
-
-
\....
"eleaent. dealing wit.h walls or borders occur~. and-'" this appears at
Hippu~.'
The
~o~ular
element puzru is never
used wi t.h A d d u . , ! Provision.
One el.a~nt:.,' (webAlu) .1s uait'd- aJ;~. Sipper. ...
'l':
The lack of eleaents here. ls r,~th.r: 8u~p~isil19..in- connection with
~ /
I
~~~-WhO
star.
wes
t.hQugh~~ing r~Un j.
V
and fielda. W,ll-beinq.
No'el.~.nts
in
for the herds
{
I
,
.
~cat.egorY occur
with
"-
Addu at. N1ppur.
Thia is very surprising in light of the , ...
_~.,
i
nuaerous Well-being el.aent.a used wit.h other deities at 1
....
149 A~~e oth~r.three cit~e8
Kippur.
- \
balatu and ennu are used.
v-
The coaaon element aa!aau only appears at Sippar.
nUMber of eleMents, but only Protection contains an element which is COMMon to all four cities. are
and ,Provision.
Pa~don
The two weakest
categorie~
Sippar is the only location which
:uaea .1e.~n~s in theae categories.
The other two categoriea--
~Deliv~/ance a~d Guidanae--are also soaewhat weak in that they ... "\
ar~ each oait~ed froa at l~ast one city. ft Q
Overall, Sippar
,
views Addu with tbe greatest range of activity, and Ur and
...
Kippur
the
w~th
lea~t.
With seventeen elements, Sippar uaes
approxiaatelY ,twice as aany e1eaents as the other three ~itJ.ea •. 'A1ao" it. Jontains eleaenta in every category while '
..... --_. .,..---'- . ~.;~-~
.
tKe ot~er cities a~e ~ach aissing three or four categories. , ~ ,