Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions/The Oldest Religious Text From Babylonia

by George A. Barton

No. 1.

THE OLDEST RELIGIOUS TEXT FROM BABYLONIA.

This cylinder, found by Dr. Haynes at Nippur, remained unpacked in the basement of the Museum until after Professor Hilprecht's connection with the Museum had been severed. It was apparently broken when found, for parts of it were obtained from three different boxes. These were identified by the writer, and the text pieced together from eight different fragments. The Museum attendant afterwards fastened them together. Parts of nineteen columns of writing remain. Not more than one whole column of writing is lost.

The beginning of column i is unfortunately lost. The only proper names beside those of deities that can be identified in it are those of Nippur, Kesh, and Khallab (Aleppo). The interpretation of an inscription written in pure Sumerian would be in any case difficult. In the present instance interpretation is rendered doubly difficult by the loss of the opening sentences, which, perhaps, contained the name of the writer and certainly indicated the occasion of the composition. Under these circumstances it cannot be too strongly emphasized that the interpretation offered below is purely tentative. The conclusion that the writer has reached is, however, that the inscription was written as a foundation cylinder at a time when the temple at Nippur was repaired, and that this repair was probably undertaken because of a plague that had visited the city. Apparently the plague had made its way to Nippur from Kesh. While the occasion of the inscription appears, therefore, to have been historical, the inscription itself is of the nature of an incantation.

The script in which it is written is that of the dynasty of Agade.^[1] It is slightly more archaic than the business documents of this period,^[2] but similar differences are observable between the business scripts and those of religious texts in every period of Babylonian writing. As the dynasty of Agade ruled from about 2800 to 2600 B. C., the incantation here recorded is of equal if not greater antiquity than the Pyramid Texts of Egypt.

During the excavations a pavement of the temple terrace at Nippur laid by Naram-Sin and his successor Shargalisharri was found.^[3] It is, in the absence of definite information as to where Dr. Haynes found this cylinder, plausible to conjecture that it was written at the time of this reconstruction. The probability that our text comes from one of the two great kings of Agade mentioned above is increased by the fact that the hold of the later rulers of the dynasty upon Nippur seems to have been uncertain, and there is no evidence that they did any building there.^[4] We now know that these two monarchs belonged to the dynasty of Kish and Agade that ruled Babylonia for 197 years, and the data published in 1914 by Dr. Poebel^[5] and in 1915 by Professor Clay^[6] enable us to fix this period as from 2794 B. C. to 2597 B. C. Naram-Sin ruled for forty-four years (2704-2660 B. C.) and Shargalisharri twentyfour years (2660-2636 B. C.). The oldest of the pyramid texts of Egypt was written in the reign of Unis, a king of the fifth dynasty, whose reign, according to Breasted's chronology, was 2655-2625. It seems more probable that our text came from the reign of Naram-Sin than from the reign of Shargalisharri. The bricks of Naram-Sin were three times as numerous in the pavement of the temple court at Nippur as those of his successor. Naram-Sin^[7] and Shargalisharri^[8] each calls himself, "builder of the temple of Enlil," but it would seem probable that Naram-Sin constructed the terrace early in his reign of forty-four years and that Shargalisharri repaired it after it had had time to fall into disrepair fifty or more years later. If our somewhat uncertain chronologies are correct, Shargalisharri's reign was nearly contemporaneous with that of the Egyptian king Unis, while that of Naram-Sin antedated it. It is more probable that a foundation cylinder would be placed beneath the structure when it was first constructed than when spots in its worn pavement were repaired. It is, accordingly, a plausible conjecture that our cylinder was written early in the reign of Naram-Sin. In that case it is probably half a century older than the pyramid text of Unis and is the oldest extended religious expression that has survived from any portion of the human race.

This consideration gives to the text a supreme interest. It contains a primitive, but comparatively refined strain of religious thought. The men who wrote it entertained the animistic point of view. The world was full of spirits of which they were in terror, but chief among these spirits were gods, who, however capricious, were the givers of vegetation and life. They could be entreated, and man's hope lay in placating them. The text exhibits the neighborly admixture of religion and magic so characteristic of Babylonian thought.

When compared with the pyramid texts it presents one striking difference. They centre around the king and are interested in his fortunes as he enters among the gods. One text represents the Egyptian king as a cannibal, who in heaven eats gods to obtain their strength!^[9] This Babylonian text, on the other hand, represents the community. If not the religious expression of a democracy, it comes at least from an aristocracy. The interests involved are those of the city of Nippur. It represents the point of view of a Babylonian city-state.

Translation and Transliteration.

(i)		(i)
1'.	é-ê-da	1'.	He came forth,[10]
2'.	keš[11]-ta ba-ta-ê	2'.	from Kesh he came,
3'.	nik-ku d en-lil	3'.	the food of Enlil
4'.	..da-[an]-til	4'.	gives him life.
5'.	d muš-ir pad-balag[12](?)	5'.	Unto Sir[13] there is a cry;
6'.	i]n-sag-g	6'.	she grants favor,
7'.	....nigin....til(?)	7'.	makes all live.
(ii)		(ii)
1′.	..... šu	1′.
2′.	idig[na] azag a-kib-nun azag	2′.	The holy Tigris, the holy Euprhates,
3′.	ġat azag d en-lil	3′.	the holy sceptre of Enlil
4′.	ġar-sag mu-gub	4′.	establish Kharsag;
5′.	ib-bi-ġe-[gá]l	5′.	they give abundance
6′.	ġat-b[i] ur[u]	6′.	His sceptre protects(?);
7′.	bar-ba. . zur . .	7′.	[to] its lord, a prayer..
8′.	nunuz-ki. . . .	8′.	the sprouts of the land....
9′.	..... lù. . . .nu	9′.	.... man(?) .... is not(?)
10′.	..... mê....bi..	10′.	... .are (?)... . numerous (?)
11′.	[me]s [den]-lil	11′.	The hero, Enlil
12′.	[mu-d]a-laġ(?)	12′.	makes bright.
(iii)		(iii)
1′.	.... al lù	1′.	.... protect(?) [man]!
2′.	ama[14] gigal lù	2′.	O lord of darkness protect man!
3′.	ama ud al lu	3′.	O lord of light protect man!
4′.	ama dar al lu	4′.	O lord of the field protect man!
5′.	ama bara al lu	5′.	O lord of the sanctuary protect man!
6′.	mu[15] ug-fu singu[16]	6′.	Clothe thy king in singu!
7′.	dingir ga lu	7′.	O god be favorable to man!
8′.	ug-gi temen sag-gi	8′.	Make strong the new temple platform!
9′.	d en al du-rim	9′.	O divine lord protect the little habitation!
10′.	buru[17] engur lul al-la[18]	10′.	O well of the mighty abyss, give protection!
11′.	sig[19] al sig singu	11′.	A large garment, a singu garment
12′.	úz gi-za. . . .ģa-qa-a[20]	12′.	goat thour bringest(>) . . . . let them be offerings(?)!
(iv)		(iv)
1′.	. . . . še	1′.
2′.	šar . . . .gé-gé	2′.	Abundance (?) . .he restores.
3′.	gù nar-ne gù nar-ne	3′.	His musician sings; his musician sings:
4′.	uru-da ba-la	4′.	"To the city he gives protection,"
5′.	e é-mud	5′.	The temple he strengthens;
6′.	mušen a-ba šub-bi	6′.	O bird[21], who can overthrow it?
7′.	rug-má lál-a-ge zid a-ba-ta sig-gi	7′.	My gain is great. The flour by whom is it increased?
8′.	ge edin lal-a é-za a-ba-ta dê	8′.	A plain is filled. Thy water by whom is it poured out?
9′.	da-ba la é-gal ru ga mu-rug	9′.	His hand makes the overflow of great waters; it increases fatness.
10′.	lil-lal[22] gašan šu mud	10′.	The demon, the cloud-lord is impetuous;
11′.	mušen a-ba šub-bi	11′.	O bird,[21]who can overthrow him?
12′.	rug-ma lal-a- ge a-ba-ta sig-gi	12′.	My gain is great, by whom is it poured out?
	....		....
(v)		(v)
1′.	....	1′.	....
2′.	dnin-ģar-sag-da išib-lil	2′.	To Ninkharsag belongs demon-enchantment;
3′.	azag-išib[23] šu-na mu-[ru?]	3′.	brilliant enchantment her hand [created (?)];
4′.	dba-da mu-na e-ni-gé-gé	4′.	Bada opposed to her his word(?)[24]
5′.	gá-azag ga-mê gá-rug ga-mê	5′.	"The house is bright," may she say[23]! Page:Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions.djvu/21 Page:Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions.djvu/22 Page:Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions.djvu/23 Page:Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions.djvu/24 Page:Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions.djvu/25 Page:Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions.djvu/26 Page:Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions.djvu/27 Page:Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions.djvu/28 Page:Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions.djvu/29 Page:Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions.djvu/30 Page:Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions.djvu/31 Page:Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions.djvu/32 Page:Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions.djvu/33 Page:Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions.djvu/34

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1. Compare Barton, The Origin and Development of Babylonian Writing, Part I, pp. 204–221.
2. See Barton, Sumerian Business and Administrative Documents from the Earliest Times of the Dynasty of Agade.
3. See Hilprecht, Explorations in Bible Lands During the Nineteenth Century, 1903, p. 388 ff. and Clay, Light on the Bible from Babel, 1907, p. 117.
4. See A. Poebel, Historical Texts, Philadelphia, 1914, p. 133 f.
5. Peobel, Historical and Grammatical Texts, No. 3; Historical Texts, pp. 92 ff. and 132 ff.
6. Clay, Miscellaneous Inscriptions in the Yale Babylonian Collection, p. 30 ff.
7. Hilprecht, Old Babylonian Inscriptions, No. 3.
8. Hilprecht, Ibid., Nos. 1 and 2.
9. See Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, New York, 1912, 127ff.
10. This might, of course be rendered, "It came forth." Since the preceding context is lost, it is not certain what the subject of the verb is. From later portions of the text it is tempting to conjecture that it was some epidemic which spread from Kesh, as the pestilence is said to have spread from city to city in Philistia in 1 Sam. 5.
11. The ideogram for Kesh is almost identical with the form of it in the Laws of Hammurabi, iii, 32, except that there it is followed by ki while here it is followed by liš, possibly to be read tu. At Nippur, the sign tu apparently had the value of ki, for in the "Sumerian Epic," published by Langdon, the name of the god Enki is several times spelled en-tu.
12. The expression pad-balag appears to be a compound phrase for a cry. Pad = qibû (OBW, 407¹²), and balag = balaggu or balangu, "cry" or "howl." The expression could, apparently, denote either a cry of sorrow or of joy.
13. For a discussion of this deity, see the general comments on this text below.
14. The sign ama is the ideogram for "wild ox." It was also employed as an ideogram for emuqu, "strong," "deep," "wise," for bêlu, "lord," and for qarrâdu "warrior"; cf. OBW, 183. It was a favorite epithet of Enlil. A whole series of hymns at Nippur is known as the series ama-e bara-na-ra, "the wild ox of his sanctuary"; see Reisner, Hymns, p. 33, etc., and Langdon, Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms, p. 96 f. The "wild ox of the sanctuary" is in that title an epithet of Enlil. In line 5′ we have the very expression ama bara, "wild ox of the sanctuary"; there can be little doubt, therefore, that the passage is an appeal to Enlil. For al=naşâru, see OBW, 260³.
15. For singu cf. B, 7100. Cf. also l. 11 below.
16. For mú=labdsu, "clothe," see OBW, 481³⁰.
17. The sign buru may be due to an accidental perforation of the tablet. If omitted, the sense would not be materially altered. It would be "O mighty abyss, give protection!"
18. Possibly the reading is al-ku here, but, if so, the sense would be unaltered.
19. Apparently a list of offerings begins here.
20. Cf. OBW, 593.
21. Perhaps to be rendered, O Enlil; cf. OBW, 8².
22. B. 5940.
23. The sign mê (išib) signifies "incantation," "enchantment" (OBW, 478^{5, 6}) and also šasû, "to speak." The context indicates that here me means to "say as an incantation."
24. OBW, 62³.