Sumerian Liturgies and Psalms

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Title:SumerianLiturgiesandPsalms

Author:StephenLangdon

ReleaseDate:April10,2010[Ebook31935]

Language:English

***STARTOFTHEPROJECTGUTENBERGEBOOK
SUMERIANLITURGIESANDPSALMS***

SumerianLiturgiesandPsalms

By

StephenLangdon

ProfessorofAssyriology

atOxfordUniversity

Published

Philadelphia

by

TheUniversity

9191

Museum

Contents

Introduction..........................2
LLiatumregnytaotfioInshomfeI-shDmagea-nD.a1g1a0n0O5v(eNro.Ni2p)pu.r..1.38.5.6(.N.o..1.)..3153
LiturgicalHymntoInnini.7847(No.3andduplicateNo.4)39
PsalmtoEnlilContainingaLongIntercessionbythe
LamMenottahteironGoodndtehsse.1Pi5ll2a0g4e(oNfo.L5a)g.as.h.b.y.th.e.E.la.m.it.es...48
2154(No.6).......................54
LamentationtoInniniontheSorrowsofErech.13859
(PoebelNo.26).....................61
LLiatmuregnitcaatlioHnyomnnthtoeSDiens.tr8u0c9ti7o(nNoof.U7)r..7.08.0.(.No...11.).......7627
LiturgicalHymnsoftheTammuzCult.3656(Myhrman
No.5)..........................80
ALiturgytoEnlil,Series
e-lumgud-sun
(ZimmernKL.
No.11)..........................87
ReverseofTabletVirolleaud(T
d
h
.
etitularlitany)......114
EarlyFormoftheSeries
Babbar-gim-è-ta
11359
Litu(rMgyyhorfmtahneNCou.lt8)of.K.es.(.N.ip.pu.r.F.ra.g.me.n.ts.a.nd..As.h.-.118
moleanPrism.).....................121
AshmoleanPrism,Col.II..................132
ThirdTabletoftheSeriesTheExaltedOneWhoWalketh
(
e-lumdidara
)(No.13).................140
BabylonianCultSymbols.6060(No.12)..........149
AddendumOnObv.I10F..................169
DescriptionOfTablets...................170
IInnddeexxTOofTVaobl.leXts.............................................117764

vi

Autographed

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Liturgies

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981

122

]332[

Introduction.

[Transcriber'sNote:Thise-bookisNumber4ofVolumeXof
aseries,whichhadasinglepagenumberingsystemthroughout
theVolume.Thus,althoughthise-bookispages233through
351,itcontainsreferencestopagesoutsideofthisrangeinthe
sameVolume.]
Withthepublicationofthetextsincludedinthisthelastpart
ofvolumeX,
SumerianLiturgicalandEpicalTexts
,thewriter
arrivesatadefinitestageintheinterpretationofthereligious
materialintheNippurcollection.Havingbeenprivileged
toexaminethecollectioninPhiladelphiaaswellasthatin
Constantinople,Iwritewithasenseofresponsibilityingivingto
thepublicabriefstatementconcerningwhatthetemplelibraryof
ancientNippurreallycontained.Omittingthebranchespertaining
tohistory,law,grammarandmathematics,thefollowing
résumé
islimitedtothosetabletswhich,becauseoftheirbearinguponthe
historyofreligion,especiallyupontheoriginsofHebrewreligion,
haveattractedtheattentionofthepublicontwocontinentstothe
collectionsoftheUniversityMuseum.
Undoubtedlythegroupoftextswhichhavethemosthuman
interestandgreatestliteraryvalueistheepicalgroup,designated
inSumerianbytherubric
zag-sal
.
1
Thisliterarytermwas
employedbytheSumerianscribestodesignateacomposition
asdidacticandtheological.Religioustextsofsuchkindare
generallycomposedinaneasyandgracefulstyleand,although

1
Inadditiontotheexamplesofepicalpoemsandhymnscitedonpages103-5
ofthisvolumenotethelongmythologicalhymntoInnini,No.3andthehymn
toEnlil,No.10ofthispart.AnunpublishedhymntoEnlil,Ni.9862,ends
a-a
dEn-lilzag-sal
,OpraisefatherEnlil.ForNi.13859,citedabovep.104,see
P
OEBEL
{
FNS
,PBS.VNo.26.

Introduction.

3

somewhatinfluencedbyliturgicalmannerisms,maybereadily
distinguishedfromthehymnsandpsalmssunginthetemples
tomusicalaccompaniment.The
zagsal
compositions
2
are
mythologicalandtheologicaltreatisesconcerningthedeedsand
charactersofthegreatgods.Themostimportantdidactichymns
oftheNippurcollectionandinfactthemostimportantreligious
textsinearlySumerianliteraturearetwosixcolumntablets,one
(veryincomplete)ontheCreationandtheFloodpublishedbyD
R
.
P
OEBEL
,andone(allbutcomplete)onParadiseandtheFallof
Man.Nextinimportanceisalargesixcolumntabletcontaining
amythologicalanddidactichymnonthecharacteristicsofthe
virginmothergoddess.
3
No.25inM
YHRMAN
'
S
{
FNS
Babylonian
HymnsandPrayers
,No.1.Herealsotheprincipalactorsare
Enki,hismessengerIsimu,andHolyInniniasinthebetter
preservedepic.BotharepoemsontheexaltationofInnini.
Alongmythologicalhymninfourcolumns
4
inJRAS.1919.
onthecohabitationoftheearthgodEnlilandthemothergoddess
Ninlilandanequallylongbutmoreliteraryhymntothevirgin
goddessInnini
5
aregoodexamplesofthisgroupoftabletsin
theNippurcollection.
6
Oneofthemostinterestingexamples
ofdidacticcompositionisahymntothedeifiedkingDungiof

2
Sofarasthetermisproperlyapplied.Beingofdidacticimportitwas
finallyattachedtogrammaticaltextsinthephrase
dNidabazag-sal
,Opraise
Nidaba,i.e.,praisethepatronessofwriting.
3
P
OEBEL
{
FNS
,PBS.VNo.25;translatedinthewriter's
LePoèmeSumérien
duParadis
,220-257.NotealsoasimilarepicalpoemtoInninipartialduplicate
ofP
OEBEL
{
FNS
4
Ni.9205publishedbyB
ARTON
{
FNS
,
MiscellaneousBabylonianInscrip-
tions
,No.4.Thistextisrestoredbyatabletofthelateperiodpublishedby
P
INCHES
{
FNS
5
Ni.7847,publishedinthispart,No.3andpartiallytranslatedonpages
260-264.
6
UndoubtedlyNi.11327,amythologicalhymntoEnkiinfourcolumns,
belongstothisclass.ItispublishedasNo.14ofthispart.Asimilar
zagsal
to
EnkibelongstotheConstantinoplecollection,seep.45ofmy
Historicaland
ReligiousTexts
.

]432[

]532[

4

SumerianLiturgiesandPsalms

Ur.ByaccidentboththePhiladelphiaandtheConstantinople
collectionspossesscopiesofthisremarkablepoemandthe
entiretexthasbeenreconstructedbythewriterinaprevious
publication.
7
1havealreadysignaledtheuniqueimportance
ofthisextraordinaryhymntothegod-manDungiinwhichhe
isdescribedasthedivinelybornkingwhowassentbythe
godstorestorethelostparadise.
8
Thepoemmentionsthe
floodwhich,accordingtotheEpicofParadise,terminatedby
divinepunishmenttheUtopianage.Thesamemythological
beliefunderliesthehymntoDungi.Paradisehadbeenlostand
thisgod-manwassenttorestorethegoldenage.Thereisa
directconnectionbetweenthismessianichymntoDungiand
theremarkableEpicofParadise.Allotherknownhymnsto
deifiedkingsareliturgicalcompositionsandhavetherubrics
whichcharacterizethemassongssunginpublicservices.But
thedidactichymntoDungihastherubric[
d
Dungi
]
zag-sal
,O
praiseDungi.Itwouldbedifficulttoclaimmoreconclusive
evidencethanthisforthecorrectnessofourinterpretationof
thegroupof
zagsal
literatureandoftheentiremythologicaland
theologicalexegesispropoundedintheeditionoftheEpicof
Paradise,editedinpartoneofthisvolume.
9
,
Miscel.
No.4;
hymntoNinurtaascreatorofcanals,R
ADAU
{
FNS
,BE.29,No.
2,translatedinBL.,7-11;hymntoNidaba,R
ADAU
{
FNS
,
Miscel.
.6.oNWhenourstudiesshallhavereachedthestagewhichrenders

7
HistoricalandReligiousTexts
,pp.14-18.
8
SeePSBA.1919,34.
9
OneofthemostremarkabletabletsintheMuseumisNi.14005,adidactic
poemin61linesontheperiodofpre-cultureandinstitutionofParadiseby
theearthgodandthewatergodinDilmun.PublishedbyB
ARTON
{
FNS
,
MiscellaneousBabylonianInscriptions
,No.8.Thewriter'sexegesisofthis
tabletwillbefoundin
LePoèmeSumérienduParadis
,135-146.Itisnotcalled
a
zag-sal
probablybecausethewriterconsideredthetablettoosmalltobe
dignifiedbythatrubric.Similarshortmythologicalpoemswhichreallybelong
tothe
zag-sal
grouparethefollowing:hymntoShamash,R
ADAU
{
FNS

Introduction.

5

appropriatethecollectionofthesetextsintoaspecialcorpusthey
willreceivetheirduevaluationinthehistoryofreligion.That
theyareofprimeimportanceisuniversallyaccepted.
FromthepointofviewofthehistoryofreligionIwouldassign
theliturgicaltextstothesecondgroupinorderofimportance.
Surprisinglyfewfragmentsfromthelongcanonicaldailyprayer
serviceshavebeenfound.Infact,aboutalloftheperfected
liturgiessuchasweknowtheSumeriantemplestohavepossessed
belongtothecultsofdeifiedkings.Intheentirereligious
literatureofNippur,notoneapproximatelycompletecanonical
prayerservicehassurvived.Onlyfragmentsbearwitnessto
theirexistenceinthepublicsongservicesofthegreattemples
inNippur.Asmalltablet
10
publishedinparttwoofthisvolume
carriesafewlinesoftheti