Hostname: page-component-5db58dd55d-l8wb7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-30T12:05:17.529Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

ON BABYLONIAN LAVATORIES AND SEWERS*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2016

A.R. George
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study begins by examining the archaeological and documentary evidence for lavatories (toilets) and foul-water drains in ancient Mesopotamian dwelling houses. It goes on to investigate the use, etymology and history of the Akkadian word asurrû: in the Old Babylonian period it served mainly as a term for a kind of foul-water drain or “sewer” but later shed that meaning.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 77 , December 2015 , pp. 75 - 106
Copyright
© The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

*

It is most felicitous that the publication of this article takes place in a volume of Iraq that honours Dominique Collon, from whom I learned much when we co-edited the journal for sixteen issues. I am pleased that she will find within a cylinder seal (Fig. 12), but regret that it will be disappointingly familiar. I am grateful to audiences at papers given between 1998 and 2003 in London, Cambridge and Heidelberg, and in 2014 in Oxford and Cambridge, for their guidance, help and suggestions in connection with the research that led to this article; and to Birger Helgestad for supplying Fig. 6.

References

AHw = W. von Soden, Akkadisches Handwörterbuch. 3 vols. Wiesbaden, 1959–81.Google Scholar
Alster, B. 1972. A Sumerian incantation against gall. Orientalia n.s. 41: 349–58.Google Scholar
Bagg, A.M. 2006. Ancient Mesopotamian sewage systems according to cuneiform sources. Pp. 273–79 in Wiplinger, G. (ed.), Cura aquarum in Ephesus. Proceedings of the Twelfth International Congress on the History of Water Management and Hydraulic Engineering in the Mediterranean Region. Leuven.Google Scholar
Baker, H.D. 2004. The Archive of the Nappāḫu Family. Archiv für Orientforschung Beiheft 30. Vienna.Google Scholar
Baker, H.D. 2007. Urban form in the first millennium BC. Pp. 66–77 in Leick, G. (ed.), The Babylonian World. London.Google Scholar
Baumgartner, W. 1925. Untersuchungen zu den akkadischen Bauausdrücken. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 36: 29–40, 123–38, 219–53.Google Scholar
Bezold, C. 1926. Babylonisch-assyrisches Glossar. Heidelberg.Google Scholar
Biggs, R.D. 1969. Qutnu, ma ṣra ḫu and related terms in Babylonian extispicy. Revue d'Assyriologie 63: 159–67.Google Scholar
Black, J.A. and Green, A.R. 1992. Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary. London.Google Scholar
Borger, R. 1996. Beiträge zum Inschriftenwerk Assurbanipals. Wiesbaden.Google Scholar
Brusasco, P. 1999–2000. Family archives and the social use of space in Old Babylonian houses at Ur. Mesopotamia 34–35: 1–173.Google Scholar
CAD = The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. 21 vols. Chicago, Ill. 1956–2010.Google Scholar
Calvet, Y. 1996. Maisons privées paléo-babyloniennes à Larsa. Pp. 197–209 in Veenhof, K.R. (ed.), Houses and Households in Ancient Mesopotamia. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 40. Leiden.Google Scholar
Cavigneaux, A. 1983. Lexikalische Listen. Reallexikon der Assyriologie 6, 7–8: 609–41.Google Scholar
Cavigneaux, A. and Al-Rawi, F.N.H. 1993. New Sumerian literary texts from Tell Haddad (ancient Meturan): A first survey. Iraq 55: 91–105.Google Scholar
CDA = J.A. Black, George, A.R. and Postgate, J.N. (eds.), A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian. santag 5. Wiesbaden, 2000.Google Scholar
Charpin, D. 1995. La fin des archives dans le palais de Mari. Revue d'Assyriologie 89: 29–40. Google Scholar
Civil, M. 1964. A hymn to the beer goddess and a drinking song. Pp. 67–89 in [Biggs, R.D. and Brinkman, J.A. (eds.),] Studies Presented to A. Leo Oppenheim. Chicago, Ill.Google Scholar
Civil, M. 1996. HAR-ra = hubullu: Tablet X. Pp. 129–59 in Sallaberger, W., Die babylonische Töpfer und seine Gefässe. Mesopotamian History and Environment II, 3. Ghent.Google Scholar
Cohen, M.E. 1988. The Canonical Lamentations of Ancient Mesopotamia. 2 vols. Potomac, Md.Google Scholar
Cohen, S. 1976. Studies in Sumerian lexicography, I. Pp. 97–110 in Eichler, B. et al. (eds.), Kramer Anniversary Volume. Cuneiform Studies in Honor of Samuel Noah Kramer. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 25. Kevelaer and Neukirchen-Vluyn.Google Scholar
De Zorzi, N. 2014. La serie teratomantica Šumma izbu. History of the Ancient Near East, Monographs 15. 2 vols. Padua.Google Scholar
Dekiere, L. 1994–97. Old Babylonian Real Estate Documents from Sippar in the British Museum. Mesopotamian History and Environment, Series 3, Texts 2. 6 vols. Ghent.Google Scholar
Delougaz, P. 1940. The Temple Oval at Khafājah. Oriental Institute Publications 53. Chicago, Ill.Google Scholar
Ebeling, E. 1953. Die akkadische Gebetsserie “Handerhebung” von neuem gesammelt und herausgegeben. Berlin.Google Scholar
Ellis, M.de J. 1979. Akkadian literary texts and fragments in the University Museum. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 31: 216–31.Google Scholar
Farber, W. 1987. Tamarisken – Fibeln – Skolopender: zur philologischen Deutung der “Reiseszene” auf neuassyrischen Lamaštu-Amuletten. Pp. 85–105 in Rochberg-Halton, F. (ed.), Language, Literature, and History: Philological and Historical Studies Presented to Erica Reiner. American Oriental Series 67. New Haven, Conn. Google Scholar
Farber, W. 1989. Vorzeichen aus der Waschschüssel. Zu den akkadischen Bade-Omina (Šumma ālu, 43. nis ḫu). Orientalia 58: 86–101.Google Scholar
Finkel, I.L. 1982. MSL XVI. The Series SIG7.ALAN = Nabnītu, in collaboration with M. Civil. Materials for the Sumerian Lexicon 16. Rome.Google Scholar
Finkel, I.L. 2000. On Late Babylonian medical training. Pp. 137–223 in George, A.R. and Finkel, I.L. (eds.), Wisdom, Gods and Literature. Studies in Assyriology in Honour of W.G. Lambert. Winona Lake, Ind. Google Scholar
Frayne, D.R. 1990. Old Babylonian Period (2003–1595 BC). Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Early Periods 4. Toronto.Google Scholar
Freedman, S.M. 1998. If a City is Set on a Height. The Akkadian Omen Series Šumma Alu ina Mēlê Šakin 1. Tablets 1–21. Occasional Publications of the Samuel Noah Kramer Fund 17. Philadelphia, Pa. Google Scholar
Freedman, S.M. 2006a. If a City is Set on a Height. The Akkadian Omen Series Šumma Alu ina Mēlê Šakin 2. Tablets 22–40. Occasional Publications of the Samuel Noah Kramer Fund 19. Philadelphia, Pa. Google Scholar
Freedman, S.M. 2006b. BM 129092: A commentary on snake omens. Pp. 149–66 in Guinan, A.K. et al. (eds.), If a Man Builds a Joyful House: Assyriological Studies in Honor of Erle Verdun Leichty. Cuneiform Monographs 31. Leiden.Google Scholar
Fuchs, A. 1994. Die Inschriften Sargons II. aus Khorsabad. Göttingen.Google Scholar
Geller, M.J. 2000. An Akkadian vademecum in the Babylonian Talmud. Pp. 13–31 in Kottek, S. and Horstmanshoff, M. (eds.), From Athens to Jerusalem. Medicine in hellenized Jewish lore and in early Christian literature. Rotterdam.Google Scholar
Geller, M.J. 2004. Akkadian healing therapies in the Babylonian Talmud. Max-Planck-Institut für Wissensgeschichte Preprint 259. http://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/Preprints/P259.PDF.Google Scholar
Geller, M.J. 2005. Die babylonisch-assyrische Medizin in Texten und Untersuchungen 7 . Renal and Rectal Disease Texts. Berlin.Google Scholar
Geller, M.J. 2007. Evil Demons. Canonical Utukkū Lemnūtu Incantations. State Archives of Assyria Cuneiform Texts 5. Helsinki.Google Scholar
de Genouillac, H. 1936. Fouilles de Telloh 2. Époques d'Ur IIIe dynastie et de Larsa. Paris.Google Scholar
George, A.R. 1999. Review of Van De Mieroop 1997. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 62: 550–52.Google Scholar
George, A.R. 2010a. Bilgames and the Bull of Heaven: Cuneiform texts, collations and textual reconstruction. Pp. 101–15 in Baker, H.D., Robson, E. and Zólyomi, G. (eds.), Your Praise is Sweet. A Memorial Volume for Jeremy Black from Students, Colleagues and Friends. London.Google Scholar
George, A.R. 2010b. Babylonian Literary Texts in the Schøyen Collection, Nos. 18 and 19. Nouvelles assyriologiques brèves et utilitaires 2010: 5–6 no. 5.Google Scholar
Grayson, A.K. and Novotny, J. 2012. The Royal Inscriptions of Sennacherib, King of Assyria (704–681 BC), Part 1. Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period 3, 1. Winona Lake, Ind. Google Scholar
Grayson, J.H. 2002. Korea: A Religious History. Rev. edn. London.Google Scholar
Gurney, O.R. 1935. Babylonian prophylactic figures and their rituals. Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology (Liverpool) 22: 31–96, pls. 11–14.Google Scholar
Heeßel, N.P. 2000. Babylonisch-assyrische Diagnostik. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 43. Münster.Google Scholar
Heeßel, N.P. 2007. Divinatorische Texte I. Terrestrische, teratologische, physiognomische und oneiromantische Omina. Keilschrifttexte aus Assur literarischen Inhalts, Band 1. WVDOG 116. Wiesbaden.Google Scholar
Hemker, C. 1993. Altorientalische Kanalisation. Untersuchungen zu Be- und Entwässerungsanlagen im mesopotamisch, syrisch, anatolischen Raum. Abhandlungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 22. 2 vols. Münster.Google Scholar
Hill, H.D. 1967. Tell Asmar. The Private House Area. Pp. 143–81 in Delougaz, P., Hill, H.D. and Lloyd, S., Private Houses and Graves in the Diyala Region. Oriental Institute Publications 88. Chicago, Ill.Google Scholar
Horowitz, W. 1998. Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography. Mesopotamian Civilizations 8. Winona Lake, Ind. Google Scholar
Hunger, H. 1976. Spätbabylonische Texte aus Uruk 1. Ausgrabungen der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft in Uruk-Warka 9. Berlin.Google Scholar
Izre'el, S. 2001. Adapa and the South Wind. Mesopotamian Civilizations 10. Winona Lake, Ind. Google Scholar
Jeyes, U. 1978. The “Palace Gate” of the liver. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 30: 209–33.Google Scholar
Jursa, M. 2005. Neo-Babylonian Legal and Administrative Documents. Guides to the Mesopotamian Textual Record 1. Münster.Google Scholar
Kinnier Wilson, J.V. and Reynolds, E.H. 2007. On stroke and facial palsy in Babylonian texts. Pp. 67–99 in Finkel, I. L. and Geller, M.J. (eds.), Disease in Babylonia. Cuneiform Monographs 36. Leiden.Google Scholar
Klein, J. 2003. An Old Babylonian edition of an Early Dynastic collection of insults (BT 9). Pp. 135–49 in Sallaberger, W., Volk, K. and Zgoll, A. (eds.), Literatur, Politik und Recht in Mesopotamien. Festschrift für Claus Wilcke. Wiesbaden.Google Scholar
Koch, U. 2005. Secrets of Extispicy. The Chapters Multābiltu of the Babylonian Extispicy Series and Niṣirti bārûti Texts Mainly from Aššurbanipal's Library. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 326. Münster.Google Scholar
Koch-Westenholz, U. 2000. Babylonian Liver Omens. The Chapters manzāzu, padānu and pān tākalti of the Babylonian Extispicy Series Mainly from Aššurbanipal's Library. Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications 25. Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Köcher, F. 1995. Ein Text medizinischen Inhalts aus dem neubabylonischen Grab 405. Pp. 203–17 in Boehmer, R.M., Pedde, F. and Salje, B., Uruk. Die Gräber. Ausgrabungen in Uruk-Warka Endberichte 10. Mainz.Google Scholar
Kohler, J. and Ungnad, A. 1909–23. Hammurabi's Gesetz. 6 vols. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Krafeld-Daugherty, M. 1994. Wohnen im alten Orient. Eine Untersuchung zur Verwendung von Räumen in altorientalischen Wohnhäusern. Altertumskunde des Vorderen Orients 3. Münster.Google Scholar
Kraus, F.R. 1985. Mittelbabylonische Opferschauprotokolle. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 37: 127–218.Google Scholar
Krebernik, M. 2012. Šulak. Reallexikon der Assyriologie 13 , 3–4: 270.Google Scholar
Krebernik, M. and Postgate, J.N. 2009. The tablets from Abu Salabikh and their provenance. Iraq 71: 1–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Labat, R. 1951. Traité akkadien de diagnostics et pronostics medicaux. 2 vols. Paris and Leiden.Google Scholar
Labat, R. 1974. Textes littéraires de Suse, with a contribution by D.O. Edzard. Mémoires de la Délégation Archéologique en Iran 57. Paris.Google Scholar
Lambert, W.G. 1956. An address of Marduk to the demons. Archiv für Orientforschung 17: 310–21, pls. 13–16.Google Scholar
Lambert, W.G. 1970. Fire incantations. Archiv für Orientforschung 23: 39–45, pls. 1–11.Google Scholar
Landsberger, B. 1937. Materialien zum sumerischen Lexikon 1 . Die Serie ana ittišu. Rome.Google Scholar
Langdon, S. 1912. Die neubabylonischen Königsinschriften. Trans. Zehnpfund, R.. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Leichty, E.V. 1970. The Omen Series Šumma Izbu. Texts from Cuneiform Sources 4. Locust Valley, N.Y. Google Scholar
Leichty, E.V. 2011. The Royal Inscriptions of Esarhaddon, King of Assyria (680–669 BC). Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period 4. Winona Lake, Ind. Google Scholar
Leiderer, R. 1990. Anatomie der Schafsleber im babylonischen Leberorakel. Eine makroskopisch-analytische Studie. Munich.Google Scholar
Livingstone, A. 1986. Mystical and Mythological Explanatory Works of Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. Oxford.Google Scholar
Livingstone, A. 1989. Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea. State Archives of Assyria 3. Helsinki.Google Scholar
Livingstone, A. 2013. Hemerologies of Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology 25. Bethesda, Md. Google Scholar
Lloyd, S. 1967. Tell Asmar. The Northern Palace Area. Pp. 181–266 in Delougaz, P., Hill, H.D. and Lloyd, S., Private Houses and Graves in the Diyala Region. Oriental Institute Publications 88. Chicago, Ill. Google Scholar
Mayer-Opificius, R. 1979. Einige Bemerkungen zum “Haus mit den Bögen” in Tell Asmar. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 111: 51–61.Google Scholar
McMahon, A. 2015. Waste management in early urban southern Mesopotamia. Pp. 19–40 in P. D. Mitchell (ed.), Sanitation, Latrines and Intestinal Parasites in Past Populations. Farnham.Google Scholar
Meier, G. 1937. Die assyrische Beschwörungssammlung Maqlû. Archiv für Orientforschung Beiheft 2. Berlin.Google Scholar
Meier, G. 1966. Studien zur Beschwörungssammlung Maqlû. Archiv für Orientforschung 21: 70–81.Google Scholar
Michalowski, P. 1998. Literature as a source of lexical inspiration. Pp. 65–73 in Braun, J. et al. (eds.), Written on Clay and Stone: Ancient Near Eastern Studies Presented to Krystyna Szarzyńska. Warsaw.Google Scholar
Miglus, P. 1996. Die räumliche Organisation des altbabylonischen Hofhauses. Pp. 211–20 in Veenhof, K.R. (ed.), Houses and Households in Ancient Mesopotamia. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 40. Leiden.Google Scholar
Millard, A.R. 1968. Fragments of historical texts from Nineveh: Ashurbanipal. Iraq 30: 98–111 and pls. 19–27.Google Scholar
Moortgat, A. 1942. Assyrische Glyptik des 13. Jahrhunderts. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 47: 50–88.Google Scholar
Nougayrol, J. 1941. Textes hépatoscopiques d’époque ancienne conservés au Musée du Louvre. Revue d'Assyriologie 38: 67–88.Google Scholar
Oppenheim, A.L. 1936. Untersuchungen zum babylonischen Mietrecht. Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes Beiheft 2. Vienna.Google Scholar
Oppenheim, A.L. 1956. The Interpretation of Dreams in the Ancient Near East, with a Translation of the Assyrian Dream-Book. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society n.s. 46, 3. Philadelphia, Pa. Google Scholar
Parpola, S. 1986. The royal archives of Nineveh. Pp. 223–36 in Veenhof, K.R. (ed.), Cuneiform Archives and Libraries. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 30. Leiden and Istanbul.Google Scholar
Postgate, J.N. 1990. Excavations at Abu Salabikh, 1988–89. Iraq 52: 95–106.Google Scholar
Postgate, J.N. 2000. Review of Krafeld-Daugherty 1994. Journal of the American Oriental Society 120: 250–52.Google Scholar
PSD = The Sumerian Dictionary of the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, Pa. 1984–.Google Scholar
Reade, J.E. 1986. Archaeology and the Kuyunjik archives. Pp. 213–22 in Veenhof, K.R. (ed.), Cuneiform Archives and Libraries. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 30. Leiden and Istanbul.Google Scholar
Reiner, E. 1956. Lipšur litanies. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 15: 129–49.Google Scholar
Reiner, E. 1958. Šurpu. A Collection of Sumerian and Akkadian Incantations. Archiv für Orientforschung Beiheft 11. Graz.Google Scholar
Reiner, E. 1967. Another volume of Sultantepe tablets. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 26: 177–200.Google Scholar
Reisner, G.A. 1896. Sumerisch-babylonische Hymnen nach Tontafeln griechischer Zeit. Berlin.Google Scholar
Reuther, O. 1926. Die Innenstadt von Babylon (Merkes). Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 47. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Russell, J.M. 1991. Sennacherib's Palace without a Rival at Nineveh. Chicago, Ill. Google Scholar
San Nicolò, M. and Ungnad, A. 1929–35. Neubabylonische Rechts- und Verwaltungsurkunden übersetzt und erläutert. 2 vols. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Scurlock, J. 2003. Ancient Mesopotamian house gods. Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religion 3: 99–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sjöberg, Å.W. 1960. Der Mondgott Nanna-Suen in der sumerischen Überlieferung. Stockholm.Google Scholar
Stol, M. 1993. Epilepsy in Babylonia. Cuneiform Monographs 2. Groningen.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ungnad, A. 1937. Neubabylonische Rechts- und Verwaltungsurkunden, Beiheft zu Band 1: Glossar. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Van De Mieroop, M. 1997. The Ancient Mesopotamian City. Oxford.Google Scholar
Veenhof, K.R. 1989. Mari A 450:9 f. (ARM 26/1, p. 378 note 13). Nouvelles assyriologiques brèves et utilitaires 1989: 27 no. 40.Google Scholar
Veldhuis, N. 1990. The Heart Grass and related matters. Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica 21: 27–44.Google Scholar
Wasserman, N. 2008. On leeches, dogs, and gods in Old Babylonian medical incantations. Revue d'Assyriologie 102: 71–88.Google Scholar
von Weiher, E. 1983. Spätbabylonische Texte aus Uruk II. Ausgrabungen der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft in Uruk-Warka 10. Berlin.Google Scholar
Wetzel, F. 1930. Die Stadtmauern von Babylon. Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 48. Leipzig.Google Scholar
Wiggermann, F. 1992. Mesopotamian Protective Spirits: The Ritual Texts. Cuneiform Monographs 1. Groningen.Google Scholar
Winitzer, A. 2011. Writing and Mesopotamian divination: the case of alternative interpretation. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 63: 77–94.Google Scholar
Woolley, C.L. 1955. Ur Excavations 4. The Early Periods. London.Google Scholar
Woolley, C.L. and Mallowan, M.E.L. 1976. Ur Excavations 7. The Old Babylonian Period. Ed. Mitchell, T.C.. London.Google Scholar
Worthington, M.[J.] 2006. Edition of BAM 3. Le journal des médecines cunéiformes 7: 18–48.Google Scholar