Sumerian Liturgies and Psalms

Stephen Langdon

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sumerian Liturgies and Psalms by Stephen Langdon This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license Title: Sumerian Liturgies and Psalms Author: Stephen Langdon Release Date: April 10, 2010 [Ebook 31935] Language: English ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUMERIAN LITURGIES AND PSALMS*** Sumerian Liturgies and Psalms By Stephen Langdon Professor of Assyriology at Oxford University Philadelphia Published by The Museum 1919 Contents Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Lamentation of Ishme-Dagan Over Nippur. 13856 (No. 1) . 13 Liturgy of Ishme-Dagan. 11005 (No. 2) . . . . . . . . . . 35 Liturgical Hymn to Innini. 7847 (No. 3 and duplicate No. 4) 39 Psalm to Enlil Containing a Long Intercession by the Mother Goddess. 15204 (No. 5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Lamentation on the Pillage of Lagash by the Elamites. 2154 (No. 6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 to Innini on the Sorrows of Erech. 13859 (Poebel No. 26) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Liturgical Hymn to Sin. 8097 (No. 7) . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Lamentation on the Destruction of Ur. 7080 (No. 11) . . . 72 Liturgical Hymns of the Tammuz Cult. 3656 (Myhrman No. 5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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• Publié par: thawyog
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 26
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 6 Mo

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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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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