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“Where is Bazi? Where is Zizi?” The List of Early Rulers in the Ballad from Emar and Ugarit, and the Mari Rulers in the Sumerian King List and Other Sources1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2014

Yoram Cohen
Yoram Cohen*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, The Gilman Building, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel, ycohen1@post.tau.ac.il
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Abstract

This paper argues that the peripheral recensions of the Ballad of Early Rulers reflect Mesopotamian forerunners, and do not represent re-workings by the local scribes. The Ugarit recension is based on an Old Babylonian forerunner, and the Emar recension is based on a Middle Babylonian version that incorporated material from other scholarly sources. To support this contention, the Babylonian literary and scholarly background of the early rulers is discussed, and a reconstruction and analysis is offered of the Mari section of the Sumerian King List, in which two rulers of the Ballad appear. The textual history of the Ballad contributes to the general debate regarding the origin, date of composition and transmission of Mesopotamian literature and its reception throughout scribal centers, not only in Ugarit and Emar, but also in Ḫattuša, Canaan and Egypt during the Late Bronze Age. A new copy of the Emar Ballad manuscript by Andrew George is offered at the end of this paper.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 74 , 2012 , pp. 137 - 152
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2012

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