Stealing the Enemy's Gods: an Exploration of the Phenomenon of Godnap in Ancient Western Asia
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Stealing the Enemy‘s Gods: An Exploration of the Phenomenon of Godnap in Ancient Western Asia By Erika Diane Johnson A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham January 2011 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. When an ancient Near Eastern city was besieged and looted the statues and cultic appurtenances of the gods were often confiscated by the conquerors. Their loss was more than a heavy blow to the defeated people: the statue was the god‘s representation on earth and watched over and protected the city so his abandonment of his city was thought to have a lasting devastating effect. From the point of view of the conqueror the statue could be used not only as a tool of intimidation but for bribery and a crude form of diplomacy and as propaganda for his might and glory. In this thesis the history of the phenomenon of godnap is explored for the first time and there is also an investigation of related problems in religion and cultural history. At the outset a detailed investigation of the numinous character of an ancient Mesopotamian statue is given including an account of the ritual that imbued it with this divine quality. Special attention is given to Marduk of Babylon and the episodes in which even he found himself the victim of theft. The thesis includes an excursus on evocatio and parallels between Hittite and ancient Roman practices are drawn. ana ummīya ša kayamānu ukallanni Acknowledgments I would first like to thank both my supervisor Alasdair Livingstone and Birgit Haskamp for their unending patience and unwavering encouragement and Birgit especially for her extraordinary bibliography. Without their direction and assistance this work would never have come to fruition. I would also like to thank Prof W. G. Lambert for teaching me Akkadian; without his instruction my translations would have suffered. Thanks also to Elizabeth Wheat, my Assyriological partner in crime, for attending so many conferences with me and forcing me to think about my work differently. Weekly meetings for coffee with Helen Moulden helped to keep me sane and I graciously thank her for her encouragement and support. Thanks to Laura Snook and Deborah Kerr for giving me a distraction in Classics and for listening to me ramble on about random things. Emma Southon, Phoebe Roy and Matthew Kears: thank you for helping me to remember why I wanted to write this thesis in the first place. Thanks to Matthew Smith for the many drinks and non-thesis related conversations. A special thanks to the IAA Forum and Rosetta and all those involved, past and present, for allowing me to talk about or publish my work. The feedback I received has helped to shape my larger work and has been much appreciated. I would also like to thank all my friends, wherever they may be, for their encouragement. I cannot begin to thank my mother enough for her support and her unwavering belief in me, though I hope the completion of this thesis can start the repayment process. I would also like to thank my family, who support me in everything I do, even if they are not really sure what it is I am doing. Without them I would not have been able to start, let alone finish, this thesis. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS TEXT SIGLA LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE: THE CULT STATUE 12 Appearance of the Cult Statue 13 Mīs Pî and Pīt Pî Rituals 19 The Akītu Festival 25 Other Festivals 32 Conclusion 33 CHAPTER TWO: FIRST ATTESTATIONS OF GODNAP 35 Šu-ilišu 35 Agum-kakrime II and Marduk 36 Tukulti-Ninurta I and Marduk 38 The Character of Godnap in Early Periods 41 CHAPTER THREE: THE RISE OF MARDUK OF BABYLON 43 Glimpses of Marduk and Babylon in the Third Millennium 43 Meanings of dAMAR.UD and Connections to Other Deities 48 Marduk‘s Growth in Importance in the Old Babylonian Period (2003 53 to 1595): Evidence from Year Names Marduk’s Growth in Importance in the Old Babylonian Period 68 (2003 to 1595): Evidence from Royal Inscriptions Marduk in the Kassite Period (1595 to 1157) 76 Marduk‘s Rise under Nebuchadnezzar I 79 Evidence from the Enūma eliš 80 Conclusion 82 CHAPTER FOUR: GODNAP IN HITTITE ANATOLIA 84 Hittite Religious Policy 84 Cult Statues and Evocatio 87 The Kizzuwatna Ritual and the Fashioning of New Cult Statues 89 Evocatio as Godnap? 91 Instances of Godnap: Anitta and Hattusili I 94 Instances of Godnap: Arnuwanda and Mursili II 98 The Character of Hittite Godnap 103 CHAPTER FIVE: THE MIDDLE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE 105 Tiglath-Pileser I 105 Adad-nerari II 116 Tukulti-Ninurta II 120 Aššurnaṣirpal II 121 Šalmaneser III 124 Šamši-Adad V 129 The Character of Godnap in the Middle Assyrian Period 135 CHAPTER SIX: THE NEO-ASSYRIAN EMPIRE 137 Tiglath-Pileser III 137 Sargon II 143 Sennacherib 149 Esarhaddon 157 Aššurbanipal 168 The Character of Godnap in the Neo-Assyrian Period 178 CHAPTER SEVEN: THE MIDDLE AND NEO-BABYLONIAN EMPIRES 180 Nebuchadnezzar I 180 Ninurta-kudurrī-uṣur 185 Bel-ibni 187 Aššur-nadin-šumi 188 Nergal-ušezib 189 No King in Babylon 190 Šamaš-šuma-ukin 191 Nabopolassar 194 Nebuchadnezzar II 198 Nabonidus 200 Cyrus the Great 202 The Character of Godnap in the Middle and Neo-Babylonian Periods 205 CHAPTER EIGHT: THE LITERARY SOURCES 207 The Marduk Prophecy 207 The Marduk Ordeal 212 Godnap in the Literary Sources 216 The Language of Godnap 216 CONCLUSION 222 APPENDICES 228 APPENDIX A: FIRST ATTESTATIONS OF GODNAP 230 APPENDIX B: THE MIDDLE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE 238 APPENDIX C: THE NEO-ASSYRIAN EMPIRE 272 APPENDIX D: THE MIDDLE AND NEO-BABYLONIAN EMPIRES 344 APPENDIX E: THE LITERARY SOURCES 376 BIBLIOGRAPHY 394 ABBREVIATIONS ABC Grayson, A. K. Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles. Borger, BAL Borger, R. Babylonisch-Assyrische Lesestücke. Borger, Asarh. Borger, R. Die Inschriften Asarhaddons Königs von Assyrien. Borger, BIWA Borger, R. Beiträge zum Inschriftenwerk Assurbanipals. Die Prismenklassen A, B, C = K, D, E, F, G, H, J, und T sowie andere Inschriften. CAD The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago CT Cuneiform Texts from the British Museum Fuchs, Khorsabad Fuchs, A. Die Inschriften Sargons II. Aus Khorsabad. Helsinki Atlas Parpola, S. and Porter, M. The Helsinki Atlas of the Near East in the Neo-Assyrian Period. Luckenbill, Senn. Luckenbill, D. D. The Annals of Sennacherib. Maqlû Meier, G. Die assyrische Beschwörungssammlung Maqlû. MC Glassner, J. J. Mesopotamian Chronicles. RGTC pertoire g ographique des textes cun iformes. Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients. V: Die Orts- und Gewässernamen der Mittelbabylonischen und mittelassyrischen Zeit VII/1: Bagg, A. M. Die Orts- und Gewässernamen der neuassyrischen Zeit. Die Levante. VIII: Zadok, R. Geographical Names According to New- and Late- Babylonian Texts. RIMA 2 Grayson, A. K. Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium BC, I (1114-859). RIMA 3 Grayson, A. K. Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium BC, II (858-745). RIMB 2 Frame, G. Rulers of Babylonia: From the Second Dynasty of Isin to the End of Assyrian Domination (1157-612 BC). RIME 4 Frayne, D. R. Old Babylonian Period (2003-1595 BC). SAA State Archives of Assyria Streck, Assurbanipal Streck, M. Assurbanipal und die letzten assyrischen Könige bis zum Untergange Niniveh's. Tadmor, Tiglath- Tadmor, H. The Inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser III King of Pileser Assyria Critical Edition, with Introductions, Translations and Commentary. VS Vorderasiatsche Schriftdenkmäler der Königlichen Museen zu Berlin TEXT SIGLA Appendix A Š-IŠ Šu-ilišu A-K Agum-Kakrime T-NI Tukulti-Ninurta I Appendix B T-PI Tiglath-Pileser I A-NII Adad-Nerari II T-NII Tukulti-Ninurta II ANPII Aššurnaṣirpal II ŠLMIII Šalmaneser III Š-AV Šamši-Adad V Appendix C T-PIII Tiglath-Pileser III SGII Sargon II SNB Sennacherib ESR Esarhaddon ABP Aššurbanipal Appendix D NBZI Nebuchadnezzar I NKU Ninurta-kudurri-uṣur BIB Bel-ibni ANŠ Aššur-nadin-šumi N-UŠB Nergal-ušezib NKB No King in Babylon ŠŠU Šamaš-šuma-ukin NBP Nabopolassar NBZII Nebuchadnezzar II NBN Nabonidus CYR Cyrus the Great List of Figures Figure 1. Line drawing of the theft of the gods of a town, possibly Unqi. Taken 14 from Tadmor 1994: Figure 12. Figure 2. Photo of wall relief from the Southwest Palace of Tiglath-Pileser III, 16 British Museum, London. Photo © Trustees of the British Museum. Figure 3. Line drawing of a Rhyton in the Schimmel Collection of the 88 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Taken from Collins 2005: 35, figure 2.9. List of Tables Table 1. Stages of Mīs Pî Ritual 21 Table 2. Verbs Used to Describe the Theft of a Cult Image 217 Table 3. Verbs Used to Describe the Return of a Cult Image 220 Table 4. Verbs Used to Describe the Movement of a Cult Image for its 221 Safe-keeping INTRODUCTION The phenomenon termed ‗godnap‘1 was widespread in the ancient Near East but no systematic study of it has been produced.