WISDOM OF ANCIENT SUMER Bendt Alster
COL Press Bethesda, Maryland
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Alster, Bendt Wisdom of ancient Sumer / Bendt Alster. p. cm. In English; Sumerian texts in transliteration and translation. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-883053-92-7 I. Sumerian literature. I. Alster, Bendt. II. Title.
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P]4051.A45 2005 899' .9508-dc22
Front page and cover illustration: Copy of an Adab tablet inscribed with Tile Aage Westenholz.
IIlSlrIIC/;OIlS
l?f SI/ruppak, by
© 2005. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections \07 and 108 of the U. S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission frolll the publisher. Published by CDL Press, P.O. Box 34454, Bethesda, MD 20827; E-Mail:
[email protected]; website: www.cdlpress.com; Fax: 253-484-5542
ISBN 1-883053-927
Preface
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list: A. W. Sjoberg, the former curator of the Babylonian Section of the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, thanks to whose hospitality the tablet room became a true and inspiring center for Sumerological studies; W. G. Lambert, whose unequalled insight into the huge tablet collection of the British Museum led to the identification of the uniquely interesting Middle Babylonian version of The Ins/,."e/iolls of S,,,,,ppak. Since this was intended to be published in a second edition of Bab}lIonian Wisdolll Li/era/llre, I wish to express my gratitude for being allowed to include it here; M. Civil of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago has inspired every page of this work by his unique insight into Sumerian literature and lexicography; also my time at the Babylonian Collection of Yale University is remembered with gratitude, where, thanks to the hospitality ofW.W. Hallo, the former curator of the Babylonian Collection of Yale University, I was able to search for duplicates in its tablet collections; and the staff of the Department of the Ancient Near East of the British Museum on innumerable occasions offered aid and assistance. Special thanks are addressed to those who enabled me to study the Abu ~alabJkh sources in the Iraq Museum in 1990: SabahJasim, the former director of the Iraq Museum; Muajjed Damilji, the then Director-General of Antiquities and Heritage in Iraq; the British School of Archaeology in Iraq; Roger Matthews, the then director of the British Archaeological Expedition to Iraq; the then staff of the British Archaeological Expedition to Iraq in Baghdad. A number of tablets fi'om the British Museum are published here for the first time, with the permission of the Trustees of the British Museum. The following scholars kindly provided unpublished material: the late Prof. r. DiakonofT and Dr. Irina Kaneva, in 1974, provided a transliteration of a tablet in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg-this was
Already in 1944, in his pioneering book SlIlIIerian Mythology, S.N. Kramer outlined the potential prospect of a full reconstruction of Sumerian literature, whose rediscovery, to a very large extent, was his own merit. But already in the second edition, from 1961, he realized that definitive editions ofall the relevant texts "could not possibly be produced by one man." By that time, the first overviews of Sumerian wisdom literature had been made by J.J.A. van Dijk, in 1953, and Edmund I. Gordon, in 1960. The present work owes much to their pioneering efforts. My own interest in the texts presented here started in 197 I, when, at the suggestion of Prof. A. Sjoberg, then curator of the tablet collection of the University Museum in Philadelphia, I made a first attempt to reconstruct The Ins/,."e/iolls of S,m,ppak. Since the appearance of the first edition, in 1974, new texts, thanks in large part to identifications made by W.G. Lambert and M. Civil, and numerous suggestions by various scholars have made a new revised edition mandatOlY. The present edition will seek to answer this demand, but it claims to be no more than another small step on a progressing scale of constant new discoveries and a growing degree of philological precision that enables us slowly to approach such difficult texts as would have been considered almost incomprehensible only fifty years ago. An attempt is made to include some other Sumerian texts representing what may be considered Sumerian "wisdom literature." Although hardly speculative, some of them certainly represent a critical attitude toward existing values, which may be considered an unmistakable sign of ancient Near Eastern "wisdom" literature. To thank individually and in detail all those scholars and institutions without whose help, hospitality, and assistance this work could not have been completed, a velY long list would be needed indeed. The following names would be at the head of this
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Wisdonl of Ancient Sumer C1l->
kindly collated by Th. IGnunerer, Talin, in 2002. A. Shaffer of the Hebrew University ofJerusalem provided copies of some tablets from Ur, which he had prepared in the British Museum. Two tablets inscribed with proverbs in the Carl A. Kroch LibralY, Cornell University, are published here through the courtesy of David I. Owen, Curator of Tablet Collections, who supplied excellent digital photos and collations. Martin Schoyen, the owner of the Schoyen Collection in Oslo, and his editorial staff headed by Prof Jens Braarvig have kindly consented to the use of some cuneiform tablets owned by the Schoyen Collection. Thanks are due to the following colleagues for providing photographs: D.I. Owen of Cornell University; Eleanor Robson of Oxford University, now Cambridge; R.D. Biggs for photographs reproduced here by courtesy of the Oriental Institute in Chicago; Renee Kovacs for photographs taken in the Schoyen Collection in Oslo; Bodil Bundgaard Rasmussen for photographs reproduced here by courtesy of the Antiquities Department of the National Museum in Copenhagen; Kevin Danti for photographs taken in the University Museum, Philadelphia;Jacob Dahl, p.t. Paris, for photographs taken in the Jena Collection; Peter Damerow of the Max Planck Institute for the HistOlY of Science in Berlin for photographs taken in the Schoyen Collection. The following scholars helped with collations: M. Krebernik, Jena; Th. Kammerer, Talin; MarieChristine Ludwig, London; Jacob Dahl in the Louvre, Paris. M. Krebernik made an invaluable copy of a tablet in theJena Collection published here for the first time. The following colleagues have read parts of the manuscript in previous stages and have made invaluable suggestions and corrections: M.J. Geller, without whose constant encouragement over many years this manuscript would not have been completed; Laura Feldt and Dina Katz, for whose critical comments I am particularly thankful; Aa. Westenholz, G. Wilhelm, Jon Taylor, Thomas Kammerer, and Helle Bak Rasmussen have read parts of the manuscript and made invaluable comments; the comments of
Niek Veldhuis and J. Black have been indispensable for two chapters in this book; G. Wilhelm wrote the chapter included here on the Hurrian version of The Instrllctions if Sltrllppak, a language into which I was totally uninitiated; M.J. Geller provided the copy of the Neo-Assyrian version of The Ballade ifEarly Rulers, identified by R. Borger and published here; Niels W. Bruun and Finn Gredal Jensen of the Soren Kierkegaard Institute of the University of Copenhagen provided useful comments and references regarding classical languages and medieval literature. Among those scholars who allowed me to use studies before their publication, I wish to thank in particular M. Civil,]. Black,]. Klein, G. Selz, and P. Michalowski. Among the many colleagues who over the years have contributed directly or indirectly by discussions or critical comments I want to thank in particular: W.G. Lambert, D.O. Edzard, A. Cavigneaux, H. Vanstiphout, Gonzalo Rubio, and ].M. Sasson. Thanks are due to the Carlsberg Foundation, the Danish Research Council for the Humanities, the G.E.C. Gads Foundation, and the British School of Archaeology in Iraq for financial support. In publishing this work I wish to acknowledge the great inspiration I have received from W.G. Lambert's work Babylolliall Iiflisdolll Literatllre, which since 1960 has become an inexhaustible source of inspiration for everyone interested in the literature of the ancient Near East. , This work was considered completed in the spring of 2004, but I have tried to incorporate what has appeared since then to the extent possible. I have tried, in all f.1irness, to take all important contributions into account, and I apologize for anything significant that I may have overlooked, as well as for all errors for which I am alone responsible. As everyone in this field knows, it may, I hope, be a consolation that no one has ever made progress in the field of Sumerology without occasionally stumbling over some of the many pitf.1lls that constantly lie in wait for us. Bendt Alster Helsingor, Denmark February 2005
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Table of Contents
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Priface . ...
·5
Literafllre ..
·9
Abbreviations
16
Introduction PrelJiollS Attelllpts to Dcifille Mesopotallliall Wisdolll Literatllre ..................... SlIIlIerian Wisdolll Literatllre: The Scope if the Presellt Work . .....................
18 18 24
I: The Instnlctions if Suruppak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1 1.1 Introdllction ................................................... 31 1.2 SltnJey if Texts Inelllded ........................................... 46 1.3 Trallsliteratioll alld Trallslatioll ....................................... 56 1.4 COll/ll/ellts 011 ilu/ividllal Lilies . ..................................... 103 1.5 11,e Abu $aliibikh Versioll. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 1.6 11,e Adab Versiol/ .............................................. 195 1.7 The Hllrrian Versioll ............................................ 204 1.8 The Akkadiall alld I-IlIrriall Versiolls .................................. 207 1.9 COllllllellts 011 the Grallllllatical alld Grapllic Elelllellts ....................... 209 1.10 Textllal I-listory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
CHAPTER
The Instrtlctions (!f Ur-Ninurta and COllnsels if Wisdolll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 2.1 IlltrodllctiOIl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 2.2 The IlIstrllctiolls (!f Ur-Ninllrta ...................................... 227 2.3 CcJ/IIISeis (!f Wisdolll . ............................................ 24 1
CHAPTER 2:
The Vanit)1 Theme in SlIlIIeriall Literatllre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 Notllill,1! Is c!f Vallie (niIJ-nam nu-kal) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 Nothill,l! Is C!f Vallie (LIII,I! Versioll) ................................... 275 The Ballade c!f Early Rlliers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 3 ·3a The Stalldard SlIlIte'riall Versioll. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 3 ·3b The "Syro-AI/esopotatl/iall" Versioll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312 3.j( The Neo-Assyriall Versioll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 P/'cwerbsIroll/ ~I!arit ............................................ 3 23 EI/lil alld Nall/zitarra . ........................................... 3 2 7 T1,e UI/derl/lorld Visiol/ c!f "Gi(l!atl/es, Ellkidll, alld the Netherworld" ............. 339
CHAPTER 3:
J.l 3.2 3.3
3.4
3.5 3.6
Fables in SlIlIIeriall Literatllre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 2 IlItrodllcticlII .................................................. 34 2 Fables c!f a Fox . ............................................... 346 The Goose alld the RatJell ......................................... 35 2 "Aesopiall" Fables ill SlIlIIeriall ..................................... 3 62 Short Stories alld Morality Talc,s fllIIOlllillg I-IlIlIlalls ......................... 368
CHAPTER 4:
4. I 4.2 4.3
4.4 4.5
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Wisdom of Ancient Sumer
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Sumerian Folktales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373 5.1 TI,e Three Ox-Drivers from Adab .................................... 373 5.2 The Old Man and the YOllng Girl . ................................... 384
CHAPTER 5:
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ExampLes oj Proverb Collections Used as Literary Source Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 6.1 Sumerian Proverbs in the Cornell University Library (Krocl,-04) ................. 393 6.2 Sumerian Proverbs in the Cornell University Library (Kroch-oS) ................. 396
CHAPTER 6:
Literature ~
T. Abusch (ed.), Riches Hidden in Secret Places,
Indices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 Sumerian TeY/ns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406 Akkadian TeY/ns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418 Hurrian Terllls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419 Urartian Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420 Cuneifoml Tablets ................................................ 421 Plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Assyrian Letter ABL 555," JCS 41 (1991) 187-193. - - - , "Two Sumerian Short Tales Reconsidered," ZA 82 (1992) 186-201. - - - , "The Sumerian Folktale of the Three Ox-Drivers from Adab," JCS 43-45 (1991-93)
Ancient Near Eastern Stlldies in Memory oj Thorkild jacobsen. Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Ind., 2002. B. Alster, The Instmctions if SllYIlppak. Mesopotamia. Copenhagen Studies in Assyriology hagen, 1974.
2.
Copen-
27-38.
- - - , Stlldies in SlIlIIerian ProlJerbs. Mesopota-
- - - , "Enmerkar, Lugalbanda, and Other Cunning Heroes," in: CANE IV, 2315-2326. - - - , "Halt or Dwarf: The Meaning ofba-za = pessf1," in: IJon Soden AV, 1-6. - - - , "Literary Aspects of Sumerian and Akkadian Proverbs," in: Mesopotalllian Poetic Langllage: SlIlIIerian and Akkadian. Proceedings of the Groningen Symposium: The Study of Mesopotamian Literature, M.E. Vogelzang and H.L.J. Vanstiphout (eds.). Cuneiform Monographs 6. Styx Publications, Groningen, 1996, pp. 1-21. - - - , ProlJerbs (if Allcient SlIlIIer I-II. CDL Press, Bethesda, Md., 1997. - - - , "Updates to $uruppak's Instructions, Proverbs of Ancient Sumer, and Ancient Rulers,"
mia. Copenhagen Studies in Assyriology 3. Copenhagen, 1975. - - - , "Paradoxical Proverbs and Satire in Sumerian Literature," JCS 27 (1975) 210-230. - - - , "Sumerian Proverb Collection xxiv,"
Assyriological Miscellanies 2 (1980) 33-50. - - - , "Additional Fragments of The Instructions ofShuruppak," AuOr 5 (1987) 199-206. - - - , "Shuruppak's Instructions-Additional Lines Identified in the Early Dynastic Version," ZA 80 (1990) 15-19. - - - , "The Sumerian Poem of Early Rulers and Related Poems," in: aLP 21 (Leuven, 1990) 5-25·
N.A.B. U. 89 (1999) 88fT. - - - , "ilft alIIilll 1/1 : ",e-e i-la, Punning and
, "Sumerian Literary Dialogues and Debates and Their Place in Ancient Near Eastern Literature," in: LiIJillg JiVaters-Scandilla/Jiall OriCIItalistic Stlldies presellted to F. ukke