Reporting from the 62nd Rencontre in Pennsylvania

[us4-he2-gal2]

Notes on the 62nd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale = (RAI)

enenuru = I would like to post and report about the 62nd RAI, which I am currently attending and which will go on for the next few days. A five day meeting of Assyriologists from around the world, the RAI is an annual event which usually meets in Europe, but is now meeting in Pennsylvania, USA. This is the 5 time Assyriologists have converged in the US, the last time they met in Pennsylvania was 1988. The theme of the talks is generally the City of Ur, but many papers address non- Ur topics. There are some 35 papers read per day (they are read in in 3 different rooms, 3 papers simultaneously, the listener must choose which paper to attend). To see a list of papers see: here.



My aim in this thread is the share some of my brief notes taken during the various talks which themselves are quite brief (20 mins) and are usually overviews of one segment of a scholars overall research project, or perhaps one text of interest to the scholar, some may present open questions in place of conclusions, some may make tentative conclusions as the evidence discussed is somewhat thin etc. etc.




D. Campbell presented a paper "A Hurrian Incantation against Toothache and Mesopotamia Folk Medicine." I have basically zero knowledge of Hurrian and Hurrian incantations (a small corpus I suspect). However this particular literary piece had some fortunate parallels with a Mesopotamian textual type known as Mannum Luspur, sometimes termed "Folk Medicine". The presenter stressed it does now compare favorably with Mesopotamian texts from the standard exorcistic corpus having to do with toothache. The principal element in the Hurrian text shared with the Mannum Luspur texts are the following:

i. introduction verses present the health problem and invoke deities

ii. the 7 + 7 divine daughter (i.e. daughters of Anu) are invoked

iii. materia magic for the ritual solution is listed and described

(iv. in the Hurrian text only, instructions for the disposal of the materia magica are provided).



J. Klein presented a paper "A Unique Poem referring to Nin-Isina, Demons and Sick People" - this composition can also be referred to as "Shulgi K" , it is not available on ETCSL and I don't believe it has been published to date. The text fragments involed are Ni 4358 and ANE.087.1904 (Fitzwilliam). Klein refers to these fragments already in 1981, but does not appear to have attempted their translation until the current time at RAI 62.


Unfortunately, I could not copy down the entire text during the presentation, however I noted:

lines 1-20 contained a praise to Shulgi

My attention was immediately very keen when Klein revealed that line 21 discusses Sisig, the god of dreams! For perhaps the 4th mention of the god in Mesopotamian literature outside the lists. Line 21 may read "..Sisig, who creates dreams (for) people." However Klein is not certain about the reading of the line, and it may instead say something like '..of the land , who creates the incantations ' or something like that.

34-50 these lines contain description and discussion of demons.

Lines 43-48: A praise of Nin-isina , daughter of An.

All sections are marked with a repeated refrain: "In/at the palace, Shulgi, the righteous Shepherd of Sumer, offers them/it help". Klein is puzzled by this refrain and its significance, invited suggestions. An Audience member suggested that an Ur III incantation from the Jena collection, which involve Shulgi, be consulted.

[us4-he2-gal2]

More from Rencontre 62

In the above picture, I have encountered recently joined enenuru member, ninisina, who I convinced to join me for in this photo. Selfies are really not a thing for me, however meeting an enenuru member in person is a rare occasion for me and I like to mark those occasions. Although there was that time that Sheshki, Darkl2060, Andrea and I met in Leipzig, see here.


On another side note, one of the things I enjoyed at the Rencontre were the many stories and discussions of Åke Sjöberg which were related in sessions given in honor of the late scholar. These perspectives were given often by his former students and colleagues. The history of scholarship at the U. of Penn. was well represented with some senior scholars (such as Barry Eichler and Jacob Klein) recalling the days before Sjöberg when S.N. Kramer was in charge of the tablet room, and even before that, the days when his predecessor, Edward Chiera, was in charge. Reading the works of S.N. Kramer, and even his autobiography, I always got the sense of a very welcoming person always trying to infect you with his own sense of infinite affection and intrigue of Mesopotamia - I always imagined him to be exceedingly welcoming. This image was challenged this week however by the impressions of those people who actually knew him. Under Chiera and then Kramer, the tablet room at Penn. was strictly governed and rather closed off, apparently Sjöberg once remarked that on arriving at Penn. 'Kramer slammed the tablet cabinets shut on my fingers.' And when Cooper was remembering Civil's scholarship he remarked 'Kramer, as you know, was not given to praising other scholars' (exception: Civil). But the point of these insights about Kramer was really to form a backdrop and contrast with the attitude
of Sjöberg, who, when he took over at the U. of Penn. markedly and perhaps pointedly upended the policies at Penn., creating an atmosphere of openness and opportunity. He selflessly shared his ideas and information with all interested, and opened up the cuneiform collection to a great extent, even allowing undergraduates access. His generosity is warmly remembered by all of his students.





On to the talks.




A paper given by J. Miller "A New OB Incantation on Snake Bite" was co-written with Andrew George (who was absent however). The tablet involved, previously unpublished, is identified as Cunes 48-09-287. The incantation deals with the harmful attacks of the șașarum snake, previously unknown outside of lexical sources.

Lines 18-19 read: luddīma wāšipī ludammim ša ișbatū șerram ina šiptim which Miller/George translate "I will make the sorcerers moan who caught the snake with the spell!" If this is the correct translation, it seems to imply that the sorcerers/exorcists, the āšipū, have behaved maliciously at some point, catching snakes and unleashing them on man. In the question period afterward, I pointed out to the speaker that in the ED incantation corpus, Enki is known to send out harmful snakes, according to M. Krebernik. However, a member of the audience suggested that the verb translated 'moan' could be interpreted 'murmur' i.e. 'I will make the sorcerers murmur'. If this is correct, these lines do not necessarily imply that the exorcist/sorcerer acted maliciously, which is likely preferable since it contradicts the role of the āšipu in the rest of the corpus.





A paper given by J.S. Cooper "Enlil and Namzidtara" . I have seen the name of the gudu4 priest protagonist spelled Namzidtara or Namzitara, I think Cooper spells it with the the Namzidtara.


We have discussed this myth to a great extent here at enenuru, for the most part, this was many years ago. These discussions occurred on the Enmesharra thread, because that obscure dead ancestor god is mentioned in the text. See the Enmesharra thread. The essential plot is this: The protagonist, a gudu4 priest named Namzidtara, encounters a Raven, who is actually Enlil in disguise; he identifies the god in Raven form; Enlil asks how did you know who I was?; Namzidtara answers displaying a knowledge of the specialized theology of the god, specifically, that Enlil had a fight with Enmesharra (Who is Enlil's own uncle); Namzidtara is rewarded and given a good fate.

Cooper relates that M. Civil had some time ago understood this as a variation of a sequence known in world folklore (i.e. man meets god in disguise, recognizes and identifies said god, then receives award for his cleverness).


Cooper's contribution with this paper was to make a small step forward in interpreting the phenomena of the myth, specifically, why did Namzidtarra have this knowledge, why was he, in particular, able to recognize Enlil? He notes that Nippur itself did not have a gudu4 priest, unlike other cities, this functionary was known by a different title. It means that Namzidtara was likely a priest of the Enlil-urumah-anki in Ekur-igigal (a place nearby or within the territory of Nippur, I think). (I am now unsure if I copied the name of the second location 'Ekur'igigal' down correctly - my previously reading, see below, makes me think that maybe it was Ekur-gi-gal or something to do with reeds). Here, the patron goddess was Šu-zi-an-na, who it turns out was married to Enlil, was also the daughter of Enmesharra. Hence, as a gudu4 priest of Šuzianna, Namzidtarra was well positioned to have knowledge of the dispute between Enlil and Šuzianna's father, Enmesharra. This moves us a little closer to understanding the cult and the theology behind this little story.


Again, what is new in Cooper's talk is the positioning of Namzidtara in the particular temples named above - however, the knowledge that Šuzianna married or was a mistress of Enlil, is not new. On March 7 2011, our member Muska posted the following on the Enmesharra thread:


"In the first millenia commentary on rituals of month gu4-si-sa2 of Nippur calendar Shuziana (Enlil s concubine) called Enmesharra s daughter (Oxford Editions of Cuneform texts, XI, 69+70, I, 12-16, as quoted in two V. V. Emelianov s works on Sumerian cult calendars) but Sumerian sources as I know (Temple hymns) don t provide any genealogy of mysterious dam-banda Shuziana. "



And on Nov. 2 2008 on the temple identification guide thread I had noted:


"Šu-zi-ana in Ĝa-gi-maḫ: Šu-zi-ana is an interesting one - you will probably note in the myth ENKI AND NINMAH that she is one of the birth goddesses who gives birth to mankind in that Sumerian story of creation.

I have wondered about her in the past, and I believe now that the poet who composed Enki and Ninmah borrowed this goddess from the local of Nippur - somehow, Šu-zi-ana seems to be mixed up in the theology of the Du-ku which we know from Sara`s work was located near the tummal complex which itself was outside Nippur proper but deeply connected with Nippurian cultic activtives, Jacobsen has said that Šu-zi-ana is to be connected with the local of Nippur and to be the concubine of Enlil. As the temple hymnsrelate she is "Šu-zi-ana, the junior wife of Father Enlil" and she is said to be the singular lady, of the Du-saĝ-dili [singular mound] which is the foundation of the 'E-ga-duda' [chamber of the mound]. I would suspect this is part of the Du-ku or Sacred Mound. Cohen's Cultic Calendar's mentions a Nippur text which refers to the ezem-gis-gi, "The festival of the canebrake" which lists sacrifices as "1 grain-fed ox for Enlil and 1 grain-fed cow for Su-zi-ana...provisions for the festival of the Canebrake." The temple hymn concludes " 9 lines: the house of Šu-zi-ana in Ĝa-gi-mah." Perhaps the 'gi' [reed/cane] in the name of this location can be seen to correlate to the ezem-gis-gi festival. There is much that remains obscure about this deities and her cultic and mythological aspects."