An Early Babylonian Tablet of Warnings for the King

8/3/2019 An Early Babylonian Tablet of Warnings for the King

1/11

An Early Babylonian Tablet of Warnings for the King

Author(s): Stephen LangdonReviewed work(s):Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 28 (1907), pp. 145-154Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/592766 .

Accessed: 08/02/2012 21:43

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

American Oriental Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toJournal of

the American Oriental Society.

http://www.jstor.org
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aoshttp://www.jstor.org/stable/592766?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/592766?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aos


2/11

An early Babylonian Tablet of WTarnigs for the King.-BySTEPHENLANGDON,Ph.D.

THIS tablet, numbered D.T. 1, was published first in IVRaw. 48, republished in the second edition by Mr. Pinches, andagain in CT. 15, pl. 50, by Mr. L. W. King. It has beenedited by Alfred Boissier, Recherches sur quelques contratsBabyloniens, pp. 7-20, and previously translated by Prof. Saycein Recorclsof the Past, vii. 119. By means of the new editionswe are now able to re-edit the tablet and to get from it severalnew philological forms, as well as some interesting informationabout the early Babylonian state. The tablet itself is a copymade for Asurbanapal.For Sumerian philology the tablet yields the following newmaterial. It gives the reading hap for bu's'inu "shame", Br.10174 (line 6). For 4< the context and euphonic ending niin line 6 render a Semitic s'anu- certain. The ideogram 'u-Ud- Sagoccurs in obv. 14, rev. 4, 14. From the gloss manzazpan sarri, as well as from the context of the three passages, weknow that this Sumerian ideogram meant " general of thearmy." The Semitic reading is sataniu, r-Utit. Trhe context ofline 21 obv. makes the meaning "hunger'" certain for Br.9738. Obverse 36 gives a reading in r for bi = ted.For Semitic philology we gain considerable new material.Obverse 3 and 8 give the imperfect piel of Add. Obverse 8tfidetu "knowledge." Obverse 1. 22, an imp. piel utub forutib; 1. 34 gives a kal imp. of ras'Odu, i'id, a stative verb; 1.36 gives also the original sense of te6u as "lead." On thephrase samsa s'akcinu = " place before the sun," see Rev. 3 andnote. Rev. 9 gives a new word armu = " earnings."The contents of the tablet may be divided as follows:

a) Obv. 1-8, general moral obligations.b) 9-10, warning against injustice towards the Sipparians.c) 11-14, warning against injustice towards the Nippurians.d) 15-18, warning against injustice towards the Baby-lonians.VOL. XXVIII. 10


3/11

146 S. Langdon, [1007.e) 19-30, against putting any one of these people into

prison, putting the dupsikkub upon them.f) 31-34, against taking the fodder of these three peoplesfor his horses.

g) 35-Rev. 13, against levying any of these people for hisarmy.

h) 14-18, against causing any of the officials to serve thetemple overseer as slaves of the gods.

The order of the three privileged cities, Sippar, Nippur andBabylon, does not necessarily indicate the capital as at Sippar,and hence the time as before Hammurabi; for when Nabopolas-sar built the temple of Ninib he summoned the inhabitants ofNippur, Sippar and Babylon. In each case Babylon is men-tioned last, and in Nabopolassar's time Babylon was the capital.When Nebuchadnezzar built the stage tower of Babylon, he sum-moned people from the upper to the lower sea.' Accordibg tothis tablet, the above proceeding of Nabopolassar in making theNippurians, Sipparians and Babylonians work with dupszic'cus(baskets carried on the head) was not legal. We can imaginethat the inhabitants of these ancient cities either had lost theirspecial rights, or else that the necessity of the times, whenBabylonia had just wrested her independence from Assyria,made it necessary for all citizens to work.

To bear the dupsikku was a sign of forced labor. When theking Nabopolassar himself put on the dupsikku and worked onthe temple, he meant it only as a pious act, probably to encour-age his workmen.2 This tablet makes it clear that the king hadno right to -force any citizen of these sacred cities to bear thedupsHicku.What will astonish the student of history more than anyother of the warnings is the one against levying soldiers fromthese three cities. That could have been possible only whenBabylonia was an immense empire and had foreign soldiers todraw upon. The only period possible is that of Hammurabi.This is another proof that the sources of the great Asurbanapallibrary were Old Babylonian.

1 See Nab. 4, 25 and Neb. 17. 2, 34-3, 24 in the writer's BuildingInscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.2 Nab. 1, 2, 56.


4/11

Vol. xxviii.] An Early Babylonian Tablet, etc. 147THE TEXT.

Obv. 1. s.arru a-na di-ni la i-kIl niAW-s.unnisi-a' mat-suin-nam-mi.2. a-na di-in mdti-su la i-kill ilE-a s'arsinmdti3. im-ta-sAu-s'a-an-ni-ma a-hi-ta wus-sib-s'U4. a-na abkalli-s.u la i-kadl ume-su ikarri25. a-na urn-me-a la i-kill mat-su ibbakit-su6. a-na gi?-hap-pin i-kll tMmat4 s'ani57. a-na Igqi-ut iluE-a i-kill ilani rabilti8. ina s'itul-ti u tu-da-at6 mi-sa-ri us,-sgib-sgu9. mdr Sippari i-da-as-ma a-ha-am i-dien iuSamas'daian same u irsitim

10. di-na a-ha-am inmamti-su isakkan-7ma abkallu udaianu ana di-nim la ibassi'Ideogram et t, with vocal prolongation a. The Sumerian

value of Br. 11209 s unknown. The root for esft=" be in confusion," ishere construed with the verb me=" to be" to form the passive. On thisconstruction for the passive the writer has given an exposition inSyntax du Verbe Sumerien.2 Id. gud-da Br. 10192. Forkar2, "be short"; cf. Peiser, Bab. Rechts-leben4, p. 59; AJSL. xxvii, 99, note 2. In mikku kuri = the gum is driedup, Leipziger sem. Studien II, p. 80, an expression for " fasting." TheSumerian word for " long " is gid; the same root gud = zakru [Br. 4708]and &liA4704],word for "high." gud is also the well-known word for" steer." The fundamental meaning of k1uri is probably " cut off," for

which the Sum. root is rather bar. It seems at present impossible toexplain this contradiction.. Br. 10162 s a loan-word from the Semitic.3Id fA-, gig-hap-pi, a loan word, already gone over into

Semitic before Sb(332),i. e. before Hammurabi.4 Id. X with phonetic ending mat. This gives a new word for the

lexicon, fdmtu fem. abstract of ftmu. [Suggested to me by CharlesVirolleaud.]6Id. .44 -ni, beyond doubts=an " be changed," to be added to Br.9960.6 Ttdd~tu,to be added to Del., HW. 306.7 For double acc. of s'akdnus. HW. 657b, and for original sense " layupon," KB. VI. 1, 333.


5/11

148 S. Langdon, [1907.11. mdrn Xippur ana di-nim ub-lu-ni-s-um-ma klt kat-ra-a-ti-ma' i-da-as-su-nu-ti12. ilu-Be6bel matati amrlu nakra a-ha-am13. i-da-kas- sgum-ma sdbZ-s-uu-s'am-ga-tim14. rubut u sga-tam2 regtft-su ina suki zi-lul-lisW is-sa-

nun-du15. kaspu mir Babili illci-e-ma ana malekkuri u-se-ri-bu16. di-in amrlutti Babili is.me-ma ana ka-li isba-ru17. ilu-liarduk bel same u irsitim ai-bi-sgu eli-su igsak-kan-ma18. bus.is-sumakkuri-s.u a-na amel nakri-su i-sgar-rak19. mar Xippur Sippar Babili an-na e-me-da20. a-na bit si-bit-tim s.u-ru-bu21. a-sar an-nam in-ni-en-du alt ana birilti4 is's'appak.22. a-na bit si-bit-timn su-ru-bu amdlu aAa pt-tu-ub23. Sippar Nippur u Babili mitharis nam-bi24. sabe su-nu-tim dup-si-ik-ka e-m-e-da-am25. il-ki sMi-si-itam.dlu na-gi-ri e-li-sgu-nu u-kan- qu26. ilutarduk abkal ilini rubu mtus.-ta-lum27. mat-su a-na a-mnl naakri-su u-sah-har-ma28. umma-ni mdti-su dup-s'i-ik-ka ana amelu nakri-sgui-za-bil29. sabe sgu-nu-tim ilu A-nim iX Bel u il't E-a ildni rabtti30. a-sgi-bi sgame u irsitim ina pu-uh-ri-s'u-nu Sgu-ba-ra-gu-nu u-kin-?nU31. mar Sippar Nippur u Babili32. im-ra-su-nu a-nza mur-ni-is-ki isgruki33. mur-ni-is-ki su-ut im-ra-sgu-nu i-ku-lu34. i-na si-bit-ti ai-bi ir-sgid-du-u.5

1 HW. 600 b katrI is from root 'on: " call together" [Jensen], seenin the old Bab. phrase for dying istu ilu-.4a ikteru-Si, " when her godcalls her," CT. VIII. 4 a, 11, etc.2Delitzsch under zilullis', HW., p. 256, cites this passage and translatesthe ideogram by ' Obersten." This citation is to be added to Br. 7217,Satam, an official whose exact position is not clear. In CT. XXII, No. 1,32, the king writes to the s. for information about tablets. Accordingto BA. III, 359, "singer." Cf. also satamati=officeof a . CT. IL 43,10.3Zilulli', from Lt3; to roll, root to be added to the lexicon.

4 Id. Ki-Kak, Br. 9738=hunger.5Rasdu, "zu etwas gelangen," Arabic I "to lead in a straight

path, arrive at a place without fail." The shafel, usarsid " to place," isfrom the same root. Boissier ir-rid-du-u.


6/11

Vol. xxviii.] An Early Babylonian Tablet, etc. 14935. sabe s.u-nu-tu i-na di-ku-ti um-man-indtiV .

sarru-di-ku-u36. il Gir-ra tMku2pa-an unmma-ni-s.u37. pa-an ummani-s.u imahha-as-rna it-[ti amrl] nakri-su ittall7a-ak38. qi-in-da-at al7pe-Su . . .. u-pat-tar-s'am-niaa39. ikl7e- [svu . . .. I u-sta-an-nu-u40. a-na a-hi a-ni-hi ra? . . . . im i-4ar-ru-ub41. si-bit-ti sene . . . . i-sab-ba-tu'

Rev. 1. "14Adad asgarid aramn irsitim2. nam-masg-s-e-eseri- su mnahu-sgah-hi u-gam-kat-ma3. nikZ Samsgi sgamsa usgaikin44. um-ma-an u sga-tam reWtW5 an-za-az pa-an garri5. a-mat-sun u-lam-man da-as-stnM i-mah-Aar6. mnaki-bit iluE-a s'ar abzu7. um-ma-an u sga-tam restft ina? inuhk268. sga-ar-sgu-nu a-na na-me-e ik-ka-am-mar9. ar-ma kat-sun sga-a-ru i-tab-bal ip-sgit-sun za-ki-ki-isgim-man-ni10. rik-si-sg-un u-pat-tar-sam-nma abnu na-ru-a-sga-nyuu-sa-an-nu-u11. a-na harrani u-sge-is-su-sgu-nu-tim a-na a-di-e i-su-flu-ti

'CT. 15gives ?nu-mes; IV R. 48gives illegible signs from mdt to sarru.2 Id. m4 -ra. cf. Br. 5120. This reading is probable in Sumerian for

tehii 5128. The fundamental meaning of it. Inno etc., is " driveout, lead away." Cf. Wadi Brissa 3. 52, istu Barsip-ki it-ti-ha-am-ma,"he marched forth from Borsippa." The ideogram KAS as sgn. ofalaku is assured by the two passages Gudea Cyl. -A 1, 15, du-sa im-ma-KAS and 17, 29, du-zu ba-gin.3 Cf. Nebuchad. Freibrief 1, 55.4This transcription is given with hesitation. If the interpretation becorrect, the phrase ?amsa sakanu = "place before the sunlight" (i.e.,cause to be strewn upon the ground, so that the sun may bleach) may

be added to the lexicon Boissier, u-s'a-sa-?afrom hag.asu (?)cf. HW.151 b. Cf. obv. 14.6 Id. -bi. Br. 10540 is probably to be read tub. The sign X

in classical Sumerian had two meanings: dur + durun = asibu "todwell " (intransitive): and "inhabit, install " (transitive), which had areading ending in -b. This I take to have been tub, tib. The meaninghere is passive of ndhu in the piel, which meaning can be rendered onlyby the kal.


7/11

150 S. Langdon, [1907.12. llt41-abu dup-sgar Esagila tuksgalkis'sgats uane u irsi-

timnmn -ma' [ir] gim-ri13. mu-ad-du-flu garrut-tu sim-mat mdti-8" u-pat-tar-maa-? ?-ut14. lu amel re'u lu aml~u sa-tam ekur lu sga-tam rgtft sgarri15. sa ina Sippar Nipputr u Babili ana amW sgd-tam

ekur usazzi-zu16. dup-s-ik-ku bitat ilani rabutti im-mxe-du,-su-nu-timn17. ilsni rabutti i-gu-gu-ma i-ni-is-su-u ad-ma-an-su-un18. la ir-ru-bu a-na ki-is-si- su-un.

sarru a-na di-nim la i-kill gamrubekal Asurbanapal sar kiS-Sati gar mat Asgsursale Xabu u ilt4 Tasgmetumuzna rapsaltumn isgrukugsihuzzu ene namirtum nisik dupsarrfttisd ina sgarrani alik Maahri-ia mimma 8ipru gitatuni, laihuzunimeki Xabu ti-kip sa-an-tak-ki mala ba$mMuina duppe aaur asnik abremaana tamarti gi-ta-as-si-ia kirTb ekali-ia ukin.

TRANSLATION.Obv. 1. If the king do not give heed to justice, his peoplewill come into anarchy and his land will go to

ruin.2. If he do not give heed to justice in his land, Ea, thelord of fates,3. will alter his fate and bring about another (fate) forhim.'4. If he do not give heed to his abkallu,2 his days will

be cut off.The prepositional object of a verb may be either direct object or anethical dative as here. For the same verb us'sib with ku as direct objectsee line 8, and for a verb with both objects cf. ustabil-ak-?u, CT. VI. p. 19,b 15. (Translated in Babylonia and Palestine, page 169.)2Abkallu, literally "the great teacher," means " " adviser," etc. InGudea Cyl. A 22, 17 he is called " the abkallu of mysteries." Otherreferences in the writer's appendix to Thureau-Dangin's Sumer-Akkad. -Konigsinschriften.


8/11

Vol. xxviii.] An Early Babylonian Tablet, etc. 1515. If he do not give heed to the priestess,' his land will

rebel against him.6. If he give heed to the slanderer, (his) decisions willbe changed.7. If he give heed to the counsel' of Ea, the great gods8. will cause him to dwell in wisdom and knowledge ofrighteousness.9. If he oppress the inhabitants of Sippar and render

justice to a stranger, then will Shamash, judgeof heaven and earth,10. render judgment to the stranger in his land, and heshall have neither councilor nor judge for judg-ment.11. If the Nippurians bring aught to him for judgmentand he oppress them by reason of gifts12. then will B6l, lord of the lands, summon the hostile

stranger13. against him and will cause him to slaughter hissoldiers;14. the prince' and his chief s'atamu shall be draggedabout the streets.

15. If he seize the money of the Babylonians and bringit into his treasury,16. If he hear the plea of the Babylonians but be toonegligent to give heed,17. then shall Marduk, lord of heaven and earth, place

his enemy over him18. and bestow his property upon his foe.19. If he charge with crime any Nippurian, Sipparian orBabylonian20. and cause him to be put into prison,21. the city where the criminal charge is brought shallbe turned into a desolate place.22. If he cause (one of these) to be brought into prison

and does good unto a stranger,I For ummu in the sense of " priestess," see Behrens, Leipziger semi-tische Studien II. 2, p. 9.2 Bossier reads Ai-pir.RubU here has the meaning crown prince = mdr sarri rabi, cf. Leip.Sem. St. II., p. 41.


9/11

152 S. Langdon, [1907.23. if he assemble the Sipparians, Nippurians and Baby-lonians,24. and put the dJps'ikku (sign of slavery) upon these

peoples and25. establish over them the ilku-service or militaryservice (?)26. then will Mlarduk, atbkallu of the gods, the prince

who gives counsel,27. turn his land over to his foe,28. and the people of his land will carry the dupshikkcu

for his foe,29. for that people will Anu, Bel and Ea, the great gods30. that dwell in heaven and earth, in their conclavedecree their dispersion.31. As to the inhabitants of Sippar, Nippur and Babylon,32. if he give their fodder unto horses,33. the horses that eat their fodder34. shall go into the possession of (his) foe.35. If when he summons the militia of his land ..he summon this people,36. the pest god, who leads his army,37. will smite his army and accompany his foe;38. the yoke of his oxen he will loose,39. and his fields he will devastate.140. If to a stranger he. . . but make a desert of. .41. and take tribute of cattle ..

Rev. 1. then Adad, regent of heaven and earth,2. will slay the flocks of his farms with. hunger,3. and the lamb offerings of Samas will he cause thesun to see;4. as to the army and the chief S.atamu, private officialof the king,5. their affairs will he render evil and bring about their

affliction.6. By the command of Ea, lord of the nether sea,7. the army and the private official will be undone in ?;-8. their place will be shattered to ruins;

I Probablyvnothing wanting in the break.


10/11

Vol. Xxviii.] An Early Babylonian Tablet, etc. 1539. the work' of their hands the wind shall wither away,

their industry shall be counted as a breath ofair;10. all of them will he undo,2 their memorial inscriptionswill he change.11. If he cause them to go forth on an expedition, if con-trary to the laws' he . . . .? them.12. Nabu, scribe of Esagila, the s'sugal4 of heaven andearth who regulates all things,13. the establisher of royalty, will do away with thedestiny of his land and . .. .?14. Be it a shepherd,' be it a siatamu, be it the king'schief satanu,15. who are in Sippar, Nippur or Babylon, if he causethese to come before the s-atamnof the temple,16. if he put upon them the dup?`ickk of the temples ofthe great gods,17. the great gods will be angry and leave their habita-

tions,18. and enter no more into their dwellings." If thedking do not give heed to justice " is finished.Palace of Asurbanapal, king of the universe, king ofAssyria,to whom Nebo and Tas'matu have given understand-ing;who has received clear eye-sight, a training in thebelles lettres;Since among the kings, my predecessors, none hadreceived this commission;

'armu from the root C:j " to heap up."2 The phrase riksa pataru in religious texts means "remove theutensils of the ritual service," Zimmern Rt. p. 94, riksi-sun=all of

them. Jensen KB. VI. 1, '47. The phrase may have reference hereto the ritual service; in that case the connection is obscure.3On add = law from = Heb. see also Behrens, Leip. Sem.St. IL 1, p. 35.4On 8a-gar cf. ZA. 9,222, and Appendix to Th.-Dangin, aaO., p. 270.

5 Here probably an official.


11/11

154 S. Lacngdon, An Early Babylonian Tablet, etc. [1907.the wisdom of Nebo, the tikip santakklu (?) as much

as there, is,have I written upon tablets and compiled and redacted,and for the public gaze and my own reading have I

put them in my palace.Additional lexicographical note on"ikn," ob. 26.

According to this line the king had no right to put the Muand sisit nagiri upon the inhabitants of Sippar, Nippur andBabylon. In the Freibrief of Nebuchadnezzar I [cf. KB. III,p. 166], a deserving general petitions the king that certaintowns in the land of Namar be freed from the Mukuf Narnar.This freedom consisted in the regulation that the kab2 of theking, the sakin of Namar and the nagir should not enter thesetowns; other regulations about taxes in cattle and horses follow,and that soldiers from Nippur and Babylon must not imprisonany one in these towns. Evidently the ilku was a state taxdue the central government from which Sippur, Babylon andNippur had been freed at a very early period. The phraseMilanz aliku [cf. Meissner, Suppl.] occurs frequently in theCode of Hammurabi in the sense of " render public obligationsupon land," cf. Daiches in ZA. 18, 214-216. A house or gar-den mnapan ilki=under obligation of the iMu tax, Code 10, 54.In the Code land is often spoken of as being given to an uku-usofficier or soldier under condition that he pay the il/ku; in 31, 91a priestess must pay the ilu. Whether ilk/u be the Semitictranslation for the well-known gist-bar tax cannot be answeredwith certainty. For other references or discussions of il/u cf.Ham. Let. 26. 10. 16; BA. IV. 456; ZA. 18, 206; Ham. Codepar. 40; Johns, ADD. II, 174. Sisit a7"Injgiri summons to mili-tary service, so Johns in translation of Code 8, 44 and Baby-lonian and Assyrian Laws, etc., p. 202. According to thecode a male or female slave who has run away from the palaceor from a mru.?c#nuu (poor man) must not be retained so as tofail in doing the s.isit nagiri service. If a female slave wererequired to do this service the same could hardly have beenmilitary. The ndgiru of Babylon is mentioned among threeelders (sbeae) before whom a process was brought, CT. VIII, 40A 2.

An Early Babylonian Tablet of Warnings for the King

Documents

Transcript of An Early Babylonian Tablet of Warnings for the King