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Sacred Texts and the First Myth about the Creation
of Writing
Annette Zgoll
Seminar für Altorientalisti ät Göttingen Germany
Annette.Zgoll@phil.uni-goettingen.de
Abstract
”
divine ” demonstrates that
sheds new light on the origins
economic
coping with ritual needs
Keywords
sacred text myth of the creation of writing Mesopotamian myths origin of
writing Nissaba raise to Nissab subscript ka ritual
Hylistic authorship translation genre oral tradition praise
Keš Hymn Nanše A Lugalbanda Epic Erra Epic
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1 The Myth of the Creation of Writing and the Oldest Sacred
Tex t (Keš Hymn)
Mesopotamia is usually not counted among the cultures with sacred text
which in
antiquity were labelled as the words of the gods as well as the inter pretation of
amulets as sacred text But what is the situation in the preceding centuries?
How was the creation of such sacred texts imagined by the Mesopotamians
s? The analyses of 3r Sumerian texts pre
origin and transmission of sacred text Analyses on a new methodological basis
Mythological Research Group 2064
)Myth and Ritual
Project new translations of textual source Hylistic reconstruc
tions of myth and systematic studies of rituals in Mesopotami
was presented under the title
zu frühesten religiösen Schriftquellen der Menschheit” in the context of the Göttingen
lecture series erstehst du auc was du liest? Debatten über Heilige Texte in Orient and
Okzident” presented on httpwou
tuboatc=79g_bEITSog I am particularly grateful to the members of the research
group whose stimulating interes questions and comments helped to shape this pape
Balbina Bäble Jennifer Bran Gösta Gabrie Brit Kärge
ülle and Christian Zgol
religions
9
the religions of the ancient Near Eas atsächlich besitzen die Religionen des Alten Orients
nur Ansätze zu de was man heilige Schriften nennen kan
the crite
rion for calling a text sacred is its canonisatio Or see for instance Botté who points
to he sacred nature” bi of Mesopotamian objects such as temple
makes no mention of text 3 rightly cautions that the
how
as this study will sho
as an indicator for the sacredness of texts
texts such as Sulgi E
ritten)
and earth” as expresse for exampl y; see
4;
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The article is structured as follow
Keš
Hymn)
EK
The Myth N
Text
” as a Marker of a Sacred Text
3 Sacred Texts from the Subterranean Ocean Nanše A)
Praise Song to Našše (Nanše A)
Praise Song to Lugalbanda (Lugalbanda
Epic)
Erra Epic)
6 Results and Outlook
The Three Pillars of Translation
Texts
Texts
7 Bibliography
l;
contemporary Egyptolog is cautious in this regar If one asks further about
the oldest religious texts from ancient Egyp the Pyramid Text which were inscribed in the
are often mentione
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1.1 At the Beginning
One of the oldest religious texts of ancient Mesopotamia is the Song of Praise
to Nintu and her Temple at KešKeš Hymn Its main
protagonis Nint is a mother goddes or goddess of birth and city deity
of Keš The centre of Keš is
Nintu’s temple; the city of Keš and the associated are understood in
antiquity as the land belonging to Nintu’s templ The praise song to the sanc
tuary of Kešs; one dates
to the entury enturies
or ouse” according to their Sumerian designatio But these stanzas or
ouses” perhaps also correspond to houses of the sanctuar which the song
of praise concern It is therefore possible that it was sung in the context of an
nnual) pilgrimag Each stanza closes with a refrai
Rathe the beginning tells a stor which could be described as a frame story
for the praise song;
In this initial story there are three important
protagonist namely three deitie In addition to the city goddess Nint Enli
appear and Nissab the goddess of
writin enters the scene as wel The song of praise begins with this stor
e;7th century
The most recent
6
A new edition by Kärger is in preparatio
š with Tulul 6;
see the Song to the God
Bazi latest translation 9) or the
Praise Song to Našše Nanše A)
šše temple of Nii
es
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nam nam
e
the princ The
the princ Something
led him out of the temple and that had
consequence
nam e
The god Enli the
princ Something led him out of the temple
and that had consequence
nam
e
the princ
the sake of kingshi something led him out
of the templ and that had consequence
igi
Enlil began to turn his gaze to the
mountain
kur ni
Enli the mountains began to rise
there in their terrible aur
limmu
kiri
dant for Enlil like a garde
Keš sa men
al
The city of Keš crowned itself for him with
a
Keš sa
il
Keš was now the one who raised her head
Keš Hymn transliteration plus literal translation; for a freer translatio see
belo
The interpretation of the beginning of the text is not eas
nam to the Old Babylonian equation nam = nam = rubû in Nippur
A iii 9 Brit Kärge who also inspired me to extend the search for the
class furthe like nam n the tablet from Tell
Ab alb) tablets) can be understood as an element that forms abstracta
9or namšita)
for exampl interprets as rinceliness”ürstlichkeit”) and interprets this as a
title for Nint
agent e) in this sentenc but one referring to the goddess 6)
lengin The basis of the present translation is the content parallel to the beginning of the
Gudea Cylinders since there to the city plays an essential rol insofar as the city sets
The result of the city’s action is similar to that in the Keš Hymn it
leads to Enlil’s namely the construction of the
templ
{na} has a syntactic functio
reported afterward Wilcke
9; Zgoll and Kä based on my unpub
with Brit Kärge who is at work on a new edition of the tex
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acting at the beginnin In other word who or what makes Enlil come out
of which temple? if a god comes out of a temple and this tem
then that the temple must be his ow Therefor
Enlil must here be understood as coming from his own templ This temple
of Enlil is located in Nippu It remains unclea who is responsible for
Enlil coming out of his templ
comes from something that is not understood as a person in Sumeria though
The fact that one does not immediately know who is meant is typical
of the style of Sumerian literary text In the beginnin one senses something
like a hidden secre Tension arise
Enli who is being led out of a templ This
so it has something typically hymnal about i Certainl
we are missing a dimension here that originally made the fascination of this
namel the musical arrange
men It i after al the beginning of a praise son
praising man
ne
In terms of conten This narration continues in
this wa Enlil directs his gaze at the mountain the moun
tains ris donned with their terrible aura which
distinguishes them as sacred place All four regions of the world hat i the
whole world) appear green for Enlil as if it were a garde Such a sequence of
But now
an essential protagonist is adde the city of Keš The city of Keš crowns itself
with a crown iterall with a turban called men in Sumerian)
a city is to be understood as the temple of the city deit Crowned by this
templ Keš That
city thus belongs to these ountain” not unlike someone who stands out
primus inter pares)
See also Keš Hymn 96) belo
We will look at this in more detai
place at the beginning of the worl
On the temple as rown” men) of a city see also Eridu Temple Hymn dition
Sjö9)
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class he important omething” of lines It is
the city of Keš This city plays an important role in this son One may wonder
one must
know that city and temple in Mesopotamia belong together like two sides of
a single coi
deit
as its ground The temple and city of Keš are a major theme of the son with
Keš
complicating considerably the text’s understandin The problem can be par
tially remedied by an edition tha in addition to the basic literal translation
e) freely paraphrased translation in
which the essential information which was clear to the original contempo
raries of the text is incorporated and whic at the same tim aims for the
most accurate possible wording in the target languag In other word it is an
appealing translatio In the case at han this free translatio combined with
a free transcription that treats Sumerian as a language ot just a sequence of
cuneiform signs) reads as follow
nam nune nam nune eta
namtabe
the famous princ
eig the famous princ
I namely the city of Keš led him out of his
temple in Nippur on behalf of Nint
Enlil nam nune eta
namtabe
The god Enli the famous
princ
Keš led him out of his templ
nam nune namlugala eta
namtabe
the famous princ
Keš
and this had weighty consequence
Enlile kurkura igi minibilili Enlil turned his gaze to the mountain
See 3ü
and city; in the Ritual Text for a Temple Construction lso called Marduk, Creator of the
World) it is reported that at the beginning of the world no temple and no city existe
Late the temple of the city god of Babylon and thereby at the same time its city
Babylon are created
both with further literature)
one with a transliteration of the cunei
form signs plus a literal translatio the other with a transcription of the Sumerian words
plus a fre paraphrasing translatio was introduced in the edition of
Praise Song to Innana in
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Enlilra kur niba munailili and there the mountains were about to rise
for hi Enli dressed with their terrible aur
anubda limmu Enlilra
kirigen munasi
for Enlil as if they were a garde
Keš sa men munanibal The city of Keš crowned itself with a crown
for Enli
Keš kurkura sa ilbim Keš
the mountain
Keš Hymn transcription plus free translation according to the sens
After this insight into the origin of the worl a section follows that will
become important for the topic of the origin of writing and for the search for
sacred text
Keš za
am
While Enlil was now singing the praise
song to Keš
Nissaba Nissaba was the only one who knew
how to writ
because she had mastered the art of
words like a ne
aa šše aa
There was a table
While she was taking i
while she took this tablet in her han …
Keš Hymn transliteration plus free translation
What happens here can be summarised as follow The state god Enlil begins
to sin He sings the song of praise to Keš He is not alone with Nint the ruler
of Keš but in addition Nissaba is presen the goddess of the grain and the art of
writin Nissaba in this context is the one able to write e will come back
she masters the art of tying the song of
praise that Enlil sing as one ties a ne by taking a writing tablet in her hand
{a} Zgoll and Kä chapter
I owe the translation ike a net” to Brit Kärge
for a more literal translation; dili see Wilcke
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and writing down on it this song of Enli The following lines are therefore to be
understood as a quotation of the actual praise song to Nintu and Keš
The Song of Praise to Nintu and her Temple at Keš thus consists of three part
The god Enlil sings a praise song to Keš
The goddess Nissaba writes down the song of Enlil
3 Content of Enlil’s song of praise to Keš )
1.2 The Creation Myth ENLIL ACTIVATES THE TEMPLE OF KEŠ
We are here on the trail of a myth that takes us into the beginnings of the worl
ning of the world is here imagine This temple belongs to the state god Enli
This temple will be Enlil’s temple in Nippu The city of Keš appears as another
protagonis and it causes Enlil to come out of his templ
it is surprising that a city is able to cause the powerful state god to come out
of his templ Since Keš belongs to the goddess of its cit Nint the actions of
Keš can only be understood as an act on behalf o
o the goddess of the city of Keš In other word it is ultimately Nintu her
will show why this fact is
so discreetly stated) Now some
thing amazing happen the mountains ris They come into being and the land
becomes gree On the one han it can
be understood literall the mountains ris the land becomes gree It may be
imagined that mountains here refer to those bordering Mesopotami especially
the Zagros in the eas one wonders whether this interpretation already
captures the entire meaning of the statemen Should the creation myth here
which actually
do not belong to Sumer? And how would the city of Keš
all picture? Besides this literal reading there is another meaning according to
which the mountains and the world’s greening are to be understood as meta
phor Accordingl mountains here may refer to Mesopotamia’s temple which
are regarded as temple mountain That these mountains rise and become
n” and passim with further literatur
The city at the beginning of the Gudea Cylinders
protagonis
Both text the Gudea Cylinders and the Keš Hymn are about the creation and
and in both cases the
state go Enli is introduced at the beginning as an important
See 9 See correspondingly for Keš In the
Keš Hymn
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an with the
citie In this respect it is important that these mountains are said to radiate a
terrible aur This statement can be understood succinctly if we recall standard
Mesopotamian ritual lore in which mountains with aura are cities with their
temple In this initial
world a single ountain” namel the city of Keš
Myths are not to be confused with text
cretised in texts and other medi
tangible but rather must be reconstructed on the basis of their media con
cretisation This is accomplished by Hylistic
the context of Göttingen myth research groups that operates on the basis of the
smallest unit the hyleme By way of the Hylistic methodol
ogy of myth researc the myth processed in this text can be reconstructed with
maximum precisio
possibl and then elaborates the hylemes in i
reconstructio the researcher must transparently break down the content of
a text r other media concretion)
statements are transferred into their intended meanin while implicit state
ments are supplemented nd noted as such)
of the Keš Hymn to each othe
What follows from the fact
that Enlil focuses his gaze on the temples and their cities? In connection to
without further functio That
Enlil’s
Nintu apparently
On the city at the beginning of the world’s formatio see
Left out of this scenario is Enlil’s own cit which apparently already existe The strati
an olde
Keš This
In this wa Enlil is proclaimed
materials see in general 9 A
the phe
through introduction”
gol erman) 7 nglish)
See 9; goll and Gabriel gol Cuperl and
Cö
with further
readin see
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induces Keš
on the temples and their citie Enlil’s gaze must therefore be meaningfu It is
Enlil’s gaz The following hylemes therefore do not occur oincidentally” at
the same time as Enlil’s gaz Coincidences do not exist in myth which ar
after al characterised precisely by their transcending approach to realit
Rathe the rising and towering of the temples and their radiation of terrible
l’s loo just as the prospering of the
world and the crowning of Keš by a templ Precisel the it must be said that
Enlil brings about all this by his gaz the
beginning of the Keš Hymn can now be analysed as follow
Preliminary sequence of hylemes in Keš hymn in the order of the text
Translation of the Text Hylemes
the
princ The
the
princ It amely the city of
Keš) led him n behalf of
Nintu) out of his temple n
Nippur)
the famous princ eš) led
him out of his templ
the
princ
kingship eš) led him out
weighty consequence
princ
[in Nippur]
[Nintu induces] the city of Keš to bring Enlil out of
his temple [in Nippur] for the sake of kingshi
Enlil comes out from his temple in Nippur
öttingen research group
see 39erma detailed) 6
myt 7 äl] which is poly
c; an Erzä
in which transcending interpretations of what can be experienced are combined into a
of the human conditio”
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Translation of the Text Hylemes
the mountains
ities)
ities) were
about
to rise for hi Enli dressed
with their terrible aur
Literal reading: mountains
In myth, however, this does not happen by itself; here,
gods are agents:
[Enlil causes by his gaz] that the mountains carry
a terrible aur
Metaphorical-transferred reading: temples / cities
ities to rise for him by his
gaz
ities to radiate a terrible
aura by his gaz
world
d) became
d)
for Enli as if they were a
garde
Literal reading: mountains
Metaphorical-transferred reading: temples / cities
š crowned
itself for Enli
š was now the head
mountain
From here on, the focus of the text lies on Keš and only
the urban level of meaning is continued
š crowns itself for Enlil with a crow
In myth, however, this does not happen by itself; here,
gods are agents:
š become the most glorious
and supreme of all cities by its templ
š
templeitie
š is now more powerful than all other
templeitie
Preliminary sequence of hylemes in Keš hymn cont.)
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The myth
of the origin of the mountains is not continue It is only touched upo A
can be called a myth fragmen Of the myth fragment present her there are
This myth can be determined as E
The fragment of this myth presented in the Keš Hymn consists
of the following hyleme
The Myth Enlil creates the world with its mountains
Enlil directs his gaze toward the mountain
Enlil makes the mountains rise through his gaz
[Enlil causes by his gaz] that the mountains carry a terrible aur
Enlil makes the world green [through his gaze]6)
[The whole world is green like a garden to Enlil
This myth shimmers in the background of the other myths like a kind of om
panion myt” But other myths about the temples and cities are the focus of
the song of prais more information in the fol
The line speaks about Enli who sings a song of praise
to Keš is
anything but a purely formal ceremonial act in which grandiose speeches are
made about something that is already conclude
praise song constitutes a form of transformatio through it power is trans
ferred and a new state is create a being with new abilitie In other word
if the god does not sing this song and if no other functionally corresponding
then the temple of Keš cannot enter into its power
ful mode of bein it cannot functio and thereby the whole city is unable to
The praise son thu bears an extremely important function for the
goddess Nintu and for her cit
In the pure text
reading one is easily led by the textual arrangemen This would mean that the
following larger sections epresented in the form of hyperhylemes) would fol
low each other or a correct representation see below)
See footnote
project and in the context of the Research Group ee footnote
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Hyperhylemes: Nintu, Enlil, and Keš analysis, improved below)
Nintu induces Enlil to turn his gaze to Keš
Enlil’s look causes Keš to rise t)
Enlil sings his praise song to Keš
Enlil’s praise song seems to hang in the ai one does not know how it comes
about and wha if an are its consequence But what was true in the case
of Enlil’s gaze holds here as wel if such a song coming from the highest god
were truly of no consequenc it would not be reported in a myth about origin
Enlil’s song of praise mus therefor
sequence With the appropriate
methodolog it becomes clear that problems in understanding these
the
The problem with Enlil’s
and these need not follow the chronological order of
ne cannot speak two things at the same tim
y; and poetic language can change
the order for rhetorical or aesthetic reason) Therefor in order to recon
struct the myt it is necessary to think about how this chronology can be restore
It remains unclear why Keš is to be regarded higher than all other
templescitie
The
3 The content of the song of prais presented in the following text
has to be added to the analysis;š and its
templ
4 l’s actions can therefore be distinguishe
he uplifting of citie
their aurg)l’sš
Taken togethe to lead to the conclusion that Enlil’s song is the
reason that Keš gets more powerful than all other templeitie
The outcome of these consideration namely the implicit hylemes and implicit
reconstruction of the myt In chronological orde this appears in the follow
ing excerpt from the myth that we can call E
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NK
Excerpt of the Myth Enlil activates the temple of Nintu in
Keš through his song of praise
[Nintu induces] the city of Keš to bring Enlil from his temple in Nippur
for the sake of kingshi 3)
Enlil comes out of his temple in Nippur3)
This has consequence 3)
[Thereby Nintu] induces Enlil to turn his gaze to the ountains =) tem
pleities and sings his praise song to Keš 9)
Enlil looks at the templeitie
[Enlil causes with his look] that the templeities rise for hi
[Enlil causes with his look] that the temple radiate a terrible
aur
[Enlil causes with his look] that the whole world
templeities) 6)
Enlil sings a praise song to Keš
[Enlil’ss] the temple in Keš
[Enlil’s praise enables] the temple in Keš to function as it shoul
makes it able to use its power] 9)
[Enlil’s song of praise causes] Keš to become more powerful than all
9)
š become the most glorious and supreme of all
cities because of its templ 7)
Keš is now the most supreme and powerful cit
As will be shown belo more information can be gained about this myt
1.3 The Cryptic End of the Text
How does the end of the text relate to the end of the myth? The penulti
mate stanza shows Nint the mistress of the temple and the cit sitting and
drinking wine and beer But Nintu cannot
possibly be celebrating alon in the presence of only her priest
the necessary cul
tural knowledge can be gained to understand that such an assumption would
be mistake Where gods build temples and put them to their function by acti
a feast follows at the en in which the gods celebrate togethe
see belo
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raditionally Lagaš)
them Gudea Cylinders)
of Marduk at Babylo
templ the other gods feast with him in his new templ The ritual enact
known in
the tradition concerning Enki’s
modern title Enki’s Journey to Nippur whic more appropriatel should be
designated The Consecration of Enki’s Temple As with irsu in Laga one
would expect the feast to take place in Enki’s new templ Erid though instead
the feast takes place in Nippu As in many other mythical tradition
The is
thus adapted to the primacy of Enli Important for our reconstruction of the
Keš Hymn is the fact that in The Consecration of Enki’s
Temple In the
Keš Hymn the mention of Nintu’s
this feast is a feast of the gods as wel
How are these priests to
be understood when it comes to a feast of gods? To answer this questio we
need to examine Mesopotamian ideas about how rituals wor In doing s it
becomes clea Mythical and ritual representation are here intertwined
ing the ritua certain priests embody deitie This is made explicit in the son
he high priests of the temple are the Anuna gods”
these priests as a manifestation of the Anuna gods ust as the ritual expert is
during the ritual the tatue” of a go the god’s real embodimen
is one of the indicators that this song is rooted in the cultic spher that it
The reading of agas” instead of the traditional agaš” follows Attinger apud Mittermayer
6 ö as well as the translation in
dition Kämmerer and Metzler
3;
4)
r’s
with further literature; see also orthcoming)
a more recent edition with further references
see footnote
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does not only narrate about a feast of Nintu but that on this occasion the priests
are the embodiment of the gods and the priestly actions are the embodiment
of
transforming the house into a powerful temple occur during the ritua This
The feast is experienced as a
of which the myth tell
will take place in the ere and now” of the ritua
The end of the myth can thus be extended by further hylemes or a further
w)
The End of the Myth analysis, improved below)
with a feas
The Anuna god who are part of Nintu’s household communit cel
ebrate with Nint
But where are the highest deitie including Enli Enkl?
In other the newly installed temple is celebrated not just by the fam
ily and court of the city deito in the Gudea
Cylinders where the court deities enter the temple with irsu)
proper is celebrated by the city deity with other city deitie
this practice would be especially strange in the case of the Keš Hymn After al
Enlil should not be absent from the feas since he sang the praise song for Nint
It would not be surprising if the myth remained fragmentary in this poin as is
often the cas
nd of its concretion in the cyclically repeated ritual) are still detectabl and
these may be traced through a new analysis of the end of the tex
A new challenge arises her The four lines of the concluding stanza efore
the refrain)
This is problematic insofar as these lines are particularly importan which can
be seen in their positioning at the end of the text as well as in the manifold rep
etitions in the That the lines resist understanding is due to the ambiguity of
the Sumerian languag and to the fact
dess Nint
C raw nea ma to the cit to the ”;
ur Stad zur Stad Sollte jeman der n Keš) angekommen is
och) nicht wirklich herangekommen sein?ased on a personal
communication) ur Stad Wer in die Nähe zur Stadt gekommen is der ist
nahe herangekommen n)
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nonsensica In the jungle of these possibilitie the myth reconstruction we
According to this reconstructio gods from outside Keš are expected to come
to celebrate with Nint
ambiguous tex they describe an
o the cit to the city” the gods shall com o the
temple of Keš” they shall com o the hero of Keš Ašgi intu’s son)
the istress of Keš Nintu” they shall com
stoo The
about the
and will not approach the celebrating deities under any circumstances
sketched her person who has approached will by no means approach”
by no means approach the banquet of the deities taking place inside the tem
pl Thu the statement is to be translated a human) had
approached he city)he banquet of the gods
in the cella)
iriše iriše
lu
o the cit to the city ou gods)
human) had approached he
city)he banquet
of the gods in the cella)
e keš še
lu
To the templ to Keš to the city ou gods)
he city)
he banquet of the gods
in the cella)
ašše
lu
To its eš’s) hero Ašgi ou gods)
he city)
he banquet of the gods
in the cella)
še3 i[ri]še3 lu
o the cit to the city ou gods) human) had approached he
city)he banquet of the gods in the cella)
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še
lu
To its eš’s) mistres Nintu ou gods)
he city)
he banquet of the gods
in the cella)
Keš Hymn
The conclusion of the text is complex because it intertwines two statement
š from their cities
The
nected like prerequisite and consequenc The fact that the ordinary people
myth in the beginnings of the worl In this contex such statements mean
determination The gods are to come to Nintu’s
tim
The
Of cours one must assume that the gods will accept this
In the myt this action is to be completed
accordingl The gods from
š at the templ
the form of their statue Thu the time when the song will be performed can
be determine
The reconstruction of the entire myt as presented in the Keš Hymn based on
all hylemes and adjusted in terms of material chronolog thus reads as follow
The whole Myth Enlil activates the temple of Nintu in Keš
through his song of praise in the Version of the Keš Hymn
Certain statements apply before, during, and after the myth durative-
constant hylemes)
Enlil 3)
Enlil is the princ 3)
for an study of the ritual timing of the Keš Hymn
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Other statements apply only at the beginning of the myth durative-initial
hylemes)
Enlil is in his temple n Nippur)
The now listed single-event hylemes denote the events that follow each other
in time
[Nintu induces] the city of Keš to bring Enlil out from his temple in
Nippur for the sake of kingshi 3)
Enlil comes out of his temple in Nippu 3)
This has consequence 3)
[Thereby Nintu] induces Enlil to turn his gaze to the ountains =) tem
pleities and sings his praise song to Keš 9)
Enlil looks at the templeitie
[Enlil causes with his look] that the templeities rise for hi
[Enlil causes with his look] that the templescities radiate a terrible aur
[Enlil causes with his look] that the whole world the totality of the
templeities) 6)
Enlil sings a praise song to Keš
[Enlil’ss] the temple in Keš
[Enlil’s praise enables the temple in Keš to function as it shoul
makes it able to use its power] 9)
[Enlil’s song of praise causes] Keš to become more powerful than all
other templeities because of its templ 9)
š become the most glorious and supreme of all
cities because of its templ 7)
Keš is now the most supreme and powerful cit
[= Nintu][gods of other cities like Enlil] to come to Keš to
the templ
[= Nintu][gods of other cities like Enlil] to celebrate with her
[= Nintu] ensures that rdinary)
[The gods of other cities like Enlil come to Keš to the temple of Nintu
Nintu celebrates with the son Ašg with the Anuna gods er household
community) and with other [namely the gods of other cities] at a
Of cours the
execution of Nintu’s on
of a member of the priesthood)
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This has important lasting resultsdurative-resultative hylemes
[Nintu’s temple in Keš functions properly]
[Nintu possesses the most powerful temple among all other temples]
[Nintu and her city of Keš are powerful because Nintu’s temple in Keš
does something important for the kingship]
1.4 Power Struggles. The Myth Nintu activates her temple
ENK
sheds light on something strikin
prisin If Nintu has such a great power that the most powerful temple far and
wide belongs to hee?
We will tackle with this problem in this sectio
This con
cluding praise at the end of the song is not addressed to Keš ontrary to what the
modern title Keš Hymn may suggest); nor is it addressed to Enli Surprisingl
the praise is addressed to Nint the mistress of Keš and Ašg her so Ašgi
is praised because he has built the templ Nintu is praised because she has
or typi
cal female expressio The Sumerian phrase is mim du But whom should
d? Nothing of this is told in the tex
parallel to the building of the temple? This
of the templ The sense of m im du is crucial to the understanding of what is
at issu The phrase occurs frequently in Sumerian religious and literary text
denotes powerful speech acts in the form of ritual singin Such ritual singing
with the result that
In the present cas
Nintu’s action mim dug)
in a son
bein The subscript of the Keš Hymn can thus be understood a
The present paper’s solution
is consistent with many other myth Indee it is a common phenomenon in many
Sumerian texts and myths that Enlil is nscribed”s; this has
something to do with the fact that Enlil became in the 3rd millenniu
the cult centre of Enli
”
r; they will be elaborated in
subsequent publications from the research area Myth and Ritual ee footnote
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Keš u aš zamim To him who built Keš to the god
Ašgi prais
Keš mim du ama
za
To the one who sang about Keš
in an way nd
thereby enabled it to be powerful)
Mother Nintu prais
Keš Hymn
these are also to
be considered in the reconstruction of our myt Hyleme analysis of these two
lines shows the followin
An Older Mythical Version: Nintu Activates Her Temple
Ašgi builds Kešemple)
šemple) in her son
=šemple)
= [Thus Nintu makes Kešemple) prosper]
praises Ašg
praises Nint
If one places these hylemes beside the myth sequence from the myth E
N K recon
then a problem emerge
cit l? This
be incomplet The problem
is not isolate
are formulated in a conspicuously strange wa the follow
ing inconsistencie discrepancies and other conspicuous features emerge when
Keš Hymn
Inconsistencies, Discrepancies, etc. in the Keš Hymn
At the beginning Enlil sings his song of prais at the end Nintu
sings her son
ple of Kešd? Why do
the two statements stand unconnected to each other? Why are the
statements separated by the entire text?
š and the temple of Keš in this contex
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u? Why doesn’t Nintu
e?
3 Why does Enlil’s temple urely mean in Nippur) already exist at
ountains”) exist
at all?
4 Why does Enlil raise Kešs? Is Keš also supposed
to be higher than his own city Nippur? How can such a goal corre
spond to the intentions attributed to the god Enlil?
Such inconsistencie discrepancies and similar peculiarities are typical for
myth
Accordingl the more
In the present cas the fault lines indicate that not only one
of theš has been handed dow but that at least
two Keš Hymn
š
it is not Enlil but rather the city’s own deity who
while
behind the text’s en
myt which is to be determined as N
Continuing the procedur it is now necessary to
In the
one cas a city goddess equips her own temple with the necessary functions
through her praise son In the othe a superior state god appears to accom
plish this tase)
Here Nintu acts together with
her son Ašg Keš i of cours
among all the citie therefor
K
see erman
)6 nglish)
the application of this method can be found in the publications of the Research
Group and the Collegium Mythologicum Göttingen in the Mythological Studies series; see
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š
Keš is the most important place in the worl
Only by the subordination of traditions of originally independent cities
combining the older
place when Enlil and Nippur were promoted to supraregional ran
which integrates Keš into a larger picture of
the
importance of Keš But at the same time this status is kept
in check by the statement that Keš
Enlil’s In the en a kind of balance is reache Nintu’s temple is still
of the highest ran but the most powerful of the gods is clearly Enli And since
the temple’s rank is only reached through Enli
that of Nint
no longer solely attributed to the owner of the temple Nintu but rather to the
superior state god Enli Her city of Keš and
thus indirectly she hersel
ning of the text; and it is emphasised by a threefold repetitio Keš
word till)
temple to be installed in its essential function And yet Nintu is relegated here
as a protagonis
the tex Only indirectl through her city of Keš is she still presen
supreme power and thus stands in the preeminent positio A struggle for
whether between Nintu and Enlil or between the temples
and priesthoods of both deities and their cities is recognisable her behind
6 and passi
which indeed appears as the goal
of Enlil’s action Enlil allows himself to be led out of his own temple or the sake of
kingship” or the connection of Enlil with kingship in early Sumerian literature see also
9f)š as the praise song show is
responsible for much more than just kingship in genera royal consecration ritual which
take place in the Keš templ
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the scen as it wer
less intent on a certain balanc Nintu likewise comes to an important role
that cannot nd should not) be conceale Therefor a myth fragment that
e’s
at the end of the tex in the subscript praising Nint the beginning
of the text shows indirectly that Enlil’s powerful action is at Nintu’s initia
The powers of the two gods thus appear in a balance in the praise song’s
creatio
but rather something that engaged the authors
considerabl As shall be see this is due to the fact that such texts are per
1.5
The phenomenon that myths and their textual manifestations so often contain
realities of lif The telling of myths is a way of coping with these realitie
Tensions arise necessarily in those cultures that
s incorporated into the Keš Hymn)
On the one han one is obliged to keep
an on the othe
one meets the necessity to adapt the mythical traditions to contemporary
especially with regard to the hierarchies among the gods and the
demands of the deitie Quite often the solution for such tensions between
nd correspondingly between tra
s) was to combine the one with the othe They told
but still retained at least parts
tag
less prominent but still powerful deitie
see in detail
A founds the templ
praisines 3
37
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In this wa layers trata) were created as in the Keš Hymn whose original
the son of the city goddess builds the temple and the city goddess herself acti
thereby enabling it to perform the
powerful tasks mentioned in the son The rest of the son describes
In the meantim
presumably originally only in Enlil’s cult
centre of Nippu
in their ritual The peculiarity lies in the
fact that Another reason for
this is that these myths are not attributed to one’s
1.6 The First Myth of the Creation of Writing
In the followin we will deal with another protagonist who appears in the
Keš Hymn namely Nissab Her to there is a pecu
liar detail in the wordin the description of what Nissaba does is not directly
understandabl In order to understand what is happening her one must
know something about the typical style of ancient Near Eastern and especially
Sumerian text These texts usually describe only the major line extremely
concisel only the essentials appea
Enlil sings the song of prais one statemen one lin the descrip
Nissaba was the only one who knew how to writ
because she mastered the art of tying up the praise song like a ne
There was a writing table
While she took thi
Keš Hymn
Thu unlike Enli whose action amel singing) is described in one lin the
statement that Nissaba writes down the song is carried out in three lines which
contain statement
hile she took thi while she took this tablet”
and in desig like the beginning of the
tex which was intended to highlight Enlil’s
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the analysis of the sentence
structure shows that the statement about Enlil’s singing is referred to as a
background actio Enlil’s singing is morphologically subordinated a3
am3) it is possible to detect the target phrase of
the passage x)
tenc issaba was the only one who knew how to writ” And a further target
phrase follow here was a writing table” The length of the section about
Nissab the repetition of the phrase about writin and its formulation as a
target phrase all indicate that something of paramount importance is at stake
her The particular design raises the questio Why is this statement about
Nissaba’s writing so important?
If we recall the context of this writin
ation of the worl the mountains come into bein the temples come into bein
At this early point in time when mountain temple and cities are create when
Enlil creates his song for Keš there is only one answer to the question why the
narration of Nissaba’s writing is so strongly highlighte This must be
time when someone write This is the exact meaning of the phrase issaba was
the only one who knew how to write” which is expressed
in the formal arrangement of the tex only makes sense if Nissaba’s writing is to
The art of writing is highlighted
In many myths
a kind of creation is describe It is typical of myth that something that happens
To the experts who sung the praise song and to those who wrote it dow the
things? that i in a combined approach
of word researc grammar researc and contextua semantic
researc we can now translate the original Sumerian text more precisel
While Enlil was now singing the praise song to Keš
there was Nissab
Through her ar she was able to tie the praise song tightly like a ne
While she was taking it
Keš HymnThe following is the content of Enlil’s praise song
see 39 47
goll and
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Her to
cia complex way by positioning results prior to the actions from which they
follo The hyleme analysis reconstructs the myth in its chronological order
The Myth NISSABA CREATES WRITING FOR THE SACRED SONG OF
ENLIL
In the beginning there is a state of non-existence (durative-initial hyleme)
No one can writ
Then several single-event hylemes take place
Enlil sings the praise song to Keš
[Nissaba creates writing in order to write down the praise song of Enlil]
[Nissaba creates for her writing]
Nissaba takes the t] writing tablet in her han
Nissaba is able to tie up the song of praise from Enlil’s words like a
ne
Nissaba writes down the praise song of Enlil while he sing
The text that follows is understood from the emic perspective as this very
praise song of Enlil,a’s writing.
The result is permanent durative-resultative hylemes)
Now there is the art of writing and writing tablet
Now there is the praise song of Enlil to Keš secured in written form cre
ated by Nissab
The myth reconstructed from both parts and can thus be sum
marised as follow
cities)
let to write down the praise song on the temple of Keš
corresponds to the
image behind the English and German word ex” which goes back to Latin
textus tied) fabri” from texere o plai e”; the metaphor is
much older going back to Sumerian u keše and Akkadian ku)
both meaning o ti to kno” The cultural background of the image in the Keš
Hymn could be the early clay tablet
Best known from the end of the Temple Hymns of
Praise Song to Erra the Erra Epic
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the precursors of the later line The words were then placed in these boxes
in the form of the character apparently paying particular attention to their
Her
uted a high importance her
on the goddess of writin Nissab We already know a Sumerian narra
is a historicising
legend myth about the origin of writing was know
No Keš Hymn
the 7th centuries from the
texts were written dow was understood
in the same way)
The implications of this are and it is
not yet possible to consider them in ful But already here it can be stated that
according to this myt writing arises during the unfolding of the worl and it
Thu in the original
the origin of writing
hat would
I owe this insight to Christian Zgol
Tablet
see En-merkara and the Lord of Arata
9)
yth” presents real challenges for researc In the last year
the Collegium Mythologicum Göttingen and the Myth Research Group
The outcome is the frame theory for mythological
research that is presented in the Tractatus Mythologicus of
see especially lo ci
7
the form of this text is literar the content is
mythica and the function is ritua
Keš Hymn since
The idea of Nissaba
Keš Hymn
e; he Old Babylonian
but is a
for centurie the concept of Nissaba as creator of writing is also indicated
by the results on textual subscripts with the statement issaba prais
y
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w)
against foreign countrie The goddess
song of praise to Keš The song of the highest god is important because it forms
The creation
of the text and the creation of writing occur in order to make a praise song
created by gods durable so it can be secured for its use in an important ritua
1.7 The Creation of the First Sacred Text
The transcription of Enlil’s song in the Keš Hymn is singled out by the myth
N as some
thing uniqu This can only be understood if what is being inscribed is truly
outstandin Enlil’s song an with i the Keš Hymn
and as the following sections
will make cleare this hits the mar such a song
possesses power that changes reality; in the case of the Keš Hymn insofar as it
is only the singing of the song that turns a particular building into a functional
temple of Nint which can itself exercise powe
The tex transmitted orally and in writin originates from the gods and
thus stands in special proximity to the Entities that belong to the sphere
express sacredness In Mesopotami The
and are associated with ray shin or aur One such term is adiant song”
er3 ku3 which is functionally a counterpart to what we call acred text”
Se for exampl Nisse Damero 3;
6;ä
En-merkara and the Lord of
Arata9
6ä has found
This essential point will be the focus of further contributions to the Myth and Ritual
Project ee footnote
See e;
istic see loc. cit.
one with
the terms ser3 and ku3
ser33 n his transliteration erk
that ser3 ku3 often has a meaning of ym” while the othe ser33
of Akkadian serkugû often means something like ncantatio” These may sound like
ing why the two uses stem from one expressio both belong
together because both refer to texts used in rituals or the function of praise songs or
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§3)s;
that i such a song itself bears sacred character and belongs to the god It is
quite possible that people in Mesopotamia referred to the Praise Song to Nintu
and Her Temple at Keš as such a adiant son” Be that as it ma in this song
one which shows that the song was consid
ered a sacred tex It is the myth that frames the song of praise and tells of the
text’s A mythi
cal text of this kind is immediately understood to be sacre and in a more
powerful way than the simple designation of acred” The
gods thus create the song in two way
the
The myth thus makes it clear that the Keš Hymn is a sacred text from the per
It may also be said here that according
to Mesopotamian perception this sacred text was not merely created by gods;
it was also intended for the sake of god
Our myth about the creation of writing is therefore simultaneously also a
The impression by Nissaba of the song on the
nd the original text it records) was the one
from which all further tablets were copie
the original text written by the goddess of writing who had created the tab
let at the beginning of the worl Concerning the Keš Hymn it may thus be
form this song of Enlil could now be passed o The written text was thus a
According to this thinking the praise
”
ymns” in rituals see the present paper and forthcoming publications
of the Myth and Ritual Project see footnote
high ran such as Enli Enk or Err Singing sacred songs is therefore a major priestly
duty it is not possible to be sure which
of the two is mean Enk the god of rituals 7)
bestow sacred songs and sacred spell Since the interest of the present study is in sacred
text I will refer here to the basic meaning of ser3 ku3 as adiant son” which means
y” o closer to our terminolog acred son”
The fact tha it is precisely the writing down of the song that is held
centrally demonstrates that the writing down of such sacred texts presented a unique
concern for those who dealt with these composition As will become apparent in the
Myth and Ritual Project ee footnote
unproblemati
before that
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In today’s terminolog the term acred text”
closest correspondence to thi
2 The Subscript “Nissaba Praise!” as a Marker of a Sacred Text
Typicall research outcomes lead to further question One such example in
the present instance is the search for other sacred text Mesopotamia has a
history of some
the earlier period for instanc
our understanding of the particularities of the Sumerian each with
its own main deity and central templ
other sacred texts in Mesopotamia during the long period after the city of Keš
perishe so that the goddess of Keš at
least in the state cul
An important result of the analysis of the Song of Praise to Nintu and Her
Temple at Keš for the search of sacred texts in ancient Mesopotamia is a fur
by her creation of writing it is she
The
question naturally arises whether Nissab as goddess of writin was also cred
ited with securing othe comparable songs through transcriptio Indee it
is noticeable that there are quite a few other Sumerian praise song which
the enigmatic labe Nissaba za3 issaba prais” These songs might be
praise songs to Nissaba hersel many of these make it clear that their
content is to be understood as a praise to another deit as in the case of the
Praise Song to Nintu and Keš when other gods and their
deeds are praised within praise song the aforementioned
praise of Nissaba often appears in the subscript of praise song sometimes
with an additional subscript praising the particular deity to whom the song
is addresse Traditionall the subscript noting Nissaba is understood as an
homage by scribes to the scribe goddes
sition on the basis of this paper’s And so it may be
aske Why is Nissaba praised on these occasion when the actual praise song
y?
That the Keš Hymn
understanding other praise songs as wel The myth N
E demonstrates tha through her deed
Nissaba is to be regarded as praiseworth
explicitly praising Nissaba are to be understood analogousl The reason to
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Nissaba was praised
because it was she who was credited with securing songs sung by the highest
deities in a written for
She had done a fundamental deed by creating writin
han
It is through Nissaba’s
Thu the small text caption issaba praise”
this context to be a trace of a minimal myth fragmen a yth in a nutshel”
s in the Song to Nintu
and Keš) will understan issaba prais” therefor stands for the following
mythic patter
The Mythic Pattern NISSABA CREATES WRITING
Nissaba creates writin
A deity sings sacred text d)
While deity sing Nissaba creates the transcription of sacred text
on a table
In order that sacred text
for it to be written down on an actual clay tablet by an actual scrib such a
The Mythic Pattern Nissaba initiates certain people into the
art of writing and into a particular sacred text
Nissaba initiates a certain person into the art of writin
This certain person is now expert in the art of writing e)
a’s original tablet with sacred
text
This second person is now expert in the art of writing he second scribe)
This second scribe makes a copy of the copy of Nissaba’s original tablet
with sacred text
The second scribe initiates another person into the art of writin
…
erman; ylemschem” a”);
4nglish; S pattern” 4
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to praise the scribe goddess and praising exclamations of her appear more
These are found on early clay tablets that originate from the
Here Nissaba is praise inter alia as the nowing one” u)
which must of course refer to her knowledge of the art of writing that she has
created and for whic therefor she is called the upreme one” xx)
These statements about Nissaba’s outstanding rank are singula in the text
corpus of the early dynastic texts such ran titles are ascribed to no other
deit
experts allowed to transcribe these text
e; for such praise songs were
considered the centrepiece of powerful ritual
Thus the subscrip issaba Prais” is hardly to be regarde as had some
times been assume
their patroness of the art of writin As primary meaning of the doxolog it
is to be noted that the call to praise Nissaba in subscripts assigns the respec
which are actually property of the god but
through the goddess Nissaba also become accessible to certain peopl We
texts that are set down in writing
by deities such as Nissab Nabû
74
These subscripts are contemporaneous with the earliest copies of the Praise Song to Nintu
and Keš In the hitherto extremely fragmentary tradition of this
This does not mean
by Nissaba was not yet know but only that it cannot be found on the few fragments that
The subscripts full of Nissaba’s
74
s
where the ritual god Enki has to justify himself before the assembly of gods in the face
the decisions of the gods ee 7)Myth and Ritual
Project ee footnote
since texts with the praise of Nissaba are to be
The Myth and Ritual
Project ee footnote will examine these issues in more detai
research project
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3 Sacred Texts from the Subterranean Ocean (Nanše A)
Another tex a Praise Song to the Goddess Našše raditionally Nanše A)
Mesopotami Her another myth about sacred texts is tol The protagonists
this time are Enk the ritual god and city god of Erid and his daughter
Našš goddess of a separate called Nii not far from Erid
In the Praise Song to the Goddess Našše there is information about an
interesting myt the ritual god Enki creates sacred songs er3 ku3 literally
adiant songs” š in his own cosmic spac
the underground freshwater ocean Abz After tha someone brings up these
sacred texts from the freshwater ocea This is remarkable in itsel
Praise Song to Enki it is said that no one may enter this abzu; it i after al the
place where Enki works in secret The Consecration of Enki’s Temple 4
In the Praise Song to the Goddess Našše
left ou It can only be someone whom Enki allows to ente In the mythical text
Innana and Enki a similar case is reporte here Enki allows Innana to enter
the Abz Thu it stands to reason that in the Praise Song to the Goddess Našše
to only a deity is granted acces
the song of prais it must be the goddess Našše herself who brings up these
of her own cit
he associated)
These are beings written with the cuneiform characters
33 an otherwise unknown expressio and a group consisting of
male Enkum and female Ninkum3
persons are priests and priestesse who are thought to be manifestations of
some numinous beings of the same name from the surroundings of Enk
Her to it is consequently a matter of sacred text
deities for the sake of deitie as well as of how to gain access to these essen
tial means of powe The origin of the sacred texts is told in this myth
as follow the ritual god
Enki creates the sacred texts and the rituals that go with the Among these
The reading anše” is traditional; the reading ašše” follows Attinger apud Mittermayer
see
The cuneiform signs used to write these beings include a sign
which standing for itself may be read as ser3 on” and another read as muš3 which can
mean anctuar” among other thing
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rituals are especially emphasised those through which one can get insight into
the oracular decisions of the god which are important for the futur The god
dess Našše then brings them up from Enki’s freshwater ocean Abz Certain
deitie embodied in priests and priestesses named 33 and Enkum
Ninku
ritual
4 “Wording of the Words”: Divine Words as Sacred Texts
4.1 Divine Words in the Praise Song to Našše (Nanše A)
In the Praise Song to the Goddess Našše there is another important piece of
information regarding how one is to deal with these sacred text Here falls the
reference that these must be repeated word for word One reads that no one
may add anythin to the text’s precise
ording of the words” a
ation rendering it almost incomprehensibl with
numerous parenthetical notes for its proper understanding eferences to the
literal expression are in the footnotes)
eš ki ser ku
At the behest of Našš who brought
out the oracular decisions and the radiant
d) songs from the mouth
of Abz
will no on
ser while the uminous beings and their
priestly manifestations) from
the Abzu make the songs know
enkum ninkum š
while the rimordial gods and their
priestly manifestations called) Enkum and
the Abz
ording of word
Literall šše) wh
Literallor =) At the behest of hat person =) Našše who brought forth the oracular
d) songs from the mouth of Abz”
Literall u)
On the meaning of the {i} and and Zgoll and Kä
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enim du
ךe) dir
ka
add something to the wording of these
either) whispered word nor loudly
shouted word
Song of Praise to Našše Nanše A)
ka ) of sacred text since these words are the words created by god
in this case the ritual go§3)
from Enki is most powerful; it is a sacred tex Therefore no one will add any
thing to the o
one will ad” stands here for the strongest form of the prohibition and makes
perfectly clea the sacred texts must be carried out exactly and quite precisely
Only then can
they function in the right wa
4.2 Divine Words in the Praise Song to Lugalbanda (Lugalbanda Epic)
The meaning ording of the words” is also shown in a section of the Praise
a (Lugalbanda-Epic) in which the power of
Here it is said that the sun god has powerful words
and songs that only he know but the other high gods do no These powerful
text which he himself may sin writ or dictate to other are essential for
sul tu enim
z
The warrio
has powerful word
ser? zu enim ? ša
He is the one who knows the acred)
songs?
words ecessary for them)
has come to know the owerful) inside of
the word
The copy of the text witness
is × or ×
Literall his wording of the word”
Literall ords powerfully set in clamou”
On the scope of meaning of z see Lä especially 74 The meaning
of enim z especially on the basis of
texts like the present on The context of the present passage deals with words of the gods
The paper here refers to a larger study
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an ge]
si
u) has made sure that [the
stylus] has arranged the wording of the
e) words suitable for these songs in
e[arth]
? sul
the ordering of the wording of the
diir ne
š?
while the Anun the great god do not
know these word
Lugalbanda Praise Song / Lugalbanda in the Mountains / Lugalbanda 7
It is hardly possible to emphasise more how important the sacred texts and
their ritual words ar these words ar as it is said her nergetic” or e”
exactly what is expected from powerful ritual The words belong to songs or
other ritual spell The inside of such songs is powerfu Since the Great Gods
nuna)
words is all the greate And not only tha
orde so that these words form the powerfully working ritual spell The order
o which also the under
world belongs)
4.3 The Subscript ka enim- ma as a Marker of Divine Words
The term ording of the words” a
on hundreds which contain ritual
The transliteration is based on the unpublished
score The primary basis
of the passage is the tablet Ni
Literall fter it [the stylus] has arranged the wording of the e) words
or this =) for the chante[arth]
Literall ”
Literall he ords) that the Anun the great god do not et) kno”
I sincerely thank Claus Wilck whose groundbreaking
insights into the Lugalbanda texts most recently i
the results presented her7; which cor
with further literatur
Electronic Bablyonian Literature”
Jiménez for the opportunity to include this information prior to the public launching
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texts consisting of ritual spells and ritual action The term designates the
words on these tablets that are to be spoken during the performance of
At the same tim it delimits them
from the action which are to be accomplished in this ritua These are noted
in a separate passage following the ritual spell
meaning of this note ording of words” a
Praise Song to the Goddess Našše and the Praise
Song to Lugalbandaording of the words” is a concise term for the
content of those texts that originate from a deity and are to be transmitted ver-
batim In other word the term ording of the words”
The result
of the combined analyses of myths about sacred texts and close textual read
ing and new translations is that the term ording of the words”
an in the cases mentione stands for ording of the words f the sacred
text)” o closer to the Mesopotamian meanin ording of the words f a
deity)
ording of the words” are also to be understood as
sacred texts that reproduce the ording of the words” of a deit What this
means is startlin all such ritual spells were considered to be sacred text In
other word people’s
deitie No wonder people attributed power to them and were in anticipation
This result is surprising in terms of scop In terms of conten the out
come does not stand alon but can be deepened by other statement Explicit
when the ritual expert states that the ritual spell does not
originate from hi but is rather the property of the god
A word on terminolog is in orde
term incantatio Instea the term ritual spell seems more suitable and closer to the emic
; the latte together with ritual actions make up a ritual t is the English coun
terpart to the Greek term legomena and dromena)onsisting of ritual
spells and ritual actions) is written dow one may speak of a ritual text
form of a ritual text may also consist of only its spells or action
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šiptu ul yuttun
The ritual spell is not min
It is the ritual spell of Ea and Asallu
šipat Ištar b[]et râmi It is the ritual spell of Išta
Ritual to remedy impotence ša3 i) 9
Corresponding statements can be found in similar formulations in other ritu
al Ritual Spell for Calming a Crying Infant
šiptu ul yattu
šipat Damu u Gula
šipat Nin-girima [ši]
The ritual spell is not min
It is the ritual spell of Ea and Asallu
It is the ritual spell of Damu and Gul
It is the ritual spell of the mistress
[of ritual spells]
šunu iqbûnimma s)
they told me he ritual spell)
n[ni]nly) repeating he ritual
spell)
Ritual text for Calming an Infant 4
Her on the one han it is Ea and Ea’s son Asallu known like Ea as a rit
ual go and on the other hand it is the healing gods Damu and Gula and the
ritual goddess known from ancient times he 3rd millennium)
know the
Rituals used by the ritual expert šipu; mašmaššu) are attributed to the
ritual god Enka according to a famous tex This is the Catalogue of Texts
and Authors;
In this same Catalogue other texts are also attributed to cer
tain peopl and in some cases their professions are also mentione It is notable
that the professions mentioned there t) belong to
the context of the religious expert Mention is thus made of lament singers
kalû)šipumašmaššu)bû)
powerful texts are transmitted on the one hand by gods and on the other by
3
9
6
7
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idea that priestesse priest and ritual experts act as embodiment and rep
A perfect testimony
of the last point appears in the following text
šiptum šipat Marduk
The ritual spell is a ritual spell of Mardu
the ritual expert is a statue of Mardu
The ritual expert is a tatue of Mardu” which means that he is a manifes
tation of the go not unlike the statue itsel in which the god is imagined
presen
therefor
for ancient Mesopotami sacred texts are not
5 Revelation of a Sacred Text in a Dream (Erra Epic)
As can be seen in the aforementioned Catalogue of Texts and Authors
sacred texts are also attributed to gods and people who embody deities in
Mesopotamian traditio Thes to according
to the clai An outstanding example of this is the Akkadian Erra Epic
Song of Praise to Erra god
of plague and wa According to the tex this song was disclosed by the
god Err to a man named during the nigh during
a drea il faithfully guards this traditio It is emphasised
that he adds nothing and omits nothin In a free translatio the passage reads
as follow
Detailed studies on this topic are also in preparation ee footnote
94
see a;
for the discussion of the text’s The situa
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At the time of the middle watch of the
night he rra)he song) to
him n a noctur
nal dream) and
if he had spoken in a dawn dream
he eglected =)
omitted nothing rom it)
not a single line did he add in addition
o it)
Praise Song to Erra (Epic of Erra)
Akkadian word munattu which does not mean wakening” aking state”
or orning” Rathe munattu is a terminus technicus of
Mesopotamian dream specialist who make a precise distinction between
In
particula a distinction was made between night dreams and munattu the
dream in the early hours of the mornin before sunris the dawn drea
Early morning dreams were considered more important than night dream
Akkadian munattuiri3 literally t
his radiant foo
munattu iri3 are special terms used by dream specialists to
describe a period at dawn when deities act upon human The statement that
someone speaks at dawn during the munattu dream ku)
The name is mentioned in the Song of praise to Erra
Literall t the time of the middle watch of the night he made him see i”
One manuscript of the Catalogue of Texts and Authors ) refers to line 44a
ú-šab-ri-šu-ma id-bu-bu
ušabrišummae)
In the for exampl it was assumed that a dream from
On
Mesopotamian dream theory and practic
dreamerman) nglish)
nglish)erman) 3 erman)
6 with 6
6
6
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therefore refers to deitie not to the dreamer himsel The larger context of
the Mesopotamian dream practice is only hinted at here because it is taken
for grante Whether a dream is actually from a deit and what message the
After this
examinatio dream interpreters must determine the message that a deity has
It is only the
that
A contrast between the dreams
of the night and the dreams of the mornin as here in the Praise Song to Erra
is well known from traditio In the song En-merkara and
the ruler of Arata
the dawn drea
ing the nferior) night drea Such passages indicate that meeting a deity
in a dawn dream is considered to be more important than in a night drea
The Praise Song to Erra also deals with the contrast between the night
dream and the dawn drea but here it is emphasised that Erra’s
Therefor
The statement
text
the message btained from the dream through dream interpretation) is to be
The Praise Song to Erra is thu in its
original perceptio an like the Praise Song to
Nintu and KešPraise Song to
Erra as a sacred tex Because of its sacred qualit has
to
a night drea but has the same meaning as if it had happened in a dawn
In Mesopotami a literary style is
The exception to the rule
is parallel formulation the Parallelismus membrorum but that is
not what we are dealing with her
6
and the human reaction to i due to the middle positio the statement is related to both
the preceding and the following sentence d)
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literary account would simply speak of a dream at daw without reference to
a night drea So why the complication? In my opinio the peculiar wording
In such a case it is understand
able that one has to state data and facts as precisely as possibl similar to the
The Erra epic is thus also a sacred tex created by Erra himsel
a Song of Praise to Erra The
for transmitting the text is reminiscent of the Keš Hymn
refers to himself as the one who notted” ki) the text or the tab
let containing the text; this notting” of the text has a counterpart in the
knotting of the praise song from Enlil’s word creating a solid structure like a
n
correspondingl that nothing may be left out of it) was also well known in the
transmission of sacred text as shown by the Praise Song to Našše Nanše A)
where nothing may be added to the ording of the words riginating from a
deity)” in any wa
The sacredness of the notted” Praise Song to Erra manifests itself not least
As the text itself state the one who contin
ues to transmit this sacred tex whether orally or in writin will experience
the blessing of the praised go if it is a rule
dominion; if it is a singer or scrib Erra will protect him from harm in plague
and war y)
kept shall also be safe from plague Song of Praise to Erra
which contain excerpts from this Praise Song to Erra
6 Results and Outlook
6.1 Methodological Basics: The Three Pillars of Translation
The paper has made clear how basic philological and Hylistic research go
hand in han both in order to understand texts and myths
In this cas it is unlikely that the dream is being experienced purely by chanc Rathe
through ritual means in the face of bad times; which
had been known in Mesopotamia for centuries;
Song of praise to Erra / Epic of Erra
These are the textual witnesse
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translate the texts The
ylistics)
Methodologicall
translation and a myth reconstructio
cately intertwine The basic reading or translation of a text does not promise
an automatic understanding of its conten At the same tim it becomes clear
that one cannot translate texts properly when one does not understand their
content properl The process of translation succeeds only in interaction with
such semantic analysis content)
is thus a necessary methodological tool that must complement the other anal
yses so that a text may be correctly translate
as the three pillars of translatio analyses of gramma and seman
tics
analysis is necessary for a sound translation of a text
essary for a sound reconstruction of a myth
for a sound translation of its text
Keš Hymn
6.2
The study of the Keš Hymn
genre studie Time and agai the question whether a text should be attributed
has been debate Such discussion
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insights since the abels” iterar religiou mythic)
egorie to label a text yth” is misleading as it is not the text
itself that is mythi but its content Sometime it belongs to another sort of
such as legen fairy tal historical repor et
Most ofte at least in Mesopotamian text
into the content of a single tex Thu for exampl in the Keš hymn
Whereas the content may be mythi the form can
be literary as hymnic literatur prose
et) or Such a mythi literary text often belongs to yet another
in broader term religious text These categories
refer to the function of the tex
Therefor it is
as the following table show
Tex t Content Form Function
Praise Song to
Nintu and Keš
mythic literary ritual
= subgroup of religious
Texts in general mythic
legendary
fairy tale
historising
historical
et
literary
with subgroups as
hymni prose et
non literary
with subgroups
record lexical list
historical letters et
religious
with subgroups as
ritua commentary et
legal
economic
entertaining
et
egorie Text cannot be equated with myt since myth belongs to the group
t; literary form does not
exclude ritual functio
understanding and communicating what kind of text we are dealing wit
6.3 Mythical Insights Into the Creation of Sacred Texts
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and transmission of sacred texts were imagined in ancient Mesopotami
ylistics)
§ who are credited with the creation of such sacred
texts through singing and speakin Their powerful songs and spells are used
such as the
functioning of temple and thus the prosperity of the
of a sacred tex which has been handed down in the Keš Hymn
7th centurie It is the myth E
K Enlil’sš
task
for exampl the myth of E
K
N K that attributed the cre
ation of the sacred text for Keš
6.4 The First Myth about the Origin of Writing
reported in the Keš Hymn with another myt the myth about the origin of
writin This other is the myth N
E
The term
is somewhat misleading in terms of gaining the most his
torically accurate possible approximation to the ideas of the Mesopotamian
Therefor
we are dealing here with an act of creatio It is not about g” or
ing”
of writing at the beginning of the worl
6.5 Oral Creation and Written Preservation of Sacred Texts
Keš Hymn and its basi the myths about the origin of a sacred text
and the origin of writin
writin
The emergence of a sacred text is not at the will of ma but owes itself
l)
The creation of a sacred text happens orall within the framework of the
performance of this text song or spell)
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exis
imagined by analogy with today’s practices
3 The creation of writing is temporally subordinated to the oral creation
of the sacred tex
4 The creation of writing by Nissaba is hierarchically subordinated to the
oral creation of the sacred text by Enli
The oral creation of sacred texts therefore has the highest priorit
6
7 Analyses of textual design show that the oral creation of sacred texts
has the higher ran
6.6 More Myth Fragments about Nissaba
These concrete statements based on the myths in the Keš Hymn can be regarded
as prototypical and can thus be generalised as insights into Mesopotamian
conceptions of the worl as has been shown by research into further texts
and myth Thu the meaning of the subscript about the praise of the scribe
hic from an emic
start from Nissaba and enter then the chain of tradition)
6.7 Sacred Texts with Divine Aura
Deities not only create and store the sacred texts;
their city and templN
E partly manifested in priest
esse priests or ritual experts’ word Therefor these words
are not only considered as acred texts”
3 ku3 no one is allowed to change
the wording of these text Research on this major topic is still in its infancy;
further studies will follo
The exact wording in which the myth N
E is handed down in the Song of Praise to Našše Nanše A)
More on this in the project’s other publications ee footnote
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spell This designation
a ording of the words”
the god §
6.8 Mesopotamia: Religion of Sacred Texts
it
is not a marginal phenomeno but one of central importanc
gin shows the priority of the oral creation and performance of such ritual
songs and spell
the beginning of the worl
Mesopotamian religion i in original
what had been thought until no In realit
religion with sacred text
6.9 News about the Origin of Writing: Writing of the Gods vs.
Administrative Tool
emergence of writin
According to today’s historical reconstructio writing was
which had become too complex due to its sheer siz The newly
reconstructed N
shows that according to ancient Mesopotamian ritual texts the primary and
The great importance of writing and written documents for Mesopotamian culture was
As he show
as new forms
of interpretation and hypothesis formation became possibl
are concerne it should be added that oral performance played a much greater role in
ancient Mesopotamia than has been assume
it is here
the god Enlil and Err who sing the sacred song Writing is created and
used y deities and chosen men) to record such songs so that they will
Myth and Ritual
Project ee footnote
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eco-
nomic challenge but in coping with ritual tasks One imagined that certain
gods who were engaged in permanently securing powerful ritual as well as
their important praise song
their human protégés could continue to perform the rituals as authentically
sThe gods were seen as mani
fest in the priestesses and priests who were responsible for the performance
the
the correct transmission of the powerful words of the gods in order to per
form their rituals correctly is to be seen as an essential impulse for the more
ing the
theThe
7 riting slowly begins to appear
in new and especially context
edicatory
inscription incantation hymn and epic All these genres are embedded in religious
practice which underscores the importance of religious needs for the trans
formation of the cuneiform writing system and its transformation into a system for the
storage and reproduction of oral languag religious aura” of
writing and texts in Mesopotamia see
administration of the temples
Se and
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model that it was precisely the cultic and ritual needs that generated the desire
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zu antiken Mythen aus Mesopotamien, Ägypten, Griechenland und Rom MythoS 4
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