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Read Ebook: Sumerian Liturgies and Psalms by Langdon Stephen
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So far as the text of this important liturgy in eight melodies can be established, it leads to the inference that, like all other Sumerian choral compositions, the subject is the rehearsal of sorrows which befell a city and its temple. Here the glories of Ke?, its temple and its gods are recorded in choral song, and the woes of this city are referred to as symbolic of all human misfortunes. The name of the temple has not been preserved in the text. But we know from other liturgies that the temple in Ke? bore the name Ur?abba. The queen of the temple Ur?abba is called the mother of Negun, also a title of Ninurta in Elam. The close connection between the goddess of Ke? and Ninlil is again revealed, for Negun is the son of Ninlil in the theological lists, CT. 24, 26, 112. Therefore at Ke? we have a reflection of the Innini-Tammuz cult or the worship of mother and son, mother goddess Ninlil or Ninharsag, and Igidu or Negun.
Under ordinary circumstances a text for which so many duplicates exist should have yielded better results than I have been able to produce. But the contents are still obscure owing largely to the bad condition of the prism. My first rendering of the interesting refrain in which I saw a reference to the creation of man and woman was apparently erroneous. The refrain refers rather to the creation of the mother goddess of Ke? and to her giving birth to her son Negun.
COL. I
...
COL. II
ASHMOLEAN PRISM, COL. II
Col. IV
THIRD TABLET OF THE SERIES "THE EXALTED ONE WHO WALKETH"
REVERSE
BABYLONIAN CULT SYMBOLS. 6060
Three meal cakes are Anu, Enlil and Ea. The design which is drawn before the bed is the net which overwhelms all evil. The hide of a great bull is Anu.
The copper gong is Enlil. But in our tablet II 13 symbol of Nergal and in CT. 16, 24, 25 apparently of Anu. The term of comparison in any case is noise, bellowing.
The great reed spears which are set up at the head of the sick man are the seven great gods sons of I?hara. The seven sons of I?hara are unknown, but this goddess was a water and vegetation deity closely connected with Nidaba goddess of the reed. The reed, therefore, symbolizes her sons.
The scapegoat is Ninama?azagga. Here the scapegoat typifies the genius of the flocks who supplies the goat. See, however, another explanation below Obv. II 17.
The torch is Nusku the fire god in the Nippur pantheon. Below the torch is Gibil, fire god in the Eridu pantheon.
Kronos--lead ; Zeus--silver ; Ares--iron ; Helios--gold ; Aphrodite--tin ; Hermes--bronze ; Selene--crystal .
Our tablet preserves only the names of the deities at this point, and if metals stood at the left we are clearly authorized to interpret the divine names in their astral sense. This assumes, of course, that these astral identifications obtained in the Cassite period. Assuming this hypothesis we should have the metals for Betelgeuze, Ursa Major, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, New-moon, a star in Orion, Venus as evening and morning star, Virgo, and perhaps others.
The reverse of the tablet is even more mystic and subtle. The first section connects various cult substances with parts of the body. White wine and its bottle influence the eyes. White figs pertain to a woman's breasts. Must or mead have power over the limbs as the members of motion. Terms of comparison fail to suggest themselves here and we are completely disconcerted by the fancy of the Babylonian mystagogue. In the next section, which is only partially preserved, we have twelve gods of the magic rituals. The province of each in relation to the city and state is defined. Kushu, the evil satyr who receives the sin-bearing scapegoat, hovers over the homes of men. Mu?ru, the deity who receives burnt offerings, or incarnation of the fires of sacrifice, dwells at the city-gate. Sakkut, a god of light and war, inexplicably protects the pools. Then follow hitherto undefined and unknown Cassite deities and a break in the tablet.
OBVERSE II
...
REVERSE I
REVERSE II
The Greek identification of Zeus, the sky-god, with silver is certainly borrowed from Babylonia; see p. 334.
DESCRIPTION OF TABLETS
INDEX OF TABLETS
Tablets in this Volume.
MUSEUM NUMBER NUMBER IN THIS VOLUME 346 8 2154 6 6060 12 7080 11 7847 3 7848 4 8097 7 8334 9 8533 10 11005 2 11327 14 13856 1 15204 5 B.M. 78239 13
Other Tablets Translated Or Discussed
Nies 1315, Tablet Virolleaud, 290-308
Poebel, PBS. V No. 26, 272-276
Myhrman, PBS. I No. 5, Radau, BE. 30, No. 2, 285-290
Myhrman, PBS. I No. 8, 309-310
Zimmern, KL. No. 11, 290-308
Ashmolean Prism, 311-323
Strassmaier, ZA. VI 241-4, 330-333
Reisner, SBH. No. 18, 327-329
Reisner, SBH. No. 21, 292-297
Reisner, SBH. No. 22, 292-295
Reisner, SBH. No. 25, 300-302
INDEX TO VOL. X
Abbagula , 341, 11.
Aja , 305, 14.
Allat , 306, 20.
Ama-?uhalbi, title of mother goddess, 329, 19.
Ama-u?um-gal, title of Tammuz, 304.
Annigarra, temple in Isin, 300, 7.
Anu , 261; 264; 281; 282; 295; 297; 302. Identified with the moon god, 337, 10.
Anunnaki , 247, 2; 262; 317; 340.
Arabu, bird of Enlil, 266.
Aralu, 288, 23.
Aruru , sister of Enlil, 301.
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