Bazi - Enki's son in Pastoral Traditions of Ancient Syria
Jan 21, 2018 23:22:58 GMT -5
Post by us4-he2-gal2 on Jan 21, 2018 23:22:58 GMT -5
The Song of Bazi
While flipping through Andrew George's 2009 work Babylonian Literary Texts in the Schoyen Collections (CUSAS 10) I was intrigued by his presentation of a narrative poem he titles "The Song of Bazi." This comes from a single Old Babylonian tablet MS 2758 (CDLI P251785). This publication is all the more intriguing since it represents the first time that this myth has been published, it is not duplicated in any material on ETCSL etc. To frame the historical and cultural significance of this text, it is necessary to point out the importance of pastoral nomadism to Syria in Bronze Age Syria. This situation was stressed to me in a recent class I took with Prof. Anne Porter who argues for the importance of pastoralism and the related industry of weaving/textile production in Early Syria.
A second consideration is the historical (or quasi-historical) importance of Bazi, this is information George includes along with the text. In lines 211-233 of the Sumerian King List, in a sequence that would place it sometime in the Early Dynastic period, the city of Mari is said to take the hegemonic initiative and the sequence of kings for this dynasty of Mari is the following: 'Anbu ruled of 30 years; Anba son of Anbu ruled for 17 years; Bazi, the leatherworker, ruled for 30 years. Zizi, the fuller, ruled for 20 years. Limer, the gudug priest, ruled for 136 years. Then Mari was defeated and the Kingship was taken to Kish.'
Bazi as herdsman god:
George points out that Bazi is also known from a Syrian recension of the Ballad of Early Rulers (but is absent in the Mesopotamian version of the same text) where he appears together with Zizi again. For George, Bazi can be characterized as "a legendary figure with an ordinary name, who may or may not have been an historical ruler but in time became deified." In this sense he is like Gilgamesh. The god Bazi, as indicated by the text, is a herder god, a son of Enki, seeking a place of his own; the cult-daises are all full in Mesopotamia, so Enki sends him to seek a seat in region of Syria, where fresh waters are available. As will be explained below, this is precisely what pastoralists do.
Transhumance in the ANE:
Referencing the Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Ancient Near East, entry Pastoral Nomadism, it seems that an advantage that pastoralists have over sedentary agriculturalists is that they are not pinned to one location and reliant on water reserves of any one place. Patoralists rely to a greater degree on their "mobility and knowledge of natural pastures and watering places for year-round access to water." The entry points out that, in the ANE, pastorists may also make use of the three great deserts in the region (the Sahara and Sinai in N. Africa and the Arabian desert along the frontier Fertile Crescent). In the rainy season, herders may visit these deserts and take advantage "of the ability of ruminants to convert cellulose, which humans cannot digest directly, into animal protein, which humans can digest." During the dry season however, herders must bring their herds back to graze them on the stubble remains of grain fields in the agricultural zones. In the case of nomadic migration between Babylonia and Syria, it could be a migration between arable land and highland mountainous regions. This migration of flocks between summer and winter pastures is given the codeword "transhumance" (in anthropological speak).
This text seems to offer quite an insight into transhumance in the Old Babylonian period (when the text was written), if one follows George's interpretations. One may wonder, why would the Babylonians concern themselves with mythologizing the situation of Syrian pastoralism? George does treat this as a proper Mespotamian literary work (despite that its provenance is uncertain). The answer seems to be that some of the western nomads became part of the Babylonian world, at least for part of the year, when they likely migrated their flocks into the region as part of a strategy of transhumance. This isn't indicated in the body of the text so much as it is indicated in the tablet's subscript, where it reads inūma ṣābū illû "when the ṣābū (= the people) go up" - referring not to the time of arrival but of departure of the pastoral nomads. George sees this as referring to the time of year when the people (herdsmen) take their flocks from the arable land and migrate up - to higher mountainous areas such as Mt. Šaššar mentioned in the text. He discusses some evidence that suggests a formal 'day or termination' may have been observed marking the point when pastoralists would depart to the highlands, and he suggests this text, the 'Song of Bazi' may have been song or recited to mark such a day.
Other references to Bazi (the king/god)?
Bazi appears to have been a common name in the ANE both before and after the legendary god/king bearing the name - a connection with this personage cannot be assumed
a priori.
-George considers the presence of a Bronze age site called Tell Bazi (var. Tell Banat), located on the Euphrates between Carchemish and Emar, to be of interest here. It is geographically too far from the mountains named in the text, and yet does seem to have some corresponding features to those name i.e. colossal height, fortification, and a great cistern (states George). He adds "one cannot help wondering whether Tell Bazi's name represents a survival of the old god's name into the pre-modern era and its application to a suitable local landmark (cf. the use of Nimrud in toponyms)."
-There was a short lived Babylonian dynasty that reign for some 20 years (1004 - 985 BC) known as the Bazi dynasty. They claimed descent from an ancestor ba-zi (marked with personal marker, not divine marker). George follows Brinkman in considering this a "fictitious ancestral name deriving from a place in the district of Dūr-Sîn." So a made up ancestor who wasn't the king/god from Mari in the first place. The analysis at the Royal Inscriptions of Babylon Online Project (http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ribo/babylon4/) differs, however. They state that the dynasty seems to be connected to a Kassite clan bearing the name bīt-Bazi 'house of Bazi'. This also indicates the name of this dynasty was not connected with the Bazi in question.
The Song of Bazi (from CUSAS 10, 1)
1 He who dwells in . . . [ ...... ,]
2 ram, son of Enki [ . . . ;]
3 the god who surveys the human race,
4 who knows the minds of the wicked and the just!
5 In the midst of the Apsû his name was chosen,
6 Enki elevated him to be a king of the gods:
7 "Grow old, so that you may be a king among the very gods,
8 prosecutor of the land, both above and below!"
9 After his arms had filled out into manly stature,
10 he spoke to his father, Enki:
11 "Father, where shall I set up my cult-center?
11a Where shall I rear ram (and) ewe?
12 The cult-daises are occupied and taken,
12a where [reside] the Anunnaki, the great gods."
13 He spoke to him, the sage of the gods, his father,
14 who dwells in the Apsû, the lord of destinies.
15 To Bazi his father Enki talked in songs of revelation:
16 "I hereby give you the mountain Šaššar and Bašār.
17 Someone(?) whom you love, only he knew,
i8 at Šaššar a cult-dais rose forth for <your abode(?)>.
Send messengers up to make it known to the king,
19 (and) the pure queen, the daughter of Anum."
20 He kept circling the mountain as (if around) queens,
21 he viewed the city, the parts that were not fallow.
22 The city itself, it was not too distant for him,
23 he smote the mountain, opened wide the terrain.
24 A house was created, waters flowed forth,
25 in the midst of its waters was created his house.
26 The bricks were lapis lazuli, the doorleaves golden,
27 the thresholds were of gold, pythons were the door poles.
28 Its cone(?) was . . . , copper its twin panels,
29 a dead god was retaining the bolt, the door-keepers were death.
29a In the midst of his house waters were crossing,
half were life, half were death.
30 The house was full of joy,
31 the sun was in the cella, Sakkan in the house.
32 Slain is Sakkan of witchcraft,
33 O Šamaš of blood, O great Divine River of sorcery!
34 He rules the sacred people,
35 the ram, monarch of his city.
36 Behold the king, lord of the throne-dais,
37 sharp of horn, gorer of his enemies!
38 With his horns he gored the enemy princes,
38a two (of them) bow down at his feet.
39 Is his dwelling not large (and) well stocked,
40 are (not) the eunuchs of the sea his eunuchs?
41 Is his brink not high, a rival to the mountain?
42 It pierced the netherworld and abutted the heavens.
43 Observe its fortifications, on high it is exalted(?),
44 the one that knows not will . . and go down.
45 Is the interior not deep, the brink abutted?
46 . . . he has built his . . .
47 To the rear.......
48 from the water........ the brink recedes.
49 The god...... to him,
50 a sea-monster......
51 ........,
52 to the well-spring of...... he brings.
53 The quayside..........
54 the god......... ninefold(?).
55 For the lord of . . . [he determined] a destiny,
56 and a destiny....... him.
57 Let(?)........
subscript
58 The [song(?) of] Bazi, which is sung when the people
59 go up [on] the day of [...]
