GEPHYRA 11 2014 15–28 Selim F. ADALI – M. Fatih DEMİRCİ – A. Murat ÖZBAYOĞLU – Oğuz ERGİN Why the Names? Anubanini and His Clan in the Cuthaean Legend Abstract: This article is a study of the ancient Mesopotamian literary text known as the ‘Cuthaean Legend’. This Naram-Sin legend is known from several versions in the extant cuneiform corpus of texts (Westenholz 1997). The names of Anubanini and members of his clan, the main protago- nists, have remained puzzling in several respects. The present contribution seeks to establish the reading of these names, making use of conventional cuneiform collation and analysis as well as dig- itial image processing. This is followed by an onomastic discussion of these names, relating them to aspects of Mesopotamian religion, literature, ethnnology, and demonology. Keywords: Ancient Mesopotamian literature; ethnology; onomastics; Cuthaean Legend; Sargon and Naram-Sin Legends; cuneiform studies; digital image processing. The text often dubbed the ‘Cuthaean Legend,’ its ancient incipit being ṭupšenna pitēma (‘open the tablet box’),1 enjoyed a long existence in Mesopotamian literary tradition and is extant in several ver- sions.2 Earliest are the Old Babylonian copies MLC 1364 and BM 17215. A Middle Babylonian copy was discovered at Ḫattuša (KBo 19 98) as well as tablets for a Hittite translation. The Standard Baby- lonian version of the story is the best known version, with seven Neo-Assyrian copies from Nineveh, one Neo-Assyrian copy from the tablet collection at Huzirina (Sultantepe), and one Neo-Babylonian copy (from Kiš?).3 By “versions” one implies only the specific and distinguishable Akkadian or Hittite Ass. Prof. Dr. Selim F. Adalı, Social Sciences University of Ankara, Department of History, Hükümet Meydanı No. 2, Ulus, 06030, Ankara ([email protected]). Assoc. Prof. Dr. M. Fatih Demirci, TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Department of Computer Engineering, Sögütözü Cad No. 43, 06560, Ankara ([email protected]). Ass. Prof. Dr. A. Murat Özbayoğlu, TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Department of Comput- er Engineering, Sögütözü Cad No. 43, 06560, Ankara ([email protected]). Assoc. Prof. Dr. Oğuz Ergin, TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Department of Computer En- gineering, Sögütözü Cad No. 43, 06560, Ankara ([email protected]). We wish to express our gratitude to Melih Arslan, Former Director of the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations and Nihal Tırpan, Former Assistant Director at the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations, for the support and permission given to Adalı for the study the Sultantepe copy of the Cuthaean Legend (originally published as tablet 30 in Gurney – Finkelstein 1957). We also acknowledge the Trustees of the British Museum for permission to study tablets K.2021b, K.5418a, K.5640, K.8582, K.13328 and 81-2-4-219, Jonathan Taylor for facilitating Adalı’s study at the British Mu- seum, Elizabeth Payne from the Yale Babylonian Collection for providing comments about tablet MLC 1364, and Cambridge University Library for allowing Adalı to study in its collections. All possible errors and shortcomings in this article are the responsibility of the authors alone. 1 For the incipit, see Westenholz 1997, 263, 300. 2 The Akkadian language versions are edited in Westenholz 1997, 267-368. Henceforth, lines quoted from the Standard Babylonian version of the Cuthaean Legend follow Westenholz’s edition. KBo 19 99 (in Otten 1970) is too fragmentary to decide for certain if it is a Middle Babylonian copy of the story. For the copies and editions of the Hitti- te version, see Güterbock 1938, 49-59; Hoffner 1970, 17-18; KUB 31 1 (in Sturm – Otten 1939); Otten – Rüster 1973, 86-87; Eren – Hoffner 1988, tablet 7. 3 Westenholz 1997, 332. Enrique Jiménez has identified a fragment of the Standard Babylonian version of the Cuthaean Legend in the British Museum (K.10788). This is the seventh Neo-Assyrian Nineveh copy for the Standard Babylonian version mentioned in this article. It reduplicates lines 81-86. This will be published separately. We thank Enrique Jiménez for drawing attention to this fragment. 16 Selim F. Adalı – M. Fatih Demirci – A. Murat Özbayoğlu – Oğuz Ergin texts known from the story’s extant copies. The content of each version contains variant elements. The standardization of the text can be observed by the uniformity of the Standard Babylonian text attested by the Neo-Assyrian times. The evidence is not enough to decide the precise time of standardization; presumably the standardization took place during or after the Kassite era. A number of other ancient Near Eastern texts were standardized, allowing for variants, during the Kassite era.4 According to its Standard Babylonian version, the Cuthaean Legend is allegedly the text of a stele (narû) left to future generations by Naram-Sîn of Akkad, who describes his struggle against the great clan of Anubanini, a mountain people designed by the gods. Significant portions of the versions before the Standard Babylonian version are not preserved and this obscures our knowledge as to the transmis- sion of and changes concerning certain elements of the story, including the names for Naram-Sîn’s enemies. Their king Anubanini, their queen Melili and the royal couple’s sons Memanduḫ/Meman- daḫ, Medudu/Midudu, Tartadada, Baldaḫdaḫ, Ahudanadiḫ, and Ḫurrukidû, are all mentioned in the Standard Babylonian version of the Cuthaean Legend (lines 39-46). The present contribution seeks to establish the reading and explain the linguistic affiliation of these names as well as their function within the text of the Cuthaean Legend. This is accompanied by a collation supplemented with digital image processing. The digital image processing techniques used are described in the appendix. Anubanini The name Anubanini in the Standard Babylonian version (Anu-ba-ni-ni in line 39) is otherwise attest- ed as the name of a king of Lullubum from a rock relief inscription in western Iran, written AN-nu-ba- ni-ni, with the royal epithets of “strong king” (LUGAL da-núm) and “king of Lullubum” (LUGAL Lu- lu-bíKI-im).5 The name Anubanini may be interpreted as Anu-bānî-ni “Anu is our maker.” One may conceive Akkadian influence in the formation of the name. If this holds, it would be a case where a Zagros leader assumed a name with Akkadian elements. A Zagros leader with a clearly Akkadian name is Iddin-Sîn (with the theophoric element Sîn), the king of Simurrum. Iddin-Sîn or his son Zabazuna established a rock-relief in the same area Sar-i-pul-i-zohab as did Anubanini.6 The texts attributed to Iddin-Sîn, Zabazuna and Anubanini present various similar features,7 pointing to their cultural proxim- ity. Strictly speaking, however, it cannot be guaranteed that Anubanini’s name was originally Akkadi- an. For example, Seidl alternatively understands AN-nu-ba-ni-ni as the deified dNubanini.8 Nubanini is an otherwise unattested personal or divine name. The data available for the modern reader concerning the Zagros languages is far from complete and it is not possible to prove an alternative etymology for the name of Anubanini. At the very least, the name is assumed in the form Anubanini (written Anu-ba- ni-ni, line 39) in the Cuthaean Legend. If a new textual source were ever to verify the name Nubanini or Anubanini with a non-Akkadian etymology, it would mean that the form Anubanini is a later Mes- opotamian interpretation of the name. The date for Anubanini’s relief and inscription near Sar-i-pul-i-zohab is disputed, while roughly they seem to date around the late Ur III or more probably the early Babylonian era.9 They hint at Anubani- ni’s strong historical presence in the Zagros region around Lake Zeribor and the Sulaimaniya region. 4 Lambert 1996, 13-14; George 2003, 28-33; Rochberg-Halton 1984; Frahm 2011, 317-338. 5 Anubanini 1 i 1-3 in Edzard 1973, 73; updated in Nasrabadi 2004, 296. 6 For the text of this relief, see Frayne 1990, 712-714. 7 For these texts, see Frayne 1990, 704-715. For discussion, see especially Walker 1985, 178-187; Nasrabadi 2004, 302-303; Shaffer – Wasserman – Seidl 2003, 11, 18, 20-22, 28, 37. 8 Shaffer – Wasserman – Seidl 2003, 50 n. 157. 9 Frayne 1990, 704; Walker 1985, 163-165,167, 185-186; Nasrabadi 2004, 291-292. Why the Names? Anubanini and His Clan in the Cuthaean Legend 17 His power may have been similar to that of Iddin-Sîn of Simurrum and his son Zabazuna.10 Anubanini the king of Lullubum represented in the rock-relief from Sar-i-pul-i-zohab appears therefore to be the only monarch who could have inspired his fictional namesake in the Cuthaean Legend. This alone does not prove that the Cuthaean Legend was composed due to a real specific episode concerning the histor- ical Anubanini and there is no evidence to support this possibility except for the mention of Anubani- ni’s name.11 At present, it can only be said that the political power once wielded by Anubanini can be seen as an influence on the scribes who entered his name into the tradition of the Cuthaean Legend. Furthermore, the rock-relief of Anubanini was a prestigious monument visible to those of all profes- sions travelling the Zagros. The mountain pass at Sar-i-pul-i-zohab, at a critical geographical position in the Zagros region must also have been known to Mesopotamian monarchs who campaigned into the Zagros. Interest in the older kings’ reliefs is exemplified by the mention of Anum-hirbi’s inscriptions and carved image in the annals of Shalmaneser III.12 The positive evidence for the transmission of Anubanini’s name in the Cuthaean Legend is limited to its mention in the Standard Babylonian.