RECORDS OF THE PAST
BEING
ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS
OF THE
ANCIENT
MONUMENTS OF EGYPT AND WESTERN ASIA
NEW SERIES
EDITED BY
A. H. SAYCE
VOL. I
PREFACE
The favourable reception accorded to the first series of Records of the Past, and the hope more
than once expressed since its discontinuance that a similar series would be
again started, have led to this second attempt to lay before the public some of
the most important documents left us by the civilised nations of the ancient
Oriental world. During the ten years that have elapsed since the first series
was concluded, Assyrian research may be said to have entered upon a new phase.
Expeditions have returned from Babylonia, bringing with them the spoils of
ancient libraries, the clay tablets preserved in the British Museum and
elsewhere have been copied and examined with increased industry and exactness,
and students have been flocking to the new study in Germany and America. The
decipherment of the cuneiform inscriptions of Van has opened up a fresh world
of language and history, and the geography of Western Asia in the Assyrian
epoch has been mapped out in almost all its essential details.
The
increase of materials, and more especially of labourers in the field of
research, has made our knowledge of the Assyrian lexicon at once wider and
more accurate. Inscriptions which were still obscure ten years ago can now be
read with a fair approach to exactness, while many of the translations proposed
in the former series of the Records can be amended in many respects. Indeed
there are certain cases in which the progress of knowledge has shown the
tentative renderings of a few years ago to be so faulty, if not misleading,
that it has been determined to replace them by revised translations in the
series which is now being issued.
The new
series will, it is hoped, be found to be an improvement upon its predecessor in
certain points. The translations will be provided with fuller introductions and
notes, bearing more particularly upon the history, geography, and theology of
the texts, and drawing attention to the illustrations they afford of the
Scriptures of the Old Testament. The historical inscriptions, moreover, will be
published, so far as is possible, in chronological order.
In one
point, however, a difference will be noticed between the plan of this second
series of Records and that of the first. The value of a translation from a
language known only to a few scholars depends in large measure upon the
confidence with which its precise wording can be accepted. The writer who
wishes to make use of a translation from an Egyptian or Assyrian text for
historical or controversial purposes ought to know where it is certain, and where
it is only possible, or at most probable. He ought to receive warning of
passages or words or readings of doubtful character, and the translator ought
to provide proofs of any new renderings he may give. In the present series of
volumes, accordingly, doubtful words and expressions will be followed by a
note of interrogation, the preceding word being put into italics where
necessary: otherwise italics will be used only for the transliteration of
proper names or words which cannot at present be translated. The notes will
contain a justification of new translations, whether of words hitherto undeciphered
or of words to which a different signification has hitherto been attached. The
names of individuals will be distinguished from those of deities or localities
by being printed in Roman type, whereas the names of deities and localities
will be in capitals.
Though
exploration and discovery have been carried on actively in Egypt during the
last decade, thanks mainly to the Egypt Exploration Fund and the enterprise of
Professor Maspero, the results have not been so startling or numerous as those
which have attended the progress of the younger study of Assyriology. There is
not the same reason for amending the translations, previously published, of
Egyptian documents, nor has any large number of historical texts been brought
to light. Instead, therefore, of publishing alternately translations from the
Assyrian and Egyptian monuments, Assyrian and Egyptian texts will appear in the
same volume, though it will doubtless happen that the Assyrian element will
preponderate in some volumes, the Egyptian element in others. Egyptian and
Assyrian, of course, will not be exclusively represented ; Phoenicians and
Proto-Armenians have left us written monuments, comparatively few though they
may be, and the Rccords of the Past would be incomplete without such
important inscriptions as that of the Moabite king Mesha or of the Hebrew Pool
of Siloam.
In
commending the first volume of this new series of Records to the approval of
the public, the Editor must not forget to say that the enterprise is international,
eminent scholars belonging to all nationalities having consented to take part
in it, and that if his name appears somewhat too frequently in the present
volume, it is a fault which shall not occur again.
A. H. SAYCE.
Queen’s College, Oxford,
3d August
1888.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
I. The Dynastic Tablets and Chronicles of the Babylonians. By the Editor .
II. The Inscriptions of Telloh. By M. Arthur Amiaud
III. Sin-Gashid’s
Endowment of the Temple E-Ana. By Mr. Theo. G. Pinches,
Assistant-Curator in the British Museum .
IV.An Erechite’s Lament. By Mr. Theo. G. Pinches
V. Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I, King of Assyria. By the Editor
VI. The Assyrian Story of the Creation. By
the Editor
VII. The Babylonian Story of
the Creation according to the Tradition of Cutha. By the Editor
VIII. Babylonian Lawsuits and Judgments. By Professor
J. Oppert, Member of the Institute
IX. Inscription of Menuas, King of Ararat, in the Vannic Language. By the Editor
X. The
Ancient Hebrew Inscription of Siloam.
By the Editor
The Assyrian Calendar
CORRESPONDING MONTHS
|
I. |
Ni’sannu
(Nisan) . . |
March—April. |
|
2. |
Aaru
(Iyyar) . . . |
April—May. |
|
3- |
’Sivanu
(Sivan) . . . |
May—June. |
|
4- |
Dfizu
(Tammuz). . . |
June—July. |
|
5- |
Abu (Ab)
.... |
July—August. |
|
6. |
Ululu
(Elul) . . |
August—September. |
|
7- |
Tasritu
(Tisri) . . . |
September—October. |
|
8. |
Arakh -
savna (Marchesvan) |
|
|
|
“ the
8th month " . . |
October—November. |
|
9- |
Ki’silivu
(Chisleu) . . |
N o
vember—December. |
|
10. |
Dhabitu
(Tebet). . . |
December—J
anuary. |
|
i r. |
Sabadhu
(Sebat) . . |
J
anuary—F ebruary. |
|
12. |
Addaru
(Adar) . . . |
February—March. |
|
13- |
Arakh-makhru
(Ve-Adar), the |
intercalary
month. |
By the Editor
CHRONOLOGY
is the skeleton of history, and until we can find the correct chronological
place for a historical monument it loses a large part of its value. Thanks to
the lists of the so-called eponyms, by means of whom the Assyrians dated their
years, the chronology of the Assyrian kings has long since been placed upon a
satisfactory footing as far back as the tenth century before our era. The
dates, moreover, assigned by Sennacherib to Tiglath-Pileser I. (B.C. 1106), and
Tukulti-Uras, the son of Shalmaneser I. (B.C. 1290), as well as the lengthy
genealogies with which these kings are connected, enable us to extend Assyrian
chronology back for another five hundred years, though, of course, with only
approximate accuracy.
While our
knowledge of Assyrian chronology, however, has thus been tolerably fixed for a
long time past, we have had to depend upon the vague and contradictory
statements of Greek writers for our
knowledge of the chronology of the older kingdom of Babylonia. Apart from the
invaluable table of kings known as Ptolemy’s Canon, which belongs to the later
period of Babylonian history, and the unsatisfactory list of dynasties
excerpted from an epitomist of B£rossos, our only monumental authorities for
Babylonian chronology were the Assyrian inscriptions themselves, together with
a few fragments of a dynastic tablet brought to light by Mr. George Smith and
the so-called Synchronous History of Assyria and Babylonia, of which I
published a translation in the former series of Records of the Past (vol. IIIThis
“Synchronous History” was composed
by an Assyrian scribe, and consists of brief notices of the
occasions on which the kings of the two countries had entered into relation,
hostile or otherwise, with one another. Since my translation was published in
1874, another large fragment of the tablet has been discovered, and accordingly
I purpose giving a new translation of the whole document in a future volume of
the present series. The “Synchronous History” gives no dates, and consequently
its chronological value depends upon our knowledge of the respective dates to
which the Assyrian monarchs mentioned in it belong.
Within the
last few years a number of discoveries due to Mr. Pinches has entirely changed
our position in regard to the chronology of the Babylonian kings. As I have
already stated, Mr. Smith found among the tablets brought from the royal
library of Nineveh a small fragment which, as he perceived, contained the names
and regnal years of the kings of Babylonia, arranged in dynasties. The work to
which it belonged must accordingly have been similar to that from which Berossos
derived his dynastic list of Chaldean monarchs. Mr. Smith published the fragment,
with a translation and commentary, in the Transactions of the Society of
Biblical Archceology, iii. 2 (1874). It is written on both sides, and the
tablet once consisted of six columns, each containing about seventy lines. I
will call it the “ Third Dynastic Tablet.”
The next
discovery was made by Mr. Pinches six years later among the inscriptions
brought from the site of Babylon by the overseer of Mr. Hormuzd Rassam. He found
among them a small tablet of unbaked clay, quite complete and inscribed on both
sides. It contains the names of the kings belonging to two early dynasties, the
number of years reigned by each king being added to the names in the case of
the first dynasty. The tablet seems to be a sort of schoolboy’s exercise,
having been copied from some larger work in order to be committed to memory.
The Reverse has been published by Mr. Pinches in the Proceedings of the Society
of Biblical Archceology, 7th December 1880, and I will call it the "First
Dynastic Tablet.”
Another
and more important document — the “Second Dynastic Tablet”—was published by Mr.
Pinches, with a translation and explanation, in the Proceedings of the
Society of Biblical Arcluzology, 6th
May 1884. This is also a tablet of unbaked clay from Babylonia, and it contains
a list of the Babylonian sovereigns, arranged in dynasties, from the first
dynasty which made the city of Babylon the capital down to the period of the
Persian conquest. The number of regnal years is added to the name of each king
and the length of time each dynasty lasted is duly recorded. The names of some
of the kings are written in an abbreviated form : this is especially the case
with those belonging to the second dynasty.
The list,
it will be observed, is confined to the dynasties which reigned in Babylon
itself. No notice is taken of the kings and dynasties who ruled in “ Accad and
Sumer" before Babylon became the capital of the empire. The lost columns
of the “Third Dynastic Tablet” show how numerous they were, and the fact is
borne out by the bricks and other monuments of early Chaldean monarchs whose
names do not occur among the successors of ’Sumu-abi. Most of the kings,
indeed, whose names are known to us in connection with the temples they built
or restored belonged to older dynasties than those which had their seat in the
city of Babylon.
A
considerable number of their names is to be found in another tablet brought by
Mr. Rassam from Assyria, and published by Mr. Pinches in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaelogy,
11th January 1881. A small portion of it had already been published in W. A.
I., II. 65, and had given rise to a good many false conclusions. The object of
this tablet was philological and not chronological; in fact the writer
expressly states that the names of the kings were “not written according to
their chronological order.” He merely wished to furnish the Semitic or
Assyro-Babylonian translations of the Accado-Sumerian and Kassite names borne by
so many of the early princes, and in some cases of the mode in which the names
of Semitic kings were pronounced or written by their Accadian subjects.
Among the
latter is the name of Sargon of Accad, the ancient hero of the Semitic
population of Chaldaea, who founded the first Semitic empire in the country and
established a great library in his capital city of Agade or Accad near Sippara.
The seal of his librarian, Ibni-sarru, of very beautiful workmanship, is now in
Paris, and has been published by M. de Clercq (Collection de Clercq, pi. 5, No. 46), while a copy of his annals,
together with those of his son Naram-Sin, is to be found in W. A. I., iv. 34.
His date has been fixed by a passage in a cylinder of Nabonidos discovered in
the ruins of the temple of the Sun-god at Sippara, and published in W. A. I.,
v. 64. The antiquarian zeal of Nabonidos led him to excavate among the
foundations of the temple in the hope of finding the cylinder of Naram-Sin, who
was known to have been the founder of it, and he tells us (col. ii. 5 6 seq.):—
“ I sought
for its old foundation-stone, and eighteen cubits deep
I dug into
the ground, and the foundation-stone of Naram-Sin, the son of Sargon, which for
3200 years no king who had gone before me had seen,
the
Sun-god, the great lord of E-Babara, the temple of the seat of the goodness of
his heart, let me see, even me.”
In the
opinion, therefore, of Nabonidos, a king who had a passion for investigating
the past records of his country, Naram-Sin reigned 3200 years before his own
time, that is to say, about B.C. 3700.
Before the
rise of the Semitic kingdom of Sargon of Accad, lies that earlier
Accado-Sumerian period when Babylonia was still in the hands of a people who
spoke an agglutinative language, such as those of the modern Turks or Finns,
and had originated the cuneiform system of writing and the primitive
civilisation of the Chaldean cities. Relics of this ancient period have been
discovered by M. de Sarzec in the mounds of Tel-loh, and the Sumerian
inscriptions which they bear are now being deciphered by French scholars, more
especially by M. Amiaud. M. Amiaud has been good enough to introduce the
historical documents of Babylonia and Assyria to the readers of the present
series of Records of the Past, by his translations of these oldest memorials of
human life and thought in the valley of the Euphrates. If Sargon of Accad lived
about B.C. 3800, the kings of Telloh must have flourished as far back as the
fourth millennium before our era.
The last
chronological document brought to light during the last few years is in many
respects the most important of all. This is what has been termed “The
Babylonian Chronicle ” by its discoverer, Mr. Pinches, who gave an abstract of
it in the Proceedings of the Society of
Biblical Archceology, 6th May 1884. Since then, the text has been published
with a translation and commentary by Dr. Winckler in the Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie, II.2/3 (1887); it has also been
translated by Dr. Oppert. The tablet (which is marked 84. 2-11, 356) was brought
from Babylonia and is inscribed on both sides with four columns of text. It was
a copy or compilation made by a Babylonian in the reign of Darius from older
records, and must have been similar to the document from which Ptolemy’s Canon
of Babylonian kings was extracted. Like the latter it starts from the era of
Nabonassar, B.C. 747.
The
chronicle is written from a Babylonian point of view, and must therefore be
checked by contemporaneous Assyrian inscriptions. What they describe as
Assyrian successes are sometimes passed over altogether or represented as
Babylonian victories. The Assyrian kings Tiglath-Pileser III and Shalmaneser
IV are not acknowledged under the names they had adopted from two of the most
illustrious monarchs of the first Assyrian empire, but under their original
names of Pul and Ulula; Sargon, on the other hand, whose name was that of the
favourite hero of Babylonian legend, is known by the same name in the Chronicle
as he is on the monuments of Assyria. At the same time the Chronicle helps us
in correcting the inaccuracies of the Assyrian accounts, where, for example,
Suzub represents both Nergal-yusezib and Musezib-Mero- dach. In fact, it
confirms the judgment, already expressed by Assyriologists, that Sennacherib is
the least trustworthy of the royal historians of Assyria.
We are at
present ignorant of the precise way in which the Babylonians reckoned their
chronology. In Assyria the years were named after certain officers, ordinarily
known as eponyms, who were changed each year, and as most of the institutions
of Assyria were derived from Babylonia it is very probable that the system of
counting time by the names of the eponyms was also of Babylonian invention. How
far we can trust the dates assigned to the kings of the earlier dynasties is
open to question. The length of reign assigned to the kings of the dynasties of
the sea and of Bit-Bazi in the Second and Third Dynastic Tablets do not agree,
while the number of regnal years given to the several kings of the first
dynasty of Babylon not only plays on the same ciphers but is suspiciously long.
On the other hand, the contract-tablets belonging to the time of Khammuragas
imply that his reign was not a short one.
There is
evidence in a later part of the dynastic lists that at least one name has been
omitted. Dr. Winckler has published (in the Zeitschrift
fur Assyriologie, ii. 3) the commencement of an inscription
from Babylonia (marked 83.1-18) belonging to a certain king of Babylon, who
calls himself Kuri-galzu the son of Kara-Urus. Dr. Winckler shows that this
must be Kuri-galzu II, and that his name ought to occur in the list between
those of Kara-Urus and Rimmon-nadin-suma. It is quite possible that other
reigns have fallen out in other parts of the lists.
The lacuna
in the Second Dynastic Tablet between the beginning of the eighth dynasty and
the commencement of the reign of Nabonassar unfortunately prevents us from
determining with certainty the date assigned by the compiler of it to
’Sumu-abi. But there are two synchronisms between Babylonian and Assyrian
history which may serve to remedy the defect. According to Sennacherib,
Merodach-nadin- akhe defeated Tiglath-Pileser I, 418 years before his own
conquest of Babylon, that is to say, in B.C. 1106, while the “Synchronous History”
makes Assur-bil- kala, the son of Tiglath-Pileser I, the contemporary of
Merodach-sapik-kullat, and Assur-dan the great-grandfather of Tiglath-Pileser
I, the contemporary of Zamama-nadin-suma, the father of Assur- dan being
contemporaneous with Rimmon-[suma- natsir ?]. If Merodach-nadin-akhe is the
ninth king of the dynasty of Isin, the date of Zamama-nadin- suma will be B.C.
1160, agreeing very well with the period to which the end of the reign of
Assur-dan should be assigned. In this case Sagasalti-buryas, who flourished 800
years before Nabonidos, will not be identical with the Saga-sal[tiyas] of the
dynastic list. The reign of Khammuragas will have commenced B.C. 2282, the
first dynasty of Babylon establishing its power there in B.C. 2394.
We learn
from the inscriptions of Khammuragas that he was the first of his dynasty to
rule over the whole of Babylonia. A rival dynasty had previously reigned at
Karrak in the south, while the Elamites had invaded portions of the country and
probably held them in subjection. Assur-bani-pal states that the Elamite king
Kudur-Nankhundi had carried away the image of the goddess Nana from Babylonia
1635 years before his own time, or about B.C. 2285, and contract-tablets refer
to the conquest of “the lord of Elam and King Rim-Agu” of Karrak by
Khammuragas. A large number of contract-tablets, indeed, belong not only to the
reigns of Khammuragas and his son Samsu-iluna, but also to the reign of
Rim-Agu, who seems to have been master of the greater part of Chaldsea before his
overthrow by the king of Babylon. George Smith was probably right in
identifying him with the son of the Elamite prince Kudur-Mabug, who ruled at
Larsa and claimed the imperial title of “ king of Sumer and Accad.”
The rise
of the empire of Khammuragas brought with it a revival of learning and
literature such as had marked the rise of the empire of Sargon. The calendar
appears to have been reformed at this period, and the great native work on
astronomy and astrology put into the shape in which it has come down to us. The
reign thus formed an era somewhat similar to that of Nabonassar, and it is
therefore curious to see how closely the date I have assigned to it corresponds
with that arrived at by von Gut- schmidt from classical sources for the
beginning of the Babylonian epoch. If the Latin translation can be trusted
(Simplicius ad Arist. de Ccelo, 503 A), the astronomical observations sent by
Kallisthenes from Babylon to Aristotle in B.C. 331 reached back for 1903 years
{i.e. to B.C. 2234). Berossos the Chaldean historian, according to Pliny (N.H.
vii. 57), stated that these observations commenced at Babylon 490 years before
the Greek era of Phoroneus, and consequently in B.C. 2243. According to
Stephanos of Byzantium, Babylon was built 1002 years before the date (given by
Hellanikos) for the siege of Troy (B.C. 1229), which would bring us to B.C.
2231, while Ktesias, according to George Syncellus, made the reign of Belos or
Bel-Merodach last for fifty-five years from B.C. 2286 to 2231. The fifty-five years
of Belos agree with the fifty-five of Khammuragas.
I add here
the Canon of Babylonian kings given by Ptolemy in the Almagest.
B.C.
1. Nabonassar (Nabu-natsir), 14 years
…………………………. 747
2. Nadios (Nadinu), 2 years ...............................................
733
3. Khinziros and Poros (Yukin-zira and Pul),
5 years …. 731
4. Iloulaios or Yougaios (Ulula), 5 years ……………………….
726
5. Mardokempados (Merodach-baladan), 12 years………….721
6. Arkeanos
(Sargon), 5 years ………………………………………….709
7. Interregnum for 2 years………………………………………………..704
8. Belibos (Bel-ebus), 3 years ...............................................
702
9. Aparanadios (Assur-nadin-suma),
6 years...................... 700
10. Regebelos
(Nergal-yusezib), 1 year……………………………….. 694
11. Mesesimordakos (Musezib-Merodach), 4 years……………693
12. Interregnum
for 8 years……………………………………………………689
13. Asaridinos
(Esar-haddon), 13 years…………………………………..681
14. Saosdoukhinos (Saul-suma-yukin), 20 years………………….668
15. Kineladanos
(Kandalanu), 22 years……………………………... .648
16. Nabopolassaros (Nabu-pal-utsur), 21 years ……………………626
17. Nabokolassaros (Nebuchadnezzar), 43 years ……………….605
18. Ilauaroudamos (Avil-Merodach), 2 years……………………….
562
19. Nerigasolasaros
(Nergal-sarra-utsur), 4 years.....................560
20. Nabonadios (Nabu-nahid), 17 years …………………………………556
No.
i.—TRANSLATION OF THE FIRST DYNASTIC TABLET FROM BABYLON
Obverse
1. ’Sumu-abi, the king: 15 years.
2. ’Sumu-la-ilu, the son of the same : 35
years.
3. Zabu, the son of the same : 14 years.
4. Abil-Sin, the son of the same : 18 years.
5. Sin-muballidh, the son of the same : 30
years.
6. Khammu-ragas,1 the son of the
same : 55 years.
7. ’Sam’su-iluna,2 the son of the
same : 35 years.
8. Ebisum,3 the son of the same :
25 years.
9. Ammi-satana, the son of the same : 25
years.
1 o. Ammi-sadugga,4 the son of
the same : 21 years.
11. ’Sam’su-satana (?), the son of the same :
31 years.
12. 11 kings of the dynasty of Babylon.
Reverse
1. (The dynasty of) Uru-azagga.5
Anman the king.
2. Ki-[AN] Nigas.6
3. Damki-ili-su.7
1 The first five names of the dynasty are
Semitic. Khammuragas is Kassite or Kosssean, and is interpreted "of a
large family." Sin- muballidh may have married a foreign wife.
2 "The Sun-god (is) our god,"
another Semitic name.
3 11 The doer,” also
Semitic.
4 Kassite, interpreted ''the family is
established."
6
Uru-azagga is now represented by a part of the mounds of Telloh (the ancient
Sirpurla) or its immediate vicinity.
6 Nigas was an Elamite word.
7 Semitic, signifying "gracious is
his god."
4. Is-ki-pal.1
5. Susst.2
6. Gul-ki-sar.3
7. Kirgal-dara-mas, the son of the same.
8. A-dara-kalama, the son of the same.4
9. A-kur-du-ana.6
10. Melam-kurkura.6
11. Ea-ga(mil ?).7
12. 1 [1] kings of the dynasty of Uru-azagga.
1 Perhaps to be read in Semitic
Sapin-mat-nukurti, “the sweeper away of the land of the foe.” The name seems to
have been a title.
2 Perhaps the Semitic sussu, “sixty.”
3 In Semitic Muabbid-kissati, “the
destroyer of hosts."
4 Apparently, therefore, the son of the
preceding king.
5 Rendered by the Semitic
Abil-Bel-u’sum-same, 1 * the son of Bel (the lord) of the treasury
of heaven."
6 “The glory of the world."
7 The last character is partially
destroyed. If my restoration is correct, the name would be Semitic and signify
“ Ea has rewarded."
No.
2.—'TRANSLATION OF THE SECOND DYNASTIC TABLET FROM BABYLON
Column i
The first eleven lines are destroyed.
12. 11 kings [of the dynasty of Babylon] for
[294 years].
13. Anma[n] for [5]i (years).
14. Ki-AN [Nigas] for 55 (years).
15. Damki-ili[su] for 46 1 (years).
16. Is-ki-[pal] for 15 (years).
17. Sussi, (his) brother, for 27 (years).
18. Gul-ki-[sar] for 55 (years).
19. Kirgal-[dara-mas] for 50 (years).
20. A-dara-[kalama] for 28 (years).
21. A-kur-du-[ana] for 26 (years).
22. Melamma-[kurkura] for 6 (years).
23. Bel-ga[mil?] for 9 (years).
24. For 368 (years) the 11 kings of the dynasty
of Uru-
azagga.
25. Gandis for 16 (years).
26. Agum-si[pak] his son for 22 (years).
27. Guya-si[pak] for 22 (years).2
28. Ussi his son for 8 (years).
29. Adu-medas for . . . (years).
30. Tazzi-gurumas for . . . (years).
1 Mr. Pinches’ copy gives 36 years.
2 Is this king merely a duplicate of his
predecessor, the different spelling of the name having caused the annalist to
divide one king into two ?
3r.
[Agum-kak-rimi1 for . . . years].
The next
line of this column and the first thirteen lines of the next are destroyed.
Column ii
1 4 for
22 (years).
1 5 for
26 (years).
1 6 for
17 (years).
17. Kara ... 2 for 2 (years).
18. Gis-amme ... ti for 6 (years).
19. Saga-sal[tiyas] for 13 (years).
20. Kasbat his son for 8 (years).
21. Bel-nadin-sumi for 1 year (and) 6 months.
22. Kara-Urus3 for 1 year (and) 6
months.
23. Rimmon-nadin-suma for 6 (years).
24. Rimmon-suma-natsir for 30 (years).
25. Meli-Sipak4 for 15 (years).
26. Merodach-abla-iddin (Merodach-baladan) his
son for
13
(years).
2 7. Zamama-nadin-sumi6
for 1 (year).
28. Bel-suma . . .6 for 3 (years).
29. For 576 (years) 9 months the 36 kings [of
the dynasty
of the Kassites].7
30. Merodach- .... for 17 (years).
1 Supplied from an inscription of the king
himself, who styles himself the son of Tassi-gurumas, the descendant of Abi . .
. the son of Agum . . . and the offspring of the god Suqamuna.
2 Identified by Dr. Oppert with Kudur-Bel,
who, according to Nabonidos, was the father of Sagasalti-buryas, the latter of
whom reigned 800 years before himself (B.C. 1340). But the identification is
doubtful, since the names do not agree.
3 “ The servant of Bel” (Kudur-Bel) in
Kassite.
4 "The man of Merodach" in
Kassite.
6 Zamama-nadin-sumi was a contemporary of
the Assyrian king Assur- dan-an (whose name should probably be read Assur-dan,
and be identified with that of Assur-dayan, the great-grandfather of
Tiglath-Pileser I.)
6 Or Bel-nadin- ...
7 The Kassites were a rude tribe of the
Elamite mountains on the northeast side of Babylonia. Noldeke has shown that
they must be identified with the Kossceans of classical geography.
31 for 6 (years).
The next
line of this column and the first four of the next are destroyed.
Column hi
5 for 22 (years).
6. Merodach-nadin- ...1 for r year
and 6 months.
7. Merodach-kul[lat] . . . 2 for
13 (years).
8. Nebo-nadin- . . . for 9 (years).
9. For 72 (years and) 6 months the 11 kings
of the
dynasty of
Isin.3
ro.
Simmas-si[pak] for 18 (years).
11. Bel-mukin-[ziri] for 5 months.
12. Kassu-nadin-akhi for 3 (years).
13. For 21 (years and) 5 months the three kings
of the
dynasty of
the land of the Sea.4
14. E-ulbar-sakin-sumi for 17 (years).
15. Uras-kudurri-[utsur] for 3 (years). r6.
'SAlanim (?)-Suqamu[na] for 3 months.
17. For 20 (years and) 3 months the 3 kings of
the dynasty of Bit-[Bazi],
18. an . . . [an Elamite] for 6 (years).
19 ' for 13 (years).
1 Perhaps Merodach-nadin-akhi, the
antagonist of the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser I., 418 years before the
conquest of Babylon by Sennacherih, and consequently B.C. 1106.
2 Perhaps the Merodach-sapik-kullat of the
Synchronous Tablet, who was a contemporary of Assur-bil-kala, the son of
Tiglath-Pileser I.
3 Isin (pa-se) was also called Pate’si
(“the city of the high-priest" in Babylonia), according to W. A. I., ii.
53, 13.
4 That is, the Persian Gulf. Merodach-haladan
is descrihed below as also belonging to the dynasty of the country of the Sea,
and his ancestral kingdom was that of tbe Kaldd or Chaldees in Bit-yagina among
the marshes at the mouth of the Euphrates.
VOL. I C
20 for 6 months (and) 12 (days).
The next
twelve lines of the column and the first line of the fourth column are
destroyed.
Column iv
2. Nebo-suma-yukin [the son of Dakuri] for .
. . (years).
3. Nabu-[natsir] 1 for [14]
(years).
4. Nebo-nadin-ziri 2 his son for 2
(years).
5. Nebo-suma-yukin his son for 1 month and 12
days.
6. The 31 [kings?]3 of the dynasty
of Babylon.
7. Yukin-zira of the dynasty of Sasi 4 for 3 (years).
8. Pulu5 for 2 (years).
9. Ulula 6 of the dynasty of Tinu
for 5 (years).
1 o.
Merodach-abla-iddina(Merodach-baladan)of the dynasty of the country of the Sea
for 12 (years).
11. Sargon for 5 (years).
12. Sin-akhe-erba (Sennacherib) of the dynasty
of Khabi
the
greater for 2 (years).
13. Merodach-zakir-sumi the son of Arad- ...
for 1
month.
14. Merodach-abla-iddina a soldier of Khabi 7
for 6 months.
15. Bel-ebus of the dynasty of Babylon for 3
(years).
16. Assur-nadin-sumi of the dynasty of Khabi
the greater
for 6
(years).
17. Nergal-zusezib for 1 (year).
1 The Nabonassar of Plolemy's Canon, B.C.
747.
2 Called Nadinu in the Babylonian
Chronicle.
3 Possibly we should supply 1
‘years" instead of "kings.”
4 The annals of Tiglath-Pileser III show
that we should read Sapi or Sape. Yukinzira is the Khinziros of Ptolemy's
Canon.
0 Pulu is the Pul of the Old Testament,
the P6ros of Ptolemy’s Canon. His name is replaced by that of Tiglath-Pileser
in the Babylonian Chronicle, and the two years of his reign correspond with the
two years during which Tiglath-Pileser reigned over Babylonia.
5 The Shalmaneser of the Babylonian
Chronicle and the Assyrian
monuments,
the Ilulaios of Ptolemy’s Canon.
7 Does this imply that he was a different
person from the famous Mcrodach-baladan, the contemporary of Sargon and
Hezekiah?
18. Musezib-Merodach of the dynasty of Babylon
for 4
(years).
19. Sin-akhe-erba (Sennacherib) for 8 (years).
20. Assur-akhe-iddina (Esarhaddon) for [12
years],
21. Samas-suma-yukin (Saosdukhinos) for [20
years].
22. Kandal-[anu] (Khineladanos) for [22 years].
The rest
of the tablet is destroyed.
No.
3.—TRANSLATION OF THE THIRD DYNASTIC TABLET
Obv.—COLUMN
I Only the ends of two lines ill the middle have been preserved.
.... 600
(years) he reigned.
[The
kings] (were) in all.
Obv.-—COLUMN
II
. . . .
ili
(an)
Illadu1 the son of the same for . . . (years). Mul-men-nunna ....
Abil
(?)-Kis the son of ... .
Obv.—COLUMN
III
Is
entirely lost. It contained about seventy lines.
Rev.—COLUMN
IV
[The
dynasty] of Babylon, [ii kings for 294 years], ’Sumu-[abi for 15 years].
ZabQ [for
14 years.]
Abil-Sin
[for 18 years].
Sin-[muballidh
for 30 years].
The next
six lines are destroyed.
The i[i
kings of the dynasty of Uru-azagga].
For 3 [6 8
years],
An[man]
....
Ki[-AN-nigas]
....
Tlu rest
of the column is destroyed.
1 This was
the Semitic reading ; the Accadian seems to have been Pallil.
Rev.—column
v The marshmen (?) of the country of the sea (were) in all:
The leader
of the marshmen (?) of the land of the sea (was) Simmas-sipak the son of
Erba-Sin;
whose
reign was prosperous : his god brought him aid; for 17 years he reigned.
In the
palace of Sargon (his corpse) was burned.
Ea-mukin-zira
established himself as king, the son of Kha’smar;1 for 3 months he
reigned.
In the
vestments of Bit-Kha’hm yr he was burned.
Kassu-nadin-akhi
the son of Sappa2 reigned for 6 years. [He was burned] in the
palace.
The 3 kings
of the dynasty of the country of the Sea reigned for 23 years.
[E]-ulbar-sakin;sumi
the son of Bazi reigned for 15 years : in the palace of Kar-Merodach [he was
burned]. [Uras]-kudurri-utsur the son of Bazi reigned for 2 years.
[Silanim]-Suqamuna the son of Bazi reigned for 3 months : in the palace of Lu .
. . sa [he was burned].
[The 3]
kings of the dynasty of the house of Bazi reigned for 20 years (and) 3 months.
a descendant of the race of Elam reigned for
6 years.
In the
palace of Sargon he was burned.
[One king]
of the dynasty of Elam reigned for
6 years.
The rest
of the tablet is lost.
1 May also be read Kutmar. The word meant ' ‘ a
hawk " in the Kassite language. 2
" The Sappite. ”
No.
4.—TRANSLATION OF THE BABYLONIAN CHRONICLE
Obv.—COLUMN
I
1. [In the 3d year of Nabonassar] king of Babylon
2. [Tiglath-pileser] in Assyria sat on the
throne.
3. In the same year [Tiglath-pileser]
descended into the
country of
Accad, and
4. the cities of Rabbiku and Khamranu he
spoiled,
5. and the gods of the city of Sapazza he
carried away.
6. In the time of Nabu-natsir (Nabonassar)
the town of
Borsippa
7. was separated from Babylon. The battle
which
Nabonassar
8. fought against Borsippa is not described.1
9. In the 5th year of Nabu-natsir
Umma(n)-nigas
10. in Elam sat upon the throne.
11. In (his) 14th year Nabu-natsir fell ill
and died2 in his
palace.
12. For 14 years Nabu-natsir reigned over
Babylon.
13. Nadinu3 his son sat upon the
throne in Babylon.
14. In the second year Nadinu was slain in an
insurrection.
15. For two years Nadinu reigned over Babylon.
16. Suma-yukin4 the governor, the
leader of the insurrec
tion, sat
upon the throne.
1 That is, in the history from which the
writer extracted his chronicles.
2 Literally “fate" (overtook him).
3 The Ncbo-nadin-ziri (" Nebo has
given a seed") of the Dynastic Tablet; Nadios in Ptolemy's Canon.
4 Called Nebo-suma-yukin in the Dynastic
Tablet.
17. For 2 months and . . days Suma-yukin
reigned over
Babylon.
18. Yukin-zira . . . seized upon the throne.
19. In the 3d year of Yukin-zira
Tiglath-pileser,
20. when he had descended into the country of
Accad,
21. destroyed Bit-Amukanu and captured
Yukin-zira.
22. For 3 years Yukin-zira reigned over Babylon.
23. Tiglath-pileser sat upon the throne in
Babylon.
24. In (his) 2d year Tiglath-pileser died in the
month
Tebet.1
'
25. For [22] years Tiglath-pileser the
sovereignty over
Accad
26. and Assyria had exercised. For two years he
reigned
in Accad.
27. On the 25th day of the month Tebet
Sulman-asarid
(Shalmaneser)
in Assyria
28. sat upon the throne. He destroyed the city
of
Sabarahin.2
29. In (his) 5th year Sulman-asarid died in the
month
Tebet.
30. For 5 years Sulman-asarid reigned over the
countries
of Accad
and Assyria.
31. On the 12th day of the month Tebet Sargon
sat upon
the throne
in Assyria.
32. In the month Nisan Merodach-baladan sat upon
the
throne in
Babylon.
33. In the 2d year of Merodach-baladan
Umma(n)-nigas king of Elam
1 December, .
2 Not to be confounded with ’Samerina or
Samaria. M. Halevy may be right in identifying it with the city of Sibraim
mentioned in Ezek. xlvii. 16 as lying between Damascus and Hamath.
34. in the province of Dur-ili fought a battle against
Sargon
king of Assyria, and
35. caused a revolt from Assyria: he overthrew
them1
utterly.
36. Merodach-baladan and his army, which to the
assistance
37. of the king of Elam had gone, did not obtain a battle :
he arrived
too late.2
38. In the 5th year of Merodach-baladan
Umma(n)-nigas
king of
Elam died.
39. [For 3 years] Umma(n)-nigas reigned over
Elam.
40. [Sutruk3-nankhun]du the son of
his sister sat on the
throne in
Elam.
41 up to the 10th year
The
remaining lines of the column are destroyed.
COLUMN 11
1. In the . . th year ....
2. A battle ....
3. For 12 years [Merodach - baladan reigned
over
Babylon].4
4. Sargon [sat upon the throne in Babylon].4
The next
fourteen lines are destroyed.
19. The Babylonians he did not oppress (?)6
. . .
2 o. he (Sennacherib)
was angry also with Merodach-baladan, and [took him prisoner];
21. he devastated his country, and . . .
22. the cities of Larak and Sarraba[nu° he
destroyed].
1 That is, the Assyrians. The Annals of
Sargon, on the other hand, claim the victory for Assyria, though Babylonia was
left in the hands of Merodach-baladan.
2 Literally, 4'he undertook it
too late” {ana arki itsbat-sa).
3 The Elamite Sutruk was identified by the
Assyrians with their goddess lstar.
4 So restored by Winckler. 5 Ikhmi's.
0 See W. A. I., ii. 69, No. 5, 13. Larak
was the Larankha of
Berossos,
which tbe Greek writer seems to have eonfounded with Surippak near Sippara.
23. After his capture (Sennacherib) placed
Bel-ibni upon the throne in Babylon.
24. In the first year of Bel-ibni Sennacherib
25. destroyed the cities of Khirimma and Khararatum.
26. In the 3d year of Bel-ibni Sennacherib into
the country'
of Accad
27. descended, and devastated the country of Accad.
28. Bel-ibni and his officers he transported
into Assyria.
29. For 3 years Bel-ibni reigned over Babylon.
30. Sennacherib his son Assur-nadin-suma
31. placed upon the throne in Babylon.
32. In the first year of Assur-nadin-suma
Sutruk-[nan]-
khundu1
king of Elam
33. was seized by his brother Khallusu who
closed the
gate
before him.2
34. For 18 years Sutruk-[nan]khundu
hadreignedoverELAM.
35. His brother Khallusu sat upon the throne in
Elam.
36. In the 6th year of Assur-nadin-suma
Sennacherib
37. descended into the country of Elam, and the cities of
Nagitum, Khilmi,
38. Pellatum
and Khupapanu he destroyed.
39. He carried away their spoil. Afterwards
Khallusu the
king of Elam
40. marched into the country of Accad and entered Sip
para on
the march (?).
41. He killed some people (but) the Sun-god did
not issue
forth from
the temple of E-Babara.
42. He captured Assur-nadin-suma and he was
carried to
Elam.
43. For 6 years Assur-nadin-suma reigned over Babylon.
1 Written Is-tar-khu-un-du. The Susian
inscriptions of the king himself write the name
Su-ut-ru-uk-[AN]-Xakh-khu-un-te.
2 That is, imprisoned him.
44. The king of Elam
placed Nergal-yusezib in Babylon
45. on the throne. He caused [a revolt] from Assyria.
46. In the 1 st year of Nergal-yusezib, on the
16th day of
the month
Tammuz,1
47. Nergal-yusezib captured Nipur2 and occupied its
neighbourhood
(?).
48. On the first day of the month Tammuz the
soldiers of
Assyria
had entered Uruk.3
column III
1. They spoiled the gods belonging to Uruk
as well as its
inhabitants.
2. Nergal-yusezib fled after the Elamites,
and the gods be
longing to
Uruk
3. as well as its inhabitants (the Assyrians)
carried away.
On the 7
th day of the month Tisri4 in the province of Nipur
4. he fought a battle against the soldiers of
Assyria and
was taken
prisoner in the conflict, and
5. he was carried to Assyria. For 1 year and
6 months
Nergal-yusezib
6. reigned over Babylon. On the 26th day of
the
[month
Tisri ?]
7. against Khallusu king of Elam his people
revolted,
[the gate
before] him
8. they closed. They slew him. For 6 years
Khallusu
reigned
over Elam.
9. Kudur in Elam sat upon the throne.
Afterwards Sen
nacherib
10. descended into Elam and from the country of
Rasi as
far as
11. Bit-Burna 5 he devastated.
12. Musezib-Merodach sat upon the throne in
Babylon.
1 June. 2
Now Niffer.
3 Now Warka, the Ereeh of Gen. x. 10. 4 September.
5 Bit-Burna (-ki) is called Bit Buna (-ki) in the annals of Sennacherib.
13. In the first year of Musezib-Merodach on
the 17th day
of the
month Ab1
14. Kudur king of Elam was seized in an
insurrection
and
killed. For 10 months
15. Kudur had reigned over Elam. Menanu in Elam
16. sat upon the throne. I do not know the year2
when
the
soldiers of Elam and Accad
17. he collected together and in the city of Khalule a
battle
against Assyria
18. he fought, and caused a revolt from
Assyria.3
19. In the 4th year of Musezib-Merodach on the
15 th
day of
Nisan 4
20. Menanu king of Elam was paralysed,5
and
21. his mouth was seized and he was deprived of
speech.
22. On the first day of the month Kisleu6
the city [of Baby
lon] was taken, Musezib-Merodach
23. was taken and led away to Assyria.
24. For 4 years Musezib-Merodach reigned over Baby
lon.
25. On the 7th day of the month Adar7
Menanu king of
Elam died.
26. For 4 years Menanu reigned over Elam.
27. Khumma-khaldasu 8 in Elam sat upon the throne.
28. In the eighth year of the king there was ...
in Baby
lon. On
the 3d day of the month Tammuz
29. the gods belonging to Erech went down from
the city
of Eridu 9
to Erech.
1 July.
2 The chronicler's sources here failed
him, but Winckler has pointed out that the battle of Khalule must have taken
place in either B.c. 691 or 690.
3 The annals of Sennacherib claim a
complete victory for the Assyrians.
4 March.
5 Literally, " Tetanus constricted
him ” (misidtuv imisid, cf. W. A. I., ii. 27. 47, 48).
6 November.
7 February.
8 Called Umman-aldas in the Assyrian
inscriptions.
9 Eridu was on the coast of the Persian Gulf.
30. On the 3d day of the month Tisri
Khumma-khaldasu
the king
of Elam by the Fire-god
31. was stricken and perished through the power
(?) of the
god. For 8
years Khumma-khaldasu
32. reigned over Elam.
33. Khumma-khaldasu the second in the country
of Elam
sat upon
the throne.
34. On the 20th day of the month Tebet,1
Sennacherib
king of Assyria
35. by his own son 2 was murdered in
an insurrection. For
[24] years
Sennacherib
36. reigned over Assyria. From the 20th day of
the
month
Tebet until
37. the 2d day of the month Adar is described as
a
period of
insurrection in Assyria.
38. On the 8th day of the month Sivan3
Assur-akhi-iddina
(Esar-haddon)
his son sat on the throne in Assyria.
39. In the first year of Esar-haddon,
Zira-kina-esir4 of the
sea coast,5
40. when he had laid fetters on the city of
Erech, the city
of [Erech
?]
41. destroyed in sight of the officers of
Assyria and [fled] to
the
country of Elam.
42. In Elam the king of Elam took him and [slew
him]
with the
sword.
43. In a month I do not know the officer called
Gu-enna
was ... in
the city of Nipur.
44. In the month Elul,8 the god Gu’si7
and the gods [of the city of . . .]
1 December.
2 It will be notiecd that the
chronicler speaks of only one son, whereas two are named in the Old Testament. 3 May.
4 Called by Esar-haddon
Nebo-zira-kina-esir (“ Nebo has directed the established seed "), the son
of Merodach-baladan.
5 That is, of the Persian Gulf. 6 August,
7 “The god of the favourable mouth/' a
local divinity (perhaps belonging to Sippara, W. A. I., v. 31, 30), and
identified with Uras (W. A. I’. H. 57. 54).
45........... proceeded to Dur-ili; [the gods of....................... ]
46.. proceeded to Dur-Sargon
47........ In the month Adar the heads of
48........... In the second year the
major-domo.......................
The next
two lines are destroyed.
Rev.—COLUMN
IV
1 akhe-sullim the Gu-enna.
2. .. . [the Gimir]ri1 marched
against Assyria and in
Assyria were slain.
3. . . . the city of Sidon was taken; its spoil was carried
away.
4. The major-domo mustered a gathering in Accad.
5. In the 5th year on the 2d day of the month
Tisri the
Assyrian
soldiers Bazza 2
6. occupied. In the month Tisri the head of
the king of
the
country of Sidon
7. was cut off, and brought to Assyria. In
the month
Adar the
head of the king
8. of the countries of Gundu and ’Si’sti 3 was cut
off and
brought to
Assyria.
9. In the 6th year the king of Elam entered Sippara. He offered sacrifices. The Sun-god4 from
ro. the temple of E-Babara did not
issue forth. The Assyrians marched into Egypt.
Ethiopia was troubled.5
1 So restored by Winckler. The GimirrH are
the Gomer of the Old Testament, the Kimmerians of classical writers.
2 Apparently the district of Arabia
Petrasa called Bazu by Esar-haddon, Buz in the Old Testament.
3 Probably in Kilikia.
4 The Sun-god whose temple has been
discovered by Mr. Hormuzd Rassam in the mounds of Abu-Habba was the
patron-deity of Sipar or Sippara. Besides "Sippara of the Sun-god,"
there was a neighbouring city called “ Sippara of Anunit." The two
together formed the Scriptural Sepharvaim or " two Sipparas."
5 Melukh imina.
11. Khumma-khaldasu the king of Elam without being
sick died
in his palace.
12. For 5 years Khumma-khaldasu reigned over
Elam.
13. Urtagu his brother sat upon the throne in Elam.
14. In a month I do not know Nadin-Suma the
Gu-enna
15. and Kudur the son of Dakuri went to Assyria.
16. In the 7 th year on the 5 th day of the
month Adar the soldiers of Assyria
marched into Egypt.
1 7. In the month Adar Istar of the city
of Accad and the gods of the city
of Accad
18. had departed from the country of Elam and on the 10th day of the month
Adar entered the city of Accad.
19. In the 8th year of Esar-haddon in the month
Tebet on a day of which the date has been lost1
2 o. the country of the Ruriza was occupied; its spoil was
carried away.
21. In the month Kisleu its spoil was brought
into the city
of Ur.
22. On the 5th day of the month Adar the wife of
the
king died.
23. In the tenth year in the month Nisan the
soldiers of
Assyria marched into Egypt.2
24. On the 3d day of the month Tammuz and also
on
the 16th and
18th days
25. three times the Egyptians were defeated with
heavy
loss.3
26. On the 2 2d day Memphis,4 the
royal city, was cap
tured.
2 7. Its king fled; his son descended into
the country of [Ethiopia].
1 In the history from which the chronicler
derived his account.
2 The chronicler notes here that the last
character in the line was wanting in his copy.
3 Literally, " massacres took place
in Egypt.”
4 Written-A/i?;;/^/.
28. Its spoil was carried away; [its] men were
[enslaved]; its goods were
29. In the nth year the king [remained] in
Assyria; his officers
30............. In the 12th year the king of
Assyria........................
31. On the march he fell ill, and died on the
10th day of
the month
Marchesvan.1
32. For 12 years Esar-haddon reigned over
Assyria.
33. Saul-suma-yukina in Babylon, Assur-bani-pal
in
Assyria,
his two sons, sat on the throne.
34. In the accession year of Saul-suma-yukina in
the
month
Iyyar,2
35. Bel and the gods of Accad from the city of
Assur
36. had gone forth and on the nth day of the
month
Iyyar had
entered into Babylon.
37. In that year [against] the city of Kirbitum3
[there was
war] ; its
king is conquered.
38. On the 20th day of the month Tebet
Bel-edir-/»« (?)
in Babylon
is seized and put to death.
39. The first part (of the chronicle) has been
written like
its
original and has been made public.
40. The tablet of Ana-Bel-KAN the son of
Libludhu
41. the son of Nis-Sin, by the hand of Ea-iddin
the son of
42. Ana-Bel-KAN the son of Libludhu of Babylon,
43. the 5th day of the month . . . the 22d year
of Darius
king of
Babylon,
44. the king of the world.
1 October. 2
April.
3 Apparently the city of Karbat in
Northern Egypt, conquered by Assur-bani-pal at the commencement of his reign.
No.
5.—TRANSLATION OF THE INSCRIPTION GIVING THE ASSYRIAN INTERPRETATION OF THE
NAMES OF THE EARLY BABYLONIAN KINGS
1.
2. 345-
Obv.—COLUMN
I About forty lines lost.
? Ur-Damu. Acc.1] ? Babar-uru. Acc.] Ur- . .]la. Acc. Ur-]Babara. Acc. Is-ki-]pal. Acc.
6. [Gul-ki-]sar. Acc.
7. A-[dara]-kalama. Acc.
8. A-kur-du-ana. Acc.
9. Lugal-ginna. Acc.
10. The queen Azag-Bau. Acc.
“ Man of
the goddess Gula.” “ The Sun-god protects.”
“ Man of
the Moon-god.”
“ Man of
the Sun-god.”
“ Sweeper
away of the hostile country.”
“
Destroyer of hosts.”
“ Son of
the god Ea king of the land.”
“ Son of
Bel (the mountain) of the treasury of heaven.” “Established king”(Sargon).2
“ The goddess Bau is holy.”
11. These are the kings who after the flood
are not described in chronological order.
12. Khammu-ragas. Kas.3 “ Of a large
family.”
13. Ammi-didugga. Kas. “ Of an established
family.”
14. Kur-gal-zu. Kas. “ Be a shepherd.”
1 That is, Aeeado-Sumerian,
2 The name of the king was really Sarganu
(perhaps of the same origin as the Biblical Serug), but his Accadian subjects
misunderstood it, turning it into Sarru-ldnu, "established king,"
which was written in Sumerian Lugal-ginna.
3 That is, Kassite or Kosscean.
15. Simmas-sipak. Kas.
16. Ulam-bur-yas. Kas.
17. Nazi-Murudas. Kas.
18. Meli-Sipak. Kas.
19. Burna-bur-yas. Kas.
20. Kara-Urus. Kas.
“
Offspring of Merodach.”
“
Offspring of the lord of the world.”
“ The
shadow of Uras.”
“ Man of Merodach.”
“ Servant
[of the lord of the world].”
I! Minister
of [Bel].”
column II
About thirty-three lines are lost.
1 [an-]khegal. Acc.
2 [an-]khegal. Acc.
3. Lu-Silig-lu-sar. Acc.
4. Un-kur-Silig-alim. Acc.
5. Gu-sermal-Tutu. Acc.
6. Sazu-[AN]kusvu. Acc.
7. Sazu-ap-tila-nen-gu. Acc.
8. Ur-Nin-din-bagga. Acc.
9. Khumeme. Acc.
10. Dili-khidu. Acc.
11. Mu-na-tila. Acc.
12. Nannak-satu. Acc.
13. Nannak-agal-duabi. Acc.
14. Labar-Nu-dimmud. Acc.
15. Urudu-man-sun. Acc.
“ With
Merodach is life.” “With Merodach is verdure.”
“ Man of
Merodach.”
“The lord
of the land is Merodach.”
“ The
closer of the mouth is Merodach.”
“ Merodach
is an overshadowing god.”
“ Merodach
has declared life to him.”
“ Man of Gula [the goddess of life and death].”
“ Man of Gula.”
“ (Man of)
the god Pap- sukal.”1 “ May his name live.”
“ The Moon
- god has begotten.”
“The
Moon-god is strong over all.”
“ Servant
of Ea [lord of the universe].”
“The god Nusku has given.”
1 Literally
"the messenger of the treasury (of heaven).'' VOL. I D
16. Kud-ur-Alima. Acc.
17. Dun-aga-ba-khe-til. Acc.
18. Damu-mu-as-khe-gal.
Acc.
19. Dun-gal-tur-tae. Acc.
20. Tutu-bul-anta-gal. Acc.
21. Dugga-makh-Sazu. Acc.
22. Khedu-lamma-ra. Acc.
23. Mul-khe-sal. Acc.
24. Dimir-Uru-du. Acc.
25. Dimir-Uruk-du. Acc.
26. Dimir-Erida-du-ru. Acc.
“ Sweet
are the loins of Bel.” “May
Bau vivify her womb.” “ May Gula be one name.”
“ May Bau establish great and small.”
“O Merodach as a comrade spare her (?).”
“ Supreme
is the word of Merodach.”
“Pap-sukal is the colossos.” “ May Bel be exalted.” “The Moon-god as son
[of the city Ur].”
“ The god
who is the son of [Erech].”
“ Ea [as son of Eridu, the
creator].”
The next
two li?ies are destroyed.
Rev. — COLUMN
III The first two lines are destroyed.
1 a-edina. Acc.
2. ’Si-ru. Acc.
3. Kur-nigin-garra - gurus-
nene. Acc.
4. Uras-saglitar1-zae-men.
Acc.
5. Uras - qalzi - nes - kiam -
mama. Acc.
6. Mul-lil-ki-bi-gi. Acc.
7. Laghlaghghi-Gar. Acc.
8. Kur-gal-nin-mu-pada.
Acc.
“ The
choir of the goddess Zarpanit.”
“ Bel has created.”
“ Uras is their first-born.1'
“ Uras, thou art overseer.”
“Uras who loves constancy.”
“ Bel of Nipur has returned to his place.”
“ Nebo illuminates."
“ The
great mountain (Bel) records the
name.”
1 The correct reading of lhis word is
doubtful.
9. Aba-Sanabi-dari. Acc.
10. Aba-Sanabi-diri. Acc.
11. Es-Guzi-gin-du. Acc.
12. Khu-un-zuh. Acc.
13. Nab-sakh-menna. Acc.
14. Massu-gal-Babara-gude.
Acc.
15. Ur-Sanabi. Acc.
16. Lu-Damu. Acc.
17. Tutul-Savul. Acc.
18. Nin-sakh-gu-nu-tatal.
Acc.
19. Agu-sag-algi. Acc.
20. Agu-ba-tila. Acc.
21. Larru-ningub-al. Acc.
22. Lubar-E-gir-azagga. Acc.
23. Bad-Mullilla. Acc.
24. Nanak-gula. Acc.
25. . . . nu-laragh-danga-
su-mu-aldibba. Acc.
“ Who is
like Bel a bridegroom.”
“ Who is
like Bel (the lord) of counsel.”
“The
temple of E-Saggil the
establishment of the son.”
“Bel who
knows mankind.” “Bel, prosper me.”
“What is
shorn by Rimmon.”
“ The man
of Ea.”
“The man
of Gula.” “TheSun-god has
mustered.” “ Pap - sukal who
changes not (his) command.”
“The
Moon-god has given a son.”1 “ May the Moon-god vivify what is below
him.”
“O Bel, defend the landmark.”
“ Servant
of Nergal.”
“ Minister
of Bel.”
“ The
Moon-god is great.”
“ (O
Sun-)god, in difficulties and dangers take my hand.”
“E-Saggil is our mountain.”
26. [Es-Guzi-]kharsag-men.
Acc.
More than
thirty lines are destroyed here.
COLUMN IV
1. Ulam-Urus. Kas. “ Offspring of Bel.”
2. Meli-Khali. Kas. “ Man of Gula.”
1 The Assyro-Babylonian translation is a
paraphrase, as in some other instances. The Accado-Sumerian compound is
literally : '' The Moon-god has established a head."
3. Meli-Sumu. Kcts.
4. Meli-Sibarru. Kas.
5. Meli-Sakh. Kas.
6. Nimgirabi. Kas.
7. Nimgirabi-Sakh. Kas.
8. Nimgirabi-Buryas. Kas.
9. Kara-Buryas. Kas.
1 o. Kara-Sakh. Kas.
11. Nazi-Sipak. Kas.
12. Nazi-Buryas. Kas.
“ Man of
the god Suqa-
MUNA.”
“ Man of
the god Simalia.” “ Man of the
Sun-god.”
“ The
merciful.”
“ Merciful
is the Sun-god.”
“ Merciful
is [Bel the lord of the world].”
“ Servant
of [Bel lord of the world].”
“ Servant
of the Sun-god.”
[“ Shadow
of Merodach.”] [“Shadow of Bel lord] of the world.”
The
remaining eight lines are lost.
No.
6.—TRANSLATION OF THE ANNALS OF SARGON OF ACCAD AND NARAM-SIN1
OBVERSE
1. When the moon at its setting with the
colour of a dust-
cloud2
filled the crescent, the moon was favourable for Sargon who at this season
2. marched against the country of Elam and subjugated
the men of
Elam.
3. Misery (?) he brought upon them; their
food he cut
off.
4. When the moon at its setting filled the
crescent with
the colour
of a dust-cloud, and over the face of the sky the colour extended behind the
moon during the day and remained bright,
5. the moon was favourable for Sargon who
marched
against
the country of [Phoenicia], and
6. subjugated the country of Phoenicia. His hand con
quered the
four quarters (of the world).
7. When the moon increased in form on the
right hand and on the left, and moreover [during] the day the finger reached
over the horns,3
1 W. A. I., iv. 34. The text has been
translated in part by Mr. George Smith. The astrological notices with which the
account of Sargon's campaigns is associated are explained by the fact that the
great Chaldean work on astronomy and astrology was compiled for his library at
Accad, and that one of the objects of this work was to trace a connection
between certain astronomical occurrences and the events which immediately
followed them.
2 Ana
pikhirti~su tsirip zakiki.
3 The moon lay on its back, and the
distance from the extremity of one horn to that of another was as much as a
span.
8. the moon was favourable for Sargon who at
this season
produced
joy (?) [in] Babylon, and
9. [like] dust the spoil of Bab-dhuna was carried away
and
10. ... he made Accad
a city; the city of .... he
called its
name;
11. [the men of . . . . in the] midst he
caused to dwell.
12. [When the moon] on the left the colour of fire
[on] the left of the planet, and
13. [the moon was favourable to Sargo]n who at
this season
against
the country of Phoenicia
14. [marched and subjugated it]. The four
quarters (of
the world)
his hand conquered.
15. [When the moon] behind the moon the
four heads
were placed,
16. [the moon was favourable to Sargon who at
this season]
marched
[against] the country of Phoenicia and
17. [subjugated the country of Phoenicia.] His [enemies ?]
he smote;
his heroes 18 in the gate of its 1
rising.
19................ [When the moon was
fixed?] and a span................... [the
moon was
favourable to Sargon] as for whom at this season the goddess [Istar]
20................ [with favours] filled for
him his hand................... the
goddess Istar [all countries]
21. caused him to conquer; against Tiri (?)....
22. [When the moon] appeared [like] a lion, the
moon was
favourable
to Sargon who at this season
23. was [very] exalted and a rival (or) equal had
not; his
own
country was at peace. Over
24. [the countries] of the sea of the setting
sun 2 he crossed
and for 3
years at the setting sun
1 The
Sun-god must be referred to. “ The
Mediterranean.
25. [all countries] his hand conquered. Every
place to
form but
one (empire) he appointed. His images at the setting sun
26. he erected. Their spoil he caused to pass
over into
the
countries of the sea.1
27. [When the moon on] the right hand was like
the colour of gall, and there was no finger;2 the upper part was
long and the moon was setting (?),
2 8. [the moon was favourable for] Sargon
who enlarged his palace of Delight (?) by 5 mitkhu, and
29. established the chiefs [in it] and called it
the House of Kiam-izallik?
30. When the moon was like a cloud (?), like the
colour of
gall, and
there was no finger;2 on the right side was the colour of a sword;
the circumference of the left side was visible;
31. towards its face on the left the colour
extended; the
moon was
favourable for Sargon against whom at this season Kastubila of the country of
Kazalla rebelled and against Kazalla
32. (Sargon) marched and he smote their forces;
he ac
complished
their destruction.
33. Their mighty army he annihilated ; he
reduced Kazalla
to dust
and ruins.
34. The station of the birds 4 he
overthrew.
35. When the moon was like a cloud (?), like the
colour of
1 We infer
from this that Sargon had crossed over into Cyprus, and there erected an image
of himself. This might explain why his later namesake Sargon sent to the
island a monument, which is now in Berlin. General di Cesnola brought back from
Cyprus a. Babylonian cylinder of hsematite bearing the inscription, ■ ‘
Abil-Istar, the son of Iln-Balidh, the servant of the deified Naram-Sin.”
The cylinder was probably executed either during the reign of Naram-Sin, or
shortly afterwards, as the cult of the king is not likely to have continued
after the fall of his dynasty.
- It could
not be measured. 3 "
Thus he has appointed."
4 What this refers to it is impossible to
say. The expression can hardly be metaphorical
gall, and
there was no finger ;1 on the right side was the colour of a sword;
the circumference of the left was visible;
36. and against its face the Seven 2
advanced; the moon
was
favourable to Sargon, against whom at this season
37. the elders of the whole country revolted and
besieged
him in the
city of Accad ; but
38. Sargon issued forth and smote their forces;
their de
struction
he accomplished.
Reverse
1. Their numerous soldiery he massacred ;
the spoil that
was upon
them he collected.
2. “ The booty of Istar ! ” he shouted.
3. When the moon had two fingers, and swords
were seen
on the
right side and the left, [and] might and peace were on the left
4. its hand presented a sword; the sword in
its left hand
was of the
colour of 'sukhuruni; the point was held in the left hand and there were two
heads;
5. [the moon] was favourable for Sargon who
at this season
6. subjected the men of [the country] of
’Su-edin 3 in its
plenitude
to the sword, and
7. Sargon caused their seats to be occupied,
and
8. smote their forces; their destruction he
accomplished;
their
mighty army
9. he cut off, and his troops he collected;
into the city of
Accad he
brought (them) back.
10. [When the moon] had two fingers and on the
right side it was of the colour of a sword and on the left it was visible;
1 It eould
not be measured.
s The Seven
Evil Spirits who were supposed to eause eelipses of the moon.
3 “The plain of the ’Suti," or nomad
tribes on the eastern side of Babylonia,
11. [and against its face] the Seven advanced
; (its) appear
ance was
of the colour of gall; the moon was favourable for Naram-Sin
12. [who at] this season marched against the
city of Apirak,
and
13. [utterly] destroyed it: Ris-Rimmon the king
of Apirak
14. [he overthrew], and the city of Apirak his hand con
quered.
15. [When the moon] on the right it was of the
colour of
a sword, and on the left it was visible;
16. [and against its face the Seven advanced
?]; the moon
was
favourable for-Naram-Sin who at this season
17. marched [against the country of Ma]ganna 1 and seized
the
country of Maganna, and 18 the king of MAganna
his hand captured.
19. [When against the moon] the Seven were
banded, [and]
behind it
20............... never may there be a son
(?)
1 The
Sinaitic Peninsula.
By M. Arthur Amiaud
Tiie names
of Telloh and of the French Consul M. de Sarzec are no longer strange to the
Orientalist of to-day, The situation of the mounds, which have hidden and
preserved to our day the ruins of one of the most ancient centres of
civilisation, is well known. The history of the excavations has been often
written, and I shall not dwell upon it. Nor shall I discuss the results of these
excavations from the point of view of art or archaeology. This work has been
undertaken by a master hand in the Decouvertes cn Chaldee} At present I shall
only essay to follow in the steps of Dr. Oppert by making the monuments of
stone and brick tell their own tale, and by questioning them summarily on the
geography, history, politics, and religion of their age and country.2
I. The first question one thinks of asking
is what was the name of that flourishing city of ancient Chaldaea which the
Bedouin now knows only as
1 See also
M. L6on Heuzey’s Un Palais Chaldten (Paris, Leroux, 1888).
~ On all
these points, see Hommel’s Geschichte Babylonicns und Assyrian (Berlin,
1885-87).
Telloh ?
Considering that all the princes whose names occur on the monuments are entitled
“kings” or “ patesis” of Shirpurla-ki, it was generally answered at
first: This city was Shirpurla.1 As often happens, the first
impression has proved to be correct.
I was
wrong in questioning the identification in an article in the Zeitschrift fur
Keilschriftforschung (i. p. 151). I had remarked that except in the title of
the kings and patesis the name of Shirpurla-ki appeared very rarely in the
inscriptions of Telloh, and that whenever a prince mentioned the site where a
temple was erected he gave it another name— Girsu-ki, Uru-azagga, Nina-ki,
Gishgalla-ki. I now believe, and shall attempt to prove, that Telloh really
represents the ruins of Shirpurla; that it was the general name of a great
centre of population, of which Girsu-ki, Uru-azagga, Nina-ki, and Gishgalla-ki
were only divisions or quarters.
Let us
first remove a hypothesis which could present itself to the mind. Might not
Shirpurla be the name of a country, of which Girsu-ki and the three other
cities mentioned above were the chief places ? This supposition is forbidden by
the inscription of the statue F of Gudea, which states formally that Shirpurla
was the beloved “ city” of the goddess Gatumdug (col. i., cases 15, 16). It is
also forbidden
1 According to Mr. Pinches {Guide to the
Kouyunjik Gallery, London, 1885, p. 7, rote 2), Shir-pur-la-ki would be an
ideographic mode of writing the word Lagash. We should then perhaps have to
compare W. A. I., ii. 52, a 60, which seems lo connect a city Lagashu-ki with
Urama or " Ur" (?).
by W. A. I.,
ii. 61, 2, 37, where we learn that a temple otherwise unknown was situated in
Shirpurla-ki.
The list
of temples given in this passage might open the door to another hypothesis,
which must be removed in its turn, for it would be inconsistent with the relations
existing between Shirpurla and the four other towns. In lines 34 and 35 two
temples are named as temples of Girsu-ki. If Girsu-ki had been only a quarter
of Shirpurla, would there not be some inconsistency on the part of the Assyrian
scribe in saying: Such and such temples belong to Girsu-ki, such another to
Shirpurla-ki ? Might one not conclude that Shirpurla and the four other towns
were separate cities ?
Now it is
certain that Gudea tells us (in the inscription on statue C) that he has
constructed the temple of E-anna for the goddess Ninni or Istar in Girsu-ki
(col. 3, cases 11, 12). We further know that the same Istar, the presiding
deity of Erech, had a celebrated temple in that city which also bore the name
of E-anna. Moreover, certain texts of Gudea and Dungi, which mention the
construction of temples in Girsu-ki, come, it is believed, from other sites
than Telloh, some from Warka or Erech, others from Babylon, from Zerghul and
from Tel-Eed. But this proves nothing in favour of Erech, and still less
against Telloh. From the fact that Istar had a temple named E-anna at Erech, we
cannot infer that the same goddess had not a temple of the same name in
another city. We know that Nebo had a temple called
E-Zida in
Borsippa, and there were at least two others of the same name at Babylon and
Calah.
We cannot
look for Nina-ki, any more than Girsu- ki, outside Telloh, or identify it with
the Assyrian Nineveh.1 As for the inscription cited by Dr. Hommel in
support of the contrary view, the Museum of the Louvre possesses several
similar ones discovered by M. de Sarzec at Telloh. If the text translated by
Dr. Hommel does not come from Telloh, it must have been moved from its original
place, like the tablet of black stone, with a Semitic inscription of Dungi,
believed to have been found at Nineveh, and accordingly quoted by Dr. Hommel
to show that the empire of the kings of Ur extended as far as that city. The
text itself of the inscription, imperfectly copied by Lenormant, proves that
its primitive resting-place was Cutha.2 But yet more. Two princes of
Shirpurla, Uru-Kagina in his barrel-inscription, and Gudea in the
cylinder-inscription A, state that they have worked upon a canal,
Nina-ki-tum-a, “the favourite river of the goddess Nina.’' In order to find this
canal I believe it will be useless to ascend as far as the Khausser, the river
of Nineveh, if we compare with the context these lines of M. de Sarzec: “ In
going from the Shatt-el-Hai' to the ruins, at 500 metres from the enceinte of
Telloh we meet with the bed of an immense canal, still visible, though filled
with sand, running from N.W. to S.E. It is possibly the
1 The pronunciation of the name of the
goddess Ninl and of the city called after her is still problematical.
2 See the
Zeitschrift fur Assyriotogie, iii., p. 94.
original
channel of the Shatt-el-Hal, possibly also some canal derived from that great
artery, and intended to supply the city with water.”1
Uru-azagga
and Gishgalla-ki still remain. The first must be sought near Telloh, if not in
Telloh itself, since M. de Sarzec has found in the ruins: (l) at least one
brick commemorating the erection by Gudea of a temple of the goddess Gatumdug
situated in Uru-azagga;2 (2) the forepart of a lion or griffon of
calcareous stone, which bears the same inscription as the brick of Gudea, some
insignificant variants excepted ;3 (3) a doorstep of the patesi
Nammagh&ni, intended for the temple of the goddess Bau, which the
inscriptions on several statues of Gudea place in Uru- azagga;4 (4)
a buttress of the patesi Entena intended for the temple of the goddess Gatumdug
in Uru-azagga.5 As for Gishgalla-ki, which is known only from two
passages in the inscription on the statue of Ur-Bau, one of which calls the
patesi “servant of the divine king of Gishgalla-ki,” and the other places in
Gish- galla-ki a temple of the goddess Ninni, its name even remains an obscure
problem. It must have been some locality in Telloh or its immediate vicinity.
Otherwise the inscription of Ur-Bau would offer us the only example in our texts
of a foreign temple constructed by the princes of Shirpurla, and the sole
1 Dtcouvertes en Chaldde, p. 12.
2 Not yet published.
3 I owe my knowledge of this fact, as well
as of several others, to the kindness of M. Heuzey.
4 Ddcouvertes en Chaldde, pi. 27, 1.
5 Not yet published.
example
also of the title of “servant” of a foreign god assumed by one of them.
It will
now be easy for me to show that the four centres, Girsu-ki, Uru-azagga,
NinA-ki, and Gishgalla- ki, were only quarters.of a large city, which bore the
name of Shirpurla-ki. Whenever the princes who have reigned at Telloh wished to
indicate the whole of their capital or their domain, we shall see that they
called it Shirpurla-ki. Only when they preferred to mark the extent of their
domain by means of its extreme or most important points, or when they wanted to
indicate a particular spot, they employed the names Girsu-ki, Uru-azagga,
Nina-ki, and Gish- galla-ki.
It is thus
that all call themselves “kings1' or “patesis”of Shirpurla-ki. There
is but one exception, and only in one of the three inscriptions he has left us
; Uru-Kagina entitles himself on his cylinder “king of Girsu-ki.” This
exception can be easily explained, since Girsu-ki was without doubt the most
important quarter of Shirpurla. It is thus again that Gudea, wishing to inform
us what were the distant countries from which he derived the materials necessary
for the buildings of his capital, expresses himself as follows : " By the
power of Ninft and Nin-girsu, to Gudea who holds his sceptre from Nin-Girsu,
the countries of M&gan, Melughgha, Gubi, and Nituk, rich in trees of every
species, have sent him at Shirpurla-ki ships laden with all sorts of trees”
(statue D, col. 4). Thus, too, if I understand the passage rightly, after
having
enumerated the reforms which followed his accession to the throne, he describes
the peace resulting therefrom to his country: “ On the territory of
Shirpurla-ki no one has sued him who has right on his side; a brigand has
entered the house of no one” (statue B, col. 5).
But if the
same Gudea wants to insist on the peace which he has given his country, and to
prove that no part of his city was excluded from his care, he tells us: “Gudea,
patesi of Shirpurla-ki, has proclaimed peace from Girsu-ki to Uru-azagga”
(statue G, col. 2). So, too, in describing the position of a temple, the
princes of Telloh never say that it was situated in Shirpurla, but more
precisely in Girsu-ki, in Uru- azagga, in Nin^-ki, or in Gishgalla-ki.
It is very
difficult at present to determine the approximate situation in Telloh of these
different quarters. I will, however, make some suggestions in regard to them.
The four
iels or mounds on the west side of Telloh perhaps represent the site of
Nina-ki. From one of them M. de Sarzec has recovered the beautiful bull and the
tablet of black stone which bear the name of Dungi, and mention the erection of
the temple of the goddess Ninl All the other tels, including the great tel on
which stood the palace, appear to have formed part of Girsu-ki. It is in this
region that bronzes and votive tablets have been discovered with the names of
the god Nin-Girsu and of his sons Gal-alim and Dun-shag&na ; now we cannot
doubt, though we
are not
directly assured of it, that the temples of these three gods were situated in
Girsu-ki. As for Uru-azagga, it is not certain that it lay in the part of
Telloh excavated by M. de Sarzec. With the exception of some statues, which
have certainly not been found in their original position, the monuments
intended, according to their inscriptions, for this quarter of Shirpurla-ki are
little numerous ; and some, if not all, appear to have been displaced, and, to
use the expression of M. Heuzey, to have been replaced by the successive
occupants of Telloh, which was still inhabited in the Parthian epoch. Nothing
can be said concerning Gishgalla-ki, which is mentioned only on the statue of
Ur-Bau.
II. We now possess the names of twelve
or thirteen princes of' Shirpurla, four or five of whom bear the title of
“king,” and eight the title of “patesi.” M. Heuzey has shown by arguments
derived from the more archaic character of their monuments and writing that
the most ancient of these princes were the kings. He has also established that
among the patesis the group comprising Entena and En-anna- tumma was the
oldest. The script used by these patesis is still linear like that of the
kings, and not yet cuneiform like that of the later princes. Of course I refer
only to the inscriptions engraved on hard materials, bronze or stone. For we
possess a clay cylinder of the king Uru-Kagina, where the wedge already appears
as distinctly as on the bricks and cylinders of Gudea. We know that it is just
by vol. I E
the form
of the stylus employed by the scribes when writing upon soft clay that the
wedge which characterises the cuneiform script is explained. It is by
imitation only that it has passed from writing on clay to writing on stone.
The
dynasties of Telloh were the following :
(1) Kings of Shirpurla-ki:—
The
earliest king known is perhaps Ur-Nin&, “ the man of Nina,” of whom we have
three inscriptions. This prince was the son of a personage called Nini-
ghal-gin (the reading Ghal-gin being uncertain). It is doubtful whether
Nini-ghal-gin had himself been king, since his son never gives him the title of
sovereign.
After
Ur-Nina, according to the “ Stele of the Vultures,” his son, A-Kurgal (“the
son of Bel ” ?) reigned.
Another
passage in the Stel£ of the Vultures appears to mention a certain Igi-ginna (“
he who goes before ”) as king of Shirpurla.
So far as
we can judge from the writing, it was after these monarchs that Uru-kagina
reigned,1 whose three inscriptions have come down to us. Two of them
call him “ king of Shirpurla ” ; in a third, on a clay cylinder, he bears, as
was first recognised by Dr. Oppert, the title of “ king of Girsu-ki.”2
(2) Patesis of Shirpurla-ki:—
The first
series comprises three patesis, whose sue-
1 See Heuzey : " Un nouveau roi de Tello," in
the Revue ArcIUologique of 1884.
a It would
seem that a prince more ancient than Uru-Kagina and perhaps as ancient as
Ur-Ninft bore the title of " patesi" and not of " king."
But his name still remains unknown. See below, p. 67.
cession
cannot at present be exactly determined. The museum of the Louvre possesses a
portion of a buttress inscribed with the name of a patesi Entena, who does not
record the name of his father, and another block bearing the name of a patesi
En-anna- tumma, son of a patesi Entena. As the British Museum possesses a block
inscribed by a patesi Entena, son of a patesi En-anna-tumma, we have a choice
of two hypotheses. Either the patesi Entena of the British Museum is the same
as the patesi Entena of the Louvre, in which case the succession will be:
En-anna-tumma I, Entena, and En-anna- tumma II ; or else the Entena of the
British Museum is the grandson of that of the Louvre, the order of the patesis
being Entena I, En-anna-tumma, Entena II.
Later in
date than this family of princes comes the patesi Ur-Bau (“man of Bau ”) whose
statue is in the Louvre, together with a number of monuments of less
importance.
A short
time after Ur-Bau comes Gudea (“ the elect”), followed by his son and probable
successor Ur-Nin-girsu (“man of Nin-girsu It is of Gudea that the larger and
more important part of the monuments of Telloh preserve the memory: eight
statues, two large cylinders of clay, and hundreds of fragments or small
texts. Of his successor we have a few bricks and a small object of uncertain
use.
Here must
be placed, I believe, the patesi Nam-
1 Cf,
Ledrain : Communication a VAcaddmie des Inscriptions et Belles- Lettres,
12th July 1882.
maghini (“
His supremacy”) whose reign is assigned by Dr. Hommel to a period before
Ur-Bau. But . his monuments are too few (only a door-step and some bricks) to
allow us to determine with certainty his relative date.
M. Heuzey
has also made us acquainted with another patesi, Luka-ni (“ His glory ”).1
His son Ghala- lamma, who does not, like his father, take the title of patesi,
offers homage in an inscription on the fragment of a statue to Dungi, king of
Ur.2
It is
difficult to determine, even approximately, to what remote epoch the dynasties
of Telloh must be referred. We gather but little from the fact that the son of
one of the last patesis of Shirpurla was the contemporary of Dungi. For we
cannot yet fix the age of the early kings of Ur. Let me, however, hazard a
hypothesis, in consideration of any light it may throw on the dark problem of
Chaldean chronology.
I have
already had occasion to cite an inscription of Gudea (on statue D) in which
this patesi tells us that he received from “the countries of M&gan, Me-
lughgha, Gubi, and Nituk,” vessels laden with all sorts of trees. The situation
of Nituk is known. It was the Isle of Tilmun3 in the Persian Gulf.
It is not
1 “Le Roi Dounghi" in the Revue
Archiologique, April 1886.
2 I omit a patesi of Shirpurla, En-anna,
made known to us by George Smith in his Early History of Babylonia, and two
other patesis whose names are quoted by Dr. Hommel from some seals (Geschichte
Bab. und Ass., pp. 290, 293). The text translated by George Smith has not yet
been published, and the reading of the inscriptions on the seals does not seem
absolutely certain.
3 [Identified with the Tylos of classical
geography by Dr. Oppert, and with the modern Bahrein by Sir H. Rawlinson,
though Professor Delitzsch
possible,
in my opinion, to look for M&gan and Me- lughgha anywhere else than in the
vicinity of the Sinaitic Peninsula.1 Gubi, sometimes written Gubin,
alone remains, which Dr. Hommel would identify with Byblos in Phoenicia, the
Gapuna of the hieroglyphic texts. I should, however, prefer to see in Gubi a
name of Egypt, and more precisely the name of Coptos, the ancient Qubti. Gudea
would thus in his list of names have followed the route of his vessels,
starting from the most distant points to the north of the Red Sea, coasting
along Egypt and turning round Arabia. If the identification of Gubi or Gubin
with Qubti meets with the approval of Egyptologists and Assyriologists, the
reign of Gudea might perhaps be placed in the interval between the sixth
Egyptian dynasty, when the monuments of Pepi seem already to testify to the
commercial importance of Coptos,2 and the eleventh, when the cities
of Upper Egypt obtained political supremacy. No one of course will dream of
bringing the reign of Gudea down to a later date.
How must
we explain the fact that the last princes of Shirpurla contented themselves
with the title of “patesi,” while the most ancient took that of “king" ? I
believe that it is difficult not to see in this fact an indication of the loss
of its earlier independence on
considers
it lo form part of the delta which has accumulated at the mouth of the
Euphrates.—Ed.~\
1 This is the opinion long ago maintained
by Messrs. Lenormant, Opperl, and Sayce. M. Delattre has ably defended it in
the memoir L'Asie occidentals dans les Inscriplions Assyriennes, pp. 149 seq.
2 See Maspero : Histoire ancienne (4th
edit.), p. 81.
the part
of Shirpurla and of its subjection to some other city, probably Ur. All the other
instances we have of the use of the title of “ patesi,” lend it the sense of
“lieutenant ” before the name of a country, of “vicar” before a divine name.1
We possess inscriptions in which the patesis of Nipur and of Ishkun-Sin
acknowledge their dependency on the kings of Ur. Nebuchadnezzar II calls
himself the patesi of the god Merodach, Sargon the patesi of the god Assur. The
title of the earliest sovereigns of Assyria, “patesi of the god Assur,” defines
their power as being that either of a kingdom predominantly religious, or of a
viceroyalty under a suzerain, who was without doubt Babylonian. It always
implies the idea of lieutenant or dependant. Why should we admit an exception
in the case of Shirpurla ? It is true that Gudea comes before us as a powerful
prince. In one of his inscriptions (statue B) he boasts of having overthrown
the city of Anshan in the land of Elam. But for aught we know he may have made
this expedition in the company of his suzerain. Dependence, moreover, admits of
degrees, and it can even be purely nominal. France has known powerful vassals
who have resisted royalty.
III. The campaign of Gudea in Elam, in the course
of which the city of Anshan was captured, is the only fact of military history
of which we know. We have a little better information, thanks to two
inscriptions
1 [I should
rather render it " High-Priest.’' See my Lectures on the Religion of the
Ancient Babylonians, pp. 59-60.—fid.]
of the
same patesi (those of statue B and cylinder A), concerning the commercial relations
of his country. Unfortunately it is always very difficult to identify the
geographical names recorded in the texts.
From a
passage cited above it appears that Shir- purla enjoyed commercial intercourse
with the countries of Nituk, Gubi or Gubin, M&gan, and Melughgha. These
four countries furnished Chaldsea with wood for building. But Melughgha also
furnished gold, and Magan a hard stone, diorite, which was employed by the
sculptors. Chaldsea was also in connection with the country of Martu, that is to
say, with Phoenicia and Syria. From a mountain which seems to have been Amanus,
it derived cedars and other trees ; from two other mountains of Martu—Susalla
and Tidanum 1— two species of stones. It is stones again that were
imported from a mountain of Barsip, which I should look for in the
neighbourhood of the Syrian city of Til-Barsip. For I believe that it is the
same country as that which appears in W. A. I., ii. 53, a 3, under the
varying forms of Barsip-ki and Bursip-ki. We know that the name of Til-Barsip
was also written Til-Bursip. The inscription of statue B, moreover, tells us
that the stones coming from Barsip were conveyed in vessels which, according
to my view, would have had only to descend the Euphrates. I am greatly tempted
to ascend still farther to the north, towards the sources of this river, in
order to find two other coun-
1 The reading Susalla is uncertain. Dr.
Hommel has compared Tidanum with Tidnu, the Sumerian equivalent of Akharru
(the Scmitic term for Syria).
tries—the
city of Ursu-ki, in the mountains of Ibla (or rather, Tilla 1),
which furnished wood, and Shamalum, or Shamanum, in the mountains of Menua,
which furnished stones. But I can suggest nothing in regard to three other
geographical names which I shall confine myself to mentioning : the mountain
of Ghaghum, from whence Gudea procured gold; the city of Abullat or
Abulia-Abishu (“ the great gate of his fathers ”), situated in the mountains of
Ki-mash,2 whence he procured copper; and the country or city of
Madga, in the mountains of the river Gurruda (?),3 from whence he
procured a product whose precise nature I am unable to determine.
Certain
cities of Babylonia are mentioned in our texts. They are the three ancient
cities of Eridu (.Nun-ki), Larrak (Barbar-kt), and the unknown city of
Kinunir-ki. They always appear to figure as sacred cities, and the last of the
three only after the name of a goddess, Duzi-abzu, “the mistress of Kinunir.”
The names
of the Euphrates and Tigris frequently occur on the two cylinders of Gudea. I
believe I have also found in them the names of Shumer and Accad—“ Kiengi ” and
" Ki-burbur.1' But it is not
1 Dr. Hommel has proposed to read Dalla.
2 [Ki-mash seems to be “the country of
Mas," or Arabia Petrcea; eomp. the Mash of Genesis x. 23. The Babylonians
derived a name for “ copper,” kemassu, from its Sumerian appellation.—Ed.']
3 Can the river Gurruda have been the Dead
Sea, and can the product derived from the neighbouring district have been
bitumen, as Dr. Hommel has conjectured? It is not probable that all the bitumen
required for the buildings of Babylonia was exclusively provided by the little
river of Hit. (See Hdt. i. 179.)
yet
possible for me to translate the passages where they are found.
The
inscription of statue B mentions two seas. “After he had caused the temple of
Nin-girsu to be built, Nin-girsu, the lord beloved by him, has forcibly opened
for him the roads from the sea of the highlands to the lower sea.” The “sea of
the highlands ” is evidently the Persian Gulf, and it is impossible to doubt
that by the “ lower sea ” is intended the Mediterranean.
IV. For a knowledge of the pantheon of
Shirpurla- ki we possess a document of a very great value. This is the list of
divinities at the commencement of the imprecatory formula in the inscription on
statue B of Gudea. The following are the names of the divinities, which it is
important to give in the order, evidently sacred, in which they are enumerated
in the inscription:—
Anna, the
Sky-god, the Anu of the Semites; Ellilla or Bel, “ the lord of the mountain of
the wcfrld,”1 where the seat of the gods was placed, as well as the
habitation of the dead, also called “ the father of the gods;” Nin-gharsag or
Belit, “the mistress of the mountain,” the wife of Ellilla, and mother of the
gods ; En-ki or Ea, “ the lord of the earth” and the waters ;
En-zu, or
Sin, the Moon-god, the eldest son of Ellilla; Nin-girsu or Ninib, the Chaldean
Hercules, the son and warrior of Ellilla ; Nin&, the daughter of Ea, who
has the same titles as Nin-dara, and may
1 In an abbreviated form, ‘' the lord of
the world.''
therefore
be regarded as the consort of this god ; Nin-dara, who is the god Ninib1
under another name ; Gatumdug, the daughter of Anna, who is the goddess Bau
under another name ; Bau, daughter of Anna and wife of Nin-girsu ; Ninni or
Nana, the Ishtar of the Semites, another daughter of Anna ; Shamash, the
Sun-god, the son of En-ki or Ea ; Pasagga, the Ishum of the Semites, who is
undoubtedly only another form of Gibil, the Fire-god, the son of En-ki or Ea;
Gal-alim,
the son of Nin-girsu; Dun-shagana, another son of Nin-girsu; Nin-mar-ki, the
eldest daughter of Nina ;
Duzi-abzu,
“lady of Kinunir-ki;” Nin-gish-zida, the god of Gudea.
It will be
observed that this list arranges the divinities in three generations. In the
first come the four great gods, including a goddess, distinguished also by the
later Assyro-Babylonian religious systems, and from whom all the other gods
proceed. Next are placed the sons and daughters of these deities. Lastly come
the grandchildren. I have been obliged to put Duzi-abzu and Nin-gish-zida by
themselves, since no text has as yet given us any information concerning them.2
But we may believe that one of them —Nin-gish-zida—must be mentioned at the end
of the
1 [Or Uras. —Ed.']
2 If our Duzi-abzu is a goddess—and her
title of " lady of Kinunir-ki" does not allow us to doubt it—it is
clear that we cannot identify her with the god Duzi-abzu who is named in W. A.
I., ii. 56, 33-38, as one of the six sons of Ea. It is necessary to understand
six sons in this passage, and not six children, since the following line names
“ a daughter” of Ea.
list,
whatever may have been his rank in the divine family, since, as we shall see,
he was the special deity of Gudea and his intercessor with the other gods.
The
preceding list does not give all the gods mentioned in the texts of Telloh;
some even are absent who had their temples in Shirpurla. Without pretending to
be complete, I may further enumerate the god Nin-agal, who is only another form
of En-ki; the god Shidlamta-£na, another name of Nin-girsu, and the Nergal of
the Semites ; the god Nin-sar, yet another name of Nergal; the goddess Nin-tu,
another designation of Nin-gharsag; the god Uru-ki or Sin ; the god Nirba;
perhaps the god Nin-shagh, Pap-sukal; a god called the “king” of Gishgalla-ki;
a goddess Ku-anna; a god Dun-sir (?)-anna; seven sons of Bau, who are termed
Zazaru (or Zazauru), Im-ghud- ena, Ur-un-ta-ena (or Gim-nun-ta-ena),
Ghi-gir-nunna, Ghi-shaga, Gurmu, and Zarmu.
In a
learned article in the Zeitschrift fur Assyri- ologie (ii. pp. 179 seq.), Prof.
Tiele has shown that at Babylon, by the side of the local god Bel-Merodach and
even in his temple of £-shagil, his wife and son Zarpanit and Nebo were also
adored ; that at Borsippa, by the side of the supreme god Nebo and in his
temple of fe-Zida, his consort Nana was worshipped. If we remember that other
temples existed at Babylon dedicated to various other deities, we shall readily
admit that the cult rendered to these gods was offered by reason of their being
the mother, the brothers, or the sisters of the principal divinity. We
may
remark, moreover, that the supreme god of the national or local pantheon was
hardly ever one of the primordial deities. The latter, indeed, appear to me to
have been born after their sons, in consequence of the need experienced by the
mind of man to establish for his god a family analogous to his own, with
parents, wife, and children. The two exceptions which may be instanced from
Nipur and Eridu are not certain. Dr. Hommel has remarked that one text at all
events names Ninib and not Bel as the chief divinity of Nipur. As for Eridu, I
do not feel sure that the principal deity there was really Ea. This god had
certainly a temple in Eridu, just as he had at Shirpurla-ki, but in both cities
it was under the title of the divine father that he was adored. The very
interesting inscription on a brick of a patesi of Eridu, named Idadu, which is
unfortunately still unpublished, would lead us to suppose that the chief god of
the place was Nin-Eridu, possibly a name of Merodach.1
The
supreme god of Shirpurla was Nin-girsu, whose consort was the goddess Bau. Both
were worshipped under different titles. Besides the temples in which he was
invoked as Nin-girsu, he had others in Girsu-ki, where he was known as Nin-dara
and Shidlamta-ena. Similarly the goddess was not only adored as Bau, but she
was also worshipped in Uru- azagga as Gatumdug and in NinA-ki as Nina. Three at
least of the parent gods had sanctuaries in Shir-
1 See George Smith in the Transactions
of the Society of Biblical
Archceology,
i. p. 32.
purla,—
Ellilla (called specially “the father of Nin- girsu ”), En-ki, and “the mother
of the gods,” Nin- gharsag. Temples were even dedicated to En-ki under his two titles
of En-ki and Nin-agal. We may question whether it was in virtue of her being
his wife or his sister that Ninni possessed a temple in Girsu- ki and another
in Gishgalla-ki; and also whether Nin- gish-zida, in his special temple at
Girsu-ki, was worshipped as being a brother of the god or as being the god
himself under a fourth manifestation. It is certain,on the other hand, that
Gal-alim and Dun-shagana had each a temple because they were the sons of
Nin-girsu, and that Nin-mar-ki had one because she was the daughter of Nina. We
do not know at present what were the grounds of relationship which caused
temples to be erected in Girsu-ki to the goddesses Ku-anna1 and
Duzi-abzu. It is possible that some of these numerous temples were only chapels
situated in £-ninnu, the favourite sanctuary of Nin- girsu ; those, for
example, which belonged to the sons of the god.
While
regarding Nin-girsu as the supreme object of his cult, as “ his king,” to use
the stereotyped expression, each prince of Shirpurla-ki selected also a
special deity from among the divine family, who acted as his intercessor with
Nin-girsu.2 We are acquainted with the deities of five of these
princes. That of Uru-
1 Consort of the god Martu,
according to the Collection de Clercq, cyl. ri4. Cf. W. A. I., iii. 67, b 35. .
2 See more especially the last lines of
inscription No. 1 of King Uru- Kagina. M. Heuzey has drawn my attention to the
lines, which have been translated for the first time by Dr. Oppert.
Kagina was
perhaps Nin-shagh or Pap-sukal—though the reading is doubtful ; that of Entena
and En- anna-tumma was Dun-sir(?)-anna ; that of Ur-Bau was Nin-igal ; that of
Gudea, Nin-gish-zida.
We have
not yet succeeded in ascertaining the exact sense of the various appellations
of Nin-girsu and his wife Bau ; it is consequently impossible to define with
precision the character and personality of these divinities. We may admit,
however, that Nin-girsu was a solar deity, personifying more particularly the
sun when veiled in clouds ; hence the combative and military aspect of the god.
Like Apollo, with whom he would be more fitly compared than with Hercules, he
was at once an avenger and a saviour, a huntsman, and perhaps a shepherd. As
for Bau, who was termed “ the mother ” par excellence, and to whom were given
the titles of “ good lady,” “ Mistress of Abundance,” she was a terrestrial
divinity, resembling in many points the Demeter of the Greeks. It is even
possible that like Demeter she presided also over Hades, and not only over the
living and fertile earth. Two of our texts mention a festival of Bau, which
occurred, if I understand the passage aright, at the commencement of the year;
and it appears to result from another inscription that the chief festival of
Nin-girsu took place at the same time. Indeed it is probable that it was at the
beginning of the year, at the vernal equinox, that the cities of Babylonia and
Assyria alike celebrated the festivals of their gods.
The
following translations comprise almost all the texts hitherto brought from
Telloh, with the exception of the inscription on the so-called Stele of the
Vultures and those on the two large cylinders of Gudea.
Restorations
of the text are indicated by brackets —[ ]. Words placed in parentheses—()—have
been added in order to render the sense more intelligible.
Certain of
the inscriptions have been published in Dccouvertes en Chaldee, par E. de
Sarzec, edited by L. Heuzey, of which the first two parts have appeared in 1884
and 1887.
I. The Inscriptions of
King Ur-Nina
NO. I.1—COLUMN
I
1. Nina-ur
2. king
3. of Shirpurla,
4. son of Nini-ghal-gin,
5. the temple of the god Nin-girsu
6. has erected.
7. The Ib-gal (?)
8. he has erected.
9. The temple of the goddess Nina
10. he has erected.
COLUMN 11
1. The Sig-nir (?)
2. he has erected.
3. His tower in stages (?)
4. he has erected.
5. The temple of £ . . .
6. he has erected.
7. The temple of 6-ghud
8. he has erected.
9. His observatory (?)
10. he has erected.
1 Dicouvertes en Chalddc, pi. 2, No. 1.
Translated by Dr. Oppert in
a
Communication to the Academic des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres 2d March 1883.
COLUMN III
? [The
palace]
1. of the Ti-ash-ra (?)
2. he has erected.
3. The temple of the goddess Gatumdug
4. he has erected.
5. The great apzu1
6. he has constructed.
7. After that the temple of Nin-girsu
8. he has caused to be erected
9. seventy great measures (?) of corn
10. in his house of fruits
COLUMN IV
? [he has
stored up.] r. FromMAGAN2
2. the mountain 3
3. all sorts of wood he has imported.
4. The castlei of Shirpurla
5. he has built.
6. The small apzu
7. he has constructed ;
COLUMN V
? [in the temple]
r. of the
goddess Nina, lady of destinies
(?),
2. he has placed it.
3. Two statues (?)
4. he has set up (?);
5. these two statues (?)...
Lacuna.
1 [The apzu, or "deep," was the
basin for purification attached to a Babylonian temple, corresponding to the “
sea” of Solomon.—Ed.]
2 The Sinaitic Peninsula, perhaps
including Midian.
3 Or "the country." 4 Or “wall.”
VOL. I F
NO. 2.1—COLUMN
I
1. Nina-ur
2. the king
3. of Shirpurla,
4. son of Nini-ghal-gin,
5. the habitation (?) of Girsu
column 11
1. has constructed.
2. The bricks of the foundation (?)
The
inscription breaks off here.
1. Nina-ur
2. the king
3. of Shirpurla,
COLUMN II
1. the son of Nini-ghal-g[in],
1 D(couvertes, pi. 2, No. n. Translated by
Dr. Hommel, Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens, p. 285.
2 L. Heuzey, ‘1 Les Rois de
Tello,” in the Revue Archiologique, Nov. 1882.
II. Inscription
of an unknown Prince on a
BOULDER OF
STONE1 COLUMN I
Lacuna.
1. [pate] si
2. [of Shirpur]la
COLUMN II
1. [of the god] Nin-girsu
2. [the . . . ] dun
3. has constructed.
4. The palace of Ti-ra-ash-di (?)
5. he has built,
6. and he has . . .
7. E-an-[na]-du 2
8. covered with renown
column 111
1. by the god Nin-girsu,
2. for the countries
3. by the power of the god Nin-girsu
The last
lines are destroyed.
1 Dicouvertes, pi. 2, No. 3. The
writing used in this inscription resembles that of the inscriptions of Ur-ninsi
and the Stele of the Vultures more than any other. However, the little that
remains of the first column seems to indicate that it belongs to a patesi and
not to a king, perhaps to an E-anna-du.
2 This proper name is mutilated, but I
believe my reading very probable. Cf. the St414 of the Vultures, Obv. i. 1.
III. Inscriptions of
Uru-Kagina
No. I.1—COLUMN
I
1. For the god Nin-girsu
2. the warrior of the god Ellilla,
3. Uru-Kagina,
4. the king
5. of Shirpurla-ki,
6. his temple
7. has constructed.
8. His palace of Ti-ra-ash
9. he has constructed.
COLUMN II
1. The an-ta-shur-ra
2. he has constructed.
3. The E-gish-me-ra
4. in order to [be] the E-ne-bi of the
countries
5. he has constructed.
6. The house of fruits which produces
abundance (?)
in the
country
7. he has constructed.
8. For the god Dun-shagana
9. his habitation of Akkil
COLUMN III
1. lie has constructed.
2. For the god Gal-alimma
3. the temple of E-me-gal-ghush-an-ki
4. he has constructed.
1 From .1 squeeze in the Louvre.
Translated by Dr. Oppert in a
Communication
to the Acadimie des Inscriptions, 29th February 1884.
5. The temple of the goddess Bau1
6. he has constructed.
7. For the god Ellilla
8. the temple of E-adda,2
9. his im-sag-ga,
COLUMN IV
1. he has constructed.
2. The Bur(J)-sag,
3. his temple which rises to the entrance of
heaven (?),
4. he has constructed.
5. Of Uru-Kagina,
6. the king
7. of Shirpurla-ki,
8. who the temple of E-ninn6
9. has constructed,
10. his god
COLUMN V
1. is the god Nin-shagh.3
2. For the life of the king
3. during the long days to come
4. before the god Nin-girsu
5. may he (Nin-shagh)
bow down his face !
No. 2—On a Buttress
|
I. |
For the
god Nin-girsu], |
|
2. |
’the]
warrior |
|
3- |
'of the
god El]lilla, |
|
4- |
Uru-]Ka[g]ina, |
|
5- |
the]
king |
|
6. |
'of
Shirpur]la-ki, |
1 [Bau is probably the Baau of Phoenician
mythology, whose name was interpreted "the night,” and who was supposed
along with her husband Kolpia, "the wind,” to have produced the first
generation of men. The word has been compared with the Hebrew bohu, translated
"void " in Gen. i. 2.—Ed. ]
2 [‘‘ The temple of the father."—Ed.]
3 Or Nin-dun.
7. [the Anta\-Shurra,
8. the house] of abundance of his country,
9. [has] constructed.
1 o. His [palace] of Ti-[ra-ash]
11. [he] has constructed.
Lines 12
and 13 are destroyed.
14. [For the god] Gal-alimma
Lines
15-21 are destroyed.
22. [he has] constructed.
23. [For the god] Nin-sar,
24. the bearer [of the sword ?]
25. [of the god] Nin-girsu,
26. his temple
27. he has constructed.
28. [For the god . . .] gir (?)
29. the well-beloved
30. [of the god] Nin-girsu
31. his temple
32. he has constructed.
33. The £ur(?)-sag,
34. his temple which rises to the entrance of
heaven (?),
35. he has constructed.
36. For the god Ellilla
37. the temple of E-adda,1
38. his im-sag-ga,
39. he has constructed.
40. For the god Nin-girsu
41. the sanctuary (?)
42. of E-melam-kurra2
43. he has constructed.
44. The temple wherein dwells (?) the god Nin-girsu
45. he has constructed.
46. Of Uru-Kagina,
1 [" The temple of the
father."—Ed.']
2 ["The temple of
the brilliance of the (eastern) mountain."—Ed.]
47. who the temple
48. of the god Nin-GiRSU ....
The
inscription breaks off here, having never been finished.
COLUMN I
The first lines are lost.
1. Uru-Kagina,
2. the king
3. of Girsu-ki,
4. the Anta-shurra,
5. the house of abundance of his country,
6. his palacc of Ti-ra-ash,
7. has constructed.
8. The temple of the goddess Bau
9. [he has] constructed.
Lacuna.
The first
lines are lost.
1. he has [constructed].
2. For the god [Dun-sha]ga[na]
3. his habitation of [Akkil]
4. he has [constructed].
5. For the god ....
6. his tablet-like amulets (?)2
7. (and) his temple he has made.
8. In the middle (of this temple)
9. for the god Za-za-uru,
10. for the god Im-ghud-£n,
11. for the god Gim-nun-ta-£n-a
1 Dicouvertes, pi. 32.
2 Possibly the small tablets of white or black
stone buried under the foundations of the temples. These tablets were sometimes
of metal; those, for example, discovered at Khorsabad. It seems that some
consisted also of ivory and precious wood ; see W. A. I., i. 49, col. 4, 12.
12. temples he has built for them.
13. For the god Nin-sar
Lacuna,
COLUMN III
The first
lines are lost.
1. [For the god EllilJla
2. [the temple of E-]adda, his \tm-]sagga,
3. he has constructed.
4. For the goddess Nina,
5. her favourite river,
6. the canal Nina-ki-tum-a
7. he has excavated (?).
8. At the mouth (of the canal), an edifice. .
. .
Fragments
of four other columns remain.
IV. Inscription of Entena on a Buttress
1. To the goddess Gatumdug,
2. the mother of Shirpurla-ki,
3. Entena,
4. the patesi
5. of Shirpurla-ki,
6. who has built the temple of the goddess Gatumdug.
7. His god
8. is the god Dun-sir(?)-anna.
V. Inscription of
En-anna-tumma on a Buttress1
1. For the god Nin-Girsu,
2. the warrior of the god Ellilla,
3. En-anna-tumma,
4. the patesi
5. of Shirpurla-ki,
6. the chosen of the heart
7. of the goddess Nina,
8. the great patesi
9. of the god Nin-girsu,
10. the son of Entena
11. the patesi
12. of Shirpurla-ki.
13. For the god Nin-girsu
14. his house of fruits
15. he has restored.
16. Of En-anna-tumma,
17. who the house of fruits
18. of the god Nin-girsu
19. has restored,
20. his god
21. is the god Dun-sir(?)-anna.
1
Ddcouvertes, pi. 6, No. 4.
VI. Inscriptions of Ur-Bau and his reign
No. i.—On a Statue1 column I
1. To the god Nin-girsu
2. the powerful warrior
3. of the god Ellilla,
4. Ur-Bau
g. the
patesi
6. of Shirpurla-ki,
7. the offspring begotten
8. by the god Nin-Agal,
9. chosen by the immutable will of the
goddess Nina,
10. endowed with power by the god Nin-girsu,
11. named with a favourable name by the goddess
Bau,
12. endowed with intelligence by the god En-ki,2
COLUMN II
1. covered with renown by the goddess Ninni,
2. the favourite servant of the god who is
king of Gish-
galla-ki,
3. the favourite of the goddess Duzi-abzu.
4. I am Ur-Bau
;
5. the god Nin-girsu
is my king.
6. The site of . . . -3 he has
excavated.
7. The earth thence extracted, like precious
stones, he has
measured
(?);
8. like a precious metal he has weighed (?)
it.
1 D(couvertes, pll. 7 and 8. Translated by
Dr. Oppert in a Communication to the Acadimie des Inscriptions, 31st March
1882.
2 [Also called Ea, the god of the deep.—
Ed.]
3 Perhaps some edifice previously
dedicated to the goddess Bau. The characters are destroyed.
. COLUMN
III
1. According to the plan adopted he has
marked out a
large
space;
2. into the middle (of it) he has carried
this earth,
3. and he has made its mundus.1
4. Above, a substructure 6 cubits high, he
has built.
5. Above this substructure
6. the temple E-NinnO,
which illumines the darkness (?),
30 cubits
in height,
7. he has built.
8. For the goddess Nin-gharsag,2 the mother of the
gods,
COLUMN IV
1. her temple of Girsu-ki
2. he has constructed.
3. For the goddess Bau,
4. the good lady,
5. the daughter of Anna,
6. her temple of Uru-azagga
7. he has constructed.
8. For the goddess Ninni, the lady august, the sove
reign (?),
9. her temple of Gishgalla-ki
10. he has constructed.
11. For the god En-ki, the king of Eridu,
12. his temple of Girsu-ki
COLUMN V
1. he has constructed.
2. For the god Nin-dara,8 the lord of destinies (?),
3. his temple he has constructed.
4. For the god Nin-agal,
1 This translation of these six lines is
given under reserve. Should we compare the ceremonies at the foundation of
citics in classical antiquity?
2 ["The lady of the
mountain."—Ed.'I
3 [Or Uras.—Ed.\
5. his god,
6. his temple
7. he has constructed.
8. For the goddess Nin-mar-ki1
9. the good lady,
ro. the
eldest daughter of the goddess NinA,
11. the Esh-gu-tur (?), the temple of her
constant choice,
12. he has constructed.
COLUMN VI
1. For the god ....
2. the shepherd . . . [of] Gir-[su-ki],
3. his temple . . .
4. he has constructed.
5. For the goddess KlJ-Anna,2
6. the lady of the cloudy sky (?),
7. her temple of Girsu-ki
8. he has constructed.
9. For the goddess Duzi-abzu,
10. the lady of Kinunir-ki,
11. her temple of Girsu-ki
12. he has constructed.
The
remaining inscriptions of Telloh will be translated in the next volume.
1 [ ‘' The lady of the city of Mar. ’1—Ed.
]
2 The consort of the god Martu [or
Rimmon], according to a cylinder belonging to M. de Clercq (No. 114); cf. W. A.
I., iii. 67, b. 35.
Translated
by Theo. G. Pinches
This short inscription of twenty-seven lines is one of
peculiar interest. It is a record, written in the Akkadian language, of an
endowment, made by an early Mesopotamian king with a Semitic Babylonian name,
to the great temple at Erech called E-ana;1 and it is not an
original, but a copy in clay, written by a man named Nabfi-baladhsu-iqbi, of a
stone tablet kept, in ancient times, in the great temple known as fe-zida, now
the ruin called the Birs-i-Nimroud—the supposed tower of Babel. Great care has
been taken by the copyist in inscribing the tablet; and the forms of the
characters, as he has given them, probably reproduce fairly well the archaic
style of the original. The text itself covers the greater part of the two sides
of the clay tablet, which is, like most of the documents of this kind found in
Babylonia and Assyria, flat—or nearly so—on the obverse, and curved on the
reverse. The last three lines, which
1 Written Jk-an-na in the inscriptions.
The end-syllable -na is, however, generally regarded as a kind of phonetic
complement, and the a is therefore not really double. The name means 11
House of heaven."
are
separate from the others, are written smaller, and are in the later Babylonian
style of writing. Unlike the rest, also, they are written in the Semitic-Baby-
lonian language. The size of the tablet is 4^ inches by 2-| inches, the
thickness in the thickest part being i-|- inch. The colour is a very light
yellow ochre.
As the
word-order in Akkadian differs considerably from English, no attempt is made
to preserve the divisions of the lines of the original; by this arrangement
translations from these ancient tongues are much more easily understood.
TRANSLATION
OF THE INSCRIPTION OF SIN-GASHID
Sin-gashid,1
king of Erech,2 king of
Amnanum, and patron 3
of E-ana, to Lugal-banda his god and Nin-gul his goddess. When he built E-ana
he erected E-kankal, the house which is the seat of the joy of his heart.4
During his dominion he will endow it with5 30 gur of wheat, 12
mana of wool, 10 mana of produce, 18 qa of oil according to 6
the tariff, and 1 shekel of gold. May his years be years of plenty.
Colophon in Semitic-Babylonian :
Copy of
the tablet of rfsii-stone, the property7 of E-zida, which
Nabu-baladhsu-iqbi, son of Mitsiraa,8 has written.
It may not
be without interest to give here a transcription of the original text into
Roman char
1 This name is probably for Sin-kashid,
"the Moon-god has made captive.”
2 The Akkadian form is Unvga.
3 Literally "nourisher” (ua,
equivalent to the Semitic-Babylonian zaninu),
4 The Akkadians here use the compound
sha-gkulla, " heartjoy.”
5 Literally, '4 measure out to
it.”
G Or,
perhaps, “according to the tariff of the time.”
7 The original has the Akkadian word nigga
— Semitic-Babylonian mimmu.
8 Mitsirda, “ the Egyptian.’*
acters,
omitting the determinative prefixes, which were probably not pronounced :—
Lugal-banda, dingiranir, Nin-gul amanir, Sin- gashid, lugal Unuga, lugal
Amnanum, ua 6-ana. Ud 6-ana mu-dua, E-kankal, e ki-tur
shaghulakane, munen-du. Bala nam-lugalakani ba she-gur-ta, ghu- min mana
sig-ta, ghu mana um-ta (ghu-ussa-qa') sal- gish-ta, kilama dana-ka, guskin gi
ge ghipdazig. Mua-ni mu ghigala ghia.
Gabri narua sha ushi, nigga 6-zida, NaM-bal- adhsu-iqbi, abil Mitsir&a,
isdhur.
The text
begins with an invocation to Lugal- banda and his consort Nin-gul, who seem to
have been Sin-gashid’s patron god and goddess. He then speaks of 6-ana, one of
the great temples of Erech (which was, perhaps, Sin-gashid’s capital), and
6-kan- kal, probably one of the shrines in 6-ana. Judging from the wording,
Sin-gashid seems to claim to be the founder of both those fanes, though it is
probable that he only rebuilt them. Sin-gashid then gives a list of the amounts
of produce, etc., with which he had endowed the shrine, and ends with a pious
wish for his country. The date of the original of this inscription may be set
down at about 2600 B.C. The copy which has come down to us, however, probably
dates from the time of the antiquarian revival in Babylonia during the reign of
Nabonidus, father of Belshazzar.
1 This is represented on the tablet by a
single character formed with four woiges (three horizontal and one upright) of
the same form as the character as. This character is equivalent lo 3 x 6 ( =
18) qa.
VOL. I O
It is to
be noted that the inscription is dedicated to a god and a goddess whose names I
provisionally transcribe as Lugal-banda (“powerful king,” or “king of youthful
strength ”) and Nin-gul, his consort (as we learn from the second volume of the
Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, pi. 59, 11. 24 and 25 *). This
identification of Ningul as the consort of Lugal- banda is important, as it
shows that Sin-gashid, who calls her his mother, and himself her son,2
did not mean to imply that she was his real earthly parent, but that he simply
traced his descent from her, thus asserting his divine origin. The late George
Smith’s double-queried “ Belat-sunat ” (as he transcribed the name Nin-gul), “
the earliest known queen in the Euphrates valley,” must therefore be erased
from the list of historical rulers in Erech.
The temple
£-ana was probably the principal fane in the city of Erech, and £-kankal8
was probably one of the shrines within it. It is not improbable that the
fi-kankal mentioned here is the same as, or the fellow-shrine to, the
£-ghili-ana mentioned by Assur-bani-pal as the sanctuary, apparently in or
connected with 6-ana, to which he restored the image of the goddess Nana, which
was carried off by the king of Elam, Kudur-nankhundi, about 2280
1 From a comparison of the other names in
the text there published, it would seem that other possible readings of these
two names are Umun- banda or &n-banda and t/n-gul or £~gul. Fresh
excavations in the East can alone determine these points.
2 Cun. Ins. of IV. Asia, vol. i, pi. 3,
No, vii!. (Brick from the summit of the Bowarieh ruin at Warka).
3 “ The house of the sanctuary” (?).
years
before Christ. As the date of Sin-gashid is doubtful,1 it is
impossible to say with certainty whether the capture of the image of Nana by
the Elamites took place before or after his reign, but it was probably after.2
The
inscription here translated and explained is a duplicate of one published in
the fourth volume of the Cuneiform Ins. of W. Asia, pi. 35, No. 3, from two
cones from Warka.3 Of this text, which is rather roughly written,
and which gives a few interesting variants from the text translated above, a
tentative translation was given by the late George Smith in his “ Early History
of Babylonia,” published in the Transactions of the Society of Biblical
Archczology, vol. 1'., and in the first series of the Records of the Past, vol.
iii.
1 He may be regarded as having reigned
about 2600 B.C.
2 The text of Assur-bani-pal’s description
is as follows :—“For 1635 years had the goddess Nana been angry, had gone, and
had dwelt within Elam, which was not her proper place; and in those days she
and the gods her fathers proclaimed my name to the dominion of the world. She
intrusted to me the return of her divinity thus : ‘ Assur-bani-pal shall bring
me out of the midst of wicked Elam, and shall cause me to enter within E-ana.’
The words of the command of her divinity, which she had spoken from remote days,
she again revealed to the later people. I grasped the hand of her great
divinity, and she took the straight road, with joy of heart, to fe-ana. In the
month Kisleu, on the first day, I caused her to enter Erech, and in
£-ghili-ana, which she loves, I caused an everlasting shrine to be founded for
her."
3 The ancient Erech, in which the temple
it-ana was situated.
Translated by Theo. G. Pinches
In
connection with the text referring to 6-ana in Erech, the following, a kind of
penitential psalm written in the Sumerian dialect, with a translation into
Semitic-Babylonian, which I have entitled “ The Erechite’s lament over the
desolation of his fatherland,” may be here very appropriately appended. This
interesting composition, if not actually written and sung after the carrying
away of the statue of the goddess Nana by the Elamities, might well have been
chanted by the sorrowing Erechites on that occasion.
The
fragment as published (Cun. Ins. of W. Asia, iv. 19, No. 3) begins with the
reverse of the text, and breaks off when rather less than half-way through it.
Of the obverse, which is as yet unpublished, the remains only of about sixteen
lines at the bottom are left. What remains of the obverse refers to the
devastation wrought by an enemy in the city of Erech, and the subject is
continued on the reverse, which ends in a kind of litany. The following is a
free rendering of the inscription on the reverse.
Translation of the Lament
How long,
my Lady, shall the strong enemy hold thy sanctuary ?
There is
want in Erech, thy principal city;
Blood is
flowing like water in E-ulbar, the house of thy oracle;
He has
kindled and poured out fire like hailstones on all thy lands.
My Lady,
sorely am I fettered by misfortune;
My Lady,
thou hast surrounded me, and brought me to grief.
The mighty
enemy has smitten me down like a single reed. Not wise myself, I cannot take
counsel;1
I mourn day and night like the fields.2
I, thy servant, pray to thee.
Let thy
heart take rest, let thy disposition be softened.
weeping, let thy heart take rest.
let thy heart take rest.
save (?) thou.
Translations
of this text have been given by G. Smith, Lenormant, Hal^vy, Hommel, and
Zimmern, and a drawing of the reverse of the fragment, accompanied with a
transcription and translation, was given by me in the Babylonian and Oriental
Record for December 1886.
1 Literally, “I do not take counsel,
myself I am not wise (Sumerian : Dimmu nu-mundib, ni-mu nu-mu$htugmen ;
Assyrian : Dheme ul tsabtaku, ramani &l khasaku),
2 Better, perhaps, * ‘ Like the marshland,
day and night I groan. ”
INSCRIPTION
OF TIGLATH-PILESER I
ICING OF
ASSYRIA
Translated by The Editor
This inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I. is the longest and most
important of the early Assyrian records that have come down to us. The genealogical
details given in it are of great value for determining the chronology and
succession of the earlier monarchs of Assyria, while the description of the
campaigns of the king throws a brilliant and unexpected light on the ancient
geography of Western Asia. To the geographer, indeed, the care with which
Tiglath- Pileser enumerates the countries he overran and the cities he sacked
is of inestimable importance. A new chapter has been added to the history of
ancient geography, and we now possess a fairly complete map of the districts
north and north-west of Assyria before the overthrow of the Hittite power had
brought with it revolution and change. We find geographical names of similar
form stretching westwards from the neighbourhood of Lake Van to the confines of
Asia Minor, together with evidence that tribes like those
of the
Moskhi and Tibareni, whose scanty relics in later days found a refuge on the
shores of the Black Sea, once inhabited extensive tracts on the slopes of the
Taurus Mountains. A new world has, in fact, been opened up to the geographer.
Equally
new is the world that has been opened up to the historian. The date of
Tiglath-Pileser I can be approximately fixed by the help of an inscription of
Sennacherib. On the rock of Bavian (W. A. I.
iii. 14, 48-50) Sennacherib refers to “ Rimmon
and Sala, the gods of the City of Palaces (Ekallati), which
Merodach-nadin-akhi, King of Accad, had taken and carried away to Babylon in
the time of Tiglath-Pileser, King of Assyria"; and he goes on to say that
he himself had “ brought them out of Babylon 418 years afterwards." As the
restoration of the images took place after Sennacherib’s destruction of
Babylon in B.C. 688, the date of their capture by Merodach-nadin-akhi would be
B.C. 1106. The conquests and campaigns described in Tiglath- Pileser’s
inscription must therefore be placed before this year.
The
expeditions of Tiglath-Pileser, however, bore but little fruit. They were not
much more than raids, whose effects passed away after the death of the king who
conducted them. In a fragmentary inscription of his son and successor,
Assur-bil-kala, mention is made of “the land of the west,” or Phoenicia, but it
is doubtful whether any further campaigns were carried on in this direction.
Assyria
fell into
a state of decay ; its frontier cities passed into other hands, and for nearly
two hundred years it is hidden altogether from sight. It was not until the
ninth century before our era that under the warlike Assur-natsir-pal and his
son Shalmaneser II it once more became a name of terror to Western Asia.
Tiglath-Pileser I remained the central figure of the older empire, towering
above his fellows on the Assyrian throne. When the ancient line of princes
became extinct, and the crown was seized by the usurper Pul, the new king knew
of no better way in which to legitimise his claim to sovereignty than by
assuming the time-honoured name of Tukulti-pal- Esar or Tiglath-Pileser, “ the
servant of (Uras) the divine son of Esarra.”
Though
Tiglath-Pileser was not brought into direct relations with Palestine, it is
probable that his wars, followed as they were by the temporary decay of
Assyria, had much to do with the rise of the empire of David. The wars of
Tiglath-Pileser weakened the power of the Hittites in the north, and allowed
the small states of Syria to make head against them. For more than a century
the latter had no powerful neighbours to fear or court. Egypt had passed under
eclipse, and was divided between rival dynasties of kings, while Assyria had
equally ceased to be formidable. When David and Joab built up the empire of
Israel, there was no strong enemy to oppose and attack them. Hadadezer of Zobah
might go “ to recover his border at the river ”
Euphrates;
there was no Hittite or Assyrian monarch to stand in his way.
The
inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I is inscribed on four large octagonal cylinders
of clay, originally buried under the foundations of the four corners of the
great temple of Kileh Sherghat, the ancient city of Assur, and now in the
British Museum; and it has been published in the Cuneiform Inscriptions of
Western Asia, i. pi. ix.-xvi. In 1857 the inscription was selected for testing
the substantial correctness of the method employed by the Assyriologists, and
of the results obtained by them. On the proposal of the Royal Asiatic Society,
four translations of it, more or less complete, were made independently by Sir
Henry Rawlinson, Mr. Fox Talbot, Dr. Hincks, and Dr. Oppert, and submitted
under seal to the secretary of the Society. When opened and compared, it was
found that they exhibited a remarkable resemblance to one another as regards
both the transliteration of proper names and the rendering of individual
passages. The resemblance, in fact, was greater than could be accounted for,
except on the assumption that the method employed by the decipherers was a
sound one, and that they were working on a solid basis. Since 1857 immense
advances have been made in our knowledge of Assyrian. Characters whose values
were then unknown, and words whose meaning was obscure, are now familiar to
the student; and a historical inscription like that of Tiglath-Pileser presents
but few
difficulties to the Assyriologist of today.
In 1880
the inscription was re-edited and translated with notes and glossary by Dr. W.
Lotz under the auspices of his teacher, Prof. Fr. Delitzsch. The translation
embodied all the stores of increased knowledge which the incessant labour of
twenty-three years had accumulated, and it is only in a comparatively few
passages that it can be improved. The English reader may now consider that he
has before him the actual words of the old Assyrian king, and can use them for
historical and geographical purposes without fear or reservation. The
foot-notes will be found to contain all the geographical information at present
attainable relative to the localities mentioned in the text.
A word or
two must be added on the name of the divinity to whom Tiglath-Pileser was
dedicated by his parents. This deity represented the Sun-god primitively
worshipped at Nipur (now Niffer) in Babylonia, who afterwards came to be
regarded as a sort of Chaldean Herakles. He is the only deity of the first rank
whose name is still a matter of dispute. It is generally given as Adar in
default of anything better, but the reading is certainly false. According to
the monuments he was called Uras in Accadian, and also in Semitic, when
regarded as “ the god of light.” But he was further known in Assyrian as Baru “
the revealer,” though we learn from a Babylonian text recently discovered in
Upper
Egypt that
his more usual title was Masu, “the hero,” a word which is, letter for letter,
the same as the Hebrew Mosheh, “ Moses.” Masu is defined as being “ the Sun-god
who rises from the divine day.’' As such he was identified with one of the primaeval
gods of Accadian cosmology, and so became “ the son of fe-sarra,” or “ the
house of the firmament.” See my Lectures on the Religion of the Ancient Babylonians,
pp. 15 i -15 3.
THE
BEGINNING !
COLUMN I
r. Asur the great lord, the director of the
hosts of the gods,
2. the giver of the sceptre and the crown,
the establisher
of the
kingdom;
3. Bel,
the lord (biltt), the king of all the spirits of the
earth,
4. the father of the gods, the lord of the
world;
5. Sin (the
Moon-god), the sentient one, the lord of the
crown,
6. the exalted one, the god of the storm;1
7. Samas (the
Sun-god), the judge of heaven and earth,
who
beholds
8. the plots of the enemy, who feeds the
flock;
9. Rimmon
(the Air-god), the prince, the inundator of
hostile
shores,
0. of countries (and) houses ;2
1. Uras, the hero,
the destroyer of evil men and foes,
2. who discloses all that is in the heart;
3. Istar,
the eldest of the gods, the lady of girdles,
4. the strengthener of battles.
5. Ye great gods, guiders of heaven (and)
earth,
6. whose onset (is) opposition and combat,
7. who have magnified the kingdom
8. of Tiglath-Pileser, the prince, the chosen
1 Identified with Ea in W. A. I., ii. 60,
21. 2 Or
"hollows.”
i g. of the desire of your hearts, the
exalted shepherd,
20. whom you have conjured in the steadfastness
of your
hearts,
21. with a crown supreme you have clothed him ;
to rule
22. over the land of Bel mightily you have established
him;
23. priority of birth, supremacy (and) heroism
24. have you given him; the destiny of his
lordship
25. for his increase and supremacy,
26. to inhabit Bit-kharsag-kurkurra1
27. for ever have you summoned.
28. Tiglath-Pileser, the powerful king,
29. the king of hosts who has no rival, the king
of the
four
zones,
30. the king of all kinglets, the lord of lords,
the shepherd-
prince,
the king of kings,
31. the exalted prophet,2 to whom by
the proclamation of
Samas
32. the illustrious sceptre has been given as a
gift, so that
the men
33. who are subject to Bel he has ruled
34. in (their) entirety; the faithful shepherd,
35. proclaimed (lord) over kinglets,
36. the supreme governor whose weapons Asur
37. has predestined, and for the government of
the four
zones
38. has proclaimed his name for ever ; the
capturer
39. of the distant divisions 3 of the
frontiers
1 "The Temple of the Mountain of the
World,” the name of an old
temple in
the city of Assur, which had been restored by Shalmaneser I (b.c. 1300). In early Babylonian
mythology “the Mountain of the World ” was the Olympos on which the gods dwelt,
and which was identified with Mount Rowandiz. It is referred to in Isaiah xiv.
13, where the Babylonian king is made to say : "I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of Elohim : I will sit also on the mount
of the assembly (of the gods) in the extremities of the north. I will ascend
above the heights of the clouds ; I will be like the most High.”
2 Isippu, related to asipu, “a diviner,”
which was borrowed by the Book of Daniel under the form ashshaph, and may have
the same origin as the name of Joseph.
3 Pulugi, the Hebrew Peleg, in whose days
the earth was “ divided."
40. above and below; the illustrious prince
41. whose glory has overwhelmed (all) regions;
42. the mighty destroyer,1 who like
the rush
43. of a flood is made strong against the
hostile land ;
44. by the proclamation of Bel he has no rival;
45. he has destroyed the foeman of Asur.
46. May Asur (and) the great gods who have
magnified
my
kingdom,
47. who have given increase and strength to my
fetters,
48. (who) have ordered the boundary of their
land
49. to be enlarged, cause my hand to hold
50. their mighty weapons, even the deluge of
battle.
51. Countries, mountains,
52. fortresses and kinglets, the enemies of
Assur,
53. I have conquered, and their territories
54. I have made submit. With sixty kings,
55. I have contended furiously,2 and
56. power (and) rivalry over them
57. I displayed. A rival in the combat,
58. a confronter in the battle have I not.
59. To the land of Assyria I have added land, to
its men
60. (I have added) men ; the boundary of my own
land 6r. I have enlarged, and all their lands I have conquered.
62. At the beginning of my reign twenty thousand
men
63. of the MuskAya3
and their five kings,
64. who for fifty years from the lands of Alzi4
1 Naplu, probably the same word as the
Nephilim or "giants" of Gen. vi. 4 and Numb. xiii. 33. Sennacherib,
in describing the construction of his palace, says : "A railing of three
bronze cords and the divine Napallu
I erected above it,” where ".the
divine Napallu" probably refers to the image of a protecting deity.
2 Literally, " in drunken fashion ”
(sutkuris),
8 The
Meshech of the Old Testament, the Moschi of the classical writers, who in
Assyrian times occupied the country to the north of Mala- tiyeh. In the later Assyrian
inscriptions they are associated with the Tubal or Tibareni, as in the Old
Testament.
4 Alzi lay on the southern bank of the
Euphrates, between Palu and Khini, and included Enzitc, the Anzit£n6 of
classical geography (at the
65. and Purukuzzi had taken the tribute
66. and gifts owing to Asur my lord,—
67. no king at all in battle
68. had subdued their opposition—to their
strength
69. trusted and came down; the land of Kummukh1
70. they seized. Trusting in Asur my lord
71. I assembled my chariots and armies.
72. Thereupon I delayed not2 The
mountain of Kasi-
yara,3
73. a difficult region, I crossed,
74. with their twenty thousand fighting men
75. and their five kings in the land of Kummukh
76. I contended. A destruction of them
77. I made. The bodies of their warriors
78. in destructive battle like the inundator (Rimmon)
79. I overthrew; their corpses I spread
80. over the valleys and the high places of the
mountains.
81. Their heads I cut off; at the sides
82. of their cities I heaped (them) like mounds.
83. Their spoil, their property, their goods,
84. to a countless number I brought forth. Six
thousand
(men),
85. the relics of their armies, which before
86. my weapons had fled, took
87. my feet. I laid hold upon them and
88. counted them among the men of my own
country.
89. In those days, against Kummukh, the
disobedient,
90. which had withheld the tribute and gifts for
Asur my
lord,
91. I marched. The land of Kummukh
92. I conquered throughout its circuit.
sources of
the Sebbeneh S11). Alzi was invaded by the Vannic king Menuas, who says that it
formed part of the territory of the Khate or
Hittites.
1 Kummukh, the classical KomagSne,
extended in the Assyrian age on either side of the Euphrates, from Malaliyeh in
the north to Birejik in the south, Merash probably being one of its cities.
2 Literally, " I awaited not the
future."
3 Mons Masius, the modern Tur Abdin.
93. Their spoil, their property, their goods
94. I brought forth; their cities with fire
COLUMN II
1. I burned, I threw down, I dug up. The
rest
2. of (the men of) Kummukh, who before my weapons
3. had fled, to the city of Seresse1
4. on the further bank of the Tigris
5. passed over; the city for their stronghold
6. they made. My chariots and warriors
7. I took. The difficult mountains and their
inaccess
ible
8. paths with picks of bronze
9. I split. A pontoon for the passage
10. of my chariots and army I contrived.
11. The Tigris
I crossed. The city of Serise,
12. their strong city, I captured.
13. Their fighting men, in the midst of the mountains,
14. I flung to the ground like sling-stones
(?).2
15. Their corpses over the Tigris and the high places of
the
mountains
16. I spread. In those days the armies
17. of the land of Qurkh£,3 which for the preserva
tion
18. and help of the land of Kummukh
19. had come, along with the armies
20. of Kummukh,
like a moon-stone I laid low.
21. The corpses of their fighting men into
heaps
22. in the ravines of the mountains I heaped up;
23. the bodies of their soldiers the river Name
1 This must have been in the neighbourhood
of Amid or Diarbekir. The Vannie king Menuas mentions a Hittite city,
Surisidas, in the vicinity of
Alzi.
Delitzsch compares the Sareisa of Strabo.
2 Sutmasi. In R. 204. i. 22 sa sammasi is
interpreted "a slinger," and in W. A. I., iv, 13, 5, samsd is “a
sling-stone.”
3 The land of Qurkhi extended eastward of
Diarbekir, along the northern bank of the Tigris. The name is preserved in that
of Kurkh, 20 miles S. E. of Diarbekir, where there are ruins, and where a st£I6
of Shal* maneser II has been discovered.
24. carried away into the Tigris.
25. Kili-anteru the son of Kali-anteru,
26. (the descendant) of’Saru-pin-’siusuni,1
27. their king in the midst of battle my hand
28. captured; his wives (and) children
29. the offspring of his heart, his troops, 180
30. bronze plates, 5 bowls of copper,
31. along with their gods, gold (and) silver,
32. the choicest of their property, I removed.
33. Their spoil (and) their goods I carried
away.
34. The city itself and its palace with fire
35. I burned, I pulled down, (and) dug up.
36. As for the city of Urrakhinas, their stronghold,
37. which was situated on the mountain of Panari,
38. fear that avoided the glory of Assur my lord
39. overwhelmed them. To save
40. their lives they removed their gods;
41. to the ravines of the lofty mountains
42. they fled like a bird. My chariots
43. and armies I took; I crossed the Tigris.
44. Sadi-anteru, the son of Khattukhi,2
the king
45. of Urrakhinas,
that he might not be conquered,
46. in that country took my feet.
47. The children, the offspring of his heart,
and his family
48. I took as hostages.
49. Sixty bronze plates, a bowl of copper,
50. and a tray of heavy copper,
51. along with 120 men, oxen,
52. (and) sheep, as tribute and offering
1 Sarpina was the name of one of the
Hittite cities, whose god was invoked in the treaty between Ramses II and the
Hittite king. With the termination we may compare that of Abar-'sinni in iv.
82.
2 The first part of the name Sadi-anteru,
which reminds us of the Lydian Sady-att£s, may contain the name of the god
Sanda or Sandon. A Hittite prince mentioned by the Vannic king Menuas was
called Sada- hadas. Khattu-khi means ’’the Hittite,” the suffix-/*///, as in
Vannic, denoting «. patronymic or gentilic adjective. Urra-khi-nas is similarly
derived from Urra, the termination -khi-nas, in Vannic, denoting “ the
place of the people of.”
VOL. I H
53. (which) he brought, I received. I had
compassion on
him;
54. I granted his life. The heavy yoke
55. of my lordship I laid upon him for future
days.
56. The broad land of Kummukh throughout its circuit
57. I conquered; under my feet I subdued.
58. In those days a tray of copper (and) a bowl
59. of copper, from the spoil and tribute
60. of Kummukh
I dedicated to Asur my
lord.
61. The sixty bronze plates along with their
gods
62. I presented to Rimmon who loves me.
63. Through the violence of my powerful weapons,
which
Assur the lord
64. gave for strength and heroism,
65. in thirty of my chariots that go at my side
66. my fleet steeds '-(and) my soldiers,
67. who are strong2 in destructive
fight,
68. I took; against the country of Mildis, the powerful,
69. the disobedient, I marched. Mighty
mountains,
70. an inaccessible district,
71. (where it was) good in my chariots (where
it was) bad
on my feet,
72. I crossed. At the mountain of Aruma,
73. a difficult district, which for the passage
of my chariots
74. was not suited, I left the chariots,
75. I took the lead of my soldiers.
76. Like a lion (?) the obstacles (?) in the
ravines of the
inaccessible
mountains
77. victoriously I crossed.
78. The land of Mildis
like the flood3 of the deluge I
overwhelmed.
79. Their fighting men in the midst of battle
80. like a moon-stone I laid low. Their spoil
81. their goods (and) their property I carried
away.
1 Literally " complete horses."
3 Literally "mound” or “tel.
2 Lil.
82. All their cities I burned with fire.
83. Hostages, tribute and offering
84. I imposed upon them.
85. Tiglath-pileser, the hero, the warrior,
86. who opens the path of the mountains,
87. who subdues the disobedient, who sweeps away
88. all the overweening.
89. The land of Subari,1
the powerful, the disobedient,
90. I subdued. As for the countries of Alzi
91. and Purukuzzi,
which had withheld
92. their tribute and their offering,
93. the heavy yoke of my lordship upon them
94. I laid, (saying), each year tribute and
offering
95. to my city of Asur, to my presence,
96. let them bring. In accordance with my
valour,
97. since Asur
the lord has caused my hand to hold
98. the mighty weapon which subdues the
disobedient,
and
99. to enlarge the frontier of his country
100. has commanded (me), 4000 men of the Kaska2
101. and of the Uruma,8
soldiers of the Hittites
(Khatti),
102. disobedient ones, who in their strength
1 Subari, called Subarti a few lines
farther on, had been overrun by Rimmon-nirari I. (B.C. 1330), and was
afterwards conquered by Assur- natsir-pal, who describes it as situated between
Qurkhi and Nirib, or the plain of Diarbekir. As Qurkhi lay "opposite the
land of the Hittites,” Subari would have adjoined the territory of the latter
people, in the immediate vicinity of Alzi and Purukuzzi.
2 This seems to be the same word as the
Kolkhians of classical geography, though the seat of the Kolkhians was far to
the north of that of the KasM. In the classical period, however, we find that
the Moschi and Tibareni (Meshech and Tubal) had also shifted far to the north
of their habitat in Assyrian times, and like the Kolkhians had settled on the
shores of the Black Sea. A town of Kolkhis, now represented by the name of Lake
Goldshik, lay to the S. W. of Palu.
3 Uruma may be the Urima of classical
geography, the modem Urum.
It is
called Urume of Bitanu by Assur-natsir-pal, Bitanu being the district
south of
Lake Van. ‘
COLUMN III
1. had seized the cities of Subarti which looked to
2. the face1 of Asur my lord,
3. heard of my march against the land of Subarti ;
4. the glory of my valour overwhelmed them ;
5. they avoided battle ; my feet
6. they took.
7. Together with their property and r.20
8. chariots (and the horses) harnessed to
their yokes
9. I took them ; as the men
10. of my own country I counted them.
1 r. In the fierceness of my valour for
the second time
12. to the country of Kummukh I marched. All
13. their cities I captured. Their spoil
14. their goods and their property I carried
away.
15. Their cities with fire I burned,
r6. I
threw down (and) dug up, and the relics
17. of their armies, who before my powerful
weapons
18. were terror-stricken and the onset of my
mighty battle
19. avoided, to save
20. their lives sought the mighty summits
21. of the mountains, an inaccessible region.
22. To the fastnesses of the lofty ranges
23. and the ravines of the inaccessible
mountains
24. which were unsuited for the tread of men
25. I ascended after them. Trial of weapons,
combat
26. and battle they essayed with me.
27. A destruction of them I made. The bodies
28. of their warriors in the ravines of the
mountains
29. like the inundator (Rimmon) I overthrew. Their
corpses
30. over the valleys and high places of the
mountains 3r. I spread. Their spoil, their goods
32. and their property from the mighty
1 That is, were subject to.
33. summits of the mountains I brought down.
34. The land of Kummukh
to its whole extent I sub
jugated,
and
35. added to the territory of my country.
36. Tiglath-pileser the powerful king,
37. the mighty overwhelmer of the disobedient,
he who
sweeps
away
38. the opposition of the wicked.
39. In the supreme power of Asur my lord
40. against the land of Kharia1 and the widespread
armies
41. of the land of Qurkhi,—lofty mountain-ranges
42. whose site no king at all
43. had sought out—Asur the lord commanded (me)
44. to march. My chariots and armies
45. I assembled. The neighbourhood2
of the mountains
of Idni
46. and Aya,
an inaccessible district, I reached,
47. lofty mountains, which like the point of a
sword
48. were formed, which for the passage of my
chariots
49. were unsuited. The chariots in idleness
50. I left there. The precipitous mountains
51. I crossed. All the land of Qurkhi
52. had collected its widespread armies, and
53. to make trial of arms, combat and battle
54. in the mountain of Azutabgis3 was stationed, and
55. in the mountain, an inaccessible spot, with
them
56. I fought, a destruction of them I made.
1 It is clear that Kharia was a district
of Qurkhi which lay eastward of
Diarbekir
and the Supnat or Sebeneh Su, in the direction of Bitlis. It is perhaps the
Arua of Assur-natsir-pal which adjoined the western frontier of Ararat, a
kingdom at that time confined to Lake Van and the district south of the Lake.
The name reminds us of the classical Korra, now Karia, a little to the
south-east of Kolkhis (on Lake Goldshik), and to the north-west of Diarbekir.
2 Birti, from barn "to see.”
3 Perhaps to be read Azues.
57. The bodies of their warriors on the high
places of the
mountains
58. into heaps I heaped.
5 9. The
corpses of their warriors over the valleys and high places
60. of the mountains I spread. Against the
cities
61. which were situated in the ravines of the
mountains
fiercely
62. I pierced (my way).1 Twenty-five
cities of the land
of Kharia
63. which lie at the foot of the mountains of Aya, Suira,
Idni,
64. Sizu, Selgu,
Arzanibiu, Uru’su, and Anitku,
65. I captured. Their spoil,
66. their goods and their property I carried
off.
67. Their cities with fire I burned,
68. I threw down (and) dug up.
69. The country of Adaus feared the onset of my mighty
battle,
70. and their dwelling-place (the inhabitants)
abandoned.
71. To the ravines of the lofty mountains
72. like birds they fled. The glory of Assur my lord
73. overwhelmed them, and
74. they descended and took my feet.
75. Tribute and offering I imposed upon them.
76. The lands of ’Saraus
and Ammaus
77. which from days immemorial had not known
78. subjection, like the flood of the deluge
79. I overwhelmed. With their armies
80. on the mountain of Aruma2 I fought, and 8r. a destruction of them I
made. The bodies
82. of their lighting-men like sling-stones (?)
1 Aznig, not a'snig.
2 As, according to ii. 78, Aruma lay on
the frontier of Mildis, Adaus, 'Saraus, and Ammaus must have been Kurdish
districts to the eastward of Kummukh. The country of Adaus is mentioned by
Assur-natsir-pal in connection with Kirruri, which lay between Nimme and
Qurkhi.
83. I flung to the ground. Their cities I
captured.
84. Their gods I removed. Their spoil,
85. their goods (and) their property I carried
away.
86. Their cities with fire I burned,
87. I threw down (and) dug up; to mounds and
ruins
88. I reduced. The heavy yoke of my lordship
89. I laid upon them. The face of Assur my lord
90. I made them behold.1
9r. The powerful countries of I’sua2 and Daria
92. which were disobedient I conquered. Tribute
93. and offering I imposed upon them.
94. The face of Assur
my lord I caused them to behold.
95. In my supremacy when my enemies
96. I had conquered, my chariots and armies
97. I took. The lower Zab3
98. I crossed. The countries of Murattas and Saradaus
99. which are in the midst of the mountains of A’saniu
and Adhuma
100. an inaccessible region, I conquered.
101. Their armies like lambs
102. I cut down. The city of Murattas,
103. their stronghold, in the third part of a day
104. from sunrise I captured.
105. Their gods, their goods, (and) their
property,
106. 60 plates of bronze,
Column iv
1. 30 talents of bronze in fragments,4
(and) the smaller furniture
1 That is, “I reduced them to subjection
to Assur.”
2 I’sua, according to Shalmaneser II,
adjoined Enzite or Anzit£n6 (on the Sebbeneh Su) and lay on the southern bank
of the Arsanias between Palu and Mush. It is probably the U’su of
Assur-natsir-pal, on the western frontier of Arua (see note on iii. 40).
3 The lower Zab falls into the Tigris a
little below Kalah Sherghat (Assur). It rises in the Kurdish mountains, flowing
past Arbela, and was called Kapros by the classical geographers in
contradistinction to the Lykos or Upper Zab.
4 This seems to be the meaning of sabartum
in K 1999, i. 15.
2. of their palace, their spoil
3. I carried away. The city itself with fire
4. I burned, I threw down (and) dug up.
5. In those days that bronze
6. I dedicated to Rimmon the great lord who
loves me.
7. In the mightiness of the power of Asur my lord
8. against the lands of ’Sugi and Qurkhi, which had not
submitted
9. to Asur
my lord, I marched. With 6000
1 o. of their troops from the lands of Khime, Lukhi,
1 r. Arirgi, Alamun,
12. Nimni and all
the land of Qurkhi
13. far-extending, on the mountain of Khirikhi,
14. an inaccessible district, which like the
point of a sword
15. was formed, with all those countries
16. on my feet I fought.
17. A destruction of them I made.
18. Their fighting-men in the ravines of the
mountains
19. into heaps I heaped.
20. AVith the blood of their warriors the
mountain of
Khirikhi ..
2 r. like wool
(?) I dyed.
22. The land of ’Sugi
throughout its circuit I conquered
23. Their 25 gods, their spoil,
24. their goods (and) their property I carried
away.
25. All their cities with fire
26. I burnt, I threw down (and) dug up.
27. Those who were left of their armies took my
feet;
28. I showed favour towards them.
29. Tribute and offering upon them
30. I imposed; along with those who behold the
face
31. of Asur
my lord I counted them.
32. In those days the 25 gods of those lands,
33. the acquisitions of my hands,
34. which I had taken, to gratify (?) the temple
of Beltis
35. the great wife, the favourite of Asur my
lord,
36. Anu, Rimmon (and) Istar of Assur,
37. as well as the palaces of my city Assur
38. and the goddesses of my country
39. I gave.
40. Tiglath-pileser the powerful king,
41. the conqueror of hostile regions, the rival
42. of the company of all kings.
43. In those days through the supreme power
44. of Asur
my lord, through the everlasting grace
45. of Samas
the warrior, through the ministry
46. of the great gods, who in the four zones
47. rule in righteousness, and have no
vanquisher
48. in the combat, no rival in the battle,
49. to the lands of distant kings
50. on the shore of the upper sea,1
51. who knew not subjection,
52. Asur the lord
urged me and I went.
53. Difficult paths and trackless passes
54. whose interior in former days
55. no king at all had known,
56. steep roads, ways
57. unopened, I traversed.
58. The mountains of Elama, Amadana,2 Elkhis,
59. SlRABELI, TARKHUNA,
60. Tirka-khuli, Kizra,
61. Tarkha-nabe,3
Elula,
62. Khastarae,
Sakhisara,
63. Ubera,
Mili-adruni,
64. SULIANZI, NUBANAsi,
65. and Sesi,
16 mighty mountains,
1 That is, Lake Van.
2 Amadana was the district about Amida or
Diarbekir. Assnr-natsir-pal reached Amadana after leaving Adana, a district of
Qurkhi.
3 Compare the names of the Gamgumian and
Melitenian princes Tarkhu- lara and Tarkhu-nazi, and of the Hittite city
Tarkhi-gamas mentioned by the Vannic king Menuas.
66. where the ground was good in my chariots,
where it
was
difficult
67. with picks of bronze, I penetrated.
68. I cut down the urum-trees which grow in the
mountains.
69. Bridges for the passage
70. of my troops I constructed well.
7 r. I
crossed the Euphrates. The king of
the land of Nimme,1
72. the king of Tunubu,2
the king of Tuali,
73. the king of Qidari,
the king of Uzula,
74. the king of Unzamuni,
the king of Andiabe,
75. the king of Pilaqini,
the king of Adhurgini,
76. the king of Kuli-barzini,3
the king of Sinibirni,
77. the king of Khimua,
the king of Paiteri,4
78. the king of Uiram,
the king of Sururia,
79. the king of Abaeni,6
the king of Adaeni,
80. the king of Kirini,
the king of Albaya,
81. the king of Ugina,
the king of Nazabia,
82. the king of Abar-’siuni,
(and) the king of Dayaeni,6
83. all the 23 kings of the countries of Nairi,7
84. in the midst of their lands assembled
85. their chariots and their armies, and
86. to make conflict and battle
1 Nimme, according to Assur-natsir-pal,
adjoined Alzi and Dayaeni in
the
neighbourhood of Mush.
2 This must be the Dhunibun of Shalmaneser
II, eastward of the sources of tbe Tigris, on the river of Mush (the modern
Kara Su).
3 In the Vannic language the termination
ni(s) denoted "belonging to,'* and barzini or barzani signified " a
chapel.”
4 Tbe Vannic king calls the district in
which Palu stands “ the land of
Puterias.”
6 Perhaps
the Abnnis of the Vannic inscriptions.
6 Dayaeni was on the northern bank of the
Arsanias, to the north of Mush. It is called the kingdom of “the son of Diaus”
in the Vannic texts, which define it more closely as situated on the Murad
Chai, near Melazgherd.
7 The land of Nairi or "the
rivers" denoted in the age of Tiglath- Pileser I. the districts at the
sources of the Tigris and the Euphrates. In the time of Assur-natsir-pal and
his successors, on the other hand, it was the country between Lake Van and the
northern frontier of Assyria, and consequently lay to the south-west of the
Nairi of the time of Tiglatli- Pileser I. It will be noticed that there was as
yet no kingdom of Ararat or Van.
87. came on. With the violence of my powerful
88. weapons I pierced them.
89. An overthrow of their widespread armies
90. like the inundation of Rimmon
91. I made. The bodies of their warriors
92. in the plains, the high places of the
mountain, and the
walls
93. of their cities like slmg-stones (?)
94. I flung to the ground. One hundred and
twenty of
their
yoke-chariots
95. in the midst of the combat
96. I acquired. Sixty kings
97. of the lands of Nairi in addition to those who
98. had gone to their assistance
99. with my mace I pursued
100. as far as the Upper Sea.
101. Their great fortresses I captured.
COLUMN V
1. Their spoil, their goods (and) their
property
2. I carried away. Their cities with fire
3. I burned, I threw down (and) dug up,
4. I reduced to mounds and ruins.
5. Large troops of horses,
6. mules, calves, and the possessions
7. of their homesteads to a countless number
8. I brought back. All the kings
9. of the countries of Nairi alive my hand
10. captured. To those kings
rr. I
extended mercy, and
12. spared their lives. Their captivity
13. and their bondage in the presence of Samas my lord
14. I liberated, and an oath by my great
15. gods 1 unto future days for ever
16. and ever that they should be (my) servants
I made
them
swear.
17. The children, the offspring of their
kingdom,
1 Literally "the bann (mamit) of my
great gods."
18. as hostages I.took.
19. Twelve hundred horses (and) 2000 oxen
20. I imposed upon them as tribute.
21. In their countries I left them.
22. ’Sieni king of Dayaeni,
23. who did not submit to Asur my lord,
24. captive and bound to my city
25. of Asur
I brought; mercy
26. I extended to him, and from my city of Asur,
27. as the exalter of the great gods
28. unto exaltation, alive
29. I let him depart. The lands of Nairi,
30. far-extending, I subdued throughout their
whole extent,
31. and all their kings
32. I reduced beneath my feet.
33. In the course of the same campaign
34. against the city of Milidia,1 of the country of Khani2
the great,
35. violent (and) unsubmissive, I marched.
36. The mighty onset of my battle they feared.
3 7. My feet they took; I had mercy on
them.
38. The city itself I did not capture ; their
hostages
39. I accepted. A homer by way of tax of lead
40. as an annual tribute
41. not to be intermitted I imposed upon them.
42. Tiglath-pileser, the destroyer, the
quick-moving,
43. the implacable, the deluge of battle.
44. In the service of Asur my lord, my chariots
45. and warriors I took. In the desert
1 The classical MelitSng, now Malatiyeh,
on the Euphrates.
2 This district of Kappadokia is called
“Khani the Great," to distinguish it from another Khani near Babylon,
whose king Tukulti-mer, son of Ilu-saba, dedicated a bronze ram's head, now in
the British Museum, to the temple of the Sun-god at Sippara.
46. I made (my way). To the bank of the waters
47. of the land of the Armayans,1 the enemies of Asur
my lord,
48. I marched. From opposite to the land of ’Sukhi,2
49. as far as the city of Gargamis,3 of the land of the
Hittjtes (Khatti),
50. in one day I plundered.
51. Their soldiers I slew. Their spoil,
52. their goods and their possessions
53. to a countless number I carried back.
54. The remains of their armies,
55. who before the powerful (weapons) of Asur my lord
56. had fled and had crossed the Euphrates,
57. after them in vessels of inflated (?) skins4
58. I crossed the Euphrates;
59. six of their cities which (were) at the foot
of Mount
Bisri 5
60. I captured; with fire I burned,
61. I threw down (and) dug up. Their spoil,
their goods
62. and their possessions to my city of Asur
63. I brought.
64. Tiglath-pileser, the trampler upon the
mighty,
65. the slaughterer of the unsubmissive, who
weakens6
66. utterly the strong.
67. To conquer the land of Mu’sri7 Asur the lord
1 The Arameans.
2 The Shuhites of the Old Testament, who
extended along the western banks of the Euphrates from the month of the Khabonr
to above that of the Belikh. ‘4 Bildad the Shuhite” (Job ii. 11)
would be Bel-Dadda, Dadda, as we learn from the cuneiform inscriptions, being a
form of Hadad, the Syrian name of the god of heaven.
3 Carchemish, the Hittite capital on the
Euphrates, between the mouth of the Sajur and Birejik, now represented by the
mounds of Jerabltis.
4 Sugase, borrowed from the Accadian 'su,
"skin/’ andgavsia (whence the Semitic gubsu).
5 Now Tel-Basher.
6 Musarbibu, “subduer,” according to M.
Amiaud, who regards the word as an example of a parel conjugation (Revue
d’Assyriologie, ii. x, p. 12).
7 Mu’sri or Muzri lay to the north-east of
Khorsabad, in the mountainous district now inhabited by the Missouri Kurds.
The tribute of a
68. urged me, and between the mountains of Elamuni
69. Tala and
Kharu’sa I made (my way).
70. I conquered the land of Mu’sri throughout its
circuit,
71. I massacred their warriors.
72. The cities I burned with fire, I threw down,
73. I dug up. The armies of the land of QumanI
74. to the help of the land of Mu’sri
75. had gone. On a mountain with them
76. I fought. A destruction of them I made.
77. To a single city, Arini, at the foot of mount Ai’sa,
78. I drove and shut them up. My feet
79. they took. The city itself I spared.
80. Hostages, tribute and offering
81. I laid upon them.
82. In those days all the land of Qumani,
83. which had prepared to help Mu’sri,
84. gathered together all those countries, and
85. to make conflict and battle
86. were determined. With the violence of my
powerful
weapons,
87. with 20,000 of their numerous troops
88. on mount Tala
I fought.
89. A destruction of them I made.
90. Their strong forces I broke through.
91. As far as mount Kharu’sa, which (is) in front of the
land of Mu’sri,
92. I pursued their fugitives. The bodies
93. of their warriors in the ravines of the
mountain
94. like a moon-stone I flung to the ground.
95. Their corpses over the valleys and the high
places of
the
mountains
96. I spread. Their great fortresses
97. I captured, with fire I burned,
rhinoceros,
yak, elephant, and apes, brought by its inhabitants to Shalmaneser II, must be
explained on the supposition that the caravan road from the east passed through
it.
98. I threw down (and) dug up, so that they
became
mounds and
ruins.
99. Khunu’sa their
fortified city
100. like the flood of the deluge I overwhelmed.
COLUMN VI
1. With their mighty armies
2. in the city and the mountains I contended
furiously.
3. A destruction of them I made.
4. Their fighting men in the midst of the
mountains
5. like a moon-stone I flung down. Their
heads
6. like (that) of a sheep I cut off.
7. Their corpses over the valleys and high
places of the
mountains
8. I spread. The city itself I captured.
9. Their gods I carried away. Their goods
(and) ^their
property
10. I brought out. The city with fire I burned.
11. Three of their great fortresses, which of
brickwork
12. were constructed, and the circuit of the
city itself
13. I threw down (and) dug up; to mounds and
ruins
14. I reduced (them), and salt (?) on the top
of them
15. I sowed. A plate of bronze I made ;
16. the conquest of the lands, which through Asur my
god (and)
my lord
17. I had conquered, that the site of this city
should not
(again) be
taken,
18. nor its wall be constructed, upon (it)
19. I wrote. A house of brick on the top of it
20. I built: these plates of bronze
21. in the midst (of it) I placed.
22. In the service of Asur my lord my chariots
2 3. and soldiers I took. The city of Kipsuna
24. their royal city I besieged. The Qumanians
2 5. feared
the mighty onset of my battle;
2 6. my
feet they took ; their lives I spared.
27. Its great wall and its gate-posts
28. of bricks I ordered to be destroyed, and
29. from their foundations to their coping
30. they were thrown down and turned into a
mound;
31. and 300 families of evil-doers
32. who (were) within it, who were not
submissive to Asur
my lord,
33. were removed (out of it). I received them.
Their
hostages
34. I took. Tribute and offering
3 5. above
what was previously paid upon them
36. I imposed, and the widespread land of Qumani
37. throughout its circuit under my feet
38. I subdued.
39. In all, 42 countries and their kings
40. from the fords of the lower Zab
41. (and) the border of the distant mountains
42. to the fords of the Euphrates,
43. the land of the Hittites (Khatte) and the Upper Sea
44. of the setting sun,1 from the
beginning of my sovereignty
45. until my fifth year my hand has conquered.
46. One word in unison have I made them utter.
47. Their hostages have I taken. Tribute
48. and offering have I imposed upon them.
49. I left the numerous roads of foreign peoples
50. which were not attached to my empire :
51. where the ground was favourable in my
chariots, and
where it
was difficult
52. on my feet, after them
53. I marched. The feet of the enemy
54. I kept from my land.
55. Tiglath-pileser the valiant hero,
56. the holder of the sceptre unrivalled
57. who completes the mission of the supreme
(gods).
1 That is, Lake Van.
58. Uras and Nergal have given their forceful
59. weapons and their supreme bow
60. to the hands of my lordship.
61. Under the protection of Uras who loves me
62. from young wild bulls, powerful (and) large,
63. in the desert in the land of MitAni
64. and in the city of Arazigi,1 which (is) in front
65. of the land of the Hittites, with my mighty bow,
66. a lasso of iron and my pointed
67. spear, their lives I ended :
68. their hides (and) their horns
69. to my city of Asur I brought.
70. Ten powerful male-elephants 2
71. in the land of Harran (Kharrani) and (on)
the bank
of the Khabur
72. I slew. Four elephants alive
73. I captured. Their hides
74. (and) their teeth along with the live
75. elephants I brought to my city Asur.
76. Under the protection of Uras who loves me
77. 120 lions, with my stout heart,
78. in the conflict of my heroism 7 9. on my
feet I slew;
80. and 800 lions in my chariot
81. with javelins (?) I slaughtered.
82. All the cattle of the field and the birds of
heaven
83. that fly, among my rarities 3
84. I placed.
85. After that the enemies of Asur throughout their territories
1 Arazig is the Eragiza of Ptolemy, on the
Euphrates, to the north of Balis and the south of Carchemish. Mit&ni seems
to be the Matenau of the Egyptians mentioned by Ramses III immediately before
Carchemish.
2 I follow Lotz in this rendering.
3 Ni'siggi, borrowed from the Sumerian
nin-sig, "secret."
VOL. I I
86. I had conquered, the temple of Istar of (the city)
Assur
87. my lady, the temple of Rimmon,1 (and) the temple of
the Older Bel,2
88. the temple of the Divinities,3
the temples of the gods
89. of my city Asur,
which were decayed, I built,
90. I completed. The entrances of their temples
91. I constructed. The great gods, my lords,
92. I introduced within ;
93. I rejoiced the heart of their great
divinity.
94. The palaces, the seat of sovereignty
95. belonging to the great fortresses
96. on the borders of my country, which from
97. the time of my fathers through long
98. years had been deserted and ruined and
99. were destroyed, I built (and) completed.
100. The castles of my country that were
overthrown
101. I enclosed. The conduits i
throughout all the land
of Assyria
102. I fastened together wholly, and an
accumulation
103. of grain in addition to that (collected) by
my fathers
104. I brought back (and) heaped up.
105. Troops of horses, oxen (and) asses
COLUMN VII
1. which in the service of Asur my lord
2. in the countries which I had conquered,
3. as the acquisition of my hands
4. which I took, I collected together, and
troops
5. of goats, fallow-deer, wild sheep,
6. (and) antelopes which Asur and Uras
7. the gods who love me have given
8. for hunting, in the midst of the lofty
1 Here called M&tu, 11 the
god of the tempest.”
2 Bel of Nipur, called Mnl-lil, “the lord
of the ghost-world," by the Ac- cadians, and distinguished from Bel
Merodach, the younger Bel of Babylon,
3 This apparently means lhal Ihe
images of several deities were collected together in the temple of the Older
Bel. '
4 Literally “sewers.”
9. mountains I have taken;
10. their herds I enclosed,
11. their number like that of a flock
12. of sheep I counted :
13. young lambs, the offspring
14. of their heart, according to the desire of
my heart,
15. along with my pure sacrifices
16. annually I sacrificed to Asur my lord.
17. The cedar, the likkarin tree
18. (and) the allakan tree from the countries
19. which I had conquered, these trees
20. which among the kings
21. my fathers who (were) before (me) none
22. had planted, I took and
23. in the plantations of my country
24. I planted, and the costly fruit
25. of the plantation, which did not exist in my
country,
26. I took. The plantations of Assyria
27. I established.
28. Chariots (and horses) bound to the yoke,
29. for the mightiness of my country, more than
before
30. I introduced (and) harnessed.
31. To the land of Asur (I added) land,
32. to its people I added people.
33. The health of my people I improved.
34. A peaceable habitation
35. I caused them to inhabit.
36. Tiglath-pileser, the great, the supreme,
37. whom Asur
and Uras according to the desire
38. of his heart conduct, so that
39. after the enemies of Asur
40. he has overrun all their territories, and
41. has utterly slaughtered the overweening.
42. The son of Asur-ris-ilim,1 the
powerful king, the con
queror
43. of hostile lands, the subjugator
44. of all the mighty.
45. Thej’grandson of Mutaggil-Nu’sku, whom Asur the
great lord
46. in the conjuration of his steadfast heart
47. had required, and to the shepherding
48. of the land of Asur had raised securely.
49. The true son of Asur-da’an,
50. the upraiser of the illustrious sceptre, who
ruled
51. the people of Bel,2 who the work of his hands
52. and the gift of his sacrifice
53. commended to the great gods, so that
54. he arrived at gray hairs and old age.
55. The descendant of Uras-pileser,
5 6. the
guardian (?) king, the favourite of Asur,
5 7. whose might3 like a sling
58. was spread over his country, and
59. the armies of Asur he shepherded faithfully.
60. In those days the temple of Anu and Rimmon
61. the great gods, my lords,
1 Sir H. Rawlinson has suggested that
Asur-ris-ilim is the Chushan-rish- athaim of Judges iii. 8, a name which
certainly seems to be corrupt. Chushan-rish-athaim is called king of Aram
Naharaim or '1 Aram of the two rivers," which represents
Mesopotamia in the Old Testament, though the Naharaina of the Egyptian
monuments was the region about the Orontes, while the Assyrian Nahri or Nairi
was primarily the district to the northwest of Lake Van, and afterwards the
country to the south of it. Assur- ris-ilim claims to have 11
subdued Lullumi and all Quti (or Kurdistan) with the entrance to its
mountain-ranges " (W. A. I., iii. 3, 18); but these districts lay to the
east of Assyria, and no allusion is made to any campaign in the west.
2 That is, the Bahylonians.
8 Literally 11 fulness "
(nubalu, akin to nabli, in the Cuthean Legend of
the
Creation, iv. 20).
62. which in former times Samas-Rimmon, the
high-priest1
of Asur,
63. the son of Isme-Dagon, the high-priest also
of Asur,
64. built, for 641 years
65. went on decaying,—
66. Asur-da’an the king of Asur,
67. the son of Uras-pileser, the king also of Asur,
68. pulled down this temple (but) did not
rebuild (it);
69. for 60 years its foundations
70. were not laid.
7r. At the
beginning of my reign, Anu
72. and Rimmon
the great gods, my lords,
73. who love my priesthood (’sanguti),
74. commanded the rebuilding
75. of their habitation. I made bricks;
76. I purified its site;
77. I undertook its reconstruction;2
its foundations
78. I laid upon the mass of a huge mound.
79. This place throughout its circuit
80. I piled up with bricks like a double fold
(?).
81. Fifty tibki3 below
82. I sunk (it); upon it
83. the foundations of the temple of Anu and Rimmon
84. I laid with pulu-stone.4
85. From its foundations to its roof
86. I built (the temple); greater than (it was)
before I
reared
(it).
87. Two great towers
88. which for the glorification of their great
divinities
89. were adapted, I constructed.
1 Pate'si.
2 Literally "I took its strength1
* (read dannat-su> not libnat-su).
3 The tibku was a measure of length which
is explained in the Talmud as the longer cubit of 7 palms mentioned in 2 Chr.
iii. 3.
4 Prof. D. H. Muller believes the
/#/?/-stone to have been brought from Armenia, and to have derived its name
from the Vannic pulu-si, “engraved." It is also called pili-stone. It was
a species of.white marble.
90. The illustrious temple, a building with
cornices,1
91. the seat of their rejoicing,
92. the habitation of their pleasure,
93. which has been beautified like the star(s)
of heaven,
94. and by the art of the workmen
95. has been richly carved,
96. I have worked at, have toiled over, have
built
97. (and) have completed. Its interior
98. I compacted together like the heart of
heaven ;
99. its walls like the resplendence
100. of the rising of the stars I adorned.
10 r. I
strengthened its buttresses,
102. and its towers to heaven
103. I lifted; and its roof
104. I fastened together with brickwork.
105. The divining rod,2
106. the oracle of their great
107. divinities within it
108. I placed.
109. Anu and Rimmon, the great gods
110. I introduced within (it); hi. on their thrones supreme
112. I seated them ;
113. and the heart of their great divinities
114. I gladdened.
column vm
1. Bit-Khamri (the
temple) of Rimmon,
2. which Samas-Rimmon the high-priest of Assur 3
1 Qusuda. In W. A. I., v. 28, 4, gasdu is
the synonym of allum, the Aramaic ild.
2 Elalld. It seems to have been a stem of
papyrus covered with writing.
3 The Pate'sis, or high-priests of Assur,
preceded the kings of Assyria, of whom the first is stated to have been
Bel-kapkapu. As Samas-Rimmon, the high-priest, flourished 701 years before
Tiglath-Pileser, his date would be about B.C. 1830. In Babylonia the
high-priests were subject to a suzerain king 5 it is therefore probable that
the high-priests of Assur also admitted the supremacy of a supreme monarch who
may have ruled in Babylonia. Bricks have been found on the site of Ur in
Babylonia bearing the name of Isme-Dagon, “ king of Sumer and Accad,” but he
must
3. the son of Isme-Dagon the high-priest of Asur
4. had built, had fallen into decay and was
ruined.
5. I purified its site; from its foundations
6. to its roof with brick
7. I bonded (it) together. More than before
8. I adorned, I established (it).
9. In its midst pure victims
10. to Rimmon my lord I sacrificed.
ir. In
those days the ivory (?) stone, the khalta stone
12. and the mountain stone from the mountains
13. of Nairi,1
which through Asur my lord r 4. I
had conquered, I carried away;
15. in Bit-Khamri, (the temple) of Rimmon my
lord
16. for days to come I set (them).
17. As I the illustrious temple, the building
supreme,
18. for the habitation of Anu and Rimmon
the great gods
19. my lords, have laboured at and have not desisted
20. (and) have not rested from the work,2
21. (but) have quickly completed (it), and
22. have gladdened the heart of .their great
23. divinity, (so) may Anu and Rimmon
24. turn (to me) for ever and
25. love the lifting up of my hands ;
2 6. may they hearken to the earnestness of
my prayer;
27. abundant rains, years
28. of fertility and fatness to my reign
29. may they give; in battle and conflict
30. may they conduct (me) in
safety; .
31. all the countries of my enemies, countries
32. that are powerful, and kings that are
hostile to me,
33. may they subdue beneath my feet;
have lived
at a much earlier period than Samas-Rimmon, whose Babylonian contemporary was
Gul-kisar.
1 Another mode of spelling Nahri.
2 Literally "have not laid down my
side at the work.”
34. to myself and my supremacy
35. may they approach in goodness, and
36. my priesthood in the presence of Asur and
their great
37. divinities unto future days
38. may they establish like a mountain for ever.
39. The power of my heroism, the might
40. of my battle, the subjection of enemies,
41. even the foes of Asur, whom Anu and
Rimmon
42. have given for a spoil,
43. on my monuments and my cylinder
44. have I described; in the temple of Anu and Rimmon
45. the great gods my lords
46. I have deposited (them) for days to come;
47. the monumental-stones of Samas-Rimmon,
48. my (fore)father I have anointed with oil j1
a victim
49. I have sacrificed : to their place I have
restored (them).
50. In future days, in the days to come,
51. at any time whatever, may a future prince,
5 2. when
the temple of Anu and Rimmon the great
53. gods, my lords, and these towers
54. shall grow old and
55. shall decay, renew their ruins;
56. my monumental-stones and my cylinder
57. may he anoint with oil; a victim may he sacrifice;
58. to their place may he restore (them),
59. and may he write his name along with mine.
60. Like myself may Anu and Rimmon 6r. the great gods in goodness of heart
62. and the acquisition of power kindly conduct
him !
63. Whoever my monumental-stones and my cylinder
64. shall shatter, shall sweep away,
1 Thereby turning them into Beth-els or
consecrated stones. Cf. Gen.
xxviii,
18.
65. shall throw into the water,
66. shall burn with fire,
67. shall conceal in the dust; in the holy house
of the god
68. (in) a place invisible shall store (them) up
in frag
ments ;
69. shall obliterate the name that is written,
and
70. shall write his own name, and something
71. evil shall devise, and
72. against my monumental-stones
73. shall work injury;
74. may Anu
and Rimmon the great gods, my lords,
75. fiercely regard him and
76. may they curse him with a withering curse.
77. May they overthrow his kingdom ;
78. may they remove the foundation of the throne
of his
majesty;
79. may they annihilate the fruit of his lordship;
80. may they break his weapons ;
8r. may they cause destruction to his army;
82. in the presence of his enemies in chains
83. may they seat him. May Rimmon with lightning
84. destructive smite his land;
85. want, hunger, famine
86. (and) corpses may he lay upon his country;
87. may he not bid him live for one day;
88. may he root out his name (and) his seed in
the land !
89. (Written) in the month Kuzallu,1
the 29th day, in the
eponymy
90. of Ina-ili-ya-allak the chief of the
body-guard.2
1 " Of sheep-breeding," a name
of Sivan or May, according to W. A. I., v. 43, 14.
2 Literally “the mighty men,” like the
Gibborim of the Old Testament ; cf. 2 Sam. xxiii. 8. Assyrian chronology was
reckoned according to the eponyms, officers who gave their name to each year of
the king’s reign. As the inscription of Rimmon-nirari I, who preceded Tiglath-
Pileser I by about two hundred years, is dated in the eponymy of Shal-
man-garradu (“tbe god Solomon is a hero”), accurate chronology in Assyria went
back to an early period.
THE
ASSYRIAN STORY OF THE CREATION
Translated by the Editor
Fragments of a long epic poem, describing the creation
of the world in a series of tablets or books, were discovered by Mr. George
Smith among the cuneiform treasures of the British Museum which had come from
the royal library of Kouyunjik or Nineveh. The tablets appear to be seven in
number, and since the creation was described as consisting of a series of
successive acts, it presented a curious similarity to the account of the creation
recorded in the first chapter of Genesis.
The epic
embodied certain of the ideas and beliefs current in Assyria and Babylonia
regarding the creation of the universe. That there were other ideas and legends
is evident from the existence of another story of the creation, which came
originally from the library of Cutha, and differed entirely from that of the
epic. The epic, as I have pointed out in my Lectures on the Religion of the
Ancient Babylonians (p. 385), clearly belongs to a late date. The gods of the
popular religion not only have their
places in
the universe fixed, but even the period and manner of their origin is
described. The elementary spirits of the old Accadian faith have passed into
the great gods of Semitic belief, and been finally resolved into mere
symbolical representatives of the primordial elements of the world. Under a
thin disguise of theological nomenclature, the Babylonian theory of the
universe has become a philosophic materialism. The gods themselves come and go
like mortal men ; they are the offspring of the everlasting elements of the
heaven and earth, and of that watery abyss out of which mythology had created a
demon of evil, but which the philosopher knew to be the mother and source of
all things. The Tiamat of the first tablet of the epic is a very different
being from the Tiamat of the fourth.
I much
doubt, therefore, whether the epic in its present form is older than the time
of Assur-bani- pal. It sums up under a poetical garb the teachings of mythology
and philosophy about the origin of things. The Babylonians had always believed
that the world had been created out of water, and that the present creation had
been preceded by an earlier creation, an imperfect and chaotic prototype of
that which followed. This earlier creation, in fact, had been the work of
chaos, and the destruction of it by the younger gods of light and order ushered
in the new creation of the visible world. Light and darkness, chaos and order,
are ever struggling one against the other; but the victory of light and order
was
assured
ever since Merodach, the Sun-god, overthrew the dragon Tiamat, “ the wicked
serpent ” as she is also called, who represented chaos and anarchy. Tiamat is
the Assyrian equivalent of the Hebrew tekom, “the deep,” upon whose face,
according to Gen. i. 2, darkness had rested before the universe was made.
The
cosmological system of the first tablet found its way into the pages of a Greek
writer, Damaskios, who lived in the sixth century of our era (De Prim. Princip.
125, p. 384, ed. Kopp). “The Babylonians,” he tells us, “ like the rest of the
barbarians, pass over in silence the one principle of the universe, and they
constitute two, Tavthe and Apas6n, making Apas6n the husband of Tavth£, and
denominating her ‘ the mother of the gods.’ And from these proceeds an
only-begotten son Mumis, which, I conceive, is no other than the intelligible
world proceeding from the two principles. From them also another progeny is
derived, Lakhe and Lakhos ; and again a third, Kissar£ and Ass6ros, from which
last three others proceed, Anos and Illinos and Aos. And of Aos and Davke is
born a son called Belos, who, they say, is the fabricator of the world.”
Tavth£ is
Tiamat or Tiavat, Apas6n is ap’su, “ the abyss,” and Mumis is Mummu, who,
however, is identified with Tiamat in the epic, Kissare and Assdros being
Ki-sar and An-sar, “ the lower ” and “ the upper firmament.” Lakh£ and Lakhos,
that is to say, Lakhmu or Lakhvu and Lakhamu or La-
khavu,
must be read instead of the Dakhe and Dakhos of the manuscripts. B£los is
Bel-Merodach, “ the younger Bel,” in contradistinction to “ the older Bel"
of the city of Nipur, one of whose Accadian names was Illil, the Illinos of
Damaskios. It is probable that the name of Lakhamu was carried to Canaan along
with those of other Babylonian gods such as Rimmon, Nebo, and Sin. At all
events Lakhmi seems to be the name of a Philistine in
1 Chron. xx. 5, and Beth-lehem is best
explained as “the house of Lekhem,” like Beth-Dagon, “the house of Dagon,” or
Beth-Anoth, “the house of Anat.”
Only the
commencement of the first tablet (numbered K 5419) has been recovered, but the
tablet was of no great length, as the larger part of the reverse appears to
have been occupied by the colophon. It has been published by Mr. George Smith
in the Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archcc- ology, iv. 2
(1876), and by Professor Fr. Delitzsch in his Assyrische Lesestiicke (1st
edition, 1878), and has been translated by Mr. Smith in his Chaldean Genesis.
Translations of it by Dr. Oppert, Dr. Schrader, and myself have subsequently
appeared. A small fragment of the second tablet has been found by Professor
Delitzsch, containing the colophon, “ the second tablet (of the series
beginning)
‘ when
above.’ ” The third tablet was partly represented by the fragments numbered K
3473, Rm. 615. Lines 17-42 of the obverse have been
published
by Professor Delitzsch in his Assyrisckes Worterbuch, i. p. 100, and portions
of the text are translated in Smith’s Chaldean Genesis. A fragment of the
fourth tablet from the Library of Kouyunjik, numbered K 3437, has been
published by George Smith {Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch., iv. 2), and Delitzsch (Ass.
Leses., pp. 82, 83), and translated by Smith, Oppert, Lenormant, and others ;
but nearly the whole of the text has now been recovered from a tablet brought
from Babylonia by Mr. Rassam (numbered 82-9-18, 3737), and published by Mr.
Budge in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archceology for 6th
December 1887. A translation of it has been given by myself in my Lectures on
the Religion of the Ancient Babylonians, pp. 379 seq. (1887), which I can now
improve in several particulars. The fifth tablet (K 3567) was published by
Smith {Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch., iv. 2), and Delitzsch (Ass. Leses., p. 78), and
translated by Smith, Oppert, and Lenormant. About one-third of it is lost. Of
the seventh (?) tablet only three small fragments remain (345, 248, 147),
published by Delitzsch (Ass. Leses., p. 79), and translated by Smith in his
Chaldean Genesis. To the third tablet probably belongs an unpublished fragment
(K 3449), describing the preparation of the bow of Merodach ; an attempt at its
translation will be found in Smith’s Chaldean Genesis.
No
fragments of the sixth tablet have as yet been noticed. According to Professor
Delitzsch the fragment belonging to the second tablet concludes with
the prayer
of Merodach to capture Tiamat and avenge the gods, after Anu and Ea had already
declined to undertake the task (Assyrisches Worterbuch, i. p. 65). The first
line of the next tablet is stated to be, “ An-sar (the upper firmament) opened
his mouth.” From this point onwards the ends of the lines are preserved on the
fragment numbered K 3473, and from line 9 onwards the beginnings of the lines
on fragment K 3938. They run as follows :—
1. “An-sar opened his mouth, and
2. unto him (Merodach) he speaks the word :
3. (‘O lord, I) am yearning1 in my
liver;
4. (against Tiamat) let me send thee, even
thee :
5. (with the snare?) thou shalt ensnare
(Tiamat), thou
shalt be
exalted (?)
6 thy
... to thy presence.
7 their
divine porter.
8 let
them dwell in feasting.’
9. The god went (saying), let them make the
wine.
10. Humbly the god has . . . them; let them
hear the
report.
11. He has established and has fixed their . .
., (saying)
thus :
12. ‘Do thou .... thy (word) repeat to them.
13. An-sar, moreover, . . . has urged me on;
14. the law of (his) heart has made me, even
me, to ponder
15. thus: ‘Tiamat . . . has seen us;
16. she has convened (sitkunat) an assembly,
and is violently
enraged.’
”
Here
follows the passage translated further on. The last two lines of the tablet, as
we learn from a
1 Khummulu, from khamalu, *1 to
be pitiful.
small
fragment, concluded with the words, “ (Mero- dach) ascended (from) their midst
(and the great gods) determined (for him his) destiny."
It will be
seen that a good deal of the poem consists of the words put into the mouth of
the god Merodach, derived possibly from older lays. The first tablet or book,
however, expresses the cosmological doctrines of the author’s own day. It
opens before the beginning of time, the expression “ at that time” answering to
the expression “in the beginning” of Genesis. The heavens and earth had not yet
been created, and since the name was supposed to be the same as the thing named,
their names had not as yet been pronounced. A watery chaos alone existed, Mummu
Tiamat, “ the chaos of the deep.” Out of the bosom of this chaos proceeded the
gods as well as the created world. First came the primaeval divinities Lakhmu
and Lakhamu, words of unknown meaning, and then An-sar and Ki-sar, " the
upper” and “ lower firmament.” Last of all were born the three supreme gods of
the Babylonian faith, Anu the sky-god, Bel or Illil the lord of the ghost-
world, and Ea the god of the river and sea.
But before
the younger gods could find a suitable habitation for themselves and their
creation it was necessary to destroy “the dragon” of chaos with all her
monstrous offspring. The task was undertaken by the Babylonian sun-god
Merodach, the son of Ea, An-sar promising him victory, and the other gods
providing for him his arms. The second tablet was
occupied
with an account of the preparations made to ensure the victory of light over
darkness and order over anarchy.
The third
tablet described the success of the god of light over the allies of Tiamat.
Light was introduced into the world, and it only remained to destroy Tiamat
herself. The combat is described in the fourth tablet, which takes the form of
a poem in honour of Merodach, and is probably an earlier poem incorporated into
his text by the author of the epic. Tiamat was slain and her allies put in bondage,
while the books of destiny which had hitherto been possessed by the older race
of gods were now transferred to the younger deities of the new world. The
visible heaven was formed out of .the skin' of Tiamat, and became the outward
symbol of An-sar and the habitation of Anu, Bel, and Ea, while the chaotic
waters of the dragon became the law-bound sea ruled over by Ea.
The
heavens having been thus made, the fifth tablet tells us how they were
furnished with mansions for the sun and moon and stars, and how the heavenly
bodies were bound down by fixed laws that they might regulate the calendar and
determine the year. The sixth tablet probably described the creation of the
earth, as well as of vegetables, birds, and fish. In the seventh tablet the
creation of animals and reptiles was narrated, and doubtless also that of
mankind.
It will be
seen from this that in its main outlines
VOL 1. K
the
Assyrian epic of the creation bears a striking resemblance to the account of it
given in the first chapter of Genesis. In each case the history of the creation
is divided into seven successive acts; in each case the present world has been
preceded by a watery chaos. In fact the self-same word is used of this chaos in
both the Biblical and Assyrian accounts —tehdm, Tiamat—the only difference
being that in the Assyrian story “ the deep ” has become a mythological
personage, the mother of a chaotic brood. The order of the creation, moreover,
agrees in the two accounts ; first the light, then the creation of the
firmament of heaven, subsequently the appointment of the celestial bodies “
for signs and for seasons and for days and years,” and next, the creation of
beasts and “creeping things.” But the two accounts also differ in some
important particulars. In the Assyrian epic the earth seems not to have been
made until after the appointment of the heavenly bodies, instead of before it
as in Genesis, and the seventh day is a day of work instead of rest, while
there is nothing corresponding to the statement of Genesis that “ the Spirit of
God moved upon the face of the waters.” But the most important difference
consists in the interpolation of the struggle between Merodach and the powers
of evil, as a consequence of which light was introduced into the universe and
the firmament of the heavens was formed.
It has
long since been noted that the conception
of this
struggle stands in curious parallelism to the verses of the Apocalypse (Rev.
[xii. 7-9) : “ And there was war in heaven : Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon ; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not;
neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast
out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole
world.” We are also reminded of the words of Isaiah xxiv.
21, 22 : “The Lord shall visit the host of the
high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they
shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be
shut up in prison.” It may be added that an Assyrian bas-relief now in the
British Museum represents Tiamat with horns and claws, tail and wings.
There is
no need of drawing attention to the profound difference of spiritual
conception that exists between the Assyrian epic and the first chapter of
Genesis. The one is mythological and polytheistic, with an introduction
savouring of the later materialism of the schools ; the other is sternly
monotheistic. Between Bel-Merodach and the Hebrew God there is an impassable
gulf.
It is
unfortunate that the last lines of the epic in which the creation of man would
have been recorded have not yet been recovered. A passage in one of the early magical
texts of Babylonia, however, goes to show that the Babylonians believed that
the
woman was
produced from the man, conformably to the statement in Gen. ii. 22, 23. We
there read of the seven evil spirits (W. A. I., iv. 1. i. 36, 37) that “ the
woman from the man do they bring forth.’'
TABLET OF
THE STORY OF THE CREATION
Obverse
time the
heaven above had not yet announced, ■arth beneath
recorded, a name; pened1 deep was their generator, j-Tiamat (the
chaos of the sea) was the mother lem all.
/aters were
embosomed as one,2 and n-field3 was unharvested, the
pasture was ungrown.
7. At that time the gods had not appeared,
any of them;
8. by no name were they recorded, no destiny
(had they
fixed).
9. Then the (great) gods were created,
10. Lakhmu and Lakhamu issued forth (the first), ri.
until they grew up (when)
12. An-sar and Ki-sar were created.
13. Long were the days, extended (was the time,
until)
14. the gods Anu,
(Bel and Ea were born),
15. An-sar and Ki-sar (gave them birth).
The rest
of the tablet is lost.
1 Or “first-born,” if we adopt Delitzsch’s
reading ristu instead of la
paid.
2 Tbis is shown to be the signification of
istenis by S 1140, 8.
8 Gipara ; see W. A, I., V. i,
48-50, Nirba kdn yusakknapu giparit 'sippdti summukha inbu, “ the corn-god
continuously caused the cornfield to grow, the papyri were gladdened with
fruit;" S 799, 2. Ana gipdri eltu erubbi (Accadian mi-para-ki azagga
imma-dan-tutu), “to the holy cornfield he went down." The word has nothing
to do with ‘‘clouds ” or “ darkness,”
THIRD
TABLET OF THE STORY OF THE CREATION Obverse
17. “The gods have marched round her,1
all of them;
18. up to those whom thou hast created at her
side I
have
gone.”
19. When they were gathered (?) beside her, Tiamat they
approached.
20. The strong one (Merodach), the glorious, who desists
not night
or day,
21. the exciter to battle, was disturbed in
heart.
2 2. Then they marshalled (their) forces;
they create darkness.
23. “The mother of Khubur,2 the creatress of them all,
24. I pursued with (my) weapons unsurpassed;
(then) did
the great
snake(s) bite.3
25. With my teeth sharpened unsparingly did I
bite.
26. With poisoned breath like blood their bodies
I filled.
27. The raging vampires4 I clothed
with terror.
28. I lifted up the lightning-flash, on high I
launched (it).6
29. Their messenger Sar-baba ......
30. Their bodies were struck, but it pierced not
their
breasts.
3t. I made
ready the dragon, the mighty serpent and the god Lakha(ma),
1 I'skkuru-si.
2 Khubur is identified with ’Su-edin on
the eastern side of the Babylonian plain in W. A. I., ii. 50, 51. Professor
Delitzsch suggests that the expression ummu Khubur may be the origin of the
name Omor6ka assigned by Berdssos to Tiamat.
3 Ittaqur from naqaru. In Hebrew the verb
is used especially of piercing the eyes.
4 The usumgalli or “solitary monsters*’
were fabulous beasts who
were
supposed to devour the corpses of the dead, and were therefore not exactly
vampires which devoured the living, but corresponded rather with one of the
creatures mentioned in Is. xiii. 21, 22; xxxiv. 14.
a
Umtas\sir\.
32. the great reptile, the deadly beast and the
scorpion-
man,1
33. the devouring2 reptiles, the
fish-man1 and the gazelle-
god,3
34. lifting up (my) weapons that spare not,
fearless of
battle,
35. strong through the law which (yields?) not
before the
foe.
36. The eleven-fold (offspring), like him (their
messenger),
were
utterly (overthrown ?).
37... Among the gods her forces
38. I humbled the god Kingu4 in the
sight (of his con
sort?),
the queen.
39. They who went in front before the army (I
smote?),
40. lifting up (my) weapons, a snare for Ti(amat).
1 According to the 9th tablet of the Epic
of Gisdhubar, '' the scorpion- men" guard the gate between "the twin
mountains" through which the sun passes at its rising and setting. The
fish-man was Oannes, afterwards identified with Ea, who brought wisdom and
culture to ChaldEea out of the Persian Gulf.
2 Dafruti (see W. A. I., v. 16, 80) from
the same root as difaratu,
'1
a flame. ”
3 The gazelle-god was identified by the
later mythology of Babylonia, sometimes with Ea the god of Eridu, sometimes
with Bel the god of Nipur : see my Lectures on the Religion of the Ancient
Babylonians, pp. 283 seq.
4 Kingu was the husband of Tiamat.
FOURTH
TABLET OF THE STORY OF THE CREATION Obverse
1. So he established for him {i.e. Merodach)
the shrine
of the
mighty;
2. before (?) his fathers for a kingdom did
he found (it).1
3. Yea, thou art glorious among the great
gods;
4. thy destiny is unrivalled; thy gift-day2
is (that of)
Anu.
5. 0 Merodach, thou art glorious among the
great
gods;
6. thy destiny is unrivalled; thy gift-day is
(that of)
Anu.
7. Since that day unchanged is thy command.
8. High and low entreat thy hand :
9. may the word that goes forth from thy
mouth be
established;
untroubled is thy gift-day.
10. None among the gods has surpassed thy power
11. at the time when (thy hand) founded the
shrine of the
god of the
sky.3
12. May the place of their gathering (f) become
thy home !
13. “ O Merodach, thou art he who avenges us ;
14. we give thee the sovereignty, (we) the
hosts of all the
universe!
15. Thou possessest (it),- and in the assembly
(of the gods)
mayest
thou exalt thy word !
16. Never may thy weapons be broken;4
may thine ene
mies
tremble !
17. 0 lord, be gracious to the soul of him who
putteth
his trust
in thee,
1 These are the last two lines of the
Third Tablet.
2 ' Sigar. In W. A. IM v. x,
12, we read that the 12th of Iyyar was the 'sigar or “ festival ” of the
goddess Gula.
3 Literally “ the covering of heaven ” (nalbas
sa?ne).
4 Literally '' may they open.”
18. and destroy1 the soul of the god
who has hold of
evil.”
19. Then they set in their midst his saying
unique;2
20. to Merodach
their first-born they spake:
21. “May thy destiny, O lord, go before the god
of
heaven;
2-2. may
he confirm (?) the destruction and creation of all that is said.
23. Set thy mouth ; let it destroy his word :
24. turn, speak unto it, and let him lift up his
word
(again).” 3
25. He spake and with his mouth destroyed his
word;
26. he turned, he spake unto it and his word was
re-created.
27. Like (the word) that issues from his mouth
the'gods
his
fathers saw it:
28. they rejoiced, they approached Merodach the king.
29. They bestowed upon him the sceptre (and)
throne and
reign;
30. they gave him a weapon unsurpassed,
consuming the
hostile.
31. “ Go ” (they said), “ and cut off the life
of Tiamat ;
32. let the winds carry her blood to secret
places.’'
33. The gods his fathers also hear the report
of Ea :
34. “ A path of peace and obedience is the road
I have
caused
(him) to take.”
35. There was too the bow, as his weapon he
prepared
36. he made the club swing, he fixed its seat;
37. and he lifted up the sacred weapon 4
which he bade
his right
hand hold.
38. The bow and the quiver he hung at his side;
1 Literally * * pour out."
2 The "saying,” or “Word," is
regarded as having a real existence which could be created, destroyed, and
re-created by Merodach, The “ Word” is similarly personified in Zech. ix. 1.
3 We have here the same idea as in the
“burden” of the Hebrew prophets, the Assyrian verb “to lift up” being nasu, the
Hebrew nasd, whence massd, “ a burden ” or “ oracle.'*
4 The badhdhu was the name of the weapon
sacred to Merodach. From the sculptures it would appear to have been a kind of
boomerang.
39. he set the lightning before him;
40. with a glance of swiftness he filled his
body.
41. He made also a snare to enclose the dragon
of the
sea.
42. He seized the four winds that they might not
issue
forth, any
one of them,
43. the south wind, the north wind, the east
wind (and)
the west
wind.
44. His hand brought the snare near the bow1
of his father
Anu.
45. He created the evil wind, the hostile wind,
the storm,
the
tempest,
46. the four winds, the seven winds, the
whirlwind, the
unending
wind;
47. and he caused the winds which he had created
to
issue
forth, the seven of them,
48. confounding the dragon Tiamat, as they swept after
him.
49. Then the lord lifted up the deluge, his
mighty weapon.
50. He rode in the chariot of destiny that retreats
without
a rival.2
51. He stood firm and hung the four reins at
its side.
52. (He held the weapon?) unsparing, that
overfloods her
panoply.
5 3 their
teeth carry poison.
5 4 they
sweep away the learned.
5 5 might
and battle.
56. On the left they open their
57 fear .
58. With the lightning-flash and .... he crowned
his
head.
59. He directed also (his way), he made his path
descend,
and
60. humbly he set the ... . before him.
61. By (his) command he kept back the ....
62. His finger holds the
1 Here we
have a curiously weakened form, kisti instead of qasli,
* Or if we correct the text and read makhri
la galidta, H that fears not a
rival..”
63. On that day they exalted him, the gods
exalted him,
64. the gods his fathers exalted him, the gods
exalted
him.
65. Then the lord approached; he catches Tiamat by her
waist;
66. she seeks the huge lulk (?) of Kingu her husband,
67. she looks also for his counsel.
68. Then the rebellious one (Tiamat) appointed1 him the
overthrower
of the command of Bel.
69. But the gods his helpers who marched beside
him
70. beheld (how Merodach)
the first-born held their yoke.
71. He laid judgment on Tiamat (but) she turned not her
neck.
72. With her hostile lip(s) she announced
opposition.
73. (Then) the gods (came) to the help of the
lord, sweep
ing after
thee :
74. they gathered their (forces) together to
where thou wast.
75. (And) the lord (launched) the deluge, his
mighty
weapon;
76. (against) Tiamat,
whom he requited, he sent it with
these
words :
77. “(War) on high thou hast excited.
78. (Strengthen ?) thy heart and muster (thy
troops) against
the
god(s).
7 9 their
fathers beside (thee).
8 0 thou
hast opposed
8 1 to
(thy) husband.
8 2 lordship
(?)
8 3 thou
seekest.
Reverse
1. (Against) the gods my fathers thou has
directed thy
hostility.
2. Thou harnesser of thy companions, may thy
weapons
reach
their bodie(s).
3. Stand up, and I and thou will fight
together.”
4. When Tiamat heard this,
1 Read ip-qid.
5. she uttered her former spells, she
repeated her com
mand.
6. Tiamat
also cried out vehemently with a loud voice.
7. From its roots she strengthened (her) seat
completely.
8. She recites an incantation, she casts a
spell,
9. and the gods of battle demand for
themselves their
arms.
10. Then Tiamat
attacked Merodach the chief
prophet of the gods; ti. in combat they joined; they met in battle.
12. And the lord outspread his snare (and)
enclosed her.
13. He sent before him the evil wind to seize
(her) from
behind.
r4'. And Tiamat opened her mouth to swallow it.
15. He made the evil wind enter so that she
could not
close her
lips.
16. The violence of the winds tortured her
stomach, and
17. her heart was prostrated and her mouth was
twisted. t 8. He swung the club,
he shattered her stomach;
19. he cut out her entrails; he overmastered
(her) heart;
20. he bound her and ended her life.
21. He threw down her corpse; he stood upon it.
22. When Tiamat
who marched before (them) was con
quered,
23. he dispersed her forces, her host was
overthrown,
24. and the gods her allies who marched beside
her
25. trembled (and) feared (and) turned their
backs.
26. They escaped and saved their lives.
27. They clung to one another fleeing
helplessly.
28. He followed them and shattered their
weapons.
29. He cast his snare and they are caught in his
net.
30. Knowing (?) the regions they are filled with
grief.
3r. They
bear their sin, they are kept in bondage,
32. and the elevenfold offspring are troubled
through fear.
33. The spirits as they march perceived (?) the
glory (of
Merodach).
34. His hand lays blindness (on their eyes).
35. At the same time their opposition (is
broken) from
under
them;
36. and the god Kingu who had (marshalled) their
(forces)
37. he bound him also along with the god of the
tablets
(of
destiny in) his right hand.
38. And he took from him the tablets of destiny
(that were)
upon him.
39. With the string of the stylus he sealed
(them) and
held the
... of the tablet.
40. From the time when he had bound (and) laid
the yoke
on his
foes
41. he led the illustrious enemy captive like
an ox,
42. he established fully the victory of An-sar1 over the
foe;
43. Merodach
overcame the lamentation of (Ea) the
lord
of the
world.
44. Over the gods in bondage he strengthened his
watch,
and
45. Tiamat
whom he had bound he turned head back
wards ;
46. then the lord trampled on the underpart of Tiamat.
47. With his club unbound he smote (her) skull;
48. he broke (it) and caused her blood to flow;
49. the north wind bore (it) away to secret
places.2
50. Then his father (Ea) beheld (and) rejoiced at the
savour;
51. he caused the spirits (?) to bring a
peace-offering to
himself.
1 The primaeval god of the Firmament.
2 The meaning of the blood of Tiamat is
shown hy the two contradictory Bahylonian legends of the creation which
Ber6ssos, the Chaldean historian, has amalgamated together :—"BSlos
(Merodach) came and cut the woman (Tiamat) asunder, and of one half of her he
formed the earth, and of the other half the heavens, and at the same time
destroyed the animals within her (in the ahyss). All this was an allegorical
description of nature. For, the whole universe consisting of moisture, and
animals being continually generated therein, the deity above mentioned (B£los)
cut off his own bead ; upon which the other gods mixed the blood, as it gushed
out, with the earth, and from thence men were formed. On this account it is
that they are rational and partake of divine knowledge." Similarly,
according to Philon Byhlios, Phoenician cosmology declared that the hlood of
Uranos or Baal-samaim, when mutilated by his son Kronos near the rivers and
fountains, flowed into them and fertilised the earth.
52. So the lord rested; his body he feeds.
53. He strengthens (his) mind (?), he forms a
clever plan,
54. and he stripped her of (her) skin like a
fish, according
to his
plan ;
55. he described her likeness and (with it)
overshadowed
the
heavens;
56. he stretched out the skin, he kept a watch,
57. he urged on her waters that were not issuing
forth;
5 8. he
lit up the sky; the sanctuary (of heaven) rejoiced, and
59. he presented himself before the deep, the
seat of Ea.
60. Then the lord measured (Tiamat) the offspring of the
deep;
61. the chief prophet made of her1
image the house of the
Firmament.2
62. £-Sarra
which he had created (to be) the heavens
63. the chief prophet caused Anu, Bel and Ea to inhabit
as their
stronghold. -
64. [First line of the next tablet .•] He
prepared the man
sions of
the great gods.
65. [Colophon.] One hundred and forty-six lines
of the
4th tablet
(of the series beginning :) “ When on high unproclaimed.”
66. According to the papyri of the tablet whose
writing had
been
injured.
67. Copied for Nebo his lord by Nahid-Merodach,
the son
of the
irrigator, for the preservation of his life
68. and the life of all his house. He wrote and
placed (it)
in £-Zida.3
1 "Its " in the original.
2 ft-Sarra.
a £-Zida,
"the constituted house," was the great temple of Nebo in Borsippa,
now represented by the Birs-i-Nimrud. The copy of the text deposited in it by
Nahid-Mcrodach was probably made in the Persian age.
Fifth
Tablet of the Story of the Creation Obverse
1. He prepared the twin mansions of the
great gods.
2. He fixed the stars, even the twin-stars,1
to correspond
with them.
3. He ordained the year, appointing the signs
of the
Zodiac2
over (it).
4. For each of the twelve months he fixed
three stars,
5. from the day when the year issues forth to
the close.
6. He founded the mansion of (the Sun-god)
the god of
the
ferry-boat, that they might know their bonds,
7. that they might not err, that they might
not go astray
in any way.
8. He established the mansion of Bel and Ea
along with
himself.
9. Moreover he opened the great gates on
either side,
10. he strengthened the bolts on the left hand
and on the
right,
11. and in the midst of it he made a
staircase.
12.- He illuminated the Moon-god that he might be
porter
of the
night,
13. and ordained for him the ending of the
night that the
day may be
known,
14. (saying:) “Month by month, without break,
keep
watch in
thy disk.
15. At the beginning of the month light up the
night,
16. announcing thy horns that the heaven may
know.
17. On the seventh day, (filling thy) disk
18. thou shalt open indeed (its) narrow
contraction.
19. At that time the sun (will be) on the
horizon of heaven
at thy
(rising).
20. Thou shalt cut off its ... .
1 Lu-masi, literally " the twin
oxen,” of which seven were reckoned.
2 Mizrdta, which is the same word as the
mazzaroth of Job xxxviii. 32.
21. (Thereafter) towards the path of the sun
thou shalt
approach.
22. (Then) the contracted size of the sun shall
indeed
change (P)1
2 3 seeking
its path.
2 4 descend
and pronounce judgment.
The rest
of the obverse and the first three lines of the reverse are destroyed.
Reverse
4. [First line of the next tablet:] When the
assembly of the
gods had
heard him.
5. Fifth tablet of the (series beginning)
“When on high.”
6. The property of Assur-bani-pal the king of
hosts, the
king of
Assyria.
1 The
mutilated condition of the tablet makes the translation of this line extremely
doubtful. There may be a reference in it to the star Al-tar or Dapinu.
The
Seventh Tablet of the Story of the Creation Obverse
1. At that time the gods in their assembly
created (the
beasts).
2. They made perfect the mighty (monsters).
3. They caused the living creatures (of the
field) to come
forth,
4. the cattle of the field, (the wild beasts)
of the field and
the
creeping things (of the field). k.
(They fixed their habitations) for the living creatures (of the field).
6. They distributed1 (in their
dwelling-places) the cattle
and the
creeping things of the city.
7. (They made strong) the multitude of
creeping things,
all the
offspring (of the earth).
8 in
the assembly of my family.
9 Ea the god of the illustrious
face.
1 0 the
multitude of creeping things did I make
strong.
1 1 the
seed of Lakhama did I destroy.
The rest
is lost.
1
Yuzahi{zu).
VOL. I
L
The
following Fragment (K 3449) belongs to the Story of the Creation, but its
position is uncertain
Obverse
1. The snare which they had made the gods
beheld.
2. They beheld also the bow, how it had been
stored up.
3. The work they had wrought they lay down,
4. and Anu
lifted (it) up in the assembly of the gods.
5. He kissed the bow; it . . . .
6. and he addressed the arch of the bow,
(saying) thus:
7. “The wood I stretch once 1 and
yet again.
8. The third time is the ... of the star of
the bow in
heaven.
9. I have established also the position of .
.
1 o. Since
the fates " .
1
Istenumma,
THE
BABYLONIAN STORY OF THE CREATION ACCORDING TO THE TRADITION OF CUTHA
Translated by the Editor
BESIDES
the story of the Creation in a series of successive acts, Mr. George Smith
brought to light the fragments of two tablets containing another legend of the
Creation which varied very considerably from it. The tablets belonged to the
library of Assur-bani-pal at Nineveh, but the colophon informs us that they had
been copied from older documents which came from the library of Cutha, now Tel
Ibrahim, in Babylonia. The text has never been published, but a translation was
given of it by Mr. Smith in his Chaldean Genesis, and a revised version by
myself in the Records of the Past, vol. xi. As much progress has been made in
cuneiform studies during the ten years which have elapsed since the latter was
published, I now give another translation of the inscription, embodying the
improvements which our increased knowledge of the Assyrian language has enabled
me to make.
The
Cuthaean legend, it will be observed, knows
nothing of
a creation in successive acts. Chaos is a period when as yet writing was
unknown. But the earth already existed, and was inhabited by the chaotic brood
of Tiamat, imperfect first attempts, as it were, of nature, who lived in a city
underground. They were destroyed, not by Merodach, the god of Babylon, but by
Nergal, the patron-deity of Cutha, who is identified with Nerra, the god of
pestilence, and Ner, the mythical monarch of Babylonia who reigned before the
Deluge. The words of the poem are put into the mouth of Nergal, and the poem
itself was written for his great temple at Cutha.
The legend
of Cutha agrees better with that reported by Ber6ssos than does the legend of
the Epic. In both alike we have a first creation of living beings, and these
beings are .of a composite nature, the offspring of Tiamat or Chaos; In both
alike the whole brood is exterminated by the gods of light.
The date
to which the legend in its present form may be assigned is difficult to
determine. The inscription is written in Semitic only, like, the other
creation-tablets, and consequently cannot belong to the *pre-Semitic age. It
belongs, moreover, to an epoch when the unification of the deities of Babylonia
had already taken place, and the circle of the great gods was complete. Ea,
Istar, Zamama, Anunit, even Nebo.and Samas, are all referred to in it. Possibly
it may be dated in the age of Kham- muragas (cir. B.C. 2350).
COLUMN I
Many lines
are lost at the commencement.
2. His word (is) the command of the gods . .
.
3. His glancing-white instrument (is) the
glancing-white
instrument
(of the gods).
4. (He is) lord of that which is above and
that which is _ below, the lord of the spirits of earth',
3. who drinks turbid waters and drinks not
clear waters; ,6. ■■ in .whose field that
warrior’s weapon all that rests ' there.(?)"
"
' 7. has
captured (and) destroyed.
8. On a tablet he wrote not, he opened not
(the mouth),
and bodies
and produce
9. he caused not to come forth in the land,
and I
approached
him not.
1 o.
Warriors with the body of a bird of the valley, men
11. with the faces of ravens,
12. did the great gods create.
13. In the ground the gods created his city.
14. Tiamat gave them
suck.
.15. Their
progeny1 the mistress of the gods created.
16. In the midst of the mountains they grew up
and became
heroes and
17. increased in number.
18. Seven kings, brethren, appeared as
begetters;
19. six thousand (in number were) their armies.
20. The god Ba-nini
their father (was) king; their mother 2r. the queen (was) Melili;
1 Sasur.
22. their eldest brother who went before them, Me-mangab1
(was) his
name;
23. (their) second brother, Me-dudu2 (was) his name;
24. (their) third brother, [Me-man]pakh (was) his name;
25. (their) fourth brother, [Me-da]da (was) his name;
26. (their) fifth brother, [Me-man]takh (was) his name;
27. (their) sixth brother, [Me-ru]ru3 (was) his name;
28. (their seventh brother, Me-rara was) his name.
COLUMN II
Many lines
are destroyed.
1. . . . the evil curse . . .
2. He turned his word . . .
3. On a ... I arranged . . .
4. On a tablet the evil curse he wrote (?)...
5. In ... I urged the augurs on.
6. Seven against seven in breadth I arranged
(them).
7. I set up the holy reeds (?).
8. I prayed to (?) the great gods,
9. Istar, . . ., Zamama,
Anunit,
10. Nebo,
. . . , (and) Samas the
warrior,
11. the son (of the Moon-god, the . . . ) of
the gods my
couriers.
12 he did not give, and
13. thus I spake to my heart
14. saying : Verily it is I, and
15. never may I go . . . beneath the dust!
16. never may I go . . . the prayer.
17. May I go when the son . . . my heart;
18. and may I renew the iron, may I assume the
black
garment.4
1 "The voice1' or
"thunder strikes.” The Accadian proper names found in the legend indicate
thkt although in its present form it is of Semitic origin it must be based on
older pre-Semitic materials. Moreover, the expression “his name” is written in
Accadian (mzt-ni) which shows that it has been quoted from an Accadian text.
2 "The voice goes up and down.”
3 " The voice crcates." 4 Ati lutsbat.
19. The first year as it passed
20. one hundred and twenty thousand warriors I
caused to
go forth,
and among them
21. not one returned alive.
22. The second year as it passed I caused 90,000
soldiers
to go
forth and none returned alive.
23. The third year as it passed I caused 60,700
to go forth,
and none
returned.
24. They were carried away, they were smitten
with sick
ness. I ate,
25. I lamented,11 rested.
26. Thus did I speak to my heart saying, “
Verily it is I,
and
27. (yet) what have I left to reign over?
28. I am a king who makes not his country whole,
COLUMN III
1. and a shepherd who makes not his people
whole,
2. Since I have produced corpses and have
left a desert.” 2
3. With terror of men,3 night,
death (and) plague have I
cursed it.
4. With fear, violence, destruction (and)
famine
5. (I have effected) the overthrow of all
that exist.
6 there
descended.
7 (I)
caused a deluge.
8 that
deluge.
9 all
10. the foundations (of the earth were shaken?)
11. The gods
12. Thou didst command me, and . . .
13. and they are created (?)...
14. Thou protectest . . .
15. A memorial of drinking and . .
16. in supplication to Ea . . .
17. holy memorial sacrifices ....
1 Asus 2
3 Salummat nisi. This passage shows that
salummat cannot signify
"brilliance,”
as Jensen supposes.
18. holy laws ....
19. I caJled the sons of the augurs . . .
20. seven against seven in breadth I arranged
(them).
21. I placed the holy reeds (?)...
22. I implored (?) the (great) gods,
23. ISTAR, . . ., (ZAMAMA, ANUN1T),
24. Nebo, .
. . (and Samas the warrior)
25. the son (of the Moon-god, the . . . of the
gods my
couriers)
COLUMN IV
Many lines are lost.
1. With ....
2. the men ....
3. the city Nak1 ....
4. a city which ....
5. to ... .
6. powerful king ....
7. the gods ....
8. my hand ....
9. Thou, O king, high priest,2
shepherd, or any one else,
10. whom the god shall call (to) rule the
kingdom,
11. this tablet I have made for thee, (this)
stele I have in
scribed
for thee
12. in the city of Cutha in the temple of Sulim;3
13. in the ark4 of Nergal I have left it for thee.
14. Hearken to the voice5 of this
stel£, and
15. remove it not, forget6 it not;
16. fear not, tremble not!
17. May he establish thy seat!
18. Mayest thou achieve success 7 in
thy works !
1 Perhaps nah(ru) “foreign." 2 Pate'si.
3 The name of the great temple ot Nergal
in Cutha. For the reading
see my
Lectures on the Religion of the Ancient Babylonians.
4 Papakk, " the ark " in which
the image of the god was carried, and which stood in the inner shrine or “holy
of holies” (_parakku).
5 Literally “mouth." 6 Tensi for temsi. 7 Sipar.
19. Build up1 thy fortresses !
20. Fill2 thy canals with water !
2r. May thy papyri,3 thy corn, thy
silver,
22. thy goods, thy property,
23. (and) thy furniture, (all) of them
24. (be multiplied)! strengthen the ... for
(thy) hands ! 25 make perfect the
stores of thine increase !
26. (As for the evil one) thou shalt cause him to
go forth.
27. (As for the harmful one) thou shalt enchain
him.
1 Urrimt whence arammu,
“a wall.”
2 Nabli\ comp, nubalu, W. A. I.,
i. i5» vii. 57. 3
Pi'sannah.
BABYLONIAN
LAWSUITS AND JUDGMENTS
Translated by Dr. Oppert
Having worked for more than five-and-twenty years at the
Babylonian and Assyrian deeds of contract and legal decisions, and having
explained the documents relating to these subjects which have been discovered
in Mesopotamia, I am now able to state that the meaning of these difficult
texts is at length fairly well understood by us. The simplest explanation is
that which is the most difficult to obtain, and I have no doubt that the
translations and interpretations I offer will appear to many scholars so easy
and conclusive as to make them assume that any one might have discovered them
at the outset. Fortunately, however, not only the translations of other
scholars, but my own imperfect ones as well, have been published, and will
thus convince younger students of the immense difficulty there is in arriving
at results which seem so evident.
The first
texts which I have selected contain certain contracts and legal decisions
relating indubitably to captive Jews who had been carried to Babylon after
the
destruction of Jerusalem. One of the most interesting of them is a lawsuit
commenced by a Jewish slave named Barachiel in order to recover his original
status. A copy of the text has been published by Father Strassmaier in the
Transactions of the Oriental Congress at Leyden, No. 42.
My
translation of it, which will appear in the Transactions of the Oriental
Congress at Vienna, has been amended in one or two points. The translations
offered by Dr. V. Revillout and a young Assyriologist, Dr. Peiser, are very
imperfect, Dr. Revillout having entirely misunderstood the nature of the suit
referred to, and having fallen into several grammatical errors, while Dr.
Peiser’s rendering is not less unacceptable.
The case
was as followsBarachiel, who bears the same name as the father of Elihu in the
Book of Job (xxxii. 2, 6), had been the property of a wealthy person named
Akhi-nuri, who had sold him to a widow of the name of Gaga, about 570 B.C. He
remained in the house of this lady as a slave, with the power of liberating
himself by paying a sum equal to his pecn- lium, or private property which he
had been allowed to acquire, like a slave in ancient Rome; but it seems that he
was never fortunate enough to be able to afford the sum of money required. He
remained with Gaga twenty-one years, and was considered the res or property of
the house, and as such was handed over in pledge, was restored, and finally
became the dowry of Nubta (“Bee”), the daughter of Gag&. Nubta gave him to
her son and husband in exchange for a house
and some
slaves. After the death of the two ladies he was sold to the wealthy publican
Itti-Marduk- baladh, from whose house he escaped twice. Taken the second time,
he instituted an action in order that he might be recognised as a ,free-born
citizen, of the family of Bel-rimanni; and to prove that he was of noble origin
he pretended that he had performed the matrimonial solemnities at the marriage
of his master’s daughter Qudasu with a certain Samas-mudammiq.1 Such
a performance, doubtless, implied that the officiating priest was of free
birth, and that no slave or freedman was qualified to take part in it. He
declared, “ I am a mar-batti" or “descendant of a band,” literally a
“generator,” or “ancestor,” one of those semi-mythical heroes who gave their
names to the noble families of Babylon.2 “I belong,1' he
went on to say, "to the family of Bel-rimanni,” who in other texts is
called a high-priest. The case was brought before a court of justice, and the
royal judges asked Barachiel to prove that he was of free birth. This actio
prcejiidicialis de ingenuitate was urged for and against, and eventually
Barachiel was obliged to retract his former statements. He was unable to rebut
the evidence alleged against him, and though it is probable that the two
married persons whose “hands he had joined” were dead, other witnesses came
forward who proved that he
L The
father of Akhi-nuri was Nabu - nadin - akh ("Nebo gives a brother ,r),
and the father of the son-in-law bears the same name. But it is by no means
certain that the unele married his niece, since the two persons may have been
different.
2 It would be a useful work to collect the
names of all the band or ancestors, men of noble birth, like Egibi, Nur-Sin,
and others.
was a
slave with the power of purchasing his freedom.
The exact
date at which the judgment was delivered is not quite certain, but it must be
later than the seventh year of Nabonidus, when the father Itti- Marduk-baladh
was still alive.
I will now proceed to make some further
remarks on the details of the case, as it is very interesting, and offers some
useful hints as to the legal procedure of the Babylonians.
The name
of Bariki-ili or Barachiel is evidently that of a Jew. He is called “ a slave
of ransom,” that is to say, not a slave who has already purchased his freedom,
since in that case he would have been free, but a slave who was allowed by
special laws to employ his private fortune in the work of liberating himself.
He professes >to have been the avil taslisu or “joiner” of the hands of
bride and bridegroom at a wedding which must have taken place before the
thirty-fifth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, when he still belonged to the
house of Akhi-nuri, “the seller of the slave,” as he is called at the end of
the text.
After the
declaration of the slave, the document is comparatively easy to understand. The
judges, after perusing all the evidence, do not find any proofs that Barachiel
was a man of free birth, and accordingly say to him : “ Prove to us that you
are the descendant of a (noble) ancestor.” Thereupon Barachiel confesses that he
is not free-born, but has twice run away from the house of his master; as,
however, the act was seen
by many
people he was afraid, and said, “ I am the son of a (noble) ancestor.” “ But I
am not free-born," he continues, and then gives an account of the events
of his life.
The words
mar-banut in line 16 signify “ condition of being a free-born citizen,” and not
“letter of client- ship,” as Dr. Peiser supposes. The expression “ letter of
citizenship (dippi mar-banui) occurs several times, and signifies the warrant
given by a master to his emancipated slave. " Non-citizenship ” was the
fourth fact guaranteed by the seller of a slave to the purchaser, the other
three being: (i) that the slave should not rebel or run away; if he returned to
his former master he was to be sent back; (2) that no claim should lie against
the validity of the sale on account of technical or other errors ; and (3) that
the purchaser should be secured against any claim made upon the services of a
slave by a royal officer.
Barachiel adds
that after the death of the two ladies Gag& and Nubti, he was sold for
money to Itti-Marduk-baladh, of the Egibi family, thus becoming a servus
redimendus argento, a slave who could be ransomed with money, and that he
awaits the sentence of the court.
The judges
decided that Barachiel should be restored to his original status, and added
that it was in the uzuz (or tisuz) of the two married persons Samas-mudammiq
and Qudasu that the judgment was pronounced. This may signify “absence,” the
two having died during the interval of more than
twenty
years which had elapsed since the marriage. It is probable that Barachiel had
invented the story of his taking part in the wedding because he thought that
its falsity could not be detected. If, however, the word is equivalent to the
expression ina du-zu, the texts from Sippara would go to show that it must mean
“in the presence of.”
It may be
remarked that not a word is said about “ a deed of slavery,” which was
certainly not given to a slave in order to prove his own servile condition as a
vindex libertatis, as Dr. Revillout seems to imagine.
The only
penalty imposed upon the slave is his restoration to his ancient condition;
penalties were decreed against those who wished to annul a contract, not
against those who pretended to be free citizens. In this respect the Babylonian
law was more humane than the Roman. This is the more surprising, since it
cannot be denied that severe penalties were at times inflicted. The
Micheaux-stones, for example, inscribed in the twelfth century before our era,
threaten the transgressors of a contract and those who annul their covenants
with the curses of the gods, each of whom would inflict a special punishment.
The old Jew escaped with the failure of his attempt to recover his undeserved
loss of liberty ; perhaps the court took into serious consideration his
fidelity to his former master, who had esteemed him to be worth not only a
house but other slaves as well.
RELATING
TO A JEW
i. Barachiel is a slave of ransom1
belonging to Gaga the daughter of
2 whom in the 35th year of Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon,2
3. [from Akhi-]nuri, the son of
Nabu-nadin-akh, for the
third of a
mina and 8 shekels
4. she had bought. Recently3 he
has instituted an
action,
saying thus : I am the son of a (noble) ancestor, of the family 4 of
Bel-rimanni,
5. who have joined the hands (in matrimony)
of Samas-
mudammiq
the son of Nabu-nadin-akh .
6. and the woman Qusadu the daughter of
Akhi-nuri,
even I. In
the presence of
7. the high-priest,6 the nobles
and the judges of Nabo-
nidus king
of Babylon
8. they pleaded the case and listened to
their arguments
in regard
to the obligation of servitude
9. of Barachiel. From the 35th year of
Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon
10. to the 7 th year of Nabonidus king of Babylon,6 he
had been
sold for money, had been put
11. in pledge, (and) as the dowry of Nubta the
daughter
12. of Gaga had been given. Afterwards Nubta
had alien
ated him
by a sealed contract;7
1 For the meaning of this expression see
above, p. 158.
2 B.C. 570.
3 Ana eninni, not a proper name as Dr.
Revillout supposes !
4 Read lu sir. Several distinguished
persons were called Bel-rimanni, among others a priest of the Sun-god.
6 Sangu. 6
B.C. 349.
7 The text does not seem to me to have
been eorrectly copied here.
13. in exchange for a house and slaves to
Zamama-nadin
14. her son and Idina her
husband had given him. They
read (the
evidence) and
15. said thus to Barachiel: Thou hast brought
an action
and said :
The son of a (noble) ancestor r6. am I. Prove to us thy (noble) ancestry.
Barachiel his former statement r7. retracted, saying: Twice have I run away
from the house of my master, but many people (were present),
18. and1 I was seen. I was afraid
and said (accordingly) that I am the son of a (noble) ancestor, r 9. My
citizenship exists not; I am the slave of ransom of GagS.
20. Nubtl her daughter received me as (her)
dowry;
Nubta
21. alienated me by a sealed contract, and to
Zamama-
nadin her
son and Idina2 her husband
22. gave me in exchange; and after the death of
Gagi
(and)
Nubta,
23. to Itti-Marduk-baladh the son of
Nabu-akhe-iddin of
the family
of Egibi, for silver
24. I [was sold].' I am a slave. Go now,
[pronounce
sentence]
about me.
25. [The high-priest], the nobles and the judges
heard the
evidence
26. [and] restored [Barachiel] to his condition
as slave of
ransom,
notwithstanding the absence of Samas- mudammiq
27. [the son of Nabu-nadin-akh] and Qudasu the
daughter
of
Akhi-nuri, the seller 3
28. [of the slave]. For the registration of this
[decision]
Musezib
the [priest]
1 Not ka.
2 Such names are all, I think, emphatic
imperatives : Idin&, "give ! ” Bas4, " exist 1" Iribft,
"multiply !" Considering the Aramaic transcription of the last name,
we ought perhaps to pronounce Idinai, Basai.
3 Nadinan, a singular noun with the same
termination as makhirami, “the buyer;" masikhanu, 1 ‘ the
measurer ; ” faqiranu, ‘' the plaintiff; ” napalkatian-u, “ the defendant.”
VOL. I M
29. [and] Nergal-akhe-iddin
the judges
30 of the family of Epis-el, in the city of
the palace
of the
king of Babylon, the 17th day of
31. the month Marchesvan1 [the 7 th?
year] of Nabonidus king of Babylon.
1 October.
INSCRIPTION
OF MENUAS, KING OF ARARAT, IN THE VANNIC LANGUAGE
Translated by the Editor
SINCE the
publication of my Memoir on “ The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Van Deciphered and
Translated ” in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, xiv. 4, 1882, we have
begun to learn something about a race of kings who ruled on the shores of Lake
Van in Armenia, from the ninth to the seventh centuries before our era. The
founder of the dynasty, Sar- duris I, the son of Lutipris, who reigned in B.C.
833, introduced the cuneiform system of writing as well as other elements of
Assyrian culture into the country over which he was king. The inscriptions he
has left us are in the Assyrian language; but his successors discontinued the
use of a foreign tongue, and the language of their texts is invariably their
native one. It is semi-flectional in character, and possibly belongs to the
same family of speech as that of which Georgian is the modern representative.
For want of a better name it is known as Vannic. The story of its decipherment
will be found in the Memoir above cited.
The
grandson of Sarduris I was Menuas, a prince who carried his arms far and wide,
and has bequeathed to us numerous records of his wars and buildings. Far away
from his capital of Dhuspas or Tosp, near the mountain of Rowandiz and the Lake
of Urumiyeh, on the summit of the pass of Keli-shin, 12,000 feet above the
level of the sea, is a monument of his campaigns, which is wrapt during the
greater part of the year in a coating of ice; in the north he engraved his
inscriptions beside the banks of the Araxes, while the record of his campaign
against “the land of the Hittites ” is inscribed on the cliff of the Euphrates
at Palu, about midway between Malatiyeh and Van.
The
inscription translated here was copied by Schulz and Sir A. H. Layard from a
stone built into the wall of a vault under the church of Sts. Peter and Paul at
Van, and a squeeze of it has been taken by Captain Clayton. The transliterated
text and analysis will be found in my Memoir, xxxii. p. 555. The text is
mutilated in parts, and at the time my Memoir was published I was unable to
restore some of the passages in it. The progress that has since been made,
however, in the study of the Vannic inscriptions, enables me now to supply
their deficiencies, and also to correct and supplement the translation I then
gave. For the sake of Vannic scholars I append here a transliterated text of
the inscription as it should read after the restoration of the missing
characters:—
1. [god Khal-di-]ni-ni us-ma-si-ni man
Me-nu-a-s man Is-
pu-u-i-ni-[khi-ni-'s]
2. [a-li-e] i-u tu-su-kha-a-ni
land Ma-a-na-a-i-di us-ta-a-di
3. land e-ba-]a-ni-a tu-u-bi
a-raa-as-tu-u-bi i-ku-u-ka-a-ni
4. [sali si-su-kha-ni-]e person
Khu-ra-di-ni-li plural kid-da-
nu-u-li kha-a-i-tu-u
5. [man Sa-da-ha-li-]e-khi-ni-ni
land-ni-ni city Su-ri-si-li-ni
city Tar-khi-ga-ma-a-ni
6. [city . . . ]-dhu-ra-a-ni man
Sa-da-ha-li-e-khi-ni-da-a-ni
ap-ti-ni
7. [city . . . ]-li-e-i stone
gar-bi-e land Kha-ti-na-as-ta-a-ni
ap-ti-ni
8 i u-e land Al-zi-i-ni-ni
IIMCXIII person
ta-ar-su-a-ni
9. [sa-li-]e a-li-ke
za-as-gu-u-bi a-li-ke alive a-gu-u-bi
10. [god Khal-di-]e a-li-ma-a-nu
a-ru-u-bi person Khu-ra-di- na-u-e plural
We learn
from the inscription that the land of the Khate or Hittites extended as far
north as Alzi, the situation of which is given in the inscription of
Tiglath-Pileser I (i. 64 ; see above,, p. 94, note 4), and that Sada-hadas,
whose name was perhaps pronounced Sanda-hadas, was the king of that portion of
the Hittite nation with which Menuas was brought into contact. The mention of
the name of the Khate or Hittites on this and other Vannic monuments shows that
the name was not confined to the Hittites of the south.
1. (To the KHALDis-gods),1 the
gracious, Menuas the son
of
Ispuinis 2
2. (speaks) thus : In the spring (?), when I
had approached
the land
of Minni 3
3. I carried away the people of (that distant
country), I
partitioned
(them). The same
4. (year), after collecting the (baggage) of
the army, the
fruits (?)4
5. of the country of the son of Sada-halis,
the cities of
Surisilis, Tarkhi-gamas,6
1 The supreme god of Van was Khaldis, but
as each tribe or district also worshipped a god of the same name, there were
many Khaldis-gods who are invoked by the Vannic kings along with the supreme
Khaldis of Van. It was from the worship of Khaldis that the population of a
part of Armenia became known to the Greeks as Khaldasi, a name naturally confounded
with that of the Chaldeans of Babylonia.
2 The Vannie kings usually call themselves
kings of Biainas or Bianas, a name which has passed through the Byana of
Ptolemy into the modem Van. Van is now, however, the name of the city which the
Vannic kings called Dhuspas or Tosp, instead of denoting a district as it did
in their time, Tosp being now the name of the district. Biainas was known to
the Assyrians under the name of Urardhu, the Ararat of the Old Testament Mount
Ararat, it may be noted, is a modern designation, the name of Ararat not being
applied to the country north of the Araxes in the Biblical age, and '1
the mountains of Ararat" of Genesis viii. 4 signifying, as in the Assyrian
inscriptions, the Kurdish mountains to the south of Lake Van.
3 The M&na of the Vannic texts are the
Mann& of the Assyrians, the Minni of the Old Testament, whose position is
shown by the inscriptions to have been immediately to the west of the kingdom
of Van, from which they were separated by the Kotdr range.
4 Khai-tti maybe connected with
khai-di-a-ni, “fruits” (from khai,
to grow”),
but it may also be a compound of tu and kha, "to possess,” like *sui-du,
“to set for a possession,” or abili-du, “ to set on fire.”
e
Tarkhi-gamas seems to be compounded with the name of the Hittite god Tarkhu,
like Tarkhu-lara, king of the Gamgum&, and Tarkhu-nazi, king of Malatiyeh,
mentioned on the Assyrian monuments.
6. (and) . . . dhuras, which is called the seat of the son
of
Sada-halis,
7. the stones of (the city of) . . . lis,
which is called the
seat of
the Hittites,
8. (I captured), and 2113 soldiers of (the
year),1 belonging to the country of Alzis,
9. partly I killed, partly I took alive.
10. (To Khaldis)
I brought all and each of those who belonged to the army.
1 This
expression is of frequent occurrence in the Vannic texts, and its literal
translation is certified by ideographs ; but what it means is doubtful.
Translated by the Editor
The oldest Hebrew inscription yet discovered is engraved on
the rocky wall of the subterranean channel which conveys the water of the
Virgin’s Spring at Jerusalem into the Pool of Siloam. The history of its
discovery is curious. In the summer of 1880 one of the native pupils of Dr.
Schick, a German architect long resident in Jerusalem, was playing with some
other lads in the Pool, and while wading up the subterranean channel slipped
and fell into the water. On rising to the surface, he noticed, in spite of the
darkness, what looked like letters on the rock which formed the southern wall
of the channel. Dr. Schick, on being told of them, visited the spot, and found
that an ancient inscription, concealed for the most part by the water, actually
existed there.
The first
thing to be done was to lower the level of the water, so as to expose the
inscription to view. But his efforts to copy the text were not successful. He
was not a palaeographer; and as the letters of the inscription, as well as
every crack and flaw in the stone, had been filled by the water with a deposit
of lime, it was impossible for him to distinguish between characters and
accidental markings on the rock, or to make out the exact forms of the letters.
The first intelligible copy was accordingly made by myself during my visit to
Jerusalem in February 1881. As, however, I had to sit for hours in the mud and
water, working by the dim light of a candle, my copy required correction in
several points, and it was not until the arrival of Dr. Guthe six weeks later
that an exact facsimile was obtained. Dr. Guthe removed the deposit of lime by
the application of an acid, and so revealed the original appearance of the
tablet. A cast of it was taken, and squeezes made from the cast which could be
studied at leisure and in a good light.
The
inscription is engraved on the lower part of an artificial tablet cut in the
wall of rock about 19 feet from the place where the subterranean conduit opens
out upon the Pool of Siloam, and on the right hand side of one who enters it.
The conduit is at first about 16 feet high ; but the height gradually lessens
until in one place it is not quite 2 feet above the floor of the passage.
According to Captain Conder’s measurements, the tunnel is 1708 yards in length
from the point where it leaves the Spring of the Virgin to the point where it
enters the Pool of Siloam. It does not run, however, in a straight line, and
towards the centre there are two culs de sac, the origin of which is explained
by the inscription. We there learn that the workmen began the conduit
simultaneously at both ends, like the engineers of the Mont C^nis tunnel,
intending to meet in the middle. But they did not succeed in doing so, though
the two excavations had approached one another sufficiently near for the workmen
in the one to hear the sound of the pickaxes used by the workmen in the other.
How such a feat of engineering was possible in the age when the tunnel was
excavated it is difficult to understand, more especially when we remember that
the channel slopes downward through the rock, and winds very considerably. It
may be added that the floor of the conduit has been rounded to allow the water
to pass through it more easily.
The Pool
of Siloam is of comparatively modern construction, but it encloses the remains
of a much older reservoir. It is situated on the south-eastern extremity of the
hill, sometimes, but erroneously, called Ophel, which lies to the south of the
Temple- hill, now represented by the Mosque of Omar, but separated from the
latter by the remains of a valley, which was first perceived by Dr. Guthe and
Dr. Schick. The Virgin’s Spring is on the opposite side of the hill, but more
to the north, overlooking the valley of the Kidron. As it is the only natural
spring, or “ gihon,” as the Jews would have called it, in the neighbourhood of
Jerusalem, the command of its supply of water was of primary importance to the
inhabitants of the Jewish capital. It was, however, outside the walls of the
city, and hence the necessity of cutting a conduit through the hill which
should convey its water to a reservoir within the town. We are told in 2 Chron.
xxxii. 4 that when the Assyrians invaded Judah Hezekiah “stopped all the
fountains,” that is to say, he concealed them under masonry or earth. The
Virgin’s Spring or Gihon must have been similarly sealed up, while its water
was conducted into the city through a subterranean channel.
The date
of the inscription has occasioned a good deal of controversy, some scholars
assigning it to the reign of Hezekiah, and others to an earlier period. The
chief reason for believing it to have been a work of Hezekiah is that in 2
Kings xx. 20 it is stated that “ he made a pool and a conduit, and brought
water into the city,” while in 2 Chron. xxxii. 30 we read that he “stopped the
upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of
the city of David.” But a more literal rendering of the latter passage would
be, “ he stopped the exit (mdtsa) of the waters of the Upper Gihon, and he
directed them downwards on the west side of the city of David.” Here it is evident
that by the Upper Gihon is meant the Spring of the Virgin, for which the word
motsA or “ exit” is employed in the inscription. Besides the Upper Gihon there
must have been another or Lower Gihon, which can have been none other than the
Pool of Siloam. This had become a second source of water-supply, and might
therefore with propriety be named “a spring.”
It would
consequently appear from the chronicler’s words that the Pool of Siloam already
existed in the time of Hezekiah, and that what the Jewish monarch did was to
excavate a second conduit, running from the Pool, not in a winding direction
like the tunnel of Siloam, but in a straight direction along the western side
of the city of David. Now such a conduit has actually been discovered cut in
the rock and leading from the Pool of Siloam to another reservoir which once
existed below.
There is,
moreover, evidence in the Book of Isaiah that the tunnel of Siloam was in
existence before Hezekiah came to the throne. In Isaiah viii. 6 a prophecy is
recorded, uttered while Ahaz was still reigning, in which allusion is made to
“the waters of Shiloah that go softly.’' This can hardly refer to anything else
than the gently-flowing stream which still runs through the tunnel of Siloam.
The inference is supported by the name Shiloah itself, which probably signifies
“ the tunnel,” and would have been given to the locality in consequence of the
channel which was here excavated through the rock.
The
characters of the inscription exhibit to us the alphabet which was used by the
prophets before the Exile. They belong to what may be termed the southern or
Jewish branch of the old Phoenician alphabet, a parallel branch to which was
used in Moab, and is found on the Moabite Stone. The forms of some of the
letters are more archaic than
those on
the Moabite Stone, the forms of others less so. Similar forms are met with on
early Israelitish and Jewish seals, which go back to a period preceding the
Captivity. They are characterised by a peculiarity which shows not only that
writing was common, but also that the usual writing material was papyrus or
parchment, and not stone or metal. The “ tails” attached to certain letters are
not straight as on the Moabite Stone or in Phoenician inscriptions, but
rounded. The words, it may be added, do not always end with the line.
The
language of the inscription is the purest Hebrew. It presents us with only one
unknown word, zadak in line 3, which seems to mean “excess” or “obstacle.” Why
it should have been engraved on the lower part of a carefully-prepared tablet,
where the water of the conduit would necessarily conceal it, it is impossible
to conjecture. The upper part of the tablet may perhaps have been intended to
contain a royal inscription giving the name of the king under whom the work was
executed.
One fact,
however, is made very clear by the text. Whether it were the Siloam tunnel
itself, or the second tunnel leading from it to a lower reservoir, that was
constructed by Hezekiah, in either case the Pool of Siloam would lie “ on the
west side of the city of David.” “The city of David” must, accordingly, have
stood on the southern hill, the so-called Ophel ; and since the city of David
was identical with Zion, according to 2 Samuel v. 7, this hill must represent
the original mount of Zion. Consequently the valley of the Sons of Hinnom must
be the valley which was known in the time of Josephus as the Tyropceon or
Cheesemakers’. It once divided both the Temple hill and the southern hill from
the mountains on the west, though it is now choked with the rubbish which the
numerous destroyers of Jerusalem have thrown into it. In some places the
rubbish is more than 70 feet deep, and under it, if anywhere, we must look for
the tombs of the kings that were cut in the rocky cliff of the city of David.
Here, too, if anywhere, will be found the relics of the temple and palace that
Nebuchadnezzar destroyed, overlaid with the accumulations of more than two
thousand years.
A cast of
the Siloam inscription may be seen in the rooms of the Palestine Exploration
Fund, and facsimiles in Canon Isaac Taylor’s History of the Alphabet, i. p.
234, and in Fresh Light from the Monuments, p. 101.
1. (Behold the) excavation! Now this is the
history of
the
excavation. While the excavators were still lifting up
2. the pick,1 each towards his
neighbour, and while there
were yet
three cubits to (excavate, there was heard) the voice of one man
3. calling to his neighbour, for there was an
excess (?) in
the rock
on the right hand (and on the left ?). And after that on the day
1 Garsen, translated "ax" in i
Kings vi. 7, where it is used of the instrument with which the stones of
Solomon’s temple were quarried.
4. of excavating the excavators had struck
pick against
pick, one
against another,
5. the waters flowed from the spring1
to the pool2 for
a distance
of 1200 cubits. And (part)3
6. of a cubit was the height of the rock over
the head of
the
excavators.
1 Motsd, literally “exit," which is
used of the Upper Gihon or Virgin's Spring in 2 Chron. xxxii. 30.
2 BerSchah, rendered “pool” in 2 Sam. ii.
13, Isaiah xxii. 9, 11, etc. We learn from the latter passage (Isaiah xxii. 9,
11) that there were at least three "pools” or reservoirs in Jerusalem in
the time of Hezekiah, and yet our inscription shows that there must have been a
period when only one such reservoir existed, since it terms the Pool of Siloam
' * the pool.”
3 A flaw in the rock makes this word
doubtful. It begins with m and ends with't, and appears to consist of three
letters.
END OF
VOL. I
I