[I have not] made Esagila tremble, I have not forgotten its rites,
RAcc., 127-154+: 425 (Linssen Reference Linssen2004: 223).Introduction
BM 32482 + BM 32621 + BM 32639+ BM 32724 (Fig. 1–4) is a large horizontal tablet with four columns, two per side, none of which is preserved in its entirety.Footnote 1 The tablet is fragmentary, but there do not appear to be any more columns missing. From columns two and three only the first half of the lines is preserved. A double vertical ruling line divides the columns on each side of the tablet. The four joined fragments of the tablet belong to the collection 1876–11–17, which was sent to the British Museum by George Smith.Footnote 2 Smith bought the collection in Baghdad in 1876 shortly before his death on his way back to Europe (Clancier Reference Clancier2009: 130). For this reason 1876–11–17 is marked S†. Most of the documents from this collection come from Babylon, and among its 2,629 tablets we find economic documents from the archives of the Kasr, documents from the Abu-ul-īde archive (277–253 b.c.e.), late chronicles and 181 astronomical texts, including texts from the family Mušēzib, astronomers of the Esagil.Footnote 3 The economic documents are dated between the end of the Achaemenid Empire and the Arsacid period, and most of the astronomical diaries are dated to the 3rd and 2nd centuries b.c.e. (Clancier Reference Clancier2009: 411–13). It is not surprising that many tablets from this collection join with fragments from collections Sp, Sp2, Sp3, 1881–06–25 and 1881–02–01 (Clancier Reference Clancier2009: 188): all these collections contain astronomical texts, and in particular the Sp collections contain late chronicles.Footnote 4 The tablets of the 1876–11–17 collection have helped to establish the chronological framework for the libraries of the Esagil (Clancier Reference Clancier2009: 302) and the date of most of its documents can also provide an approximate chronological context for the text under discussion here: namely, the Late Achaemenid to the Parthian period.
Copy of BM 32482 + obverse by author
Photo of BM 32482 + obverse by author
Copy of BM 32482 + reverse by author
Photo of BM 32482 + reverse by author
It is not easy to determine the exact contents of BM 32482 +, or its nature and function (see below). I would assume it is an administrative document that contains descriptions of rites and ceremonies held in a specific context in the Eturkalamma. Of course, the text only contains the information necessary for the execution of that precise procedure: everything else was self-evident. This creates a certain degree of ambiguity which prevents us from fully understanding its function. However, BM 32482 + seems to contain a mixture of lamentations and ceremonial prescriptions, as well as some omens and astrological observations, and it may belong to the group of texts with interpretations of ritual acts. In this regard, BM 32482 + bears some relation to the cultic commentaries on rituals from the month of Simānu, especially BM 36595 (80–6–17, 324) + BM 37055 (80–6–17, 800)Footnote 5 and to some extent also BM 47458 (81–11–3, 163)Footnote 6 and 47661 (81–11–3, 366).Footnote 7
The Eturkalamma as the setting of the text
BM 32482 + has descriptions of ritual performances and recitations held in Babylon, particularly in and around the temples Eturkalamma of Bēlet-Bābili (Ištar of Babylon) and Esagil of Marduk, and the text indirectly provides information on their personnel, and on the activities carried out in honour of their respective patrons. The presence of Ištar, her temple, and the god Marduk may suggest rituals or ceremonies related in one way or another to the Divine Love Lyrics (DLL),Footnote 8 for the Eturkalamma plays a crucial role in these rituals, which are known from several Late-Assyrian and Late-Babylonian fragments. From the data available we know that the rituals took place inside the temple, and also in the streets around it and in other areas of the city of Babylon; indeed, these topographical features appear in BM 32482 + . A direct connection with the DLL, however, is difficult to establish based solely on the evidence of the text.
In any case, the Eturkalamma and its patron seem to play an important role in this text. Eturkalamma was the temple of Bēlet-Bābili, an aspect of the goddess as the Ištar of the city (Tintir iv 8);Footnote 9 it was located in the quarter of Eridu inside the Esagil temple complex (in fact, it was considered part of the Esagil)Footnote 10 and it often appears mentioned in connection with a garden (Boiy Reference Boiy2004: 88). From the 2nd millennium onwards the Eturkalamma was a major cult-centre of Ištar and the Urukean gods in Babylon (Charpin Reference Charpin1980: 93), and there are documentary references to the temple up until the 1st century b.c.e.Footnote 11 Among the texts alluding to ceremonies in Eturkalamma and temple staff we should mention: BM 41239 (81–04–28, 787), a ritual referring to Eturkalamma and the procession of several deities from Borsippa to Kiš;Footnote 12 BM 37321 (80–06–17, 1077) and BM 48176 (81–11–03, 886);Footnote 13 and also BM 40790 (81–04–28, 335), a tablet dealing with rituals in the Esagil temple complex, in which the Eturkalamma and its goddess Bēlet-Bābili are referred to in connection with a ceremony for the well-being of the temple.Footnote 14 A ritual for Bēlet-Bābili is also described in CT 51 101 (BM 34679).Footnote 15 Another parallel is BM 32656 (76–11–17, 2424), a tablet referring to rituals of the month of Simānu in Eturkalamma,Footnote 16 which belongs to the same collection as the text under discussion. The temple and its garden are further referred to in the astronomical diary ad –328 (rev. 24') which confirms the existence of the building in the Hellenistic period and its location in the Esagil complex (Sachs and Hunger Reference Sachs and Hunger1988: 190; Boiy Reference Boiy2004: 88).
The Eturkalamma also appears in the documents from the Raḥīm-Esu archive: in BRM 1: 99, in CT 49: 150 and in AB 246 (McEwan Reference McEwan1981: 139), which provide further data on the temple. BRM 1: 99, rev. 37–44 (93 b.c.e.) mentions payments of silver for several groups of persons involved in a procession on day 1 of an unknown month: among others we find kurgarrûs, assinnus and Borsippeans. According to Linssen (Reference Linssen2004: 69), the procession may have taken place during the rituals of Ištar of Babylon in her temple Eturkalamma (the ceremonies described in the DLL); the reference to these categories of people indeed constitutes indirect evidence for the performance of the ritual in the Arsacid period.Footnote 17
An interesting feature of BM 32482 + is the reference to a street, which adds to the existing information on the topographical features of Eturkalamma known from other sources. It is tempting to identify this street with the “wide street, facing the south gate of Eturkalamma” referred to in Camb. 431, 5–6, a contract from the reign of Cambyses drafted in Babylon (Camb 14.11.x), and with the one mentioned in the rituals of the DLL BM 40090 + BM 41005 + BM 41107 ii 24, 35, iii 30 and iv 35 (partially edited by Lambert Reference Lambert, Goedicke and Roberts1975: 104–106; collated); see also George Reference George1992: 307–08.
From the evidence of the DLL it seems that the street of the temple was located next to the river and a garden, BM 40090 +:
ii 35: sūqi(sila) é.tùr.kalam.ma u nāru(íd) [(x)]
iii 30: sūqi(sila) é.tùr.k[alam.ma u nāru(íd) (x)]
iv 35: sūqi(sila)!(tablet be) é.tùr.kalam.ma [ù] nāru(íd)*
A further indication in connection with the garden appears in the same text ii 24: mál-di parak(bára) dA-nun-na-ki pi-rik sūqi(sila) é.tùr.kalam.ma adi(en) giškirî(kir[i6) burāši (šemli?]) “At the edge of the shrine of the Anunnaki, in the frontier of the Street of Eturkalamma up to the [juniper?] garden.”
If the reconstruction proposed by Hibbert (Reference Hibbert1984: 95 n. 11: giškir[i6 šemli]) is correct, this may be a reference to the “Juniper Garden” (Boiy Reference Boiy2004: 84, 88) which, according to our sources, was located between Esagil and Eturkalamma. From the preserved documentation we also know that Eturkalamma had two main gates: the gate of Bēltīya and the gate of Madānu (BM 40090 + Ib: 11', 14'). The reference to the gate of Bēltīya (bāb dBēltīya and erēb dBēltīya) confirms the information provided by BRM 1: 99, lines 25–28 and CT 49: 150, lines 22–25 (Hibbert Reference Hibbert1984: 93–95; see also Boiy Reference Boiy2004: 88–89). The entrance gate of Madānu (bāb erēb dMadānu) is also referred to in the ritual text Çaǧirgan and Lambert Reference Çaǧirgan and Lambert1991/1993: 97 (l. 87) and in the rituals of the DLL (see also George Reference George1992: 396–97).
Contents of the text
The tablet is fragmentary, and the length of the lines is difficult to determine. One of the things that makes this text so difficult is that the syntactic units, or even the semantic units, do not seem to be defined by the lines, as is the norm in ritual or administrative documents of this period; rather, they run on from one line to the next. It is therefore difficult to know when a phrase begins and when it ends.
On the obverse of the tablet, column i is divided into two sections by a horizontal line. Both sections deal with rituals, prayers, and recitations to appease the goddess Ištar of Eturkalamma. The išippu priest of the temple is also referred to, but the context is damaged. The recitations referred to may be texts related to the known Emesal genres of Balag and Eršema, but they do not belong to these genres, nor are they direct translations of Balag and Eršema compositions. Note, however, the eršema an sù-ud-ág izi-gin7 “shining heaven like fire”, which interestingly enough has the goddess's astral aspect as its main theme (Gabbay Reference Gabbay2015: 150–63 no. 42); and one might also mention other compositions with references to the appeasement of Ištar of Eturkalamma, e.g. Gabbay Reference Gabbay2015: 190–97 (n. 60), 226–32 (no. 78) and 233–35 (no. 84). In our text, as in the heart pacification units of the compositions referred to and studied by Gabbay (Reference Gabbay2014: 33–34), the addressee is not the goddess, but Marduk/Bēl, who is asked to intercede in order to pacify “the thorn” of the Eturkalammītu. The recitations to appease the divine lady are somehow connected to topographical features of the temple; and at the end of the column there is a reference to gods, sanctuaries and the 28th day of a month the name of which is not preserved.
In the fragmentary column ii of the obverse, three horizontal lines divide the text into four sections. Due to the damaged state of the tablet, the contents of the sections are not clear, but the first one mentions male and female(?) musicians; the second one shrines or temples, a ritual involving a river(?), and a reference to a deity(?) from Kiš. The third section is fragmentary, but its contents are very revealing: it mentions the Esagil, a nigûtu performed by a nadītu priestess, and the return of the gods to their cities. In my opinion this could be a reference either to the AkītuFootnote 18 or to another festival involving visiting gods and processions, or maybe to the restoration of an inauspicious displacement of some deities from one cult centre to another.
On the reverse, column iii is divided into three sections, beginning with a fragmentary passage and continuing with the description of a sort of ritual involving a sakkikuddītu, a female occupation in the Esagil, and the receipt of silver as a fee or as a gift. The third section mentions catching a swallow, the Ištar Gate, the temple-enterer of Eturkalamma, and rituals of different kinds.
The last column of the tablet, column iv, seems to be a cultic commentary, especially in view of the use of the technical terms šū and aššu, the Glossenkeil, and perhaps ina libbi ša.Footnote 19 The column begins with a rubric referring to the recitation of the išippu priests in the month of Šabāṭu. The first section is a ritual commentary referring to a nigûtu in the month of Addaru involving a nadītu priestess, and some astrological observations. The two following sections are also commentaries and contain astrological observations.
Function of the text: lamentations, the nigûtu, the nadītu and the birds of Ištar
On account of its fragmentary condition, the precise function of the tablet is as difficult to determine as its contents. The relationship between the different sections of the text is also uncertain. However, given that a goddess's fury and rage are mentioned in column i, the theological and cultic implications of the text are clear. The first passage is evidently a lament, and it refers to the need to appease the angered deity: a goddess is furious and a god has to intercede on behalf of humans in order to calm her down. The corpus of Emesal prayers (Balag and Eršema compositions) addressed to pacify the heart of angry deities and recited by the kalû is very well known today (Gabbay Reference Gabbay2014; Gabbay Reference Gabbay2015). But even if the recitations referred to here could be indirectly related to these genres, they do not belong to them. Moreover, the performer of the pacifying rites or recitations in our text is not the kalû but probably the nadītu priestess and/or the išippu/purification-priest, who are referred to in various places in the text. The presence of the išippu priest in this text demonstrates that he was alive and active in the temple cult of these late times and thus seems to disprove the previous assumptions that after the Old Babylonian period the išippu was an obsolete figure or that his name had been relegated to a title of 1st millennium monarchs.Footnote 20
Two divine characters are involved in the lamentation referred to in the first section of the column: Ištar of Eturkalamma and Bēl/Marduk of Esagil. Ištar is referred to by various epithets which reflect her rich syncretistic character: Eturkalammītu,Footnote 21 *šašanītu, *Akusummītu (uncertain), raʾimat ilāni, Šarraḫītu, kuzbānītu, and the well-known epithet of Ištar Bēlet-mātāti.Footnote 22 The deity who is asked to act as intercessor and appease the angry goddess is Bēl/Marduk of Esagil. Bēl is referred to by the epithets bēl mātāti, in a clear parallelism to the epithet given to Ištar, āšib Esagil, in reference to his temple in Babylon and parriku.
Why Ištar is so angry in column i, and what the consequences of such anger might be, are not clear. The reference may be to a mythical event which is not fully developed in the narrative of the text and/or which we cannot identify or reconstruct for lack of data. It is also difficult to determine whether the remaining sections of the text have to do with a ritual of appeasement of sorts related to the recitations referred to at the beginning of the tablet. There is a reference to gods who are [removed (?)] from their cult places (i 18’) on the 28th day of a month (month name not preserved), and who return to their cities (ii 13’) on the 1 + x day of another month (maybe the following one, but the name is not preserved either). The whole situation is unclear, but there is also a reference to music and to the people of Babylon in a fragmentary context.
In the text, the pacification seems to revolve around two key concepts: nigûtu and nadītu. We know little about nigûtu, since it was not a literary genre (or sub-genre), but a kind of lament. In this text, it is performed by the nadītu. This priestess, seldom mentioned in texts after the Old-Babylonian period, appears in the context of music and celebrations in other Late Babylonian temple rituals. In a ritual for Esagil dealing with ceremonies for the 3rd and 4th days of the month of Kislīmu, the nadītu waits for the god Zarīqu while playing the alû, a string instrument, a lyre or maybe a harp,Footnote 23 and writes seven inscriptions.Footnote 24 I would assume that, both in the Kislīmu ritual and in our text, the priestess referred to is a nadītu of the Esagil of Marduk.
In BM 32482 + the nadītu is attested on four occasions: ii 12’ and iv 2, 4, and 7 and in all but iv 4 she is directly related to a nigûtu that she performs (the verbs used are either šakānu: ii 12’; or epēšu: iv 2 and 7). The word nigûtu is derived from nagû (“to sing joyously”, see CAD N/I: 123) and it has been traditionally understood as referring to a “joyful song, musical celebration, merrymaking”: see CAD N/II: 217–18. The term nigûtu is known from Chronicle 13b: 14' of the Babylonian Chronicles which concerns Seleucos III and offerings related to the New Year Festival (Glassner Reference Glassner2004: 254, no. 35; see also Linssen Reference Linssen2004: 22). nigûtu is also often mentioned in the Astronomical Diaries Sachs and Hunger 1996: no. –105 (obv. B 16', 206 S.E. i.e. 142 A.E.); Sachs and Hunger Reference Sachs and Hunger1989: no. –245 (obv. B, 5'; S.E. 66) for the third month a nigûtu was celebrated in a building whose name is lost (perhaps the palace of Laodike); and Sachs and Hunger Reference Sachs and Hunger1996: no. –158 (B, rev. 18'). The mention of nigûtu-festivals in the Astronomical Diaries demonstrates that they were considered important political events in Babylonia.
In the text under discussion, the term is gendered, as it is women (nadītu priestesses) who are said to make this kind of vocal or musical performance in contexts related to the cult of Ištar of Babylon and to her temple Eturkalamma. Another attestation of the term, also related to the Eturkalamma, its formidable patroness and its female cultic personnel is BM 32656 iv 9’–12’ (George Reference George, George and Finkel2000: 270–80): u4.9.kam mārāt(dumu.munus)meš munusbi-ta-na-a-tú é.tùr.kalam.ma / i-paḫ-ḫu-ra-nim-ma ina áš-ruk-kát šá é.tùr.kalam.ma / ni-gu-tú ip-pu-ša-ʾ ana ekurrāti(é.[ku]r)meš kal-la-su-un-nu / gišḫašḫuru(ḫašḫur) i-šal-la-a a-ga-an-num-ma MIN iqabbâ (dug4.ga)meš “The 9th day: the female members of the temple staff of Eturkalamma assemble and make nigûtu in the lobby of Eturkalamma. They hurl hašḫuru at all the cult-rooms. They say ‘Come on now, come on now!’”
In BM 32482 + the term nigûtu must be considered together with the activities of the nadītu. In the passages referred to above, it is always a single nadītu who performs or makes (šakānu, epēšu) the nigûtu, and she does it in the context of a lamentation. It is difficult to imagine a single person “making merry” in such circumstances. As already demonstrated by D. Shehata, nigûtu is equated with the Sumerian term i-lu (“song, dirge, lament”), which in the Balag compositions is always a cry of lamentation (Shehata Reference Shehata2009: 234–36).Footnote 25 So nigûtu could be a specific type or technique of crying/calling/singing, used for both joyful and plaintive singing.
Another element that links the goddess Ištar with lamentations is the presence of birds. In 32482 + a swallow is captured at the Ištar Gate and, after the temple-enterer of Eturkalamma has performed certain rites with it, the bird is released, and observations on its behaviour are made (column iii). Swallows were common city birds in ancient Iraq, and they are often referred to in different sources (von der Osten-Sacken Reference Osten-Sacken2009/2011: 316–17). Some literary texts refer to their swift flight, and the act of catching swallows is associated with violence (see Black Reference Black, Vogelzang and Vanstiphout1996: 28–29 and Veldhuis Reference Veldhuis2004: 279). Catching birds in a net occurs as a topos in Balag compositions and it is a metaphor of the deity's power (Black Reference Black, Vogelzang and Vanstiphout1996: 26). The fact that the swallow in our text is captured at the Ištar Gate may be a direct reference to the goddess, for the swallow in a temple stands as a metaphor for the deity residing in that temple (Black Reference Black, Vogelzang and Vanstiphout1996: 43). Note that in the Balag úru àm-ma-ir-ra-bi Inanna is compared to a swallow (Volk Reference Volk1989: 243 comm. to line 73). There is evidence linking the goddess Ištar with the release of birds in the context of rites and lamentations in the Mari Ritual (Groneberg Reference Groneberg1997: 147–48), and in an Old Babylonian letter (AbB 10: 124) that mentions the birds of a lamentation priest being exchanged for the birds from the temple of Ištar of Lagaba (Shehata Reference Shehata2009: 93 n. 502). The swallow appears in some texts as the bird of the goddess Baʾu (Veldhuis Reference Veldhuis2004: 140), and it is often associated with bathing (Veldhuis Reference Veldhuis2004: 280). Observations and inspections of birds appear frequently in incantations (Maul Reference Maul1994: 229–69) and omens (s. sinuntu CAD S: 295), such as tablets 64–79 of the series Šumma ālu (Maul Reference Maul2003/2005: 60, 85–86; see also Heeßel Reference Heeßel, Cancik-Kirschbaum, van Ess and Marzahn2011: 174).Footnote 26 In the Hittite world, birds are also frequent in oracles and rituals (Collins Reference Collins2014/2016: 581–82). The ceremonies mentioned in this passage involve temple-enterers of Eturkalamma, the catching of a bird, a libation (l. 10’), a procession (l. 11’), and some other rituals, which are difficult to understand due to the fragmentary condition of the tablet. In column iv in the context of the nigûtu performance, we find an astrological commentary on the constellation Swallow (a name for the western Fish of Pisces). Associations between astrological signs or months and animals are frequent (Reiner Reference Reiner1995: 117), but it is difficult to establish the connection between the swallow and the constellation in this particular context.
Text edition
BM 32482 + BM 32621 + BM 32639 + BM 32724 (76–11–17, 2219 + 2366 + 2386 + 2494) 10 x 19.1 x 3.5 cm
Transliteration
Translation
Obverse
Column I
(1’) […] … […], […] … […] furio[us(?) …], […] … and (you) open it, [her(?)] roa[r(?) …], […] … (because of?) the thorn(?) of the goddesses he is angry. To the fierce ones [(…)] (5’) […] … he sweeps(?!) the pedestal. The goddesses […] … for Eturkalammītu, the warrior-like one(?), [… the Aku]summītu(?), the one who loves the gods. […] she(?) utters: “Šarraḫītu, attractive one, appease yourself, Lady-of-the-Lands may [your] heart calm down” [(…)] (10’) of Eturkalammītu, Bēl did not make [her] (sexual charm)(?) arouse. “Mercy, lord of the lands who dwells in Esagil, do pacify her rage, of the Lady of the Lands, do block!” The parriku should appease her.
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The street of that temple is stretched to its back. She enters into Eturkalamma towards the Lady of Babylon. In the presence(?) of the god (15’) she recites three times, she lifts her(!) hands to Ištar (saying): “Furious is the Lady of the Lands, she is furious and she is furious.” Broken [(new(?))]. The Lady of Babylon, because of / when the purification priest of Eturkalamma. Broken. The 28th day, the gods, from the sanctuaries to […].
Column II
(1’) […]… […], […]… […], […] the (male) musician and the female mu[sician(?) …], […] it will not occur [… ]. (5’) […] … he moves quickly(?) … […].
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[…] all of them will spe[nd the night(?)] in the temples [(…)], [… to] the Edub(ba), his temple, he (Nabû (?)) will [go(?) (…)], […] that [carca]ss(?) he will throw into the river [(…)], […] who dwells in Kiš [(…)].
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(10’) […] he will enter into the Esagil, … […] … the population (of) Babylon … The nadītu is performing a nigûtu in the land. The 1 + [x?] day[…] the great gods will return to their cities.
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… […].
Reverse
Column III
(1’) […] the […] the totality […]. [… the sak]kikuddītu [stands(?)/sits(?)] at the gate … […], […] the [per]sonnel(?) of Eturkalamma […]. Towar[ds (the deity?) the sak]kikuddītu will speak, (5’) that (4’) sa[kkikuddītu(?)] (5’) will go into the Esagil and tow[ards (…) ] Bēl(?) she will stand and she will receive 2 shekels of silver as a fee.
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The [x] day they will catch a swallow from the Ištar Gate [(…)]. Towards the gate, the temple-enterer of Eturka[lamma (…)]. I[n(?) …] (t)he(y) will stand [and a ba]nd of red wool to [its] lim[bs (of the swallow) (t)he(y) will tie(?) (…)]. (10’) … [… an offe]ring(?) will be poured before it […]. … […] Babylon they will go around it (the swallow), to the gate … […] … […] he/they will release(?) it (the swallow), the temple-enterer of E[turkalamma(?) …]. […] temple(?) that in Babylon(?) [(…)].
Column IV
(1) Their recitation that the purification priests of Šabāṭu in the mouth(?) … […]
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The nadītu who regularly performs a nigûtu in Addaru, concerning […]. They advance in the direction of the constellation the Swallow and in the head (i.e., beginning) of (the constellation) Pisces… […]. It is the Swallow and the Tails (Pisces) as/where the nadītu (stands?) […]. (5) It is … of Venus/Ištar. They encircle (march around?) her sanctuaries concerning D[N …]. All the constellations complete/finish … for the purification priests who register (the text(s)) in the city, (and?) the nadītu for the sake of the nigûtu she performs, so that our rites will not be neglected.
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The swallow that they will catch because of(?) Šamaš, when (10) the Swallow has risen/becomes visible and the Bird becomes small, concerning an ominous sign, it is not bad for fish. This should be done.
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The 17th day that the stylus walks along Nabû because of Mercury like(?) Šamaš stands on a socle.
Because of Šamaš the mention of Mercury … because of …it is the mention. (15) … ”
Commentary Footnote 27
BM 32482+ displays a large, coarse, irregular cursive hand, characteristic of late Babylonian tablets. The sign forms are typically late, observed in the su, šu, ku and é. The text is well arranged, avoiding empty spaces at the end of the lines. As seen in i 17', the text is the copy of a broken original. The writing is very similar to the one in BM 32656 (George Reference George, George and Finkel2000: 270–80), yet the two fragments do not belong to the same tablet (although they might have been the product of the same scribe or school).
Column i
2’: An alternative reconstruction for the end of the line could be ez-zi-i[z], cf. i 4’.
3’: The end of the line has been reconstructed according to context of the lines following in this section: ramīmu (“roar”) or perhaps rāmimu (“roaring”), s. CAD R: 126.
4’: The ku in ik-ku is questionable; it looks like LU. In addition, the “thorn” of the goddesses is difficult to explain, but as the line is broken, the context is lost. I understand the end of the line ina ez-zu-tum “to the furious ones”. The noun is ezzetu (CAD E: 432) and ezzūtu here can only be the plural masculine of the adjective ezzu (CAD E: 432–34), but as the beginning of the following line is broken, it is uncertain to whom it refers. It might also be understood as the noun ezzu “wrath” (CAD E: 434). Another possible reading would be ik-lu, the “victim” or the “darkness” see CAD I: 61.
5’: In the ritual texts, the action of sweeping the roof or the floor is often prescribed in the context of purifications to prepare a ritual performance (CAD Š/I: 9, see also Linssen Reference Linssen2004: 149), but, to the best of my knowledge, there are no attestations of sweeping the manzāzu. The line is unclear, as this entire passage deals with recitations and not with other acts. Finally, as noticed in the transliteration the last sign biṭ is not without problems. Contextually, one would expect some lamentful tone regarding the manzāzu, i.e., that the angry god disrupted or scattered the manzāzu, i.e., i-sap-paḫ, but the last sign does not look like paḫ (suggestion U. Gabbay).
6’: The last word of the line is uncertain; in my opinion šá-šá-ni-tú is a possible epithet of Eturkalammītu, Ištar of Eturkalamma, from šašmu (šašnu): “battle”; another less likely alternative is to understand a feminine form of šaššāniš “(the one) like the sun” (CAD Š/II: 173). In any case, the word seems to be a hapax legomenon.
7’: The first word could be [a-k]u ?-su ?-um ?-mi-tum, even though the sign su is unclear: the second vertical is traced too far from the first one, but this feature is not uncommon in these late texts. According to this, I admit, very questionable interpretation, *akusummītu could be an epithet of Ištar, as a variant of Akuṣītu, but I cannot explain it. The goddess Akuṣītu is the Ištar of Akus in the Edubba of Kiš (cf. George Reference George, George and Finkel2000: 299, comm. to l. 25) and Kiš, often referred to in the DLL in association with Ištar, is referred to in ii 9’ of our text. The Edubba temple is also referred to in ii 7’ of our text. The list an = da-nu-um, iv 133, offers the equation dinanna.A.ku.uz.ki = a-ku-ṣi-tu. An alternative interpretation of the beginning of the line could be: šu ana um !?-mi-tum, but the sign UM is unclear too. The second epithet, raʾīmat ilāni, can be interpreted either as “the beloved of the gods” or as “the one who loves the gods”.
8’: The beginning of the line is broken, but I would rule out a restoration ⸢a-na⸣ pî(ka)-šu ta-ta-bal, for pû with abālu usually appears as subject, or once as object (CAD P: 458–59), but never with a preposition. I understand the verbal form here (as in i 14’ and 15’ below) as the third feminine, and not as a second masculine. For the feminine verbal forms with ta- and tu-, a consequence of Aramaic influence, in these late ritual texts, see also Da Riva and Galetti Reference Da Riva and Galetti2018.
Perhaps a form of Ištar, the little known goddess Šarraḫītu was a member of the Uruk pantheon in the Hellenistic period (Linssen Reference Linssen2004: 15, and n. 95). Šarraḫītu is referred to in OECT 9: 61, obv. 7, a prebend text with a series of gods, starting with Anu, listed in connection with eššēšu-ceremonies; and in TU 42 +, obv. 17’ (Linssen Reference Linssen2004: 238). Šarraḫītu is mentioned with the divine ladies at the head of Tašmētu in Çağirgan and Lambert Reference Çaǧirgan and Lambert1991/1993: 94 ll. 15–16; 101, comm. to l. 16.
The epithet kuzbānītu “attractive”, in the sense of attractiveness related to abundance and sexual charm, refers to Tašmētu in KAR 122: 3.
9’: The form ti-ip-šaḫ-iʾ is a metathesis for the feminine imperative form pitšaḫiʾ. For Bēlet-mātāti, cf. BM 33841, 11: Bēlet-mātāti nādinat tašīmti šamê bānītu “The Lady-of-the-Lands, the perfect bestower of the destiny of the Heavens” (CAD T: 289). YOS 1 38 i 1: [ana dIštar] Bēlet-mātāti(kur.kur) tizqarti ilī(dingir)meš “[to Ištar], the Lady-of-the-Lands, the august (one) of the gods” (CAD T: 441). The last preserved signs of the line are written over an erasure.
10’: This line is puzzling, but I would understand ul išši kuzba[ša] as an allusion to some kind of “erotic crisis” between Bēl and Ištar, whereby the god is unable to sexually excite her, which might be the reason for Ištar's anger.
12’: The term parriku, from parāku (“to obstruct, to lie across, to hinder”), is an epithet of gods and kings, and it is documented in connection with Marduk; the term also refers to a weapon (CAD P: 189–90; AHw: 834).
14’: The signs at the end of the line are unclear; after ma there is an erasure and what looks like a na, and then there is a ud.
17’: ḫi-pí is in both cases written in a smaller script, and the second ḫi-pí is written on top of kalam and in tin.tir!ki the sign tin is written on top of tir.
18’: The end of the line is not preserved, so it is uncertain why the gods are moving(?) from their sanctuaries and where they are going. This movement may be explained in the context of a procession, or perhaps the displacement of the statues of the gods is the negative result of the Ištar's rage.
Column ii.
3’: The sign after munus is unclear.
5’: For the verb ḫâšu, see CAD Ḫ: 146, but I admit that my interpretation is uncertain.
6’: This is not the first attestation of ibattū for ibittū: see George Reference George, George and Finkel2000: 289, comm. to l. 24.
7’: I think this is a reference to the Edubba, the temple of Zababa in Kish, for the city is mentioned in ii 9’ below. For the temple, see George Reference George1992: 471 and George Reference George1993: no. 200.
8’: In rituals performed by the exorcist, the carcass (pagru) of a sheep is often used and then thrown into the river: see Linssen Reference Linssen2004: 81–82, 149.
9’: Ištar of Akus had a seat in Edubba, Kiš (see above i 7’).
10'ff.: This section probably refers to a literary recitation (as in col. i above) regarding the population of Babylon, a nigûtu performed by the nadītu priestess and the mention of the movement of some deities returning to their cities: a procession, perhaps, or maybe the restoration of an altered divine order (i 18’).
11’: I do not know what to do with the last two signs of the line. The logogram záḫ could indicate either the verb ḫalāqu or nābutu, but the lack of a phonetic indicator is difficult to explain. The sign mi at the end, if it is a mi at all, may be the particle for direct speech, but this would be very unusual here.
12’: It is uncertain whether the rurbric ina māti “in the land” means something more specific than simply Babylon.
Column iii.
2'f.: The term sakkikuddītu (munussag.ki-kud.da) designates a female occupation in the Hellenistic Esagil temple at Babylon (Waerzeggers Reference Waerzeggers2010: 50–51). The term is attested with the hapax pirsātānītu in BM 80711, a letter from the Esagil (Jursa Reference Jursa and Wunsch2002: 107–109 text no. 1: 7). According to Jursa, the word does not seem to be of Akkadian or Aramaic origin; perhaps it is a logogram for a Sumerian word which could be explained as formed by sag.ki = sakkû (“rites) and kud(.da) = parāsu “to cut, to separate” = “a female official who is separated for (certain) rites.” In the text published by Jursa, the temple-enterers of Esagil, the pirsātānītu and the chief female singer of the temple send a letter to the scribes and the bēl piqitti of Esagil requesting two linen cloths and a gammidatu-cloth for the munussag.ki-kud.da. The document has the seals of a temple-enterer, the chief female singer and of two other ladies who were also probably pirsātānītu. The term pirsātānītu is translated by Jursa using etymological criteria as “a woman who has to do with secrets”, a sort of “initiate”, a female equivalent of the ērib bīt pirišti, “the temple-enterer of the secret room”, the place where the ornaments, garments and jewellery of the gods were stored (see Da Riva and Galetti Reference Da Riva and Galetti2018, comm. to BM 40790 ii 25’).
The whole paragraph here (lines 2’–6’) refers to actions performed by and around the sakkikuddītu. The last line of the section is of particular interest, as it seems to refer to the payment for services performed by this female temple official. Considering the erotic and festive aspect of the cults of Eturkalamma, confirmed both by the DLL (Nissinen Reference Nissinen and Whiting2001: 123–25) and by the presence of the sexually ambiguous officials kurgarrû and assinnu in the cult of the temple of Ištar of Babylon,Footnote 28 it is tempting (though perhaps a little far-fetched) to link this passage with the famous account of sacred prostitution in the Babylonian temples recorded by Herodotus in 1.199.1–5: “Surely the most disgusting of all Babylonian customs is the following. Once in her life, every woman of the country must sit down in the sanctuary of Aphrodite and have intercourse with a stranger…. the majority sit in the sacred precinct of Aphrodite wearing wreaths made of cord on their heads…. she may not return home until one of the strangers has tossed silver into her lap and has had intercourse with her outside the sanctuary. When he tosses the silver, he must say, “I call on you in the name of the goddess Mylitta.” (The Assyrians call Aphrodite Mylitta.) … the women cannot refuse, and the silver then becomes sacred property…. Then, after they have had intercourse and she has thus discharged her duty to the goddess, she returns home. But after this event, no matter how much you give her, she will refuse you…”. (Translation of A. Purvis in Strassler Reference Strassler2007: 107).Footnote 29
There is no specification in our text about what the sakkikuddītu “standing in front of Bēl” actually did to obtain the two shekels of silver “as honorarium”, and there is no indication that any kind of sexual service was involved. However, when Ištar is involved, sex is always possible, and the sum of two shekels is suspiciously close to other indications of prices either for prostitutes or in connection with temple prostitution in the Mesopotamian literature. In the Sumerian hymn Inanna H the prices oscillate between one and one and a half shekels depending on whether she was “standing” or “bending over” (see Wasserman Reference Wasserman2016: 149 comm. to l. 14, with literature; see also Charpin Reference Charpin2017: 146–47). According to Cooper (Reference Cooper, Lion and Michel2016: 213–14), this distinction does not refer to the sexual position but more probably to the fact that the service could be performed either out in the streets or indoors in the tavern. I agree with Charpin (Reference Charpin2017: 147) that the “basic tariff” of one shekel is very high: it is indeed the price of a sheep in the Old Babylonian period. Moreover, as Cooper (Reference Cooper, Lion and Michel2016: 213) reminds us, one shekel was the salary of a hired man in that period. In my opinion the figures of one and one and a half shekels do not represent real honoraria, for this information is taken from a literary text: they should be understood as symbolic prices.Footnote 30
Let us get closer to the period of our text: in the Neo- and Late-Babylonian period, sexual transactions did not leave any trace in the written records (Jursa Reference Jursa2010: 31), there are however glimpses of the organization of sexual activities in some economic texts regarding the establishment of taverns.Footnote 31 Despite the economic potential of taverns and bordellos, it was not a bad idea to enlist some supernatural assistance for the business, as shown in the text from the 1st millennium b.c.e. describing a ritual for increasing the innkeeper's profits (Panayotov Reference Panayotov2013). Coming back to the sum of two shekels the sakkikuddītu receives as a fee, in my opinion this would be an incredibly high sum of money for the services of a prostitute. We could take some examples to compare the cost of living in Babylonia at the end of the 1st millennium: in 6th century b.c.e. Babylonia, one silver shekel could buy either 144 kg of dates, 111.6 kg of barley or 99 kg of sesame (Jursa Reference Jursa, Baker and Jursa2014: 120 n. 13). If our sakkikuddītu was indeed selling sexual services, which is something that we do not know but are assuming from the context, she would be extremely expensive. In the Hellenistic and Parthian periods (3rd to 2nd centuries b.c.e.) the average wages were two shekels per month (van der Spek Reference Van der Spek, Baker and Jursa2014: 239). But we know prices were unpredictable and fluctuated considerably in those times, as is amply demonstrated by the Astronomical Diaries, but this fluctuation particularly affected common staples and abundant products, such as barley and dates, while rare products as a rule had more stable prices (van der Spek Reference Van der Spek, Baker and Jursa2014). It is uncertain whether commercial sex was considered a basic necessity or a rarity. Finally, prices were particularly volatile in the Parthian period due to political instability, social unrest and warfare (van der Spek Reference Van der Spek, Baker and Jursa2014: 245).
6’: The first sign after the break at the beginning of the line is uncertain: it could be either [m]aḫ ? or [d]Bēl(⸢en⸣)?. The reading of the god's name makes sense in this context, for the sakkikuddītu (if she is indeed the subject of the action) enters the temple of Bēl.
7’: The Ištar Gate was not far from the Esagil temple complex, to which the Eturkalamma belonged (George Reference George1992: 307–308). It is interesting to see the parallel between the swallow in this line and the constellation Great Swallow mentioned in iv 3, 4, 9, 10 below, but I do not really know how one passage relates to the other, if they relate at all.
9’: The logogram dur can be read either as ṭurru or riksu, and both terms fit in this context. In some rituals there is evidence for the use of a band of coloured wool: see CAD S: 123–24. In some texts the presence of a red spot in birds was considered an ill omen (Durand Reference Durand1997: 275).
12’: In my opinion one would not use the verb šūṣû to indicate the release of a bird (CAD A/II: 373–77), but I am not completely certain that the swallow is the subject here. For other idioms to express the action of releasing birds in hemerologies, see Livingstone Reference Livingstone, George and Finkel2000; Cavigneaux and Donbaz Reference Cavigneaux and Donbaz2007: 321–31. From the context one could also understand “to escape” (CAD A/II: 383 šūṣû 9.).
Column iv
1: I understand the heading as minûtu “recitation”, even though the writing of the word is uncertain: the nu is written on an erasure and the su is actually a šu. Besides, minûtu usually refers to incantations (CAD M/II: 99), and not to rites or rituals (CAD P: 196–99). The verbal form at the end of the rubric ina pî is not preserved but it may refer to an idiomatic expression with aṣû, qabû or šasû (CAD P: 459–60), indicating “to speak” or “to make an utterance”.
2: This section is not a ritual itself but a ritual commentary and ina libbi is an exegetical technical term (Gabbay Reference Gabbay2016: 167–68). In my opinion the form dùmeš stands for a Gtn, and not for a plural, because the subject is in the singular. The whole section (iv 2–8) seems to refer to a kind of astronomical observation and a lamentation performed by the nadītu priestess.
3: This section may refer to a procession. šinunūtu(múlším.maḫ): the Swallow is a constellation in the western fish of Pisces with some of the western part of Pegasus (Bobrova and Militarev Reference Bobrova, Militarev and Galter1993: 324–25; Horowitz Reference Horowitz1998: 171; Hunger and Pingree Reference Hunger and Pingree1999: passim; Rochberg Reference Rochberg2004: 128; Rochberg Reference Rochberg2010: 280). It is uncertain whether this passage is related to the reference to a swallow in the third section of the preceding column. I understand rēšu here as the head of celestial bodies (CAD R: 282).
4: For the reading zib.me see Rochberg Reference Rochberg2010: 152 n. 32, 289. The šū here is a technical term referring to an equation; note also the following Glossenkeil (Gabbay Reference Gabbay2016: 85–88).
5: Apart from the city, dil-bad may stand for the goddess Ištar or for the planet Venus. Here, without a determinative (uru, mul, d) it is difficult to know. Considering the context I would propose that it refers to the goddess, but a reading as Venus is also an option.
6: lumāšu in this period refers to a constellation, but also to a zodiacal sign, see Rochberg Reference Rochberg2010: 305 and 418 n. 19. It is unclear if the plene writing on the verb qatû may indicate the plural or perhaps also subjunctive (“which complete”).
7: As C. Ambos correctly points out to me, lapātu not only means “to write down” but also “to touch (a sacrificial animal)”, see CAD L: 84–85, and this makes also sense in this context.
7–8: For other instances in which rites or specific characteristics of religious objects or buildings should not be forgotten or neglected, see CAD M/I: 399–400 and CAD P: 196–99.
9f.: For similar omens see Rochberg Reference Rochberg2004: 259–61.
12: The “reed stylus” qan ṭuppi(gi.dub) is the emblem of Nabû, but also a gnomon set on a slab as part of the sundial (Rochberg Reference Rochberg2010: 185–86).
Conclusion
The sitz im leben of this interesting but challenging document, its contents and its purpose are difficult to clarify. The evidence presented here suggests that despite its fragmentary condition and the presence of many sections of difficult interpretation, the obverse of the tablet refers to a ceremony in which a nadītu priestess and a purification priest perform a type of lamentation or special dirge (nigûtu). The performance is in honour of Ištar of Babylon, who is referred to by several epithets. The ceremony seems to take place in the temple of the goddess, the Eturkalamma, though the Esagil of Marduk is also referred to as a setting for the cultic performances. The reverse of the tablet probably deals with the same event, for personnel of the Eturkalamma, the purification priest and the nadītu performing the nigûtu are again mentioned, but in the context of a cultic commentary and astrological omens and observations. The reasons behind these ceremonies are not clearly specified in the text, however, in the last column of the tablet we might find an explanation of why is a nadītu priestess performing a nigûtu, iv 7–8:
a-na išippī(išib)meš šá ina āli(uru?) ilappat(tag)át nadītu(lukur) ana muḫ-ḫi ni-⸢gu-tú⸣ / ippušā(dù)-ʾ áš-šú par-ṣa-a-nu la ma-še-e
(…) for the purification priests who register (the text(s)) in the city, (and?) the nadītu for the sake of the nigûtu she performs, so that our rites not be neglected.
This passage suggests that the performance of the nigûtu was in one way or another related to the recording and safekeeping of the rites that otherwise would have been forgotten.
The maintenance and protection of cultic rites, and particularly their recording in writing, was an issue of the utmost importance for monarchs, priests and cities; it could also be a source of conflict, as seen the 7th century b.c.e. letter from Nippur SAA 18: 170–71 no. 204 (= ABL 1215) rev. 5-10:
par ?-ṣi ? šá ?⸣ ina dub.sar-ú-tu / šaṭ-ru par-⸢ṣi-ni šú ?-nu ? ad?⸣meš-ni i-pu-šú / u a-na ṣi-bu-tú šá ⸢lugal⸣ šak-nu 1-me 1-lim / šá áš-šá at-tu-ú-a a-na ku-pa-ar-ti / šá lugalmeš en meš-e-a lil-lik-ú u áš-šá / la par-ṣi-ni šú-nu ina dub.sar-ú-tu la šaṭ-ru
(Only) [rites that] are set down in writing are our rit[e]s. They have been performed by our forefathers, and they meet the needs of the ki[ng]. (There are) a hundred, (nay,) a thousand (rites) which, as far as I am concerned, would be suitable for the purification of the kings, my lords. But, because they are not our rites, they are not set down in writing.Footnote 32
If, as argued in this article, the main object of the performance of the nigûtu was the pacification of Ištar's raging heart, one would conclude that the anger of the goddess threatened the conservation of the rites. As a rule, Balag and Eršema lamentations are performed to appease the destructive consequences of divine anger. However, these destructions usually have a material objective: temples, lands, cities, people, etc. are destroyed or killed by divine rage (Gabbay Reference Gabbay2014: 21–27 has some examples); they are not intangible assets like rites or ceremonies. Of course, the destruction of temples could affect their library collections, where tablets with rituals and instructions for the performance of specific ceremonies were stored.
In my opinion, the passage in iv 7–8 may reflect the fact that some priests in the Late Babylonian period needed to write down their cultic instructions in order to remember them. The corpus of the so-called Late Babylonian temple rituals (Linssen Reference Linssen2004; Da Riva [Reference Da Rivain preparation]) represents a new genre of texts in which different aspects of the ceremonies and rites are described in a detailed manner: recitations, performances, setting and timing, participants, and so on, and they are especially relevant for studying the Babylonian cults, since they provide us with a wealth of data on public cult activities in the sanctuaries. Yet, these texts are not prescriptive; they do not record what happened in the temple before the events in question in the form of a manual of ritual procedure, but rather they depict the whole ceremony as seen from a distant, general perspective. For their part, the priests, or at least some of them, were perhaps aware that their world (religious but also material), was in gradual decline, and that they were losing royal support.Footnote 33 It is difficult to say how widespread this notion was, but the recording of their rituals in writing may well have been an attempt to hold back a process that was threatening their very existence.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the following colleagues for their assistance and encouragement: C. Ambos, J. Brinkman, I.L. Finkel, U. Gabbay, A.R. George, Sh. Gordin, E. Jiménez, M.-Ch. Ludwig, M. Luukko, F. Rochberg, G. Rubio, D. Schwemer, D. Shehata, G. van Buylaere, C.B.F. Walker and N. Wasserman. Of course, errors and shortcomings to be found herein are the responsibility of the author.
