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Ausgabe: | Juli/August/2024 |
Spalte: | 615-617 |
Kategorie: | Altertumswissenschaft |
Autor/Hrsg.: | Heeßel, Nils P. |
Titel/Untertitel: | Divinatorische Texte III. Astrologische Omina. |
Verlag: | Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag 2021. XII, 274 S. m. 77 Tfn.= Keilschrifttexte aus Assur literarischen Inhalts, 13; Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 160. Geb. EUR 88,00. ISBN 9783447117043. |
Rezensent: | Markham Geller |
This is the 13th volume in an important series devoted to publishing literary and technical texts from the site of Assur, primarily now in Berlin and Istanbul, in an impressive project led by Stefan M. Maul. Nils Heeßel has previously contributed two other volumes to this series dealing with divination texts.
The present volume deals with astrological omens, known from the earliest period of the decipherment of cuneiform, but not yet published in complete editions. For this reason, the texts from Assur are important contributions to the eventual publication of all astrological omens, while at the same time acknowledging the contribution which Assur scholars made to the study of astrology. Like other volumes in this KAL series, the volume contains an informative introduction, accurate transliterations, and translations of texts, with restorations from duplicates from other sites to make sense of the passages. The hand copies provide a clear view of fragmentary condition of the Assur texts, although No. 53 is mostly well-preserved in the right-hand columns of the obverse and reverse. Extensive indices include all Sumerian logograms, a complete glossary, and concordance of all Akkadian words, a list of sources where previously published and a lengthy bibliography. This volume, like its predecessors from the same author, represents model scholarship in the field of Assyriology.
While most of the texts in this volume are generally known from standard works such as Enūma Anu Enlil (the largest compendium of astrological omens), several texts in this volume are commentaries on astrological omens and are merit closer scrutiny. For example, VAT 9436 + 11719 (KAL 13 No. 54) is a commentary on astrological omina, and the first entry in the text includes interesting word play:
Šehtu itammar-ma itbal lā bari
kīma ina ūme mehret ibbalkit-ma lā amer
kakkabšu kīma kararê ibašši ša lā amru
kīma kararû muṣlālu
Mercury was seen and disappeared, no longer observed,
as when it passed over on a comparable day and was not observed,
its star was present when bright (i. e. at high noon), which cannot be seen,
as (said), kararû is noon.
The comment intends to explain why Mercury appeared to disappear and could not be observed, explaining that Mercury passed over at midday, when sunlight prohibits visibility. Another astrological commentary glosses kararû as išātu, »fire« (see Chicago Assyrian Dictionary K, 207) while a bilingual Udug.hul incantation also uses this rather rare term in the expression ina kararî mūši u urra, »at kararû, night and day«, see M. J. Geller, Healing Magic and Evil Demons (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2016), 457. The above commentary explanation was relevant, since Akk. kararû was a loan from Sum (kár-kár, »to glow«, but could be used metaphorically when referring to high noon, see M. E. Cohen, Annotated Sumerian Dictionary [University Park: Eisenbrauns, 2023], 750).
Another notable text is VAT 9761 (KAL 13 No. 56), a highly unusual 3-column commentary on lunar omens. The text has never been previously edited, but a parallel 3-column commentary tablet from Nineveh (LB 1321) was edited by R. Borger but not translated; see R. Borger, »Keilschrifttext verschiedenen Inhalts«, Symbolae Biblicae et Mesopotamicae (Fs. Liagre Böhl, Leiden: Brill,1973), 38-43. A second related astrological commentary from Sultantepe (STT 339) has never been edited; for the cuneiform copy, see O. R. Gurney and P. Hulin, The Sultantepe Tablets (London: British Institute of Archaeology in Ankara, 1964). The significant difference is that the Nineveh tablet shows the same 3-column layout as the Assur exemplar, but not the Sultantepe tablet, which suggests some direct connection between the Assur and Nineveh commentaries. Nevertheless, despite strong thematic similarities, there are no actual textual overlaps between any of these commentaries, but each is an independent composition.
Column one is the omen protasis usually referring to an aspect of the moon or various stars (as can be seen from the reverse of LB 1321), with the second column providing an omen apodosis, while the third column provides some justification for the omen result, based on celestial observations (most often an eclipse). The third column is the commentary, as can be seen from an entry in LB 1321 32-33:
DIŠ 30
(empty) un-nu-tu ma-a-ṣu
DIŠ 30
If the moon is faint
»faint« is »reduced«
If the moon is out of place
»out of place« is »not in order«
The same equation un-nu-tú: ma-a-ṣu occurs in an unpublished commentary (BM 67179: 4), indicating the commentary character of the third column of our text.
The second column of the Assur text containing omen apodoses has parallels in the other commentaries, such as predicting the death of the king. See, for instance, VAT 9761 rev. 7', LUGAL KÁ.DINGIR.RAki ZÁH: ÚŠ (šar Babīli ihalliq: imât), »the king of Babylon will die«, reflected in STT 339 rev. 10 (LUGAL KÁ.DINGIR.RAki BA.ÚŠ) and in LB 1321: 10, LUGAL KÁ.DINGIR.RAki ÚŠ. In all three texts, the protasis entries differ, although they may have all shared a similar commentary notation, AN.MI TIL (attalû qati), »the eclipse ended«.
A third Assur commentary tablet in this collection (KAL 13 No. 75) also merits comment, since the commentary resembles a bilingual interlinear translation. The fragment in question is VAT 14017 (KAL 13 p. 272), which reads in ll. 3–4:
[DIŠ gišI]G.MEŠ ZAG.GAR.RA.MEŠ IM.GALGA HAŠ.MEŠ
[dalat] Émeš DINGIRmeššu-ú-tú i-šab-bar
DIŠ ZIGARA(IM/IM) GÙ.DÉ.MEŠ KUR.NU.GI Š́Ú-ub KI.GUB DAB5
ša-mu-ú i-su-u KI-tum i-ru-ub ṣibûssu (ÁŠ-su)ikaššad (KUR-́ád)
If the doors of the shrines will break the South Wind,
(and) if the heavens roared and Netherworld shook, he will achieve his
wish.
The translation of these lines is not literal or even particularly accurate but offers interpretative translations to resolve ambiguities. Sumerian ZAG.GAR.RA, for instance, usually corresponds to Akkadian ešertu, »shrine«, but the translation simplifies the translate to »temples« (lit. »houses of the gods«). Likewise, the Sumerian expression KI.GUB DAB5 means literally to »hold a position«, as in the text of Ninurta in the Turtle, ki-gub-ba-zu a-na-àm mu-ra-an-dab5 »what has your status achieved for you?« (cited in Cohen ASD, 508). This interesting text shows that the distinction between translation and commentary is fluid.
There is much more to study in these Assur texts, now made accessible in such a clear and useful format, and this volume will remain as a standard reference work for the foreseeable future.