Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 1999 Urnamma of Ur in Sumerian Literary Tradition Flückiger-Hawker, Esther Abstract: This book presents new standard editions of all the hitherto known hymns of Urnamma, the founder of the Third Dynasty of Ur (fl. 2100 B.C.), and adds new perspectives to the compositions and development of the genre of Sumerian royal hymns in general. The first chapter (I) is introductory in nature (historical background, the reading of the name Urnamma, Sumerian royal hymns). The second chapter (II) presents a general survey of Urnamma’s hymnic corpus, including arguments for a broader definition of Sumerian royal hymns and an attempt at classifying the non-standard orthography found in Urnamma’s hymns. The third chapter (III) deals with correlations of Urnamma’s hymns with other textual sources pertaining to him. A fourth chapter (IV) is devoted to aspects of continuity and change in royal hymnography by analyzing the Urnamma hymns in relation to other royal hymns and related genres. A discussion of topoi of legitimation and kingship and narrative materials in different text types during different periods of time and other findings concerning statues, stelas and royal hymns addnew perspectives to the ongoing discussion of the original setting of royal hymns. Also, reasons are given why a version of the Sumerian King List may well be dated to Urnamma and the thesis advanced that Išmēdagan of Isin was not only an imitator of Šulgi but also of Urnamma. The final of the chapter IV shows that Urnamma A, also known as Urnamma’s Death, uses the language of lamentation literature and Curse of Agade which describe the destruction of cities, and applies it to the death of a king. The last chapter (V) presents critical editions of Urnamma hymns A-H. Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-152507 Monograph Published Version Originally published at: Flückiger-Hawker, Esther (1999). Urnamma of Ur in Sumerian Literary Tradition. Fribourg, Switzerland / Göttingen, Germany: University Press / Vandenhoeck Ruprecht. Esther Flückiger-Hawker Urnamma of Ur in Sumerian Literary Tradition ORBIS BIBLICUS ET ORIENTALIS Published by Othmar Keel and Christoph Uehlinger on behalf of the Biblical Institute of the University of Fribourg Switzerland, the Egyptological Seminar of the University of Basel, the Institute for Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and Languages ot the University of Berne, and the Swiss Society for Ancient Near Eastern Studies The author Esther Flückiger-Hawker (1964) studied ancient Near Eastern cultures and languages at the University of Berne, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore (M.A. 1989), and as participant of the Erasmus programme in Paris. From 1993-1999 she held a lectureship in Ugaritic and Akkadian at the University of Berne. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 166 Esther Flückiger-Hawker Urnamma of Ur in Sumerian Literary Tradition University Fribourg Switzerland Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Göttingen Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme Flückiger-Hawker, Esther: Urnamma of Ur in Sumerian Literary Tradition/Esther Flückiger-Hawker. Fribourg, Switzerland: Univ.-Press; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht 1999. (Orbis biblicus et orientalis;l 66) Zugl.: Bern, Univ., Diss., 1996 ISBN 3-7278-1229-X (Univ.-Verl.) ISBN 3-525-53342-X (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht) Publication subsidized by the «Fonds für Alterstumswissenschaft» of the Classics Departement, University of Zurich Camera-ready text submitted by the autor © 1999 by University Press Fribourg Switzerland/Universitätsverlag Freiburg Schweiz Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Göttingen · Paulusdruckerei Freiburg Schweiz ISBN 3-7278-1229-X (University Press) ISBN 3-525-53342-X (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht) Digitalisat erstellt durch Florina Tischhauser, Religionswissenschaftliches Seminar, Universität Zürich TO MY PARENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE xi ABBREVIA TIONS xiii 1. Bibliographie Abbreviations xiii 2. Other Abbreviations xvn 3. Symbols xvii Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Historical Background 1 2. The Reading of the Name (d)ur-dnamma 8 3. Sumerian Royal Hymns 9 Chapter II: A GENERAL SURVEY OF THE URNAMMA HYMNS 12 1. Typology 12 2. Catalogue 17 3. Orthography 22 3 .1 Archaic Orthography 22 3.2 Non-standard Orthography 23 4. Glosses 27 Chapter III: ON THE HISTORICAL CORRELA TIONS OF THE URNAMMA 28 HYMNS 1. Urnamma and His Deeds in the Hymns and Other Sources 28 2. Is Urnamma Ca Chronological Summary of His Reign? 37 Chapter IV: CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN ROYAL HYMNOGRAPHY 41 1. Legitimacy and Kingship 41 1.1 Urnamma and the Sumerian King List 41 1.2 Topoi of Legitimation and Kingship 42 1.3 Royal Titles and Epithets 58 1.4 Enlil and Urnamma's Kingship 63 2. Urnamma and Ismedagan 65 Vlll Table of Contents 3. The Urnamma Hymns and Related Genres 68 3.1 The Urnamma Hymns and other Royal and Divine Hymns 69 3.2 Statues, Stelas and Self-laudatory Hymns 78 3.3 Umamma A and Lamentation Literature 85 Chapter V: EDITIONS OF URNAMMA A-H 92 0. Introductory Remarks 92 1. Urnamma A = Urnamma's Death 93 1.1 Introduction 93 1.2 Transliteration and Translation 101 1.3 The Susa Version of Urnamma A 143 1.4 Philological Commentary 164 2. Urnamma B 183 2.1 Introduction 183 2.2 Transliteration and Translation 188 2.3 Philological Commentary 200 3. Urnamma C 204 3.1 Introduction 204 3.2 Transliteration and Translation 208 3.3 Philological Commentary 220 4. Urnamma D 228 4.1 Introduction 228 4.2 Transliteration and Translation of the Nippur 234 Recension (source A only) 4.3 Transliteration and Translati.on of the Ur Recension 238 4.4 A Synopsis of Urnamma D: Nippur and Ur 244 Recensions 4.5 Collective Philological Commentary 254 5. Urnamma EF 260 5.1 Introduction 260 5.2 Transliteration and Translation of Urnamma E 266 (source A) 5.3 Transliteration and Translation of Urnamma F 270 (source B) 5.4 A Synopsis of Urnamma EF: Recensions E and F 276 5.5 Collective Philological Commentary 286 6. Urnamma G 290 6.1 Introduction 290 6.2 Transliteration and Translation 292 6.3 Philological Commentary 296 Table of Contents lX 7. UrnammaH 297 7 .1 Introduction 297 7 .2 Transliteration and Translation 298 A LEXICAL INDEX OF URNAMMA COMPOSffiONS 300 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 362 INDEX OF 1EXTS QU01ED 365 GENERAL INDEX 368 SELECTIVE BIBLIOORAPHY 374 APPENDIX Ni. 4375 = /SET 1 (1969/71) p. 177 (no. 119) 382 PLAIBS PREFACE This book is the published form of my dissertation which was submitted to and accepted by the Arts Faculty of the University of Berne in June 1996. Official readers were Profs. P. Attinger and M. Wäfler. The topic of the dissertation was first suggested to me some years ago by Prof. J.S. Cooper who felt that there was a need for new editions of all hitherto known hymns pertaining to Urnamma, the founder of the Third Dynasty of Ur, whose hymns are among the earliest examples of Sumerian royal hymns and are therefore crucial to the study of the genre of royal hymns in general. Whereas the studies in Sumerian hymnography have concentrated on the hymns of Umamma's son and successor Sulgi and on the literary dependence of the Isin and Larsa rulers on his hymns, Urnamma's hymns have never been treated as a corpus and compared to both earlier and later writings. The purpose of this dissertation is to meet this need. I express my gratitude to all my teachers at the University of Berne and Johns Hopkins University who guided my studies and stimulated my interest in ancient Near Eastern texts. Special thanks go to Profs. P. Attinger and J.S. Cooper who kindly served as advisors for this dissertation and without whose help and patience this thesis would not have been possible. I am also particularly grateful to Prof. M. Wäfler who has always shown keen interest in and support of my academic endeavours, has furthermore enabled me to gain teaching experience over the years, and kindly served also as official reader. Through the generosity of a number of scholars and institutions I have been given access to materials from their collections and permission to incorporate them in the various editions. I am particularly indebted to Prof. A. W. Sjöberg of the University Museum, Dr. B. Andre-Salvini of the Musee du Louvre, and Prof. J.A. Brinkman of the Oriental Institute in Chicago, for allowing me to study published and unpublished materials, and to Prof. C.B.F. Walker for providing excellent photos which are published by permission of the Trustees of the British Museum. I am grateful to Prof. P. Attinger for enabling me to use his extensive Sumerian files, to Dr. H. Behrens for generously enabling access to PSD manu­ scripts, to Prof. M. Civil for his list of sources in Index Fora Corpus of Sumerian Literature, for a transliteration of Urnamma G and his permission to include it, together with the unpublished Susa version of Urnamma A, in this study, to Prof. J.-M. Durand for collations of Urnamma C and Dr. Ph. Jones and Prof. S. Tinney for collations of Urnamma H, to Prof. S. Tinney for his unpublished University Museum manuscripts of Urnamma A and D prepared for the Sumerian Dictionary Project, and to Prof. C. Wilcke for his unpublished Habilitationsschrift Urnammus Tod, Tod und Bestattung eines Königs in neusumerischer Zeit. Thanks are due to Prof. A. W. Sjöberg and his University Museum team, to Dr. B. Andre-Salvini, Xll Preface and Prof. J.A. Brinkman for their hospitality and help during my stays in Philadelphia, Paris, and Chicago. I was able to benefit from discussions with Dr. A. Zgoll, Prof.