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The Sumerian City Nippur in the Period of The Third Dynasty of Ur

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

T. Fish
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Extract

Nippur was one of the most important cities in the Sumerian world. Here was situated the shrine of the Lord of the gods, Enlil; here the king's name was spoken by Enlil, lord of the earth, calling him into existence as king, at the great shrine é-kur, the mountain-house where the god abode amongst men, and where kings did him honour.

The site was in part excavated by an American expedition from 1889 to 1990, but much still remains to be done. The excavations yielded large quantities of tablets of which, there is reason to believe, not all have as yet been published. The first group, dating to the Third Dynasty of Ur, with which this study is concerned, were published in 1910 under the editorship of Professor Hilprecht, and consisted of 171 tablets and fragments, but not until last year did others of the Hilprecht Collection appear. A few have appeared elsewhere, so that, in all, about 400 tablets and fragments from Nippur are at present available for study. The collection now published for the first time at the end of this article adds thirty-seven more. These are considerably less than the number of tablets which have been published from other sites of the period of the Third Dynasty of Ur, such as Drehern, Umma, and Telloh, but they are sufficient for a review of Nippur at this period, such as is attempted here.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , Autumn 1938 , pp. 157 - 179
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1938

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References

Abbreviations: An. Or., Analecta Orientalia (Rome); B.M., British Museum; C.B.S., Tablets in the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania; C.T., Cuneiform Texts in the British Museum; Del., T.D., Delaporte, , Tablettes de Drehern, Revue d'Assyriologie, VIII (1911, 4)Google Scholar; G.D.D., Schneider, Die Geschäftsurkunden aus Drehern und Djoha; H.E.U., Contenait, Contribution à l'Histoire économique d'Umma; I.T.T., Inventaire des Tablettes de Telloh; J.R., Catalogue of Sumerian Tablets in the John Rylands Library; K.D.D., Schneider, Keil-schriftexte aus Drehern und Djoha; M., Myhrman in BE. Series A, vol, III, part 1; P.B.S., University of Pennsylvania Museum: publications of the Babylonian Section; R.V.U., POHL, Rechts und Verwaltungsurkunden der III. Dynastie von Ur; S.A.K., Thureau-Dangin, Die Sumerischen und Akkadischen Königinschriften; S.T., Hussey, Sumerian Tablets in the Harvard Semitic Museum; S.T.D., Keiser, Selected Temple Documents; S.T.R., Lutz, Sumerian Temple Records, part 1 and part 2 (in 1 vol.); S.R.D., Nesbit, Sumerian Records from Drehem; T.U., Reisner, Tempelurkunden aus Telloh; T.R.U., Legrain, Les Temps des Rois d'Ur; T.A.D., Langdon, Tablets from the Archives of Drehem; T.D., De Genouillac, La Trouvaille de Drehern; Umma, Contenau, Umma sous la dynastie d'Ur; V.S.W., Pohl, Vorsargon. und Sargonische Wirtschaftstexten.

page 157 note 1 e.g. S.A.K. 196 (c), 198 (g), Ur Excavations, 1.

page 157 note 2 See Peters, , Nippur, First and Second Campaigns, New York, 1897 Google Scholar; Fisher, , Excavations at Nippur, 2 parts, 1905 and 1906 Google Scholar; Hall, , A Season's Work at Ur, 61–6 (1930)Google Scholar.

page 157 note 3 Babylonian Expedition, Series A, III, i.

page 157 note 4 Pohl, , Rechts und Venoaltungsurkunden der III. Dynastie von Ur, Leipzig, 1937 Google Scholar. Of the tablets published in this volume about 230 are certainly from Nippur, and it is these only from this collection which will be used in this study.

page 157 note 5 Fish, Catalogue of Sumerian Tablets in the John Rylands Library, nos. 35–40; id., Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. LVI, no. 4, 01 1937 (one tablet; C.B.S. 8291)Google Scholar.

page 158 note 1 Schneider reads a seal (G.D.D. 186): Lugal-me-ldm dumu Ba-lul pa-te-si, and would identify this person with the pa-te-si of Nippur. But his copy of the tablet reads Lú-me-lám and the name of the father is totally illegible and lacks any basis of reconstruction. The date of G.D.D. 186 is Sulgi 33.

page 158 note 2 See R.V.U. 50 for Nippur references.

page 158 note 3 Cp. R.V.U. 174; 211.

page 158 note 4 C.B.S. 8238.

page 158 note 5 Passim in collections of Umma and Drehern tablets.

page 158 note 6 En-líl-ki-ta ∣ en-líl-ki-šè ∣ gin-ni ∣ na; En-líl-ki-šè má-a-si-ga or má-a gá-ra ∣ gar.

page 158 note 7 S.T.R. 64: 19; T.U. 193. r. 9; 196, r. 13; 219; 221; S.T. 57 r. 10; 86, r. 9; 96, r. 10; I.T.T. IV, 7646, 7803.

page 158 note 8 I.T.T. IV. 8109: 8139.

page 158 note 9 T.U. 197: 11.

page 158 note 10 An. Or. 7, 104: 14; 108: 134; C.T. 32, 17, IV. 25.

page 158 note 11 I.T.T. IV. 7717.

page 158 note 12 Ib. 7803; II. 5038, 5356, 5363, 5390.

page 158 note 13 Umma, 46.

page 159 note 1 For references see R.V.U.; M. 86.

page 159 note 2 C.B.S. 7393, 8180, 9165.

page 159 note 3 I.T.T. IV. 7151, 7497, 8122.

page 159 note 4 Ib. 7780.

page 159 note 5 Ib. 7599, 7627.

page 159 note 6 Ib. III. 6060.

page 159 note 7 Ib. 6145.

page 159 note 8 Ib. 6169.

page 159 note 9 M. 103: 35.

page 159 note 10 Ib. 68: 14.

page 159 note 11 G.D.D. 251; H.E.U. 5, 46, 50, 93, &c.

page 159 note 12 Umma, 52; G.D.D. 293, 310.

page 159 note 13 R.V.U. 127.

page 159 note 14 Ib. 311: 27.

page 159 note 15 B.M. 105393.

page 159 note 16 M. 103: 35 (the tablet is broken but the reading is certain).

page 160 note 1 R.V.U. 89:4.

page 160 note 2 C.B.S. 9147; R.V.U. 121: 7. (These feasts gave the names to months in non-Nippur calendars, but these texts are certainly from Nippur.)

page 160 note 3 M. 133: 7–9 gug-ga nad dingir-ri-ne; sizkur-sizkur dingir-ri-ne.

page 160 note 4 M. 131: 3; R.V.U. 69: 2, 12; 55: 10; C.B.S. 8180. What is the temple mentioned in ib. 8095 ?

page 160 note 5 R.V.U. 283: 7; M. 38: 3. (It occurs on pre-Sargonic Texts from Nippur published by POHL, V.S.W., only as a personal name!)

page 160 note 6 References in order of deities given above (only one in each instance): T.R.U. 323; S.R.D. 5; J.R. 44; T.A.D. 52; T.R.U. 323; J.R. 391; T.D. 3; J.R. 146; ib. 391; ib. 391; T.R.U. 323; S.R.D. v; J.R. 44; T.D. 3; ib. 3.

page 160 note 7 J R. 44.

page 161 note 1 e.g. C.B.S. 9147: 8; M. 85, 88, 94 (contrast the Drehem practice, e.g. R. V. U. 88, 146).

page 161 note 2 R.V.U. 121.

page 161 note 3 e.g. R.V.U. 96; C.B.S. 917a; M. 88 (esi-gi-dè); ib. 85 (siga ri-ri-ga).

page 161 note 4 C.B.S. 8098.

page 161 note 5 M. 90.

page 161 note 6 R.V.U. 299; cf. also ib. 298.

page 162 note 1 J.R. 40.

page 162 note 2 M. 129: 14; C.B.S. 9172 R.

page 162 note 3 M. 130 L.E.

page 162 note 4 C.B.S. 8131; R.V.U. 170: 1, f

page 162 note 5 giš-ra an-sír-ra.

page 162 note 6 C.B.S. 9035; similar, ib. 9038, 9174.

page 162 note 7 R.V.U. 48; M. 27, 28 (if from Nippur).

page 162 note 8 R.V.U. 130.

page 162 note 9 Ib. 73 (the tablet has gi 4-gi 4-da (to be repaid), whereas the envelope to the tablet has rug-rug-da (!) (repaid with increase)).

page 162 note 10 M. 27, 102.

page 162 note 11 R.V.U. 114 ‘tukundi-bi, Seš-kal-la, Ur-dun, nu-gi-in (gin = kânu), še-bi ib-rug-rug-a, mu-lugal-bi-in-pad; cp. also ib. 105.

page 163 note 1 M. 27.

page 163 note 2 C.B.S. 8190.

page 163 note 3 Ib. 8108; similar, R.V.U. 15, 38; M. 29.

page 163 note 4 C.B.S. 7974; also 9179, 7256.

page 163 note 5 Ib. 8240; cp. R.V.U. 2, 4, 20; P. B. S., vol. XI, 3, no. 79; all these mention witnesses.

page 163 note 6 R.V.U. 21, 22, 25, 31, 34. 44; M. 18; C.B.S. 8035.

page 163 note 7 R.V.U. 21, 48.

page 163 note 8 M. 16; C.B.S. 8035.

page 163 note 9 R.V.U. 19 and 38.

page 164 note 1 R.V.U. 4, 47.

page 164 note 2 Ib. 24.

page 164 note 3 Ib. 34, 36.

page 164 note 4 Ib. 35.

page 164 note 5 M. 16: kù nam-lú-tab-ba-šè; cp. Eilers, Gesellschäftsformen im Altbabylonischen Recht, S. 2, n. 4.

page 164 note 6 C.B.S. 9031.

page 164 note 7 M. 13.

page 164 note 8 R.V.U. 6, 7.

page 164 note 9 Lú-ḫar, J.R. 38.

page 164 note 10 R.V.U. 52.

page 164 note 11 Ib. 78.

page 164 note 12 C.B.S. 9171: 16.

page 164 note 13 Ib. 9171:2.

page 164 note 14 Ib. 8246.

page 164 note 15 R.V.U. 59: 6.

page 164 note 16 J.R. 36.

page 164 note 17 R.V.U. 99.

page 164 note 18 Ib. 60.

page 164 note 19 M. 99: 14.

page 164 note 20 R.V.U. 168: 4.

page 164 note 21 C.B.S. 7862.

page 164 note 22 M. 14.

page 164 note 23 R.V.U. 310; 65.

page 164 note 24 Ib. 121: 8, 121: 12, 121: 23.

page 164 note 25 R.V.U. 67.

page 164 note 26 M. 99: 12.

page 165 note 1 R.V.U. 50, 51; M. 15.

page 165 note 2 Cp. M. 77 and 76: 22 f.

page 165 note 3 M. 70: 4, 10; 99: 15.

page 165 note 4 R.V.U. 58: 2 (cf. uru-guškin, ib. 57: 1).

page 165 note 5 urudu ḫa-kú-da, C.B.S. 9145; cf. R.V.U. 5; urudu kin, C.B.S. ib.; urudu še-kin, M. 71, 74; urudu giš-gaz, M. 73: 2, 71: 19.

page 165 note 6 M. 76 L.E.

page 165 note 7 Ib. 65: sig-ùz.

page 165 note 8 igi-nim-ma é-gal, R.V.U. 181.

page 165 note 9 R.V.U. 181 é-uš-bar.

page 165 note 10 é-sal-šè ba-an-tu.

page 165 note 11 R.V.U. 225; I túg-maḫ, ki-lal-bi ma-na, uri-aga dŠu-dSin-na-šè.

page 166 note 1 R.V.U. 198, &c.

page 166 note 2 Ib.

page 166 note 3 Ib. 209.

page 166 note 4 Ib. 182:3.

page 166 note 5 King, , Sumer and Akkad, 9 Google Scholar.

page 166 note 6 R.V.U. 161: 8: má é-a-ni-na-gar; other texts, e.g., M. 66, 68, are perhaps not from Nippur.