Who Is Shulpa'e?

[seeker666utu]

I was reading a source online here: link to article that gave a broader picture for Shulpa'e than god of feasts as I've seen him described elsewhere online and the Epic of Gilgamesh. Below is what I gleaned from the article. I'll end this post with a few questions that I'd like answered by the members if they can.

Šulpa’e/Šulpa’ea

Šulpa’e (Youth Shining Forth, Šulpa’ea , Young one, who comes forth shining)

Cult places: Keš & Adab, plus Nippur, Isin, Uruk, Mari, Girsu
Consort: Ninhursagga

Planet: Jupiter

Epithets: Maškim-ĝi-lú-har-ra-na (The traveler’s night constable)
The fierce constable of the Gods
The Throne bearer of An & Enlil
Enlil’s lord of the banquet table
Shining forth like moonlight
Roving Namtar demon
(with Ninhursagga) ruler who brings forth enship.
Of the palace

Associations with:
Warfare, vegetation, orchards and wild animals (are otherwise unattested so far).
Disease (potentially chthonic in nature?)

What does "-pa-" mean?
 
I assume it means youth/young but in reference to other deities with pa/pap as elder/oldest brother. So does it mean youth/young or elder? If pa is young/youth would -p combined to pa- turn it into elder? This is also assuming Shul means shining. So if pa does mean youth/young instead of elder/oldest brother, could this mean that Pap-Sukkal the young vizier and Pabilsag mean pa-(gi)bil-sag thus young (of?) fire mountain (youth who has fire mountain?) or Pa-bilx(giš.pap.ne)-sag as youth who has fire (young tree ...not sure what ne stands for)-mountain/head? looking at the various spellings of pabilsag via oracc giš and gibil seem to be common elements in his name. In combinations of "giš.pap.ne", "giš.gibil" or "giš.ne" So the elder is the leader or youth is the leader or arrow shooter doesn't make sense, unless pa/pap does mean elder and shulpae(e) should mean "Elder shining forth" or "elder, who comes forth shining". Thus again elder of fire mountain or elder torch (giš.gibil=torch?) mountain or head (elder head torch?)

Could Shulpae be a verson of nuska as enlil and an's minister and guardian of the night? Nusha/u is claimed to mean "lord of the sceptre", could nuska/u be an epithet of Shulpe'a as his role of brings forth enship?

I hope that this sparks some discussions on the board.

[enkur]

šul = (to be) manly; youth; young man
pa e3 = to cause to appear
For me "The One Causing Virility" to correspond with his fertile consort, the mother-goddess.

[dingo]

The hymn to Sulpae that the Reallexikon der Assyriologie references can be found on the ETCSL website
go to: etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.4.31.1&charenc=j#
As the hymn shows the 'wild animals' associated with him are the quadrupeds of the plains (rather than any carnivores)
Dingo

[seeker666utu]

So writer was wrong on what the name meant. I've seem several different words that were to mean shining...as the author of the article mentions šul, which seems to be wrong. Then these is Shub and possibly Lam, at least going on what I've seen on translations concerning the names of deities.

If as you posit above (and I have no reason to doubt it), his name would give credence to him being a god of vegetation, orchards and wild animals. But what about him being attributed as "travelers night guardian" and "shining forth like moon light" and "roving namtar demon"? I wish I new what signs were used to describe the shining was in "shining forth like moon light". Unless pa e3 can also be translated as "shining forth".

So "pa e3" is not connected to pa/pap signs in other names. I must buy or download a book on sumerian language/cuniforms.

He does seem to have some war-like & chthonic attributes if the articles author hasn't gotten that wrong. Which still begs the question...is šulpa'e the name of a deity of epithet for another? Does he have light/fire aspects? If not were those aspects posibly from Nusku and wrongly attributed to šulpa'e? It wouldn't be the first instance that occuring or a deity having varied aspects.

In any case thanks Enkur.

[seeker666utu]

Thank you dingo, I'll go over this asap. I put it into a doc so I can read it at home. I really need to get internet at home.

[seeker666utu]

Damn... I just skimmed over it & it has given me plenty to think on. He seems to be more than some god of feasting & the shining forth bit seems to be more dealing with his awesome character not any light or fire aspects. Thank you again dingo, much appreciated.

[dingo]

According to Gwendolyn Leick (A dictionary of ANE mythology) Shulpae was a 'complex divine personality' combining 'martial and demonic aspects'. His affinity to the demons can be assessed by looking at another Sumerian poem on the ETCSL website, called Lugalbanda & the Mountain Cave:
etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.1.8.2.1&display=Crit&charenc=j&lineid=t1821.p1#t1821.p1
There is a description of a group of night demons starting from line 394. As you will see they have an almost identical set of characteristics as attributed to Shulpae.
On the ETCSL site, if you click on the blue stanza numbers you get to a Sumerian transcription and if you move your cursor over this text you get an English gloss popping up. But be aware that this site uses a slightly different transliteration style to the PSD.
Dingo

[seeker666utu]

Again thank you Dingo.

[us4-he2-gal2]

seeker666utu:




I would like to cover 2 topics in this post, first Shulpa'e and secondly perhaps I can provide some additional strategies for tackling these sorts of problems.


In researching something like this, one of the first things you rely on is your understanding of the different information sources: what is authoritative, what sources do you expect that you can trust? If you are new to the academic study of Mesopotamia, this takes time and ALOT of determination. It took me 2 years to really learn to use the journals and dictionaries relevant to Assyriology and Sumerology and as long or longer to learn who was really good and convincing in this field.


The article you have linked (https://www.academia.edu/1910350/Shulpae) is from the site academia.edu. This website is a blessing for any persons (especially layman outside the field) because in the last two years scholars have been adding more and more material for anyone to come and read and download. Before this website it was much more difficult for lay people to get their hands on these same papers, you would have to go to a university library in most cases. I suggest you download everything and anything from the scholars on this site. Make an account and set it up as an independent research if you aren't in school, find one scholar (i.e. Delnero) and click the follow button on him - then go to his list of followers and add them and who they are following and so on. You would find a ton of important papers.


So, the next step is to learn who is authoritative and who isn't. This takes time. You have to first obtain a sizable amount of academic material to do that, and as I am saying, in today's world that is possible for anyone. In the case of the author of the paper you mention, Paul Delnero,
he is one of the 'rising stars' of Sumerology, one of the most promising of the new generation of these scholars. So my point here is that, with a knowledge of the players involved, one can decide on the likelihood that these persons have made some error in interpretation and thus it becomes clear where to invest your energy. Or where not to. Sumerology is of course a science and as such all data is up for debate, even so, one must 'pick their battles' so to speak.



So as far as the name of Shulpa'e goes, the name consists of 2 sometimes 3 components:

Šul(1).pa è(2).a(3)

1) Šul: this is noun meaning 'youth'
2) pa..è: this is a compound verb. So è by itself is the Sumerian verb 'to come out'. However when the verb consists of pa+è the meaning of è is modified and becomes 'to make resplendent, to manifest' (According to Thompson 1989) or 'to cause to appear' (according to ePSD, as enkur noted).
3) a: This is a grammatical element, nominalising a. In the earlier periods the name was written without this.

So Delnero (who is actually just passing on other scholars work on this issue) gives the translation 'Youth shining forth' when the 3rd component is absent and 'Youth, who comes shining forth' when the 3rd component is present. Delnero is able to modify his translation of the name because he is able to work with component 3, a grammatical element, which is not listed in the dictionaries or on ePSD which you are using as your basis of understanding. It is for this reason, and the fact this could be a re-occurring problem, that I suggest that you not start with translating Sumerian. I waited 5 years before trying this really.



What I am going to really suggest here is that you first focus on using the field and the science to broaden your view and enrich your understanding. Anyone can do this with time and determination and that is what enenuru is here for, to provide a bridge to academia for the layman should he/she want it. At this stage I think it would be much more helpful to take a scholar's translation and then use academic resources to try and understand why they translated it this way, rather coming up with new interpretations. It *is* the goal of all people researching and studying say something new, but to get there one must find and develop their own version of due process.


It is impossible to develop ones approach to these difficult and esoteric subjects without a mountain of academic material. Should you want to pursue this, please contact me ([e-mail]) and I would be able to forward you a lifetime's worth of study material in pdf form.





Best Regards.

[seeker666utu]

Thank you again us4, I very much appreciate the assistance you've given me here & in other threads. I'll make an account at the site you mentioned asap.I also understand the need to vet sources as not also sources can be trusted (as in Sitchin). That goes for all things, blind faith in anything leads often to ignorance or worse. If something cannot stand up to fierce scrutiny then it must be, at the very least looked at in a new light or rejected as false.

I'm so glad that I was led to this site as it is a wonderful resource and the members are so helpful. It was researching Nergal that led me to find this bastion of knowledge and inquiry, I must thank Enki for blessing me with this boon.

I understand what you are saying about attempting interpretations without the proper foundation Us4. I'm merely looking to learn as much as I can & being a novice...I'm stumbling around. But I do want to learn as much as I can so I can make an informed opinion. Thank you & I'm will be e-mailing you very soon. I can't wait to delve deeper & grow my wisdom with the help on you, the other members & all those scholars who have come before.

[us4-he2-gal2]

We also stumble with the burden of an ancient language which humanity had forgotten for some 2,000 years. Progress is a matter of stumbling in the right direction I suppose.

[seeker666utu]

I've been reading through the Sumerian Lexicon of late and noticed that Šul means : Young man, Warrior, Invader or bad disease. So could Šulpa'e mean warrior who manifests or comes forth? I'm just curious as reading the lexicon has gotten my mind a whirl.