ARCHEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE LOCALIZATION OF NARAM SINS ARMANUM Adelheid Otto (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat,
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ARCHEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE LOCALIZATION OF NARAM SINS ARMANUM Adelheid Otto (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat,
One of the proudest achievements of the Akkadian king Naram-Sin was the conquest of Annainim and Ei)la.' These events are described in an Old Babylonian copy of an inscription on a monument erected in the city of Ur {t/ETl 275 = U 7756, IM 85461): Whereas, for all tiint'.s sintc the treiitifin of numkintl. no king whatsoever \\M\ riestroved Armaniini and Khia, the god Nergal, hy means of (his) weapons (ipciied the way for" Narain-Sin, the niiglity, and gave him Armanum and Ebla, Further, he guve to him the Amaiius, the Cedar Mountain, and the Upper Sea.^
Although it is clear that Naram-Sin's campaign passed through Ebia {Tall Mardikh) on its way to the Mediterranean coast and the Cedar Mountain, the exact geographical position of Armanum remain.s uncertain. It is now generally accepted that Armanum sbould be identified with Armi/Armium (tf the Ebla texts and not, as bad previously been
A short \f"r,si(in of this paper wiis prescnti^d nt the 52i Kciicontrf in Miiiistn, Hiiriiig which 1 had the possihility t» discuss the topic with Maria Giovanna Biga and Alfonso Archi. My ihanks are to them as wpll as to Walther Sallaberger, MuniVed Krebernik, iind Mi(h;H-l Roal' for cdiiiments on an earlier driitt of this pa|K r 1. Apart from the cxtcnsivr passaj/c in VKI' t 175, these •Khieveiupnts arc mentioned in olher inseriplions where Nanim-Sin is described as "the c(iru|iH'ror nf Arniaiiinii and t-vblii" and as "the c()n(|iicror of Armaniiin, Etila and Elam" (R/Mf':2, Naram-Sin K2.I.4.27), 2. Col, I 1-29 after HIMK^, Naram-Sin F:2.t.4,26.
Miinchen)
.sugge.sted, with Halab (modern Alepjx)).^ But Armi is also unlocalized, even tbougb it is the most frequently mentioned place name in tlie Ebla texts after Mari and Emar. The Naram-Sin inscription contains, after tbe description of his victories, copies of captions that record the dimensions of an unusually higb and strongly defended fortification, wbich in all probability was Armanum itself (see below), On the one band this reprc^sentation. with its c-xat t measurements, gives tbe impression of an luc ttrate depiction of tbe structure, but on tbe other hand the fact tbat this fortification is described as a hill tnight lead one to doubt its acc:urac\' since, until recently, no Early Bronze Age fortifications on a natural bill bave been identified. Here I discuss first the description of Armannm in tbis well-known text, then tbe evidence of the recently investigated Early Bronze Age citadel of Banat-Bazi at the Middle Euphrates and its possible identification with Armaninn. 1 examine the information about Armi/Aiininm derived from the study of the Ebla texts to see ii' it is consistent
8. For the identification {if Annaniiin witli ilalah. hasctl partly on NaraiiiSin's deM ription of Arniaiiuni as haviiij); an impressive citadel, see fiCrC 1 (1977) tH: KGTC 2 (1974) 15. The frfCjiient oc( nrreiue of a rchj;ious i( nter (allcH I lalam/h in the texts from F.bia lias sliown that this suggestion u as not jiistiliecl (Lamliert 19901): 641-48; Bonechi ]99()h). Manfred Krebernik informs me that the equation Arniinm = Armanum is only possible if a plural is postnlated. This fits well with the Hanat-Bazi cluster consistintJ of several parts.
ADELHEID OTTO with this proposal, and suggest that the archaeological and textual evidence taken together suggests that Armaniim/Armi, like Ebla. was already in decline at the time of Naram-Sins Syrian campaign. UETl 275: The Description of Armanum in Naram-Sin's Inscription The Old Babylonian tablet VET I 275 with a copy of Naram-Sins inscription was found in the 01(1 Babylouian residential quarter of Ur iu the house that Leonard Woolley named no. 7 Quiet Street, and was iirst published by C. J. Gadd and L. Legrain in 1928. In 1948 K R, Kraus published a detailed study of the text in an article entitled ''Ein altakkadisches Festungsbild." B. Eoster undertook a new investigation in 1982. Further treatments of this text are included in the corpora of Old Akkadian royal inscriptions produced by I. J. Gelb and B. Kienast in 1990 and D. R. Erayne in 1993 (with previous literature). After the description of the greatest extent of Naram-Sins conquests, achieved with the help of Nergals weapon (I 1-29), the narrative depicts how Naram-Sin, assisted by the pod Dagan, conquered Armanuin, Ebia, and the Euphrates region (I 30-11 23). More specifically, it describes how, again with Dagan's help, he captured king RidaAdad of Armanum (III 2) / Rid-Adad (III 28) "in the middle of his entrance" (II 29-III 10). After the description of the construction of a diorite statue of the king, which presumably bore the inscription, there is an unusually detailed record of the dimensions of a fortification, which had a series of three walls (IV 20-VI 17; see fig. 1). Gadd and Legrain (1928) thought that the description of this fortification, whose name was written "Si-ku-ma-num" in (ol. V 15, was written on another monument, namely on a statue of Sineribam of Larsa (VI 19), an opinion followed by Sollberger and Kupper (1971: 108), and Astour (2002: 64), although Kraus (1948: 81-82) had demonstrated how unlikely it was that an Old Akkadian text should have been written on an Old Babylonian statue, and that there is no reason to doubt that it belongs to the monument of
Naram-Sin. Noting that there are various other scribal errors in the Ur copy, Kraus (1948: 89) suggested emending Si-ku-ma-num to Ar-ma-num (V 15), and this reading has been accepted by Hirsch (1963: 21), Foster (1982), Gelb-Kienast (1990) and Erayne (1993). It is strange that the scribe (even if this text was a copy produced in the course of liis education) wrote the signs in V 15 Si-ku-..., when he had copied the first sign of the name six times previously as ArPerhaps this is explained by the fact that the inscription was written on top of the representation of the fortification, and thus was more difficult to read. In the following discussion I accept the opinion of the majority of scholars that these captions belonged to a depiction of the fortified Mount Armanum. This depiction was carved on a .statue of Naram-Sin (DUL-iW tdm-sr-l\i\}, which stood in the temple of Sin. According to notes written with Old Babylonian sign forms, the monument of Naram-Sin was flanked on one side by a great statue of the king of Larsa, Sin-eribam, and the other side was oriented towards a part of the temple known as the Ekisalamma (Eoster 1982). The appearance of the statue can be imagined from the surviving examples of Old Akkadian statuary.'* The fortress could have been depicted
4. Either this was a seated statue (simihir to tiic one of Maiiistusu: Ainiet 1976, no. 11 +-12). or more probahly a standing statue of the king, showing him about lifcsizcd, dressed in a long niiintle, which let only his feet free in a window-like opening (comparable to two exlaiit lower parts of king Manistusu, AmiH 1976, nos. 13. 15). The limestone statue Sb 48, with its socle still 1.34 m high, bears no inscription, but can be attributed to Manistusu's reign on stylistic grounds (Amiet t976; 126-27; it is highh' improbable that someone other than the king was depicted in a nearly lifesized triumphal slalue). Its character as a triumphal statue is especially apparent through the socle relief, which shows four lying, defeated enemies, who arc identified by captions as princes of named cities. On tbe ba.sis of Old Babylonian copies, Buccellati (1993} reconstructed a triumphal statue of Rimus with its pedestals with decorated and in.scribed plaques set on them. Given the lact that Akkadian kings apparently illustrated concrete victories on their statues, it is coneeivable that an especially impressive citadel could have been depicted on the Naram-Sin statue as well (a depiction to .scale of a ground plan (an be found on the slightly later statue of Gudea as architect, Lou\re AO 2). The Nanun-Sin stele shows that representations of conquered territory made ii.se
THE LOCALIZATION OF NARAM-SIN^ ARMANUM
REVERSE. Col. V.
Col. VI.
Col. IV.
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26
Fig. 1. The text t/£TI 275, col. IV-VI (after Gadd and Legrain 1928). on the massive cvlindi kal lower part of the statue or could have formed the pedestal at its base. of sjH'Ctiifiiliir licights. Proj^mmmiitic depictinns of cities luul dctViilcd kin^s tivc also rmind on a (gt-n 111110-?) mold, probabh' I'miii the time of Naiam-Sin. 11 shows the deified king on a high, stepped, architecioiiic flement near n river. The warlike l-itar, .sitting opposite him, hold.s the ropes of two defeated moiintiiin god.s and two defeated enemies standing on their buildings or walled eities (Aruz 2003: no, 133). Ctiptions are alreadv t'oiiiid nn a stele of Sargon (Ainiet 1976: no. 1).
The text contains many scribal errors and, althouf^h it is carefully written, it may well have been a copy, made by an apprentice .scribe, of a less-than-perfect transcription of the original {"vielleicht schon fehlerhaften, von Original tmd Erstabscbrift wabrstheinlich wcit cntfernteii Vorlage"; Kruus 1948: 91). This is presumably tbe reason why the interpretation of several text pa.ssages is difficnlt and why the measurements do not add up to tbe sitm given in the text (see below).
ADELHEID OTTO The captions are divided into two groups, one of which was written on the side of the depiction of the striK tiire facing the statue of Sin-eribam and the other on the .side facing the Ekisalamma. The reconstructions by Kraus and Foster of the appearance of the depicted structure are shown infig.2. The following dimensions are given for the structural elements: 1. Captions on the side of the depiction facing the IV 20-26:
V 1-7:
V 8-13;
is-tum BAD da-ni-im ana BADGAL 10-hlO-KlO (Foster: 60'+60VlO; Roaf; 3x60^) KUS SUKUD SA.TU-»n 40, 4 KITS SUKUD BAD From the mighty wall to the great wall: 30(?} (Foster: 130', Roaf; 180') cubits height of the hill, 44 cubits height of the wall is'tiim BAD ka-ri'-bnlka-ivi'im ana BAD da-ni-im 3x60 KUS SUKUD SATU-n/* 30 KUS SUKUD BAD From the karum wall/outer wall to the mighty wall: 180 cuhit height of the hill, 30 cubits height of the wall SU.NIGIN 6x60.40,4 ix] KUS SUKUD iH-tum qd-qd-ri-im a-na SAG BAD Total: 404 [X] cubits height from the ground to the top of the wall
2. Captions on the side of the depiction facing the statue of Sin-eribam; VI 1-9: i-i-ium ID a-na BAD ka-rr-im/ka-wiim 3x60,10,6 KUS SUKUD SATU-im 20 KUS SUKUD BAD From the river to the karum wall/ outer wall: 196 cubits height of the hill, 20 cubits height of the wall VI 10-17; is-tiim BAD ka-ri^-imlka-wr-im (see below) a-na BAD da-ni-im 2x60, 30,6 KUS SUKUD SATU-im 30 KUS SUKUD BAD 5. This prnpnsul is due to Michael WoixL It is in fuel the easiest wiiy to urrive ai the stim o!' 404 cubits (180+180+44 = 404).
From the kanim wall/outer wall until the mighty wall; 156 cubits height of the hill. 30 cubits height of the wall These measurements pose several problems, as follows: 1. Are they based on real, accurately measured distances? 2. The sum of 404 cubits given in V 8 is ditticult to reconstruct from the numbers given in the inscription (the reason for muth of the coTifusion with the numbers may be the transformation of the Old Akkadian numbers, written with round elements, to Old Babylonian cuneiform signs). Kraus (1948; 84) proposed that the total of 404 cubits included the sum of the "height of the bill" and the ''height of the wall "from the ground to the the karum wall/outer wall," a dimension that was not recorded in the captions and that Kraus calculated to have been 120 cubits (120-t-180 + 30-^30-^44 = 404)" Foster (1982; 34) suggested that the thirty cubits between the mighty wall and the great wall was a scribal error and that the copyist, instead of writing two verticals and one Winkdhaken (60-H60-»-10 = 130), wrote three Wiiikelhaken (10-t-IO-hlO) and that the originally written distance was 130 cubits. Adding up these emended distances, gives the total of 404 (20 + 180-H30-H130+44 = 404). This also appears more reasonable because otherwise the two tallest walls on this high hill would have beeu separated only by a height of 30 cubits. A simpler emendation would be to read 180 cubits (three vertical wedges instead of three M'inkcthakcn) lor the height of the hill between the two upper walls and to add the height of the vertical wall (44 cubits), which corresponds best to "from the ground to the toji of the wall" (V 8-13). 3. In Col. V 2, VI 5 and VI ] 1 Gelb and Kieuast (1990) read: BAD ka-wi'-iin. "outer walir followiiig
ix Kiiuis proposed that the distanre from Ihf ground {(/aqqanint) \o the top of the wall was measured on the .'^ide of the depiotinn. where llic distaner from the (^nniiul to the outer wall was n()t indicated. This would ^five x + ! 80+30+30+44 = 404. and tluis .\ idLstancc ground lo outer wall; = 120.
THE LOCALIZATION OF NARAM-SIN^ ARMANUM
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\ \ « referred to tbe lengtb of a steep slope and not the horizontally or vertically measured distance. Foster (1982: 36) suggested the lengtb of the slope was meant because the measurements record the ascent tbe besiegers bad to make, from bottom to top (to bim the illustration was not primarily of tbe citadel, bttt of bow its conquest was achieved with troops attacking from two sides). This proposal, whicb is based on tbe different measurements given on tbe two sides, is not necessary if tbe sides of the bill were actually different (see below). Archaeology: The Search for a Fortified Hill Dating lo ihe Early Bronze Age IV UKVl 275 describes a bill of considerable beight situated beside a river, defended by several fortification walls and therefore not a fortified tell or tell of the sort that is frequently found in EBA times.^ The fortified stnictnre of Amianum with several BAD (fortifications, walls) may either be called a citadel or a fortress.'' It is quite difierent from the hundreds of BAD tbat are mentioned in the P'bla texts (such as tbe fifty-two named BAD belonging to the city of Lu'atum^', wbich
(180+30 cubits) on one side or ca. 90 meters (156+30 cubits). These heights are (onsiderahly greater than the recorded heights of such important citadels and sites as those at Assiir (max, 49 ml, Niniveh (ca, 30 meters), Jehel Ariida (ca. 60 meters), Emar (ea. 40 meters), and Karkamis 'ca, 37 meters), 8, For an overview of fortified Earl\' Bronze Age tells in northern Mesopotamia, see Anastasin et al,, Suhaiiii XIII (2004), At least twelve fortified settlements existed in the valley of the Middle Euphrates hetween Ttittu! and Karkami^ during EB Ii-IVa Some of them might have had strn( tnral similarities to the fortified hill of Armanum, although these hiid heen transfered to a td\ structure- Zettler (1997: 170) states: "By the third miHeiiiiium Tell es-Sweyhat, with its outer iind inner fortification walls and terraced central mound, would have come to resemble the soit of tiered city ostensibly described in Naram-Suens inscription commemorating his conquest of Ehia and Armanum," 9. We define a (itadel as a fortified and often elevated paii of a settlement that has a special (administrative, cultit. military) function. We define a fortress as a fortified structure with a mihtary purpose, although it may contain domestic elements.
THE L O C : A L I Z A T I O N OE NARAM-SINS ARMANUM was governed by an en).'" This type of "BAD" cannot be a "i'oriress/fortezza/Fefittmg^ but is in all probability a small settlement surrounded by a wall." Until recently no Early Bronze Age citadels or fortresses situated on bigb natural bills had been found in North Mesopotamia or Syria.'' Such an unusnal feature as a fortitit-d natural hill beside a river could only occur in particuiar geographical situations such as along the Euphrates where the valley is flanked by limestone hills. Within tbe Middle Euphrates valley, wbich was densely settled during this period,'' tbe only fortified hill was perhaps Emar.'"* Since it was frequently mentioned in the Ebla texts, it cannot be identifed with Armi/Armanum, An unexpected di.scovery made in tbe excavation campaign in 2004 was tbe discovery of an Early Bron/.t- Age Ijuilding on top of the citadel hill of Bazi.'' Tbis citadel is built on a natural spur
10. MEE X 34 (TM 75.G.1975); see Milano and Rova (2()f)(): 723);A.Archi,.Sc/>4 11981) 1-17. 11. The translation of BAD ditfers: "fortezza" le^., Afi£,T4; AfiET7); "fortezza; mHra" {ARETIM -caHtelh" lARET 13); "Festiiiif^. tciltveise mit Tor (KAY (Edzard, QuSem 18 |1992| 192); "NU'detiassuna" (B. Kienast, IISAO 2: 231); "fortress" (Milano and Rova 2(K)(): 724): "stronghold"' resp. "cities uilh their own territory" iMihnioand Hova 2000: 723|. 12. No Early Bronze Age citadel on a hill has been discovered .so far in the
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THE LOCALIZATION OF NARAM-SIN^ ARMANUM precision of the survey. Furthermore it is not clear how and where the measurements were taken. Therefore, the following considerations are to be conjectural. The largest wall situated about halfway up the slope of the Citadel, consisting of large, roughly worked stone blocks (see above), could perhaps be identilied with the BAD da-iii-im (the mighty wall). The distance from this wall to the lower wall, which joins with the city wall of Banat is— depending where the measurements are taken— ca. 80-95 meters, measured down the slope (fig. 6). The difference in height today is about fifteen meters, but originally was greater because the bottom of the Early Bronze Age city wall is certainly mucb deeper (the city wall is covered by the remains of Middle and Late Bronze Age houses). This distance suits well the distance of 180 cubits between the "outeiikdruin wall" and the "mighty wall." Therefore, the interpretation of the lower wal! as the ''outer//caru»i wall" seems possible. Botb tbe beigbt of twenty cubits for this outer wall,^" and the height of thirty cubits for the larger mighty stone wall built on solid rock seem very plausible. The larger wall is on average about two meters wide. A rough rule of thumb states that a mudbrick wall can be built to a height that is ten times as much as the width of the wall foundations: in this case this rule would give a height of plus or minus thirty cubits. Wbat about the BAD.CAL ("the great wall" or "the great fortification"), 44 cubits bigh, which should have existed at the top 30, 130 or 180 cubits away from the "mighty wall?" Several walls of different periods are visible on the surface at the edge of the plateau of the Citadel. The uppermost dates from Roman times; immediately below are walls associated with pottery of Middle and Late Bronze Age date. However, it is generally difficult to date walls constructed on a slope without detailed excavation, especially because the fortification walls were apparently reused in 26, Similar heij^ht.'; of city walls, vip to 45 cubits, IHCUI IVf-qiiently in Old Babylonian iiiiitheniatital texts, see Kraus (]948;S7,'noU-2).
15
different periods. Another possibility is that older walls were covered by more recent ones, or that their stone blocks were removed and reused in later structures, Without digging a trench at the top northern edge of the Citadel, this question cannot be answered. But in fact, the edge of the phUeau is onl\- about 54 meters distant from the "mighty wall. Sixty-five meters (130 cubits) from the "mighty walL" about eleven meters further inside the edge of the platean, there is a 1,5 meter-wide mudbrick wall with a stone socle. This wall turns a right angle near the eastern edge of the plateau (fig. 6). On the associated floor of white KcilkcNtriclr^ there was plenty of pottery indicating that this floor was inside a building and tbat tbe building was in use in Banat period III (Early Bronze Age IVA). The white floor is at an elevation of 369,52 meters above mean sea level, exactly the same height as the white Kalkentrich floor in the entrance of Building 2. It could therefore be conceivable that tbcse two parts of buildings, even though they are about seventy meters away from eacb might belong to a single construction, but further excavations must be undertaken before this (an be confirmed. Is it possible that the "great wall" does not designate a fortification wall, but the wall of a building? Two arguments speak in favor of this: first, a sort of a glacis with a smooth solid ,slo]>ing surface and made out of a combination of gravel and earth is attached to the wail on the north and, second, the 44-cubit height (ca. 22 meters) of the BADGAL is more than one would expect for a free-standing wall, whereas for a multistorey building such a height is reasonable. According to the pottery, the building went out of use at tbe end of the EB IVA peri(xl, but its outer walls, strengthened by a gla(;'is, could still have been standing during the time of Naram-Sin. The side of the depiction facing the statue of Sin-eribam gives the distances from the "mighty wall" to the "oider/kanwi walP and from this wall to the river (fig, 2). On the northwestern part of the 27, Kalkestrich is a solid parking ol' liTiicslonc phislci tniscci wilh stones that i.s used for lKinl-floor covenngs.
16
ADELHEID OTTO
Bazi Citadel, the big wall about half way up the slope can be recognized at approximately tbe same elevation as on the northeastern slope (figs, 9, 10). Further down the northwestern slope no traces of walls could be identified on the surface, because a modern house with a big garden covered the area. Either the "ottter kcirum wall," which was recorded as being 156 cubits (78 meters) below tbe "mighty wall," could have been covered by this house, or its stones might have been removed during the construction of tbe bottse. Wben, in 1999, tbe waters of the Tishreen Lake rose, a section of a 2.38-meter-wide mudbrick wall was revealed; this could be dated to the EB IVA period by a black Syrian bottle on the associated floor. Without further investigation, however, tbe function of this wall remains obscure. Measuring down from the "mighty wall" 176 m (156+196 cubits), one arrives at tbe foot of the hill and the edge of the gravel terrace (fig. 6).^'* The city of Banat-village ends abruptly at this point, and the alluvial plain begins (contottr line 314 meters). Strangely, along the whole western edge of the Early Bronze Age settlement of Banatvillage, a distance of about eight hundred meters north to .south, no traces of a c ity wall were found (see fig. 5). McCiellan and Potter have suggested that either tbis was due to erosion, and the city wall was washed away by a cbange in tbe course of the Euphrates, or there had been no need for a city wall on tbis side, because the city was sufficently protected by the river (McClellan 1999: 417). In either case, it is quite probable tbat a brancb of tbe Euphrates flowed close to tbe city and the citadel during the Early Bronze Age.^^ In tbe captions on tbis side no measurements were recorded from the "mighty vvalT' to the 28. On this low tcnact- tb£- Early Bronze Ajjt- cit\' of Banat village iincl tlie Late Bronze Age lower tovvn of Biizi vfere situated, 29. Numerous meanders indicate that the course of the Euphrates changed easily within the alluvial plain. During the last decades, the Euphrates ran close to the western edge of the valle\- in 2,.'j kilometers distance from Banat-Bazi: one branch of the river is .said to have been close to Banat three generations earlier, which is corroborated by an aerial photo of 1922: Institut Fran^ais de Damas, Vne miHHvm de reconnaissance de I'Euphralc i-n 1922 (1988). feuille VI. Sandalia Zrir,
"great wall." At the northwest corner of the Bazi Citadel, wbich must bave been the closest part of the Citadel to the river, tbe slope does not continue above tbe big v^'all, as it does on tbe opposite side of the hill, but a large cistern is cut out of the side of the bill (figs. 6,9).^' It is therefore conceivable that on this side of tbe depic tion, the distance from tbe inighty wall" to tbe great wall" was omitted because tbe "great wall" was not directly accessible, and therefore the distance cottld not be measured. To summarize, tbe correspondence between the measurements recorded in Naram-Sins description of Armanum with tbe distances between the Early Bronze Age walls and other strttctures on the Citadel of Bazi does not prove tbat Ainianttm is to be identified with Bazi. Tbere are too many itntertainties in tbe interpretation of tbe Old Babylonian copy of the text, and too many unresolved archaeological issues obscured by tbe reuse of the Early Bronze Citadel during later periods and by the limits of tbe excavations, to lemove ail doubt. Tbere seem, bouever, to be no major obstacles to tbe identification of Armanum witb Mount Bazi, and no more suitable candidate witb a highly fortified hill beside a river bas been proposed in the area in which Dagan exercized his influence. Information on Ihe Loc ation of Armi/ Armiiim from the Kbia Archives and Comparison \\ ilh the Arc haeolosical Evidence from Banat-Bazi Armi/Armium^' is, after Mari and Emar, the most frequently mentioned cit\ in the archives 30, The cistern probably also dates originally to the Early Bronze Age, In 2004 we discovered close to it a doorway including a long staircast' with mighty, carefully workrd stone steps, A Syrian bottle and several c\i\\ sling bullets in front of the entrance stress the contemporaneity with Building 2. level 9, 31. According to Bonechi (1990a: 28) and A, Anhi et al,, ARES II, 167. the writing Ar-mi-iim'" occurs onK- at tbe period of Igris-Halam and Irkab-Damu, lioth .Ar-mi and Ar-mi-uni are attested in Afl/'7/"IV 17. VIII, In the following lines I refer only tn the liitberto ptiblished evidence, eagerly awaiting the detailed treatment of ihe case of Armi by Biga and Archi,
THE LOCALIZATION OF NARAM-SINS ARMANUM
Fig. 9. Banat-Bazi, view from the nortb (from the Euphrates valley).
Fig. 10. Map of nortbern Mesopotamia and Syria in the mid- to late-third millennium B.C.
17
18
ADELHEID OTTO
from Ebla, occurring about as often as Ra'ak (Bonechi 1993: 54). The most detailed treatments of Atmium can be found in the e.xttemely valuable works of Bonechi (1990b: 21-81; 1993: 52-55). Fronzaroli has suggested the foUowitig possibilities for tbe etymological origin of the name Armanum/Armi/AtTnium: '^armanum "plane tree," '^rm "steep height," and arman "\Q throw, to take up one's abode in a place (Fronzaroli 1977: 14849; 1984-1986: 141). Given tbe character of the Citadel of Bazi, a derivation from '^nn is extremely tempting. ^^ According to tbe Ebla archives, Armium had a ruler (en) and "Elders" (abba).^^ In addition, tbe following persons" functions are attested for people ftom Armium: gurus., KA.DIB, ku-li, ltjkar, maliktum, mazalum, maskim, maskim-e-gi4, na-se\i, nagar, and .ses-2-ib.'^"' The political, economic, and cultic relations between Ebla and Armium were intensive: food ration lists from the Ebla palace arcbive L.2712 mention the name of Atmi'^' among food recipients who belong to the palace of the king. L. Milano wondered if this might mean that periodically bread and beer was issued to officials from Armiutn resident at tbe Ebla palace (Milano 1987: 519-50). Common cultic activities were jointly conducted by people from Ebla and Armium, and some of these took place at Ebla itself (Bonecbi 1990b: 30-31). Many LU.KAR (merchants) from Armium were busv in 32. Compare the Late Bronze Age ctymohi^y of the name Ba.sini (from Semitic "/wJ'= to tear off, separate), whirh means "separated location" and thus—tike the Early Bronze Affe name—refers to the (-xcejitional ajipearance of the steep citadel, separated by an artittcial ditch (Sallaberger, Otto, and Einwag 2006). 33. MEE II 50 r. X: 8ss: considerable amounts nf gold and silver objects as property of the elders of A.; ABET VIl 110: Rich gifts of precions metal are made by high officials (Bonechi 1990:25-28), 34. Especially the ma.skim-e-gi4 (special agents) and the maz-aliiin (messengers) are typical for the area northeast of Ebla. According to ARES 11 '1993) 31-36 ("nomi di funzioni riferiti al toponimi") maskim-e-gi resp. mti.'5kini-e-gi4 are attested for Armi, Dulu, Dugurasu, Eden k'l Ibal, EN-sar, yalsum, Emar, Ibia, Manuwad, and Sanabzngnm; mazalum for Amadu, Azan, Arhadii, Armi/Arminni, Dalaztignr, Dtihi, Dub. Garmn, Cndadalnm, Hiimm, Harhn{lii, Ibitbn/Ibiiiii, Ilibi, Kakmium. NI-a-NE-in. Sanabzngnm, Sngurltim, Utig, Ursirnm, Zubmrtim, Znhara.
Ebla. Numerous persons from different places in Syria and Mesopotamia lived in Armium, or went there in the course of their business (Bonechi 1990b: 28-29). A catavan of people from Armium went to the Ebla region {ARET IV 6, §47-49), and a caravan of people from Ebla went to Armium (ARET IV 6, §50-55), Cottld the.se be indications that there was indeed a karum at Despite its frequent tnetitiotis in the archives, the location of Armititn is disputed.^' An early view was that Armivun was situated near Ebla, because of the close, direct, and intense relations between the two citie.s. Bonecbi (1990b: 22-25), bowever, doubted this for various teasons, one of tbem being tbe absence of typical Eblaite elements within the personal names of Armium and suggested that the location of Armitun was to tbe northwest of Ebla (in Cilicia, in the Amanus region or on tbe Syrian coast) and not in tbe Euphrates area.'^^ He lists four main rea.soris for tbis proposal (Bonechi 1990: 34-37; 1. Armium is not mentioned in the Enna-Dagan letter, 2, Armititn is not mentioned in thx,2(K)0i. 34 und 59.
,,ENKI IN NIPPUR" Z. 9'. Wabrscheinlich ist am Zeileuende eine Form von gii-d^ zu ergatizen. Dal^ die folgenden Zeilen eine Rede Fnkis entbalten, wird dutch die Verbalformen in Z. 1O'-14' [AK in Z. 10' ist unklar) bestatigt, die sich alle an eine zweite Person (Enlil?) ricbten. Z. 10'. Die Zeile endet mit einer dttrc h hu-muengeleiteten Verbalfoi tri, und es ist anzuuehmen, dafi hier eine in den nachfolgenden Zeilen fortgesetzte Reibe von ,^ffirmativen"''* beginnt. Die Deiituug des Zeilenaufangs ist unsicher. Probletnatist h ist insbesontleie die Ztionlmmg des Zeicben.s MU. Es ware moglich, MU als Pronominalsttttix -gU]() zu deuten ttnd dem vorausgehenden a-a zuztiotdneti. Einem Vorschlag P Attingers folgend, konnte es sicb dann, trotz der tmgevvohnlichen Wortstellung, um einen ltnperativ handeln: ,.Den Tempel aus Karneol, baue ibn, meiti Vater!" Enki wiirde dctnnadi seinen Vater auffordern, den Tempel zu bauen, wobei die Verbindung mit den Aussagen der vorausgehenden Zeilen undurchsi(htig bliebe. In der Regel ist es aucb der gottlicbe Sobn, der die AuftrSge seines Vaters ausfiibrt., hier dagegen wiirde der Sohn seinem Vater einen Befehl erteilen. Da jedoch der Inbalt des Textes im Dunkein liegt, lafet sich nicht sagen, woiatif bier angespielt sein konnte. Ein anderer tJbersetzungsvorschlag verbitidet MU als Piiitix tnit detn folgetiden Verb AK: ,,Uh habe den Tem|)el aus Karneol, Vater, gebaut!" (Text A), oder nach Text B ...Dafi icb den Tempel aus Karneol (fur?) <meinen> Vater gebattt habe " In beiden Fitlleti wiude das Pos.sessivsuffix -p;uio, ..tnein," sowie in Text B auch eine Markierung des Dativs nach a-a fehlen. Diese Dettttuig.svorschlage s(heitieu itihaltlitb eher vertretbar, stolseti aber auf die getuumten grammatikaliscben Scbwietigkeiten. Z. 11'-12'. S. N. Kramer und G. J, Gadd nehtnen in ihter Einleititng zu UKr6/\ S. 5 an, dafi es sicb bei die.sctn Zeilcnpaar um eiue Dtohung Etikis bandele, ..that he will hurl (?) trees and reeds against you." Fiir die voti Kramer mid Gadd voigescblagcne Ubersetzutig der Verbalfotmen als transitive Prekative sollte man im Sumerischen
14. Siehe dazu .soglcich unten im Kouimcntar zu Z. 1 r - 1 2 ' .
33
man'i-Formen erwarten. Die mit b^- (und anderen Modalprafixen) eingeieiteten Verbalformen sind des ofteten disktttiei't ttnd zuletzt \(in M. Givil in ,,Modal Prefixes," AS] 22 (2000, erschienen 2005) 29-42 (mit alterer Literatur), neu bebandelt worden. Givil gebt bei seinen Untersuchungeti von einer ,Jitnctional-typologi(al orietitation" atts. die das Herausarbeiteu sprachliciier Feinheiten in der Aussageweise anstrebt und wendet sich von den traditionellen Ansatzen ab, die auf der starren Klassifikation isolierter granitnatis( her Formen in AHirmativ, Prekativ etc. bertthen. Wenn avich die traditionelle Analyse der fraglichen Verbalformeti biiittig zu inhaltlich unbefriedigenden Ubersetzimgen tiihtt, .so bietet jedoch Givils Ansatz an Stellen, wo Inhalt und Kontext unklar sind, wenig Hilfe, Unsere Zeilen scbeineu detn ,,epistemic" Bedeutungsfeld anzttgehoreti. Welcbe der von Givil angefiibrten zahlreichen Nuancen bier vorliegt, lafit sicb jedocb uicht sicher bestimmen, da sowobl der Anfang von Z. 10', als auch Z. 13'-14' inhaltlich mcbtdeittig oder zu schlecht erhalteti sind. Moglicbe Ubersetzungen des Zeilenpaares waren: ,,Er kann das Holz/das Rohr gegeti dich werfen, er kann |...]" oder ,,Er hat do( h Hoiz/Rohr gegen dich geworfen, er hat \. . .]." Da der Zttsammenhang undurchsichtigt ist, bleibt offen, ob es sith nur um eine Drobuug oder utn eitie Anspiehttig auf vorausgehende Ereignisse handelt. Diese F^reignisse konnten entweder. innerbalb de.s.selben Textes. den auf den Tafein aus Ur geschilderten vorattsgehen oder dem Leser/Horer utis anderen Quellen bekannt sein, Unklar bleibt, wer zu wem spricht. Es scbeint aber ausgescblossen, daft der hier Angesprochene, also das Opfer des Angritt's, utns Leben kam. Moglicherweise besteht eine Verbindung zu den im zweiten Te.xtteil in der Rede an die Anuna erwiibnten Ereignisse, .siehe dazu tuiten ften Koinmentar zu Teil h Z, 9 ' - i r . Hoi/ iiiul [Aohr sind keine AngriHswatlen itn engeren Sinne,'' Es bandelt .sicb wohl iii( ht lun eine Ansj)ielung iiuf eine kriegetische Attscinatidet.setzung. War deijeuige, der mit Holz ttnd Rohr um sicb warf, der .,HUter" eines Naturbereiches, 15. Zu Wurfwrtffen jiller Art v^l \i. Eicliler, ..Of Slings ;UK1 Shields, Throw-Stieks and Javelins,\/AOS 103 (19B3J 95-102.
34
MARIE-GHRISTINE LUDWIG
ein Naturdamon, der benutzte, was ibm zur Verfugung stand, um einen ,,EindringIing" abzuwehren? Vgl. oben den Kommentar zu Z. 4'. Z. 13' und 14' sind fragmentarisch und konnen nicht zur Deutung der Stelle herangezogen werden. Z. 15'-16'. Die folgenden Zeilen enthalten ein literarisch-mythologisches Versatzstiick (Topos), ,,Schafien von Fruchtbarkeit", das in Varianten aus zablreichen Texten bekannt ist und des ofteren diskutiert wurde. Siehe zuletzt F. AI-Rawi und J. Black, ,.A halbale of Ninurta," ZA 90 (2000) 3139 (Ninurta F, ETGSL 4.26.06), mit Verweis auf die ausfiihrlichen Untersuchungen von A. J. Ferrara, ,,Topoi And Stock-Strophes In Sumerian Literary Traditions; Some Observations, Part I," 7A^ES54 (1995) 81-117. 15'. Am Zeilenanfang ist Platz ftir ein Zeichen: ,,Der [...] des Himmels," Die Genitivverbindung ist insgesamt durch -/e/ als Ergativ markiert, bezieht sich demnach auf denjenigen, der die in den folgenden Zeilen beschriebenen schopferischen Tatigkeiten ausfiihrt. Die Lesung des Verbs bani-in-TU hier und in den folgenden Zeilen wird durch Parallelen aus anderen Texten auf du festgelegt, obgleich ku4 ,.hineinbringen, einfiihren (in das e-kur als Abbild des Kosmos)" in unserem Text gut passen wiirde. Als Parallelen sincl beispielsweise anzuflihren das oben erwahnte balbale an Ninurta, Ninurta F, 8 lugal-gUiQ w^ sila4 na-an-du-ud etc. und der von A. Falkenstein, in AjO 16 (1953) 60-64, bearbeitete syllabische Emesal-Te.xt VS II 3 I 1-17, in dem die entsprechenden Zeilen jeweils mit der Verhalform humu-ra-u-du enden. In Z. 15' wird das Ergebnis (,,Objekt") der scbopferischen Tatigkeit nicht genannt. Die.se Zeile weicht demnach syntaktisch von dem Muster der folgenden Zeilen ab, in denen jeweils die schopferischen Ergebnisse erwahnt werden, nicht aber der Schopfer selbst. Rein formal liefie sich -hi nach der Genitivverbindung am Zeilenanfang auch als Direktiv (Lokativ-Terminativ) deuten, fiihrt jedoch inhaltlich nicht weiter. 16'-19' Zu Z. 16'-17' vgl. NSJN 332(341)333(342).'« Z, 16'-19' sind parallel gebaut nach dem Schema: x y-ta ba-ni-in-du he-g^l ba-[ni-in16. ETCSL 1.5.1.
diii. Vgl. LSU 500: iy a-bi-da a-sk se-bi-da (an-n^ nam-kur-re) ,,(That there again be) water courses with water and fields with grain (may An not change it)."'^ Die Ablativpostposition -ta vertritt an unserer Stelle die Komitativpostposition -da, siehe dazu P Attinger, ELS 249. Vgl. ferner NSJN 332(341)333(342). Z. 20' Die hier und auch in Z. 22' gebotene Lesung habrud(KIxU) folgt einem Vorschlag von G. Mittermaver. Eine Jjabrud-Pflanze" kanu ich soust nicht nachwei.sen,'"" Die Lesung K.lxU wird indirekt bestatigt durch einen Schreibfehler in Z. 25', hier steht versehentlich iri"^""'-"^ ansteile des zu erwartenden irt"". Fiir Z. 20' sind mir keine Parallelen aus anderen Versionen der ,.Standartstrophe"''"' bekannt. Zu dem Wortpaar eg pa4/ pa5(-r) ,,Kanaldamm und Bewasserungskanal" als Begrtff fiir das ge.samte Bewa.s.s('rungssy.stem siehe M. Civil, The Farmer's ijistructions: A Sumerian Agricultural Manual (Barcelona: Aula Orientalis Supplementa 5, 1994), 109-40. Auf S. 112-13 fiihrt Givil aus lexikalischen Listen Belege fiir bestimmte Straucher oder Baume an, die mit dem Kanalsystem, insbesondere den Dammen, assoziiert wurden. Es erklart sich von selbst, dafi Feuchtigkeit liebende Vegetation entlang den Kanalen uppig wucberte, oft wohl als unerwOnschte Konkurrenz fijr die Nutzpflanzen. Kiinstliche Erdaufschiittungen wie Kanaldiimme konnen jedoch durth Bepllanzung .stahilisiert werden. War dies die Funktion von "habrud? Z. 21'. Anstatt des zu erwartenden pu kirifj (vgl. Ferrara, jNES 54, 96-100 und insbesondere NSJN 338(347), Nanna-Suen K B 9,^" Ninurta F 30,'' Dumuzi-Inana Dj 57,^^ N 3381 10' (Ferrara, S54,104), VS2, 1, II, 5; VS 2, 3,1, 13, CT 15, 17. ETCSL 2.2.3. 18. Sie wird auch nicht erwahnt in den ausfiihrlichen Untprsiirhiingen vnn Wu Yiihong, . ^ Study of the Sumerian Word.s lor .Animal HoU-- (HABRUD). ..Hole" (TiLlRUD), .Well" (BURUD2). and ..Copper" (WURUDA)." An ExiH-riem-cd S(nl)e Who Ni'^k-cts Nothing; Anciaiil Near Eastern Studies in Honor of Jacob Klein, Yilzhak Sefati, et al, eds. (Bethesda: CDL, 2005), 374-95. 19. Siehe oben den Kmnmentar zu Z. l5'-K->'. 20. ETCSL4.13.il. 21. ETCSL 4.27.06. 22. ETCSL 4.08.30.
.,ENKI IN NIPPUR •
35
nicht um eine Variante, sondern um einen Schreibfehler handelt. Der Schreiber hat versehentlich "habrud aus Z. 20' wiederbolt, Z. 23' Vgl. NSJN 336(345), Nanna-Suen K B 7, Ninurta E 28, N 3381 8 ? " CT 15 26, 17 und Dumuzi-Inana D] 56, Auf Grund der Paralielen miissen die Zei( ben in der Zeilenmitte als einen ni-in [ [ / in-\bi ki-rc-e si})-p(i-t\i u-fid-ds-si-' wenig geglikkten Versiich des S(hreibers ge«er lieft die Erucht des Obstgartens ein.sammeln." wertet werden, segg segg-bar zu schreiben, Es Weitere Belege sind LSU 88 pu '^"kirip gurun-ba lassen sich zahlreiche, nur schwach angedeutete mu-un-BU.BU ligima i-burjo-re .,Tbe orchards Keile oder Keilansiitze erkennen, die die Schwiewere stripped of their fruit, they were cleaned of rigkeiten des Sthreibers mit diesen .selteneren their off shoots."^* und Streitgesprach zwischen und komplexen Zeichenformen deutlich macben, Vogel und Eisch 77: gurun nig-dug-bum '^'''kirid Vgl, oben zu Z. 21', P. Attinger schliigt tmter Vor^'^kiri(i pu "^'^kirip-a sa-dug4 gal-gal-g;un)-se ..Emits behalt eine syllabischc Lesung se' •-eg-ba''-ra^' and produce of gardens and orchards are tbe enorvor. Eine syllabische Schreibung an dieser Stelle mous daily offering due to me."^^ Vgl, ferner Enlil ware zwar ungewobnlich, wurde aber eher die und Sud 123 gurun '^'kirif^-a si ba-ni-in-sa ,,Eruits gegebenen ZeicbeniOrmen mit der erwarteten of orchards were dispatched (by Enlil .. .),"^'' Das Lesung .segg segg-bar verbirulen als deren InterWortpaar lal gestin in der Zeilenmitte ist epigrapretation als Normalorthographie. Eiirdie zweite pbisch unsicher. Weitere, fur einen sonst relativ Halfte der Zeichenfolge (nach se''-eg) scheint mir sicher geschriebenen Text, ungewohnlich stark au( h eine Lesung seggl-bar vertretbar. Oer kleine entstellete Zeichenformen liegen auch in Z, 23' Schragt'/Winkelbaken oberhalb des unteren vor. Siehe dazu sogleich unten. Schragen am Ende von IG ware der Anfang von segg, das durch das folgende, mit einem kleinen Z. 22' Vgl, die Paralielen in NSJN 337(346), LSU Senkrechten beginnenden Zeichenfragment fort506, Nanna-Suen K B 8, Ninurta E 29, Dumuzigesetzt ware. Der Waagerechte des abschlieftInana Di 55, N 3381 9',=' VS 2,1, II 4, VS 2,3,1 11, enden BAR ware etwas zu tief ge.setzt. Ftir die CT 15 26, 18 und CA 175.^^ Anstelle der babruderste Halfte der Zeichenfolge scheint eiue Losung Pflanze fiihren die genannten Texte '^^mas-giu*um seg9 nicht veiiretbar, an."'' Ich nebme an, dais es sich in unserer Zeile Es ware zu Iiberlegen, ob unser Text einer Tradition folgt, die segt) segy-bar durch dara .segg-bar 23, J. J. van Dijk, WGAL VD ME-lAM-hi NIR-GAI^ Tome 11 zu ensetzen scheint Diese Tradition wird bezeugt (Leiden: Brill. 1983). 103; vjil, FTCSl. 1.6,2, 24, ETCSL 2,2,3; vglF Mii\\i\\(}v.s\ii, The Lamentation over durch VS 2, 3, I, 9 {bier syllabiscb gescbrieben titc Destrnclinti of Siwirr and Vr iWinona Lake: Eisenbrauns, dara) und VS 2, 1, 11. 3." Das erste Zeichen der 1989), 40 uiiH den Kommentiir zur Stelle, fraglithen Zeicbengruppe in Text B wurde daher 2ry. ETCSL 5,3.5, dara darstellen, gefolgt vou seggl'r'-bar. 26, ETCSL 1.2.2, Z. 24' Vgi. NSJN 339(348), Nanna-Suen K B 11, 27. A, J. Ferrara. ^Tojx)i and Stock-Strophes in Sumerian Literary Tradition: Stime Ob.sei* vat ions. Part I." Jf^ES 54 Ninurta E 31 Dumuzi-Iuana Dj 59. N 3381 11?^ (19951,104. VS 2, 1,11, 7. VS 2, 3,1, 17, CT 15, 26 20 und USU 28. KTCSL 2,1.5,
26, 19 und LSU 505) bietet unser Text die Variante gurun kirie .,Erucht des Obstgartens." Diese Wortverbindung liegt auch vor in Lugal-e 363 burU;^(EBUH) pu kiri(^-ke4 gurun mi-ni-in-il (Hj und I] und Varianten). Vgl, dort vor allem die direkte Parallele des spaten, zweisprachigen Textvertreters h] {SBH 71) gu[rii[u pju I su mi-
29, Eine Pflanze dieses Namens wird in spiUeii lexikali.schen und mediziriisch-phanniizeiitiselien Texten mit (af.'iarniadu geplicheii. siehe CAD s,v. harmadu, auch fiir die uiiterschiedlichen Schreibweiseii. Eine Ideiitifiaktion dieser Pllanze wiU' bisliuig iiifd of the sceptre" handelt. Es finden sich allerdings auth Tcxtstellen, die auf einen vokaliscben Auslaut deuten, bcispieisweise die oben zitierte Zeile aus dem Streitgespracb zwischen Silber und Kupfer, wo ''nuska-ar als Dativ erscheint. Siebe aucb die Unterschrift nach Nuska B iTir-gid-da 'uuska-kam. 32'. Zu U4 ul-la ,,imnier zu Diensten" in dieser Redeeinleitungsformcl .siehe H. Behrens, SPSM 8, S. 106-8. Teilb 8' Diese Zeile leitet die Bede eines Ciottcs, mdglicherweise Enlils, an die Anuna ein. 9'-l r, Gadd und Kramer nehmen in ihrer Einleitung zu UET 6/1, S. 5, an, in Z. 9'-l()' beklage sich jemand, sein Sobn sei getotet wordon. Die Verbalform nui-un-ug5-ge-ra ist uugewolmlich und nicht sicber deutbar. Man konnte zwar fiir die.se Scbreibung Deutungen zur Stiitze von Gadd und Kramers Ubersetzungsvorschlag enviigen, wurde aber dann aus inhaltlichen Griindcn auf Schwierigkeitcn stolscn, Die Ergiinzung |dum|u am Anfang von Z. 11' kann im Augeublick /war noch nicht durcb ein Textduplikat bestatigt werden, scheint aber epigraphisch sicber. Lautet Z, 11' daher |dum|u-gU]() ur^-giny hu-mu-ra-ab-AK-e ,,Mein Sohn wird es folgendermaften fiir dich au.sfiihren," so konnen die \()rausjj!:ehenden Zeilen nicht vom Tod die.ses Sohncs handclu. Im Folgenden werden nur .solche Deutungsvorschlage fiir mu-un-ug^-ge-ra erdrtert, die sicb damit vereinbaren lassen, dali der Sohn in Z. 11' als Handelnder erscheint, Es bleibt zu hoifen, daft neue 39. unkbr; ETCSL 5.3.6. 40. _The Name of Nuska," RA 9(5 (2OO2i 57-60.
38
MARIE-CHRISTINE LUDWIG
Textfunde ein besseres Verstandnis dieser Textstelle ennoglicben werden. In mu-uu-ug5-ge-ra lafet das Suffix -ra an ein Dativsuffix oder die ,,isolierende Postposition" -la/ -ri^' denken. Beide Suffixe lassen sich jedoch in die.ser Position nur nach einer nominalisierten Verbalform nachweisen. Liegt eine Feblscbreibung flir mu-un-ugg-ga-ra vor? Versteht man -ra als eine Dativmarkierung, ergabe sich: ,,Fiir den, den der Held, mein Sohn getotet hat, den er im Tempel getotet hat," moglicherweise auch ,,Fur den Helden, den mein Sohn getotet hat " Dieser Dativ konnte wiederaufgenommen sein durch -rain hu-mu-ia-ab-AK-e in Z. 11'. Es wiire eine zweite Person/Singular angesprochen, was im Widerspruch dazu zu stehen scheint, daft sicb nach Z. 8' die Rede an die Anuna wendet. Waren die Anuna als Gruppe angesprothen? Ein Dativinfix fur die zweite Person/Plural laftt sich meines Wissens nicht nachweisen. Versteht man -ra als ,,isolierenden Postposition" ergabe sich: ,,{die Tatsache,) daft der Held, mein Sohn, ihn dort getotet bat, daft er ibn im Tempel 41. Zti .Jsolierenden Postposition^n" siehe R Attinger, ELS, S 170. S. 260-261, mit Verweis anf die Vorarbeiten von J. Krccher, .Zur sumeri.schen Grammatik," ZA 57 (1965) 1229 und weiteren Literatin-hinweisen.
getotet bat." Bei einer Ubersetzung ,,{die Tatsacbe,) daft mein Sohn den Helden dort getotet hat.,." wiirde die Wortstellung im Sumerischen auffallen. Inbaltlich konnte hier auf die in Teil a Z. n ' - 1 2 ' geschilderten Ereignisse angespielt sein. Es ware zu iiberlegen, ob man mu-un-ug5-ge-ra als die Schreibung einer verkiirzten, uominalisierten, ergativischen niaru-Form mu-un-ug^-ge^a-ra deuten kann.'*^ Daraus resultierende Ubersetzungen wie: fur den, der meinen Sohn toten wollte/will, der ibn im Tempel toten wollte/ will, der Held, der meinen Sohn toten wollte/ will,..." oder „ ..., der den Helden meinen Sohn toten wollte/wiil " ,.(Die Tatsache,) daft er meinen Sohn toten wollte/wili " scheinen sich inhaltlich besser mit Z, IV verkniipfen zu las.sen als die vorausgehenden tibersetzungsvorschlage, was hier jedoch genau gesagt ist, bleibt unklar. 42. Vorkihzte marii-Fonm'n, vonAit'gend solthc, die iuil' dem Sc'hwiind des manVVokal.s beruhen, hal J. Krecher in _Die marfi'Formen des sumerischen Vprbunis," Vom Allen Orient Zum Altcn Tcstamcnf. Festschrift fiir Wolfmiu Freiherrn van Sodcn zum 85. Gehurtstag am 19. juni IW:i. ed, M. Diptrich und O. Loretz. AOAT 240 (Kcveliier; Ncnkirr/hener Verlag. 1995). 155-58 nnd 189-91 Iwhandelt. Dort sind keinr direkfen Parallelen zn mii-un-ug^-ge-ra < 'mu-un-ug-,-ge--a-ra Rebiiohf. Nach Krethers Ausflihrnngen wiire e.s jedotli vorstellbar, dafe die F"olge von kuizen, otf'enen Silben in -lu^l-PpJ-Pa Vug^era/, geschrieben -ug5-ge-ra, erscheinen k6nnte.
GENRE, GENDER, AND THE SUMERIAN LAMENTATION Jerrold S. Cooper (The Johns Hopkins University) T F.-K. in memoriam
In a trail-blazing 1986 article on genre in Mesopotamian literature, H. Vanstiphout, building on the theories of A. Fowler, discussed the threestage "pattern of the natural 'life'" of Sumerian historical (or city) laments.' LS(7r represents a "primary, or aggregation phase" in whicii the major themes are ail present, but less distinguished and structured than in the other laments. "The genre seems to find its definitive 'format' in" IJJ, which sits "astride the primary and the secondary phase." In the full "secondary or classical phase ... the format resulting from the primary stage" becomes a "normative prescription for composing new te.xts," which are represented by LEr and IW, and especially LN, whose innovation, however, "already announces the tertiary'
stage." This "final phase in the life cycle of a historical genre usually consists of a more or less radically new use of the formal features of the type. This inay be antithetic, or burlesque, or the form may degrade into a hollow shell for a completely different content." He sees I.IV straddling the secondary and tertiary phases, e.xperimental but still within the rules. The true tertiary phase sees the end of the historical lament genre: "many of the formal characteristics of the genre are taken over by the litiugical laments ... the foi m as such ceases to be a purely literary entity by being degraded to consumer, or even throw-away te.xts." Regarding the origin of the materials in LSVr, what we might call the pre-primary phase, a diagram of his scheme shows as sources "lists," "historical literature," and "(?)." (Vanstiphout 1986: 7-9) Three years later, Michalowski accepted most of Vanstiphout's scheme, but discussed more fully LSUr as the first of the group. In looking for the sources of LSUr., he briefly mentions the so-called Urukagina Lament. He doubts that there was any real continuity from late Early Dynastic Lagash (ca. 2350 B.C.) to the Isin period (ca. 2000-1800), but, he "cannot dismiss [it] out of hand, for it is possibly but a singular survivor of a more common type of text from the Early Dynastic period." For Michalowski, however, the real "prior text" of LSUr is the Gurse of Akkade, a text written in the Ur III period (ca. 2100-2000 B.C.)- "or perhaps
1. This essay was originally written for a conference on genre organized hy Vanstiphout in 1995. At the urging of several colleagues, I am publishing it here, through the kindness of the editor. Little or no notice could he taken of works published after 1997, and the important contributions made hy Tinney (1996) to the discussion of lamentation and genre have been acknowledged mainly in the notes. See also Bauer et al. (1998: 435-36) for the suggestion that emesal was the local dialect of Lagash, and Whittaker (2002) for Emesal as a women's language. Note that much of the suhstance of my contribution here was anticipated by Frvmer-Kenskv (1992; 43-44). The following abbreviations for Sumerian compositions are used; the sources can he found in the bibliography of VSD (Sjoberg et al. 1984-) vol. 1 /111: CA Curse of Agade LEr Eridu Lament LN Nippur Lament LSUr Lamentation over Sumer and Ur LU Lamentation over Ui' (now Romer 2004) LW Uruk Lament
2. Cf Tinney's view (1996: 84) of CA as the complement of the Nippur Lament: the foriner relates the wrong way for a king to treat Nippur, and the latter the correct way. In view of
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even earlier." The switch of accent, from guilty to innocent protagonist, from curse upon the destroyed city to a curse upon those who fulfilled the destiny pronounced by the gods and who took part in the destruction of Sumer, is a fundamental element in the relationship between the two compositions and the key to the intertextual nature of this type of writing. LSUr cannot really be understood without recourse to CA, for the relationship between the two is truly dialectical with mutual contradictions bound to similarities. The new order results from a change in perspective but this change can only be grasped against the evidence of the older text (Michalowski 1989: 4-9). I myself had pointed out the relationship between the Curse of Akkade and the city laments in my edition of that text (1983: 8 and chapter III), and discussed the matter further in a later article (1993). The Curse of Akkade, I claimed, was written in Ur III to explain the fall of "the first world empire" in terms that would not prove threatening to the rulers of the second world empire, the kings of Ur. The city laments were produced in the Isin period as an alternative model of political alienation, with the ptarpose of legitimizing the rulers of Isin as the successors of the kings of Ur, as Michalowski had already stated. But if we agree that CA is the "prior text" for LSUr and hence for all of the city laments, where did CA come from? Despite its closeness in both language and content to the city laments, CA has none of the internal divisions that characterize the laments, and it ends with a doxology (za-mi) characteristic of epics, myths, wisdom literature, and certain hymns, but never found in a lament.'' The CA is
the Ur III manuscripts of CA (Cooper 1983a: 41-43; add Alster 1993: 1-3), it is difficult to understand how Liverani (1993: 57) can date the composition to the time of Isme-Dagan of Isin. Similarly, Cohen (1988, I: 34), who cites CA as "another example [alongside the city laments] of the emergence of the lamentation type work during the Old Babylonian period." According to R. Zettler (personal communication), the Ur III manuscripts of Curse of Akkade were found in late fill at the Inana temple in Nippur, together with dated Ur III archival texts. 3. See the table in Wilcke (1975: 258), and cf. Black (1992).
also marked as part of series of at least two texts explaining the rise and fall of the dynasty of Akkade: The beginning of CA, which tells of the dynasty's fall, sets the historical scene in very similar ways to the beginning of the Sutnerian Sargon Legend, which tells of the dynasty's rise, and the two compositions share other parallels as well.* Thus, CA combines features of historical narrative and lamentation, subverting the fundamental goal of each: instead of narrating a ruler's rise to power and triumph, it describes a ruler's disgrace and fall from power; instead of using the language of lament to pray for restoration, it prays for the opposite, Akkade's utter destruction. That is, whereas lamentations depict scenes of ruin otily to deplore them, CA depicts similar scenes as a desired outcome. But this subversion of genre is only possible if there is already a genre to subvert! And surely no one would want to maintain that the rich vocabulary of lamentation in CA, with its many parallels in both city and ritual laments, was an innovation of the author of CA. Rather, one can only agree with the analysis of E Dobbs-AUsop in his study of city latnent in the Hebrew Bible: While Vanstiphout's sketch of the city-lament genre accounts for the genre as it is presently known, the actual historical reality may nevertheless be more complex. The "Curse of Agade" ... predates all the known historical city laments and already contains much of the genres generic repertoire, suggesting that other early exemplars of the city-lament genre may have existed but have not survived Furthermore, it is not clear whether or not the historical city laments circulated contemporaneously with the balagji and ersemmas. Nonetheless, Vanstiphout's analysis has developmental 4. Cooper and Heimpel (1983); Cooper (1983a: 27; 1993: 17-18). Alster (1987: 169 n. 1 and 172 n. 9) separates TCL 16, 73 from 3N-T 296: "Unlike Cooper/Heimpel I do not consider TCL 16, 73 and 3N-T 296 the immediate continuation of each other. There is either a large gap between them, or, rather, they belong to two different compositions" (n. 1); "Unlike Cooper/ Heimpel I understand TCL 16, 73 rev. as part of a later section of the story, or perhaps rather as part of another composition in which Sargon is already described as king of Akkad." However, what Heimpel and I said was that the episode on 3N-T 296 comes in between TCL 16, 73 obv. and TCL 16, 73 rev., a conclusion that is unavoidable, however one wants to imagine the story's unfolding. See now, also, J. Westenholz (1997: 51-55).
GENRE, GENDER, AND THE SUMERIAN LAMENTATION significance and effectively demonstrates the advantages of analyzing the Mesopotamian laments according to recent genre theory. It explains the laments' family resemblances as well as their heterogeneity, accounts for the prototypical form of LU, and provides a plausible e.xplanation of how the balags and erSeinmas relate to the historical city laments. (Dobbs-Allsopp 1993: 20)
A careful reading of this statement suggests that the author admires Vanstiphout's theoretically informed treatment of the known city-laments and their interrelationships, but has doubts about Vanstiphout's account of the genres origins as well as its end stage. Dobbs-Allsopp continues a page later: two alternative explanations of how CA relates to the city-lament genre suggest themselves Cooper... believes CA shares characteristics from both [city laments and literary-historical texts]. One could suggest that CA is a hybrid which has resulted from the mixing of two generic repertoires. Or... one of the contributing genres should be identified as a mode one might suppose that the author uses the literary-historical mode to modify the more dominant city-lament genre... Michalowski observes that the author of LSUr uses much of the structure of CA, but reshapes it for his own purposes ... this represents an example of what Fowler describes as a counterstatement or countergenre ... Obviously more work would be required to prove either case, if they can be proved at all. However, their hypothetical nature notwithstanding, both examples indicate possible ways in which CA could belong peripherally to the city-lament genre and illustrate the importance of generic categories for the interpretive process. (Dobbs-Allsopp 1993: 21-22)
If we strip away the author's enthusiasm for genre theory, the facts as he understands them lead to discouraging conclusions about the usefulness of theory in understanding the early history of Sumerian laments. It makes little difference, after all, if we denominate CA as a hybrid or as a city-lament modified by the literary-historical mode. And to say that the entire group of citylaments is a countergenre generated by the unique CA places a burden on CA that it cannot possibly sustain. Vanstiphout and Michalowski have done a brilliant job explaining the relationship of the city laments to one another, and the importance
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of CA as the prior text to the entire series, but the explicit or implicit acceptance of Fowler's biological model—aggregation, floruit, decay—can only lead us astray in our attempt to understand the origins of the city laments and their relation to the ritual laments. If, as I have suggested, CA is a kind of subverted city lament that is witness to an already rich repertoire of stock phrases and topoi that appear later in the city and ritual laments, what evidence is there for the sources of this repertoire, for city and ritual laments in Babylonia of the Ur III period and earlier? Our first evidence comes from CA itself. After the depredations of the Guti, the survivors performed a lamentation at Nippur: The old women who survived those days. The old men who survived those daj's. The chief gala who survived those years— For .seven days and seven nights Put in place seven balag-drums, as if they stood at heaven's base, and Made ub, meze, and lili.s-drums resonate for him (Enlil) among them. The old women did not restrain (the cry) "Alas my city!" The old men did not restrain (the cry) "Alas its people!" The gala did not restrain (the cry) "Alas the Ekur!" Its young women did not restrain from tearing their hair. Its young men did not restrain from sharpening their knives. Their laments were the laments for Enlil's ancestors— They perform them in the awe-inspiring duku, Enlil's holy lap.^
Here we have all of the classic elements of the ritual lament: the gala, in whose repertoire the ritual laments lay, the balag-drum,'^ stock phrases 5. Cooper (1983a lines 200-208). See the interesting discussion of Horowitz (1993: 39-40). Hallo (1991: 181; also 1996: 128-29), grasping for biblical parallels, sees this passage as describing a seven-day mourning period for Naram-Sin, which is hardly possible since his death is never mentioned, and he, after all, was directly responsible for the catastrophe whose survivors are performing the lament. 6. I agree completely with Black (1991: 28, n. 39), that the balag must be a drum, and not a harp or lyre. But he is wiong in claiming that Falkenstein, and Green, and Nissen after him (1987), erred in identifying ZATU 47 with BALAC. In ('act, the entries gal-nar,gal-ZATL/47,GALSU|2, GAL ZAG in Archaic Lu A 105-7 (ATU3 16) are the precise equivalents of ED Lu A 77-79 gal-nar,gal-halag,GALSU|2, GAL ZAG (MSL 12 11 = Arcari 1982: 24). And there is no mistaking that ZATU 47 looks
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and topoi known from later laments (Cooper 1983a: 252), and a clear reference to a lamentation rite known from tbe Ur III period tbrougb tbe first millennium."^ A similar, but less formal lament is represented in LAT^ 38-40.^ In tbe CA lamentation scene, the old women's cry "Alas my city!" is in emesal, tbe language of tbe ritual laments. No Ur III manuscript of CA preserves this line, but there is no reason to imagine tbat the emesal form uru2 is an Old Babylonian innovation. No Emesal texts per se are preserved from the Ur III period,^ but Sallaberger points to the use of Emesal in Shulgi X, certainly an Ur III composition, and tbe allusion to the emesal lament eden-na li-sag-ga in UN A (Death of Ur-Nammu), almost certainly also an Ur III composition, as evidence for tbe use of Emesal in the Ur III period.'" In fact, the rite for which eden-na ii-sag-ga was composed was celebrated at Umma during Ur III (Sallaberger 1993,1: 234). Also attested in Ur III administrative texts is the participation of the gala in lamentation rites (er-siskur-ra; Sallaberger 1993, I: 149-50). Tbere is no direct evidence for emesal or specific ritual laments earlier than the Ur III period, but the gala" himself is attested from tbe Fara period (ca. 2600 B.C.; e.g., Pomponio and Visicato
exactly like a Sumerian harp (see the sign and the harps illustrated in RIA 4 115-16). As Black points out, ZATU 47 looks nothing like its successor, 7JAK 41, but that sign, too, if it looks like anything, looks more like a stringed instrument than a percussion instrument. Furthermore, reconstructed Hh VII B, as described in RIA 6,573, makes it appear that that text treated the halag as a harp. Finally, the Ebla equation of balag with Semitic kinarum cannot just be dismissed by Black's "I am at a loss to account for." Clearly, the Ebla tradition also considered the balag to be a stringed instrument. But I can offer no suggestion of my own to reconcile the contradictory evidence about the balag. 7. For the rites for Enlil's ancestors at the duku, see Tsukimoto (1985: 204-6); Sallaberger (1993,1: 130). 8. Other allusions in the city laments to the performance of laments are cited by Tinney (1996: 23-24). 9. See the convenient summary of the evidence for Emesal in Schretter (1990). 10. Sallaberger (1993, I: 150 n. 708). Tinney (1996: 48 n, 160), too readily dismisses the evidence of Ur-Nammu A and Shulgi X. 11. The evidence is collected by Schretter (1990); see also Black (1991); Volk (1994: 160-202); RlA 10, 634.
1994: 63), and at Lagasb in the late-pre-Sargonic period and under Gudea the gala is associated with funerals, certainly an appropriate context for lamentations to be recited. At the funeral for Baranamtara, mourners consisted of, in addition to kin and women workers, numerous gala and dam-ab-ba, probably "old women" (see Chiodi 1994: 393-95). Cudea's Statue B reports that during the purification of Girsu prior to rebuilding the Eninnu, The pickax was not wielded in the city's cemetery, corpses were not buried, the gala did not set up his balag-drum and bring forth laments from it, the woman lamenter did not utter laments.'^ Here is the gala with his balag performing latnentations (er) again! It is tbe gala's balag-drum, of course, tbat provides tbe generic name for tbe most frequent kind of lament in the gala's repertoire, and balag has this connotation ("lament") at least from Fara on, as evidenced by tbe term balag-di, "lamentation performer.""' It is most probably tbe predecessor of tbis same balag-di wbo lurks behind the gal-balag who occurs just following tbe gal-nar in ED Lu A, attested already in tbe archaic texts from Uruk (ca. 3100 B.C.).''' As early as Ur III, then, tbe gala officiates at lamentation rites tbat could well be using Emesal liturgies, even some of the same liturgies known from tbe OB and later corpora. Tbe gala first appears five hundred years prior to Ur III, and the balag-performer is attested five bundred years earlier still, in tbe earliest cuneiform lexical lists. I would postulate an ancient and ricb tradition of ritual lamentation as tbe source of the tenor and language of much of both CA and tbe city laments.''^ 12. Edzard, RIME 1997,1.7 St B v 1-4. 13. PSDs.v. and Attinger (1993: 451-53). Cf the collocation of gala and balag in the late ED document published by K. Volk (1988). For the balag-di at Ebla, see Tonietti (1997). 14. See the references in n. 6. 15. Tinney (1996: 51-52) also concluded as much when he mentioned "earlier traditions which may have provided a common milieu for their [the city laments and emesal liturgies] development." He is right on the mark when he attributes the contrast between "the relative textual stability of the city lament" and "the relative textual fluidity" of the liturgies to
GENRE, GENDER, AND THE SUMERIAN LAMENTATION The adaptation of this tradition to interpret specific historical events may not he original to CA and the city laments; Michalowski was correct not to "dismiss out of hand" the Urukagina lament (cf. Krecher 1981). In addition to the similarities of structure and content cited hy him, we can point to the specific similarity of LSUr 168-169— He broughtfireright up into Ninmars shrine Guabba, (and) Transported its precious metals and gems on large boats —to the litany in the Urukagina Lament, which, in one instance, reads He setfireto the temple of Catumdug, (and) Bundled off its precious metals and gems. (Steible 1982: Ukg. 16 iii 13-15) Now, one major difference hetween the Emesal ritual laments and and the city laments (including CA) is precisely the litany, the tedious repetition of the same phrases with only the suhject changing (Krecher 1966: 42-44). These phrases may occur in CA or the city laments, hut, with the exception, perhaps, of LU, they are not endlessly repeated, which is why we tend to think of CA and the city laments as real literature, hut consider most ritual laments just plain horing (e.g., Sollherger 1968: 47). That the scribes of Presargonic Lagash chose to continue the long finger-pointing tradition of Lagashite historiography (see Cooper 1983h) with a lament-like litany strongly suggests that such litanies were already common in the cult. Thus, the emesal ritual laments, far from heing the product of decay of the city laments, are prohahly of greater antiquity and provided the model for the latter'" Until we find texts that prove othei"wise, I would agree with Black that the ritual laments used in the cult were transmitted
the fact tliat the city laments were "composed tor specific purposes, after wliich they entered the school curriculum and were simply copied . . . in afi.xedform," whereas the liturgies were in active use in cyclical rituals, and were "copied anew . . . not with reference to afi.xedcurricular tradition hut in relation to diHerent performances of the te.xts." 16. Similar conclusions are reached by Krecher (1981) hut for somewhat difierent reasons.
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orally, and his hypothesis that many extant ritual laments seem inspired hy the hreakdown of settled life in southern Babylonia and were written down only in the later Old Babylonian period when parts of the southern clergy settled in northern Babylonia is very plausihle.'^ There is no way to know how these first written ritual laments relate to earlier Emesal laments, hut the evidence that at least one halag existed already in Ur III (see ahove) suggests a situation of hoth continuity and change, much like the case of Sumerian incantations as delineated hy Michalowski."* The turn now from genre to gender is not a gratuitous gesture, hut rather seeks to elucidate the context out of which cultic ritual lament arose, and explain certain peculiarities of the performers of the laments and their language. We have seen that the earliest documented context for the gala's performance is funerary, and that at hoth Baranamtara's funeral and the non-funeral in Gudea Statue B, the gala is accompanied hy women lamenters. Women may actually have served as gala in Presargonic Lagash,"* as they did later in the Diyala region according to the Old Akkadian or early Old Babylonian letters published hy Al-Rawi (Al-Rawi 1992; cf. Black 1991: 26-27). Other Old Akkadian documents from the Diyala mention women lamenters, MUNUS.BALAG.DI, and a "women lamenters' organization" (E.MUNUS. BALAGDI; Steinkeller 1982: 367). Ethnomusicological studies represent lamentation, especially at funerals, as the musical province par excellence of women.'" Even in cultures where 17. Black (1991: 31-33). Schretter (1990: 99-100 and 138) proposes that the leason Emesal texts first appear in OB is that they could only be written once Sumerian orthography fell under the influence of phonetic Semitic orthography, and could e.xpress dialectal differences. Previous to OB there were emesal te.xts, hut they were written with main dialect Sumerian orthography. But he puts foiAvard no candidates for such texts, and none suggests itself. 18. Michalowski (1992). These two ancient genres, ritual laments and incantations, are the two kinds of Sumerian te.xts that survive beyond the Old Babylonian period in strength, and they continued to be used, often side-hy-side, almost into our own era. 19. Schretter (1990: 128), with discussion on p. 132 of Gelhs opposing view; see now RlA 10, 634, 636. 20. See, e.g., the literature cited hy Feld and Fo.x (1994: 39).
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any musical performance by women is frowned upon, women sing laments. The one other context in which women's musical performance is nearly universal is courtship and weddings, and in a previous study, I suggested that Sumerian love songs (Sefati 1998) were derived from actual women's songs, and, noting that the divine lovers of the love songs, Inana and Dumuzi, also featured prominently in laments, I asked whether Sumerian laments might also derive from women's music (Cooper 1997). In what follows, I will propose an affirmative answer Although Sumerian love songs and laments share the paradigmatic couple, Inana and Dumuzi, lovers in the former but mourner and corpse in the latter, and the two genres share the use of the Emesal dialect, the style and content of love songs and lament could not be more different. This is very unlike the case in China, where women's laments at both funerals and weddings are similar, and weddings, for women, are sad occasions that mark a definitive parting from family and childhood friends.^' A similar phenomenon has been observed in Finnish Karelia (Tolbert 1994: 18283). In ancient Creece, the connection between weddings and funerals was more at the level of shared symbols and symbolic acts, but the similarity was recognized by the ancients (Rehm 1994). We know too little (practically nothing) about weddings or funerals in ancient Babylonia to know if such similarities existed there, but a case has been made for a relationship between the two, or, more broadly, between love and death, in the ancient Near East in general (Pope 1977). That Inana-Ishtar should be at the nexus of love and death is very fitting for a deity who is patron of both prostitution and battle. She is also associated with transformation and inversion (see Croneberg 1986 and Harris 1991), and weddings and funerals are the only two transformative life-cycle rituals in ancient Mesopotamia of which we are aware. In ancient Creece, the energy and language of women's funeral laments was brought under 21. See the essays by Watson, Thompson, Johnson, and Martin in Watson and Rawski (1988).
control and channeled into male-dominated titual or literary enterprise (encomium, epitaph, tragedy; Holst-Warhaft 1992; see also, Segal 1994). It seems quite probable that in Mesopotamia too the tone and vocabulary of funeral laments both preceded, and would be adapted for, cultic lamentation. If the origin of the balag and other ritual laments can be sought in women's funerary lament, and if, as the evidence cited above suggests, in early periods women also shared in the cultic performance of ritual laments, we would have a neat explanation of both the use of the Emesal dialect in these laments, and the peculiar reputation of the gala. However the term emesal is to be interpreted,^^ the only documented use of the Emesal dialect in Sumerian is for the speech of women and goddesses in many literary texts, and for ritual laments. If lamentation's origins are in women's funeral songs, it explains why the dialect of lamentation is a dialect otherwise associated only with women. If the repertoire of the gala used a women's dialect, and if women at one time performed with galas in cultic lament, and galas with women at funerals, then the arnbiguous image of the gala^^—a ridiculous figure of uncertain sexuality according to some literary texts; a respected cleric with wife and children in many documentsbecomes more intelligible.^'' So too, in light of the close relationship between the songs of love and death, expressed in Mesopotamia by the common dialect and protagonists in both, does the early
22. See the exhaustive survey and disciKSsion of Schretter (1990). 23. See Schretter (1990) and Black (1991), with previous literature (of which, see especially Gelb). 24. Of course, we needn t imagine that the gala functioned in the same way in every period or in every context. The evidence suggests a social status ranging from slave to high clergy, and there is unmistakable evidence for homoerotic or effeminate behavior for some. There may well also have been gala prebenders who would have to be distinguished from professional galas. Perhap.s, too, the galas of Inana had a quite different array of duties than the galas of, say, Enlil or Enki. Steinkeller (1992: 37) suggests that the correct interpretation of the logogram for gala, US.TUS, is GIS.DUR, "penis + anus," implying that the gala was originally considered to be homosexual, but the interpretation is not compelling, and others suggest themselves.
GENRE, GENDER, AND THE SUMERIAN LAMENTATION and continued involvement of the gala-mah, the "chief lamentation specialist," with the supervision of prostitutes.^'' We are very close to the old position of that relentless positivist Falkenstein, who was not sure if Emesal was an actually spoken dialect or simply a literary one. But, he continued, "Sicher ist dagegen, dass durchweg im Emesal abgefasste Gattungen wie zum Beispiel die erschemmaLieder wenigstens urspriinglich von Priesterinnen oder Sangerinnen vorgetragen worden sind" (Falkenstein and Von Soden 1953: 29). These priestesses or songstresses, I suggest, were later joiued by male colleagues who eventually replaced them as performers of ritual laments, males who retained both the dialect and the opprobrium that reflected the gendered beginnings of their genre. The ritual lament, then, is a text type that was antecedent to, contemporary with, as well as subsequent to CA and the city laments. The longevity of the ritual laments is doubtless due, as Gohen has emphasized (1988,1; 12-13), to their rootedness in the cult. The tone and topoi of the laments
25. At Fara, the gala-mah was in charge of allocations to other gala, and to midwives, prostitutes (g^me-kar-kid), and nu-gig (Visicato 1995: 105-7). At Old Babylonian Sippnr, where the gala-mah .supervised prostitutes (Gallery 1980; Van Lerberghe and Voet 1991), one gala-mah was married to a nu-gig (Janssen 1992). See now Cooper, RlA s.v. "Prostitution," and Assante 1998, who questions accepted notions of Mesopotamian prostitution.
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were drawn upon by CA and the city laments, but those texts were not cultic compositions but rather ideological tracts responding to the political moment.^*' Despite their literary brilliance, CA and the city laments survived those political moments by only several centuries and then disappeared, while the ritual laments, situated in a conservative and nearly indestructible cult, persisted another millennium and a half, until the beginning of the 27
common era.
Postscript Piotr Michalowski's illuminating analysis in this issue of the function of the gala in Ur III documents demonstrates that just as the role of women's performance of lamentation became coopted and professionalized by males (see above), so, too, the other realm of women's performance and Emesal usage, courtship and wedding song (Cooper 1997), came to be, at least for the elite, dominated by male performers.
26. Similarly, 1500 years later, Judean e.xiles would draw on Babylonian Emesal laments, probably the niost-frequently peiformed cultic te.xts in the first millennium (see Black 1991: 29), to lespond to their own political circumstances (see DobbsAllsopp 1993). For a modern e.xample of the adaptation of womens funeral lament to commemorate political tragedy, see Tolbert (1994: 184-86) 27. For the survival of Sumero-Akkadian writing into Parthian-Roman times, see Cooper in Houston et al. (2003: 450-56).
References Al-Rawi, F. 1992 Two Old Akkadian Letters Concerning the Offices of kala'um and narum. ZA 82: 180-85. Alster, B. 1987 A Note on the Uriah Letter in the Sumerian Sargon Legend. ZA 77: 169-73. 1993 Some Ur 3 Texts and Other Literary Texts in Yale and Philadelphia. ASJ 15: 1-10. Arcari, E. 1982 IM lista di professioni "Early Dynastic Lu A." AlON Supplement, 32. Naples: Istituto universitario Orientale.
Assante, J. 1998 The kat.kid//lar/mfu, Ptostitute or Single Woman? [/F30: 5-96. Attinger, P 1993 Elements de linguisticjue sumerienne. OBO Sondetband. Fribourg: Editions Universitaires. Bauer, X, et al. 1998 Mesopotamien. Sfxituruk-Zeit und. Fruhdynastisdie Zei. OBO 160/1. Fribourg: Editions Universitaires. Black,;. 1991 Eme-sal Cult Songs and Prayers." AuOr 9: 23-36.
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1992 Some Structural Features of Sumerian Narrative Poetry. Pp. 71-101 in Mesopotamian Epic Literature: Oral or Aural?, ed. M. Vogelzang and H. Vanstiphout. Lewiston: E. Mellen Press. Chiodi, S. 1994 Le concezioni delVoltretomba presso i Sumeri Atti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Cl. di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche. Memorie IX/IV/5. Cohen, M. 1988 The Canonical Lamentations of Ancient Mesopotamia. 2 vols. Bethesda: CDL. Cooper, J. 1983a The Curse of Agade. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1983b Reconstructing History from Ancient Inscriptions: The I^gash-Urmna Border Conflict SANE 2/1. Malibu: Undena. 1993 Paradigm and Propaganda: The Dynasty of Akkade in the 21st Century Pp. 11-23 in Akkad. The First World Empire, ed. M. Liverani. Padua: Sargon. 1997 Gendered Sexuality in Sumerian Love Poetry. Pp. 85-97 in Sumerian Gods and Their Representations, ed. I. Finkel and M. Celler. Groningen: Styx. Cooper, J., and Heimpel, W. 1983 The Sumerian Sargon Legend. JAOS 103: 67-82. Dobbs-Allsopp, F. 1993 Weep, O Daughter of Zion: A Study of the City-Lament Genre in the Hebrew Bible. Biblica et Orientalia 44. Rome: Pontificio Istituto Biblico. Edzard, D. 1997 Gudea and His Dynastij. Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia. Early Periods 3/1. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Englund, R., and Nissen, H. 1993 Die lexikalischen Listen der archaischen Texte aus Uruk. ATU 3. Berlin: Gebr. Mann. Falkenstein, A., and Von Soden, W. 1953 Sumerische und akkadische Hymnen und Gebete. Ziirich: Artemis Verlag. Feld, S., and Fox, A. 1994 Music and Language. Annual Review of Anthropology 23: 25-53. Finkel, I., and Geller, M. 1997 Sumerian Gods and Their Representations. Groningen: Styx. Frymer-Kensky, T 1992 In the Wake of the Goddesses: Women, Ctdture and the Biblical Transformation of Pagan Myth. New York: The Free Press.
Gallery, M. 1980 Service Obligations of the /cezertw-Women. OrNS 49: 333-38. Green, M., and Nissen, H. 1987 Zeichenliste der archaischen Texte aus Uruk ATU 2 = ZATU. Berlin: Gebr. Mann. Groneberg, B. 1986 Die sumerisch/akkadische Inanna/Istar: Hermaphroditos? WO 17: 25-46. Hallo, W. 1991 Information from Before the Flood: Antediluvian Notes from Babylonia and Israel. Maarav 7: 173-81. 1996 Origins: The Ancient Near Eastern Background of Some Modern Western Institutions. Leiden: Brill. Harris, R. 1991 Inanna-Istar as Paradox and Coincidence of Opposites. History of Religions ^0: 261-78. Holst-Wahrhaft, G. 1992 Dangerous Voices. Women's laments and Greek Literature. London: Routledge. Horowitz, V 1993 Temporary Temples. Pp. 37-50 in Raphael Kutscher Memorial Volume, ed. Rainey, A. et al. Occasional Publications 1. Tel Aviv: Institute of Archaeology. Houston, S., et al. 2003 Last Writing: Script Obsolescence in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Mesoamerica. Comparative Studies in Society and History 45: 430-79. Janssen, C. 1992 Inannna-mansum et ses fils: relation d'une succession turbulente dans les archives d UrUtu. RA 86: 19-52. Krecher, J. 1966 SumerischeKultlyrikWiesbaden:Hanassowitz. 1981 Klagelied. RlA 6: 1-6. Michalowski, P 1989 The Iuimentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur. Mesopotamian Civilizations 1. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. 1992 The Early Mesopotamian Incantation Tradition. Pp. 305-26 in Literature and Literary language at Ebla, ed. P Fronzaroli. Quaderni di Semitistica 18. Florence: Dip. di Linguistica, University di Firenze. Pomponio, F. and Viscato, G. 1994 Early Dynastic Administrative Tablets of Suruppak IOUN S.M. 6. Naples: Istituto Universitario Orientale. Pope, M. 1977 Song of Songs A New Translation and Commentary. Anchor Bible. New York: Doubleday.
GENRE, GENDER, AND THE SUMERIAN LAMENTATION Rehm, R. 1994 Marriage to Death: The Conflation of Wedding and Funeral Rituals in Greek Tragedy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Romer, W. 2004 Die Klage iiber die Zerstorung von Ur AOAT 309. Minister: Ugadt-Verlag. Sallaberger, W. 1993 Der kultische Kalender der Ur lll-Zeit Untersuchungen zur Assyriologie nnd Vorderasiatischen Archaologie 7/1-2. Berlin: de Gruyter. Schretter, M. 1990 Emenal-Studien. Innsbrucker Beitrage zur Kulturwissenschaft, Sonderheft 69. Innsbruck: Insitut fiir Sprachwissenschaft d. Universitat. Sefati, Y. 1998 Love Songs in Sumerian Literature. Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press. Segal, G. 1994 The Gorgon and the Nightingale: The Voice of Female Lament and Pindar's Twelfth Pythian Ode. Pp. 17-34 in Embodied Voices: Representing Female Vocality in Western Culture, ed. L. Dunn and N. Jones. Gambridge: Gambridge University Press. Sjoberg, A. et al. 1984- The Sumeria7i Dictionary of the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Babylonian Section of the University Museum. Sollberger, E. 1968 Review of Krecher 1966. BiOr 25: 47-48. Steible, H. 1982 Die altsunierischen Bau- und Weihinschriften FAOS 5/1-2. Wiesbaden: F Steiner. Steinkeller,P 1982 Two Sargonic Sale Documents Goncerning Women. Or 51: 355-68. 1992 Third-Millennium Legal and Administrative Texts in the Iraq Museum, Baghdad. Mesopotamian Givilizations 4. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. Tinney, S. 1996 The Nippur iMment. Royal Rhetoric and Divine Legitimation in the Reign of IsmeDagan of Isin (1953-1935 B.C.). OPSNKF 16. Philadelphia: Samuel Noah Kramer Fund. Tolbert, E. 1994 The Voice of Lament: Female Voice and Performance Efficacy in the Finnish-Karelian
47
itkuvirs. Pp. 179-94 in Embodied Voices: Representing Female Vocality in Westem Culture, ed. L. Dunn and N. Jones. Gambridge: Gambridge University Press. Tonietti, M. V 1997 Musik. AIL In Ebla. RIA 8: 482-83. Tsukimoto, A. 1985 Untersuchungen zur Totenpflege (kispuni) im alten Mesopotamien. AOAT 216. Kevelaer: Butzon & Bercker. Vanstiphout, H. 1986 Some Thoughts on Genre in Mesopotamian Literature. Pp. 1-11 in KeilschrlftUche Literaturen, ed. K. Hecker and W. Sommerfeld. BBVO 6 = RAI 32. Berlin: D. Reimer. Van Lerberghe, K., and Voet, G. 1991 Sippar-Amnanuni. The Ur-Utu Archive 1. Mesopotamian History and Environment sen III, Texts 1. Ghent: University of Ghent. Visicato, G. 1995 The Bureaucracy of Suruppak. Minister: Ugarit-Verlag. Volk, K. 1988 Eine bemerkenswerte nach-Fara-zeitliche Urkunde. Or 57: 206-9. 1994 Improvisierte Musik im alten Mesopotamien? Pp. 160-202 in Improvisation II, ed. W. Fahndrich. Winterthur: Amadeus. Watson, J., and Rawski, E. 1988 Death Ritual in iMte Imperial and Modern China. Berkeley: University of Galifornia Press. Westenholz, J. 1997 Legends of the Kings of Akkade: The Texts. Mesopotamian Givilizations 7. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. Whittaker, G. 2002 Linguistic Anthropology and the Study of Emesal as a Womens Language. Pp. 633-44 in Sex and Gender in the Ancient Near East, ed. S. Parpola and R. Whiting. RAI 47. Helsinki: Neo-Assyrian Text Gorpus Project. Wilcke,G. 1975 Formale Gesichtspunkte in der sumerischen Literatur. Pp. 205-316 in Stinierological Studies in Honor of Thorkild Jacobsen, ed. S. Lieberman. Assyriological Studies 20. Ghicago: University of Ghicago Press.
LOVE OR DEATH? OBSERVATIONS ON THE ROLE OF THE GALA IN UR III CEREMONL\L LIEE Piotr Michalowski (University of Michigan)
Jerrold Coopers fascinating and most important essay in this volume on the connections between the f ttnernrv functions of the gala in early Mesopotamia and the origins of what is usually referred to as the "Emesal dialect" focuses attention on the figure of this elusive cultic functionary,' I have put "Emesal dialect" in quotations as it is hardi}' a dialect, but simpK' a mode of elocution, and we can now appreciate that its origins, as well as its contintiing fun(tion, lie not in a tegional dialect or a social register of a living language but in a complex nexus of socio-linguistic facts linked to a constellation of cultic practices that involve basic life-( hanging cvctits, namc'l\, love atid death.^ In this article 1 would like to add to this di.scussion by taking a closer look at the data on galas in tbe extensive documentation that has survived from the short century when the hou.se of Ur-Namma ruled Mesopotamia. I refrain from citing refer-
ences from later periods as 1 am convinced that Ur III ceremonial life was built around very specific notions of kingship, cosmos, and the state, and that such idea.s, and the ritual trappings that reaffirmed and gave them symbolic force were very ditferent from any that came before and after. As a result, philological siniilaritv acro.ss time and space does not necessarily rctle( t semantic identity, so that explanations based on references from Old Babylonian Mari, or from Selcucid Babylon, may be more misleading tban illttminating. Even a cursory glance at the information available reveals that this is an enormous topic; the gala deserves monographic treatment, and here I can only touch on some of the major themes that require further examination; for the pre.sent see Gelb (1975: 64-74), Scbretter (1990: 124-36), Sallaberger (1993: 149-50) and Gabbay (in press). Galas were im[X)rtant players in economic and religious life. They were linked to cities as well as temple estates and we know of gala and gala-mah ol deities such as Baba, Nanse., and Ningis/ida, and of cities such as Umma, Zabala, Hut im, and Irisagrig. Wbile tbey undoubtedly played an important role in funerals atid funerary cults, they also seetn to be linked \\ith all otiicial tnusical performances in both 'c ultic" and "royal" spheres,
1. 1 would like to thank Piotr Steinkeller for our discussions of many of the matters addressed in this article and for imjjortant references, and to Jerry Cooper and Uri Gabbay for their coinnicnts. I would LIISO like to thank Manuel Molimi Tor making his liDTS pio^rarn ;iviiiial>lt' to me. E\cii though over thf vftars I had collected iiKiny ol the rel'ert'nees ltsrd here, his program proved iiivaluiible lor Hnding data that 1 would have otheI^vist' iiiidinihtcdlv missed. Kinnlly, I am jiratefnl to Eckart Frtihm and Ulla Kasten for photofjraphs of NBC 97 {fig. 1). 2. Ill Mithalowski (2(){)4: 23), I wrote that enip-sal "refers to some sort nf pronmioiiition, but it.s oiigitis and u.st' in living .speech cannot be determined."' (.hooper nim- invalidates the .second part ol' thi.s sentence.
The Impresario Dada The be.st-documented Ur III gala was Dada, who was registered in texts both as gala and gala-mah. 49
JCS 5S (2000)
50
PIOTR MICHALOWSKI
His career is currently documented from Sulgis 42nd vear (MVN 14^450, S42.!x.-) to his deatb sometime in tbe ninth year of King Su-Sin. In most texts he is simply described as gala, but in a few texts from Girsu and Umma from late in the reign of Amar-Sin be bears the title gala-mah (Umma: STA 8:15' [AS8.X.-], MCS 7 27:2 |AS8.iii.l, TCTI 2 3336:8 |AS8.xi.3]; Girsu: Hirose 321:1 [-.viii.3|). Other gala-mahs are associated with cities and temples, but in Dada's case it would appear tbat be was the gala-mab of the court, or even of the entire state. It is possible tbat he was preceded in this role by one Beburu (be^j-bu-ru) who is attested, always witb tbe title gala-mab, beUveen S45.ix.ll {OrSP 18 3 7:9) and AS5.ix.29 {MVN 13 812:3), but only in texts from Drebem. In the last-mentioned document he is identified as gala-mab, together with da-da gala (1. 2). Equally intriguing are three references to Dada as nar-gal, "cbief musician," in texts from the last years of Su-Sins reign; these were also Dadas final years and it is quite possible that we are dealing with the same person here, and tbat these various titles were synonymous.'' Dada and his family owned various properties in the Umma and Laga.s provinces of the empire.^ His official residence may have been in Girsu,' although he is also linked with UnPa, and he certainly had another residence in Ur, as evidenced by the texts from that city that deal with the remains of bis estate around the time of his death (Maekawa 1996: 138-44). Whatever his other functions may have been, the Dreheni texts often link him witb musical perfbnnances and the royal family. At least two of bis cbildren played musical instruments and entertained the king and his entourage; and two of them bore sycophantic names that celebrated the reigning monarch—HedutAmar-Sin (RA 8 119911 192:14) and Su-Sin-migirEstar (JCS 10 11956] 30, no. 9:10). Already at the
a NRVN 1 184 (seal, SS 7.-.-,) JCS 24 2 8 {sea!, SS7.vr, Umma). VETS t357;35 (SS9.-.-). 4. His holdings at Umma will be discii.ssed in a forthcoming monognij)!! on the pro\ance by Piotr Stcinkcller. 5. Gurus for Dadas estate in a text from Girsu, SNA7"95: 7 (^ da-da gala-5fe).
beginning of Amar-Sins reign bis close association witb the royal family was sealed by a marriage of one of liis daughters to Prince Amir-Sulgi (AUCT 1 148, AS 2.viii.25). He seems to bave served as the official state musical impresario, a manager and organizer of various ceremonial events rather than merely as a mu.sician. Tbere are over 120 occurrences of Dada in the published Ur III corpus, and a full listing and analysis of this data must be left for a fuller analysi.s. Here I will only cite .some texts that inform us about his duties as a ceremonial entertainment organizer. In MVN 9 8 he is in cbarge of other galas, and in other texts be is involved witb matters pertaining to male and female musicians,'' In one document from tlie "treasury," he officiates when two individuals delivered, or perhaps performed on, specific instruments for the entertainment of tbe king and bis entottrage when he attended a party at the bouse of tbe general Niridagal.' In other texts he is in cbarge of materials for making musical instruments.'' While music seems to be Dadas domain, he was also in cbarge of other forms of amusement as wben he receives bear cubs tbat are to be trained foi' peiformiiig.*^* A detailed analysis of the otber contexts in wliich he appears would provide us witb a fuller picture of his activities. The case of Dada mav be instritctive, but we have to keep in mind tbat he was an exceptional figure in the Ur II! elite hierarchy. Ordinary galas had more mundane duties, but it does seem as if they were not simply "cantors," as the title is often rendered; if later evidence is any guide, they performed Emesal songs, but were also in charge of organizing musician.s, and perhaps other entertainers, for performancts in a variety of contexts, from temples to palaces, as well as the houses of elite members of societv.
6. Kyoto 28. flCT2 98, BFOA 1 OK), 7. AUCT\ 942 114 mn-ri-'tiim' mn-ni-kii4-re-sa. 8. safor^'*gn-di-d;i(MVM() 1429; sfe also M V M 8 649), ATW 8.5.5 (animal horns). 9. nam-U4-da-tus-se SACT I 23.
51
LOVE OR DEATH?
To Serve as Gala Persons witb the title gala are known from earlier and later periods, but there are Ur 111 texts that contain a unique .scenario that i.s unattested from other times, and has not received more than passing attention until now. In documents from Drebem we leam about certain people who either "entered" (ki^) or "|)erformed/acted" tbe office, or cultic domain, of "gala-ship" (namgala), for example: (A) MVA/5 166:8-10 |ex, 17 below| 3 udu niga 2 ma.s gal niga s«-'^5ul-gi dumu lugal U4 nam-gala-.sfe in-ku4-ra (Disbursement) of tbree fattened sbeep and two fattened mature goats to Prince Su-Sulgi, on tbe occasion when he "entered into tbe gala-ship." (B) Buceellati, Amorites 20:6-8 |ex. 22 belowl 2 uHu u miis-da-mi-uni amurru (MAR.TU)'" U4 nam-ga!a in-AK (Di.sbursemcnt) of two grass-fed sheep to tbe "Amorite" Musdflnum on the occasion wben be "performed tbe gala ceremony."
(A) nam-gala-se' ku4 1. SACTl 131:7 2. N//c 2 240:5-6 3. CAL/S 25:15-16 4. GST 189:2-3 5. MVN 13 112:13-14 6. Or 18 17:17 7. MVN15 142:46'-47' 8. MGS 7 25:9-10 9. Princeton 1 90:5-6 10. BCT] 77:7-8 11. O J S F 47/9:21 12. SAT 2 724 13. SAT 2 724 14. SAT 2 724
xx| Nl AN|.\1 ma-na-ma-tum gi-ir-ba-nu-nni da-a-a-ni ur-''sul-pa-e tu-ra-nu-um a-ri-za-nu-um
ilmn-dan h'l-diugir-ra
In the scholarly literature, examples such as (A) have usually been interpreted as evidence of the elevation of individuals into the office of gala,, for example, Buccellati {1906: 47); "Wben he entered the office of lamenter." Gelb {1975: 67) goes further, writing, "Apparently, the offerings were made by the indi\iduals in payment for the privilege of learning the (ratt of the gala or .serxing the temple in the capacity of gala."" If this were indeed the case, these would be a unique administrative record of initiation into a official or semi-official function, as the expressions li.sted above are never used with any other funt'tion in the known I'r 111 cori)us. Tbe rare variants of the t\ pe exemplitied by (B) are also revealing in this respect, as we shall soon .see. Glearly something else is at play here, but tbe individual texts are not belpful, and the only wa\^ in whi:h we can try to understand tbe social reality tbat is reflected in these laconic administrative records is to investigate any patterns that emerge from a survey of tbe complete sur\ iving dwiimeutation. Having written tbis, I just received Attingers (2005) study of tbe verb AK; be is more circumspect and translates nam-gala AK as 'Vxercer Tactivite de (hauteur g., etre chanteur" (p. 238). Here is a chart w ith ail the known occurrences of formulas (A) and (B):
amurru amurru amurru muhaldim amurru u-kul auunrii amurru aga-Lis lu ma-ri amurru amurru dumu da-ga amurru
10, For the reading iiniiiriii of MARTU. see Michalowski (f'orthtdiiiiiig), 11. t'itci! iicccufliTif:; Id a corn•(•!{'{] offprint From the author.
S46.xii.l3 S47,vii,30 S47.viii.l8 S47.X.14 S47.x,25 S48,ix,9 S-.-,ASl.viii.2O AS2.vi.9 AS2.viii.6 AS2.ix.24 AS2.x,3 AS2.x,3 AS2.x,3
52
15. 16. 17, IS. 19. 20.
PIOTR MICHALOWSKI
SAT 2 724 UDT 97 MVNo 116
sul-gi-7-/i' a-hi-a-hi-ih si/-''sul-gi
PDT 1 464
AUCTS 42
raU350
(B) n am-gala AK 21. Amorites 14:8 22. Amorites 20:7-8 23, MVN20 173:
ri-ba-ga-da sar-ru-um-ba-ni se-il-ha
amurru ra-gaba dumu lugal ra-gaba Iu gis-ban
AS2.X.3 AS4,ix,19 AS7,iii,9 SSl.ix.6 SSl.xii.SS2.ix.2
'^su\-gi~na-pis-H
amurru
mus-da-nu-iim bi-za-mlm
amurrti -
S47.xi,21 SS4,ix.2 n.v.
The Drehem occurences of this f'ormtila are highly formalized and limited to specific sectors of society, but we can expect similar activities in different contexts as exemplified by a recently published letter-order (Pomponio, Stol, and Westenholtz 2006: 129 no, Ii-C 11, 7-4), perhaps from Nippur, that includes the passage: ezen iri-kam PN nam-gala-se ma-k PN ha,s acted as gala for me at the city festival. Notes on the actors {OU = otherwise unattested): l.OU. 2. OU; the same transaction, without statement of purpose, is registered in AVCT1 896,
3. OU. 4. A person by that name who serves as maskim for e-uz-ga deliveries to the "kitchen'" is well documented in S46 and S47. He is named as a muhaldim in SAT2 551:12 (S46.X.15) and in 02F 115 316:12 (47,viii,22), The last text is particularly interesting, as it documents a marriage between his family and that of Risi-ilum, the prominent ra-gaba eres, "Queen's r." who was also part of the extended royal family; see Owen (1997: 390). 5,0U. 6. This is a well-attested name; as Amurru it is in CST 1 77:5 (AS2.viii.6). 7.0U 8.0U. 9. OU, 10, This man from Mari is well attested between S48 and SS6; see Michalowski (1995), He may have been part of an entourage that came to Sumer and settled tbere in conjunction witli a dynastic
marriage, hence his connection witb the royal family, 11. The Amurru Sulgi-ili is the only person who performs this ceremony twice, nine days apart (see no. 15), unless we assume that this is in reality the same event. 12. OU 13. OU. 14. OU Tbe name is well documented in Girsu, but rare in Drehem texts. None of the known occurrences is qualified as amurru, 15. See no. 11. 16. There is only one other occurrence of an Abl-Ebih ra-gaba, in a list of ra-gaba, dated one day after this event {AS} 3 75:2), from deliveries of eren e-ba-al"". One year later he has become a SILASUDUs (CST329:2, AS5,viii,lS), and .served in that capacity at least until SS3 {TCL 2 5552:7, sealed with his .seal dedicated to SS3; SS33.iii.2). For SILA.SUDUg ("sagi"), etymologically "cupbearer," a very bigh cultic functionary, see Sallaberger (1999: 186).'^ 17. Tbe only otber attestation of Prince SuSulgi is in yes 54 12 82:iii 24,dated AS3,9.-, 18. This man was associated with deliveries of animals for the "kitchens,' often in association with foreigners and members of the royal family 12, Sallabergers argumtmt is further strengthened by the discovery of a new seal of Beli-ariq, governor of Susn, which uses this title in conjunction with the title of governor (De Graef 2005: 54-5,^). I am not convinced In iirgnments for the traditional rending sagi, presiimahlv ;i loan from Akkadian Hai]u\ Note the cnigmatie writing MUS.KA.UL u.sckim is mis.sing in Ihe SAT le\t; there are olher ellipses in this document. Uri (>ahha\' kindly refers me to li'i-si/.kiu*-rc = sa iii-iii^-iiit iu (.)B Ii'i-a7,lag A 420 (http://einieii'(tnTi,uchLedu/dirlf/(.HH)()3()l/y0003Ul,htmi)andto similar phrases in later emesal texts.
Perhaps the most salient role of this short study is to highlight once again how little we actually know about Ur III society, about its elites, .social ranks, and about the very system of registration used by the btireaticracy at Drehem. Walther Sallaberger (1993: 238-73, 2003/2004) bas made imptiiiant contributions to tbe debate on the fuiu tion of the Drehem archives by redirecting our attention from taxation and redistribtition tt) elite giftgiving on the part of the crown. This peispective, which forces us to rethink tbe signitit anc e of much of otir data and the functions of Ur III elites, reqtiiies further research, and the level of speculation offered here oiiK serves to underscore the levels of our ignorance. To illustrate better the problems that beset us, and to pursue further the stud\' of the importance of ceremouial issues in Ur HI politics, 1 end with an analysis of one of the texts that prompted the inquiry pursued here:
1. 2. 3. 4.
1 udu 1 mlsgal gu-za ''sul-gi-ra ''utu-DUio ra-gaba maskim 1 gud
18, NBC] 97. colluted on photograplis kindl\ provided by Kekart Krahni- A new set of photographs. eourles\ oJ' I'lla Ka.sten of ihe Yale Babylonian GoUection. is included here a.s figl.
58
PIOTR MICHALOWSKI
5. 5 udu 5 mas gal 6. ''nin-lil-e-ba-an-ag 7. be-lR-li ra-gixhc\ maskim 8. 5 mas gal a-bi-a-bi-ilj 9. ra-gaba U4 nam-gala-se i-in-ku4-ra 10. sa-ta-ku-zu ra-gaba maskim 11. 1 udu (i-//-)-//'kus7 12. 1 udu 'nanna-palil 13. 1 udu tu-ra-am-'^da-gan 14. ra-gaba-me 15. 10 udti ur-''sul-gi-ra lu-gestin''^ 16. 1 mas gal da-da gala 17. 10 udu 10 mas gal 18. ur-''nin-gublaga nar 19. 10 gud na-ap-la-num amurru 20. arad-mu maskim 21. 1 udu 'ERESIICDUL^" Iu '^nigidlu 22. la-'li'^-ra-ma ra-gaba maskim 23. sa mu-DU be-li-a-ri-ik 24. U4 19-kam 25. ki ab-ba-sag-ga-ta 26. ba-zi Date and summary (I.e. 11 gud 66 udu) The question is. Are any of tbese entries related, and if so. How are they related? If, for the sake of the argument, we assume that the nam-gala episode in 11. 8-9 is linked in some manner with marriage rites, broadly defined, does it follow that otber disbursals from the bureau of Abba-saga registered in tbis tablet are also connected with these festivities? Let us look at these items one at a time: 1. It is notable that with one exception (11. 1920), all the people functioning as maskim are ragabas as is Abi-Abih, the person who performed nam-gala The exception is for Naplanum, the very important Amorite, of whom there will be more
19. See the detailed photognipli of the last two signs in tig 1. I do not understand this occupiitional term, even if ihe etymolofjfy seems clear. The only other Drehem occurrence is in PDT 1 282:2, although Ihprc are a handful of Girsu references (e^., MV7V 12 504:6, HSS 4 153: 9. /7T4 7430:22 and. [wssiblv, HLC112: 1 ur-dingir lu-^estiir). Note also h'l-geiitin-a in TCS I 86:3. which E. Sollberger translales as "vintners." 20. The reading of names of this type is a matter of some dispute; see Hilgert (2002: 210-13).
to say below. Is it possible that they all have something to do with the festivities of the family of a colleague? On the other hand, ra-gabas often ftuiction in the same manner when deliveries are made to musicians. 2. In I. 2 offerings are made for the "Throne of Sulgi'^ (Sallaberger 1993:147-48), Almost all other occurrences of suob offerings inolufle members of the royal family, mostly female, and/or important foreigners. In one case, offerings to Enlil, Ninlil, and the Throne of Sulgi are made in (onjunc tion with the delivery of a bride price involving the princess Selepputum {AUCT 1 110:10-11; see Klein 1990; 24). 3. The person in the entry immediately preceding the nani-gala passage is Ninlile-manag, who was a royal daughter according to AUCT 2 367:2 (AS6.i.-). She had given birth five montbs earlier.'" 4. In lines 16-18 we have tbe well-atte.sted musician Ur-Ningublaga and the chief impresario Dada, followed in 1. 21 by an otberwise unknown tigidlu instrument player ERES.IC.DUL."^ Lowlevel musicians are rarely mentioned in tbese texts; indeed, this is one of only three occurrences of a tigidlu-player in the documentation from the period.^^ I assume that the enigmatic entry in I. 15 refers to another instrumentalist. One would assume that all of tbem participated in the festivities, but once again the uncertainties of the registration style confound us. It seems that Ur-Ningublaga was a very close—perhaps even tbe closest—associate of the great gala Dada, and is often listed together with him (e.g., SAT 2 796, MVN 13 812). but always after him.-^ Sallaberger (2003/20044: 56) speculates tbat Dada and UrNingublaga specialized in different royal bynuis. 21. AnOr 7 99;3 (AS 4.v.6) igi-kar ''niii-lil-e-ma-na'-ag U4 dumu in-tu-da-ii, "inspection when Ninlik-manag gave birth to a sonAhild." 1 am assuming ihal this is the same person, even though Ihe name is written somewhat ditferently. The only other attestations of this princess are in BCT 1 633:, dated S44.iv.2 and Al/CT 2 367:2 [AS6.i.-). 22. The reading of the name is uncertain; sec liilgcrt (2002:211). 23. See, most recently, Veidhuis (1999). 24. There are three individuals or more In* that name in the Drehem archives; Ur-Ningublaga nar was active al least (Vom S46.ix.- irCS 173:4) to §Sl.viii.9 (AS/9 220 77:10).
LOVE OR DEATH? witb tbe former at home in Emesal, but I do not see anything that would suggest such ideas; I do not contest that galas were at home in Emesal. but 1 do not know what specfic compositions may have been in their repertoire in Ur III times. Tbe prodigious documentation on Dada suggests tbat be was no mere performer, but ratber the c hief musical organizer for the c rown (gala, gala mah), and that Ur-Ningublaga, who is never described as a gala, but always as a nar, was bis main assistant, or perhaps his major star performer 5. Finall\\ there is the mattet of the participation of Naplanum in all of this. There is now general agreement that he must have been the same person as tbe eponymous ancestor of the OB Larsa dynasty, and tbe Ur III material pertaining to this Amorite has been analyzed extensively (Fitzgerald 2002: 18-24; StcMukeiler 2004: 37-40; .see also Sallaberger 2003/2004: 55), As Steinkeller bas observed, Naplanum "was not only by far the most important Amorite chieftain known to have interacted with the Ur III state, but be also counted among the most prominent figures of his age" (2004: 38). He also demonstrated that Naplanums residence in Sumer was at Kisig, most probably mociern Tell el-Lahm, close to Ur (2004: 39). I wiil deal with this man in more detail elsewhere; here let me only note that it seems that he was a major military ally of the Ur III state, who resided, at least part of the time, iu Sumer, together with his troops and family. He may have proved himself in the important war with Urbilum tbat took place in S44, as he and bis troops receive animals from the booty from that city (MVN 13 423, S45.xi.l5). His status at court is best exemplified by two documents from the fourth year of Amar-Sin,-' rCL 2 5508 (AS4.i.6) and CTMMA I 17 (AS4.vii.-), the latter listing expenditures for members of the royal family. Without going into details, the recipients in these two texts can be summarized as follows: TCL 2 5508 a. Naplanum and his family (i 5-16) 25. Drfhem lexis hum this year form the basis of SalUis study of tlic archive (2003/2004).
59
b. Emissaries from foreign rulers (i 19-iii 7) c.ak-ba-NIof Mari(iii9)) d. Ur-Eanna (iii 11) e. zd-e-na-a, diviner (iii 13) f. Prince Lu-Sulgira (iii 15) g. Dada, tbe gala (iii 18) b. The Tlnone of Snigi CTMMA 1 17 a. The Throne of Sulgi (1-4) b. Royal Daughters (5-48) c. Two royal wet-nurses (49-56) d. Naplanum and his family (57-64) e. Men of Mari (including ak-ba-NI. 72-73) f. Emissaries from foreign rulers (84-94) g. The high priest of Inana (102) These texts highlight the connc-'ctious between Naphlnum, tbe Mari men and the royal family; indeed it almost seems as if this Amorite chieftain and bis men, in conjunction with the Marioites may have c'onstituted a form of royal guard. Many texts from Drebem list oHerings for central shrines, followed by animals for royal cbildren, courtiers, and emissaries t>f foreign rules. Tonia Sharlach (2005) has studied many of these texts, concentrating on the lists of diplomats in documents from tbe Akitu and Tumal festivals in the first and seventh month of the year, and her study comj)lements Sallabergers reiiiter])rc"tation of the nature of the Drebem archives. In the context of tbe present discussion 1 would like to go beyond diplomacy: tbe Ur III kings pursued a vigorous patrimonial extension of familial ties across their borders, and it now seems that most of the rulers on the frontier and beyond were linked by marriage to the house of Ur. The kings of Mari, Simanum, Ansan, Sikri, Zabsali, Adamsab, Marbasi, and other places were either descended from the family of Ur-Namma, or bad either daughtersin-law or wives from Ur. Therefore, it could be argued that all of people listed in these offeiing lists are, in realit\' or symbolically, members of the same extended royal fauiily, or their intimate courtiers and representatives. There is also some reason to suspec t that the sons of some allied and vassal rulers were sent to the court of the llr Til
60
PIOTR MICHALOWSKI
kings, and sometimes had their names changed to celebrate tbose rulers, who were, in a sense, their adopted fathers. Tbese alliances, especially the ones that were sealed by bridal gifts, were often quite complex. The case of Hamazi, and important eastern ally, is instructive. We first bear of Hamazi in the Drebem texts in the first year of King Amar-Sin, when Lu-Nanna, the son of Namhani, ensi of Hamazi, offers gifts. He was resident in Sumer, as in AS2.i.O the king visited bis residence for a feast; rings of silver were presented: U4 lugal-mu e UV^nanna dumu nam-ba-ni ensi bama-zi^'-ka kas l-nag-ga-a wben His Majesty drank beer in the bouse of LuNanna, son of Namhani, tbe ruler of Hamazi. This man is once again mentioned a month later, and then, in AS5.iv,10, tbere is a new ruler on tbe throne of Hamazi: Ur-Iskur (AUCT 1 93:22). Four vears after, we encounter the figure of his "daugbter-in-law," (AC/CT3 84:2-4, AS9.xi.l5): U4 ur-''iskur ensi ha-ma-zi'*'-ke4 e-gi4-a-ni ba-antum-ma-a wben Ur-Iskur, ruler of Hamazi, "brought/fetched" his daughter-in-law. This woman, and eventually we will learn tbat her name was Tabur-hattum, continues to appear in texts over the next few days (BIN 3 382:5, day 17; Ontario 1 160:2, day 18, Aegyjms 17 63 70:2, day 19).^" She seems to be living in Sumer for another eight years; a document from AS7.xi.29
26. For earlier 376-77, n. 125).
and background, see Ililgert (2002:
reports the expediting of animals when {FDT 1 454:3-4): U4 td-bur-hat-lui)i e-gi4-a ur-''iskur ensi U4 ha-mazi'"-se i-gin-na-a when Tabur-hattum, tbe daugbter-in-Iaw of the ruler Ur-lskur, wben she went (back) to Hamazi. Tbis seems to end her life at tbe court of Ur, as we never bear of ber again. Although there is much information that is missing, we can see on this example bow members of local ruling families spent years in Sumer, feted, to be sure, but as de facto hostages of war and (liplomacv. Some were literally married into the royal famiU of Ur, others were .symbolically incorporated into the extended patrimonial clan that ruled tbe two most important states of the area, Mari and Ur. The kings were at tbe center of this cosmos, and by tbeir very nature they tran.scended all divisions between sacred and profane, between buman and divine, as well as between mere institutional distinctions of temple and palace. Tbis transcendent royal nature was reaffirmed in all ceremony centered on the couit and the extended family of the House of Ur. Tn effect, the Crown and allied elites were constantly involved in ceremonies that linked state and cosmos, whicb is wby I began tbis sbort study of tbe gala by noting that, in addition to funerary cults, the\- seem to be linked with all official musical peiformances in botb "cultic" and "loyaT' spheres; indeed it is impossible to make sucb distinctions. Tbis is the broader context for tbe textual references to life change rituals sucb as marriages, and to tbe ceremonial events tbat accompanied them, including a broad array of musical performances. These seem to be the circ uTnstances in whicb men played gala for a day or two.
References Allied, L. 2()06a Provisioning the aga3-us2 in the Ur III Period. Paper presented at the 216th annual meeting of the American Oriental Society, Mai'ch 18, 2006, Seattle WA.
2006b Cooks and Kitchens: Centralized Food Frodiictiou ill iMtr Third MiUciiniuin Mesopotamia. Ph.D. di.sscrtation. The John.s Hopkins University.
LOVE OR DEATH? Attinger. F 2005 A propos de AK "faire" (II), ZA 95: 208-75. Buccellati, G. 1966 The Amorites of the Ur HI Period Naples: Istitiito Orientals di Napitli. Cooper, J, S.,iuid lli^iinjM'l.W, 1983 The Sumerian Sargon Legend, JAOS 103: 67-82, De Graef. K. 2005 Les archives d'Jgilmni. Lcs dm-nments Ur III du chantier Ba Suse. MDAI 54. Gent: University of Gent, Fitzgernld, M, A, 2002 The Hiilers of Larsa, Ph.U di.ss, Yale University, Ciabhay, U, In press The Akkadian Word tor "Third Gender:" The kalu (gala) Onte Again. Piweedings oi' the Ghieago Rencontre Assyriologue hiternationale, GelhJ.J. 1975 Homo Luden.s in Early Mesopotamia, SfOr 45: 43-75. Goetze, A, 1963 Sakkanakkus of the Ur III Empire./CS 17: 1-31. Greengus, S. 1966 Old Babylonian Marriage Ceremonies,/CS 20: 55-72, Hilgert, M. 2002 Akkadisch in der Ur IllZcit. tmgiila 5. Minister: Rhema, Klein,.!, 1990 Seleppfituni: A Hitherto Unknown Ur 11! Princess. ZA 80: 20-39. Kramer, S, N, 1981 BM 29616-The Fashioning of the gala. AS/ 3: 1-12, Maekawa, K, 1996 Confiscation of Private Properties in the Ur 11! Period; A Stndy of the e-did-la and nig-GA, AS; 18: ! 03-68! Michalowski, V. 1995 The Men From Mari. Pp, 181-88 in Immigration and Emigration within the Ancient Near East: Festschrift E. Lipinski, eds, K, van Lerlierghe and A. Schoors, Lenven; Peeters, 2004 Snmerian. Pp, 19-59 in The Cambridge EncyclojKdia of the World's Ancient languages, ed, Roger D, Woodard, Gambridge: Cambridge University Press,
61
!''ortli- The Correspondence of the Kings of Vr. (oming Winona Like: Eisenliraun.s. Owen, D, I. 1997 Ur III Geographical and Prosopographical Notes, Pp, 367-98 in Crossing Boundaries and Li)iking Horizons: Studies i)i Honor oj Michael C. Astour on His HOtIt Birthday, eds., G. Young, M. Ghavalas, and H, Averbet k,' lictlies(!a: GDL Pres.s. Pomponio, F; Stol, M; and Westenholz, A, 2006 Taiolette cuneiformi di laria i)roicnienza delle coUezioni delta Banca d'ltalia, Vol, !!, Rome: Banca dMtalia. Sallaberger, W. 1993 Der knltische Kalender der Ur III Zeit. Untersuchungen zur Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archiiologie, 7. Ber!in: De Gi\iyter, 1999 Ur !!1-Zeit, Pp, 12!-392 in Mesojuitamien: Akkade-Zeit und Ur III Z^'it. eds, W. Sa!laberger and A. We.stenholz, OBO 160/3. Freiburg: Universitalsver!ag, 2003/ Schlachlvieh aiis Pu/ris-Dagan, Zur Bedeutung 2004 dieses konigliclicn Ar(hi\s, Jaarh'ruht v' lost. Lines 2-5 deal with the phenomenon of tbe sun "ri.sing early," Lines 5-9 relate to various obscurations of the sun, conceptually differentiated from the phenomena covered in the eclipse section below; Lines 10-17 treat the appearance of various numbers of "sun disks" or parhelia. The scribes line count (line 17) suggests that Hues 1-17 were thought to cohere as a discrete unit. None of the omens in this first section bas a significant published second-millennium analog. 2. Lines 18-103 contain solar eclipse omens and are roughly parallel to EAE 33-35, following but one possible normative system of numbering. It is worth noting that there are more divergent numberings of EAE "33" tban of any otber tablet in the series.'"* These inconsistencies were probably a product of local variations over spac e and time in marking the divisions wherein' longer tablets were broken down into sborter sections. Unfortunately, due to incomplete pre.servatictn, tbe catalogs from Assur'' and Uruk"' contribute little to clarifying the organization of the solar eclipse
13. AAT 54;12'. Sni.21S9 oh\.. sep E. F. Weidner. "Die astrologi.scbe Serie Enuma Aim Enlil," AfO 22 (1968-1969) 69, 14. Weidner, AfO 22 (1968-1969) 65, 68; Cehlken. BaM 36 (2005) 252-53, with n. 82. 15. J. C. Finrke, "Der Assur-Kataloge der Serie eui'tuui aim enlil: OrNS70 (2001) 21-22, with nn. 12-16. 16. E. F. Weidner, "Die a.stn)l(igis(lie Scric Enunui Aim Enlil" AfO 14 (1941-1944) 186-89. pis. I-II.
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MATTHEW T RUTZ
section at these sites. Since tbere is no critical edition of the solar eclipse omens of EAE,'" the comparanda are largely found in tbe pioneering, if now rather dated publications by James Craig [AAT, 1899J and Cbarles Virolleaud {ACh.^ 19081912). ACh. is furtber marred by the fact that it is essentially an ideal composite of the corpus with only minimal concern for textual and orthographic variants.''* Be that as it may, many of the omens in lines 18-103 do have compelling, demonstrable parallels, mutatin mutandia, among tbe later EAE 33-35 manu.scripts from Neo-Assyrian Nineveh''' and Nimrud iCTN 4,6), as well as Late Babylonian Uruk {(7CF9/9, 396-99; SpTU2, 41).-" Tbe list of duplicates in Table 1 is surely not exhaustive and will necessarily be superseded by the critical edition of EAE 30{31)-35; however, the cumulative evidence of tbis provisional comparison sugge.sts a significant degree of early textual stability. Also left for tbe critical edition is discussion of the
17, Francpsca Rochbfrg is preparing an edition of ihi.s portion of EAE (personal communication). 18. For some examples of the inherent limitiilioiis of hoth AAT and AC/i., see Gehlken, BaM^io 12005) 238-39, with n, 18. 19, The- sources arc listed in Weidner, AfO 22 (1968-1969) 68-69; joins and additional unputilished manuscripts are cataIt^ed by E. Reiner, "Celestial Omen Tablets and Fragments in the British Museum," in Festschrift fiir Rijkli' Boiii^er zu seinem 6.5. Gchiirtsta^ am 24. Mai 1994: tikij) mntakki mala /w.s'Hi(/,rd,S.M,Maiil.C:M 10 Itironingcn; Styx. 1998). 215-302. Only the final publication of the ('(tm]»l('t /-It-/; however, there are instances where this expec ted shift does not occur,'' In sum, the tablets from Susiana set a plausible teiminus jx)st quern for UM 29-15-393, and that corpus ought to have been copied and depcwited in the third quarter of the second millentiium. The standardized series EAE probably began to take sbape at the very end of the second millennium and thus furnishes an equally plausible, if eqttally blurred terminus ante cjuem.
Context and Significance 42, Dietricb, WZKM 86 (1996): Rocbberg. F,v, Leichtij. 342; note iiiso BM 97210. un iinpnblisbcd OB imfi^idda fontiiining nine solar und mctecudlonical omens, collated hoin photograpbs kindly supplied by.Ion Taylor of tbe Britisb Miiseiini. 43, For a li.st of ei'uliarilies attested early on in Ugarit. 58. Rochherg-HaltOTi. AK) Beib. 22. 251-72. 59. Already noted by K, K \V( klner, "Die astrologische Serie Enuma Ann Knlil," Aft) 17 (1954-1956) 87 60. W. Farber, "Zur Orthograpbie von EAE 22: N(-ue Lesungen und Versuch einer Deutung," in Die Rolle der Astrononw' iu den Kiiltutefi Me.sofH)tatniens, ed. H. D Gaiter, GMS 3 (Craz.: GrazKult, 1993). 247-57 esp. 253-54,
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MATTHEW T. RUTZ
certainly be consistent with the history of complex, if often hostile exchanges between Assyria and Elam in that period,"' For instance, an undated letter by the scholar Marduk-sapik-zeri to the king (Esarhaddon) extolled the skills and royal appeal of another scholar who bad come to Assyria from Elam with mastery of extispicy, celestial divination, ancient Sumerian .sdfu-literature, and other esoterica,^" Tbe evidence for programmatic tablet collecting during the reign of Ashurbanipal would also provide n plausibie mechanism and thus buttress the case for textual transmission in the first millennium.'^'^ However, despite direct NeoAssyrian involvement with Elam, the preserved colophons of the sources for EAE 22 point to Babylonia, not Susa.'^'' Even more problematic is the fact that several centuries separate the texts from Middle Elamite Susiana and Sargonid Assyria, and no intermediary material has so far been found that migbt bave bridged the space and time between these distinct corpora, Even if the mechanism of transfer has thus far remained opaque, there are other hints of Middle Elamite redactional activity infiltrating into firstmillennium Babylonian astrological scholarship. Although the Middle Elamite calendrical scheme is nowhere evident in UM 29-15-393, curiously it was employed to write month names in a handful of later compositions.^^ Eor instance, months VIII 61. See M. W. Waters, "A Letter from Ashurbanipal to the Elders of Elam (BM 1329S()):;CS.54 (2002) 79-8(),with previous literature. 62. SAA 10, 160 rev. 1-3. For this letter and furlher incidental contaet, see M. W. Waters, A Survey of Neo-Elamite History, SAAS 12 (Helsinki: The Neo-Assyritin Text Corpus Project. 2000). 99, with n. t20. 63. G. Frame and A, R. George, "The Royal Lihrtiries of Nineveh: New Evidence for King Ashiirbanipal's Tablet Collecting," Iraq 67 (2005) 265-84 (- KM 49/2). 64. One source- originated in Babylon and another was copied from J writing board of Bahylnnian provenience, Rochberg-Halton, AfO Beih. 22, 270, MSS J arui P. 65. Farber, CMS 3, 253-54. For the Middle Elamite calendar, see E. Reiner, "Inscription from n Royal Elamite Tomb," A/024 (1973) 97-102: P. Herrero and J.-J. ckssner, -Haft-Tepe: choix de textes II," irAnt 26 (1991) 79-80. As Reiner notes, the Babylonian equivalenis of Elamite MNs arc given in the first-millennium handbook of astrological phenomena and misceiUmea, the so-called "deal Star List." ect \'iew is warranted, but it is at least plausible that the basis of VS 24, 91 was an authentic royal letter from the late-second millennium, see E. Frahm. "On Some Recenlly Published Late Babylonian Copies of Royal Letters," NABU 2005/43. 44. 83. Potts, Archaeology of Elam. 233-37. 84. Gf. A. R. George. Review of VS 24. BiOr 46 {1989) 38283; Potts. Archaeolo'^y of Elam. 252-55. Perhaps cuneiform tablets were amonp the makkuvii that Nebuchadnezzar I reportedlv plundered from Elam, as indicated at Ihe end of the so-called Silti-Mardiik kudurrn. RIMB 2, B.2.4.13:43. 85. E, Garter, "Elamite Exports," in Contribution a Ihi.stoirc de t'Iraii: Melanges offerts a Jean Fcrrot. ed. F. Vallat (Paris: F.ditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1990), 98. 86. Edited by I. L Finkel, "Adad-apb-iddin;i, Esagil-kin-apli, and the Series SA.GIG," in A Scientific Jlumanist: Studies in Memorij of Abraham Sachs, fds. E. V Leichty. M. dej. Ellis, and P Crt-rardi^ OPSNKF 9 (Philadelphia: The University Museum, 19881, 143-59.
bow Esagii-kin-apli, wmnanu in tbe time of Adadapla-iddina (1068-1047 B.C.), created editions of the series SA.GIG and Alanidiininu from confused manuscripts tbat were "like "twisted threads' that bad no duplicates,""' Significantly, tliis same E.sagilkin-apli is preserved as the putative compiler of EAE according to manuscripts of the Exorcists Manual {KAR 44) from Assur and Sippar^'^ This assertion is consonant with the limited internal data that point to the standardization of EAE sometime in the second half of the second millennium.^'' For instance, a BurTia-Buria.s is mentioned in ACh. Samas 13;61,'"' and one manuscript of EAE 20 rec. B was copied from a w rititig board dated to the eleventh year of Adad-apla-iddina.^' Moreover, there is evidence of broader interest in astrological scholarship in Kassite and postKas.site Babylonia,^^ In such a context UM 29-15393 would have stood out as signiticant, at once familiar and exotic. We may never know why scholarly material from Susiana was included or exc luded during the course of the textual transmission and standard-
87. Finkel, Gs. Sachs. 148-50. The simile GIN7 GU.MES 'GILMKS sa' GAIM.R1' NU TUKi: {CTN 4. 71 rev, 9) is reminiscent of the metaphor used to praise Enlil's cleverness in the OB hymn ''cn-lil siVni-se (Etilit A): gu-gu gilim-ma igi nu-piiddfe-dam "twisted threads the e\'e cannot follow" {Etdil A 13133, J. A. Black et al.. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Li?fra/Hmhttp://etc,sl.orinst.o.x.ac.uk/(Oxford 1998-1,4.(15.1:133; ref. courtesy J. L. Peterson). 88. Celler, Fs. Umh'rt. 242-51:27,39. MSS A and d. See also M. J. Celler, "^Astrononn and Authorship," BSOAS 53 (1990) 212-13. 89. Cf. Gehlken, BaM 36 (2005) 244, 90. AAT 55:21', Sm.2189 rev., rikis g/rW; Wt of Astrokibe Ii from Babylon VS24, 120 // KA\''218, .see VV. Horowitz, Meso]Hitaimau Cosmic, Geofiraphtj. MC 8 (Winona Lake; Eiscnbriiuns, 1998). 15466. HS 1897 is a star-catalog nianu.script from MB Nippur, see J. Oelsner and W. Horowitz, -The 30-star Gatalogue HS 1897 and the Late Parallel liM 55502:' A/044-45 (1997-1998) 17685. HS 245 records computations of stellar di.stances, see Horowitz, MC 8, 177-82 and J. Koch, "Neue Uberlegungen zu einigen a.strologischen nnd astronomischen Keilschrifttexten," JCS 53 (2001) 69-73. Note also the historical allusions preserved in SAA 8, 158:9-rev.5 and SAA 10, 10():rev, 6-11. see Koch-Westenholz, CNI 19,41.
TEXTUAL TRANSMISSION BETWEEN BABYLONIA AND SUSA izatiou of the EJ\E tradition in its various recensions, 111 tlic case of EAE 22 Part I we currently have only tho end result of that pro( ess. The best available manttscripts of EAE 22 Part I were, therefore, probably among the texts that were transmitted via Susiana in the late-second millennitiin. On the otir band, UM 29-15-393 now points decisively to that transmission route. On the otber band, UM 29-15-393 also speaks to what was lost
77
in the course of standardization. This particular "twisted thread" was not woven into tbe fabric of EAE because better, i.e,, more recognizably Babylonian manuscripts of solar omens were at tbe compilers' disposal. Nevertbeless, UM 29-15-393 demonstrates that it is reasonable to expect that a transitional, setond-millennium source for the tradition Ijehind EAE 22 Part I niav one (lav be lountl.
UM 29-15-393 Note: scribal marginalia are transc ribed as superscripts to differentiate them from the main text; in the translation uncertain passages are rendered in italics. Obv. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
iDIS ''UTU
I
I
1
[DIS''UTU (o) k.CVZlC\A-am-ma u\ [DIS ''UTU (o) k.G\]ZlG]A-am-ma it ka-l\i\ 'UD '"^MARTU GIN' | [DI§ ''UTU {o)|'AVG[U.Z|I.GA-a»(-n(« // ka-li UD '"'MAR.TU GIN | [DIS "'UTU (o)['x xi A.C\J.Z\.CA-am-ma a-di-ir
\ | j
ZI,GA
[ j
[DIS 'UTU UD r\i-qa TA pi-it-ni GIN-»(« sa kiS^(GlS}-sa-ti a-di-ir U\N-su 'xi|()| [DIS '^UT[U 'UDi ri-qa a-di-ir KUR TUR-i[r[ [DIS ''[UTU TA KVR'Su sa-hi-lja-am GEg-ma a-ri-im SEG^flMAAN) NU fGAL^ [DIS[ ""UTU TA KUR-,s'(( sabi^urani SIGy «MA» a-ri-ini SEG AN-t' PI LA AD |DIS 2i ""UTU-^K MUL-»(fl sa^ga-.sa-lu i.GAUMES KUR-to/n IDIS 3 ''UlTU-^w MUL ZAH URU^' ha-ra-ab DINGIRMES ; SUB.BA / A.DAM-'pi IDIS 4 ''UT|U-^(/ MUL 3,20 SE 3.20 Km-tani i-Sa-\pd\r I 3|.'2O' TA E.GAL-,v» IDIM.MES SU,HA-.s» DUMU GEME E.GAL GUZA DAB |DI§ 5 ''UT[U-/H MUL ne'eii-mu-da-a URU^' sti-ii SE ERIN ^^'^^'" 3 MU.KAM it ITI.4.KAM'
15 16 17
[DIS 6 ''UT|U-/» MUL mu-si-ti SES-um SES-am ^''^\\jT\V-t\u\MVLrVS-ibkap-ri
18 I 19 20 21 22 23 24
DIS ''UTU T|A '"BA[R|A[,iZAG'' UD.l.KAM a-di-ir DIS UD.9 a-d \i lO.KAM a-di-i\r DIS UDII.KAM ^a^-\di-ir (o)l'x' N|E[ TU DIS UD.13.KA|M a-di-ir 3.20 ta\'r\i-d]u-tam DIS UDl '4' [.KAM a-di-ir K1.LAM[ 1GUR DIS UD,1[6.KAM «-f/i-/rMAS,|ANSE,MES DIS U[D,2I.KAM a-di-ir\ ^
2511 26 27 28
UD.1.KA[M a-di-ir D|IS ''UTU TA '"GU4,[S[1 DilSUD.9.KAM[rt-dHr D[ISUD.l|l.KAMfl-(/Mr(Nl) DI|SU|D,13.KAM«-f/w>
[3.2)0 KUR-.s» BAL-.vu-m^ TA NIGIN-//
''
KUR-/r GUZA BA.[U[G7
sa
3,20 URI BA,UG7 ba-ar-tu i,GAL-,§f TUR-ir GIN-afe i-nta-at'fi
TAKURSUB-N/ hara-ab A.DAM-c
Zl.GAfX'[ I ub-bu-tu 'I.GAL'.ME§ KUSy IN.NU TA [KURfl.GAL-si' hu-sa'lj\u TA KUH[ 'I'.GAL-.^/'
78
MATTHEW T RUTZ
29 30 SI
DIS [Uai|4.KAM a-di-ir D|IS UD.liaKAM a-di-ir |DIS UD.211.KAM a-di-ii-(Nl)
32 111 33 34 35 36 37 38
[DIS ''UTU] TA '''SIG4.A UD.1.KIAM a-di-ir\ \D\SVD.9.K\AM a-di-ir
39 IV 40 41 42 43 44 45
S|E1G.MES a2[0 S]E 3.20
|DISUD,13.KAMa-t//l-ir IDIS UD.14.KAM a-di-\irSEG T[A! |DISUD.16.KAMa-(/H|r IDIS UD.21.KAM «-(//-/!/-
[TAAN-£']i.LA.E-/n KU[RI-^|om i-§\a-pdr KI EDIN hiHa-al-p(V-alf\
KUR gur-j-ti-i ra-a^-^ir^ GA|L-.s(| 3.20 SE 3.20 KUR-/a»( i-sa-p\dr\ A.ZI.GA IDIM
[DIS •'UTU TA '"SU.NU[MUN.A UD,KAM a-di-ir
DISUD,14.KAMa-f/[M'-
1.LA.E|-/H1
30.4 te-re-etKVn
KUR 'xil(o)l
KUR-h/SAG.IS I.GAL-s|i | ISTAR(U,DAR) AS SE KUR ii'sc-r\('-da\ 30.4/f'4-em KUR (i-MAN-[na| 3.20 MARTU TA '-^^T[UKUL SVB-ut] 3.20 a-de-ga^' me-[si-ra IGI-f»ar[ 3.20 ELAM-/; tnr-.s\i-ra IGT-7»flr[ GlNy-z/ffl MU-.sw
46 47 V 48 49 50 51 52 53
[DIS ''UT]U TA '''NE.[N[E.GAR UD.l.KAM a-di-ir lDISUD.9.K[AM«-d/-ir [DISUD.11.KAM[ 'ai-t/Hr [DlSUD.13.KAM«-f/[/-/r
54 VI 55 56
[DIS "'UTU TA "'KIN.''IN]NIN UD.1.KAM a-di-ir [DIS UD9.KAM a-di-ir\ !DISUD,11.KAM a-rfi-/r[
UBIRUTAM'"! K U R N I I G S U [(o)'-"•"'] KUS7 IN.NU TA |KUR i . j
Lo. ed. 57 Rev. 58 59 60 61
hi-si-ib A'"-'" sa-al-ha-ta
/K'/JI
'-rr he-iii
441.2
1SU.NIGIN »«'7MU.BI.IM (erasure) j'GABAMRII '^''LLUg MUS.SES'''
80
MATTHEW T RUTZ
Translation Obv. 1 [If the .sun .. .1 l..,l. 2 |If the sun (...) rises| early and [...]. 3 [If the siui (,..) ris[es early and the west wind blows all day, [ruin of ...[. 4 [If tbe sun (...) r]is|es e[arly and tbe west wind blows all day, [there will be an eclipse]. 5 [If tbe sun[ ,.. rises early and is eclipsed, rise [of ...[. 6 [If tbe sun[ goes into a pifnu-cloud on a work-free [dayj and is completely eclipsed a second time ...[...[ (or: [...] a second time). 7 jif tbe su]n is eclipsed and a work-free day, the land will be dimini|shed[. 8 [If 1 when the sun rises it is covered with a dark mi.-^i, there will be no rain. 9 [If when the sjun rises it is covered with a green/yellow mist, the rain (iti/frotni tbe sky 10 [If twoj parhelia rise, there will be carnage in fhe land. 11 [If three p[arhelia rise, devastation of the city, despoilment of the gods : ruin of the steppe. 12 [If four pajrhelia ri.se, king will conlvjey enmity to kitig; 13 important people will rebel against the [kin[g in his palace, the son of a palace servant-woman will seize tbe throne. 14 [If five pa[rhelia rise standing together, that very city will l[ie[ wa.ste for three years and four months due to a hostile armv. 15 [If six pa[rhelia tise at night, biother with be hostile to brother. 16 [I]f seven [pa[rhe[lia] rise, a villager will seisp the throne; 17 [the kinlgs land will rebel against him, and be will [d[ie in tbe siege '*'"^"'^'" "''"^''' of bis city. 18 I 19 20 21 22 23 24
If If If If If If If
25 II 26 27 28 29 30 31
I[f the stm] is eclipsed [in the month of A[y|yaru on the fir[st [day[, rise (of) ... locusts [...[. l[f [ it is eclipsed [on the ninth day], there will be famine. I[f ] it is eclipsed [on the elev[enth [day[, {the[re will be destr\iction of straw in [the land[. l[f ] it is eclipsed on the thirteenth [dlay, there will be wan[t in the landl. If it is eclipsed on the four[teen[tb [day[, r[a[in [(in the sky)[ will be scarce. l[f [ it is eclipsed on the six[teen[th [day[, ki[ng] will (co]nvey e[n]mi[ty t[o king. [If [ it is eclipsed [on tbe twenty]-first [day], [... 'T'"'"""" • • - \vill be destro\ed/o\erthnmn.
32 III 38 34 35 36
[If tbe sun is eclipsed[ in tbe montb of Simanu on the firs[t[ day, the king of Akkad will di[e[, [If [ it is eclipsed [on the nint[h [day[, the king will fall by tbe swotd. [If it is eci|ipsed [on the eleventh dayj, the land of Ctitium will exper\ience] violence [...]. [If it is ecljipsed [on the thirteenth day[, king will (•onv[ey[ enmity to king. [If it is eclip[.sed [on the fourteenth day], the rain i[n| the s[k]y (and) the current of tbe spring will be scarc[e[. [If it is eclip]sed [on tbe sixteenth day], Enlil will confuse the land's extispicics \...[.
37
the sun is eclipsed i[n the month of Ni[s[annu[ on tbe first day, the king of Akkad will die. [it is eclip]sed on tbe ninth utit\il the tenth] day, tbere will be a rebellion. it is e[clipsedl on the eleventh da\', a large [army[ will be diminished, [it is eclipsed] on the thirteent[h[ day, [the king] will go into e[xi[le. [it is eclipsed] on the (four]teenth day, [the value[ per kuiru-meAsure will decrease. [it is eclipsed] on the isix]teenth day, [b[erds will fall in tbe land. (it is eclipsed] on the [twenty-first d]ay, '^^''"''""•^' despoilment of tbe steppe.
TEXTUAL TRANSMISSION BETWEEN BABYLONIA AND SUSA
81
38
|If it is ecliplsed |on the twenty-first day], .similarly [its| line/entry.
39 IV 40 41 42 43 44 45
[If the sun| is eclipsed |in the month of Du'|n/u on the ^fir'st day, there will b|e| constant enmity. [If it is ecliplsed |on the ninth day], Istar will bring d|own] . . . into the land. [If it is ecliplsed [on the eleventh day), Enlil will confu[se[ the political order of the land. [I]f it is ec[lip].sed on the thirteenth [dajy, the king of Amurru [will fall] by tbe sw[ord|. If it is ecli[ps[ed on the fourteenth day, the king of Akkad [will e.\petionce[ ha[rd times]. If it is ecliips[ed on the sixteenth day, tbe king of Elam (will experience] bar]d times], If it is eclipsed on tbe twenty-first, similarly its line/entry
Afi
Thesiirface/fnmt is
47 V 48 49 50 51 52 53
[If the sii[n is eclipsed in the month of A[b[u on the first day, ''"'^ [If [ it is eclipsed [on the nint[h [day[, similarly its line/entry. [If [ it is eclipsed [on the eleventh dayl, the bouuty of the s<ea will be devastated) '"'''"^ [If it is ecli[p.sed [on the thirteenth dayl, Mar<s will rise and herds w ill be devastated(?)> '"'••'^ [If it is eclip]sed [cm the fourteenth day],.,. ''T"^][If it is eclip]sed [on the sixteenth dayj,... |''"^^''^[. [If it is eclipj.sed [on the twenty-first day, there will be[ destruction of straw in [the land '"''''[.
54 VI 55 56
[If the sun[ is eclipsed [in the month of Uln[lu on the first day, '"^[''''''[. |If it is eclipsed ou the ninth day], Adud will tbu[uder '"''''']. |If it is eclip.sed on the eleventh day, there will be] military campaigns [in tbe liuid '"'"''].
Lo. ed. 57 Rev. 58 59 60 61
hftv-tivc
[If [If [If [If
it is eclipsed it is eclipsed it is eclipsed it is eclipsed
on the thirteenth day, there will be re]fugees [in tbe land ''"'"''[. on tbe fourteenth d a y , . . . [ . . , [ . . , ''"•'''•]. on the sixteenth dayj,...[.,.''" '^[. on the twenty-first day], the produ tbe sea <will be devastated) ''["'''
62 VII [If the sun) is eclipsed [in the month of Ta.sritu] on the first day, ''"'•'\ 63 [If] it is eclipsed ]on the ninth day], Adad will [devalstate the harvest '"*["''[. 64 [If [ it is eclip.sed [on the eleven]tb |day], famine will occur [.,,'"'""'"[. 65 |If [ it is eclipsed lou the] thir[teen[th jday[, eclipjse of the[kiug [of Akkad .,,'"' '^ . 66 [If [ it is eclipsed [ou the] f(tur[teen[th [day[, ecli[pse of the[king [of Amurru ,..'"'''^[. 67 [If] it is eclipsed [on the) six[teen]th [day|, a (ion . . . [ . . . '"/-incantation (NAM.BUR.BI) prescribed .solely to counteract the majority of portentous celestial events, including solar eclipse, .see S. M. Maul, Ziikuuftshewdltigung: Eine Vntersuchung altorienialischen Denkens anhand der habyhniscli-assyrischen Imerituak (Namburbi), BaF 18 (Mainz atn Rbeiti: Verlag Philipp von Zabern. 1994), 29-30, 458-60. Naturally, this does not mean that .solar eclipses were perceived to be benign, simply tbat these ominous events lacked their own specific apotropaic cortectives. There is a possibility that an unpublished Ma/N/jf/r/ji-incantation (A 187) from tbe "Haus des Beschworungspriesters" in Assui is specifically intended to avert the dangers posed by a solar eclipse, but the interpretation of tbis text is evidently uncertain, see Maul, BaF 18. 51 n. 56. A significant part of the so-called universal namburhi-mvAnialion
known b \ the intipit Ea
Samas u Asalluhi deals w ith celestial phenomena, beginning with the dangers posed by lunar and solar eclipses, see Maul, BaF 18, 469-70:21-29. I. Nisannu 18: Compare SAA 10, 104:11'. there evidently in reference to 11/29. 19: The expres.sion bar-tum I.CAL is attested in the Susa divination corpus (MDA! 57, 10:40). 20: Based on ERIN mat-tum TUR, perhaps testore [ERIN N|E.N[E-f[H. after first-millennium NE.NE ma-'-du-tum 5R 16 iii 81 and dupls. (CAD M/1 20h le.x.). 21: On tdtidftta(m) aldkuim) in the Susa divinntion corpus, note ta-ri^^-du-tam CIN-c/A' {MDAI 57 4:47) atid th-ri-du-tamCm (MDAiTu ^.m). 24: Tbe tirst-inillciinium parallel reads ne-rw hat na-me-e. See the note to line 11. II. Ayyaru 25: The traces are unclear For BURU,-, = erbii "locust." see N. Veldhuis. Heligion, Literature, and Scholarship: The Sumerian Composition "NanUe and the Birds: CM 22 (Leiden: Brill, 2004), 22426,229-31.
86
MATTHEW T RUTZ
27-28: The last sign looks more tike GUR than SI, tbough tbere is no other SI sign preserved elsewhere on the present tablet; cf, GUR in line 22. It should be noted that GUR and SI are differentiated in the omen tablet from Haft Tepe, see Herrero and Glassner, irAnt 28 (1993) 132. An analogous orthogtaphy in the extispicy ihasu) omens from Susa suggests the present interpretation: GAL-sf {MDAl 57, 3:5). 27: The writing IN.NU is employed in the Susa divination corpus {MDAl 57, 7 rev. 5-7). 28: The syllabic writing hii-sa-ki is attested in Susa {MDAl 57, 7 rev. 5-7)." 30: The published OB exemplar of solar eclipse omens contains the same apodosis, but there it corresponds to an omen for IV/- (Dietrich, WZKM 86[1996[ 100:11), 31: If only the scribal notation is to be reconstructed in tbe break, then a plausible interpretation of this apodosis is: [ 3[+4 KI EDIN ^us-ta-al-p(P-a[t], qaqqar sen u.staffxit "the terrain of the steppe will be destroyed;" note KUR KI A.DAM.MES-a i-ka-ha-dn {MDAl 57, 6 i 38). Alternatively, KI.EDIN might be construed as a back-formation from Sum. an-edin, but the broken context makes tbis already tentative proposal highly uncertain. Another possible reconstruction is: [URU'^-*"" EDIN ^m-ta-al-pd}-t[u^X alu sent ustaljxitu "[the city] (and) the steppe will be destroyed;"' or [URU''^^-^' KI EDIN Uis-ta-ah pd^-a\t\, alu itti seti ustalpat^'^[the city[ along witb the steppe will be destroyed." For the EDIN sign in the corpus from Susiana and elsewhere, .see A. Cavigneaux and F. AI-Rawi, "Liturgies exorcistiques agraires (Textes de Tell Haddad IX)," ZA 92 (2002) 38; cf. the Middle Assyrian form in BM 121034:6', Rochberg-Halton, AfO Beih. 22, 278. III. Simanu 32: In contrast to URI in line 18, "Akkad" is written a-de-ga^'. 34: This interpretation is tentatively based on the sense of ra^u "wrongdoing, violence" (CAD R 69a). 35: See the note to line 30. 36: Gontrast witb SEG.MES TA AN-me-ma GAL {MDAl 57 7 rev. 31). The reading of the logographic combination A.ZI.GA in tbe Susa corpus
is confirmed by tbe gloss A.ZI.GA""'' (MDAl 57, 6 i 26; W, Farber, Review of MDAl 57, BiOr 34 [1977] 341). 37: The writing ES-^DIS/DIS is difficult to interpret: 30,4 = 34 or 120? Regardle.ss, based on the parallel, 30.4 must be a cryptograpbic writing for the DN Enlil, albeit not one attested in i.NAM.gis.hur.an.ki.a (GT 25, 50 + CT 46, 54), where the only equation is 50 = Enlil. See A. Livingstone, Myatical and Mi/tholot^ical Explanatory Works of Assyrian and BahyUmian Scholars (Oxford: Glarendon Press, 1986), 30, 54; CTMMA 2, 54 rev. iii 4'; also note EAE 24(25) III 65 (van Soldt, PIHANS 73, 36); Ea 2:I76b-c (MSL 14, 255) and Aa 11/4:203, 27 {MSL 14, 285). On the reading of the second element in 30.4, see M. Stol, "Quelques nombres en ecriture cuneiforme," NABU 1996/73, 65, with previous literature. Two fragments from Susa, MDF 27, 233 and 234, point to the likelih(M)d of locating the numeric writing 30.4 in the scribal milieu of Susa, but the interpretation of these texts is uncertain as well. They may be copies of some variant tradition of Syllable Alpbabet A in wbich the entries received consecutive numbers, see L. E. Pearce, "Tbe Number-SvUabary Texts," /AOS 116 (1996) 453-74, esp. 461 with n. 31 (however, read MDP 27, not MDAl 57). The entry 3.20 iugal {MDP 27, 233 rev, 1') may provide tbe most compelling clue as to tbe origin of the perplexing writing 30.4 for Enlil, Tbe significance of tbe sequence 9 19 12 is uncertain in the MB diagnostic extract PBS 2/2, 104:12 (GBS 3424A), edited most recently by N. P Heeik'l, Babylonisch-assyrisclie Dia^iwstik, AOAT 43 (Munster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2000), 99101. The cryptogtaphic writing 20.1 = Anu in certain Seleucid colophons may be comparable, see E. Leichty, "The Golophon,"' in fjoin the Workshop of the Chicago Assijtian Dictionary; Studies Presented to A. Leo Oppenheim, eds. R. D. Biggs and J. A, Brinkman (Ghicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Ghicago, 1964), 15253, but cf. Hunger, AOAT 2, 4-5. Finally, the most complete of the Late Babylonian numbers\llabaries, CTMMA 2, 54, also contains an luiparalleled writing MIN,30 or 120.30 = '^'en-lil CTMMA 2, 54 rev, iii 7', with tbe comments by L. Pearce, CTM'iA 2, p. 227. The divine-determi-
TEXTUAL TRANSMISSION BETWEEN BABYLONIA AND SUSA
native is absent in UM 29-15-393:40-41 as well, but compare lines 16,18, 55,63, and 83. 38: Attested only in tbe present tablet (lines 38. 45, 48, and 91) and MDAI 57, the sequence GIM MA MU SU is difficult. According to Labat, GIM is most often DIM = epesjt, banu "to do, make, build" in tbe Susa omen cot ptts (MDAI 57, p. 4), Labat thus transcribes the sign combination GIM MA MU SU with DiM,MA MV-su = 'diinmu sumi-Su "le nom en est "tnalefice," taking DIM.MA as a loan word akin to and an abbreviation of NIG.DIM.DIM.MA = Ppistu "pratique magique, malefice" {MDAI 57, 8:3, with p, 191), The same expression is also attested in MDAI 57, 8:21, 26, 32, and rev. 39 (physiognomic omens, obv. ktirciru-disiiixse, rev. re^etu). In the first of a
series of articles on skin disorders ("Hauterscheinungen") in cuneiform divination and medicine, Barbara Bot k has re-edited and translated portions of MDAI 57, 8 obv., see B. Bock, "Hauterscheinungen in altmesopotamischer Divination und Medizin, Teil 1: Das kiirarn-MaK AuOr 21 (2003) 162-65, Like Labat, Bckk transcribes the sequence in question DIM.MA MU-su, however, she interprets this expression as a writing of bdni .snniisti "Schatfung seines Namens" (Bock, AuOr2\ |2003| 164-65). Under closer scrutiny, the evidence behind Bock's cited parallels {CAD B 88a) is not convincing. The phrase fmnii Hunuija ajipears in a series of divine epithets, tbe first of three consecutive participial phrases: EN ill bell bdnu suniiya I nasir riapistiya nuisabsii zeriya "Incantation: My god! My master! Creator of my (good) name! Protector of my life! He who brings my seed into being!" (W. G. Lambert, "Dingirsa.dib.ba inv.mMions: JNES [1974] 276: 40-41), Tbu,s, the translation "St hafiung seines Namens" is misleading, regardless of the complexities surrounding tbe interpretation of 'name" in tbis and related contexts (other examples ate fottnd in CADS/3 293). Bocks interpretation bdni sumisu would, then, seem to require the translation "the creator of his 'name' (has/will) ..," with the resulting action implied in eacb instance. To return to tbe data from Susa, furtber attestations of GIM MA MU SU are found in MDAI 51, 9:15, rev, 5, 34, 35 (teratological omens. Izbu, Summa siruiistu), all wrttten GIM MA MU NI,
87
confirming that SU in tbe otber examples (including tbe present text) is tbe third masc. sing, genitival pronominal suffix; and MDAI57., 10:8,18, 22, rev. 5, 13 (teratological omens. Izbu, Stinima .saljitu). As in UM 29-15-393, the phia,se GIM MA MU-sw constitutes the entire apodosis in each of the examples from Susa, Unfortunately, none of the passages in the Susa tablets has a close parallel preserved in the first-millennium omen corpora. The chapters dealing with the /curorw-disease are, unfortunatelx. poorly preserved iti the firsttnilletmittni physiognomic omen compendia (Bock, AuOr 21 |2003[ 163-64). leaving MDAI 57 8 essentially without comparanda, see B, Bock, Die babylonisch-aHsyrisclw Morphoskopie, AfO Beih, 27 (Vienna: Iastitttt fiir Oricntalistik der Universitat Wien, 2000), 13,28,310, The .situation is hardly better in the case of tbe teiatological omen compendia: MDAI 57, 9:14-15, contrast TCS 4, 2:47' and, with a different formulation, rCS4,10:7'-8'; MDAI 57, 9 rev. 33-35, contrast TCS 4, 3:68-72 and, with a different formulation, TCS 4, 17:39'41'; MDAI 57, 10:5-8, cotitrast TCS 4, 22, but tbere are textual problems with first-millennium Izbu here. In any event, the parallels between OB I/.bu and the first millennium series are rather |>oor iti general (Rochberg, Fs. Leiclity, 342). Because of tbe overall stability of the textual traditions behind EAE 33-35, UM 29-15-393 now provides the basis for an interpretation that is more plausible tban those su^ested by Labat and Bock. Indeed, a compari.son of OB (BM 22696) and first-millennium bmar eclipse omens (EAE 17) underscores the stability of the traditions in question (Rochberg, Fs. Leichtyy 345), Based on inferences from the parallel Hrstmillennium sotirce.s, a more likely reading is GINj-j/ia (or /c(m-?Ma/GIM.MA) MU-5ti = kima smnisu, meaning "likewise/similarly (ts line/entry (i.e,, omen apodosis)," in other wortls "ditto," Understood thus, this vexing expression was simply a means of indicating tbat the apodosis of a given line was identical to tbat of tbe previous line. The logographic writing GIN7 = kima is known among the ometi compendia from Siisiatia, e,g., MDAI 57, 4:28, 30, 32-42; 7 rev. 33; Herrero and Glassner, IrAtit 28 (1993) 27-28, No, 207:9-26 = Danesbmand, jCS 56 (2004) 13-14, lines 15-32;
MATTHEW T RUTZ
88
Biggs and Stolper, HA 77 (1983} 157:10. MU = suinu with the approximate sense of "line, item, entry" is amply attested {CAD S/3 296-97). In this respect GlN7-/»fl MU-s» is similar to expressions such as SU.BI.CIN7.NAM, SU.BI.AS.AM, and KIMIN, none of which is employed in UM 29-15393 or the wider omen corpus from Susiana. Simply min is employed among the school texts from Haft Tepe (Herrero and Glassner, irAnt 31 [1996[ 79, No. 282:5, 80, No. 284:5}. A peripheral innovation like kniia .HUinlsu is not sntprising, since we tind Ug. mtn rgm = matnu ligmi in the
western periphery, see Ug. Izbu, KTU'^ 1.103 -t1.145 = RS 24.247+:6,18 (Pardee, RSOu. 12, 534). A survey of the evidence for the present argument is as follows. For lines 37-38: The omens for 111/16 and III/ 21 are not well preserved, but the end of III/21 {ACh. Samas 10:43) is suggestive when compared with 111/16, siuce nakaru and kum are likely alternate renderings of KUR in the ACh. passages. Cf, Proto-Aa 82:1-3 {MSL 14,92}; Aa 1/6 1-4 {MSL 14, 225); Ai. I iii 58-65 {MSL 1, 11); also Izbu Commentary 245 (JCS 4, 219):
UM 29-15-393:37-38 30.4 fe-rp-e/KUR KUR x[...] ma MU- .VH[
EAE 33 {ACh. Samas 10:40, 43)
Date [TII/211
For lines 44-45: A strong parallel occurs in the omens for IV/16 and IV/21, where the first two UM 29-15-393:44-45 3.20 ELAM-A/ me-ii[i-ra immai] ma MU-s«
he-pi
MU-su
EAE 33 {ACh. Samas 10:58, 61) LUGAL ELAM me-si-ra IGI: LUGAL gu ina
IV/21
[LUGAL ELA[M me-si-ra \Q\-ma \.. ]
Date V/1 V/9
For lines 90-91: As with lines 47-48, the Vorlage of UM 29-15-393 was broken at line 90. Nevertheless, the manuscript from Nimrud [CTN UM 29-15-393:90-91
apodoses in EAE 33 are nearly identical.
Date IV/16
For lines 47-48; Since the apodosis was missing already in the Vorlage of UM 29-15-393, it is impossible to say whether EAE 33 maintains an older tradition. Moreover, because there is no ptiblished manuscript of EA?2 33 for this section, it is necessarv to make a somewhat infelicitous comUM 29-15-393:47-48
u\-sa-an'ua
Date
Xl/1 XI/9
parison with EAE 31 (i.e., DIS ina '"NE UD.l.KAM AN.GEfi 20 GAR}. It should be noted, however, that there are instances when the two different eclipse formulations present identical apodoses for identical days of the month (see Table lj.
EAE 31 [ACh. .S«//(a,s 8:59-60) •'ISKUR GIG.MES GALME : G\}-su SUR-([.s SUB) SUB1.AS.[AM1 4, 6) is suggestive in that the apodoses for XI/1 and XI/9 are identical there:
EAE 35 {CTN 4, 6 ii 1-2) Cf. EAE 31: ACh. Samas 9:42-43 // AC/!.S»/j;j/. 31:53-54 GA[N1.BA 'DUs LUGAL' UG7 GAN.BA DUg LUGAL UC7
TEXTUAL TRANSMISSION BETWEEN BABYLONIA AND SUSA To return now to MDAl 57, 8, based on the evidence outlitied above, lines 2-3 would tben imply tbat an outbreak of the kurdrwdiaense on a man s front would have Hie same result as ati outbreak on his back: ne-en-me-el-su I: LU I,IGI-mar(AL) "that man will experience distres.s/ptotit(?)" (see Bock, AwOr 21 |2003| 164). The ancient orthographic and U'xemic tension nenmelu < nelmenu or nSnielu is not surprising, given the formal similarity of the two words and the resulting wordplay that is possible in passages sticb as nelmensu immar : ncnte\lsii imniar] (CT 38, 21:81, Siimma alu 15, cited CAD N/2 155; cf. S. M, Freedman, // a City is Set on a Heigbt. Volume /, OPSNKF 17 iPhiladelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Museum, 1998], 234-35). Despite the firstmillennium parallel, which reads IGI-»iar, Labat's correction is perhaps unnece.ssary: I,IGI-a/ = inaltal.. though the verb amdru is expected with this idiom.
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E 227-31 [MSL 13, 191), Aa II/2 Gommentary A rev. 17'-23' (MSL 14, 275); or pusqu. dannatu] KA nil Commentary A rev. 7' {MSL 14, 274; CAD P 543-44). Alternatively, AS cotild he an ttnorthographic writing for AS = arratu [CAD A/2 304). Note AS = amkku. harhurn. inursu, di^u. Ji(,saatu. busuttu {Emar 6/4, 564 i \'~4'}, see A. W. Sjcibcrg, Some Emar Lexical Entries," Fa. Leichty., 402-3. 41: See the note to line 37; there are tiny marks atop each wedge in 30.4. Broken writings like )i-MAN-|na[ = utianna appear in the corpus from Susiana, for instance: /-TIL {MDAl 57, 3:45); /-GIN {MDAl 57, 5:17); /-TUKU-r«, /-ZAH, y-GAZ-,s((, i-TUKU-/», i-Z\-a {MDAl 57, 9:1, 3, 7-11); /-BA.TIL/US (Biggs and Stolper, RA 77 |1983| 155:3); and the most glaring example faas/ta-GAKCAR-an {MDAl 57, 1 i 23-24), Gomparable apodoses are attested in Sitsa as well {MDAl 57 4:12, with p. 104; 10:35, 38, 41, 43). For additional attestations of tem nidti in MesopoAlthough the (umulative evidence points to the tamian omen literature, .see J. Bottero, "Lr pouvoir soiutioti proposed here, due caution is warranted et .ses limitatious d'apres les textes divinatoires," when using later textual material to recon.struct in La voix de Vopposition en Mesopotamie, ed. older traditions. Nevertheless, tbe overall textual A, Finet (Brus.sels: Institut des Hatites Etudes de stability of at least parts of the celestial ouicn traBelgique. 1974), 145-49. dition ftirnishes a reasonably sound basis for inferring tbe correct interpretation of this crux, cf. 43: See the note to line 32. F. Roc hberg, "Goiitinuity and Ghange in Omen Lit44: The writings of Elam in the Susa literary erature," in Munuscula meso]X}tamica: Feaischrift corpus are Sum. e-NAM ^ Akk. ELAU-ti {MDAl fiir Johannes Renger. eds. B. Bock, E. Caiicik57, 1 iv 7, 9), ELAM-^/»( {MDAl 57, 6 iv 2), and Kirschbaum, and T Rithter, AOAT 267 (Munster: ELAM'-' {MDAl 57,6 iv 5, 7); note also elam-ma"" Ugarit-Verlag, 1999), 416-19. in a school text from Haft Tepe (Herrero and Glas.sner, IrAnt 31 |19961 76, No. 270:8). IV Du'Qzu 45: See the note to line 38. 39: The combination SAG,IS appears as a vari46: The scribal note jxinum gamir"{he surface/ ant of SAG.US = kayamanu "constantly" in EAE fiont side i.s complete" probabl\ refers to the fa( t 29(30) la 4 (van Soldt 1995: 115. MS E:10'), that the text of the Vorlage was intact up to line 40; The writing I§TAR(U.DAR) is attested in 45. since the first notation /if-;;('"break" occurs in the divination corpus from Susiana (MDAl 57, 7 the next line (line 47). Every subsequent line rev. 17-hS; 8:10^ 18^ Herrero and GIa.ssner, IrAnt (except lines 95-96), where preserved, similarl\' 28 119931 127, No. 207:4, 6, 8 = Danesbmand, JCS documents a broken source manu.script. It is likely 56 |2004| 13:10, 12, 14). Tbe divine determinative tbat /if-/;/'should be reconstructed in the lacunae is also absent in lines 37 and 41, but note lines 16, of UM 29-15-393:47-103. Ctiriotislv, lines 48, 95. 18, 55, 63, and 83. The interpretation of AS here and 96 do not bear the note he-pi, but lines 95-96 is difhcult to reconcile with the first-millennium are clearly not complete. A similar expression, parallels: ."io-lim DINGIR, with the variant di-nam. panam i,SH "it has a surface/front," is explicated AS could be: sisitiL tanuijatit.. ikkillu. rigmu Izi in A/;B 3, 82:12-18 (cited AHir 820),
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VAbu 48: See the note to line 38. 50: Perhaps restore sa-al-ha-ta-nu-{um) KUR/ MUL-(mtf MAS.ANSE ZAH). Note the relationship fonnulated in DIS 20 ina KAxMI-.V(i '^sal-bata-nu im-hur-sii MAS.ANSE Z|AH[ ACh. Samas 13:31 (r//c/.v girri). Commonly written ''UDUIDIM in the first millennium (Horowitz, MCS, 153), reference to Mars also occurs in the OB solar eclipse tablet: '^sa-al-ba-ta-nu-um (Dietrich, WZKM 86 [1996] 101:26-27). There appears to bave been a connection between Elam and the portentous planet Mars in the learned scribal milieu of firstmillennium Mesopotamia, see F. Reynolds, "Unptopitious Titles of Mars in Mesopotamian Scholarly Tradition" in Intellectual Life of the Ancient Near East, ed. J. Prosecky, RAI 43 (Prague: Oriental Institute, 1998), 352, 354-55. 51-52: Without significant duplicates, tbe interjiretation of tbese lines is unclear. 53: See tbe note to line 27 above.
{MDAI 57,10:2; Farber, GMS 3, 253 n. 37; CAD R 329b lex.). 56: The signs are clearly gir-ra-AB, which is to be read gir-ra-tum. Tbis scribal error was probably conditioned by tbe graphic similarity of g/KHA-gunu)-ra-f«m to ha-ra-ab, which tbe scribe had encountered previously (lines 11,24). Lower Edge 57: Tbe scribes count,fifty-fivelines, is correct for the obverse (bere lines 1-56), less tbe scribal note pa-nu-um ga-mi-ir (here line 46). Notes: Reverse 61: Note tbe con.struction A.AB.BA hi-sib-m ZAt| in EAE 22 I §IV 5 (IV/2I), Rochberg"-Halton, AfO Beih. 22, 256.
VIl. Tasritu 63: Probably restore merely tbe phonetic complement, thus [R[A. Note the examples from VI. Ululu Susiann (Biggs and Stolper, RA 77 [1983[ 159:7); 55: Based on the parallels, the expected formusee also Schwemer, Wettergottgestalten, 691-94. lation should be Adad rigimsu inaddi "Adad will 65: A variety of writings of antalu I attalu thutider;" see Scbwemer, Wettergottgefitalten, 691- "eclipse" (Rochberg, Fs. Leichty, 342-43) are 94. The reading of the sign after IM is by no means known from the Susa divination corpus: AN.TA.LU obvious. SILA = ka4 ^ GU^ = rigmu = GU - KA is / an-ta-lii (MDAI 57, 6 ii 44), AN.TAL.LU / ana possibility, though the sbape of tbe SILA sign in tal-lu (MDAI 57, 6 iii 23). AN.T[AL].LU / anlines 6-7 is PAP+DIS versus AS+DIS here. Nevert\al\-Iu {MDAI 57, 6 iv 3), ANTA.LU / an-ta-lu theless, tbere are other instances of apparent (MDAI 57. 7:25', 44, rev. 28), compare AN.TA.LI / internal paleographic variation in this source, an-ta-li {MDP 18, 258:7', Rochbeig-Halton. AfO for example, ITI (line 14, 32, 76, 83 versus 47), Beib. 22, 271). See also the introductory comments IM (lines 8, 55, 79, 87, 105 versus 4, 8, 41, 60, on lines 18-103 above. 63), AL (line 31 versus 50), and NE (lines 14, 32 versus 43, 47). On the poorly .studied pheIX. Kisllmu nomenon of internal paleogtapbic variation, see 81: A similar apodosis, with tbe same orthogthe remarks by M. Krebernik, 'Ein ki-''utu-Gebet raphy as UM 29-15-393, is attested in EAE 22 I aus der Hilprecbt-Sammlung," ZA 91 (2001) 240§V 3 (V/16): e-ii-a-tu^ sa Sk-si-na SVB-di-a "pteg41; Schwemer, ZA 94 (2004) 75-79. Another posnant women will miscarry" (Rochberg-Halton. AfO sibility is to read AS-i-DIS as GIS', since rigmu from Beih. 22, 257, with 272 for the Qatna MS rev. 5). this same expression is written GIS in EAE 22 I §IV 5 and its commentary (Rochberg-Halton, AfO Beih. 22, 256 n. 7, 272); see also Aa III/l CommenX. Tebetu tary A:32 [MSL 14. 324). Another unusual writing 84: Perhaps reconstruct [AB.SIIN-m i-\ma-al-ti] UGU = rigmu is attested at Susa and elsewhere {CADS/2 328) or [KUR me-s]i-ra i-[mor|.
TEXTUAL TRANSMISSION BETWEEN BABYLONIA AND SUSA XI. Sabatu 91: See the note to line 38, 93: The teconstniction is difficult. For D[A[M RI, perhaps restore line 93: IDIM D[A1M -n "an important person will flagrantly fornicate with the kings wife," Golopbon 105: The line counts of colophons do not always correspond with what is represented on the tablet itself (Hunger, AOAT 2,2), In this case it is curious tbat the scribe's provisional counts "fifty-five" (line 57) and "forty-six" (line 104) total only 101 lines. It is possible to reach 106 by incorporating the scribal notations, including the colophon. Tbe erased sign at the end of tbe line may well have been GABA. 106: There is a growing liody of secondary literature on the form and function of the writing board, le^u, an important, if archaeologically underrepresented scribal medium (Frame and George, iraqQl [2005[ 282-83, with previous literature; see also Fincke, AfO 50 [2003-2004] 12429). Writing boards were lighter and easier to transport than clay tablets, so it comes as no surprise that the Vorlage o'i UM 29-15-393 traveled from Susa in tbis way. A number of scholarly tablets from Assyria were copied from writing boards (O. Pedersen, Archives and Libraries in the City of Ansur: A Survey of the Material from tiie German Excavations, Part //, Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Studin Semitica Upsaliensia 8 [Uppsala: Uppsala University, 1986}[, 48; Fincke, AfO 50 [2003-2004[ 128), and first-millennium solar eclipse omens copied ftom writing boards are known from Nineveh (AAT 31:6'-7', K,8086: AA7'31:5', K.10084) and Uruk {UCP9/9, pi, 10:10', improved readings in Weidner, AfO 22 [196819691 68 n, 13; see also Weidner, AfO 14 [19411944[ 177), Although the normative writing is MUS.EREN''' "Susa," tbe writing MUS.SES'^' does occur in Middle Elamite texts. A non-lapidary example appears in a Middle Elamite tablet in the British Museum (Walker, ban 18 [1980[ 78, BM 136847 obv. 7, with pi. Ib), where the second sign in this combination is SES, cf. M.-J. Steve,
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Syllahaire elainite: histoire et fxileographie, GPOA ll/l (Neuchatel: Recherches et Publications, 1992), 130-31. No. 541. where it is cited as EREN. It is worth noting that BM 136847, probabl)' from Susa, may be the fragment of an Elamite "literary commentary or an omen text" (Walker, Iran 18 [198()[ 76). Compare MDAl 53, 4:5 (Humban-ninnena); 11:3?, 6 (Silhak-Insusinak). In Mesopotamia proper the original writing appears to bave been MUS.SES {ATU 3, Gities 30. p. 147). FREN mid SES were clearly differentiated in ED, albeit minimally, see M. Krebernik, "Die Texte aus Fara und Tell Abu Salablh," in Sjxituruk-Zeit und Friihdynastische 7A'it. Mesopotamien: Annaherungen 1, eds. P Attingei- and M. Wiifler, OBO KiO/l (Freiburg, Switzerland: Universitatsverlag Freiburg; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998), 27980. Although the readings SES and EREN are evidenth- distinguished in Proto-Ea 516-16b {MSL 14, 52), tbe signs are not remarkably well defined. 3N-T 563 {= UM 55-21-347. MS Bb.T\pe I) rev, xi 36-38 complicates matters furtber: se-[esl EREN s(i-ki-inl EREN e-[re-e]n SES Tbe other source. 3N-T 91 lc rev, (= UM 55-21-396, MS Ks, Type II/2), is legible, but the relevant lines are badly worn and of little u.se for paleography, Tbe second sign in MUS,EREN'*' SH-u-5u-um, Proto-Diri Oxford 462 {MSL 15, 47), is not clear in the copy (OECT 4, 153 ii 11) and so may merit further examination with these paleographic nuances in mind. Decisive differentiation, however, appears in Diri Bogazkoy 5:4-5 {MSL 15, 92, MS G, KW3 3.98:4-9). Homonymy may have led to the orthographic convergence of the ,vw5w-plant and the toponym Susa: GIS.(ZA.MUS.)SKS = sfiSu "sfmi-planr (CADS/3 385-86) and MUS.SF.S^' = susuni I sfisiti "Susa" (P. Steinkeller, "Sumerian miscellanea," A»Or 2 [19841 139-40; J.-M. Durand, "T^gur'''," NABU 1988/34, 23). Note .su-u-su GIS, MUS.(DI).SiG.LAM, Diri 2:254 (MSL 15, 128-29, MSS A and S13), where SIG.LAM = SES, see the comments bv Krebernik, OBO 160/1, 283 n. 519.
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MATTHEW T RUTZ
Obv.
Rev. UM 29-15-393
Noter The photofjraphs of UM 29-15-393 were produced b\- the Uni\(T.sit\- of Pennsylvania Museum and AW included here by the kind permi,ssion ol' the Museum. It is a pleasure to arknowledfic- thi- follow in^ inHi\ iduals for their assistiincc with these images: Richard Zettler; Francint' Sarin and Jennifer Chiappardi (University Museum Phnto Studio): as well as Al(.'.ss;indro Fezzati and Kri.-itiiie Paiihi.s (University Mu.seuin Archives),
TEXTUAL TRANSMISSION BETWEEN BABYLONIA AND SUSA
UM 29-15-393 Detail (Obverse, Top)
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MATTHEW T RUTZ
UM 29-15-393 Detail (Obverse, Bottom)
TEXTUAL TRANSMISSION BETWEEN BABYLONIA AND SUSA
UM 29-15-393 Detail (Reverse, Top)
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MATTHEW T RUTZ
UM 29-15-393 Detail (Reverse, Bottom)
LOVE REJEGTED: SOME NOTES ON THE MESOPOTAMIAN EPIG OF GILGAMESH AND THE GREEK MYTH OF HIPPOLYTUS Fumi Karahashi (University of Pennsylvania) and Carolina Lopez-Ruiz (The Ohio State University) I am called the Goddess Ctjpris: 1 am inigiity among men and tiiey iionor me hij many names. All tiiose tiiat live and see tiie ligiit of sun From Atlas' pillars to tiie tide of Pontus Are mine to rule'
Scholars have long puzzled over why, in Euripides' Hippoiytus, the fatal end of the hero is brought about by Poseidon's bull as the last blow in a chain of tragic events triggered by the youth's spurning of the goddess Aphrodite. Despite an increase in Near Eastern and Greek comparative work in recent decades, a striking parallel to this story seems to have escaped the eye of classicists so far We are referring to the well-known Near Eastern myth in which a similar rejection by a mortal man of the goddess of Love, Ishtar, leads to the hero having to confront a celestial bull. This myth is most clearly enunciated in the epic narrative of Gilgamesh, passed down from the Sumerians to the Assyrians and Babylonians. This epic was probably the single best known story in the ancient Near East and had a proven track
record of jumping from one cultural setting to another, even across different languages. Even though in Euripides' tragedy the bull is not sent at the direct request of Aphrodite (rather it is Theseus, Hippolytus's father, who asks for it), the coincidence of these specific elements at the two ends of the story is remarkable; in both stories a man who spurns the goddess of love ends up having to face a bull sent by another god. The connection that we are about to propose should be seen against the background of the flourishing cultural exchange between the ancient Near East and the Greek world during the Late Bronze Age (in the Late Helladic or Mycenaean period in Greece) and subsequent centuries, which climaxed during the so-called orientalizing period of the mid-eighth to the mid-seventh centuries B.C. (see e.g., Burkert 1992; Morris 1992; West 1997).^
We are deeply thankful to T. Collins, C. A. Faraone, P Jones, A. Kaldellis, T Sharlach, and T. P J. van den Hout for their insightful comments and suggestions. 1. Aphiodites words in Euripides' Hippoiytus 1-5 (Grene and Lattimore 1955). Subsequent e.xcerpts of Hippohjtus will also be cited from this translation.
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2. For the interaction between the Near East and Creece in the Mycenaean period,see the articles in Cline and HanisCline (1998). For the centuries following the Mycenaean period down to the Archaic period in Creece (ca. 1200-479 B.C.), see
JCS 58 (200fi)
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FUMI KARAHASHI AND GAROLINA LOPEZ-RUIZ
Decades of comparative research have made it clear that Greek poetry and myth share numerous motifs with the literature of the Near Eastern cultures with which the Greeks were in contact for hundreds of years before we even have written testimonies of Greek literature. Although there are many other examples, one of the most striking cases is the close parallel between the Hurro-Hittite Song of Kumarbi and Hesiod s Theogony. Both deal with the succession to divine kingship: the former, from Alalu, to Anu, Kumarbi, and finally Tessub, and the latter, from Uranos, to Kronos, and Zeus (West 1966; 1997: 276-305).=^ Some motifs of the Gilgamesh story also found a way into Greek literature. M. L. West has shown that some aspects of the story of Achilles in the Iliad reveal very suggestive parallels with the story of Gilgamesh (1997: 83447). For example, both Achilles and Gilgamesh have a divine mother; Achilles is as devastated by the death of his best friend Patroclus as Gilgamesh is by the death of Enkidu; Patroclus appears in a dream to Achilles, tries to embrace him but cannot, whereas Gilgamesh does embrace Enkidu, who comes up from the netherworld and tells him about the conditions of the dead. Both Achilles
Snodgrass (1980),Osborne (1996), and Boardman (1999). For a critical discussion on the history of scholarship pertaining to the relationship between Classical studies and the neighboring cultures of Europe and the Mediterranean and the political and ideological conditions that determined the changing tendencies, see Bernal (1987). His work Black Athena (1987,1991) no doubt provoked positive and negative reactions among Classicists and scholars of the ancient Near East, which in any case opened up a healthy discussion and a more open forum for this kind of study. Among other works that have marked the field of east-west connections are Astour (1967), Gordon (1962), Dodds (1951), Kirk (1970), Burkert (1979), and Penglase (1994). New voices are continuously added to this multidisciplinary academic trend, such as Bachvarova (2002), Haubold (20022003), and others. A new but perhaps too "vague" concept that is guiding some of the comparative works lately is that of "areal feature" or "areal diffusion" (see Watkins 2001; Bachvarova 2002: 5), as an alternative for the "diffusion" or "borrowing" scheme. For this concept applied to Sumerian religion, see Michalowski (1998). 3. A more detailed study of the connections between Near Eastern and Greek cosmogonic and theogonic motifs and the cultural contact underlying those connections is forthcoming in a monograph by Lopez-Ruiz.
and Gilgamesh cherish the recollection of shared hardship. Achilles through the extraordinary meeting with Priam and Gilgamesh through the meeting with Ut-napishtim learn the human condition. As for the Huwawa episode, some scholars (Forsyth 1981: 17; Lord 1990: 374-76) compare it with the Polyphemos episode in the Odysseij, and recently B. Gufler (2002) has shown its close relationship to the Perseus-Gorgon myth."* In the following pages, we will first outline the Ishtar-Gilgamesh episode as recounted in Tablet VI of the Akkadian Gilgamesh Epic (Standard Babylonian version = SB) and Euripides' tragedy Hippolytus, and then focus on several motifs that suggest that a Near Eastern theme ultimately lies behind the version of the Greek myth used by Euripides. Gilgamesh Epic Tablet VI Tablet VI of the Gilgamesh Epic begins with a scene in which Ishtar, watching Gilgamesh washing himself and putting on clean clothes, falls in love with him and proposes marriage: "You shall be my husband, and I your wife!" (VI 9 atta lu mutl-ma anaku lu assatka)? Until recently, it was not clear whether a similar motif was also to be found in the Sumerian poem Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven., due to the corruption and fragmentary state of the text (Gavigneaux and Al-Rawi 1993). Now, however, A. George has been able to show, on the basis of a newly discovered tablet.
4. For an iconographic representation of the killing of Gorgon by Perseus that is clearly modeled on the slaying of Humbaba by Gilgamesh, see Burkert (1992: 86). Parallel motifs and roles between Gilgamshs journey for quest of immortality and Odysseus's wandering and between Shiduri, a tavernkeeper living by the seashore, for Gilgamesh and Girce and Galypso for Odysseus (Lord 1990: 375; West 1997: 402-37; Abush 2001) have been pointed out. See George (2003: 5457), for his criticism of West (1997). 5. Abusch (1986: 148-61) posits that this unilateral marriage formulation and the accompanying offers promised by Ishtar suggest that Ishtar was inviting Gilgamesh to become her husband in the nethei-world. His analysis has been criticized by Vanstiphout (1990: 48, n. 13) and most recently by George (2003: 471, n. 98). For this line, see aLso Gooper (1993: 83-84, n. 16).
LOVE REJEGTED that the goddess Inanna indeed did also propose marriage in the Sumerian composition (2003: 472): "O Gilgamesh, may you be its lord, let me be its lady!" (SG 2652/2 obv 6 ''bil-ga-mes [zaj-re^ [u-mluun-bi de-men Iga-e] ga-sa-an-bi de-men)." To Ishtar's dismay, Gilgamesh rejects her love, listing the unruly, undomestic, destructive, and chaotic characteristics that make her unsuitable for marriage (Frymer-Kensky 1989; Bahrani 2000; 2001) and reminding her of her unfortunate lovers, including Dumuzi and the gardener IsuUanu, whom she loved with tragic consequences (George 2003: 473-74). Insulted and enraged by Gilgameshs scornful comments, a weeping Ishtar ascends to heaven and complains to her father Anu and mother Antu. Although her father reminds Ishtar that it was she who provoked Gilgamesh (VI 89), she nevertheless demands that Anu send the Bull of Heaven to punish Gilgamesh. Otherwise, she threatens, she will raise the dead so that they will overwhelm the living.'^ Anu reluctantly gives Ishtar the Bull of Heaven, which causes havoc in the city of Uruk until Gilgamesh, with Enkidu's help, kills it. Hippolytus Unlike his father Theseus, Hippolytus is not one of the more popular figures in Greek literature and figurative arts. Most of what we know about Hippolytus comes from the late-fifth-century B.C. tragedy by Euripides that bears his name.* Euripides portrays Hippolytus as an impeccable youth of outstanding beauty and virtue, who is passionately dedicated to hunting and thus devoted to the patron goddess of this activity, the maiden Artemis. He decides to renounce sexual pleasure and boasts of his chastity, which he flaunts as a sign of his strength and of devotion to his patron 6. We follow George's interpretation that the pronoun "its" stands for E-anna, lnanna's temple at Uruk. 7. The motif of the threat of the risen dead from the Netherworld is a well-known topic in Babylonian literature and the threat is traditionally Ishtars to make (George 2003: 474-75). 8. First perfomied in 428 B.C. For a brief introduction to the play, see Grene and Lattimore (1955: 158-60); see also below n. 9.
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goddess. The tragedy begins by telling how Hippolytus s arrogant rejection of the natural pleasures of love deeply wounds the pride of Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love. Aphrodite decides to prove her power and avenge his offense against her by means of a plot that will end in the tragic death of both Hippolytus and his stepmother Phaedra. Aphrodite causes Phaedra to be possessed by a burning desire for her stepson Hippolytus while his father and her husband Theseus is away from home. Phaedra, unable to contain a passion that would disgrace her children and husband, decides to kill herself. Her nurse, in a desperate attempt to prevent her mistress's death, reaches Hippolytus and tries to persuade him to comply with Phaedra's desires. The nurse's unfortunate intervention only outrages Hippolytus, however, and he angrily confronts Phaedra. Driven by fear that Theseus will find out and that her honor and that of her children will be compromised, Phaedra hangs herself as she had intended, but before doing so she writes a tablet slandering Hippolytus and accusing him of raping her. The aim of tragedy is served, Theseus returns from his journey to find this shocking scene and interprets Phaedra's body and farewell note just as she intended. Hippolytus, keeping his vow, refuses to reveal the truth to Theseus and humbly accepts the exile to which his father condemns him. He takes his chariot and rides along the coast from the royal abode in Troezen. Theseus, not content with exiling his son, calls upon his father, the god Poseidon, to grant him one of the three wishes long ago promised to him {Hipp. 887-990). Theseus prays that Poseidon will send a beast against Hippolytus to kill him that very day. An odd episode then follows in which a roaring bull comes out from a huge wave and causes Hippolytus's horses to go mad. The bull charges after the chariot team and during the pursuit the reins get caught in a tree branch. The chariot and its charioteer are smashed, first against the tree and then against a pile of rocks nearby. The mysterious pursuer vanishes, and Hippolytus lies between life and death until he is brought by servants to his father who, having learned of his son's innocence from Artemis's intervention, is given a chance to
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bid farewell to his son and reach some reconciliation with Main Parallels and Further Connections These brief sketches of the Ishtar-Gilgamesh episode and of Hippolytus show that both stories share the same basic framework. In both, the Goddess of Love is directly rejected and offended by the hero and seeks to punish him, and the punishment takes the form of a bull that is sent by a god one level above her in the divine hierarchy and which comes from a primordial-cosmic element, either sky or sea. These main features apart, many details differ, and some pieces of the scheme have been transformed or substituted by others in the Greek version to fit into different traditions. This is, of course, only to be expected from two literary works so distant in space and time, belonging to different genres and responding to different sites of cultural production. In what follows, we will comment on the main similarities and differences between the stories and at the same time point out other, more subtle, connections between them. The Proposal Although the Near Eastern derivation of Aphrodite as goddess of love has been widely accepted,'" 9. Euripides wrote two versions of Hippolijtus. The earlier one, now lost, apparently focused more on the shameless behavior of Phaedra. The later version, which is our text, presents Phaedra's passion as a sickness induced by Aphrodite and aggravated perhaps by Hippolytuss chastity. Sophocles also wrote a Phaedra (only a summary tells us about its content) and, much later, Seneca wrote a play on the same topic. In both later versions, the first depiction of Phaedra prevailed (Ganz 1993: 286-88). For other sources for the myth in antiquity see Gantz (1993: 285-88). 10. Already in Herodotus (1.105) Aphrodite was given a Phoenician origin. For an extensive work on the origins of Aphrodite, see Budin (2003), who argues that the goddess was introduced into Greek culture by the Phoenicians in the Early Iron Age. (The name "Phoenicians," as used by ancient sources, included a variety of other peoples of the Late Bronze Age, including Syrians, Amorites, and Canaanites; see especially Budin's chapters 9 and 10.) For an overview of the mythical and cultic aspects of the goddess in Greek religion, see Burkert (1985: 152-56) and Penglase (1994: chapter 7), who argues for Mesopotamian influence on the Greek goddess.
Ishtar and Aprodite play quite different roles in our stories. In the Gilgamesh Epic, Ishtar herself, charmed by Gilgamesh's physical beauty, falls in love with him and proposes marriage to him directly.^' In contrast, we find in Hippolytus an aloof Aphrodite who has no direct contact with the hero but meticulously plans vengeance because she is offended by his disrespectful attitude towards her and by his devotion to chastity, hunting, and the goddess Artemis. Aphrodite plays with love from a distant height, using Hippolytuss stepmother Phaedra:'" But for his sins against me I shall punish Hippolytus this day. I have no need to toil to win my end: Much of the task has been already done (...) Phaedra saw him and her heart wasfilledwith the longings of love. This was my work {Hipp. 21-23, 26-28) The Rejection Why does Gilgamesh reject Ishtar's offer of marriage? In an anthropological explanation, W. Burkert (1992: 99) postulates that "Gilgamesh's rejection of Ishtar corresponds to the hunter's taboo: It is sexual restraint that ensures a successful hunt. Hence the denial of love causes the bull to appear.""' Although the same principle comes to play a role in both Gilgamesh's and Hippolytus's reaction.'"* Gilgamesh, in other re-
11. The motif of marriage proposal by a goddess or a female of high status who falls in love with a handsome male is also found in Greek literature. The closest parallel can be found in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite: Aphrodite falls In love with Anchises, the beautiful Trojan hero, and proposes a marriage, promising a lavish dowry (/j. Aphr. 53-142; for the story's continuation see further below). Another example is tbe Nausikaa episode, where Nausikaa, looking at the cleaned Odysseus, wants to marry him (West 1997: 413). Book 5 of the Odyssey also comes to mind, where the goddess Kalypso offers Odysseus an immortal life by her side. 12. Farnell (1970: 66) has suggested that "Phaedra" is one of the names of Aphrodite. This suggestion would reinforce the thematic resonance and coherence of the "hero-goddess" confrontation in Hippolytus. 13. For the connection between sexuality and hunting see Burkert (1983: 58-72). On Hippolytus especially pp. 60-61 with n. 12. 14. See n. 21 further below.
LOVE REJEGTED spects, seems to be quite the opposite of Hippolytus. He is not a hunter but a king who, during his immature youth, misbehaved and oppressed his city, Uruk (SB Tablet I 63-72; Old Babylonian version Tablet P 159-160).'^ As A. George (2003: 7) puts it, Gilgamesh "tyrannized his people with his excessive appetites for sex and play." He is far removed from the chaste figure of Hippolytus. B. R. Foster (1987: 22, 36) writes that Gilgameshs rejection of the sexual advances of Ishtar, here a personification of unproductive attraction to the opposite sex, affirms and asserts the unity of his relationship with Enkidu and his own self-identity, which marks the beginning of selfknowledge. H. L. J. Vanstiphout (1990: 48, n. 13, 62-65) takes Gilgameshs rejection as a refusal to submit to the Sacred Marriage Ritual,"' to which Ishtar has invited him in quite outspoken terms, and grounds his refusal in his exclusive friendship for Enkidu: "He refuses to allow social and cultural strictures to control his life and that of his friend." However, this reasoning, whether it implies a homosexual relationship between the two or not,'^ does not seem tofitwith Gilgameshs catalogue of her mistreated former lovers and final argument in the form of a rhetorical question, "Will you treat me like them?" (SB Tablet VI 79). Z. Bahrani (2001: 153), focusing on Mesopotamian views of feminine sexuality and its potentially destructive power, argues that the hero is afraid of being destroyed as a result of the seduction, like the rest of Ishtars lovers: "Her frightening aspect is often the threat of sexuality joined with death" (Bahrani 2000: 99).'^ This point is explicitly dealt with in the Greek Aphrodite-
15. For the miicli-debatecl issue of Gilgamesli's abuse of powei, see Geoi-ge (2003: 448-49), which summarizes the past discussion with refei'ence.s. See also George (2003: 13), for a reference to some kind of game, and George (2003: 167-69), for an implication of droit de .seigneur 16. For the sacred marriage ritual, see Cooper (1993); most recently, Jones (2003). 17. For the implications of homose.xuality in the Gilgamesh Epic in particular and in Mesopotamia in general, see Gooper (2002). 18. Bahranis comments on Groneberg (1986) and Harris (1990-1991) are in Bahrani (2000).
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Anchises episode,'^ where, unlike Gilgamesh, Anchises falls in love so passionately with the seducing Goddess (disguised as a mortal woman) that he does not even care about death. But when Aphrodite reveals herself after they have slept together, the hero fears the disastrous consequence, and implores her not to make him impotent {h. Aphr. 185-190). In addition to fearing the tragic consequence of amorous relations with Ishtar, Gilgamesh seems to detest her because she has caused death and suffering among mortals, especially heroes like him. But why exactly does Hippolytus reject Aphrodite? Ghastity as a superior value for the hunter and the fear of the loss of power and strength that inevitably follows sexual intercourse with a woman/goddess is a core motif of the tragedy of Hippolytus.^" His chastity and his devotion to Artemis inevitably lead him to despise Aphrodite and he gives vent to this feeling in a misogynous speech {Hipp. 615-668) in which he describes women as a curse for the human race.^' Many other voices referring to the destructive power of love are also put in the mouth of the chorus and of the other characters at several points of the drama. Artemis speaks ill of her rival Aphrodite as she reveals to a dying Hippolytus who is to blame for his disgrace: Art.: Cypiis, the worker of mischief, so contrived Hipp.: Alas, I know the goddess who destroyed me! Art.: She blamed your disrespect, hated your chastity Hipp.: She claimed us three as victims, did Cypi is ... {Hipp. 1400-1403) As we have already suggested, chastity is not the issue in the episode of Ishtar-Gilgamesh 19. For the first half of the story, see above n. 11. 20. The idea that se.xual intercourse is inevitably debilitating for men seems to be widespread in Greek thought, as it already appears in Pythagorean philosophy (West, 1971: 160 with n. 1). West (1971: 161 with n. 2) also suggests that the same idea is behind Hesiod s description of high summer as the season when women are most attractive and men in turn weakest {Works and. Days 586, echoed by Spartan archaic poet Alcman in fragment 347.4). 21. "Women! This coin, which men find counterfeit! Why, why. Lord Zeus, did you put them in the world, in the light of sun? If )'ou were so determined to breed the race of men, the source of it should not have been women...."
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confrontation.^^ However, both Gilgamesh and Hippoiytus act similarly from the fear that the Goddess's love might impede their own way of life or cause their destruction.^'' The Punishment In the Gilgamesh Epie, Ishtar begs her father Anu to send the Bull of Heaven^"* to punish the hero. Anu reluctantly accedes to the demand of Ishtar^^ and sends the animal down from the sky. Incidentally, her attitude and mood—that of an offended capricious girl who seeks help from her powerful father—is mirrored in the Iliad when Aphrodite, wounded by Diomedes, goes up to complain to Zeus and Dione, asking for revenge (5.352-430). Dione is the feminine form of Zeus's name (Genitive Dios), exactly as Antu is for Anu (Burkert 1992: 96-100, with n. 5; West 1997: 361-62). In the story adapted by Euripides, in contrast. Aphrodite acts as a self-sufficient goddess and plots her own vengeance through the tragic love of Phaedra toward her stepson Hippoiytus. Hippolytus's punishment is two-fold. He is exiled from Troezen (southeast Argolis across Athens in the Saronic Gulf), and receives a further punishment, which comes from the god Poseidon. Carrying out Theseus's moral imperative to punish his son thoroughly, Poseidon sends the bull up
22. The motif of sexual intercourse affecting the hunter's relationship with animals rather fits the Enkidu-Prostitute episode: Enkidu, created to become the companion of Gilgamesh, has sex with a prostitute, and after that the animals run away from him (Westenholz and Koch-Westenholz 2000). A similar motif can be found in the Hurro-Hittite tale of the hunter Kessi who, after marrying a beautiful woman, stopped going to the mountains to hunt (HofFner 1998: 87-89). 23. Cooper (2002: 82, n, 56) cites E. Neumann's interpretation (1954: 63) of the conflict between a conscious masculine ego and the all-powerful Great Goddess. 24. The Bull of Heaven might be associated, in the later astronomical tradition, with the constellation Taurus; see Hunger and Pingree (1999: 105), Horowitz (2005: 176). 25. She makes it clear that if her wish is not fulfilled, she will bring up the dead (see above n. 7). The reverse threat is made by the Sun-god Helios in the Odyssey (12.382-83): that is, if Zeus does not punish Odysseus's men for eating his divine cattle, he will leave the upper world and shine over the dead (Burkert 1992: 96-100 with n. 5; West 1997: 417),
from the sea. For the passage to parallel the Gilgamesh episode exactly. Aphrodite, called "the daughter of Zeus," should have asked Zeus for a celestial bull. It is, however, Theseus, not Aphrodite, who implores his father Poseidon {Hipp. 1315-1319) for the hero's punishment. As we have already mentioned above, this scenario is strange because "it does not usually take two gods to kill a man" (Burkert 1979; 112). Aphrodite did not need Poseidon or the bull to destroy Hippoiytus if she wanted, neither did she ask for it. As we pointed out at the beginning of this paper. Aphrodite seems content with punishing Hippoiytus by ruining his reputation in the eyes of his father; she does not ask for the hero's death and neither does Euripides connect Aphrodite with the request for the bull to appear. The fact that these elements are present in the same story and indirectly linked by the chain of events suggests that the motif of the Love goddess and the bull punishment belonged together in some versions of the myth, some of which might have been much closer to the "original" Ishtar-Gilgamesh story. Proof of this is the above-mentioned episode of Aphodite and Diomedes in the Iliad, which seems to reflect a different part of the same narrative in a more archaic source, namely. Homer. In that version we have precisely that part of the episode that is missing in Euripides' version; in the Iliad Aphrodite does ask her father to avenge her, and the equivalence of the gods Zeus and Dione with the Mesopotamian counterparts Anu and Antu, as already noted, is perfect. The parallel is incomplete, however, for in the Homeric version there is no celestial bull sent to punish the goddess' offender. This is one example of the selection and adaptation of specific elements from a Near Eastern-derived story to complement, enrich, or adorn a given Greek myth or epic narrative. In order better to understand how the bull fits into Hippolytus's story, a brief summary of the background of Theseus, which links him to Poseidon and the bull, is necessary. Poseidon is primarily the god of earthquakes (hence his epithet "shaker of the earth") and of the waters, namely, rivers, springs, and especially the sea, and also of horses. He is certainly an especially important
LOVE REJECTED deity at Knossos in Crete tind also in Troezen (Hippolytus's cult place), in addition to Athens itself and other places in Creece.^*' Tradition tells us that, although Theseus is the son of the Athenian king Aigeus, his real father is Poseidon (Cantz 1993: 248)." He, in turn, begets Hippolytus with an Amazon (which explains the lad's devotion to Artemis, the hunting maiden goddess). Theseus's most famous exploit is perhaps his journey to Crete in order to kill the Minotaur, who devours seven maidens and seven youths every nine years brought from Athens by command of the legendary king Minos of Crete. Minos was born from the union of Zeus and the Phoenician princess Europa, whom he had kidnapped while disguised as a white bull and brought to Crete. (Minos was therefore himself the son of a bull of quite heavenly nature.)^** At one point, Minos prayed to Poseidon to be sent a bull from the sea in order to make a sacrifice in honor of the god. Minos, however, liked the animal so much that he kept it, disregarding his promise (Apollodorus Library 3.1.3-4; another version in Diodorus Siculus 4.77.1-4). Poseidon, then, sent a punishment that, again, involved an unnatural love. He made Pasiphae, Minos's wife, fall passionately in love with the bull. The outcome of this union was the Minotaur, half man, half bull, whom Theseus ultimately killed with the aid of Ariadne, Minos's daughter.^'' This Theseus-Minotaur epi26. For Poseidon, see Burkert (1985: 136-39). 27. For the versions and sources for Tlieseuss exploits and tlie story of Minos and the Minotaur, see Gantz (1993: chapters 8 and 9). For a work on Theseus and his role in the Athenian imagery, see Calanie (1996). 28. S. Moi-ris (1992: 176 with n. 108) notes that the couple of Phoenician Europa and the Bull Zeus might be equated with the Canaanite/Syro-Palestinian Baal (storm god represented as a bull) and Anat. The storm god Baal is al.so said to have mated with a cow in the Ugaritic te.xts (Parker 1997: 148 with n. 170), and in the Phoenician History of Philo of Byblos Ashtarte "placed upon her own head a bull's head as an emblem of kingship" (1.10.31; see Attridge and Oden 1981: 55). As for Minos himself, Morris also points out several features that portray him as an oriental king rather than a Greek one (1992: 177). The divinely sanctioned kingship and the power to sit as a judge are some of them. 29. The Minotaur was also connected in some traditions to the bull of Marathon against whom Theseus (and in another story l-lerakles) fought (see Gantz 1993: 263).
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sode itself vaguely reminds us of that of Cilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven, in which the Bull is successfully destroyed by the hero and his helper Enkidu.^" There is a crucial reference from a later author that might reinforce this connection. Apollodotos gives us the important detail that the actual name of the Minotaur (literally "the bull of Minos") was Asterios, that is, "heavenly," "starry," "celestial."^' This may suggest that the oriental tradition of Bull of Heaven was taken in, merged with a preexisting mythology of the Poseidon-bull, and thus moved into his domain. The closest association of Poseidon with bulls near the sea is in Odyssey 3. 4-8, where Nestor and his troops are said to make a sacrifice of nine black bulls to him on the seashore. Also in Archaic Creek poetry, we find that Hesiod calls Poseidon "the bull-like {taureos) We believe that the bull's involvement in Hippolytus's punishment is not accidental. Hippoiytus's rejection of Aphrodite, which echoes Gilgamesh's rejection of Ishtar, and Hippolytus's connection to Poseidon through his father Theseus, probably invited the bull into the Creek myth. These elements of the story were linked through Theseus's marriage to Phaedra (sister of Ariadne, Theseus's
30. The earliest iconographic representation of the "royal" bull hunt is found on a cylinder seal from the Uruk period (Watanabe 2000: 1151). We would like to mention, in passing, the widespread practice of bull-leaping practice in Anatolian and Mediterranean culture.s. For Anatolia, see Soysal (2003). For the bull-leaping ritual and painting from the Minoan period at Knossos in Giete, see Burkert (1985: 36-40). A fresco painting of bull-leaping scene in the Knossos style is found in Tell el Dab^a in the Nile delta (a Hyksos fortre.ss at Avaris; Bietak 1996). 31. Apollodorus Lihrartj 3.1.4. This name is associated with the legendary Gretan king that married Europa, thus becoming a foster father of Minos. It seems possible that this Asterios might be an "alias" for the bull-Zeus who mated with Europa and that the Monitaur was another manifestation of Zeus (Galame 1996: 210; West 1997: 451). Galame sees in the creature a more recent form of the bull-god venerated originally in Grete (1996: 210-13). See also there the comparison with other Egyptian and Ganaanite figures (Galame 1996: 233). For the possible West Semitic origin of the figures and names of Europa and Asterios, see West (1997: 451-52) and references there. 32. Hesiod S/i/eW, 104.
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helper in his fight against the Minotaur, and so sister of the Minotaur as well), who falls in love with his son Hippolytus. Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu skillfully destroy the Bull of Heaven sent by Anu at Ishtar's request. Hippolytus, on the contrary, is utterly defeated and destroyed by the beast sent by Poseidon at Theseuss request, which is planned by Aphrodite.''^ Conclusions Although the motif of a powerful woman or goddess becoming angry and vengeful when rejected by a man of inferior status appears to be universal, the use of a bull as the means of punishment certainly is not. That is, the similarity between crucial elements in the structure of both stories, linking the conflict and its ultimate consequence, is too specific and too strange to be purely coincidental: a goddess of Love rejected by a mortal man, leading the hero to confront a bull sent by another male god from a place that is not the animal's normal habitat (i.e., the heavens or the waves). We believe that applying the comparative method is justified in explaining how this extraordinary punishment of Hippolytus for his rejection of Aphrodite came into the composition, especially when taking into consideration the cultural climate of the eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age and the first half of the first millennium B.C. As we have suggested above, Hippolytus's story is strongly connected with Crete through his father Theseus. After all, Theseus, Poseidon, and bulls are all related to Crete. Crete, in turn, was one of the most fertile soils for Oriental and Hellenic hybridization from the earliest times, as we can tell by archaeological and historical records. Admittedly, there is a discouraging chronological, geographical, and cultural gap between the original versions of the Gilgamesh Epic and the classical Athenian tragedian Euripides. The chronological gap, at any rate, is required by our argument, for 33. The connection of Hippoiytuss myth and hero cult with horses, and the tradition that Hippolytus came back to life must be treated separately.
only in the long passage of undocumented centuries could the elements of the original Near Eastern story have been divided from each other and redistributed among different tales in the Greek tradition (e.g., in Homer, Hesiod, and Euripides), taking on new narrative meanings and legendary associations. We are not trying to postulate a direct link between the two sources. On the contrary, the specific narrative and tragic use of these motifs by Euripides can only be explained in Euripides' own terms through a close reading of his plays, and it is very doubtful that the tragedian would have been at all aware of the arcane origins of these peculiar aspects of what he probably regarded as (one version of) a local myth that inspired his tragedy. It is precisely the distance between our sources, and nonetheless the astonishing similarity of the motifs, that make the case interesting. This parallel is one of many tokens of a complex exchange of ideas taking place at least a millennium prior to Euripides between Greekspeaking peoples and their Levantine neighbors many of which have surfaced in preserved classical sources, even if it is impossible to trace with any precision the moment or way in which the interference between the stories happened. At most, we can postulate that the myths of Theseus and Hippolytus might have taken shape under the influence of the Mesopotamian motifs of Ishtar-Gilgamesh-Anu-the Bull of Heaven. The Theseus-Poseidon-Minotaur story echoes that of Gilgamesh-Anu-the Bull of Heaven, and the Aprodite-Hippolytus confrontation that of Ishtar-Gilgamesh. Hippolytus's tragedy is built upon his filial relation to Theseus, who killed the "celestial" Minotaur (created as a punishment of Minos by Poseidon) and married one of Minos's daughters, Phaedra, who, in turn, fell in love with Hippolytus. The bull of Poseidon, in turn, is somehow a reflex of the Minotaur. Hippolytus's punishment is, seemingly inevitably, inflicted by a bull sent by Poseidon, as if, by a certain circular logic to the killings, the god was making up for a long unpaid family debt Thus what has been usually seen as an "oddity" in a fifth-century B.C. Greek text might be now understood as a necessary element tightly linking Hippoiytuss fate to that of his family lineage.
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Gantz, T. 1993 Early Greek Myth. A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, 2 vols. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. George, A. R. 2003 The Babylonian Gilga7nesk Epic, Volume I: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gordon, C. 1962 Before the Bible: The Common Background of Greek and Hebrew Civilizations. New York: Harper and Bow. Grene, D., and Lattimore, R., eds. 1955 The Complete Greek Tragedies. Ghicago: University of Ghicago Press. Groneberg, B. 1986 Die sumerisch-akkadische Inanna-Istar: Hermaphroditus? WO 17: 25-46. Gufler, B. 2002 Orientalische Wurzeln griechischer GorgoDarstellungen. Pp. 61-81 in Grenziibersclireitungen: Formen des Koritakts zwischen Orient und Okzident im Altertum, ed. M. Schuol, U. Hartmann, and A. Luther. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, Harris, R. 1990- Inanna-Ishtar as Paradox and a Goincidence 1991 of Opposites. Iiistory of Religions 30: 261-78. Haubold,J. 2002- Greek Epic: A Near Eastern Genre? Proceed2003 ings of the Cambridge Fhilological Society 48: 1-19. Hoffner,H.A.,Jr. 1998 Hittite Myths. Society of Biblical Literature: Writings from the Ancient World, vol. 2. Second edition. Atlanta: Scholars Press. Horowitz, W. 2005 Some Thoughts on Sumerian Star-Names and Sumerian Astronomy. Pp. 163-78 in An Experienced Scribe Who Neglects Nothing;. Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honor of facob Klein, ed. Y. Sefati et al. Bethesda: GDL Press. Hunger, H., and Pingree, D. 1999 Astral Sciences in Mesopotamia, Leiden: Brill. Jones, P 2003 Embracing Inana: Legitimation and Mediation in the Ancient Mesopotamian Sacred Marriage Hymn Iddin-Dagan A fAOS 123: 291-302. Kirk, G. S. 1970 Myth: Its Meaning and Functions in Ancient and Other Cultures. Sather Glassical Lectures 40. Los Angeles: University of Galifornia Press. Lord, A. B. 1990 Gilgamesh and Other Epics. Pp. 371-80 in Lingering over Words: Studies in Ancient
Near Eastern Literature in Honor of William L. Moran, ed. T. Abusch, J. Huehnergard, and P Steinkeller. Atlanta: Scholars Press. Michalowski, P 1998 The Unbearable Lightness of Enlil. Pp. 237-47 in Intellectual Life of the Ancient Near East: Papers Presented at the 43rd Rencontie assijriologique intematiojiale Prague, Jidy 1-5, 1996, ed. J. Prosecky. Prague: Oriental Institute. Morris, S. P 1992 Daidalos and the Origin of Greek Art Princeton: Princeton University Press. Neumann, E. 1954 The Origins and History of Consciousness. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Osborne, R. 1996 Greece in the Making, 1200-479 BC. New York: Routledge. Parker, S. B. 1997 Ugaritic Narrative Poetry. WAW 9. Atlanta: Scholars Press. Penglase, G. 1994 Greek Myths and Mesopotamia: Parallels and Infiuence in the Homeric Hymns and Hesiod New York: Routledge. Slavitt, D. R, and Bovie, P eds. 1998 Euripides, 2. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Snodgrass, A. 1980 Archaic Greece: The Age of Experiment Los Angeles: University of Galifornia Press. Soysal, O. 2003 Did a Hittite Acrobat Perform a Bull-Leaping? Vanstiphout, H. L. J. 1990 The Graftsmanship of Sin-leqi-unninni. OLP 21: 45-79. Watanabe, G. E. 2000 Mythological Associations Implied in the Assyrian Royal Bull Hunt. Pp. 1149-61 in Studi sul Vicino Oriente Antico dedicati alia memoria di Luigi Cagni, vol II, ed. Simonetta Graziani. Naple: Istituto Universitario Orientale. Watkins, G. 2001 An Indo-European Lingui.stic Area and Its Gharacteristics: Ancient Anatolia. Areal Diffusion as a Ghallenge to the Gomparative Method? Pp. 44-63 in Areal Diffusion and Genetic Inheritance: Problems in Comparative Linguistics, ed. A. Y. Aikhenvald and R. M. W. Dixon. Oxford: Oxford University Press. West, M. L. 1971 Early Greek Philosophy and the Orient Oxford: Glarendon Press.
LOVE REJECTED 1997 Tiie East Face of Helicon: We.st Asiatic Elements in Creek Poetry and Myth. Oxford: Clarendon Press. West, M. L., ed. 1966 Theogony: Edited with Prolegomena and Commentary Oxford; Clarendon Press.
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Westenholz, A., and Koch-Westenholz, U. 2000 Enkidu: The Noble Savage? Pp. 437-51 in Wisdom, Gods and Literature: Studies in Honour of W G. iMmbert, ed. A. R. George and I. L. Finkel. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
A NOT-SO-GREAT ESGAPE: GRIME AND PUNISHMENT AGGORDING TO A DOGUMENT FROM NEO-BABYLONIAN URUK Kristin Kleher (Universitat Wien) and Eckart Frahm (Yale University) ! never saw a mnn who looked With smh a wi.stfui eye Upon that little lent of blue Which prisoners tall the sky
Oscar Wilde, The Ballad of Reading Gaol
The image of a prison depends on the viewei. A citizen who believes in law and order sees it differently than an inmate. In the atieietit Near East, Sumerian poets regarded the prison as a divinely authorized institntion that would help a culprit undergo a personal transformation in order to become a useful member of societ) again. The mytliologieal composition "Nungal iu the Ekur" portrays the prison as the womb of the goddess Nungal, from whi(h the prisoner emerges reborn.' Nungal, the divine prison warden, claims; "My house is built upon pity; I am the mistress who
i. Tbe tnr>st iceent edition of tbe Niingal hymn is Attinger (2003), Earlier treatments of key passages of the text are provided by Frymer (1977) nnd Civil (1993). For tbe idea of the reborn piisoner, see especially I. 103 of the hymn: e-gn|Q Iu si s:\ mu-nn-ii-TU hi lul nui-un-te-en-te(-en) "'My house helps a truthful man to be relHirn, but annihilates the liar."" A similar concept underlies an Ass\ro-Ba!)\loni;in ro\al ritual jK'ifonned in tbe moutb of Tasritu: The king bafi to spend the rnglit fiom the seventh tcj the eigbtb day of tbe montb in a leed hut representing a pri.son, to emerge from it jiistiheH and transformed the next morning. The ritual, which is related to Bll sald^ mt\ will be edited by C. Ambos in his forthcoming monograph />r Ktinig im Gefangnis und die Alnvehr de.-i Tntnif],i'istes.
109
makes men live."^ Yet the reality of Mesopotamian prisons was far grimmer than these lofty theological justifications implied.' In the Old Babylonian letter AhB II, 83, a prison inmate who maintains his innocence writes that he is starving and sick, and calls his place of detention a hit dannatim., "house of hardship." In this article, we will edit and rliscuss a text that provides new infonnation on incarceration in first-millennitim Mesopotamia. The prison tnentioned in the text was patt of the t ultic infrastructure of the Babylonian goddess Istar; it was situated within the Eanna precinct in the city of Uruk. This san( tified environment, whi( h recalls the spirit of the Ntmgal hymn, seems to have failed, however, to make a lasting impression on 2. (^-gii[() Sa-ne-sa^ mu-iin-dii niii In t"il-til-nu'-en (Nimgal
Hymn. 1. 83). 3, On Mesopotamian pri.sons, sec Seouilaire (1989). C^asini (1990), Steinkeller (19911. Sa.ssmannsbaii.sen (2001: 176-77), and, for tbe Nfo-Balnlonian period in paitieular, Oelsner, Wells, and Wunsch (2003: 967i aiul Klelx-r (2005); .see at,so the disenssion below. On the history of tbe prison in general, see MoiTisiind Rotbman (19951. Tbe classical mcKJern stndy of the social functions of imprisonment and otber ptuiisbments is Foucnult (197,5),
.K:S ^H
110
KRISTIN KLEBER AND ECKART FRAHM
PTS 2185 Obverse
PTS2185Rever.se
A NOT-SO-GREAT ESCAPE
the prisoner whose fate the text diseloses. Instead of becoming a better man during the tiine he spent behind bais, the captive, in tr\ing to regain his freedom, committed another grave crime, one that prompted the drafting of our tablet.
The Text PTS 2185 was acqnireH on the antiquities market in the early years of the twentieth centur\. The tablet is housed in the Special Collections of the Princeton Theological Setiiinary Library, and measures 88 x 58 x 21 nini.' Its origin from the Eanna archive in Urtik can lie inferred from its contents and its affiliation with other Princeton texts that belong to the same archive. We publish the tablet with the kind pe!Tnis.sion of the director of the Oversees Collection of the Princ eton Theological Seminary, Robert Benedetto." obv. 1 SU|M-nfl-SES A-sii i,sVi' 'suum G UD 4-KAM ,sd '"SE a-ua mwsi 2 lUZj.TUR""'^" ^d nap-ta-nu m ''GASAN-.vdVm\}Q}' sa a-nat-a-ki-tn^ 3 \mi\-su-u ina sa-ar-ti is-ri-iq-ma '''AMAR, UTU-MU-DU '"za-ku-ic(/ r''A|G-'SUR' (/ 'AD-GLNA ^"GKL-qa-na-ata-an-iiu sd LUGAL \a-na '|""130l-MU ''V/('-/-;>i sd E.AN.NA id-di\ma' hif kif-lli'- E.AN.NA UD15-KAMsd"'GU4
i-sah-bat-su-ma
7 \^tak]-lak'Uwa^-^i7i-nin '"GAL-E-fci/-// i-dwku 8 '(/^ na-hal-kdt-ti ul-tu E.AN.NA is-ku-nu-ma 9 f(|/|-/(Y u-ru im-(ju-tam-ma (jah-li-sii i.'i-hi-ir HI d\r\-ka-nis ^a-mi-ra-a-' A-sii sd ^ku '.vii-w/n-''AG a-na '''S 12 '"^/P-(-;)i •«/ FJ.AN.NA ii ^"¥.N"''''-pi-(p'13 .sd E.AN.NA (V/-'/w'-(i hini-ma a^-htt-nu bi-iiiua'an-^i-m\a\ 14 nu-hal-Ut U uu-^hir-ra-am^-uia nid-dak-ka edge 15 '''30-MU u ^''EN""''pi~hin-ne-e-ti is-me-su-nut\u\/tW\ 16 'SUM-na-SES SES-.sw-jn/ a-iia hul-lul id-dimi'niS-Su-nu-t\u\/t\u\ rev. 17 u^_mu sd i-bailu-U_u ih^-lxi-^ku-iui^-.si-*ini IS a-nfl'V-'-/'''''""EN.MESpii-f/|('-ne'l-'( 19 i-huim-di-nu-u.s'^ ki-U la i^-tah-ku-hiu 12 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
4, While the obverse of the Inhlel is rather well preserved, its reverse is badly tlamajjed and ditfieiilt to copy; renewed collation mif^ht result in better readinjis. 5. K. Kleber read and copied PTS 2185 in April 2tK)6 durjujj a stay at the Seminary funded by the Gerda-Henkel-Stiitunn (Diisscldorfl. In Jiuic, K. Trahm collated the tablet, especially its badly damaged reverse, and prepared the hniil rupv. Fnihm wrote Ihe inlroduetion and most of the pbilolojiital (ommentary, while Kleber i.s respousible lor tbe general remarks on the te\l. The edition and translation are a joint effort. We owe many thanks to M. Jursj wbo, a.s always, helped with useful sugge.stions and criticism. Klebers part of the article was written under the niispices of the START project "Eeoiiomic Hi.story of Babylonia in the First Milleiiiiiuin HC'," funded b\' the Fonds /ur Fiirdenmn der Wissenschal'tticben Forschunn (Vienna) under tbe direction of Prof, Jursa. Our special thanks are due tct Kennelh ilenke, who helped make our stay in Print eton botb prodm tive and enjoyable.
111
El.fAN'.NA i-nam-di-hui^ DIS-CM [Sd-ni\-i ^"niukiuuu ^ha\-Ua-tii^ A-sti '-s'd' ^su-Ua-a A \'Ba!assu\ 'A-.vu fid ''"AMAR.UTU-'MU-DU AI 'DU-e,s-DINGIR I'.. ,l-'x A-su scV 'SES.MES-'e-o A' 'DILI-SUR ['.. .1-fx' A-su '.sd' 'x-'x-x-x(-x)' A "x-x(-x)' I'.. .l-'x' A-su ' ,s-d' 'Nl'CDU '"A-(/-i taO LUGAL r...|-'x"i A-.s-(/ ,sd "MU'-GIN ''".vn-.sd-nn LUGAL I'...l-'x' A-su sd '"'AG-PAB' A ""SANGA-
28
['/Va/»V/wj)/j-'SES' A-sii sd '"'AGA'''30-TI-iER' 29 I'...I 'x' A-su sd "ARAD-''m'-?in) A '''AGSES,'ME-T1N-//' 30 |"I71-JH1M-|MU|-'UR11 A-.S'(/ I,SV/' ' D U M U - " ' E N dan- A' '''AG-',sar-/j/i-|DIN|GIH.ME 31 '"UMBISAG ""'AG-Din-|SESi 'A'-,s(i sd
edge 32 UNUG"^' '"GU4 UD 20 1 LAL-KAM MU '34'KAM 33 ''AG-NIGDU-URl LUGAL TIN.TIR"'
112
KRISTIN KLEBER AND ECKART FRAHM
'•^During the night of the 4th da\ of Addaru (XII), Nadin-ahi, son of S(/m-Nabn, stole with criminal intent a duck from the saoied meal of the Lacly-of-Uruk, which had been taken to the Akitn house. '^"**Marduk-sumu-ihTii, the zazakkn-o^ciii\, Nabu-etir and Abu-ukin, the royal rah qaunatiofiicials., gave him (Nadin-ahi) to |Sln|-^icldiii, the resident {(jipu) of Eanna, .so that he would detain him \in the] prison of the Eanna temple. "-"On the 15th day of A\-\ aru (II), he (Niidin-ahi) killed Taklak-ana-lnnin.. the prison warden, and tried to climb out of the Eanna (precinct), but fell from the roof and broke his hip. '""'^Afterwards, Amira^. son of Kurbanni, and Mannu-aki-NabCi, son of S(/m-Nabu, spoke to Sin-iddin, the resident of Eanna, and to tbe l?il' piqitti-oHicvAs of Eanna as follows: "Give us our brother. We will restore his health, then charge (him with bis crime) and give (him back) to you." '•'^"*Sin-iddin and the bsl-piijitti-ofhcmh listened to them (and) gave them their brother Nadin-ahi, so they could restore his health. ''''^"On the day when his health is restored, they will bring him (back) and give him to the resident and the /.j^/'/j/c/iY/Z-officials. If they do not bring him, they must pay 12 uiinas of silver to the Eanna. One (brother) guarantees for the otber. "'IWitnesses): Balatu, son of Sulaya, descendant of Arad'..., ""|Balassu|, son of Marduk-sumu-ibni, descendant of Eppes-ili, "[.. .| ..., son of Ahhe^a, descendant of Edu-etir. "^|...] son of descendant of ..., -''I..]..., son of Kudurru, royal reservist, "*'|...] ..., son of SH?/((/-ukin, royal susdnu, ''[.. .| ..., son of Nabu-n3sir, descendant of SangiiIstar-Babili, ^'^[Nabu-bani|-ahi, son of Nabu-balassu-iqbi, de.scendant of Sin-leqi-unninni, "''1.. .| ...., son of Arad-lnnin, descendant of Nabu-ahheuballit, ^'Innin-[.sumu|-usur, .son of Mar-Bel-dan, descendant of Nahu-sarhi-ili. ^'Scribe: Nab{i-bani-|ahi|, son of Arad-Nabfi, de.scendant of Sahit-gine. ^2-^Umk, 19th day of Ayyaru (II), 34th year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Philological Commentary 1. The first three lines of the tablet were already published by Beaulieu (2003: 167-68). Beaulieu
assumes tbat su-uiu in \su-uin''\\Cj is a phonetic spelling of the logogiam SUM = nadCinu. and reads the name Iddin-Nabu. This interpretation is not completely implausible, but such a spelling would be virtually unique in Neo- and Late-Babvlonian onomastics. It seems more probable to assume that the first element of the name is West Semitic and may represent the Semitic word for "name."'' Tbe fact that no ancestors name is given for Nadinahi indicates that he did not belong to one of the leading families of Uruk. 2. Beaulieu (2003: 121) has shown that tbe name Beltu-sa-Uruk was functionally equivalent with that of Istar of Uruk in tirst-millennium Uruk theology." The Akitu hou.se of Istar was situated outside Uruk, at a distan{ e of about three hundred meters northeast of tbe city wali."* 3, Besides \na\-su-u, "was taken," a re.storation of \is\-iiu-u, "(which) be took," could be considered as well. Because of Nadin-ahis apparently modest family background, not compatible with someone who would hold a significant cultic position and deliver sacred meals, it is, however, unlikely that he brought the duck to the Akitu hou.se bim.self. Tbe writing ^"za-ku-ku must be a misspelling of ^"za-za{k]'ku. The scribe may have bad in mind that one syllable of tbe word occurred twice, but he mistakenly chose to repeat the last syllable in.stead of the first.'' On the duties of the zazakkuofficial, and the individuals who held tbis office, see Dandamaev 1994 and tbe discussion l)elow. Marduk-sumu-ibni is otherwise uuknowii.
6. See Zadok (1977: 65-66), wild other cxamplrs t'lir the name type S»»i-DN. There is a problem wilh this inlerpretu* tioii as well: In contrast to Ani(>riteniu ina i>it akfti ana stihti ^"uqarral) put massarti .sa bit akfti ua.si ^'aklu u mkarii ana siii>li iifanah '~it kiirintitiialii so atuli PN2 ik\kai\ "PNl (the administrator of Eannal appointed 1*N2 (tbe cousin of the former gatekeeper) for the watrb and tbe prebendary duty of gatekeeper in the .-\kitu Imuse. ih- will offer the siKritifial meal on the altar. lie will bear tbe responsibihty for tbe watcb in the Akitu botise. PN2 will partake of tbe bread and beer offered on the altar, and of the ratiotis of the gatekeepers prebend." 23. Fordiseussion and ;i collection of eases,see San Nicolo (1932). 24. Another tbeft of Huck.s is recortlecl in a doi ument piihlisbed by Figulla (1951). in tbis eii.se. laborers working on a canal bad killed two living diieks from a potilti\' yard of tbe temple for later consumption. Tbe tine imjjosed on tbem was to supply sixty clucks. 25. YOS 7, 42 I20.1V5 Cyr) and YOS 7 78 (17.1.8 Cyr). edited by San Nicolo (1933). 26. YOS 7, 20; YOS 7, 170: YOS 15. 10 (to bnati, and then refers, in broken context, to a prison warden, A similar case is reported in NBG 4575; A rab qannati takes sheep ina piski, i.e., as a tine for a previous w rongdoing of someone else. YOS 19, 93 tnentions a rab qannati of the oblates {sirku), and in YOS 17,359, the rah qanndti Nergal-tisallim/Nabu-sumu-ibni grants the release of a washer on bail, Obviouslv, the rub qannati had something to do with criminals and their punishment. Our text adds to the evidence, but does not clarify the exact nature of this offi(e. It is interesting to note that Nadin-ahi v\as initially in the hands of royal officials, most likely because the severity of his crime touched upon the interests of the state. Then he was handed over to the temple for imprisonment, A parallel to this sequence can be found in YOS 7, 106, wbere the \ice-governor of the Sealand isanfi) transfers responsibility over a detainee in the prison of the Lady-of-Uruk to the satammu of Eanna, It has been argued tbat tbere were no prison sentences as such in the ancient Near East,"'' but there are indications that long-tenii imprisonment existed,^" We cannot decide whether Nadin-ahi was sentenced to a prison term or a high fine that he was unable to pay, whereupon he was incarcerated and forced to work otf his debt. It is also possible that his case had been pending and that a new "round" of investigations or court proceedings was still to come.
for tbe execution of Ihc dciith pfn;ilt\ for (hefts from inner parts of tbe temple in documents from Inter periods. Astronomical diaries imd i\ cbronicle from Ihe Hellenistic }K-riod list instances of sacrilegious crimes, mostly tbelts (perhaps once sorcery), and report that the accused were imprisoned and tortured, and if convicted punished hy burning. .\ gokl.smith who had not confessed died in pri.son, and hi.s body was burnt afterward.s. Tbe relevant materiul is collected and discussed by Joiiiines (2000). Tbe lack ()f evidence from tbe NeoBahyhmian pcriiKi makes il, unfodunately, diHicult lo judge v\ hether .such puni.shments were a continuation of a l<mgstanding practice or a revival of some older procedures Ibat bad fallen out of use.
29. San Nicolo (194,5: 1-2). Imprisonment can usualK- be explained as detention for investigation (lor example in YOS 3. 96) or debt-related confinement (YOS (i. 219), But see Wells (in Oelsner, Wells, and Wun.sch 2003: 967j, who does not exclude thai prisons were used for punishment. 30. Nadin-a^i had been imprisoned for two and a bail' months when he tried to escape. Incarcenition over a period of eight months is attested in tbe dossier concerning lnninzf-ru-ihni/lna-te,si-etir(7'CL13, 154,YOS7. l,'")2,anilYOS7, 146). wbi(li will be treated elsewbere by K. Kleher. These long periods point to the existence of prison sentences. The Old Babylonian letter CT 2, 19 iAhB II. 83) seems to refer to detention as punishment as well. Note, in addition, that Nabusumu-ukin, a son of Nebuchadnezzar II who may have been identical witb the later king Amil-Marduk, indicates, in a prayer to Marduk (Finkel 1999). that he was incareeiated by his father for a considerable amount of liTne. Yet tbe treatment fif political ])ri.soners was certainly quite different from tbat of common criminal.s.
28. For the office of the zazakku in general, and the first three office-holders, see Dandamaev (1994). Remut's part in fbe gathering (»f tbe cult .statues in Babylon in face of tbe Persian tbreat in 17 Nbn is cle.scribed by BeauMeu 1993. The zazakku Ina-Ese^a witne.s.se.s the installment of prebendaries, .see Sim Nirolo (1935, 27). See also MacGinnis (1996).
A NOT-SO-GREAT ESCAPE
The Homicide Neo-Babylonian jiidit iai documents concerning crimes that go beyond property matters are rare. They inclnde onl\' ii few texts that record a \erdi( t. There are several tablets that document testimonies of witnesses in the process of litigation, but tbe major disadvantage with these texts is tbat one cannot tell whether the accusations recorded were actually ])rovcn or whether they would bave been dismissed in the (mostl\' unknown) outcome of the case. PTS 2185 provides an tinusual amount of f;K tual information. Nadin-ahi had twice been caught redhanded. Hence we can be sure tbat we are dealing witb a theft, an attempted flight, and a homicide that actuallv took place. There aie two otber lateBab\Ionian judicial documents tbat deal with accusations of homicide: BM 46660" und Nbk 365. In botb (ase.s, the accusers still ha\e to prove the guilt of the accused party. In YBC 6932, GimilluAnnin-sumu-ibni, the rent farmer of Eanna. is accused of having hired an assassin.'- The intended victim, Shi-sarru-u.sur. tbe royal commissioner of tbe temple, is still alive after the hearing—the assassination had obviously not been carried out. The penalt>' for bomic ide in the Neo-Babylonian period is unknown.^' In BM 46660 and Nbk 365, a compensatory payment {)iapsati PN salamu) is claimed. Nbk 365 indicates tbat an intervention of the court was not obligatory if tlie accuser was able to prove the homicide, and tbe accused agreed to pay the compensation,^^ In the ca.se of the death of an Eanna official, however, the assembly of
31. KdiU'd by VVuns.'h (2002). 32. The tablet has been edited by Jnrsa (2004). .\ siniikir case, which took pliice in C-irak. is dwnmented in the letter NCBT 59. to be piiblisherl by E. Frahm and M. Jiirsii in ;i forth( oniin^j YOS vdliinie. 33. On hciniiciiie in eai lier |)ri icnis ol' tlu- iiiicicnt Nmr F.^asl and in the law coll eel inns, sec Alstt-r (1993-1997) and the relevant entries in Westbrook (2(K)3). 34. Nhk 365; .V7; tlinii sa tiatlika so dikii itiiya la tadahhuh anUku napsdti sa it sibitti) of Eanna served as a prison of the temple. The pahu'e had its own pri.son. Creditors could hold dehtors or mcmhers of (heir fiimilics in private detention. See Oclsner, Wells, and Wunsch (200.3: 967). 43, The Old Babylonian letter CT2, 19 {AbB II, 83), quoted at the beginning of tbis aillrle, ilbistnites the hardships some prisoners experienced, BIN 1, 36 and 49 are letters of imprisoned UiTikeans who report to be in shackles. 44, YOS 3. 96, NBC 4732 refers to women conhned in a private house.
tbis official.'*^ Prisoners were also engaged in otber manual work for tbe temple, sometimes outside tbe prison itself, as in YOS 1,11 (the kings stable) or YOS 17, 343, where a detained person (1 ^"sabtu) and several leather workers receive barley. Most likely, tbis captive was put to work in tbe leatber industry. It is unclear wbetber convicts were chained while staying in the pri.son, but they probably were wben being allowed outside. Bail protocols sometimes emphasize tbe return of the shackles together with the (tcmporarilv) released delinquent,""' The prison {bit klli) of Eanna was apparently built of mudbrick, otherwise the men mentioned in YOS 7,97 could not have hoped to cut a breach into its walls by means of a small tool. In PTS 2185, Nadin-ahi scales a wall of the temple precinct but falls from tbe roof. He probably tried to cross one of tbe enclosure walls of Eanna, whicb were casemate walls with a row of roofed rooms, A royal .storehouse isutummu) in Eanna is mentioned in YOS 7, 88 as a place where an oblate isirku) is kept in fetters. Text 22 in Jursa 1997 (13.1.18 Nbk) refers to a delivery of five sutu of dates to sirkus wbo are detained in the bit kare C"si-rak sab-tu-tu sa ina E CUR7,MES). Only tbree days later, on the 16tb of Nisannu, the same amount is given to "confined workers'" (ERIN.ME sab-tu-u). without specification of the locality,"'' Cimiilu/Ardia, an official who was responsible for the preparation of rations of processed foodstuffs for workers, especially date-beer, .sometimes received grain to be ground into flour, perbaps again in the bit kare. In GC 1,219, iron fetters are handed over to him. It has been argued tbat tbe bit AY;n" was a (enter for the production of goods, including tbe foodstuffs that were consumed by tbe temple workforce, like beer, flour, and bread (Kleber 2005: 309-10). It is not clear where tbe bit kare was located, only that it was separated from the Eanna archive and the
4.5, See Kleber (2005: 293-94). and the prosopographv of the prison governors given below. 46. YOS 19,66. BM 114441. NCBT 524, 47, GCl, 16 (6,1.18 Nbk).
A NOT-SO-GREAT ESCAPE cetilral storeroom.s. It could liavf.' been one of the courtyards within the walled temple precinct, or .situated somewhere else in town, It is possible that Hour was ground in two places, in the bit kare and in the bit klli, or. that the bit kili was part of the bit kare ox situated nearby within the enclosure walls of Eanna. The hit karevo\\\d have Ix'en it wot king pla(e from whete tlie prisoners returned to the bit kili at night. But the bail protocol NCBT 524, which states that a sick delinquent is kept in fetters in the bit kare, speaks in favor of a pemianent detention there. The release of debtors or criminals when someone served as a surety was rather common. It allowed that person to generate lesources to pay off debts or fines. Iu PTS 2185, the reason
119
for Nadin-ahis temporary release is his injur>; BM 114441 and NCBT 524 are other examples of guatantees for sick prisoners, Su< h arrangements were in agreement witb tbe interests of the institutions that kept the prisoners. They did not want the prisoners to die, but they were also not interested in feeding them when they v\ere too sick to work. Jttst as iti ottr document, guarantors often were relatives. Social control and the liability of the famiK were supposed to deter the accttsed from fleeing. If the guarantor failed to produce the convict when summoned, he was made liable for the debt, or. in case of ( riminals waiting for their trial, had to pay a significant fine.
Table 1, Prosopography of Prison Wardens {rab bit kili) Known from the Eanna Archive. in orTicc name (Amel-Nanilya) 13.1,3? possibly rab bit kili INplI INpIl Amurnt-|x| 11- 1.9 Npl Nabt't-ahu-iddin 2I.VI2Nbk |Tak|lak-ana-Innin? -15,I[.34 Nbk KudurrSmt/Nergal- iaiX.34^'iddin 30.Y37 Nbk
NCBT 1032 GC2, 19 NCBT 906 GC 2, 60 YBC 9657 PTS 2185 NCBT 1023
date 13,1.3? |NpI| ll.XII.8Npl not dated IM 1-9 Npl 21,V12Nbk 19.11.34 Nbk 19.IX.34 Nbk
lille con lex I flour flotu' flour ibk flour ibk barle\ ibk is killed rbk barley for flour
GC1,89 NCBT 822
29,IX.36 Nbk 28.X.36 Nbk
-
Uxt
PTS 2142 GC 1,120 GC 1,156 Ina-,siIIi-Nergal
GCU91 2O.VII,38 Nbk- EHE 458"*' LVIILl Ami c:c 1.160 NCBT 708
flotu" flour (with his son Innin-sumu-itsur) 17.XII.36 Nbk flour 8.1,37 Nbk ibk flour 30,V37 Nbk rbk floui' ll-H.Xl.30-f||Nbk floui" (with his sou) 20-fj |,VII,38Nbk rb\k\ flour 13.VIL39Nbk rbk barley 16.ll'(?).40Nbk flour
48. This cnrrects Kleber (2tK)5: 293), where, hased on ;in errnncdus notiitimi of the ve:ir in GC 1, 91. lii.s period in given as 31 lo 37 Nbk. 49. Emended, the copy hiis "'(ii(7-frissii-''l5.
120
KRISTIN KLEBER AND ECKART FRAHM
NCBT 2336 AUWE 5, 1 GC 1,137 PTS 2956 GC 1,147 NCBT 123 NCHT136 NCBT 128 GC 1,106*
21.V40Nbk 21.11.40 Nbk 7.V11.40 Nbk 2.VIII. 40 Nbk 17.IX.40 Nbk l.X,40 Nbk 7.X.40 Nbk 9.X.40 Nbk 15.XI.40 Nbk
rbk -
CC 1, 105 NCBT 811 CC 1,203 GC 2,149 CC 1,150 CC 1,158 AUWE 5,154
30.Xl.40 Nbk 12.XII.40 Nbk 7.1.41 Nbk 10.V41 Nbk 11.IX.42 Nbk \0+ X .11.43 Nbk l.VIlI.l Ami
rbk
2.
INbk l.XI.[| 8.VI1.3Nbn 21.XI.7Nbn 1.1X.9 Nbn 8.10.9 Nbn [1,10.9 Nbn tiot dated (letter) 15.1.11[+l Nbn
-
201,14 Nbn
'
bread Hour flonr barlev for Hour flour flour flour Hour barlev a-na ma-'dak-ii '"*/jirt-*gi|.ssu -''u.gur flour flour floui" from prison flour flour barlev for flour receives wool for a KUR.ra-garnient flour flour flour barley flour flour flour barlev for grinditig flour silver as ration for vear 11 Nbn responsible for prisoner
1O.V1II.15 Nbn 15.IX.15 Nbn 25.x. 15 Nbn 19.1X.0aCam
rbk rbk rbk rhk
receives iron fetters retitrns iion fetters delivers baskets prison revolt
rbk
flour rations
Istar'-resu^a
15.I.ll[-H|Nbn
GC 1,151 NCBT 965 SCI YOS 19,157 CC 1, 263 CC 1,401 CC I, 300 YOS 3,113 GC 1,318
Nanava-idflin/ At ad-Nan a va
(20.1. 14 Nbn)
YOS 6,149
Kttlbibti
8.V1I.38.10.9 Nbn
10.Vin.15 Nbn- YOS 19, 296 25X15 Nbn AnOr 8, 36 YOS 6, 237 Nanav a-ahti-iddin/ 19.IX.0a Kam YOS 7, 97 Arad-Nabu TEBR 56 2.Vni.5 Cam AnOr 9, 9; 14 Nanava-eres
!
2.VIII.5 Cam
rbk rbk
rbk
A NOT-SO-GREAT ESCAPE
121
RefereiK'es Alstt r, B. 1993- Moid. .\. In Mesopotamien, RlA 8; 377-82. 1997 Attinger, R 2003 i;Hyninc a Nungal. Pp. 15-34 in IJteratur Politik uncl Recht in Meso}«}tamii'n, Festschrift fiir Claus Wilcke, ed. W. Sallaberger et al. Wiesbaden: ilarrassowitz. Beaulieu, P.-A. 1993 An Episode in the Fall of Babylon to the Persian.s.;iV£S 52: 241-61. 2003 The Pantheon of Uruk Duviiin, fhe NcoBabylonian Periwl CM 23. Leiden: Brill. Casini, M. 1990 "Carcere" nella terminologia accadica. Egitto e ViciiioOriente ]-:i: 127-34. Civil, M. 1993 On Mesopotamian Jail.s and Their Lady Warden. Pp. 72-78 in The Tablet and the Scroll: Near Eastern Studies in Honor of William W. Hallo, efop/i(ab) if}-i]u-nt = a[Kbi ti-ai>iat] 3 u ''qhr^ti sii-ti = aiihi = "'Tel>eiu{i\h} ^ lanitti'{(ih.[y,\} li-atnat... 2 they advanced against Marduk, they assembled in the region of Tebftu ('"abi; |tbe Fnthers| {a\b'-hi\] meitiis Tiamatl 3 and Qingu; Ihe Fathers (ab-bi) is the same us Teb?tu ("ab), wbifb i.s the same as tbe Sea (ab.ba) jmeitningi Tiftmat... s. dazu iinten B 3 d. 10. s. dazu IU'\nnote, setzt F Reynolds den in BM 55466+ uud BM 35188+ vortindlichen Monatstiamen Tappattu mit dem 10. balnlonischen Monat Tebetu gleich (Reynolds 1999: 372 n. 1), Aber: Ein Beweis fc-'hlt Es gibt nicht einmal den Hinweis auf B. Landsbcrget\ der als erster die Gleichung Tappattu = Tebetu erstellt hatte (Landsberger 1923: 43 = 69-70). Dagegen ist der Verweis auf ,.the nomen tappattn"' mit der Bedeutung ..female friend, female colleague"^^—wohl in Anspielung auf Tiilmat—im vorliegetideu Zusammenhang wettlos, Denn (s. dazu auch oben A 3); • es gab keinen Tebetu genannten Bereic h am babylonischen Nachthitnmel (s. oben B 2 b); • astronomisch beditigte Datierutig war, wie z.B, die A.stronomical Diaries zeigen, der Schaltung des babylotiischeti Kalcndcrs und— seit der Seleukiden-Ara—dem Uruk-Schetna uiiterwoifenr^ • Wintersolstiz und Ninurtas .Aufgang" Helen in 13 SA It. Uruk-Schema in den 9. babylonischen Monat Kislimu (s. oben B 3 c);
26 ud 17"'"" (nakiu,sigi 26 17'. I Tag 'am Nachmittag'. Auf Grund des Ablaufs der bis dahin berichteten Vorkomrnnisse imd dank des Urtik-Schernas ist fiir 13 SA (s. oben B 3 a) dieser ..17, Tag" kaleudarisch gesichert zu bestimmen: Kislimu 17. womit zeitgleich das Wintersolstiz zusammeufiel, das— wiederum It, rev. 26—nac hmittags tnit einem ,.Mnsikfest" (ezen nam,narj begangen wurde (s. dazu wiederum oben A 2). Der scheinbare akronychische Aufgang des Sirius fand datin 5 Tage nach Kislimu 17 = Kislitnu 22 statt.-""
22, S. dimi Sarlis und Hunger (1988, I: no. -277 |332|); Rochberg (1998: ()n;s. auch Koch (2004: 109-10), 23, S. dazu z. B. R(ichbei>;-Halton (1988; 51-.'55|. 24, S. Sachs (1952; 109). Fublikation von F. Reynolds bibliographisch nicht beriickskhtigt. Naturlich waren die Daten des Uruk-S(hema.s ideale Kalenderdaten, da sie nun einmal Daten eines Schemas waren, Aber es waren Daten, die die Datierung des babylonischen n'al existif>i< nden Kalenders
bestimniten. Die Ashvtwinical Diaries lassen vcnnuten. dafe diese IHealdaten wcnigstens sponuli.scli mit dfn Ergcbnissen der I linnnelstjeohaclitung vcrglichen w urdcu, s. z, B. Ditirit'S 1, no, -281 obv, 12' und rev. 1, Tatsiidilich waren Winl( rsolstiz und scheinbarer akronvchischer Aufgung des Sirius in 13 SA auch bei berechneter astronomischer Datiening in den 9, babylonischen Monat Kislimu = '^^tajyjxit-iu^ gefallen. wie folgender Vergleicli zeigt; llniksrhema Wintersoistiz SA 13 Kisllmn 17 = 28. Dozember 299 v. Chi. Scheinbarcr akrmiyc hischer Anlgang (,.Opposition") des Sirius SA 13 Kislimu 22 = 2. .lanuar 298 v. Chr. Berechnete Dalierunfsen Wintcnolstiz. 25. Df'zember299v.C:br, Scheinbarer akronychi.M'her Aufgang (..Opposition") des Sirius 29./30. De/.cmber 299 V. C:hr Qiifllcn; Sachs (1952; 109. Tabcllc]: Parker with Dubberslrin (1956: 37,Tabcllc);Tn(kcrnum (1962; 1S4); Baehr (1935; E 10. Tabelle), 25, Reynolds (1999: 372 n, I), tapjxittu hatte auRerdem ncx h die Bedeutung ,.Nebenfrau," s. z. B. AHw 132! a. 26, S, oben n. 24.
130
JOHANNES KOCH
• BM 55466-f rev. 1 und 2 gehorten thematisch zusammen, was die Monatsangabe '^'tap-patU4 .sowohl am Zeilenanfang von rev. 1 als auch am Zeilenende von rev. 2 unterstreicht (s. dazu oben B 1 c); • BM 55466+fBU 35188-^ rev. 2-3 bandelte von Unternehmungen in gleicher Sache in aufeinanderfblgenden Monaten (s. dazu auch unten B 4 c); • tertium comparationis in BM 55466-H obv. 33 waren die Astronomika, welche die tjberlieferung BM 5.5466-t- obv, 24-33 beherrschen, nicht—wie etwa in KAV 218—Monat und Gegen monat ^'
14 (Aber auch) gud und girtab (sind) 'ver'eint. Dies (weil): |,,.] 15 gir entspricht Skorpion entspricht gir als Stier (und) nochmals als '^St^'ier Eine Gleichsetzung der Sternbilder Stier (gud) und Skorpion (gir.tab) nach F, Reynolds: ,,the same as..,'", ware astronomisch ein Unding. Nirgendwo in der assyrisch-baby Ion iscben Tradition findet sich denn auch eine derartige Behauptung, Umgekehrt gab es aber sebr wohl die astrologisehe Entsprechung beider Sternbilder MUL.APIN I iii 13 notiert: 13 dis mul.miil kur-n^a ""''gir.tab su-/)/
BM 55466-H obv, 33, rev, 1-3. 25-26 und UrukSchema ergeben in summa; '^^tap-pa-tu^ = 9. babylonischer Monat Kislimu (s. auch Koch 2004: ! §3). 4. Deutung a) F. Reynolds transliteriert und tibersetzt BM 55466-^/BM35188+rev.3; 3
ab-bi =
3
the Fathers {ab-bi) is the same as Tebetu {'*'ab), wbich is the same as the Sea (ab.ba) (meaning] Tiamat.
ti-amat
13 mul,mul geht auf und "'"'gir.tab gebt unter. Astrologisehe Entspret hung von Stier und Skorpion bestand somit bei zeitgleichem taglichen Auf- bzw. Untergang. Daft MUL.APIN dabei von den mul,mul = ,,Die Sterne" = r| Tauri (Plejaden) spricht, ist kein Gegengrund, da die mul.mul des babylonischen Fixsternhimmels als ,,Borste" {zappu) des Stiers (gud = '""'gu4.an.na) immer auch als pars pro toto begriffen wurden (s. dazu auch Koch 2004: 116-17, §6.1| BM 55466+ rev. 8 ist folglich zu iibersetzen: 3
F, Reynolds versteht also die einzelnen Glieder der Gleichung in rev. 3 als Gleichsetzungen (..the same as ,.. ), Aber: Die Gleichung in rev, 3 bestand aus Analogien.~^ Analogie aber meinte in der Astrallehre des antiken Mesopotamien astrologisehe Ent.spreeliung. Das beweist sogar BM 55466-*- selbst, allerdings erst in rev. 14-15, doch dort von F. Reynolds nicht berucksichtigt; 14 gud u gir.tab HP ten su-u \.. .| 15 gir : zu-qa-qi-pu : gir lu-u : min ^al •'^pi 27. Anders J. Oelsner, Brief vnm 16.11,2005. 28. Zum Analogiednnken dps iintiken Mesopotamien und Versuchen, iiber diese ,Denki'orm" binwegzukommeii, s. den instniktiven Beitragvon HeeSel (2005; 1-22).
Altvordern entspricht Tebetu entspricht Metier ? (was sich auf Tiamat (bezieht)].
b) F, Reynolds macht das Sternbild '""'mas samt Gleichung: '""'s«/iun7iasH(mas) ^ Tiamat = Tebetu zum Zentnun ihrer Deutung (Reynolds 1999: 372). Den Bezug zxxm 10, babyloniscben Monat Jf'hetu stellt sie mit Hilfe von MUL.APIN I iii 7-9, einer Morgenerst-Datierung, in Verbindung mit MUL.APIN I iv 36 aus der Sternenliste des sogen. ,,Mondpfads" (kaskal ''.vi/i) her (Reynolds 1999: 371). Aber: Sie lafit dabei unerwabnt, daR sich in MUL.APIN I iii 7-9 zwar das .,,ideal date of heliacal rising" (Reynolds 1999: 371) des Schwalbe-Sternbilds (" 'sim.mah) fiir Tebetu notiert findet, nicht dagegen das des '""'.su/iurmasu. Uberhaupt kommt ""^^suhurmasu als Ge-
NEUES VOM ASTRALMYTHOLOGISCHEN BERICHT BM 55466stimsname im gesamten Compendium MUL.AP1N nur zweimal vor: I ii 34 und I iv 36. Aucb die Astronomical Diaries wufeten lediglich von Einzelsternen, deu .sogen, ,,Normalslernen" de.s Goat-fi.shs: p, 7, 5 und—in allerdings nur Ausnahmefallen—T Capricorni.^^ (') Hichtig ist, daft die Dutierungen der Stembilder im a.stronomistheri Kompendium MUL, APIN ^ideal date{s)" darstellten (Reynolds 1999: 371). Vermutlich stuft F. Reynolds auch deshalb BM 55466-(- mit Dnplikat BM 35188+ als .calendar" ein (Reynolds 1999: 369, 372 und 377). Aber: Es geht in letzteren Texten nicht um Kalendari.sches, sondem um im Jahresverlauf 13 SA astralmythologisch genutztes, astronomisch-astrologisch verwertetes und kultisch vollzogenes Geschehen: • es giht die Uberlieferung von durchgeftihrten Riten: obv. 24 und 28; rev. 1-2; • es gibt mit obv. 25-27 die Uberlieferung und Scbilderung historisch fixierbar astronomi.scher Ereignisse;'^" • In der SA regulierte das Uruk-Schema Datierung und Schaltung des Kalenderjahres (s, dazu oben B 3 c mit n. 52), d) F. Reynolds versteht die in BM 55466-1rev. 1-4 und Duplikat BM 35188+ bericbteten Unternehmungen und Ereignisse als nacb Ort und Zeit identisches Geschehen:^' 1. In Tebetu (^''tap-pat-tti^}, when he performed these rituals, wben [.. .| 2. they advanced against Marduk, they assembled in the region of Tebetu ('"ab); [the Fathers] {a.\b'-hi]) means |Tiamat] 29, s, tUizu Sachs und Hunger (1998,1; 18-19 mit 1. no. 291. Comments: B rev. 15). 30, s, auch oben A 1; s. auRmtcm Ko(b (2(H)4: 110-13, 4 mit 5a2). 31, Reynolds (1999: 370-71:al.sTr:mslitt'r;ilion dieni i370|): 1 iria "'taj)-j>at-tU4 M nc-jK'-su aii-mi-iii ipus'idu)"'' ina lih-hi M \x\\x \ \] 2 ana iimh-hi ''Hi«r(/i(/f(amar.utiii (//(^•»(gen)'" iiut iiaii-qcir ""/(•'/«'/((lib) ip-hu-ru = a\b-hi ti-a»ial\ 3 Ii 'V/t»-gu .iicij = 'ab-bi' = "^tehght{ab) = f«mhi'(ab-ba) ti-amat 4 '""^ siihunuasl[m!\s} li-aiiiat jiu-uhri sattii^ ki-i i\z-z\i'-z\u'' X {x)| ifal-tU4
131
3. and Qingu; the Fathers (ab-fn) is the same as Tebetu ('"ab). which is the same as the Sea (ab.ba) |meaning| Tiflmat. In the region 4. of the Goat-Fish Con.stellation, when Tiamat of the army |stood| to do battle ... Aber: BM 55466+ und BM 35188+ bandelten hier von nach Ort und Zeit g,etrennten Vorgangen: • eine ,,regioTi of Tebetu ('"ab)" an Babylons Nachthimmel gab es nicht (s. oben B 2 b); • BM 55466+ rev. 2 hatte als Monatsangabe am Zeilenende nicht Tebetu ('"ab), sondern Iibereinstimmend mit Zeiienbeginn BM 55466+ rev. 1: "'tap-pat-tu^ (s, oben B 3 d); • '^'tap-pat-tu^ tind '"ab (TebPtu) waren nicht identische, sondern aufeinanderfolgende Monate (s. oben B 3d); • BM 55466+ rev, 4; ina qaq-qar "'"^mis Ti-amat pu'ulyri, bezog sich nicht auf das Stornbild "'"'mas, sondern auf den dem 10. babylonischen Monat Tebetu zugeordneten Ekliptikahscbnitt '""'m^s des babylonischen Zodiaks (s. oben B 1 d). Dies fiihrt zu folgenden Ubersetzungsvarianten: 1. Im Tappattu, wo er diesen Ritus durchfii'hrte' [angesichts dessen,dafe .. .| 2. (BM 55466+) Zu Marduk-Amar-Utu gingen sie in den Tagen des 'Tap'p|attu, fanden sich (doch) die [Altvordern] |Tiamat| 3. (BM 35188+) Zu Marduk-Su gingen sie in den Tagen des Tebetu, fanden sicb (doch) die |Altvordernl |Tiamat] 4. und O'^K"-' ein. Dies (weil): Altvordern entspricht Tebetu entspricbt Mejer'(was sicb auf Tiamat (bezieht)|. Im Bereich 5. des Zodiakzeichens mas, (es vertritt) die Ratsversammlungs-Tiamat, zum Kampf w'ie'' ,.. e) F. Reynolds gebraucht—animiert von den sogen, .Zeichenlisten'?'"—Mardnks Titel ''AniarUtu und ''Su unterschiedslos (s. oben B 1 b,), Aber; Ubersehen bleibt so. daft BM 55466+ bereits in obv. 13 Marduk als den ''Amar-Utu einfiihrte.
32. So iiiich .1. Oclsncr. Brief vom 10.11.2005.
132
JOHANNES KOCH
weil der Gott die WafTe a-bu-bu einsetzt. Und BM 55466+ rev. 23-28 lebrt, da£ diese Waffe a-bu-bu den Feind in Scbrecken versetzt, wenn Ninurta, d. i, wenn dessen stellarer Vertreter Sirins scbeinbar akronycbiscb aufgebt (s. oben B 3 c). Scbeinbarer akronycbiscber Aufgang eines Stems findet aber in der Abenddiimmerung statt (s. dazn z. B. Weigert und Zimmermann 1974: 36 b). Es war somit nur konsequent, wenn BM 55466+ immer nur von Marduk als dem ''Amar-Utu, d. i. als dem in der Tagesdiimmerung in Jupiter begegnenden Gott spracb, nie dagegen von Marduk als dem ''Su. Wenn scbon einmal ein anderer Tite! fiir Marduk Verwendung fand, dann ''En: BM 55466+ rev. 25 und 27. Umgekebrt konnte dann freilicb aucb in der Parallelstelle des Duplikats BM 35188+ die Abkebr von ''Amar-Utu zugunsten ''Sus kein Zufall gewesen sein. Sollte es sicb jetzt um den kulminierenden Hypsoma-fitpitergehandeh baben?^'^
ubersetznngsbedingt, verlangen nat b Analyse und Diskussion. LBM 55466+/BM 35188+ rev.5-6 BM 55466-.- rev. 5: 5
Ti-amat it '^Qin-gi ana is-ten
5
Tiamat und Qingu vereinten sicb,
am ladierten Zeilenende mit:
und die Horner |.. .| zu erganzen (Kocb 2004: 108), ist nicbt b; da das Duplikat gur""^'ma mit i-pa-ra-as
C. Neuiskeilen Zwei Defizite meines Aufsatzes: ,,Ein astralmytboiogischer Bericbt aus der Zeit der Diadocbenkampfe," das eine erganzungs-, das andere
weiterfubrt. F Reynolds transliteriert und iibersetzt desbalb BM 55466 + /BM 35188+ rev. 5-6 (Reynolds 1999: 370 und 371): 5
33. In BM 5.5466+ genossen die Hypsomata beachtliche Aufmerksamkeit: obv. 28-32. S, dazu Koch (2004: 7. 122-28); s. aufeerdeni Koch (2000/2001: 46-71), Vorbehaltlicli kiinftigen Quellenmaterials seien im folgenden die Daten des I. Still.stands des Hypsoma-Jupitrrs in 13 SA notiert. Legende: s, oben n. 2. 13 SA: Kislimu = 11./12. Dezember 299 v.Chr. - 7./8. Januar 298 v.Chr.. Tebetu = 8./9. Januar 298 v.Chr. - 8./9. Februar 298 v.Chr. Parker with Dubberstein's (19.36) Tabellenwerte sind, weii fur MitU'rnacht berechnet, um -1 Tag korrigieii. Kulmination des Mypsoma-Jupiters in Ortszeit Babylon. Jupiler Dalum l3JKn.299vChr. 12.1.298 v.Chr. 17.L298 v.Chr. 22. [.298 vChr. l2.I1.29Sv.Chr.
Vhrzeil 4''31'" 2''27" 2''()6"' ,1,44,,,
-I h 149.04° +73.12° (l.SlilK land) 147.47° f 73.73° 146.98° +73.92° 146.43° +7410° 143.76= +74.97'
Soiiiif Hfliillkeit h 99% -29.87 100^
m)%
-58.62 -62.95 -6710 -72.78
Quellen; Parker with Dubberstein (1956; 37, Tabetle); Tuckerman (1962: 184): I^nleStar Pro. Jupitcrs aus dem 1. Stillstand riicklaittige Hewegung war iiber Tebetu-Mitte 13 SA hinaus norh derart geriiigfiigig gewesen, dafi der Planet durchaus fiir .stationar, H. i. t'iir im llypsoma betindlich, hatte angesehen wcrdrn knnnen.
6 5 6
ti-amat u '^qin-gi ana i^-ten^" i i-pa-ra-as a-ha-mes in-nam-mar-ru-'... Tiamat and Qingu become one and sbe makes tbe decision. Tbey are seen togetber....
Aber: Die Ubersetzung: ..sbe makes tbe decision," bezogen auf Tiamat. .stimmt nicbt nur mit der detailliert vorgenommenen Bes{breibuiig: gur""^-rtm. i'}xi-ra-as nicbt iiberein, sie macbt im Zusammenbang mit dem Kontext aucb keinerlei Sinn. Zu ubersetzen ist vielmebr: 5
Tiamat nnd Qingu wurden vereint, und dann unterbraob sie (es);^^
.34, Insofern sind alle davon betroffenen AusfUhrungen in Koch (2004: 120-22. §6.6 mit Tabelle XII} hiiifiillig geworden. 35. S. dazu oben n. 16. 36. S. AHw 831 zu jxtmsii I C 6.
NEUES VOM ASTRALMYTHOLOGISCHEN BERICHT BM 55466+ Sie wurden (aber wieder) miteinander gesehen
a) Heliakische Unter- und Aufgange zu Babylou bei optimalen Sichtverbaltnissen:
Gibt es dafiir eine astronomische Erkliirung? Richtig i.st sicherlicb, dafe sich die Angabe: i-para-as auf Tiilmat bezogen hat. Dann ist aber als niic hstes zu fragen. was astronomisch mit ^unterbrecbeti" gemeint gewesen sein konnte:
Stern a Delphini 3 Delpbini
• taglicher Unter- und Aufgang eines nicht /.irkumpolaren Gestirns? Allerdings: Der tagli(he Unter- und Aufgang des stellaren Vertreters Tiamat.s (""''adfi = Delpbinus) hatte auch den tiiglicben Unter- und Aufgang des stellareu Vertreters Qiugu's ('""'uz = a Lyrae) einbezogen;'*' • stationarer Stillstand eines Gestirns? Allerdings: Im fraglicben Zeitraum (rev. 1-4: Tappattu/Tebetu 13 SA = 11/12 XII 299 8/9 II 298 v,Cbr.)^" kam es zu keinem .stationSren Stillstand eines Delpbinus-Sterns (s. dazu Tuckerman 1962: 184). • heliakisches Verschwinden und Wiedererscbeinen eines Gestirns? Lt. Berechnung des Amsterdamer Astronomen T. de Jong tielen—bei BfMiicksicbtiguug aucb bester wie erscbwerter Sicbtverhaltnisse—fiir Babylon die heliakischen Auf- und Untergange (\vi Sterne a und p Delphini stcts in besagtes Zeitintervall TappattuATebetu 13 SA, Hier T de Jong's Ergebnisse:'^''
Stern a Delphini [3 Dc'lpbini
57, 7.1] dfn stellaien Vertretem von Tiamat und Koch (2004: lll-12,§r),;i,;3), 38. KiK'h (2(K)4: 12()l s. diizn mich Wukvv witb Oitl (1956:37,Tah('lle), Daiiach: 13 SA Kislimu I = 11/12X11299 v,Chr., 13 SA Ji'hHii 1 = 9/U) I 298 v.Chr,, 13 SA Siibatu 1 = 8/ 9 11 298 v.Chr. 39. T, dp Jong, email vom 30.11,2005. k b danke an dieser Slelle HeiTii Prof, Dr, T, de Jonff, Astronomiral Institute ^Anton Piinnekoek," University of Amstenl;ini. dessen vveitvolle Hilfe miraul' Irciindiic be Knipfcliliinti viin Drjolui Steele, University of l^uiliiun, Ijcrcil.s im Mai 200,") ;iiiUil:ili( b eines anderen s ziileil geworden war, nut's her/.lic bsle tiir das j^roBEntpenenkommen. als der Kxperte tiir Ccstirnseiselieinunjien der Antik(\ mir die Daten der heliakisehen Anf- und UntergSnge der Delpliini-Sterne a und (i in 13 SA tiir Biibylon bereehnet und verl'iinbar gemacht ?,u haben. und dies trotz seiner Bedenken, daft ..heliacal risinj:; and .setting of such weak stars very inconspit uous and dittii iilt lo observe in viev\ of presence of a multitude (tens) of otber .slars alreadv/slill
133
hel. Untergang 04.01.298 v.Chr. 04.01.298 v,Chr
hel. 07.01.298 v.Chr. 06,01,298 v.Chr,
b) Heliakiscbe Unter- imd Aufgange zu Babylon bei normalen Sicbtverbaltnissen: hel. 29,12.299 v.Cbr, 29.12.299 v.Chr,
/(('/. Aufgang 15.01,298 v,Cbr. 13,01,298 v.Chr.
c) Heliakiscbe Unter- und Atifgiinge zu Babylon bei erschwerten Sicbtverbaltnissen: (bohe Luftfeucbtigkeit) Stern a Delphini P Delphini
he /. Vntergang 23, 12.299 v.C:ht, 23, 12.299 v,Chr
hel. Auf, 22.01 ,298 v,Chr. 20.01 ,298 v.Chr.
Natiirlicb konnten diese Dateu im konkreten Fall fiir die Himmelsbeobacbtung variieren, z. B. wenn das Wetter umschlug. So konnte etwa P Delpbini witterungsbedingt bereits um 23. Dezember als beliakiscb untergegangen gegolten haben, ware dann aber infolge inzwi.schen optimaler Sicbtverbiiltnisse im heliaki.sc hen Aufgang am darauf folgenden 6, Januar und damit bei h'iden heliakischen Er.s(heinuugen aussclilicKlith im 9. babyloniscben Monat Kislimu (Tappattu) 13 SA zu beobacbten gcwe.sen, Oder umgekehrt: Optimale Sicbtverbiiltnisse hatten die Bcobac htung des heliakischen Untergangs des P Oopbini am 4, Januar zugelassen, docb witterungsbedingt ware es zur Beobachtung des heliakiscbcn .Aufgangs dann erst am 20. Januar gekommen. In dif^sem Fall batten sicb also die heliakischen Erscheinungen des Sterns vom 9. babyloniscben
presenl at similar elevation alonf; tbe hori/nn." und: ..tirsi and last visibility of Delpbinus star.s not known to be regularly observed by Babylonians," BM ,55466+ mit Duplikat BM 3518S+ sind indes Zeugen. daK das Sternbild Delpbinus fiir Balnlons Himmelsbeobatbtcr astraliiu/thohi^iscli irie astroInteresse gewe.sen war.
134
JOHANNES KOCH
Monat Kislimu (Tappattu) his in den 10, babylonischen Monat Tebetu 13 SA hingezogen.'*" Beispiele beliebig fortsetzbar, Selbstverstandlich entziehen sich die Witterungsverhaltnisse der Monate Kislimit (Tappattu) und Tebetu 13 SA heutiger Kenntnis. Es kann daher auch nicht entschieden werden, welche Erinnerutig als zuverlassiger gelten kann; die des Textes BM 55466+ rev, 2 von einem heliakischen Aufgang des Tiamat-Gestirns Delphinus im Tappattu oder die des Dtiplikats BM 35188+ von eitiem solchen erst itn folgenden Tebetu—dort, um sich der Zuwendung Marduk-Amar-Utu s, hier, um sich des Beistands Marduk-StVs zu versichern (s, dazu oben B 1 a und B 4 d). 2. BM 55466+ obv. 16. 24. 27 und 28 a So zutreffend es ist, daft eine Ubersetzung von BM 55466+ obv. 24: 24 ina "'su sd ne-pe-su M sa-kap '"kur ina e^' i-pu-us durch 24 Itn Duzu fiihrte er zur Abwehr von Babylons Widersacher einen Ritus durch (so Koch 2004; 107) der konkreten Ortsbestimmung; ina in Babylon
nicht gerecht wird,^' so grammatisc h mehrdeutig— mit entsprechenden Ubersetzungsvarianten—ist der Satz in Zeile 24 gerade auch der Ortsbestimmung wegen 42 Ubersetzungsvariante 1: 24 Im Duzu fiihrte er zur Abwehr des Widersachets einen Ritus in Bab\ Ion durch. 40, ,s, diizu oben n. 38. 41, J. Oelsner. Brief vom I6,11,2O{)5; eben.so N. P. Heefiel, email vom 02.02,2006. 42, N. P. Heetlel. email vom 02.02.2006. Herrn Dr. Hceliel sage ich an dieser Stelle fiir die mir zu BM 55466+ obv. 24 freundlic'bstgewiihi-te Disknssion besten Dank.
Diese Variante ist durch BM 55466+ obv. 28 a gestutzt, da hier ausdnicklich von der Durchfiihrung des nam,bi'u,bi-Rituals ,,in der Stadt," v^enngleich ohne Angabe des Oitsnamens, die Rede ist; 28 nam.biir.bi ina uru i-te-pu-us 28 das nam,bur,bi-Ritual fiihrte cr in der Stadt durch. Ubersetzungsvariaute 2; Sie bietet sich bei lexikaler Auswettung an*^: sakap nakri ,,erscheint oft als eine so feste Verbindung, daR man in Erwagung ziehen konnte, zu iibersetzen; 24 Im Duzu fiihrte er das Ritual ..Abwehr des Widersachers" in Babylon durch. Dann ware sakap nakri quasi der Titel des Ritus'"" gewesen. Ubersetzungsvariante 3; 24 Im Duzu fuhrte er einen Ritus zur Abwehr des Widersachers in Babylon dun h, Hier hatte der Abwehr-Ritus einem Gegner gegolten, der sich Babyinns bemiichtigt und untertan gemacht hatte. Allerdings; Fur diese Variante spricht bestenfalls, daf^ It, BM 55466+ obv, 16 und 27 nicht um den Sturz und Untergang eines Regenten, .sondern um die Veranderung bzw. uberhatipt Beendigung von Bab\lons .,Dynastie" {fxdu{\yA\}'*'') gefurchtet wurde, Freilich, an welche Dynastie Babylons war gedacht worden?—Vielleicht war aber, was sicb in BM 55466+ obv, 16 und 27 als Sorge um die Dynastie Babylons spiegelt, einfach das Bangen um Babylons Zukunft, die Furcht vor politischem, kulti.schem nnd wirtschaftlichem ,Aus" der Stadt gewesen, Jtist in jene Zeit Hel jedenfalls das Gruudungsdatum von Seleukeia am 43. 44. 45, 46, (1977:
7,. B,..A//u- lOIl: sakapiil 4, N. P Heeliel, email vom 02,02,2006. S, dazu z, B. AHw8\7. jwlii B 3 b, S, dazu z. B. Kinder und Hilgemann (1964: 69); Daniel 415, sub "Se ukeia-Ktesipbon").
NEUES VOM ASTRALMYTHOLOGISCHEN BERICHT BM 55466+
135
Referenzen Baehr, U, Landsberger, B. 1935 Tafel der jiihrlichen Auf- und Untergiinge von 1923 Ein astralmythologischer Kommentar aus der 20 Stemen. AHtrouoini.Hclw Ahhandlxmfifiu ErSpatzeit bab\lonischer Cielehrsamkeit. AfK 1: ganziingsliefte zu cleii Astronontischeu Nach69-78, richU'u. B(i. 9, Nr. 5, Kif I; Dnick von C Schmidt, LodcStar Pro Inhaber Georg Oheim, 1994 W. C. Annaia, LodeStar lW^\ Pitt.sburgh: Burrows, E, Zephyr Services, 1924 Hvinn to Ninurta as Sirius fK 128),/HAS CenParker. R H.. with Dubberstein, W H, tenary supplement: 33-40. 1956 BahijUmian Chronology. 626 BC-A.D. 75. Daniel, G.(ed,) Pi'ovidence: Brown University Studies, Vol. 19. Reynolds, F, 1977 Enzyklopcidie der Ardidologic. London: Reference International, 1977. Lizenzau.sgabe fiir 1999 Stellar Representations of Tiamat and Qingu Miinfred Pawlak VVrlagsgeseliscliaft nibli, in a Learned Clalendar Text. Pp. 369-78 in Herrsching, 1986, fiir die enveiterte deutsche iMiigua^es and Cultuies in Contact^ ed. K. van Ausgabe by Gustav Lubbe Veriag GmbH, BerLerberghe und G, Voet. Orientalia Lovaniensia gisch Cladbach, 1980. Analecta 96. Uitgeverij Peeters en DeparteGossmann, F, meiit Ooster.se Studies, 1999. 1950 FiinicUiriuin Bai>]i\o)iuinn (xler die siinicrisch-Rnchberg-Ualton, F. Ixilniloiiisclieii SU'niiiaineu. Siimerisches Lexi1988 AsjKX'tH of Babylonian Celestial Daination. kon 2/4. Rom: Verlag des Papstl. Bibelinstituts. The Lunar Eclipse Tablets of Euuma Anu Heefeel, N. R Eiilil. AfO Beiheft 22, Horn: Ferdinand Berger & Snhne. 2005 Stein, Pflanze und HDIZ, Ein neuer Text zur Rochberg, F, ^medizinischeii .'Vstroiogie." Orientalia 74.t: 1-22, 1998 Babylonian Horoscopes, Tran.saclions of the Kinder, H,, und Hilgemann, W. (eds,) American Phihwoiihical Society 8H.l\ 1-164, 1964 dtv-Atlas zur Wclt^cschichtc. Bd, 1: Von den Sachs, A. J, Anfiingi'n bis zur hraiizi>sischen Recolutifm. 1952 Sirius Dates in Babylonian Astronomical Miinehen: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag. Texts of the Seleucid Period, jCS 6: 105-14. King, L, W, Sachs, A. J., und Hunger, H. 1896 Babylonian Magic and Sorcery, being J^he 1988 Astronomical Diaries and Related Texts from praijers of the lifting of tlie hand" London: Babylonia, Vol, I: Diaries from 652 B.C. to Lir/.ar and Co, 262 KC. Wien: Verlag der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wis.senschaften. 1902 The Seven Tablets of Creation or the Babylonian and Assyrian Le^fnds concerniitf:, the Turkerman, B, Creation of the World and of Mankind, Vol. I. 1962 Planetary, Lunar, and Solar PositimiH 601 B.C. Etiglish TranslatioHH. etc. London: Luzac to A.D. I at Fivi'-day and Tm-day Intervals.. and Co. Memoirs of the American Philosophical SoKwhJ, ciety 56. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1989 Neue UnterHUclumgcn zur Topogyaphie des iKibylonischen Fi.xstrnthinimcLs. Wiesbaden: Weigert, B. A, und Zimmermann, H. Harrassowitz. 1974 ABC der Astronomic, 4. Aufl, Hanau/Main: 2000/ Neues von den babylonischen PlanetenWerner Dausien. 2001 Hypsomata. WO 31: 46-71. 2004 Ein astralmythologi.scher Bericht aus der Zeit der Diadochenkampfe. jCS 56: 105-26.
HITTITE FRAGMENTS OF THE STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM (ST PETERSBURG) Alexei Kassian (The Oriental Institute of the Russian State Utiiversity for the Humanities, Moscow)
In 1921 and 1925. V K. Silejko reported on fourteen cuneiform fragments from Bogazkoy belonging to the N. P Likhacev collection and provided transliterations and translations of eight tablets.' Some years later, A. Gdtze published ten of the Likbacev fragments as VBoT 3-12.^ In Soviet times tbe Likhacev collection was dispersed among several Ru.ssian museums, and all trace of the fourteen fragments was lost. It was known, however, that some of tbe.se fragments were included in the cuneiform collection of the State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg). During the snmmer of 2006,1 spent a few days in tbe Herinitage Mu.seum and managed to find all but one of the Likbacev Bogazkoy fragments. The fourteenth could not be located, and we are left only with Silejkns description (IRAIMK 4: 324): "black cla\, right edge, the remains of 8 lines, corroded by salt." It is unlikely that this piece will ever be found. I am very grateful to Dr. Natalia Koslova, custodian of the cuneiform collection of the State Hermitage Museum, for her kind permission to work on the tablets, to photograph and publish some of the fragments, and for general assistance of every kind. Photographs of all
thirteen fragments will be available in the next version of Dr, S. Kosak's electronic Konkordanz (http://lietbiter.not/). The three small fragments that were not included in VjBt>7^ are given below.
Vs. 9
LErmitage 15595 Black clay; two-sided; right edge. CTIi 832. 1. See 7Mpi.ski VostDchnoff) Oldpleniia Russkogo Arkhcohfiichi'skofio Obsliclwstva iZVOIRAO] 25 obv.'' rev."^ (1921) 77-S2; hvi'stiia Ros.siisktti Akadeinii hli>Hi Malrriiiinoi I' ...| 'X.MES'' 2' ...!-';/' Kultury I IRAIMK) 4 (19251 318-24. Nott- tluit tlu- triinsliler3' ,. ,1 X . ation oi' No. VIl Rs. wa.s erroneously plateti under No. 1 (to2' ... x-zi gether with proper No, I) in IRAIMK 4. 3' ,., X 2. As noted in the preface to the preface to VBoT, Gtitze 4' ...\ 4' ... -zi niiulf hi.s the hanti copies on th€' b;i,sis ol' photographs pro5' .. .| KAM' 5' ,.. vided by Silejko, using also the inrorniatiun from IlLMMK 4 andZVO/flAO25. 6' ... 137
JC:S 58 (2006)
138
ALEXEI KASSIAN
«*1
u'
2. Ermitagel5597 Black clay; left edge; small signs; unusual drawing witbin text. Omen? 3' 4' 5' 6' T
.. ]-is A-NA x\... .. .]-x-kdn mi-i-U'[-... .. .]-X'Zi'ma[... ...\{-)li-i\... .. \-\-in\...
3. Ermitage 15602 Black clay; rigbt edge near; probably New Script. Festival? 2' ../-f'SAR/ia-xi-... 3' .. .-]a / -h\a''-az- zi fvacat) 4' .. .]-a- UD.KAM-f/ ^MUNUS" | - . . . 5' ... -j]a--at-ta-a-\...
Table 1. Concordance of the various numbers used in previous publications, togetber witb tbe contemporary Hermitage inventory nnmbers. VBoT
Likbacev nos. according to VBoT
Silejko {IRAIMK 4)
Hermitage inventory nos.
3 4 5 6 7
1 4 5 13 7 2 6 3
I IV V (see ZVOIRAO 25) VII/I II VI III IX (cited in ZRAJMK 4, 318) VIII X XI XII
Hermitage Hermitage Hermitage Hermitage Hermitage Hermitage Hermitage Hermitage Hermitage Hermitage Hermitage Hermitage Hermitage Not found
8 9 10 11 12
9 14
15649 1.5601 15593 15634 15650 15604 15648 15594 15603 15609 15602 15597 15595