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The Chronology of Šulgi Again

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Albrecht Goetze
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Extract

When F. R. Kraus, at that time curator of the tablet collection in the Museum of the Near East in Istanbul, collated the date list of Šulgi Ni.394 (= BE 1/2 No. 125) of that museum, he found that the three last lines of the obverse give the text of one date formula, not of three, as had formerly been believed. In the meantime this date has turned up on a tablet excavated at Nippur during the season of 1955/56; its excavation number is 5N-T490. A copy of that tablet is given on Plate XVIII. Its interest rests mainly on the date formula which leads beyond what had been known from the date list.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 22 , Issue 1-2: Ur in Retrospect. In Memory of Sir C. Leonard Woolley , Spring-Autumn 1960 , pp. 151 - 156
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1960 

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References

1 Kraus, F. R., Or. 21 (1952), 385 fGoogle Scholar.

2 The expedition was a joint enterprise of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago and of the Baghdad School of the American Schools of Oriental Research; I served as the epigrapher of the expedition.

3 Falkenstein, A., Sum. Götterlieder I (1959), 113 Google Scholar quotes other examples of e n s i. g a l and e n s i in connection with gods. With Entemena who calls himself e n5 . s i . g a l . dN i n. g í r - s u - k a compare Lamgi-Mari's epithet e n5 . s i . g a l. dE n. l í l ( R.A. 31, 140 Google Scholar). See also the discussion by Hallo, W. W., Early Mesopotamian Royal Titles (1957), 47 f Google Scholar.—Underneath a pavement of the north gate of the Inanna temple at Nippur which was the main object of the forementioned expedition an inscribed brick emerged (5N-T689) which reads (in three lines): dN i n - u r t a,/e n5 . s i. g a l ./dE n . l í l - l á. A fragment of another piece was found nearby on floor 1 of the room IT 21 E.

4 In the date list we have probably to restore [ e š . b a r ] despite F. R. Kraus, loc. cit., 386. The traces that in Hilprecht's copy follow b a . d u g4 -g a fit g á [ n . n í g . Š I]D rather well.

5 Les Inscriptions de Sumer et d'Akkad (1905): “aux oracles il donna ses soins.” Falkenstein, Adam in his Grammatik der Sprache Gudeas (1949/1950)Google Scholar translates “er hat die kluge Entscheidung gehegt” and in Sumerische und Akkadische Hymnen und Gebete (1953) “er hat die kluge Entscheidung getroffen.” He seems to take KIN(- g á) as an adjective. [Cf. Reiner, E., J.N.E.S. 19 (1960), 25 Google Scholar.]

6 Cf. in particular Sm 1371 + ( Haupt, P., Nimrodepos, p. 93 f.Google Scholar) obv. 9 f.: šarrē šakkanakkē u rubē mahar-ka kam-su ta-bar-ri te-re-ti-šu-nu purussē-šu-nu ta-par-ra-as “kings, governors and princes are on their knees before you; you behold the sígns meant for them, you decide decisions concerning them.”

7 Falkenstein, A., Grammatik der Sprache Gudeas 2 (1950), 124 fGoogle Scholar.

8 The Akkadian equivalent is nikkassū (plur.), certainly a loanword from Sumerian. It remains problematic how n í g .ŠID could become nikkassū. None of the possible readings of ŠID (cf. M.S.L. II Nos. 552–562) seems to fit, and š i t i is the reading which means “count”. [See now ea-nâqu VII 193 published by Landsberger, B., J.C.S. 13 (1959), 129 Google Scholar; ka-a ŠID ša NÍG.ŠID ni-ka-as-su].

9 See Fossey, Ch., J.S.O.R. 14 (1930), 51 ffGoogle Scholar.

10 In that case the correct reading of ŠID would have to end in a vowel; the Akkadian loanword nikkassū (plur.), makes this unlikely.

11 For examples see Falkenstein, A., Grammatik de Sprache Gudeas 1 (1949), 58 Google Scholar.

12 The latest treatment is that of Falkenstein, , Journal of World History I (1954), 784–814 Google Scholar. One feels reminded of the Mari tēbibtum which also involves a resurvey of fields.

13 “Year in which the people of Ur were conscripted as archers.”

14 Cf. J.C.S. 1 (1947), 620 Google Scholar.

15 Hackman, G. G., B.I.N. V (1957), p. 4 Google Scholar; Jacobsen, Th., The Sumerian Kinglist (1939), 122 fGoogle Scholar.

16 The reading proposed by Kraus, F. R., Or. 21 (1952), 390 Google Scholar is very uncertain. On the problem see also Sollberger, E., A.f.O. 17 (1954/1955), 15 fGoogle Scholar.

17 For š i t ax = Akk. ikribu see now Landsberger, B., M.S.L. III 105, line 112Google Scholar restored according to M.S.L. IV, 206 Google Scholar; compare also Langdon, S., R.A. 9 (1912), 162 Google Scholar and furthermore, Falkenstein, A., Sum. Götterl. I (1959), 52, 68 Google Scholar.

18 For occurrences of n a m . š i t a4, certainly identical in meaning with n a m . š i t ax, see Cocquerillat, Denise, Rev. Int. des Droits de l'Antiquité III/2 (1955), 56/fn. 15Google Scholar.

19 This must, in the light of the other examples, no doubt be amended to read b a -DU, i.e. b a - t ú m u.

20 The equation is made evident by the Mar tablets; see Bottéro, and Finet, , A.R.M. XV (1954), pp. 80, 196 f., 234 fGoogle Scholar. See also Smith Coll. 233 (= Gordon 54) 3 is!-su!-uḫ!-ma.

21 See also Landsberger, B., J.N.E.S. 8 (1949), 254 n. 31Google Scholar.

22 Outside of dates, e.g. dA m a r - dS u e n - k a - š è KA- b i b a - a n - k e š d a B.I.N. V, 202 Google Scholar (dated Š u - S i n 1!); n a m . e n - n a - š è KA b a - a b - k e š d a B.I.N. V, 65 Google Scholar; the passages quoted B.I.N. IX, index p. 70 Google Scholar.

23 Landsberger, B., Der kultische Kalender, 65 ff.Google Scholar; cf. J.N.E.S. 8 (1949), 262 fGoogle Scholar.

24 In the formula as given above the - š (e) corresponding with the - t a after the initial month is missing. It is easily understandable how it could be forgotten in the complicated context that has just been described.

25 The dates taken from the enthronisation of priest(esse)s contain in their fullest form both name and title of the respective priest(ess); either one may be omitted for abbreviation. A glance at the variants of the respective dates contained in N. Schneider, Zeitbestimmungen suffices to bear out this statement.— The same view is held by Sollberger, E., A.f.O. XVII (1957), 17 Google Scholar who also explains the name as (p. 16) “l'en emporte la prière de Šulgir,” adducing the parallel dB a - ú n a m . š i t ax. U r u - k a - g i - n a - k a - k e4 b a - t ú m u. Incidentally, note also m u e n. dE n . k i . b a - t ú m u b a - ḫ u n P.B.S. V, 46 Google Scholar. Nothing further can be done with this date, since the text of the tablet which prosopography might help to date and to assign to a certain reign and even to a limited range of time within a reign remains unpublished.

26 Beyond the facts adduced by Sollberger, E., A.f.O. 17 (1954/1955), 17 Google Scholar.

27 This is the archaic form for later Narām-ili-ia; see Gelb, I. J., Old Akkadian Writing and Grammar (1952), 171 Google Scholar.

28 Çiǧ, M., Kizilyay, H. und Salonen, A., “Die Puzriš-Dagan Texte der Istanbuler Archäologischen Museen I” (Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae, Ser. B. Tom. 92, 1954)Google Scholar.

29 The tablet is sealed with a seal containing the name of Šulgi and should therefore (against the editors) be assigned to his reign. Furthermore, Ititi, ensi of Kazallu (1. 9) must be placed at the head of the known series of the ensis of Kazallu, not only before A - b í - l a - š a, but also before Kallamu and Iz(u)arik.

30 This text is very similar to 1st. 209 and 667 just quoted.

31 Is the formula of the 5 th year, mutilated on B.E. I/2, 125 Google Scholar actually preserved in U.E.T. III 292 Google Scholar: m u b à dki k i - b i g e4 - a ?

32 Cf. also Kraus, F. R., Or. 21 (1952), 387 ff Google Scholar. Also the date of U.E.T. III 291?Google Scholar

33 Compare Amar-Sin 3.