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Here the Most Comprehensive Copies of the Manuscripts to Date, Made by M 285 A RITUAL FOR A FLOURISHING BORDELLO 286 HOOFDARTIKELEN in many works the format of the most interesting exemplar of this ritual, VAT 9728, was simply ignored9). In 1986 E. Leichty referred to another unpublished dupli- A RITUAL FOR A FLOURISHING BORDELLO cate, BM 53655, which until now remains the only one known from southern Mesopotamia10). Strahil V. PANAYOTOV*) Here the most comprehensive copies of the manuscripts to date, made by M. J. Geller, will be presented, which include Abstract the signs, shape, holes and lines. Additionally, I present a This article offers new material and a new edition of a unique score text as transliteration and a translation with commen- ritual text from the first millennium BC in Mesopotamia, which tary, which will be a useful point of reference for a deeper describes a ritual for increasing the profit of the innkeeper. One of research of this unique ritual text. Additionally, I offer a the text-representatives is written on a tablet with a handle, which short discussion of the so-called “amulet-shaped” tablets. was displayed in a Mesopotamian pub, which had the character of a bordello. The new score text presented here is based on collations of 2) The sources all known duplicates and on new copies by M. J. Geller. The primary A = VAT 9728, ca. 16,5 x 10,5 x 2 cm. Berlin. See the aim is to publish comprehensive copies, a reliable transliteration, and a translation. Additionally, a publication history and a descrip- copy of M. J. Geller below (Fig. 1). tion of the sources are presented. Furthermore, text and context com- mentaries will be offered, focussing on one of the representative objects, a so-called “amulet-shaped” tablet, or tablet with handle. Fig. 1 VAT 9728 obv. 1 1) An intricate publication history Although known since the pioneer times of Assyriology, at 5 least since 18731), this astonishing text still lacks a compre- hensive publication. H. Zimmern published a version in his editio princeps2), which was outstanding for its day but lacked 10 collations of the Ninive manuscript and copies. Zimmern worked with F. Lenormant’s copy and A. Boissier’s correction of the piece N 35543). For a treatment of the other part of the 15 same tablet, K 3464, he used J. Craig’s copy, some initial 4 results by F. Martin, and his own collations ). Both parts K 20 3464 + N 3554 have never been joined together and reliably copied until now5). Further, Zimmern collated the Assur tablet 6 VAT 9728 ), noticing that E. Ebeling failed to show the for- 25 mat of the tablet in his copy in KAR 1447). In 1992 S. Maul referred again to the shape of VAT 9728, and copied the sil- 8 houette of the obverse of the tablet ). Despite this rich body bore hole rev. of previous work, the tablet from Assur, like the tablet from 1 Ninive, has never been reproduced comprehensively, includ- ing a clear display of the signs, the shape, and the pierced 5 handle. The lack of these important features led to the fact that *) First of all I would like to express my gratitude to M. J. Geller, for 10 providing me with his copies, collations, photos, encouragement and cor- rections. Further, thanks are due to the Trustees of the British Museum, to VAM Berlin, especially to J. Marzahn, for giving us the opportunity in 2011 to work in the Museum, and to F. Badalanova Geller for providing us 15 with high quality photos from N 3554 in the Louvre. I am very thankful to L. Vacín the corrector of my English and to W.J.I. Waal for sending me her PhD thesis. Furthermore, L. Verderame informed me on tablets from American collections, and alerted me to a recent investigation of J. Lauinger. Both are thanked for the communications. M. Stol read the article and made editorial notes and corrections. 1) LENORMANT, Choix (1873) 267f. no. 99. 2) ZIMMERN, ZA 32 (1918-19) 164-184. (Copy M.J. Geller) 3) BOISSIER, PSBA 23 (1901) 114-130. Cf. 115 note 1. He mentioned the study of STRASSMAIER, AV (1886). See also BORGER, HKL 1 (1967) 648f. 4) CRAIG, ABRT 1 (1895) 66f. ZIMMERN, ZA 32 (1918-19) 171 note 1. 9) For instance FOSTER, Before the Muses3 (2005) 1014. FARBER, TUAT He refers also to MARTIN, Textes religieux (1903) 242-247. K 3464 is cat- II (1987) 277-281. Also not mentioned in CAPLICE, SANE 1 (1974) 23, Text alogued in BEZOLD, Catalogue of Kouyunjik 2 (1891) 516, esp. 536 with a 14, although he mentioned such tablets in his dissertation CAPLICE, Genre copy of the catch-line. See also LANDSBERGER, ZDMG 69 (1915) 505. Namburbi (1963) 39, 41, 45, 47f., 133f. and 248f. XII. For KAR 144 see ibid. 5) See some remarks in ZIMMERN, ZA 32 (1918-19) 164. X - IB; See further EBELING, RA 49 (1955) 179ff. Among the authors, who 6) ZIMMERN, ZA 32 (1918-19) 170. have paid attention to it are: REINER, JNES 19 (1960) 155; MAUL, CRRAI 38 7) EBELING, KAR (1915-19) no. 144. Neither did he mention the shape in (1992) 396; MAUL, BaF 18 (1994) 106, 179; HAAS, Liebesgarten (1999) 102. his later publication of the text (EBELING, RA 49 (1955) 179ff.) although he CRYER & THOMSEN, Witchcraft and Magic (2001) 61-64.; MAUL & STRAUß, mentioned a lot of “amulet-shaped” tablets in his previous work on Nam- KAL 4 (2011) 4 note 24; See also WASSERMAN, RA 88 (1994) 49-57. burbi: EBELING, RA 48 (1954) 7. See also ZIMMERN, ZA 32 (1918-19) 170. 10) LEICHTY, Tablets from Sippar 1 (1986) 116, 82-3-23, 4695 BM 8) MAUL, CRRAI 38 (1992) 396. 53655. Also mentioned in MAUL, BaF 18 (1994) 179a. 287 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXX N° 3-4, mei-augustus 2013 288 This unbaked tablet in Assyrian script was found in 1904 usual21). The pierced handle of the tablet shows the typical during the German excavations in Assur, led by W. Andrae. criss-cross lines of the so-called ‘magical diagram’22). In It was unearthed in a bad state of preservation, together many cases there is an inscription within the diagram. This with ca. 39 unbaked tablets on the east corner of the Ziqqu- handle was also inscribed in antiquity, but unfortunately rat (hB4V), in remains of small houses11). The tablets were nothing remains of the inscription23). found in a nest with clay tablets in debris along a wall12). This can suggest that they have fallen from shelve(s), B = K 3464 + N 355424), London + Paris. Reconstructed on which the collection might have been kept. The tablet size of both parts ca. 20,4 x 9,3 x 3,1 cm. See the copy of M. dates to the 7th century B.C. and is in all probability the J. Geller below (Fig. 2 (obv.) and 3 (rev.)). earliest example of this ritual known today. Scholars have The states of preservation of these two baked pieces in referred to the curious format of this and other tablets as Assyrian script are different (Fig. 4a, b). On the one hand, ‘amulet-shaped’ or ‘Amuletttafel’13). This term is no longer the piece in Paris shows the beautiful contrast between the acceptable because not all such artefacts had a function whitish surface and the red core25). On the other hand, the similar to that of Lamastu-amulets and plaques, which whitish surface colour of the London piece is almost com- expelled the female demon14), or to that of the e.g. Nam- pletely lost. The different states of preservation suggest burbi texts15), Erra Epic16) or Îulbazizi17) preserved on that both pieces could not have been found together. This such tablets. Furthermore, there are ‘amulet-shaped’ tablets is also clear from the fact that each piece reached a with texts without any apotropaic function at all18). In such different museum. A. H. Layard apparently excavated K cases the texts were not written on a protective object–amu- 3464 in the 1850s26). In contrast, it is not clear how N 3554 let. Therefore, it is preferable to refer to such objects neu- reached Paris. Further, according to W. G. Lambert, tablets trally as ‘tablets with a projection, or handle’19). VAT 9728 with characteristic whitish surface and red core, which was modelled, lined, cut off with a knife, inscribed and sometimes turns black in the centre, were all baked in subsequently pierced with ‘decoration holes’ in empty antiquity. When overheated they lost their whitish surface places between the signs20). Such holes should be referred colour and showed signs of vitrification27). This is also to as ‘decoration holes’ rather than ‘firing holes’, as 21) The opinion of FINCKE, AfO 50 (2003-04) 126 note 124, ‘On the other hand, all tablets with firing holes published so far seem to have been baked in antiquity”, needs revision. For the ‘firing holes’ see the discussion in 11) ANDRAE, MDOG 22 (1904) 18f. Further, PEDERSÉN, ALA II (1986) WALKER, Cuneiform (1987) 21-25. For the Hittites see the thorough study of 29 no. N2. MAUL, BaF 18 (1994) 179a states that the tablets were found WAAL, Source As Object (2010) Chapter 2, 3. As an additional argument near the Assur-Tempel, which is against the date in PEDERSÉN, ALA II against the opinion of J. Fincke, there are also baked tablets without ‘firing (1986) 29 no. N2. The structures of the small houses in which the tablets holes’, e.g. duplicates VAT 8780 = KAR 147 and ND 05545 = CTN 4 no. were unearthed are connected with the Ziqqurat and not with the Assur 58, which are tablets with handle.
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