DOCSLIB.ORG

Sumerian Language Use at Garíana on Orthography, Grammar, and Akkado-Sumerian Bilingualism* WALTHER SALLABERGER LMU MÜNCHEN

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Sumerian Language Use at Garíana on Orthography, Grammar, and Akkado-Sumerian Bilingualism* WALTHER SALLABERGER LMU MÜNCHEN Sumerian Language Use at GarÍana On Orthography, Grammar, and Akkado-Sumerian Bilingualism* WALTHER SALLABERGER LMU MÜNCHEN Among the administrative texts from the Ur III period, the GarÍana documents stand out for their rich vocabulary and a relatively high quota of phonographic writings. This evidence becomes most fascinating since almost all scribes, who wrote the doc- uments in the prestigious Sumerian language, bore Akkadian names. This study cov- ers various aspects of language that contribute to our topic: writing and phonology, morphology, and syntax; thereby frequencies and proportions are given much atten- tion. The fact that the GarÍana scribes were mostly native Akkadians transpires rela- tively rarely in various impositions in morphology and syntax, mostly in the message domain of single speakers. The mastering especially of the diversified verbal mor- phology or the invariably Sumerian basic vocabulary is a clear sign of a high degree of language acquisition, and the phonographic spellings even hint at imitation of Sumerian phonemes. The integration of special expressions from Akkadian in a ba- sically Sumerian vernacular agrees well with the fact of a far-reaching acquisition of the non-native Sumerian language. The active Akkado-Sumerian bilingualism of the GarÍana scribes would have been unthinkable without constant communicative contacts with the native speakers of Sumerian in the region. The archive from GarÍana, a settlement in the the GarÍana documents stand out by their rath- province of Umma at the banks of the lower er frequent use of a variety of verbs and the for- Tigris, provides a unique occasion to investi- mulation in phrases. Furthermore, this homo- gate the usage of Sumerian at the end of the geneous corpus boasts a relatively high quota of third millennium. Compared to the bulk of the phonographic writings, which allows for a bet- more than sixty thousand published adminis- ter comprehension of the actual language than trative texts from this period, the time of the does the usual standard orthography. This evi- Third Dynasty of Ur (Molina 2008), which dence becomes important and most fascinating present themselves most often as lists with an because of the specific sociolinguistic situation: addition of some few administrative key terms, the population of the military settlement of * David I. Owen deserves my deepest gratitude for from discussions with Jan Keetman and, especially, providing me with transliterations of the GarÍana Wolfgang Schulze, who provided indispensable texts shortly after their acquisition and he encour- linguistic background information and literature aged me to undertake this study. The study of this and who encouraged me to describe the treated fascinating text material led to a rewarding ex- features more precisely, which eventually entailed change with David, especially in the first years of hours of counting references. the work on the archive. This study has profited 335 336 Walther Sallaberger GarÍana was mainly of Akkadian and other ori- 1. On the GarÍana Archive and Its Scribes gins, but it was situated within the Sumerian- The sheer existence of a “GarÍana archive” is speaking area of southern Babylonia; most owed to the ceaseless efforts of David I. Owen scribes, who wrote the documents in Sumeri- and Rudolf H. Mayr, who collected and pub- an, bore Akkadian names. lished more than 1400 cuneiform tablets that The discussion is ultimately devoted to this were looted at the place called GarÍana in specific situation of language contact. There- antiquity (Owen and Mayr 2007). Although fore, it concentrates on those aspects of language the archaeological context is lost, the coher- in which differences from standard Sumerian ence of the archive is remarkable: apart from a usage can be noted. A first section addresses the handful of earlier texts all dated documents relationship between written and spoken lan- belong to the ten years between fiu-Suen 4 and guage within this corpus, and a phonological Ibbi-Suen 4. They are concerned with the detail, the spelling of the infinite -e-d-e-forms, internal organization of the household and the becomes a firm witness for the representation military camp headed by the general and phy- of spoken Sumerian in these documents. On sician fiu-Kabta and his wife, the princess the other hand the imposition of Akkadian on Simat-IÍtaran (cf. Heimpel 2009, 2–4). The the Sumerian vernacular used by the GarÍana probable etymology of GarÍana as GaraÍ-Ana scribes is investigated in regard to both syntax “the camp of An” (with garaÍ as loanword of and lexicon. Akkadian kar⁄Íu “military camp”), the dedica- The exceptional situation of GarÍana allows tion of the main temple to the warrior god Nergal, the role of fiu-Kabta as general, the sta- for an exemplary view on Sumero-Akkadian tioning of “soldiers” (aga -ús, TÉL 171, ITT 3 bilingualism in southern Babylonia at the end 3 6174) and the high number of “troops” (eren , of the third millennium, just before the eco- 2 TCTI 2 3543) at this place, and the short period nomic, political, and social catastrophe at the of documentation between fiulgi and IÍbi-Erra end of the Third Dynasty of Ur put an end to indicate that GarÍana was mainly a military the old city Sumerian states and eventually to camp in the South, founded most probably by Sumerian as their vernacular. Ur-Namma or fiulgi of Ur. Methodologically this study has tried to The proper names reveal that persons of avoid single anecdotal observations, which mostly Akkadian origin were settled here. tend to be misleading, but to cover compre- Thus GarÍana differs sharply from the sur- hensively the various aspects of language that rounding ancient cities of Umma and ªirsu, contribute to our topic, and thereby frequen- which were dominantly inhabited by Sumeri- cies and proportions have been given more ans. Although, of course, a single name does attention than it is unfortunately too often the not reveal the actual language use of the person case in linguistic studies of Sumerian. But only bearing that name, the total evidence is very this broad coverage of the evidence allowed a clear in this regard, as the following tabulation, sound application of linguistic models of lan- based on randomly selected name lists of four guage contact and eventually led to an interpre- contemporary sites (Sallaberger 2004), illus- tation that covered all aspects of the analyses. trates: Total of names Of other or unclear City counted Sumerian Akkadian linguistic affiliation1 Nippur 1433 52 % 21 % 28 % Umma 546 68 % 15 % 17 % GarÍana 172 9 % 68 % 23 % ªirsu 1111 63 % 14 % 23 % Sumerian Language Use at GarÍana 337 GarÍana was thus inhabited by a dominant- flummid-il‹ (IS 4/01, maÍkim) ly Akkadian-speaking population, whereas the fiarakam (fiS 9/11, witness) administration of the provincial governor at fi2li⁄num (fiS 5/04, maÍkim) Umma controlled a dominant Sumerian popu- fiu-Adad (fiS 8/12, ™iri3) lation. fiu-Erra (fiS 8/06, maÍkim) The distribution of the personal names fiu-K›bum (fiS 9/09, witness) among the scribes active at GarÍana agrees with T›ram-il‹ (IS 2/02–4/01, ™iri ) the general picture. In the list of scribes attested 3 Ur-Eanna (fiS 8–IS 1/12, ™iri3, at GarÍana that is given below, the following maÍkim) information is added: the period attested in the U‰i-nawir (IS 2/05-06, ™iri ) documents for the person indicated as “scribe” 3 (dub-sar), but no attestations of the same per- Of the 23 names of scribes, son without that title; the administrative 2 are Sumerian (fiarakam, Ur-Eanna); function (™iri “go-between, responsible” or 3 18 are Akkadian (Adad-tillat‹, AÓ›ma, maÍkim “commissioner, deputy” as designa- AÓu-waqar, Aw‹lumma, Ea-d⁄n, tions of involvement in transaction) or the role Ea-Íar, Erra-b⁄ni, Ibni-Adad, Il‹- as (eye) witness; the attestation as scribe of the ‰ul›l‹, I‰‰ur-Suen, L⁄-q‹p(um), household in wage lists (text nos. 394, 399, Puzur-Ninkarak, flummid-il‹, fiu- 406). Those persons whose title “scribe” is Adad, fiu-K›bum, fiu-Erra, known only from the seal inscriptions are not T›ram-il‹, U‰i-nawir); considered (Owen and Mayr 2007, 429–439): 3 are of various or uncertain linguistic Adad-tillat‹ (fiS 6/05–fiS 8/03, ™iri3) affiliation (Babani/Ba-ba-ni, Enlil- d AÓ›ma (IS 2/01, ™iri3) bazaDU/ En-líl-ba-za-DU, AÓu-waqar (IS 1/01–3/01, ™iri3) fi2li⁄num/fie-NI-a-LUM). Aw‹lumma (IS 1/12–2/01, ™iri ) 3 In the wage lists two or three scribes are Babani (fiS 8/11–IS 3/01, ™iri ) 3 listed (Ea-d⁄n, Ea-Íar, L⁄-q‹p(um), Puzur- Ea-d⁄n (household scribe no. 399, Ninkarak); according to the anonymous fiS 6/06; no. 406, fiS 6/11) inspection lists between two and five scribes Ea-Íar (fiS 6/06–9/07, ™iri3, were employed at the building work at GarÍana maÍkim; household scribe (4 scribes: no. 379, fiS 6/05/22; 2 scribes: no. no. 394, fiS 6/05) 402, fiS 6/08; 5 scribes: no. 556, date lost). It DU Enlil-baza (IS 2/06, ™iri3) should be emphasized that the responsible Erra-b⁄ni (fiS 8/08, witness) scribes appear without or with different titles Ibni-Adad (fiS [x]–IS 3/08, ™iri3) over a longer period of time (see on the names Il‹-‰ul›l‹(AN.DÙL) (fiS 9/02, eye witness?) Heimpel 2009, 38–43). The Akkadian scribes I‰‰ur-Suen (IS 2/07, ™iri3, maÍkim) of the Akkadian settlement of GarÍana wrote L⁄-q‹p(um) (no. 394, fiS 6/05; no.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Hanigalbat and the Land Hani
    Arnhem (nl) 2015 – 3 Anatolia in the bronze age. © Joost Blasweiler student Leiden University - [email protected] Hanigal9bat and the land Hana. From the annals of Hattusili I we know that in his 3rd year the Hurrian enemy attacked his kingdom. Thanks to the text of Hattusili I (“ruler of Kussara and (who) reign the city of Hattusa”) we can be certain that c. 60 years after the abandonment of the city of Kanesh, Hurrian armies extensively entered the kingdom of Hatti. Remarkable is that Hattusili mentioned that it was not a king or a kingdom who had attacked, but had used an expression “the Hurrian enemy”. Which might point that formerly attacks, raids or wars with Hurrians armies were known by Hattusili king of Kussara. And therefore the threatening expression had arisen in Hittite: “the Hurrian enemy”. Translation of Gary Beckman 2008, The Ancient Near East, editor Mark W. Chavalas, 220. The cuneiform texts of the annal are bilingual: Babylonian and Nesili (Hittite). Note: 16. Babylonian text: ‘the enemy from Ḫanikalbat entered my land’. The Babylonian text of the bilingual is more specific: “the enemy of Ḫanigal9 bat”. Therefore the scholar N.B. Jankowska1 thought that apparently the Hurrian kingdom Hanigalbat had existed probably from an earlier date before the reign of Hattusili i.e. before c. 1650 BC. Normally with the term Mittani one is pointing to the mighty Hurrian kingdom of the 15th century BC 2. Ignace J. Gelb reported 3 on “the dragomans of the Habigalbatian soldiers/workers” in an Old Babylonian tablet of Amisaduqa, who was a contemporary with Hattusili I.
    [Show full text]
  • Sumerian Lexicon, Version 3.0 1 A
    Sumerian Lexicon Version 3.0 by John A. Halloran The following lexicon contains 1,255 Sumerian logogram words and 2,511 Sumerian compound words. A logogram is a reading of a cuneiform sign which represents a word in the spoken language. Sumerian scribes invented the practice of writing in cuneiform on clay tablets sometime around 3400 B.C. in the Uruk/Warka region of southern Iraq. The language that they spoke, Sumerian, is known to us through a large body of texts and through bilingual cuneiform dictionaries of Sumerian and Akkadian, the language of their Semitic successors, to which Sumerian is not related. These bilingual dictionaries date from the Old Babylonian period (1800-1600 B.C.), by which time Sumerian had ceased to be spoken, except by the scribes. The earliest and most important words in Sumerian had their own cuneiform signs, whose origins were pictographic, making an initial repertoire of about a thousand signs or logograms. Beyond these words, two-thirds of this lexicon now consists of words that are transparent compounds of separate logogram words. I have greatly expanded the section containing compounds in this version, but I know that many more compound words could be added. Many cuneiform signs can be pronounced in more than one way and often two or more signs share the same pronunciation, in which case it is necessary to indicate in the transliteration which cuneiform sign is meant; Assyriologists have developed a system whereby the second homophone is marked by an acute accent (´), the third homophone by a grave accent (`), and the remainder by subscript numerals.
    [Show full text]
  • Fifth-Century Nippur: Texts of the Muraňűs and from Their Surroundings
    Matthew W. Stolper “Fifth-Century Nippur: Texts of the Muraåûs and from their Surroundings” JOURNAL OF CUNEIFORM STUDIES 53 (2001) [forthcoming] A. Muraåû Texts 2 1. NBC 6148Promissory Note (æarrΩnu)4 Copy pl. 1 2. NBC 6206 Promissory Note (æarrΩnu ) 5 Copy pl. 1 3. NBC 6122 Promissory Note (æarrΩnu ) 6 Copy pl. 2 4. NBC 6147 Bailment (ana zitti) 7 Copypl. 2 5. L-29-554 Animal Inventory 8 Copy pl. 3 6. CBS 5316Sublease9 Copy pl. 4 B. The åaknu and the åandabakku of Nippur 11 7. YBC 11664 Lease 11 Copy pl. 5 8. CBS 7961 Date-Gardening Contract 13 Copy pl. 6 C. Texts with Prosopographic Connections to the Muraåû Texts 9. CBS 1594 Sale (Slaves) 16 Copy pl. 7 Seal Impressions 18 Photographs, Sketches fig. 1-2 10. UM 29-13-729 Receipt (Rent) 21 Copy pl. 8 11. UM 29-15-511 Lease 22 Copy pl. 9 12. YBC 11668 Mandate (Fields) 23 Copy pl. 9 D. The King’s Man 26 13. A. 34117 Receipt (œΩb åarri ) 26 Copy pl. 10 Indexes 36 Personal Names 36 Place Names 39 Canal Names 39 Words Discussed 39 Texts Cited 40 i FIFTH-CENTURY NIPPUR: TEXTS OF THE MURAÅÛS AND FROM THEIR SURROUNDINGS MATTHEW W. STOLPER* The Muraåû archive dominates the published textual record of late Achaemenid Babylonia. The 740 published Muraåû texts and fragments come from a short span of time, 454-404 B.C., with most of them concentrated between 440 and 416 B.C.1 Most are products of a narrow range of operations, agricultural contracting and related short-term credits.
    [Show full text]
  • Amarna Period Down to the Opening of Sety I's Reign
    oi.uchicago.edu STUDIES IN ANCIENT ORIENTAL CIVILIZATION * NO.42 THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Thomas A. Holland * Editor with the assistance of Thomas G. Urban oi.uchicago.edu oi.uchicago.edu Internet publication of this work was made possible with the generous support of Misty and Lewis Gruber THE ROAD TO KADESH A HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE BATTLE RELIEFS OF KING SETY I AT KARNAK SECOND EDITION REVISED WILLIAM J. MURNANE THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO STUDIES IN ANCIENT ORIENTAL CIVILIZATION . NO.42 CHICAGO * ILLINOIS oi.uchicago.edu Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 90-63725 ISBN: 0-918986-67-2 ISSN: 0081-7554 The Oriental Institute, Chicago © 1985, 1990 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. Published 1990. Printed in the United States of America. oi.uchicago.edu TABLE OF CONTENTS List of M aps ................................ ................................. ................................. vi Preface to the Second Edition ................................................................................................. vii Preface to the First Edition ................................................................................................. ix List of Bibliographic Abbreviations ..................................... ....................... xi Chapter 1. Egypt's Relations with Hatti From the Amarna Period Down to the Opening of Sety I's Reign ...................................................................... ......................... 1 The Clash of Empires
    [Show full text]
  • Baseandmodifiedcuneiformsigns.Pdf
    12000 CUNEIFORM SIGN A 12001 CUNEIFORM SIGN A TIMES A 12002 CUNEIFORM SIGN A TIMES BAD 12003 CUNEIFORM SIGN A TIMES GAN2 TENU 12004 CUNEIFORM SIGN A TIMES HA 12005 CUNEIFORM SIGN A TIMES IGI 12006 CUNEIFORM SIGN A TIMES LAGAR GUNU 12007 CUNEIFORM SIGN A TIMES MUSH 12008 CUNEIFORM SIGN A TIMES SAG 12009 CUNEIFORM SIGN A2 1200A CUNEIFORM SIGN AB 1200B CUNEIFORM SIGN AB GUNU 1200C CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES ASH2 1200D CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES GIN2 1200E CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES GAL 1200F CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES GAN2 TENU 12010 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES HA 12011 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES IMIN 12012 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES LAGAB 12013 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES SHESH 12014 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES SIG7 12015 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB TIMES U PLUS U PLUS U 12016 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 12017 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES ASHGAB 12018 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES BALAG 12019 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES BI 1201A CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES DUG 1201B CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES GAN2 TENU 1201C CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES GUD 1201D CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES KAD3 1201E CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES LA 1201F CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES ME PLUS EN 12020 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES NE 12021 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES SHA3 12022 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES SIG7 12023 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES SILA3 12024 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES TAK4 12025 CUNEIFORM SIGN AB2 TIMES U2 12026 CUNEIFORM SIGN AD 12027 CUNEIFORM SIGN AK 12028 CUNEIFORM SIGN AK TIMES ERIN2 12029 CUNEIFORM SIGN AK TIMES SAL PLUS GISH 1202A CUNEIFORM SIGN AK TIMES SHITA PLUS GISH 1202B CUNEIFORM SIGN AL 1202C CUNEIFORM SIGN
    [Show full text]
  • Neo-Babylonian Texts in the Oriental Institute Collection
    oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/PUB/SRC/OIP/122/OIP122.html i THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ORIENTAL INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS VOLUME 122 Series Editors Thomas A. Holland and Thomas G. Urban oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/PUB/SRC/OIP/122/OIP122.html ii oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/PUB/SRC/OIP/122/OIP122.html iii NEO-BABYLONIAN TEXTS IN THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE COLLECTION by DAVID B. WEISBERG ORIENTAL INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS • VOLUME 122 THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO CHICAGO • ILLINOIS oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/PUB/SRC/OIP/122/OIP122.html iv Library of Congress Control Number: 2003112528 ISBN: 1-885923-28-7 ISSN: 0069-3367 The Oriental Institute, Chicago ©2003 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. Published 2003. Printed in the United States of America. Series Editors’ Acknowledgments The assistance of Katherine Strange Burke, Katie Johnson, Adam Miglio, Leslie Schramer, Jonathan S. Tenney, Raymond D. Tindel, and Alexandra Witsell is acknowledged in the production of this volume. Title Page Illustration: Stamp Seal Impression on Text 46 (A1669) Printed by United Graphics Incorporated, Mattoon, Illinois The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Services — Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/PUB/SRC/OIP/122/OIP122.html v Dedicated to Colleagues at the Oriental Institute Who Provided the Stimulating Atmosphere for Producing this Book and to My Wife Ophra and Our Children Dina, Jonathan, Galia, Oren, and Bram oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/PUB/SRC/OIP/122/OIP122.html vi oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/PUB/SRC/OIP/122/OIP122.html vii CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Indo-Iranian Personal Names in Mitanni: a Source for Cultural Reconstruction DOI: 10.34158/ONOMA.54/2019/8
    Onoma 54 Journal of the International Council of Onomastic Sciences ISSN: 0078-463X; e-ISSN: 1783-1644 Journal homepage: https://onomajournal.org/ Indo-Iranian personal names in Mitanni: A source for cultural reconstruction DOI: 10.34158/ONOMA.54/2019/8 Simone Gentile Università degli Studi di Roma Tre Dipartimento di Filosofia, Comunicazione e Spettacolo via Ostiense, 234˗236 00146 Roma (RM) Italy [email protected] To cite this article: Gentile, Simone. 2019. Indo-Iranian personal names in Mitanni: A source for cultural reconstruction. Onoma 54, 137–159. DOI: 10.34158/ONOMA.54/2019/8 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.34158/ONOMA.54/2019/8 © Onoma and the author. Indo-Iranian personal names in Mitanni: A source for cultural reconstruction Abstract: As is known, some Indo˗Aryan (or Iranian) proper names and glosses are attested in documents from Egypt, Northern Mesopotamia, and Syria, related to the ancient kingdom of Mitanni (2nd millennium BC). The discovery of these Aryan archaic forms in Hittite and Hurrian sources was of particular interest for comparative philology. Indeed, some names can be readily compared to Indo˗Iranian anthroponyms and theonyms: for instance, Aššuzzana can likely be related with OPers. Aspačanā ‘delighting in horses’, probably of Median origin; Indaratti ‘having Indra as his guest’ clearly recalls Indra, a theonym which occurs both in R̥ gveda and Avesta. This paper aims at investigating the relationship between Aryan personal names preserved in Near Eastern documents and the Indo˗Iranian cultural milieu. After a thorough collection of these names, their 138 SIMONE GENTILE morphological and semantic structures are analysed in depth and the most relevant results are showed here.
    [Show full text]
  • The University of Chicago Oriental Institute Seminars Number 2
    oi.uchicago.edu i THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ORIENTAL INSTITUTE SEMINARS NUMBER 2 Series Editors Leslie Schramer and Thomas G. Urban oi.uchicago.edu ii oi.uchicago.edu iii MARGINS OF WRITING, ORIGINS OF CULTURES edited by SETH L. SANDERS with contributions by Seth L. Sanders, John Kelly, Gonzalo Rubio, Jacco Dieleman, Jerrold Cooper, Christopher Woods, Annick Payne, William Schniedewind, Michael Silverstein, Piotr Michalowski, Paul-Alain Beaulieu, Theo van den Hout, Paul Zimansky, Sheldon Pollock, and Peter Machinist THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ORIENTAL INSTITUTE SEMINARS • NUMBER 2 CHICAGO • ILLINOIS oi.uchicago.edu iv Library of Congress Control Number: 2005938897 ISBN: 1-885923-39-2 ©2006 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. Published 2006. Printed in the United States of America. The Oriental Institute, Chicago Co-managing Editors Thomas A. Holland and Thomas G. Urban Series Editors’ Acknowledgments The assistance of Katie L. Johnson is acknowledged in the production of this volume. Front Cover Illustration A teacher holding class in a village on the Island of Argo, Sudan. January 1907. Photograph by James Henry Breasted. Oriental Institute photograph P B924 Printed by McNaughton & Gunn, Saline, Michigan The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Infor- mation Services — Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. oi.uchicago.edu v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Cretan Protolinear Script
    World Wide Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development WWJMRD 2018; 4(2): 370-372 www.wwjmrd.com International Journal Peer Reviewed Journal Cretan Protolinear Script: Some Syllabograms of Refereed Journal Indexed Journal Human Theme UGC Approved Journal Impact Factor MJIF: 4.25 E-ISSN: 2454-6615 Ioannis Kenanidis, Evangelos C. Papakitsos Ioannis Kenanidis Primary Education Directorate Abstract of Kavala Ministry of This is a study on four signs of the Cretan Protolinear script that is the script whence all the Aegean Education, Research & Bronze Age scripts are herein considered to have evolved. These signs, conveying CV type syllables, Religious Affairs depict humans or parts of the human body. Kavala, Greece Key-words: Cretan Protolinear script, Aegean scripts, Linear A, Cretan Hieroglyphics, Linear B Evangelos C. Papakitsos Department of Education School of Pedagogical and 1. Introduction Technological Education The Aegean Bronze Age (2nd and 3rd millennia BCE) scripts include Linear A (LA), Linear Iraklio Attikis, Greece B (LB) and Cretan Hieroglyphic (CH) syllabaries, related to the Cypriot syllabaries [1]. Their signs are called “syllabograms”: each sign renders (usually one) syllable of the Consonant- Vowel (CV) pattern. LB indisputably conveys Mycenaean Greek [2], while LA and CH convey some other languages of Minoan Crete. The Cretan Protolinear (CP) syllabary has [3] been suggested as the origin of LA, LB and CH . The linguistic affinity of CP to the Sumerian language has been either suspected or attested repeatedly [4], namely that the phonetic values of CP syllabograms correspond to the Sumerian names of the objects depicted by those syllabograms, four of which, related to images of human bodies, are presented here.Before proceeding, some reading conventions should be noted: According to a predominant rule of Sumerian phonology, the closing consonants of words were silenced unless followed by vowels (usually of suffixes) [5].
    [Show full text]
  • The {Amârnah Texts a Century After Flinders Petrie
    ANES 39 (2002) 44-75 The {Amârnah Texts a Century after Flinders Petrie Anson F. RAINEY International Visiting Research Scholar Centre for Classics and Archaeology University of Melbourne Victoria 3010 AUSTRALIA E-mail: [email protected] Abstract The ensuing remarks seek to elucidate some of the central issues in the study of the cuneiform texts discovered at Tell el-¨Amârnah in Egypt. Progress in the study of the language, the social structure of Canaan at that time and certain historical problems will be reviewed. After an accidental find by a village woman in 1887. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie was the first modern scholar to conduct archaeological excavations at the actual site. His work determined the probable spot where the tablets had been deposited when the ancient town was abandoned. Subsequently, Petrie articulated various interpretations of the evidence from the archaeological finds and also from the inscriptions. During the twentieth century, research was continued on all the many facets of these momentous discoveries. The focus in this paper is on the cuneiform epistles, the international and parochial correspondence that involved the Egyptian gov- ernment.* * The present article is an expansion of the ‘2002 Flinders Petrie Oration,’ delivered on behalf of the Australian Institute of Archaeology and the Archaeological Research Unit, The School of Ecology and Environment, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia, on 30 August, 2002. A much shorter version had been presented under the title, ‘The ¨Amârnah Tablets — A Late Bronze Age Phenomenon,’ at the Joint Meeting of the Midwest Region of the Society of Biblical Literature, the Middle West Branch of the American Oriental Society and the American Schools of Oriental Research—Midwest, Wheaton, IL., 16-18 February, 1997.
    [Show full text]
  • The Epic of Gilgamesh
    Semantikon.com presents An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic On the Basis of Recently Discovered Texts By Morris Jastrow Jr., Ph.D., LL.D. Professor of Semitic Languages, University of Pennsylvania And Albert T. Clay, Ph.D., LL.D., Litt.D. Professor of Assyriology and Babylonian Literature, Yale University In Memory of William Max Müller (1863-1919) Whose life was devoted to Egyptological research which he greatly enriched by many contributions PREFATORY NOTE The Introduction, the Commentary to the two tablets, and the Appendix, are by Professor Jastrow, and for these he assumes the sole responsibility. The text of the Yale tablet is by Professor Clay. The transliteration and the translation of the two tablets represent the joint work of the two authors. In the transliteration of the two tablets, C. E. Keiser's "System of Accentuation for Sumero-Akkadian signs" (Yale Oriental Researches--VOL. IX, Appendix, New Haven, 1919) has been followed. INTRODUCTION. I. The Gilgamesh Epic is the most notable literary product of Babylonia as yet discovered in the mounds of Mesopotamia. It recounts the exploits and adventures of a favorite hero, and in its final form covers twelve tablets, each tablet consisting of six columns (three on the obverse and three on the reverse) of about 50 lines for each column, or a total of about 3600 lines. Of this total, however, barely more than one-half has been found among the remains of the great collection of cuneiform tablets gathered by King Ashurbanapal (668-626 B.C.) in his palace at Nineveh, and discovered by Layard in 1854 [1] in the course of his excavations of the mound Kouyunjik (opposite Mosul).
    [Show full text]
  • Andrew George, What's New in the Gilgamesh Epic?
    What’s new in the Gilgamesh Epic? ANDREW GEORGE School of Oriental and African Studies University of London Summary. The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic exists in several different versions. There were at least two versions current during the Old Babylonian period, and no doubt a similar situation obtained later in the second millennium BC, when versions of the epic were copied out in Anatolia, Syria and Palestine, as well as in Mesopotamia proper. But the best-known version is the one called “He who saw the Deep”, which was current in the first-millennium libraries of Assyria and Babylonia. Because this text was so much copied out in antiquity we keep finding more of it, both in museums and in archaeological excavation. This means that editions and translations of the epic must regularly be brought up to date. Some of the more important new passages that are previously unpublished are presented here in translation. WHAT THERE IS It was a great pleasure to be able to share with the Society at the symposium of 20 September 1997 some of the results of my work on the epic of Gilgamesh. My paper of this title was given without a script and was essentially a commentary on the slides that accompanied it. The written paper offered here on the same subject tells the story from the standpoint of one year later. Being the written counterpart of an oral presentation, I hope it may be recognized at least as a distant cousin of the talk given in Toronto. I should say at the outset that my work has been concerned primarily with the textual material in the Akkadian language, that is to say, with the Babylonian poems.
    [Show full text]