Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography

424 Pages·1998·5.716 MB·English

by  Wayne Horowitz

Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography
Wayne
Horowitz
EiSenbrauns
Winona Lake, Indiana
1998
MESOPOTAMIAN
CIVILIZATIONS
General Editor
Jerrold S. Cooper, Johns Hopkins University
Editorial Board
Walter Farber, University of Chicago (cid:9) Marvin Powell, Northern Illinois University
Jean-Pierre Grégoire, C.N.R.S. (cid:9) Jack Sasson, University of North Carolina
Piotr Michalowski, University of Michigan (cid:9) Piotr Steinkeller, Harvard University
Simo Parpola, University of Helsinki (cid:9) Marten Stol, Free University of Amsterdam
Irene Winter, Harvard University
1. The Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur
Piotr Michalowski
2. Schlaf, Kindchen, Schlaf! Mesopotamische Baby-Beschwörungen und -Rituale
Walter Farber
3. Adoption in Old Babylonian Nippur and the Archive of
Mannum-mešu-lissur
Elizabeth C. Stone and David I. Owen
4. Third-Millennium Legal and Administrative Texts in the Iraq Museum, Baghdad
Piotr Steinkeller and J. N. Postgate
5. House Most High: The Temples of Ancient Mesopotamia
A. R. George
6. Textes culinaires Mésopotamiens / Mesopotamian Culinary Texts
Jean Bottéro
7. Legends of the Kings of Akkade: The Texts
Joan Goodnick Westenholz
© Copyright 1998 by Eisenbrauns.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Horowitz, Wayne, 1957-
Mesopotamian cosmic geography / Wayne Horowitz.
p. cm. — (Mesopotamian civilizations ; 8)
Includes bibliographic references (p. (cid:9) ) and index.
ISBN 0-931464-99-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Cosmology, Babylonian. 2. Cosmology, Sumerian. 3. Akkadian
language—Texts. 4. Sumerian language—Texts. I. Title. II. Series.
B147.C68H67 1998
113'.0935—dc21 (cid:9) 98-17770
CIP
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
®TM
Contents
Foreword (cid:9) vii
Acknowledgments (cid:9) viii
Abbreviations and Conventions (cid:9) ix
Introduction (cid:9) xii
Part I: SourceS for MeSopotamian CoSmic Geography
1.The Levels of the Universe: KAR 307 30-38 and
AO 8196 iv 20-22 (cid:9) 3
2. "The Babylonian Map of the World" (cid:9) 20
3. The FlightS of Etana and the Eagle into the Heavens (cid:9) 43
4. The Sargon Geography (cid:9) 67
5. Gilgamesh and the Distant Reaches of the Earth's Surface (cid:9) 96
6. Cosmic Geography in Accounts of Creation (cid:9) 107
7. The Geography of the Sky: The "Astrolabes;' Mul-Apin,
and Related Texts (cid:9) 150
8. BagM. Beih. 2 no. 98 and the Compass Points (cid:9) 193
9. "Seven Heavens and Seven Earths" (cid:9) 208
Part II: The RegionS of the Universe
10.Names for Heaven (cid:9) 223
V
vi (cid:9) Table of Contents
11.The Geography of the Heavens (cid:9) 243
12.Names for Earth (cid:9) 268
13, The Geography of Earth (cid:9) 318
Appendixes (cid:9) 363
Indexes (cid:9) 369
Subject Index (cid:9) 369
Ancient Texts and Modern Editions (cid:9) 382
Sumerian and Akkadian Terms (cid:9) 391
Stars (cid:9) 397
Plates (cid:9) 399
FOreword
Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography represents the main part of my first
decade of study as an assyriologist. The book began its life as a Ph.D. thesis of
the same name under the supervision of Professor W. G. Lambert of the Univer-
sity of Birmingham. After completion of the Ph.D. thesis in 1986, I continued to
collect materials relevant to the study of Mesopotamian views of cosmography
with the intention of revising the thesis as a book in the early 1990s. The book
Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography presents this revised, more mature examina-
tion of the topic.
Wayne Horowitz
Kfar Adumim
February, 1994
vii
Acknowledgments
First and foremost I would like to thank Professor W G. Lambert of The
University of Birmingham. Professor Lambert both supervised the original
1986 Ph.D. thesis "Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography" and then graciously
reread the manuscript of the book. His wise and learned eriticisms were invalu-
able in the preparation of the book. I would also like to thank my colleagues at
The Hebrew University, Professors Aaron Shaffer and Hayim Tadmor, and my
first teachers of Akkadian and Sumerian, Dr. Martha Morrison and Professors
Anne Kilmer and Wolfgang Heimpel, for their support during the various
stages of my career. In addition, a special word of thanks is due to Professor Tsvi
Abusch, who assisted in the preparation of the original Ph.D. thesis. I would also
like to thank the Trustees of The British Museum for permission to publish
materials included in the book, and colleagues at The Western Asiatic Depart-
ment of the British Museum, Das Vorderasiatische Museum, and The Univer-
sity Museum for their hospitality during study visits to London, Berlin, and
Philadelphia, respectively. In addition, I would like to thank The American
Friends of Hebrew University, The Lady Davis Foundation, and The Israel
Academy of Sciences for their financial support during the period of the prepa-
ration of the manuscript. Finally, special thanks are due to my parents Dawn
and Paul for their continued encouragement and support (financial and other-
wise); my wife Lilach, for her selfless help over the past decade; Lilach's par-
ents, Professor Chaim and Miriam Brandwein; and of course my children Lisa,
Mikhael, Liam, and Gilbe for their unseen contributions to the preparation of
this book.
viii
Abbreviations and ConventiOns
Abbreviations, with the exception of those listed below, are as in The
Assyrian Dictionary of The Oriental Institute of The University of Chicago
(CAD), or if indicated, as in The Sumerian Dictionary of The University
Museum of The University of Pennsylvania (PSD). In transliterations from edi-
tions of texts, the most likely reconstruction of the ancient text is provided, not
necessarily that of the edition. Star-names are not translated from Sumerian to
Akkadian or from Akkadian to Sumerian. Dates in the text are B.C.E. unless
otherwise noted.
Ancient Cosmologies C. Blacker and M. Loewe, eds., Ancient Cosmologies
(1975)
Archaic Bookkeeping H. Nissen, P Demerow, and R. Englund, Archaic
Bookkeeping; trans. P. Larsen (1993)
Benito Enki C.Benito, "Enki and Ninmah" and "Enki and the
World Order" (1969)
Berlin Enm. PSD: Enmerkar and Ensuhkešdanna
Bottéro Mesopotamia J. Bottéro, Mesopotamia, Writing, Reasoning and the
Gods; trans. Z. Bahrani and M. van de Mieroop (1992)
Bottéro MrB J. Bottéro, Mythes et Rites de Babylone (1985)
Burstein Berossus S. Burstein, The Babyloniaca of Berossus = Sources
from The Ancient Near East 1/5
BWL W. G. Lambert, Babylonian Wisdom Literature (1960;
repr. 1996)
Charpin Le Clerge D.Charpin, Le Clergé d'Ur au Siècle d'Hammurabi
(1986)
Cohen Balag PSD: M. E. Cohen Balag
Cohen Canonical M. Cohen, The Canonical Lamentations of
Lamentations Mesopotamia (1988)
Cohen Eršemma PSD: M. E. Cohen Eršemma
Cooper Curse of Agade J. S. Cooper, The Curse of Agade (1977)
Dalley Myths S. Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia (1989)
Deimel Pantheon A. Deimel, Pantheon Babyloniacum (1911)
EAE The Astronomical Series Enuma Anu Enlil
Ee Enuma Elish
ELA PSD: Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta
ix
x Abbreviations and Conventions
Emar D. Arnaud, Emar 6: Recherches au pays dAštata
(1985)
EN PSD: Enki and Ninmah
Enki's Journey PSD: Enki's Journey to Nippur
EWO PSD: Enki and The World Order
Fest. Artzi Bar-Ilan Studies in Assyriology Dedicated to Pinhas
Artzi (1990)
Fest. Hallo M. Cohen, D. Snell, and D. Weisberg (eds.), The Tablet
and the Scroll: Near Eastern Studies in Honor of
William W Hallo (1993)
Fest. Tadmor M. Cogan and I. Eph'al (eds.), Ah Assyria...: Studies
in Assyrian History and Ancient Near Eastern
Historiography Presented to Hayim Tadmor [= Scripta
Hierosolymitana 33[ (1991)
FGrH Die Fragmente der grieschischen Historiker (1923-
1958)
Fuchs Sargon A. Fuchs, Die Inschriften Sargons II. aus Khorsabad
(1994)
Grayson Chronicles A. Grayson, Assyrian. and Babylonian Chronicles =
TCS 5
George BTT A. George, Babylonian Topographical Texts (1992)
George Temples A. George, House Most High: The Temples of Ancient
Mesopotamia (1993)
GHT Gilgamesh and the Huluppu-Tree (= A. Shaffer,
Sumerian Sources of Tablet XII of the Epic of
Gilgamesh (1963)
GMS 3 Grazer Morgenländische Studien 3 = Die Rolle der
Astronomie in den Kulturen Mesopotamiens (1993)
Halley's Comet F. Stephenson anff C. Walker, Halley's Comet in
History (1985)
HBA E. Weidner, Handbuch der babylonischen Astronomie
(1915)
Hunger-Pingree H. Hunger and D. Pingree, Mul.Apin: An Astronomical
Compendium in Cuneiform = AfO Beiheft 24
ID PSD: Inanna's Descent
Inanna und Enki PSD: Inanna and Enki
Jacobsen Harps as in PSD
Jacobsen Treasures of T. Jacobsen, The Treasures of Darkness (1976)
Darkness
Jensen Kosmologie P. Jensen, Die Kosmologie der Babylonier (1890)
Kinnier Wilson Etana J. Kinnier Wilson, The Legend of Etana (1985)
Koch Neue J. Koch, Neue Untersuchungen zur Topographie des
Untersuchungen Babylonischen Fixsternhimmels
(1989)
Lahar and Ašnan: Pettinato Menschenbild 86-90
Lambert Cat. W. G. Lambert, Catalogue of The Kouyunjik
Collection, Third Supplement (1992)
Lewis Sargon B. Lewis, The Legend of Sargon (1980)
Abbreviations and Conventions (cid:9) xi
Livingstone A. Livingstone, Mystical and Mythological
Explanatory Works of Assyrian and Babylonian
Scholars (1986)
Ludlul Ludlul Bel Nemeqi = BWL 21-62, 343-44; R. Barnett,
AnSt 30 101-7
Machinist TN Epic P Machinist, The Epic of Tukulti-Ninurta (1978)
Malamat Mari A. Malamat, Mari and the Early Israelite Experience
(1979)
MEE Materiali Epigrafici di Ebla
Naissance Naissance de l'écriture cunéiformes et hiéroglyphes
(1982)
Natural Phenomena D. Meijer, ed., Natural Phenomena: Their Meaning
Depiction, and Description in the Ancient Near East
(1992)
OA Oriens Antiquus
Oppenheim Man and A. Oppenheim, Dictionary of Scientific
NatureBibliography, vol. 15, pp. 634-66
Pettinato Menschenbild G. Pettinato, Das altorientalilsche Menschenbild und
die Sumerischen und Akkadisches Schöpf ungsmythen
(1971)
Pickaxe Pettinato Menschenbild 82-85
Reisman Two Hymns D. Reisman, Two Sumerian Royal Hymns (1969)
RTCA Recueil de Travaux et Communications de
l'Association des Études du Proche-Orient Ancien
Tigay Gilg. J. Tigay, The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic (1982)
Saporetti Etana C. Saporetti, Etana (1990)
Science Awakening B. van der Waerden, Science Awakening I, II (1954,
1974)
Shamash Hymn BWL 121-38
SG = Sargon Geography: Edition pp. 68-75
Sladek ID W. Sladek, Manna's Descent to the Netherworld (1974)
SLTN S. Kramer, Sumerian Literary Texts from Nippur in
the Museum of the Ancient Orient at Istantbul =
AASOR 23 (1944)
Steible Rim-Sin H. Steibel, RimSin, Mein König (1975)
Sumerian Flood Story Lambert-Millard Atra-hasis 138-45
Tadmor Tigl. H. Tadmor, The Inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser III,
King of Assyria (1994)
Two Elegies as in PSD
Unity and Diversity H. Goedicke and J. Roberts, eds., Unity and Diversity
(1975)
Van Soldt Solar Omens W. van Soldt, Solar Omens of Enuma Anu Enlil:
Tablets 23 (24) - 29 (30) (1995)
Weidner Gestirn- E. Weidner, Gestirn-Darstellungen auf
Darstellungen babylonischen Tontafeln (1967)
West Theogony M. L. West, Hesiod's Theogony (1966)
World Map Edition: pp. 20-25.