oi.uchicago.edu THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ASS YRIOLOGICAL STUDIES • NO. 20 oi.uchicago.edu oi.uchicago.edu SUMEROLOGICAL STUDIES IN HONOR OF THORKILD JACOBSEN ON HIS SEVENTIETH BIRTHDAY June 7, 1974 THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ASS YRIOLOGICAL STUDIES • NO. 20 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS • CHICAGO AND LONDON oi.uchicago.edu International Standard Book Number: 0-226-62282-7 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 75-42584 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, CHICAGO 60637 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, LTD., LONDON © 1975 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. Published 1976. Printed in the United States of America oi.uchicago.edu EDITOR'S FOREWORD Planning a Festschrift to honor Professor Jacobsen was joyful, if formidable. The breadth and depth of his contribution to our understanding of Mesopota- mian civilization left one unable easily to conceive of a truly fitting tribute; no random collection of articles seemed quite adequate. Instead, we set out to solicit specific articles covering the field of Sumerology that would include a critical description of the course taken by scholarly research up to the present, an analysis of the approaches that have been used in the research, and a prospectus on the techniques and problems that should prove fruitful to future investigation. The volume was limited to the study of Sumerian civilization even though Sumerology constitutes only one of the fields to which Professor Jacobsen has made a fundamental contribution, for it was hoped that an opportunity would be provided to the Sumerologist—all too often reluctant to venture into the synthesis of his studies—to approach from a broader perspective. It was also hoped that the volume would serve as a bench mark, and, at the very least, Sumerology would honor itself by being associated with Professor Jacobsen. Sumerian studies were divided into the sub-fields of history, geography, art, archeology, economy and social structure, law, language, lexicography and the lexical tradition, schools, religion, and literature; articles were pledged to cover these areas, each to be accompanied by a selective bibliography. The titles of the essays and the manner of presentation and approach were left to the respective authors. Unfortunately, articles on history, art and archeology, and religion failed to join their fellows in the volume, and the bibliography on Sumerian writing and grammar was supplied by the editor. Professors T. Abusch, J. A. Brinkman, W. W. Hallo, B. A. Levine, and W. L. Moran were kind enough to lend their names, advice and help toward the completion and publication of the volume. STEPHEN J. LIEBERMAN June 7, 1974 v oi.uchicago.edu NOTE: For typographic simplicity we have represented fr by h and g, rj by g. oi.uchicago.edu TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ABBREVIATIONS IX THORKILD JACOBSEN: PHILOLOGIST, ARCHEOLOGIST, HISTORIAN. SAMUEL NOAH KRAMER .......... 1 GEOGRAPHIE. HANS J. NISSEN 9 SUMERIAN ADMINISTRATIVE DOCUMENTS: AN ESSAY. TOM B. JONES . 41 ZUM SUMERISCHEN EID. DIETZ OTTO EDZARD 63 ANCIENT WRITING AND ANCIENT WRITTEN LANGUAGE: PITFALLS AND PECULIARITIES IN THE STUDY OF SUMERIAN. I. M. DIAKONOFF . 99 LEXICOGRAPHY. M. CIVIL 123 THE OLD BABYLONIAN EDUBA. A. SJOBERG . .159 TOWARD A HISTORY OF SUMERIAN LITERATURE. WILLIAM W. HALLO . 181 FORMALE GESICHTSPUNKTE IN DER SUMERISCHEN LITERATUR. CLAUS WILCKE 205 vii oi.uchicago.edu oi.uchicago.edu LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS A lexical series a A = naqu. AASF Suomalaisen Tiedeakatemia. Annales Academiae scientiarum Fennicae. Helsinki, 1909 . AB Assyriologische Bibliothek. Leipzig, 1881-1927. ABAW Akademie der Wissenschaften, Munich. Philos.-hist. Kl. Abhandlungen. Munich, 1835 . AfO Archiv fur Orientforschung. Berlin, etc., 1926 . AHw W. von Soden. Akkadisches Handworterbuch. Wiesbaden, 1965 . AJA American Journal of Archaeology. Baltimore, etc., 1888 . ANET J. B. Pritchard, ed. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Princeton, 2d ed., 1955; 3d ed., 1969. Supplementary Texts and Pictures, ed. by J. B. Pritchard. Princeton, 1969. AnOr Analecta Orientalia. Rome, 1931 . Antagal lexical series an-1a-gal = saqu. AO AT Alter Orient und Altes Testament. Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1969—. AOS American Oriental Series. New Haven, 1924 . ArOr Archiv Orientalm. Prague, 1929 . AS Chicago. University. Oriental Institute. Assyriological Studies. Chicago, 1931 . ASKT P. Haupt. Akkadische und sumerische Keilschrifttexte. Leipzig, 1881-82. ATU A. Falkenstein. Archaische Texte aus Uruk. Berlin and Leipzig, 1936. BA Beitrage zur Assyriologie. Leipzig, 1890-1927. Bab Babyloniaca; fitudes de philologie assyro-babylonienne. Paris, 1907-37. BASOR American Schools of Oriental Research. Bulletin. South Hadley, Mass., etc., 1919 . BE Pennsylvania. University. Babylonian Expedition. The Baby­ lonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania. Series A: Cuneiform Texts. Philadelphia, 1893-1914. BIN Babylonian Inscriptions in the Collection of James B. Nies, Yale University. New Haven, 1917 . ix oi.uchicago.edu X LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BiOr Bibliotheca Orientalis. Leiden, 1944- BL S. Langdon. Babylonian Liturgies. Paris, 1913. BWL W. G. Lambert. Babylonian Wisdom Literature. Oxford, 1960. C consonant. CAD Chicago. University. Oriental Institute. The Assyrian Diction­ ary. Ed. by I. J. Gelb, et al. Chicago and Gliickstadt, 1956—. CBS tablets in the collections of the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. CRRA Compte rendu de la Rencontre assyriologique internationale. II. Compte rendu de la seconde Rencontre assyriolo­ gique internationale. Paris, 1951. III. Compte rendu de la troisieme Rencontre assyrio­ logique internationale. Leiden, 1954. VII. P. Garelli, ed. Gilgames et sa legende. Paris, 1960. XVII. Actes de la XVII® Rencontre assyriologique inter­ nationale. Han-sur-Heure, 1970. XVIII. Gesellschaftsklassen im Alten Zweistromland und in den angrenzenden Gebieten. XVIII. Rencontre assyriologique internationale. ABAW NF Heft 75. Munich, 1972. XIX. P. Garelli, ed. Le palais et la royaute. Paris, 1974. CT British Museum. Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum. London, 1896 . Erimhus lexical series erim-hus = anantu. Fara III A. Deimel. Die Inschriften von Fara III: Wirtschaftstexte aus Fara. Wissenschaftliche Veroffentlichungen der Deut- schen Orient-Gesellschaft, Vol. 43. Leipzig, 1923. GSG A. Poebel. Grundziige der sumerischen Grammatik. Rostock, 1923. Gudea Cyl. TCL VIII. Gudea Statues E. de Sarzec. Decourvertes en Chaldee. Paris, 1884-1912. HAV Hilprecht Anniversary Volume: Studies in Assyriology and Archaeology. Leipzig, 1909. Hh See Uh. HKL R. Borger. Handbuch der Keilschriftliteratur. Berlin, 1967 . HLC Haverford College. Library. Haverford Library Collection of Cuneiform Tablets or Documents from the Temple Archives of Telloh. Ed. by G. A. Barton. Philadelphia and London, 1905-14. HS tablets in the Hilprecht-Sammlung, University of Jena. HSAO Heidelberger Studien zum alten Orient. Ed. by D. O. Edzard. Wiesbaden, 1967. HSM tablets in the Harvard Semitic Museum, Cambridge, Mass. oi.uchicago.edu LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xi HSS Harvard Semitic Series. Cambridge, Mass., 1912 . HUCA Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati. Annual. 1914 . IJAL International Journal of American Linguistics. New York, etc., 1917 . ISET M. £ig and H. Kizilyay. Sumer Edebi Tablet ve Par^alari I. Ankara, 1969. ITT Istanbul. Arkeoloji miizeleri. Inventaire des tablettes de Tello. Paris, 1910-21. JAOS American Oriental Society. Journal. New Haven, 1849 . JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies. New Haven, 1947 . JEOL Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap "Ex Oriente Lux," Leyden. Jaarbericht. Leiden, 1933 . JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies. Chicago, 1942 . KAR E. Ebeling. Keilschrifttexte aus Assur religiosen Inhalts I—II. Wissenschaftliche Veroffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient- Gesellschaft, Vols. 28 and 34. Leipzig, 1915-19 and 1920-23. KBo Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazkoi. Wissenschaftliche Yeroffent­ lichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, Vols. 30, 36, 68-70, 72, 73, 77-80. Leipzig, 1916 . L tablets in the Lagash collection of the Museum of the Ancient Orient in Istanbul. LSS Leipziger semitistische Studien. Leipzig, 1903 . MAD Chicago. University. Oriental Institute. Materials for the Assyrian Dictionary. Chicago, 1952 . MAH tablets in the collection of the Mus6e d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva. MBI G. A. Barton. Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions. New Haven, 1918. MDOG Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, Berlin. Mitteilungen. 1899 MDP France. Mission archeologique en Iran. Memoires de la Delegation en Perse. Paris, 1900 . MIO Berlin. Akademie der Wissenschaften. Mitteilungen der Instituts fur Orientforschung. Berlin, 1953 . MNS A. Sjoberg. Der Mondgott Nanna-Suen in der sumerischen Oberlieferung I. Stockholm, 1960. MSL B. Landsberger, ed. Materialien zum sumerischen Lexikon. Rome, 1937 . MVAG Berlin. Vorderasiatisch-Agyptische Gesellschaft. Mitteilungen. Berlin, Leipzig, 1896 -. N tablets in the collections of the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. NB Neo-Babylonian. NBC tablets in the Babylonian Collection of Yale University Library, New Haven. oi.uchicago.edu XI1 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS NFT G. Cros. Nouvelles fouilles de Tello. Paris, 1910. NG A. Falkenstein. Die neusumerischen Gerichtsurkunden. Mun­ ich, 1956-57. Ni. tablets in the Nippur collection of the Museum of the Ancient Orient, Istanbul. Nikolski M. V. Nikolski. 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