Abstract
The article presents an edition of a new manuscript of the Old Babylonian Sumerian myth Ninĝišzida’s Journey to the Netherworld from the Louvre museum. The article deals with the complex literary transmission of this composition, known in different versions with much variation. The myth, lamentful in tone, and including Emesal vocabulary and litanies, is compared to the corpus of Emesal prayers, especially the laments over Damu. The myth is also examined in light of an Old Babylonian Akkadian myth on Ninĝišzida’s descent to the netherworld.
Acknowledgements
The tablet AO 8118 edited in this article is published by kind permission of the Louvre Museum. I would like to thank Mr. Mahmoud Alassi for his kind assistance during my visit to the Louvre for collation of the tablet in October 2017. I would like to thank Prof. Nathan Wasserman and Dr. Klaus Wagensonner for sending me photographs of the tablet, which I used for my initial study of it. I thank Prof. Konrad Volk for sending me his preliminary transliteration and photographs of MS 3177, and Prof. Paul Delnero for providing me photographs of VAT 611+ (VS 2, 26), both cited in this article. The tablet treated in Appendix 2 below belongs to a private collection and the photos of the tablet were provided to me via the owner. An earlier version of this paper was read in a joint workshop of the Hebrew University and the University of Geneva held in Geneva in September 2018. I thank Prof. Nathan Wasserman, Prof. Catherine Mittermayer, and an anonymous reviewer for reading and commenting on an earlier version of this article.
References
Alster, B. (1986): Edin-na ú-sag-gá: Reconstruction, History, and Interpretation of a Sumerian Cultic Lament. In: K. Hecker/W. Sommerfeld (ed.), Keilschriftliche Literaturen. Ausgewählte Vorträge der XXXII. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Münster, 8.–12.7.1985 (BBVO 6), Berlin, 19–32.Search in Google Scholar
André-Leickman, B./C. Ziegler (ed.) (1982): Naissance de l’écriture: cunéiformes et hiéroglyphes (4ème édition, revue et corrigée), Paris.Search in Google Scholar
Attinger, P. (1993): Eléments de linguistique sumérienne: la construction de du11/e/di “dire” (OBO Sonderband), Fribourg – Göttingen.Search in Google Scholar
Bartelmus, A. (2016): Fragmente einer großen Sprache: Sumerisch im Kontext der Schreiberausbildung des kassitenzeitlichen Babylonien (UAVA 12), Boston.10.1515/9781501503276Search in Google Scholar
Black, J. (1985): A-še-er gi6-ta, a Balag of Inana, ASJ 7, 11–87.10.1080/02522667.1985.10698807Search in Google Scholar
Black, J. (2004): Ninĝišzida and Ninazimua, Or. 73, 215–227.Search in Google Scholar
Carroué, F. (2000): Šulgi et le temple Bagara, ZA 90, 161–193.10.1515/zava.2000.90.2.161Search in Google Scholar
Cavigneaux, A. (2000): Fragment d’élégie, RA 94, 11–15.Search in Google Scholar
Cavigneaux, A. (2014): Une version sumérienne de la légende d’Adapa (Textes de Tell Haddad X), ZA 104, 1–41.10.1515/za-2014-0001Search in Google Scholar
Charpin, D./J.-M. Durand (1981): Documents cunéiformes de Strasbourg conservés à la bibliothèque nationale et universitaire (ERC Cah. 4), Paris.Search in Google Scholar
Cohen, M. E. (1981): Sumerian Hymnology: The Eršemma (HUCA Suppl. 2), Cincinnati.10.2307/j.ctt16f99bgSearch in Google Scholar
Cohen, M. E. (1988): The Canonical Lamentations of Ancient Mesopotamia, Potomac, Maryland.Search in Google Scholar
Delnero, P. (2012): The Textual Criticism of Sumerian Literature (JCS Suppl. 3), Boston. Search in Google Scholar
Delnero, P. (2015): Texts and Performance: The Materiality and Function of the Sumerian Liturgical Corpus. In: P. Delnero/J. Lauinger (ed.), Texts and Contexts: The Circulation and Transmission of Cuneiform Texts in Social Space (SANER 9), Boston, 87–118.10.1515/9781614515371-004Search in Google Scholar
Delnero, P. (2019): Sound and Meaning in Sumerian Cultic Laments. In: G. Chambon et al. (ed.), De l’argile au numérique. Mélanges assyriologiques en l’honneur de Dominique Charpin (Publications de l’Institut de Proche-Orient Ancien du Collège de France 2 , Leuven, 315–355.10.2307/j.ctv1q26s9t.17Search in Google Scholar
Edzard, D.O. (1962): Texts and Fragments 43–48, JCS 16, 78–81.10.2307/1359155Search in Google Scholar
Englund, R.K. (1990): Organisation und Verwaltung der Ur III-Fischerei (BBVO 10), Berlin.Search in Google Scholar
Fritz, M.M. (2003): “... und weinten um Tammuz”: Die Götter Dumuzi-Ama’ušumgal’anna und Damu (AOAT 307), Münster. Search in Google Scholar
Gabbay, U. (2011): Lamentful Proverbs or Proverbial Laments? Intertextual Connections between Sumerian Proverbs and Emesal Laments, JCS 63, 51–64. 10.5615/jcunestud.63.0051Search in Google Scholar
Gabbay, U. (2014): Pacifying the Hearts of the Gods: Sumerian Emesal Prayers of the First Millennium BC (Heidelberger Emesal-Studien 1), Wiesbaden. Search in Google Scholar
Gabbay, U. (2015): The Eršema Prayers of the First Millennium BC (Heidelberger Emesal-Studien 2), Wiesbaden. Search in Google Scholar
Gelb, I.J. (1970): Sargonic Texts in the Ashmolean Museum (MAD 5), Chicago. Search in Google Scholar
George, A.R. (2003): The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts, Oxford. Search in Google Scholar
George, A.R. (2009): Babylonian Literary Texts in the Schøyen Collection (CUSAS 10), Bethesda. Search in Google Scholar
Hess, C.W. (2015): Songs of Clay. In: P. Delnero/J. Lauinger (ed.), Texts and Contexts: The Circulation and Transmission of Cuneiform Texts in Social Space (SANER 9), Boston, 251–284. 10.1515/9781614515371-010Search in Google Scholar
Hunger, H. (1968): Babylonische und assyrische Kolophone (AOAT 2), Neukirchen-Vluyn.Search in Google Scholar
Jacobsen, T./B. Alster (2000): Ningishzida’s Boat-ride to Hades. In: A.R. George/I.L. Finkel (ed.), Wisdom, Gods and Literature: Studies in Assyriology in Honour of W.G. Lambert, Winona Lake, 315–344. Search in Google Scholar
Kramer, S.N. (1980): Inanna and the numun-Plant: A New Sumerian Myth. In: G. Rendsburg et al. (ed.), The Bible World. Essays in Honor of Cyrus H. Gordon, New York, 87–97. Search in Google Scholar
Kramer, S.N. (1981): BM 29616: The Fashioning of the gala, ASJ 3, 1–11. Search in Google Scholar
Lambert, W.G. (1990): A New Babylonian Descent to the Netherworld. In: Tz. Abusch et al. (ed.), Lingering over Words. Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Literature in Honor of William L. Moran (HSS 37), Atlanta, 289–300.Search in Google Scholar
Limet, H. (1968): Tablettes inédites du musée du Louvre, RA 62, 1–15.Search in Google Scholar
Löhnert, A. (2009): “Wie die Sonne tritt heraus!”: Eine Klage zum Auszug Enlils mit einer Untersuchung zu Komposition und Tradition sumerischer Klagelieder in altbabylonischer Zeit (AOAT 365), Münster.Search in Google Scholar
Ludwig, M.-Ch. (2009): Literarische Texte aus Ur: Kollationen und Kommentare zu UET 6/1–2 (UAVA 9), Berlin. 10.1515/9783110222333Search in Google Scholar
Metzler, K. (2002): Tempora in altbabylonischen literarischen Texten (AOAT 279), Münster.Search in Google Scholar
Michalowski, P. (2011): The Correspondence of the Kings of Ur: An Epistolary History of an Ancient Mesopotamian Kingdom (MesCiv. 15), Winona Lake. 10.1515/9781575066509Search in Google Scholar
Milstein, S. (2015): The Origins of Adapa, ZA 105, 30–41.10.1515/za-2015-0004Search in Google Scholar
Milstein, S. (2016): The “Magic” of Adapa. In: P. Delnero/J. Lauinger (ed.), Texts and Contexts: The Circulation and Transmission of Cuneiform Texts in Social Space (SANER 9), Berlin, 191–213.Search in Google Scholar
Mittermayer, C. (2006): Altbabylonische Zeichenliste der sumerisch-literarischen Texte (OBO Sonderband), Fribourg – Göttingen.Search in Google Scholar
Mittermayer. C. (2010): Gilgameš im Wandel der Zeit. In: H.U. Steymans (ed.), Gilgamesch – Ikonographie eines Helden = Gilgamesh: Epic and Iconography (OBO 245), Fribourg – Göttingen, 135–164.Search in Google Scholar
Mittermayer, C. (2019): “Was sprach der eine zum anderen?”: Argumentationsformen in den sumerischen Rangstreitgesprächen (UAVA 15), Berlin.10.1515/9783110634327Search in Google Scholar
Peterson, J. (2009): God Lists from Old Babylonian Nippur in the University Museum, Philadelphia (AOAT 362), Münster. Search in Google Scholar
Peterson, J. (2014): A Catalog/Incipit Inventory Entry Pertaining to Ninŋišzida’s Journey to the Netherworld, NABU 2014/61.Search in Google Scholar
Peterson, J. (2017): A Middle Babylonian Sumerian Fragment of the Adapa Myth from Nippur and an Overview of the Middle Babylonian Sumerian Literary Corpus at Nippur. In: L. Feliu et al. (ed.), The First Ninety Years. A Sumerian Celebration in Honor of Miguel Civil (SANER 12), Berlin, 254–276.10.1515/9781501503696-016Search in Google Scholar
Peterson, J. (unpublished): The Literary Sumerian of Old Babylonian Ur: UET 6/1–3 in Transliteration and Translation with Select Commentary (unpublished manuscript).Search in Google Scholar
Reid, J.N./K. Wagensonner (2017): Let the Alĝar be Played: A New Manuscript of Šū-Suen B, JNES 76, 249–264.10.1086/693458Search in Google Scholar
Römer, W.H.Ph. (2001): Hymnen und Klagelieder in sumerischer Sprache (AOAT 276), Münster.Search in Google Scholar
Rouault, O. (2011): Les textes des saisons 5 à 9 (Terqa Final Reports 2), Malibu. Search in Google Scholar
Shehata, D. (2009): Musiker und ihr vokales Repertoire: Untersuchungen zu Inhalt und Organisation von Musikerberufen und Liedgattungen in altbabylonischer Zeit (GBAO 3), Göttingen.10.17875/gup2009-509Search in Google Scholar
Streck, M.P./N. Wasserman (2018): The Man is Like a Woman, the Maiden is a Young Man: A New Edition of Ištar-Louvre, Or. 87, 1–38. Search in Google Scholar
Tinney, S. (2011): Tablets of Schools and Scholars: A Portrait of the Old Babylonian Corpus. In: K. Radner/E. Robson (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture, Oxford, 577–596. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199557301.013.0027Search in Google Scholar
Tinney, S. (2018): “Dumuzi’s Dream” Revisited, JNES 77, 85–89.10.1086/696146Search in Google Scholar
Veldhuis, N. (2000): Kassite Exercises: Literary and Lexical Extracts, JCS 52, 67–94. 10.2307/1359687Search in Google Scholar
Veldhuis, N. (2002): Studies in Sumerian Vocabulary: dnin-ka6; immal/šilam; and še21.d, JCS 54, 67–77.10.2307/1360043Search in Google Scholar
Volk, K. (1989): Die Balag̃-Komposition úru àm-ma-ir-ra-bi: Rekonstruktion und Bearbeitung der Tafeln 18 (19′ ff.), 19, 20 und 21 der späten, kanonischen Version (FAOS 18), Stuttgart. Search in Google Scholar
Wasserman, N. (2003): Style and Form in Old-Babylonian Literary Texts (CunMon. 27), Leiden. 10.1163/9789004496668Search in Google Scholar
Wasserman, N./U. Gabbay (2005): Literatures in Contact: The Balaĝ úru àm-ma-ir-ra-bi and its Akkadian translation UET 6/2, 403, JCS 57, 69–84. 10.1086/JCS40025992Search in Google Scholar
Wiggermann, F. (2000): Nin-ĝišzida, RlA 9/5–6, 368–373. Search in Google Scholar
Zólyomi, G. (2003): A Manuscript of “Ninĝišzida’s Journey to the Netherworld” from Kiš, Ingharra, ZA 93, 70–81.10.1515/zava.93.1.70Search in Google Scholar
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Nachruf
- Horst Klengel
- Verbal Serialization in Biblical Aramaic
- Sea Raiders in the Amarna Letters?
- Zum hurritischen Wort immarde
- A Praise Poem of Warad-Sîn, King of Larsa, to Nippur
- A New Manuscript of Ninĝišzida’s Journey to the Netherworld
- Paraphernalia of Funerary Display at Kaneš
- Glossenkeil and Indentation on Hittite Tablets
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Nachruf
- Horst Klengel
- Verbal Serialization in Biblical Aramaic
- Sea Raiders in the Amarna Letters?
- Zum hurritischen Wort immarde
- A Praise Poem of Warad-Sîn, King of Larsa, to Nippur
- A New Manuscript of Ninĝišzida’s Journey to the Netherworld
- Paraphernalia of Funerary Display at Kaneš
- Glossenkeil and Indentation on Hittite Tablets