The Du-ku and Cosmology (B/W)

[us4-he2-gal2]

Pondering the Cosmology of the Sacred Mound

Recently there has been some small discussion on the Theoretical understandings thread which centers on Binsbergen and Wiggermann's comments on the Du-ku : the sacred mound. In their ambitious (if controversial) 1999 paper, these authors state that they refer to "third millennium cosmology" to present the following cosmological model:

Namma > Heaven/East > Du-ku (Holy Mound) > Enlil (separates Heaven/Earth)

Binsbergen/Wiggermann 1999:

---

The opposition of m e / partsu and n a m t a r / shimtu is not just conceptually implied, but turns out to be made explicit in third millennium cosmogony. 40 Herein a cosmic ocean, N a m m a , produces a proto-universe, Heaven and Earth undivided. In a series of stages, all represented by gods, Heaven and Earth produce the Holy Mound (d u k u g ), which in its turn produces E n l i l , ‘Lord Ether’, who by his very existence separates Heaven and Earth.

[/color]

---

The question is, what early sources do B/W refer to for this model?? The classic model of Sumerian cosmology is given by S.N. Kramer in his 1944 Sumerian Mythology does not include the Duku. The author had succeeded in piecing together various Cosmological factoids from a scattering of texts which for the most part are Old Babylonian sources. The model Kramer suggested (pg. 40) is as follows:

Namma > Heaven/Earth > Enlil (separated Heaven/Earth)

In the Beginning : Sumerian Cosmological texts/


In the 2002 tribute to the late Thorkild Jacobsen (Riches Hidden in Secret Places), Ake W. Sjoberg writes an article titled In the Beginning ..which treats three Sumerian texts which deal with the Beginning, one Early Dynastic , an Ur III and an Old Babylonian text, The first Madness has early quoted on our Pre-Sargonic Literary Compositions thread. It was found on a tablet from Tello (Lagash) and reads as follows:


Mus #: AO 4153
P.Publication: NFT p. 180
CDLI: P315470

Column i
1. [Let An-Heaven . . . ]
2. . . .
3. Let Ki-Earth come forth in (all) her lavishness(?)!
[or: Ki-Earth came forth in (all) her lavishness].
4. She was green (like) a garden, it was cool.
5. The holes in the ground were filled with water.

Column ii
1. An, the En, was standing (there) as a youthful man.
2. An-Heaven and Ki-Earth were "resounding" together.
3. At this time the Enki-and the Nunki-gods did not (yet) live,
4. Enlil did not (yet) live,
5. Ninlil did not (yet) live,

Column iii
1. "Today"( "last (year),"
2. "The remote (time)"( "last (year),"
3. The sunlight was not (yet) shining forth,
4. The moonlight was not (yet) coming forth.

Cosmological model: An/Ki (Heaven/Earth) > Enki/Nunki > Enlil/Ninlil ?

Next there is the Ur III Cosmological text:

Mus #: NBC 11108
P.Publication: AOAT 25
CDLI: P301718

1. An, the En, illuminated(?) the sky (but) let earth (still) be dark... into the "land"
2. No water drawn (from) the deep, nothing was produced, ... the wide earth... was not (yet) done.
3. The great išib-"priest" of Enlil was not (yet) present.
4. ... of An was not (yet) adorned.
5. ...
6. Heaven and Earth had not (yet) taken each other in marriage (?).
7. Light did not (yet) shine, darkness expanded.
8. An-Heaven had not(?)..., his heavenly abode,
9. Ki-Earth did not... fragrant herbs and plants.
10. The divine powers of Enlil were not (yet) perfected.
11. ... Of An...
12. ...
13. The gods of Heaven, the gods of the Earth were not (yet) walking about.

Cosmological model: Heaven/Earth > Enlil > other gods?

Finally there is the Old Babylonian text (Sjoberg refers the reader to other works for the translation and so I refer to Kramer 1956, p. 303 where ten lines only are given.) Despite seeming to be less cosmological in nature, Sjoberg says this text originally depicted the copulation of Heaven and Earth in order to produce trees and reed.


Mus #: AO 6715
P.Publication: TCL 16, 53
CDLI: P345397

Smooth, big Earth made herself resplendent, beautified her body joyously,
Wide Earth bedecked her body with precious metal and lapis lazuli
Adorned herself with diorite, chalcedony, and shiny carnelian,
Heaven arrayed herself in a wig of verdure, stood up in princeship,
Holy Earth, the virgin, beautified herself for Holy Heaven,
Heaven, the lofty god, planted his knees on Wide Earth,
Poured the semen of the heros Tree and Reed into her womb,
Sweet Earth, the fecund cow, was impregnated with the rich semen of Heaven,
Joyfully did Earth tend to the giving of birth of the plants of life,
Luxuriantly did Earth bear the rich produce, did she exude wine and honey.

Cosmological model: Heaven/Earth > Reed and Tree ?

Far away days/


As the above cosmological narrative may relate, few segments of text seem particularly comprehensive about Sumerian cosmology, or to give the whole sequence by themselves. Examples are sometimes given of relevant passages such as the cosmological narrative at the start of Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld, or the composition known as The Worm and the Toothache which is a strange combination of medical text and Cosmological narrative. In these examples we see that the Mesopotamians often liked to include bits of this type of information at the introduction of a myth or other types of text where they don't otherwise fit - fortunate for attempts to piece it all together such as Kramer's.

In Riches Hidden in Secret Places, Jeremy Black contributes an article dealing with Sumerian landscape and ideology- the author is also insightful about the Sumerian enjoyment of retrospective writing. His comments here are very interesting:


"Unlike the scholars of our own century, the Sumerians has no interest in the question of where "the Sumerians" in particular, as oppose to other people, had come from. They very rarely write about "The Sumerians." On the other hand, they knew that mankind, in general, had not inhabited the earth since the very beginning of time- there had been a time when there were no humans- and they knew that the very first men had lived in an uncivilized state like animals. They realized that civilization had been a later development. It fascinated them to speculate about how the world had come into being and how things had been at the beginning of time."

J. Black on the Barton Cylinder

Museum number: [CBS 8383]
P. Publication: ASJ 16, p. 43-46
CDLI: P222183


The Barton Cylinder is among the earliest examples of Sumerian literature and dates to the Early Dynastic period. It is said to be in full a "Ninurta Narrative" and its poetic elements had clear inspirations for the narrative found on the Gudea Cylinders, and interesting here, the Barton Cylinder begins with a cosmological narrative which Black provides and comments on:

u₄ re-a u₄ re-šè na-nam
Those days were indeed faraway days.
Those nights were indeed faraway nights.
Those years were indeed faraway years.
The storm roared,
The lights flashed.
In the sacred area of Nibru,
The storm roared,
the lights flashed.
Heaven talked with Earth,
Earth talked with Heaven.

The event of the lightning in this sequence is noted by B. Alster, who in referring to the information from NBC 11108 (the Ur III text above) suggested a period of darkness before the separation of Heaven and Earth, adds about the information in the Barton Cylinder: "In our sources it was changed by the separation of heaven and earth, which, according to the Barton Cylinder, happened when the first stroke of lightning occurred in Nippur."
J. Black further describes: "Here, primeval cosmic events are imagined. But they are linked to a known location - in this case Nibru (Nippur). Nibru here is both the scene of a mythic drama and, as the same time, the familiar city in northern Sumer. It is transfigured by this drama to a symbolic status - like Jerusalem, Byzantium, or Rome - which makes it far more than a mere city. The location becomes a metaphor.

Addressing the Du-ku

J. Black on the Myth of Sheep and Grain and the DU-KU

Coming to the myth of Sheep and Grain, we finally see a piece of literature with some relevance to the question of Du-ku (dul) asked above. The beginning of this narrative (a debate poem) is fascinating as the ancient composer imagines the primeval time before Heaven and Earth separated, and a place where the gods themselves were born - called "the ḫursag̃ (hill) of Heaven and Earth. Black says this was "neither a flat plain nor a mountain, but a hilly landscape." The Anunna gods were created on this hill which was on Heaven/Earth. It is NOT the Du-ku (dul), the Holy Mound - as we will see in cosmological space, the Du-Ku (dul) was ON the ḫursag̃.

ḫur-sag̃ an ki-bi-da-ke₄...
On the Hill [ḫursag̃] of Heaven and Earth
when An had created the Anunna gods
...there was no grain, no weaving, no sheep, no goat, no cloth;
even the names of these things were unknown to the Anunna and the great gods...
the people of those distant days..
-these were uncivilized primitives-
..went about naked and drank from ditches...
At that time-it was in the god's own birthplace,
their home, on the Holy Mound [dul] -Sheep and Grain were caused to live there.

---

Black inserts the comment here: "The Holy Mound is a location situated, like everything else at the time, somewhere "on the hill of Heaven-and-Earth."

---

They fetched them into the dining hall of the gods,
and in plenty of Sheep and Grain,
the Anunna gods of the Holy Mound
ate, indeed they could not be sated.
The Anunna gods of the Holy Mound
drank the mild from the holy sheepfold which is good,
indeed they could not be sated.
As for their holy sheepfold which is good,
for mankind it was to be made available as sustenance.

Next, Black addresses the ḫursag̃ and the Holy Mound (dul) and something new emerges in this excellent discussion:

"Now the terms ḫursag̃ "hill" and dul "mound" are known from administrative field plans dating from the Third Dynasty of Ur, which conveniently demonstrate the use of these terms as part of the everyday vocabulary of vernacular speech, not restricted to a purely literary lexicon. The plans use ḫursag̃ for the "hilly" parts of fields, which are difficult to cultivate (so the ḫursag̃ can be translated as "hill(s)"), and dul for areas of fields which are unproductive because they are tell-ground (that is, ground untillable because it is the site of ruined habitations). The word translated here as "mound" is Sumerian dul, Akkadian tillu (which is, of course, Arabic tell).

A hill known as the Holy Mound, then, was the birthplace if the Anuna, and the other gods, at the time before sky and earth were separated. They lived up on it, and mankind lived down below. The imagination stimulus for the idea of a single Holy Mound -a dul or tell- must have been the numerous ruin mounds that dot the surface of the Mesopotamian plain, with evidence of ancient habitation. Nobody lived on them, but you only have to investigate them cursorily- if your village is next to one and you stroll up there of an evening- to realize, from the ceramic remains and the occasional skull and bone, that they had been inhabited in the past. But by whom? The mythic imagination tells us that this is where the gods lived in the most distant past, with their feet on the ground but close to the sky.

A mythic image or metaphor such as the Holy Mound, then, is a single cosmic location derivable from generalized elements of the landscape, such as uninhabited ruin mounds, that are multiple and ubiquitous. "




Summing: From a survey of different cosmological material we can see that the du-ku seems in large to be absent from Sumerian imaginings in regards creation. Perhaps the most pertinent material when considering the Binsbergen and Wiggermann model (Namma > Heaven/East > Du-ku (Holy Mound) > Enlil (separates Heaven/Earth)[/center]) is the debate poem Sheep and Grain, where the role of the Du-ku is explicit, even while its form and significance is less so.. I believe this composition to be extent on OB sources for the most part and so it seems this may not be what B/W refer to when they say "third millennium sources" - however ,without the work they cite at this point in the article, it's difficult to say (as Madness points out, this is note 40 in the paper: F.A.M. Wiggermann, 'Mythological foundations of Nature,' in D.J.W. Meijer (ed.), Natural Phenomena: Their meaning, depiction and description in the ancient Near East). We will have to await its acquisition.

[us4-he2-gal2]

The Du-ku as Localized Cultic Item

The Du-ku building within the E-kur complex/



While the Du-ku does feature as a cosmological phenomenon, We know that some cosmological narratives are highly localized such as that on the Barton Cylinder ("In the sacred area of Nibru, The storm roared, the lights flashed.) On surveying the text relevant to consideration of the du-ku, it becomes apparent that this cosmological location also has strong identification with the locality of Nibru/Nippur - first we might consider a Hymn to the E-Kur, Enlil's major cult center - in particular a segment in which the parts of the complex are enumerated:


ETCSL 4.80.0

---

"The house of Ninlil is as great as a mountain. The gate Kan-innamra is as great as a mountain. The E-itida-buru is as great as a mountain. The courtyard of the Egal-maḫ is as great as a mountain. The lofty E-itida-buru is as great as a mountain. The Entum-galzu is as great as a mountain. The Innam-gidazu is as great as a mountain. The Suen Gate is as great as a mountain. The Du-kug, the holy place, is as great as a mountain."



As well, a line from a hymn to Inanna also spells out the physical existence of the du-ku among the buildings of the E-kur temple complex:


[url=http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=c.4.07.a&display=Crit&charenc=gcirc&lineid=c407a.1
]A hymn to Inana: c.4.07.a[/url]

---

"Lady ……! Returning heroic youth, Inana ……. At the shrine, in Nibru, in the E-du-kug ……"




M. Cohen, whose 1993 work Cultic Calendars of the Ancient Near East I will chiefly refer to below, adds that the du-ku is placed within the E-kur complex in 2 lamentations and also in an eršemma-hymn called "Dilmun", which gives it as the du6-kù ki-kù "The Sacred mound, the sacred place." He further isolates the du-ku as being positioned in whats known as the Tummal complex - a construct near the E-kur itself, built by the last kings of Kish when in mid 3rd millennium, they established Nippur as the hegemonic religious center of Sumer. One economic texts reads "4 grain-fed sheep and 1 large goat for Ninlil, 2 large grain-fed goats for the Sacred Mound, 2 grain-fed sheep for Suen, and 2 grain-fed sheep for ..., disbursed on the 19th day (for) the Tummal."




Cohen on Sheep and Grain/


The author notes the occurrence in the debate poem Sheep and Grain of an instance of the cosmological du-ku as we have above - he briefly recaps the views of other scholars, namely van Dijk's suggestions of a the du-ku (sacred mound) as situated on a sort of world mountain on which the gods come from (as Black said, hursag). He mentions Jacobsen's n. 27 from page 371 from his "the Harps....". This is an important hint Jacobsen contributes:


"Duku, "the holy mound," was a sacred locality. Originally and basically the term designated the plastered-over pile of harvested grain, but it was extended to underground storage generally. Enlil's ancestors- powers for fertility in the earth- were located in Duku."


Following this suggestion than, this mound from early times had a agricultural function and became (or was from early on) theologically imbued with divine fertility principals and cosmological significance. The cultic information Cohen provides that backs Jacobsen's suggestion is highly fascinating therefore.

What did the du-ku look like?

While a "plastered over pile of harvested grain" doesn't make for an easily imaginable image, its function was perhaps to preserve the crop and prevent spoilage (something like silos today perhaps.) Cohen says "The actual form of this recreated Sacred Mound in the Tummal is not specified. However, a Drehem tablet from AS7 records "6 talents and 30 minas of scorched (?) twigs and 1 worker for 15 days to Nippur ... as supplies for the Sacred Mound." Perhaps twigs were used for the construction, covering or decoration of the Sacred Mound."



The Month and Festival of Du-ku/


As we have recently seen on the Seasons and Calendars thread the seventh month of the original Nippur Calendar was named "Du-ku", and indeed this correlates specifically to the building in the Tummal-complex at the E-kur in Nippur. Cohen explains that on the 27th and 28th of the month of Du-ku, the du-ku festival was celebrated in the Tummal. Economic texts record that dozens and dozens of ovines (sheep, oxen etc) were offered to the various temple buildings, sometimes to a presiding king (on gives Shulgi) and to deities, especially Enlil and Ninlil. Some special insight the author gives here reads "The Sacred Mound at Nippur was the recipient of offerings throughout the year, particularly offerings of milk. "This may have been part of a ritual for the fecundity of the herds, for, as noted in the composition [Sheep] and Grain, the Sacred Mound was the source for the power of the flocks." The author also notes that the Sacred Mound, at other offering times throughout the year, was allotted a "conspicuously generous offering", though less then Enlil and Ninlil, the Mound would be given offerings approximately twice that of other major gods of the temple complex.



Du-ku as conduit to the Netherworld and the ancestors of Enlil/


As Jacobsen mentions above, the Du-ku was at one point understood as the dwelling place of Enlil's ancestors. In some Mesopotamian theological traditions Enlil is given a lengthy ancestry, all of whom (possibly) having expired at some point, were conceived of as Netherworld deities. As we note above this is not generally reflected in Cosmology. The ancestors of Enlil are a concept that van Djik in examined in his “Le motif cosmique.” In a detailed analysis of the god-lists, he convincingly demonstrates that the presentation of these deities as Enlil’s ancestors is a development later than the Old Babylonian god-list of TCL 15,10, a system that was introduced by the thinkers who conceived An-Anum; however, conversely, we do see this list of ancestral
gods in the OB poem title the Death of Gilgamesh, the relevant lines read:


The Death of Gilgamesh

---

"He …… the audience-gifts for Enki, Ninki, Enmul, Ninmul, Endukuga, Nindukuga, Enindašuruma, Nindašuruma, Enmu-utula, En-me-šara, the maternal and paternal" ancestors of Enlil;



That the Ancestors were seen as residing in the Sacred Mound is confirmed by the composition entitled "The Curse of Akkad" and the lines here lines read:


The Curse of Akkad

---

"Its young women did not restrain from tearing their hair. Its young men did not restrain from sharpening their knives. Their laments were as if Enlil's ancestors were performing a lament in the awe-inspiring Holy Mound by the holy knees of Enlil. Because of this, Enlil entered his holy bedchamber and lay down fasting."



However to conceive of these deities in amongst a pile of harvested grain (with charred twig covering?) would be possibly off the mark as Cohen explains, the Du-ku also functioned as a conduit to the Netherworld - possibly it was conceived as erected over Enki's home, the subterranean waters (though how this was physically manifested is difficult to say.) In any case, the author adds "thus the Sacred Mound was a logical place through which to communicate with the gods of the Netherworld, in particular Enlil's ancestors who dwelt there."
We see then that the du-ku construct in Nippur was given special cultic purpose, it symbolized the divinely originating fecundity as in the Sheep and Grain narrative; and it seems (apparently) to have served also a practical agricultural purposed as a storage place for harvested grain. An additional attribute of this cult building appears to have been its serving as a conduit to the netherworld, and additional indication of this can be found in an Old Babylonian Udughul incantation which Katz (2003) observes - the relevant lines have to do with ghosts escaping the netherworld through this conduit and read:


768. the evil udug, evil ala, [evil ghost, evil galla came out of kur,
769. From the holy mound, the source mountain, from its midst they came out.


Cohen compares the du-ku with a Mesopotamian cultic feature referred to as the ab/pum - the ab/pum features in festivals of the dead in some cities the description the author gives is that it was "probably a mound placed over a supposed passage to the netherworld through which the dead could return to the land of the living and through the living could provide for the dead." He also remarks "the occurrence of an ab/pu in a temple may have been somewhat analogous to the Sacred Mound at Nippur... which may also have covered a passageway to the netherworld. Both the Sacred Mound festival of Nippur and the Abu at Emar were on the 27th of their respective months, just before the disappearance of the moon- a time of ill omens, when the spirits of the dead may have been most active."




Summing: There are numerous perspectives that scholars are want to through on the duku: Perhaps because the du-ku was part of the tummal complex (which in itself is an important socio-political landmark of the mid-third millennium) they are able to assign this ideology an earlier date that textual evidence allows - however, their dating of the mythology of Enmesharra to this same early point seems troublesome or doubtful as he cannot be placed earlier than the Old Babylonian period I believe (see the Enmesharra thread,
While Black relies on his insight into administrative field plans to demonstrate that the word dul (the first part of du-ku) was in other contexts used to designate "mound" in the sense of the Akkadian tillu (Arabic tell) and he thus proposing the concept of the du-ku as based off of observations of ruin mounds extent in Sumerian times. M. Cohen has used his insight into economic and cultic texts to outline the Festival in the 7th Nippurian month to give the above explanation: we have to wonder if Cohen and Black are in anyway consolable here, perhaps if we propose the ancestors of Enlil were not only seen as residing in the Netherworld below the mound, but suggest they were considered buried beneath it, or that the Mound marked a divine ruin of sorts, in addition to its other significances we could see it as a dul with the connotation Black applies as well. Obviously, a very difficult item to comprehend in any case.

[saratara]

Very good overview! Now I try to add some references I collected in my neverending work I brought on for my Ph.d. thesis where I was trying to find a relation between the cult of the ancestors in the house and the sacred areas of Neo-Sumerian and Old-Babylonian period. I think I also found the place where it was, at least at Ur, the only sacred area indagated enough, but that implies a too long sequence of criss-cross connections so for the moment I will stick to the Duku and the ancestors of Enlil.
Here it is:

ON TUMMAL
In the so-called Tummal chronicle is described a festival focused on a sacred area located outside Nippur along a channel linking it to the "sacred city" where the absolute lady was Ninlil, even rivaling his husband Enlil.

“At your feast held in the month of the New Year, you are wondrously adorned as the great lady of Ki-ur rivals Enlil”.

Yoshikawa 1989 stresses the fact that Tummal was considered a separate place having the Ki determination and being only connected to Ninlil and to he Ki′ur. The Neo-Sumerian texts mention the presence of the divine couple together in Tummal during the 7° month (after year 46 of Šulgi is attested instead the 8° month). On the basis of the sequence in the cultic journeys Yoshikawa hypothesizes that Tummal was middle-way between Šuruppak and Nippur suggesting a possible identification with the site of Tell Dlihim. According to this identification Drehem would be significantly located middle-way beyween Nippur and Tummal. A confirmation of the fact Tummal was no inside Nippur is in the cultic journey of the god Nanna to Nippur (Ferrara 1973). The god, before reaching Nippur stops in many cities along the channel and welcomed by the goddesses of those cities. The last of them is Tummal called the èš/shrine of the “sweet” (ša6-ga) Nippur but nonetheless not related to Nippur bank.

The area in the hymns appears as strictly related to kingship and passage of power (see Sollberger 1962)

Tummal is defined primeval city, like Eridu, connected to reeds and abundance.

Tummal hymn 41-42: “Primeval city, reed-bed green with old reeds and new shoots, your interior is Kur of abundance built in plenitude (šag4-zu kur hé-gál-la nam-hé-a dù-a)".

The festival was celebrated at the beginning of the year when a cultic journey by boat and by chariot of Enlil to Tummal took place. This journey seems to overshadow the confirmation of the wedding union between the two supreme divinities in turn guaranteeing the stability of the overall divine hierarchy on the whole territory of lower Mesopotamia. In a Šulgi hymn this procession by boat is described in detail. After a ritual bath of the “great gods” and a determination of “destinies” by Enlil and Ninlil the divine couple go by boat to Tummal.

Šulgi F, 41-47: “The faithful shepherd Šulgi established the holy festival and the great rituals (ezen kug bì-lu5-da gal-gal). The great gods bathe in holy water in Nibru. He assigns the fates to their places in the city and allocates the right divine powers. The mother of the Land, Ninlil the fair, comes out from the house and Enlil embraces her like a pure wild cow. They take their seats on the barge's holy dais, and provisions are lavishly prepared “

The boat, with Ninurta at the prow, attracks at the Mete-agi bank (“adornment of the waves”) of Tummal. Upon their arrival “Enlil′s ancestors” and “An the king” greet the goddess.

Šulgi F, 65-70: “Enlil's ancestors and An the king, the god who determines the fates greet her (ama? /a-a\ den-líl-lá an lugal dingir nam tar-re giri17 šu? X mu-ni-[gál]). With Ninlil, they take their seats at the banquet, and Šulgi the shepherd brings along his great food-offerings (nidba gal-gal) for them. They pass the day in abundance, they give praise throughout night. They decree a fate, a fate to be pre-eminent forever, for the king who fitted out the holy barge”

It follows a banquet with determination of destinies and later, at sunrise, the boat goes back to the Ekur where Ninlil herself “blesses” Šulgi bestowing on him an eternal name and a long reign.

Šulgi F, 82-90: “With joyful eyes and shining forehead, Ninlil, ......, looks upon king Šulgi: "Shepherd ......, Šulgi, who has a lasting name, king of jubilation! I will prolong the nights of the crown that was placed upon your head by holy An, and I will extend the days of the holy sceptre that was given to you by Enlil. May the foundation of your throne that was bestowed on you by Enki be firm! Shepherd who brings about perfection, may Nanna, the robust calf, the seed of Enlil, to whom I gave birth, cover your life with ...... which is full of exuberance as if it were my holy ma garment!"

Very interesting is the name of the Tummal festival′s month, the month of the “platform of the aširtu”, the same term designating in the house the shrine for the ancestors′ cult (for that I have plenty of references. In case someone is interested... just ask!). As well as interesting is the reference on the ancestors of Enlil.

ON THE ANCESTORS OF ENLIL
The mention of Enlil′s ancestors seems far from casual and probably designated a link between divine and human model. It is not a chance also that in the month preceding the Tummal festival was celebrated the festival of the du6 kù whereby ritual offerings to Enlil′s ancestors were given, thus revealing its nature as a sort of ancestors′ cult on a divine level. The “divine ancestors” appear in many cultic texts related to Nippur. They are defined in general terms or instead called Anšan and Kišar, Enki and Ninki, Enul and Ninul, den- du6-kù-ga and dnin- du6-kù-ga. We have also a Lugal- du6-kù-ga, definined Enlil′s father. They are names in strict connection with familial ties in life and death, but always on a divine level. While in fact the ne-IZI-gar and ab-è festivals of Nippur were related specifically to “human ancestorship”, Enlil′s ancestors appear instead in other months, the summentioned du6 kù, the 7° month, and the Tummal one, the 8°. Sallaberger has interpreted the duku festival as “eine trauerferie, um totengaben, bei den Vorfahren Enlils am duku”, a sort of “divine funerary cult of the ancestors” with offerings at the black moon of the 7° month. He moreover relates the two months since the first festival happened at the end of the 7 month, while the second at the beginning of the eight (Sallaberger 1993, 73). Interesting is also the moment of black moon when the kispu rituals for the ancestors were performed in the houses.

The main reference to the duku as related to a divine ancestors′ cult relies on a excerpt from the Curse of Akkad related to the moment the Ekur is destroyed by Naram-Sin, already mentioned by us4-he2-gal2 , where the lament of the people is paralleled to the one of the ancestors of Enlil:

"Their laments were as if Enlil's ancestors were performing a lament in the awe-inspiring du6 kù by the holy knees of Enlil”.

In other texts the du6 kù appears associated to the Enki and Ninki divinities, otherwise called Enkum. In a Bit Rimki incantation they are called the “holy abgal of Eridu”. In the myth Inanna-Enki they appear as monstrous figures sent by Enki to stop Inanna escaping from Eridu with the stolen Me. In the Asarluhi hymn they appear in connection with the Mouth opening ceremony (ka-kù ba-a) and in a Miš Pi incantation they receive instruction related to purification rituals. Like the Lahama also the enkum are considered guardians of the corner, in this case of the duku: “Mighty Enkum of the duku which stands in the corner”(denkum-ma du6-kù-ga ub-ba al-gub-ba). For all the references the really precious work of Green on Eridu which I could consult when I was in the amazing library of the Freie Universitat of Berlin.

TO BE CONTINUED ABOUT THE DUKU

[saratara]

ON THE DUKU

The term du6 is translated as mound: in association with the controversial term kù it iscurrently translated as “holy mound”. The association with Enlil′s ancestors is important in the way it gives a temporal shade to this “location”: it seems to refer to a cosmological reality preceding the one in act. Already in Abu Salabikh texts we find a term conceptually similar:
the gìr.unig, “great abode of heaven and underworld, pleasant shade of Enki and Ninki” (dag-gal an ki gissu sig den-ki dnin-ki). (Zami Hymns of Abu Salabikh, cited in Edzard 1987, 23).

In a cosmogony cited by Wiggermann and Van Binsbergen (the one from which this thread came forth) the cosmic ocean Namma creates a sort of proto-universe where sky and earth appear as undivided. Follow a sequence of further changes represented by many divinities endly producing the duku in turn creating Enlil, the “lord Air” who divides the sky from earth and becomes the lord of the intermediate level organized by him through his decrees (nam tar).
According to this interpretation the duku seems to represent a sort of coniunctio oppositorum, borrowing an alchemic definition, in a way similar to realities like the Kur and the abzu analyzed before in my work, but with an important difference: the duku pertain to the sphere we could call of the “fore” i.e. it is characterized as “before the present time“.
According to Tsukimoto who collected all the references related to the term (Tsukinoto 1985, 212-15) the duku is the primeval mound emerging from the abzu and originating everything “vital“, being thus the core of the “Welt-Ordnung” action. In the ancient periods it is connected to Nippur and to the Enlil′s ancestors, as we have seen; later it is instead, not by chance, related to Marduk, called in the Enuma Elish the “duku′s son” and to Babylon.

Tsukimoto queries also about a corrispondence between duku and realm of the dead on the basis of the text BMS 46,13 where Nergal is defined paqidu gimir dukuga: “Nergal in charge of the totality of the duku”.

Its being life-source place is attested in the Lahar-Ašnan myth whereby the duku is said the place where the primeval gods took shape:

“then there, at the life fashioning place of the gods, at that temple, the duku, Lahar and Ašnan were given form” (lines 26-27)

Not only divinities originated from the duku, also natural elements, like the cattle and the grain in the homonymous composition by the will of the same Enlil.

Summarizing, the duku in the texts is associated to a connection between sky and earth and perhaps also to the Netherworld.
to the divine ancestors and to their divine funerary cult, as seen above.
To the food for the gods and thus to their survival

See Sjoberg 1967. Temple Hymn 10, 4: é-du6-kù ú-sikil-la rig7-ga: “Oh temple, holy mound where pure food is eaten”

and also to the determination of destinies. The most relevant text about the latter aspect is a I millennium Bit Rimki incantation which has a fragmentary fore-runner in an Old/Babylonian text (CBS 1529 rev. Geller, M.J. ASJ 17 1995, 117 e 126. V R 50+51).

"Incantation. Shamash, when you come out of
The great mountain (kur-gal),
When you come out of the great mountain,
the mountain of the springs
When you come out of the duku where fates are determined
When you come out of the (place) where
Heaven and earth are connected,
from the foundation of Heaven (an úr) to this place
The great gods will present themselves
Before your judgement;
The Anunnaki will present themselves to you for decisions".
(this is a relevant passage for the identification of the place in the sacred area of ur)

Jacobsen thus interpreted the duku as the luxuriant oriental mountains where the sun comes forth from (Jacobsen 1976, 371, n° 27) even though elsewhere he defines the duku as “the plastered-over pile of harvest grain” later extend to the general meaning of “underground storage” (as already noted by us4-he2-gal2)

The link duku and East is undeniable and, even though in the text it seems to be related to a cosmological more than to a geographical domain, it will be important in assessing a possible location of this element in the area of the temple. Let′s not forget that Mesopotamian mind was always projecting cosmological realities on real space, a sort of transposition between cosmological and visible reality, as I already noted about the Abzu and the Kur (in my thesis). That is why we find plenty of offering texts for the duku of Nippur throughout the year as it was a real place in the Ekur.

[saratara]

THE DUKU AS A "REAL PLACE"

The offerings to the duku were inferior in quantity only to the ones destined to Enlil and Ninlil. For example the sízkur-gu-la offerings in the Gusisu and kin-Inanna festivals whereby the duku receives 2 lambs while the other places receive only 1 lamb. The offerings were notably coming also from cities other the Nippur itself in TLB 3 146 about “provisions for the Sacred Mound of Nippur” (See Sallaberger 1993 e Cohen 1993).
A Drehem tablet mentions 6 talents and 30 minas of twigs(giš ú-bíl-la) “as supplies for the duku” leading Cohen to affirm that the duku was a sort of built location.
There was a duku as recipient of offerings also in Tummal (see Sallaberger 1993, 81)

off-topic for this theread but anyway interesting is the fact that the duku apparently was not the only “mound” to receive offerings. There was also the du6-giš eren, the “Cedar Mound”, attested only in two Neo-Sumerian texts and the du6-bar6-bar6, the “Shining mound” mentioned in relation to an offering received by the nin-dingir of Nanna while going there in PDT 1 555 and PDT 2 1210 cited in Sallaberger 1993, 81.

More relevant is the fact that the duku apparently, at least according to the offering lists, was an element present in all the sacred areas of the country.

Green (1975, 209) comments: “Like hursag which is part of so many sumerian temple names and epithets the duku was probably originally a sacred site incorporated into the temple names and into the temple architecture”.

The duku is attested as part of a sacred area in Nippur, Eridu, Babylon, Lagaš, Umma, Kiš and in a temple of Ba′u in a non localized site. In Gudea B statue, 5, 48 it is mentioned as part of the Eninnu and economic texts from Lagaš attest a duku field. Ina Drehem text are listed offerings of sheep: 13 for An and 12 for the duku of Inanna and Ninhursag: they could so refer to Uruk. In Ur another Drehem tablets mention offerings to the duku during the Akiti festival. For all the references Green 1975, 212-13 and Polonski 2002, footnote 2340 (the one of Polonski is another notable unpublished thesis, all about the cult of Utu-Shamash)

Many scholars have identified duku with abzu on the base of the similarity of implications and also following a I millennium ritual text from Uruk (cited in Falkenstein) where is written: “ May the gods of the apsu and the gods of the duku bless you!”. In my opinion just this blessing confirms the separation of the two realms and this had a different spacial reflection on the sacred areas, pointing to different location.

This last sentence is related to a my possible identification of the abzu at least in the sacred area of Ur not as a building or a shrine but as an entire area which in the texts is very very interesting for functions and religious implications.
For the case of Ur the term which seems intead to coincide with duku is du6-úr.

In Šulgi O the du6-úr of Ur is defined

“the place made famous by Enlil, the heart of which ( holds) the allotted me’s; the place where the fates are decided by father Enlil, where the great dais is founded”.

But this is another story...

Hope these references can help to deepen the topic!

[us4-he2-gal2]

Ah! This work is wonderful! I must take a few days to think it over and explore some responses. Excellent!

[us4-he2-gal2]

Sara:


This is a wonderful contribution to our reading on du-ku, and brings the discussion much further! Today we have many new things to consider and so thank you very much for this contribution and for translating from the Italian for us I have commented on each of your three posts below:



On the first post/

I especially enjoyed here the information that the Tummal can be demonstrated to be outside of Nippur proper, I don't think this was apparent on a reading from Cohen. However the texts you provide establish nicely that this was outside Nippur, and also visited by Enlil during the du-ku festival are very revealing. Well done

I also like the observation about the festivals "While in fact the ne-IZI-gar and ab-è festivals of Nippur were related specifically to “human ancestorship”, Enlil′s ancestors appear instead in other months, the summentioned du6 kù, the 7° month, and the Tummal one, the 8°. " I wish I had access to Green's work on Eridu! I have read of it many times hm.



On Post two/

This early term gìr.unig is interesting - possibly a precedent for the idea of du-ku? I have seen some materials to associate also the duku with the abzu or with the ideology of Eridu as you present and Tsukimoto observes, but find it difficult to reconcile this with its eminence in the Nippurian circle and when it used as in the 7th Nippurian month and in the context of Enlil's ancestors it seems wholly relevant to Enlil. Of course the myth Sheep and Grain is ambivalent here, as Enlil and Enki send down Sheep and Grain together from the mound:

37-42. At that time Enki spoke to Enlil: "Father Enlil, now Sheep and Grain have been created on the Holy Mound, let us send them down from the Holy Mound." Enki and Enlil, having spoken their holy word, sent Sheep and Grain down from the Holy Mound.


Your discussion which mentions those sources giving the du-ku as middle point between heaven and earth "Summarizing, the duku in the texts is associated to a connection between sky and earth and perhaps also to the Netherworld" is interesting when compared with Enlil's cosmological function as the separator of Heaven and Earth. When looking at the apparently contradicting ideas about du-ku as a cosmological location at the east mountains, or it as a conduit to the netherworld possibly in the Nippur cultic context by the Tummal, this differing concepts maybe be reflective of the Sumerian change in conception of the Netherworld from a Horizontal axis (early) to the later concept of a Vertical axis. This change from Horizontal to Vertical axis was discussed in Dina Katz complicated study of the Netherworld "The image of the Netherworld in Sumerian sources." Though this may or may not hold bearing on the du-ku complexities.




On Post 3/


That the du-ku is attested in these numerous cities does not necessarily weaken itès centrality in Nippur and Tummal contexts I don't think. It's only on whether this cultic feature should be though or as originating more from the theology of Eridu or from Nippur I am not sure on.. It's interesting you say it may have been a part of the temples of various places, "The duku is attested as part of a sacred area in Nippur, Eridu, Babylon, Lagaš, Umma, Kiš "
as I believe the cultic form of the abzu was also such a widespread feature in Mesopotamian temples. But because both were featured in diverse temples does not mean they were the same thing, and that ritual text which states "May the gods of the apsu and the gods of the duku bless you!” I agree seems to distinguish two separate elements, possible of the same temple.

[madness]

Today I had a peek at Wiggermann's article in Natural Phenomena while I was at the university library.

There is no single text for this "third millennium cosmogony." Instead, Wiggermann reconstructs, from various sources, a cosmogony involving the primordial ocean, Enlil vs Enmešarra, and the role of the dukug.

I wasn't in the mood for reading through the details, I was just hoping to copy down some texts, so I have nothing to report yet. I'll provide a summary of it next time I go.


A used copy of Natural Phenomena can be ordered from Kloof Booksellers for 57 euros.

www.kloof.nl/

[madness]

A look at Frans Wiggermann's

Mythological Foundations of Nature

in D.J.W. Meijer (ed.), Natural Phenomena: Their Meaning, Depiction and Description in the Ancient Near East


His article deals with:
- The creation of Heaven and Earth, and separation by Ether (Enlil)
- The Holy Mound
- Enlil and Enmešara
- The god lists, particularly An-Anum and its forerunner
- Plus an excursus: additions and comments to Tsukimoto, Untersuchungen zur Totenpflege (kispum) im alten Mesopotamien (AOAT 216)


du₆-ku₃ "Holy Mound"

The Holy Mound, as it appears in the Lahar and Ashnan text, is a great mountain existing within Heaven and Earth since the beginning of creation:

The hur-sag-an-ki-bi-da-ke₄ "Mountain of Heaven and Earth" is, according to all commentators, identical with the du₆-kù from which Lahar and Ashnan descend later in the text (40ff.). It is not a "Weltberg" which is Heaven and Earth (so Kramer, see Jacobsen's objections, 1946 [=JNES 5] 141), but the cosmic mountain inside Heaven and Earth. Here An spawned the Anunna gods (1f.), it is the ki-ulutim dingir-re-e-ne-kam, "birthplace of the gods" (26).

After the separation of Heaven and Earth, the three main realms of the cosmos (Heaven, Earth, Abzu) are controlled by An, Enlil, and Enkig. But even the cosmos before the separation reflect this division:

Combined evidence indicates that its [the Holy Mound's] foundation was on apsû, a cosmic structure and source of sweet water, and that the Ancient City was on top of it. From a late text of uncertain relevance it might be concluded that at first it was surrounded by sea. [late text = CT 13 35-38 "Bilingual Creation of the World by Marduk"]

(From the previous page):

If abzu is located below the du₆-kù, "Holy Mound", and the Ancient City on top of it, the division of realms and rulers of the early cosmos prefigures that of the modern universe.

Thus we see the triadic structure of the early cosmos, with respect to the ancestral rulers of each realm:
- ^dEn-uru-ul-la "Lord of the Ancient City," who is an underdeveloped form/ancestor of An
- ^dLugal-du₆-ku₃-ga "King of the Holy Mound," father of Enlil
- The Abzu as the foundation of the Holy Mound


Birth of the Holy Mound

Earth, ki, is normally a cosmic location, however in the list of Enlil's ancestors ki is transformed into procreating gods with the prefixed elements ^dEn- and ^dNin-. That is, ki transforms into En-ki and Nin-ki. Their progeny leads to another cosmic location, the du₆-ku₃, as En-du₆-ku₃-ga and Nin-du₆-ku₃-ga.

In most of the OB and later sources, En-du₆-ku₃-ga and Nin-du₆-ku₃-ga end the list - Wiggermann asserts that the En/Ninutila "Lord/Lady Time of Life" and En/Ninmešara "Lord/Lady All Essences" deities that follow are additions to the list of ancestors and not actually a part of them; they are given "special treatment" in the context of the ancestors.

What this seems to indicate is a time sequence. En-ki and Nin-ki begin to grow within the unseparated Heaven and Earth, producing new forms until it reaches the du₆-ku₃. Once the du₆-ku₃ is born into existence, it is time for life to come forth (Enutila), and the champion of the early cosmos is spawned (Enmešara), shortly before Enlil's rise to power.

With the establishment of the modern cosmos, resulting in new layers heaped upon the old cosmos, the Holy Mound and Ancient City sink down into the depths, the old gods become underworld gods, and the old cosmos becomes a retreat for demons.


En-me-šar₂-ra "Lord All Essences"

In the OB and later lists [Enmešara] is treated in the context of Enlil's ancestors, but not as one of them. Very little is known about him from other late third and early second millennium sources, and the few facts there are must be enriched by scattered information from late cultic commentaries and theological texts heavily influenced by the mythology of Enūma Eliš.

An important OB text is Enlil and Nam-zid-tara, where Enmešara is presented as a captive. He is the brother of Enlil's father (Lugal-du₆-ku₃-ga), "which makes him a member of the generation belonging to the Duku."

His taking of the Enlilship, as in this text, is also implied in a Neo-Assyrian cultic commentary (KAR 307) where the corpse of Enmešara lays in an Elamite chariot drawn by the ghost of Anzû, another thief of the Enlilship.

However, since in an earlier Sumerian myth Anzû's conflict is with Enkig, not with Enlil, their association is probably not original.

Other late texts involving Enmešara (most of these in A. Livingstone, Mystical and Mythological Explanatory Works):
- PSBA 30 80ff. - a badly broken text, Enmešara appears in prison with other bound gods, and Nergal informs him of the defeat of his seven sons by Marduk. Wiggermann points out that these seven sons "are identified with (or identify) the seven sons of Qingu in another cultic commentary [=KAR 307]."
- JCS 10 100 - another badly broken text mentioning Tiamat, Mummu, Marduk, the Enlils, and that "Enmešara was seized with a weapon."
- AnSt 20 112:2 - the dara-lugal^mušen bird of Enmešara cries "you have sinned against Tutu [=Marduk]."
- Also in KAR 307 the ghost of Enmešara cries "burn me, burn me!" Wiggermann points out that Qingu suffers a similar fate.
- O 175 - a ritual with Enmešara as the key figure. The seven sons of Enmešara is listed, and Lugal-du₆-ku₃-ga is equated with the properties of each of these sons. Enmešara himself is listed as one of the seven Enlils, apparently being equated with Qingu.
- AO 17626 - gives a similar list of the seven defeated gods, again Enmešara appears to be equated with Qingu. (However for this text and the one above, Wiggermann does not mention the equation with Qingu, but simply that Enmešara appears "together with Dumuzi, Qingu, Alla, Lugaldukuga (and others) among seven conquered Enlils")

The meaning of this conflict for cosmogony lies in the tension between essences, me, and divine government, nam-tar, "decreeing the fates". The essences are by nature part of existence, they came into being with what was created, but they are not created themselves. Enlil, An and Enkig represent active rulership, they distribute the essences over the gods and assign each his task, nam-tar. The essences are made subservient to the purposes of just rule. The brainless old cosmos of essences had to go, but it did not give way without struggle, it rebelled: Enmešara, "Lord all Essences", tried to know nam-tar and rule like Enlil, but he failed and was defeated. What there is was subordinated to divine government for good.

[madness]

Some Notes on God Lists

Wiggermann remarks on the early god lists, for those of you who try to find logic in them:

The earliest god lists, those from Abu Salabikh and Fara, are generally organized after philological principles, not, like later, after theological ones. They served the schools, not speculation.

The ancestors of Enlil do appear in these early lists. However, while Enki and Ninki begin the list of ancestors as in the later god lists, Enlil and Ninlil occur in the second position, rather than at the end, with the other En and Nin deities following. While there is no mention of En/Nin-du₆-ku₃-ga among these ancestors, there does appear En/Nin-du₆-LAK 777, which Wiggermann believes may correspond to En/Nin-du₆-ku₃-ga, "highly probable since all ED items recur in the later lists."

Wiggermann builds his insights into the god lists upon stable elements, that is, points which all the sources agree on. For example, the ancestors of An in the forerunner to An-Anum lists An-šar₂-gal first and En-uru-ul-la second, with the names of his wife following. These are stable elements since they recur in the later canonical An-Anum. But the later list expands upon these ancestors, with new elements derived from An's epithets, and incorporates deities from a different tradition into the mix, in order to reach twenty-one items (half of Enlil's ancestry).

While the ancestors of Enlil have elements that are familiar to all sources, the order in which they appear in does not appear to be so fixed. They all begin with Enki-Ninki, and Enmešara consistently finishes the list, but everything in-between changes depending on the source.


A point regarding the presargonic cosmogony text AO 4153, Wiggermann reads the first line of column ii as "The divine lord (^dEn) was coming of age." He explains that this ^dEn is the active element that grows within Heaven and Earth and initiates the separation, i.e. the element that causes Ki to become En-ki.

However if we accept Sjöberg's more recent translation "An, the En, was standing (there) as a youthful man," (compare to NBC 11108 line 1) then I believe that this additionally shows that the En element is a property of An which he "impregnates" into Ki, rather than coming into existence spontaneously.

[us4-he2-gal2]

Thank you Madness!





For any just joining this discussion, we have been discussing the Theoretical Understandings of Binsbergen and Wiggermann (see See here) who discuss frameworks for the understanding of magic in history. Sara, one of our great contributors, had wondered about one of Wiggermann`s claims about th Duku, and so we have continued discussing that particular subject on this thread. For years however, Wiggermann`s given source for his comments on the duku, and on Enmesharra, have remained out of reach!

So thanks go to Madness, who has taken the trouble to travel the the Sydney library some hours away, and to reference for us that really hard to get book, Wiggermann`s own contribution in "Mythological Foundations of Nature." This is wonderful I am very satisfied to read this report (which could not be easily achieved), and to see the roots of Wiggermann`s theories and have a chance to consider them in the original context. I must say it is always challenging to picture in one`s mind the ideas of the ancients in regards the creation of the universe especially when one tries to include an estimate of the social-political juncture at which this particular notion hails from - I would think a history of the cosmos which is centred on Enlil (Enlil`s ancestors, and the contrast between order before and after separation) must originate no earlier than the time Nippur was elevated in importance.

In particular, I have enjoyed your reporting on the occurence of the `ancient city` in these sequences, the perspective on Enmesharra, and the comments on ^dEn in your second post. Awesome work

[us4-he2-gal2]

.

[madness]

> Du-ku as conduit to the Netherworld <

But I feel that it is more than just a conduit, the two seem to have a deeper relationship.

In the Lahar and Ashnan text, the Anuna are born on the Cosmic Mountain/Holy Mound. But usually the Anuna are Netherworld gods, especially appearing in Inana's Descent as the seven judges in the Netherworld who condemn the goddess. In later texts the Anuna are placed in the Netherworld, opposing the Igigi in Heaven. And, as Wiggermann tells, the Holy Mound becomes a place for underworld gods and demons.

So where, then, is this Holy Mound located in relation to the rest of the Netherworld? The simplest answer is to directly equate the Holy Mound with the Netherworld, since both are great mountains in the east. Fortunately this is confirmed by an Udug-hul incantation:

See Forerunners to Udug-hul, pp. 72-73, 130
and The Image of the Netherworld, pp. 98-99, 343
The evil Udug, evil Ala, evil ghost, evil galla came out of the kur,
From the holy mound, the source mountain, from its midst they came out.

Thus, the du₆-ku₃ and the kur are the same mountain, an idea which should bear some interesting implications for cosmogony.

[us4-he2-gal2]

Rubio on Early Cosmology

The post relates most with the first post at the very top of this thread - in seeking to consider the validity of Binsbergen and Wiggermann's claim that the notion of the duku or holy mound emerges out of "third-millennium" cosmology. In post number one, a survey of recent literature on the earliest cosmology was conducted, and this assertion seemed to be generally unsupported.

But my aim today is simply to make reference to a new article on early cosmology by Gonzolo Rubio entitled "Time before Time: Primeval Narratives in Early Mesopotamian Literature." Rubio has made this article available to all on his academia.edu account, linked here:

pennstate.academia.edu/GRubio/Papers



The article contains commentary and translations of numerous pertinent texts - first of all, the author gives a new translation of the two 3rd millennium cosmological texts, the same two treated by Sjoberg which I reproduce in the first post of this thread. AO 4153 (Early Dynastic) and NBC 11108 (Ur III). Rubio translations may in some places be superior but do not significantly alter the picture of the cosmology involved. He notes that "what closely links these two third-millennium compositions is their descriptions of the primeval time in terms of denial of existence." That is to say, it was a time when this or that did not exist - when the gods were not yet living, when the sun did not yet shine and so forth. This strategy of referring to the negative state helps the poet to emphasize what the gods are and are responsible for.




Time before time/



Another result of the negative state described by these texts is that the narrative is set in the time before time, as Rubio explains, without the cycle of sun and moon there can be no succession days and no time as it was known to the Sumerians (or to us for that matter). The fact that Sumerian poetry has a fixation with primeval time or the time around creation can be seen in compositions beginning with the lines:


u4 ri2- u4 sud r[i2-a]

"In those days, it was indeed in those days.."



We have seen this opening in the Barton Cylinder (See reply #8 of this thread). However Rubio states lists the Early Dynastic composition TSŠ 79 i [+ TSŠ 80]) (An ED UD.GAL.NUN text) as having the same opening as well as OIP 99: 280 ii1–5; 283 i 1′–3′ , the composition known as Ashnan and her Seven Children. As consideration of these texts may yield some further insights into the early notion of primordial time, I will attempt to track down some translations for these texts.