Shulgi-Simti and Her Libation Place (Ki-A-Nag)(1)
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SHULGI-SIMTI AND HER LIBATION PLACE (KI-A-NAG)(1) TOHRU GOMI Lecturer, Shizuoka Women's University I During the four successive reigns of the kings of the third dynasty of Ur which ruled Mesopotamia in the twenty-first century B. C., Puzris-Dagan (now called Drehem), lying south of Nippur, provided animals to be sacrificed for temples and shrines mostly situated in Ur, the capital of the kingdom, and in Nippur, the religious center of the Sumerian pantheon. This central cattle exchange was established by Shulgi, the second and the most mighty monarch of the dynasty, in his thirty-ninth regnal year, as is commemorated in its year- formula.(2) In thousands of texts found there(3) we often find the name of Shulgi's wife, Shulgi-simti,(4) which appears, in most cases, in a phrase mu-tu-dSul-gi- si-im-ti/-turn-ma that means "the delivery for (or, in the name of) Shulgi- simti."(5) When we arrange all the texts containing her name in chronological order, as S. T. Kang did in his SACT I (1972), pp. 264-267,(6) it becomes ap- parent that she was one of the most important and most active women of that time and that her activity as receiver of animals(7) offered by many individuals continued from the thirty-second to forty-seventh year of Shulgi's reign.(8) There is no text which gives us any information about the mu-tu-dSul-gi-si-im-ti after that period. Thus it is clear that her activity was restricted only within her husband's reign. During the following nearly twenty years when Amar- Sin, Shu-Sin and Ibbi-Sin were kings successively, it was Abi-simti, the queen (nin),(9) who disbursed animals to various deities in the same manner as Shulgi- simti had previously done. This quite certain and clear change of the actresses has given to some scholars a seemingly firm ground for a very attractive conclusion that Shulgi- simti and Abi-simti were identical and that the former changed her name to Abi- 1 simti on the occasion of the death of her consort, Shulgi.(10) Though very interesting and attractive, this conclusion is confronted with several difficulties as L. Matous in RA 68 (1974), p. 85 points out in his critical review of E. C. Keiser, "Neo-Sumerian account texts from Drehem," BIN III (1973). On the basis of some facts which seem persuasive enough to me but which some scholars have overlooked, he denies the possibility of identity of those two women. II Thus there are two quite opposite views of the problem whether they were indeed identical or not.(11) A term ki-a-nag (Akkadian asar masqiti/mastiti) "a libation place" for the dead(12) seems to me very useful to solve this compli- cated and not yet completely settled riddle. It is very rare that we find this term in thousands of already published Neo-Sumerian administrative texts. We want to begin our study by citing the whole text of a tablet, Schileico, Assiriologices- kija zametki, ZVO 25 (1921), p. 134, whose date is 'AS 1 D III 28': 1 udu-nigx…: e-MU(13) ki-a-nag-dSul-gi-ra-se 1 udu-nigx…: ki-a-nag-Geme-dNin-lil-la 1 gukkal: ki-a-nag-dSul-gi-si-im-ti Na-ra-am-i-li maskim. iti-u4-28 ba-zal, ki-Na-lu5 ta ba-zi. sa-Uriki-ma. iti-u5-bimusen_ku. mu dAmar-dSin lugal. "1 fattened sheep for the kitchen(?), for the libation place of Shulgi. 1 fattened sheep for the libation place of Geme-Ninlilla and 1 fat tailed sheep for the libation place of Shulgi-simti. Naram-ili (was) the com- missary. On the 28th of the month they were expended from Nalu. The month of the eating of ubi bird. The year when Amar-Sin (became) the king." According to this, a libation place existed for Shulgi who was surely already dead at that time. It teaches us further that there was one also for Shulgi- simti. Hence one may assume that she must then have been dead, too. But this is based upon a hypothesis that a place of libation was a place for the deceas- ed which was established after one's death. Therefore, however probable that assumption may be, the hypothesis itself needs to be examined by contempo- raneous documents themselves. How can we then prove it correct without hav- 2 ORIENT SHULGI-SIMTI AND HER LIBATION PLACE (KI-A-NAG) ing any record mentioning her funeral ceremony? A study of many Lagash Early Dynastic III texts of ki-a-nag's(14)(15) will teach us when these cultic places used to be constructed in those days. We find them in the following contexts. sa-du11-ki-a-nag! (-kam): Nik I 62 (L 1)(16), BIN VIII 372 (L 1), RTC 55 (-) and 66 (L 4). mas-da-ri-a-ki-a-nag-kam: Nik I 159 (L 1). ki-a-nag-Siraranki-na and ki-a-nag-Lagaski: TSA 1 (L 2), Nik I 23 (L 4), RTC 47 (L 3), Fortsch 34 (-). ki-a-nag-ensi-ka-se ba-turn: Nik I 161 (-). Because these examples have no personal names(17), we cannot know whose libation place is dealt with in each case. On the contrary, the following texts are useful in this respect: (1) RTC 46 (L 2), I-III and VI-VII: 1 udu En-en-tar-zi ki-gu-ka ba-sa6 u4-1-kam 1 sila4 En-en-tar-zi ki-a-nag ba-sa6 u4-2-kam. 1 udu Du-du sanga e-ki-sal-la-ka ba-sa6 } 1 udu En-en-tar-zi gu-su-nigin-na ba-sa6 u4-3-kam Bara-nam-tar-ra dam-Lugal-an-da ensi-Lagaski-ke4 ezem-dBa-ba6-ka gis be-tag. "1 sheep was slaughtered(18) for En -entarzi at the place of…… On the first day. 1 lamb was slaughtered for En-entarzi at the libation place and 1 sheep was slaughtered for Dudu, the sanga priest, in the Ekishalla. On the second day. 1 sheep was slaughtered for En-entarzi on the bank of…… On the third day…… Baranamtarra, wife of Lugal-anda, the city governor of Lagash, has sacrificed(19) them in the festival of the goddess Baba." (2) DP 56(-): 1 udu-nitah ki-a-nag-En-en-tar-zi-se gis e-tag. "Man sacrificed 1 ram for the libation place of En -entarzi." (3) Fortsch 171 (L 2), XI-XII: ezem-dLugal-URU×KARki-ka ki-a-nag-En-en-tar-zi-se mu-tum. "On the occasion of the festival of the god Lugal-URU×KAR man brought (them) for the libation place of En-entarzi." (4) DP 59 (L 3), XV: Vol. XII 1976 3 mas-da-ri-a-ki-a-nag ezem-dBa-ba6 ka En-en-tar-zi-ra mu-na-tum. "Man brought (them) to En-entarzi (as) gifts for the libation place in the festival of the goddess Baba." (5) Nik I 195 (L 3): mas-da-ri-a-ki-a-nag-En-en-tar-zi Du-du sanga-bi-da-kam ezem-dBa-ba6- ka En-ig-gal nu-banda za bi-sus. Lugal-sa6-ga sipa-ra e-na-sid. "These are gifts for the libation place(s) of En-entarzi and Dudu, the sanga priest. In the festival of the goddess Baba, En-iggal, the overseer, branded(20) (them). He counted them for Lugal-shaga, the shepherd." These five texts describe the existence of the libation place of En-entarzi, the immediate predecessor of Lugal-anda. And all but one which lacks the date belong to the reign of the latter who in turn was followed by the famous reform- er-king Uru-inimgina(21) (Uru-KA-gina). It is beyond doubt that En-entarzi was dead at that time. Hence we may think that a place of libation of a certain man must have been constructed after his death for the cultic purpose, so far as the Pre-Sargonic Lagash texts are concerned. III This is confirmed by Ur III texts mainly from Puzris-Dagan and from Umma, Lagash and Ur. The places of libation we know to whom they be- longed are following ones: (1) ki-a-nag-Ur-dNammu: (1) Or 47-49, 465 (-U); (2) Kang, SACT I 188 ([] D); (3) UET III 76 ([] Ur; e-gal-gibil ki-a-nag-dUr-dNammu-se); (4) Reisner, TUT 173 (-L III 4); (5) CT 7,17775 (-L III 13); (6) ib. 13166 (-L XI 20); (7) AnOr 7,290 ([] U IX 3); (8) Nik II 250 (S 48 U; with "dSul-gi-si-im-ti u e-en-nun"); (9) Fish, Catalogue 220 (AS 1 D III 22; sa-Uriki-ma); (10) Langdon, Babyloniaca 7, p. 237-, No. 14 (AS 3 D XI 3); (11) Salonen, PDT 417 (AS 4 D IX-min 14); (12) UET III 21 (AS 5 Ur); (13) Szlechter, RA 59 (1965), p. 146, FM E. O. 14 (AS 6 D; sa-Tum-[ma-a]1-ta(22)); (14) Chiera, STA 3 III 34 (AS 8 U; -dNammu!); (15) Salonen, PDT 548 (AS 8 D VII 2); (16) CT 32, 104458 (AS 8 D VIII 21); (17) AnOr 7,146 (AS 9 D VIII; e-); (18) Or 47-49, 392 (SS 1 U; se-ba-gir-se-ga-); (19) Keiser, BIN III 586 (SS 9 D VI 21(23)); (20) Delaporte, RA 8 (1911), p.