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233 OLD ASSYRIAN CHRONOLOGY 234 HOOFDARTIKEL Eponym List contains 129 names, starting with the first epo- nym known to hold this office at the beginning of the reign of King Erisum I. It covers the period from approximately WEEKS, MONTHS AND YEARS IN OLD ASSYRIAN 1 1974-1846 BC, which is the larger part of the Assyrian com- CHRONOLOGY ) mercial presence in the lower city or Karum (Level II) of the central Anatolian city of Kanesh. The book further contains JAN GERRIT DERCKSEN, LEIDEN a discussion of the colophon in text A, of the institution of the year-eponym in Assur and a brief discussion of the attes- Abstract tations of the individual eponyms, as well as observations on 5 This article reviews two recent, seminal books on Old Assyrian the chronology of Karum Levels II and Ib. ) Hand-copies and Chronology (ca. 2000-1725 BC), and discusses evidence for the photos are included of the main text, A (Kt 92/k 193), term hamustum, traditionally understood as “week”. whereas text B is only presented in hand-copies. The tran- scription of the list is that of text A. In recent years, C. Günbattı has published other tablets containing part of the Eponym List, Kt n/k 517+1571 and Kt Introduction p/k 9 (Günbattı 2008b). A significant contribution is his pub- Shortly after the decipherment of texts from Kültepe lication of Kt 01/k 287 (Günbattı 2008a), a document which (ancient Kanesh) in the last decades of the 19th century AD, starts with eponym KEL 110 and continues well into the it became known that Old Assyrian (or Cappadocian, as they Level Ib-period. Despite occasional breaks and uncertainties were called at the time) documents could be dated to a limum in these lists, there now exists a chronological framework for (the year-eponym in Assur), a month according to the Assyr- Upper Mesopotamia and Anatolia spanning from the begin- ian calendar, and to the hamustum or ‘week-eponym’.2) The ning of the second millennium to about 1725 BC based on books by Veenhof and Kryszat, which occasioned the present the use of the Assyrian year-eponym. review article, represent a landmark in the study of the chro- The year-eponym nology of Upper Mesopotamia and Anatolia during the 19th and 18th centuries BC. Until the discovery of the Kültepe The importance of the book by Kryszat as a research tool Eponym list (KEL) it was impossible to fix the sequence of lies in the data it offers on attestations of individual year- year-eponyms and a relative chronology had to be estab- eponyms and the catalogue of persons who held the ‘week’- lished by analysing the dated texts from the main archives eponymy. Although the week-eponyms are duly listed under accessible for study, mostly by making use of the Sam- their respective year-eponyms (the latter listed alphabetically melmemoranda, in which details from several dated debt- and not according to the sequence in KEL) it might have notes were recorded. The aim of Kryszat’s PhD dissertation been useful to include a chart showing the week-eponyms was to establish this internal chronology of the Old Assyrian known for each month. Despite the abundance of texts, for period. Before he could publish the results, however, Veen- many years only a limited number of months and week-epo- hof was able to identify several tablets as lists of eponyms nyms is attested. This severely restricts our attempts to among the texts excavated in 1991, which he was preparing reconstruct the week-eponyms of some years. for publication. The reconstructed Eponym List was pub- Ever since Larsen interpreted the months that are dated to lished in 2003. Although the conclusions drawn by Kryszat the sa qate (short for “the eponym who (took over) from were largely corroborated by the eponym list, a considerable eponym PN”) or warki (“after”) of an eponym as months at part of his original work had now become superfluous. He the beginning of the eponymy year, when the identity of the has therefore given his book a different focus. It contains successor eponym was not yet known, it has been accepted three main parts: (a) an analysis of the chronological position that the Old Assyrian year began with the month Belat- of several archives from different times in the Level II-period ekallim. The data collected by Kryszat confirm that most sa at Kanesh,3) (b) a thorough discussion of the available data qate datings occur in the first half of the year.6) The supposed on individual year-eponyms, and (c) a discussion and cata- reasons for this include difficulties in communication between logue of the attested week-eponyms. Assur and Anatolia during the winter months, problems in The monograph by Veenhof has already been reviewed nominating the new eponym or something else.7) Charpin and twice,4) and the author has published a number of corrections and addenda in NABU 2007, 58-62 note 49. This part of the 5) See now also Veenhof 2008, 28ff. 6) Sa qate datings are attested for (year/month) KEL 79: I-IV; 80: III, IV, VII, XII; 81: I-III; 83: III; 84: I-III; 85: III-V; 86: III; 87: I, III, XII; 1) Review article of: Klaas R. Veenhof, The Old Assyrian List of Year 88: II; 89: II, III; 90: IV; 91: I, IV, XII; 92: II-IV; 93: II, IV; 94: II, IV; Eponyms from Karum Kanish and its Chronological Implications. Türk 95: II, IV; 96: II-IV; 97: III-V, XII; 98: I-IV; 99: III, XII; 100: II-IV; Tarih Kurumu, Ankara 2003. (23 cm, VIII, 78, 4 figs.). ISBN 975-16-1546- 101: I, III, IV; 102: I-III; 103: III; 104: I, III, IV; 105: I-III, V; 106: 1. Guido Kryszat, Zur Chronologie der Kaufmannsarchive aus der Schicht I-IV; 107: I, II, IV, V, XII?; 108: II; 109: II; 111: II, III; 110: III; 112: 2 des Karum Kanes. Studien und Materialien. (PIHANS 99, Old Assyrian I, II, IV; 113: III, IV; 116: IV; 117: II; 118: II?-III; 119: III; 120: IV; Archives, Studies 2). Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, Leiden, 122: I; 123: III; 127: VI; 128: II, VI; 129: I; 130: II; 131: II; 132: II; 2004. (26,5 cm, XIV, 212). ISBN 90-6258-100-5. ISSN 0926-9568. 133: VI; 134: III, IV; 136: II. 2) Golénischeff (1891, 37) recognized that hamustum derived from the 7) Larsen 1974, 19. Cf. the Mari text TH 84.42 dated to 21 I during “the word for ‘five’, but refrained from giving an interpretation. The first to eponym who has until now not been nominated, the successor of Ibni- translate hamustum by ‘week’ was Sayce (1897, 287). The word limum for Adad” (limu sa adini la nabû sa warki Ibni-Adad); Charpin & Ziegler eponym was already known from Neo-Assyrian texts. (2003, 83) suggested that military campaigns during L Ibni-Adad caused a 3) The archive of Kuliya was published by K.R. Veenhof as volume 5 delay in nominating the successor eponym. They connect the fact that the in the series Kültepe Tabletleri (Ankara 2010). eponym succeeding ™ab-Òilli-Assur, who was in office when Samsi-Addu 4) D.O. Edzard, ZA 94 (2004), 304-306; C. Michel, AfO 51 (2005/2006), died in month XII, was not known until at least after 13 VI, with the death 321-324. of the king (Charpin & Ziegler 2003, 137, 160 fn. 610). 994700_Bior_2011_3-4_01.indd4700_Bior_2011_3-4_01.indd 233233 221/10/111/10/11 009:189:18 235 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXVIII N° 3-4, mei-augustus 2011 236 Ziegler noted the case of the successor of Nimer-Sîn, whose explains this by assuming that the h. mentioned in a debt- name was known in Mari from 16 I, whereas in Tuttul a text note refers to the moment from which the term starts to run, from 25 III was still dated “warki Nimer-Sîn”.8) In this case, but does not necessarily fall in the month named in that text. the nomination of the new eponym seems to have been timely This would explain why some h.-pairs are attested in two and communication effective, so why the news was not used consecutive months. While I fully agree that the h. is the start in Tuttul (supposing it had arrived there) is a matter for spec- of a term, I fail to see what motive can exist to connect it ulation. This apparently also applies to some instances from with a month other than the one in which it fell if it does not Level II; for example to sa qate KEL 80 VII in Prag I 591, explicitly refer to a future moment, unless by mistake. The although evidence is available for datings to KEL 81 III, IV, reconstruction of Veenhof (1997, 11), on the other hand, VI. However, Kryszat (p.123) states that the first date from always needs at least one h. overlapping two months, given original documents stems from IX. that the 30-day month consists of 7-day weeks. Month XII is dated to the sa qate of KEL 80, 87, 91, 97, Whereas Kryszat’s assumption remains difficult to prove, 99 and 107. According to Kryszat (p.73, 108, 124), this that of Veenhof is not supported by the evidence for KEL 89, means that the document was written in XII (L), but repay- where two pairs, Assur-Òululi + Enna-Belum (pair A) and ment started in the next year (sa qate L), whereas Veenhof Su-Nunu + Puzur-Assur (pair B), are both attested in months (p.32) links the case of KEL 80 with the addition of an inter- IX and X.11) calary month after XII.