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Old-Babylonian Worshipper Figurines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Extract

A Tablet from Sippar in the British Museum, published by L. W. King at the turn of this century but left untranslated, describes a ‘statue’ dedicated to Utu by the judge Gimil-Marduk for the life of King Ammī-ṣaduqa. From the style of the script the tablet appears to be later than Old Babylonian, perhaps Early Kassite. It was probably copied from the original monument. The text reads:—

(Obv.) 1 dutu

2 en gal

3 diir-re-e-ne-er

4 lugal é-di-ku5-ta

5 nam-ti-la

6 am-mi-ṣa-du-qá-a

7 lugal kala-ga

8 lugal ká-diir-rak[i]

9 lugal-a-ni-i[r]

10 gi-mil-dmard[u]k di-k[u5]

11 dumu Mi-li-dUTU

12 u4dutu lugal-a-ni

13 du11 in-na-an-du11-ga-ni

14 an-da-gin-na-ta

15 [š]à-lá in-ši-in-sud-àm

(Rev.) 16 zi nam-ti-la

17 in-na-an-ba-a

18 urudualam šà-ne-ša4

19 du10 bí-in-gam-ma

20 mùš-me-bi kù-babbar ar-ra

21 šudu [i]n-na-an-[né]-a-ni

22 in-na-n[i]-in-dím

23 urudu al[a]m-ne-e

24 igi d utu

25 é-di-ku5-da-ta

26 du11-ga-ni

27 in-ši-in-še-ga

28 mu-ni-[gub]

“For Utu, the great lord of the gods, the king of the E-diku(da): for the life of Ammī-ṣaduqa, the mighty king, the king of Babylon, his master, Gimil-Marduk, the judge, son of Ṣillī-Šamaš,—as Utu, his master, because he followed his commands had shown him mercy and granted him breath and life,—fashioned for him his copper statue, suppliant, kneeling, its face plated with silver, uttering prayers. That statue he [placed] before Utu who, from the E-dikuda had heard his words.”

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1969

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References

1 BM 92515 = Bu 88–5–12, 48. Dimensions: 108 × 58 × 27 mm.

2 LIḪ 69. Copy. I, 130–132; transliteration and “summary”: III, 209–210.

3 Or, restoring -[ku 4], “brought”.

4 Samsu-ilūna, Bilingual C (= Stephens, F., YOS 9, 35) lines 1–2Google Scholar.

5 Year-name h (Ungnad, A., KLA 2, 149)Google Scholar = year 6 according to Kizilyay, H. & M., Çig, Annual Arch. Mus. Ist. 8 (1958), 80fGoogle Scholar.

6 See Kraus, F. R., JCS 3 (1949), 88Google Scholar, and Edzard, D. O., Zwischenzeit, 158, n. 842Google Scholar.

7 Cf. Unger, E., Babylon, 157Google Scholar; CT 37, 14Google Scholar (ii) 43: é-di-ku5-kalam-ma é dutu.

8 Cf. also é-di-ku5-kalam-ma mentioned, in a broken context, in the Sippar letter King, L. W., LIḪ 91Google Scholar = Frankena, R., AbB 2, 73 (Abī-ešuḫ)Google Scholar.

9 CT 8, 2: 41Google Scholar; BE 6/1, 84: 50, 88: 27Google Scholar.

10 CT 2, 32: 27Google Scholar; CT 8, 3: 29, 11: 20Google Scholar; CT 45, 62: 26Google Scholar; PBS 8, 252: 32Google Scholar; BE 6/1, 104: 8Google Scholar.

11 CT 47, 22: 24, Ḫammu-rāpīGoogle Scholar.

12 BE 6/1, 105:40Google Scholar, Ammī-ṣaduqa.

13 CT 45, 54: 19Google Scholar, 55: 21, both Ammī-ditāna.

14 CT 45, 50: 3, Ammī-ditānaGoogle Scholar.

15 AO 15704, height of figure 154 mm., of base 42 mm. First published by Dussaud, R., Mon. et Mém. Acad. Inscr. et B.-L. 33 (1933), 28 and pl. IGoogle Scholar, and often reproduced since. I owe the photograph appearing here on Plate X, a to the courtesy of Dr. P. Amiet, Conservateur des Antiquités orientales in the Louvre, who kindly allowed me to reproduce it.

16 Here a professional name.

17 The Old-Babylonian spelling seems to be le-e-i (cf. AHw s.v. lē'û(m)), but note le-i in Ur III (Gelb, I. J., MAD 3, 158)Google Scholar.

18 That is, to be the servant of the god. For this use of -še, cf. on a brick of En-ana-tumu I, ur ḫa-lu-úb ni-tuḫ-šè mu-na-durun-durun-na “tḫ.-wood lion which he installed for him as a gate-keeper” (Sollberger, E., Corpus, En.I 2 iii 23)Google Scholar.

19 BM 134962 = 1967–12–16, 1. Height (without base) 129 mm. Provenance unknown (found unnumbered in the reserve collections).

20 BM 117886 = 1926-2-15, 1. Height 75 mm. Bought. Alleged provenance: Warka.

21 Rīm-Sĩn 11, Samsu-ilūna 6, Abi-ešuḫ x (Goetze, A., JCS 5 (1951), 102)Google Scholar, Ammī-ditāna 7, Ammī-ṣaduqa 5; Simmons, S. D., JCS 13 (1959), 82Google Scholar, year-name ff (time of Ibāl-pī-el II). Cf. also the “praying statue” mentioned in a Mari letter quoted by Dossin, G., Syria 19 (1938), 125CrossRefGoogle Scholar.