Babylonian Texts Research Articles

The Literary Structure and Schematic Clauses in 1 En. 72:8–32

Abstract This paper presents an analysis of the literary structure of 1 En. 72:8–32, which contains numerical data regarding the changing duration of day and night within the structure of the 364-day year. The central literary section of each month provides the reader with information about the changing length of day and night. The schematic clauses have been analyzed in the context of two Babylonian texts: Tablet BM 17175 + 17284 and Tablet XIV of the Enūma Anu Enlil astrological series. The redactional insertion in v. 27 has been compared with MUL.APIN II i 17, which contains the same information about the sun, but couched in a different terminology. The analysis demonstrates the process of appropriation, reinterpretation, and modification of schematic astronomical knowledge of Babylonian origin, as evidenced by the established relationship between the early form of Babylonian schematic astronomy and chapter 72 of 1 Enoch.

Preparing multi-layered visualisations of Old Babylonian cuneiform tablets for a machine learning OCR training model towards automated sign recognition

Abstract In the framework of the CUNE-IIIF-ORM project the aim is to train an Artificial Intelligence Optical Character Recognition (AI-OCR) model that can automatically locate and identify cuneiform signs on photorealistic representations of Old Babylonian texts (c. 2000–1600 B.C.E.). In order to train the model, c. 200 documentary clay tablets have been selected. They are manually annotated by specialist cuneiformists on a set of 12 still raster images generated from interactive Multi-Light Reflectance images. This image set includes visualisations with varying light angles and simplifications based on the dept information on the impressed signs in the surface. In the Cuneur Cuneiform Annotator, a Gitlab-based web application, the identified cuneiform signs are annotated with polygons and enriched with metadata. This methodology builds a qualitative annotated training corpus of approximately 20,000 cropped signs (i.e. 240,000 visualizations), all with their unicode codepoint and conventional sign name. It will act as a multi-layerd core dataset for the further development and fine-tuning of a machine learning OCR training model for the Old Babylonian cuneiform script. This paper discusses how the physical nature of handwritten inscribed Old Babylonian documentary clay tablets challenges the annotation and metadating task, and how these have been addressed within the CUNE-IIIF-ORM project to achieve an effective training corpus to support the training of a machine learning OCR model. ACM CCS Applied computing → Document management and text processing → Document capture → Optical character recognition; Applied computing → Arts and humanities → Language translation.

Enguri basin toponyms in cuneiform texts

In studying the semantic and phonetic coincidences of Abzu-Engur, we focused on the Sumerian word Laḫama, which is also related to the Svan toponyms Laḫamula and the river Enguri. 50 Laḫama of Engur, as well as Abzu-Engur is found in many Sumerian and Babylonian texts from the third millennium BC and is usually associated with the Engur, Abzu waters, or the abode of wisdom. The article presents and discusses the Sumerian cuneiform texts from III millenium BC., including the ancient Babylonian period, where the Sumerian word Lahama and the Akkadian equivalent Laḫmu are recorded. Analysis of the cuneiform texts shows that the Laḫama / Laḫmu are the guardians and inseparable beings of Engur. The Sumerian word Engur (Sum. Engur), which in Sumerian means underground river, is the abode of Enki (Akk.Ea), the god of wisdom, in all cuneiform texts, guarded by the Laḫama deities. Laḫama is also found in Sumerian texts to refer to a figure of a guardian statue standing at the gates of large temples. Such as E-KUR in Nippur and E-ninu in Girsu. They are also called “Abzu -Laḫama”. (Ancient Akkadian laḫmu, probably meaning “hairy” shaggy). Laḫmu – the guardian deity associated with Enki (Akk. Ea). The Akkadian tradition was associated with Marduk. Appeared with long hair and a beard, sometimes with 4 or 6 curls. In art he is called a naked hero. Was associated with the human-bull figure. In the Babylonian creation myth, “Enuma Eliš” Laḫmu and Laḫamu are a female and a male couple, and are mentioned among the original creatures together with Anšar-Kišar. They derive from a common root (muddy). In the myth of the Babylonian creation – Enuma Eliš, Tiamat gives birth to 11 monsters. Among them is Laḫamu – a long-haired “hero”. As it is known from Ancient Mesopotamoan iconography, glower bowl with trickling water is an attribute of Enki, the god of wisdom, which is occupied by Enki in Akkadian (XXIV-XXII BC) and New Sumerian (XXI-XX BC). ) In the iconography of the period is, who is sometimes replaced by Laḫmu. Laḫama – deities are associated with Abzu-Engur and the city of Eridu. La-ḫa-ma (Sum.). According to the interpretation of the Sumerian cuneiform signs,he appears as a noble mythical creature – a creature of gratitude, merciful essential water creature. Our paper presents the Sumerian word Laḫama phonetic study, search for different meanings of cuneiform signs, which should be interesting for the study of the Kartvelian, in particular the Svan toponym Laḫamula. The article substantiates the coincidence of the Svan toponym with Laḫamula, which is directly related to the Enguri River, and which is confirmed by the Engur- Laḫama semantic and phonetic coincidences in the cuneiform texts. The root of the Svan toponym Lahamula is based on a basic study of the Sumerian lexical units: Engur and la-ḫa-ma. In the Sumerian language, the Engur is the abode of the god of wisdom, Enki (Akk. Ea). The word Apsu’s root in Georgian is also related to the flow of water (eg the river Supsa, Psou, etc.). The study presented by us is based on a general analysis of Sumerian texts and iconography and combines chronologically with the completely ancient period (IIII mill. BC), which gives us a basis for the etymology of the Svan toponyms – Enguri and Laḫamula as a matter of Mesopotamian civilization. It is also another clear proof of the cultural relations between the Ancient Near East and the Caucasus.

An Aramaic Verb Form in a Neo-Babylonian Letter

Abstract This paper offers an interpretation of an insufficiently understood verb form in the Neo-Babylonian letter OIP 114, 17:8, 29, thereby clarifying its contents. The word in question is shown to be an Aramaic verb form. This interpretation is supported by observations on the orthography and phonology of early Neo-Babylonian. It follows from the study that in eighth-century Neo-Babylonian two glottalized (‘emphatic’) consonants in the same word still underwent dissimilation, as in the second millennium bce (Geers’ law). The paper also demonstrates that, against communis opinio, erstwhile Aramaic fricative interdentals had shifted to stops by the eighth century bce, while the orthography of contemporaneous Aramaic alphabetic texts reflected an earlier stage of language evolution. This conclusion has been reached by means of comparing cuneiform renderings of proto-Semitic interdentals in West Semitic personal names in eighteenth-century bce Old Babylonian texts and in Neo-Babylonian texts from the ninth and eighth centuries bce.

Antiochos I, the Rēš Temple and Hellenistic Uruk: Commentary on YOS 20. 87

The article concerns with the Late Babylonian text YOS 20. 87 which contains valuable information on the building of the Rēš Temple in Early Seleukid Uruk. The chronology of the text covers the period from 290 to 275 B. C. that corresponds to the time of Antiochos I’s coregency and the first years of his sovereign reign. There was a number of “instructions” (ṭēmu) regarding the building of Bīt Rēš, one of them seems to be the letter of Antiochos himself. The king apparently supported this initiative although he most likely did not personally participate in it. The mention of Queen Apama, mother of Antiochos and the first wife of Seleukos I, in YOS 20. 87 indicates that c. 290 B. C. she was probably alive and together with her son contributed to the building the Rēš Temple. Kidin-Anu, the āšipu priest of Anu, can be identified with the chief priest (šešgallu) of Bīt Rēš known from several Late Babylonian ritual texts. The evidence finds a parallel in so-called Uruk prophecy which may also contain allusions to the first Seleukids. All these sources provide an important evidence on the early stage of the history of the Rēš Temple. It also demonstrates that royal patronage of the first Seleukids (especially Antiochos I) was not limited only to Babylon and Borsippa.

The Merdītu-Offerings

Some Late Babylonian texts containing evidence on temple ceremonies refer to a sacrificial offering called merdītu, which was performed on special occasions in the sanctuaries of Uruk and Babylon. The merdītu was a libation of sorts poured directly onto the decapitated head of a sheep and onto the heart extracted from an ox or bull. Although the texts are not very informative, they contain some interesting data on the internal structure of the temples, the ritualization of space, and on the cultic performers involved in the ceremonies.

Yasuyuki Mitsuma. “The Relationship between Greco-Macedonian Citizens and the “Council of Elders” in the Arsacid Period: New Evidence from Astronomical Diary BM 35269 + 35347 + 35358”

The Japanese scholar, a long time expert of Late Babylonian Astronomical Diaries, deals in his contribution with the meaning of two terms, which frequently appear in Babylonian texts. Puliṭē/puliṭānu from the Greek politai, citizens, clearly indicated the population of Greek-Macedonian origin. Peligānanu, from the Greek peliganes, indicated a council, the government body of a specific group of the population. In a new fragment presented by the author and datable between 110 and 90 BC the expr...

Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East

Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East

Restoration of fragmentary Babylonian texts using recurrent neural networks

The main sources of information regarding ancient Mesopotamian history and culture are clay cuneiform tablets. Many of these tablets are damaged, leading to missing information. Currently, the missing text is manually reconstructed by experts. We investigate the possibility of assisting scholars, by modeling the language using recurrent neural networks and automatically completing the breaks in ancient Akkadian texts from Achaemenid period Babylonia.

Facial Paralysis in a Babylonian Plaque.

A terra cotta plaque [LMU 2551] from the Neo-Babylonian period (c.629-539 BCE), housed in the museum of the Archaeology Center at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, is a representation of right peripheral facial paralysis. Ancient representations of pathology are rare and often difficult to identify. This is particularly true of Assyrian-Babylonian cultures where, despite numerous surviving medical texts, artistic examples of disease are almost non-existent. Precise caliper measurements and archaeological analysis of LMU 2551 were used to confirm the authors' hypothesis. The facial distortions portrayed in LMU 2551 are not accidental. Measurements show a pronounced asymmetry of the lower face where the length from the mid-philtrum to the oral commissure and from the lateral edge of the ala nasi to the mid-ipsilateral nasolabial fold are twice as long in the left than in the right side. The left eye is closed, whereas the right is widely open. The described plaque is among the oldest representations of facial paralysis on record. It correlates with contemporary Babylonian texts describing neurological disorders but its function is unknown.

Three thousand years of sexagesimal numbers in Mesopotamian mathematical texts

The Mesopotamian system of sexagesimal counting numbers was based on the progressive series of units 1, 10, 1·60, 10·60, …. It may have been in use already before the invention of writing, with the mentioned units represented by various kinds of small clay tokens. After the invention of proto-cuneiform writing, c. 3300 BC, it continued to be used, with the successive units of the system represented by distinctive impressed cup- and disk-shaped number signs. Other kinds of “metrological” number systems in the proto-cuneiform script, with similar number signs, were used to denote area numbers, capacity numbers, etc. In a handful of known mathematical cuneiform texts from the latter half of the third millennium BC, the ancient systems of sexagesimal counting numbers and area numbers were still in use, alongside new kinds of systems of capacity numbers and weight numbers. Large area numbers, capacity numbers, and weight numbers were counted sexagesimally, while each metrological number system had its own kind of fractional units. In the system of counting numbers itself, fractions could be expressed as sixtieths, sixtieths of sixtieths, and so on, but also in terms of small units borrowed from the system of weight numbers. Among them were the “basic fractions” which we would understand as 1/3, 1/2, and 2/3. In a very early series of metro-mathematical division exercises and an equally early metro-mathematical table of squares (Early Dynastic III, c. 2400 BC), “quasi-integers” of the form “integer plus basic fraction” play a prominent role. Quasi-integers play an essential role also in a recently found atypical cuneiform table of reciprocals. The invention of sexagesimal numbers in place-value notation, in the Neo-Sumerian period c. 2000 BC, was based on a series of innovations. The range of the system of sexagesimal counting numbers was extended indefinitely both upward and downward, and the use of quasi-integers was abolished. Sexagesimal place-value numbers were used for all kinds of calculations in Old Babylonian mathematical cuneiform texts, c. 1700 BC, while traditional metrological numbers were retained in both questions and answers of the exercises. Examples of impressive computations of reciprocals of many-place regular sexagesimal place-value numbers, with no practical applications whatsoever, are known from the Old Babylonian period. In the Late Babylonian period (the latter half of the first millennium BC), such computations were still popular, performed by the same persons who constructed the many-place sexagesimal tables that make up the corpus of Late Babylonian mathematical astronomy.

Susa Funerary Texts


 
 
 A group of seven short late Old Babylonian texts, written in Akkadian, found in the early twentieth century in a grave in Susa, form the focus of this paper. The texts, which have attracted much scholarly attention since their publication in 1916 by Jean-Vincent Scheil, have until now not been collated. They are presented here with improved readings, a new translation, and extensive commentary. The mention in two of the texts of an alleged chthonic “weigher” is philologically disproved: psychostasia, the weighing of souls, did not exist in ancient Mesopotamian religion . The suggestion of some scholars that these Old Babylonian Akkadian texts are witnesses to Elamite, or even Iranian, belief in the weighing of souls is methodically refuted . The nature of the seven so-called Susa Funerary Texts (SFT) is discussed, demonstrating their close contacts to two other well-known Mesopotamian genres—personal prayers and reports of oracular or prophetic visions . Finally, the question of their unusual find spot, viz., in a grave, is discussed and the possibility raised that this peculiar location is a result of the texts’ magical function .
 
 

The Verb <em>*yahway</em>

Even though he may not have been the first to suggest that YHWH was a causative verb, Paul Haupt certainly initiated academic inquiry into the meaning of the Tetragrammaton. Subsequent scholars, especially W. F. Albright and F. M. Cross have expanded and clarified Haupt’s thesis by examining the issue from a predominantly West Semitic linguistic and cultural perspective. During the interval of time that has passed since Cross published his definitive work, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, significant advances have been made in the morphological development of East and West Semitic verb forms. This encourages a more nuanced approach regarding the points in time when certain principles, such as the Barth-Ginsberg law and the earliest use of the III-he mater lectionis may be accurately applied. The fact that Barth’s yiqtal cannot be substantiated without the existence of an earlier yaqtal encourages a reexamination of the chronological placement of Albright’s third-person masculine singular imperfective hiphil yahwě(h). Is this truly the oldest form of the verb? I proposes that it is not and that the earliest form is, in all likelihood, a G-stem yaqtal, *yahway. A careful analysis of the development of the third-person common/masculine singular imperfective verb forms of III-*y roots in East and West Semitic provides the template for uncovering the sequence of morphological changes that may eventually have led to *yahwēh in Hebrew. As for yahwī, which occurs in Early Old Babylonian and Old Babylonian texts, it initially entered the West as a thirdperson masculine singular G-stem poetic-perfective meaning “he was present.”

Wandering Arameans: Arameans Outside Syria. Textual and Archaeological Perspectives

Wandering Arameans: Arameans Outside Syria. Textual and Archaeological Perspectives

On The Value Implied In The Data Referred To In The Mahābhārata for π

<p>E. Washburn Hopkins interpreted, in 1902, the values for from the data referred to in some verses contained in the <em>Bhīṣma Parva</em> of the <em>Mahābhārata</em> where is a non-terminating and non-recurring fixed ratio of the circumference, , of a circle to its diameter, . The values interpreted for it by him from the data referred to for the dimensions, including , , and <em>vipulatva</em> , of the Rāhu, the Moon, and the Sun are 3.5, 3.5+, and 3.58 respectively. R. C. Gupta found, in 1990, these values to be the yielding of the gross misinterpretations. He pointed out that the value implied in the data of each of the three cases is only 3. The present paper is mainly aimed at probing when and why 3 was used in the <em>Mahābhārata</em> as the value for . The date when those above verses were incorporated in the <em>Mahābhārata</em> is the one when 3 as the value for<em> </em> was used in the same if consistency is preferred to as a sound criterion in determining so. It tends to 500 BCE in its range extending from 500 BCE to 500 CE. It may go even beyond 500 BCE. 3 as the value for<em> </em> seems to have been borrowed from some older forms of the <em>Purāṇas</em> into the <em>Mahābhārata</em>. If simplicity, prevalence, and traditionalism are preferred to as a sound criterion to calculate for a given , no other option for is better than 3. The support for this option was available not only in the interior of India right from the <em>Ṛgveda</em> but also in the exterior of India at least right from the old Babylonian text.</p>

Bisecting the trapezoid: tracing the origins of a Babylonian computation of Jupiter’s motion

Between ca. 400 and 50 BCE, Babylonian astronomers used mathematical methods for predicting ecliptical positions, times and other phenomena of the moon and the planets. Until recently these methods were thought to be of a purely arithmetic nature. A new interpretation of four Babylonian astronomical procedure texts with geometric computations has challenged this view. On these tablets, Jupiter’s total distance travelled along the ecliptic during a certain interval of time is computed from the area of a trapezoidal figure representing the planet’s changing daily displacement along the ecliptic. Moreover, the time when Jupiter reaches half the total distance is computed by bisecting the trapezoid into two smaller ones of equal area. In the present paper these procedures are traced back to precursors from Old Babylonian mathematics (1900–1700 BCE). Some implications of the use of geometric methods by Babylonian astronomers are also explored.

Frahm, Eckart: Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries. Origins of Interpretation. 2011.

<b>Frahm, Eckart</b>: <i>Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries</i>. Origins of Interpretation. 2011.

The Background of the Cedar Forest Tradition in the Egyptian Tale of the Two Brothers in the Light of West-Asian Literature

The Egyptian Tale of the Two Brothers describes how Bata spends time in the Lebanese Valley of the s-tree. This episode differs in certain aspects from the remainder of the text, also employing foreign motifs – such as the creation of a woman to ease Bata’s loneliness, the removal of his beating heart from his body and its resuscitation while still separate from it, and the Egyptian gods wandering through the Lebanese valley. While several attempts have been made to identify the origin(s) of this episode, none have been convincing. This paper examines the non-Egyptian motifs in the light of Babylonian and biblical texts, suggesting that an ancient Levantine tradition which left its traces on these (but to date has not been found in the Ugaritic corpus) lies behind this section of the Tale.

The Linguistic History of Rayy up to the Early Islamic Period

Abstract:The purpose of this paper is to give a short sketch of the linguistic history of Rayy from ancient times through the early Islamic period. The language of Rayy in the Old Iranian period must have been Median. The only traces of Median are a few loanwords identified in Old Persian, Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions, Elamite tablets, Aramaic documents, and Greek texts. The language of Rayy in the Middle Iranian period seems to have been very close to the well-documented northwestern Middle Iranian language spoken in Parthia, known as Parthian or Arsacid Pahlavi. The Iranian dialect of Rayy in the Islamic period, known as the Rāzī dialect, was in fact the natural continuation of Middle Median. The only Rāzī texts available are a small number of poems by Bundār, a Shīʿīte poet at the court of Majd al-Dawla, the Buwayhid ruler of Rayy. In addition, scanty information about the Rāzī dialect can be obtained from a few classical Islamic sources and some of the Persian texts written in Rayy by Rāzī-speaking writers.

The Double Current and the Tree of Healing in Ezekiel 47:1-12 in Light of Babylonian Iconography and Texts

Summary This article analyzes two major ancient Near Eastern literary, iconographic and religious motifs that have found their way in the vision described in Ezek. 47:1-12. These are the double current flowing from the Temple in Jerusalem in conjunction with the trees of healing growing on the river banks. Ezekiel text uses both motifs combined in the way they are found in ancient Near Eastern texts and iconography which makes it probable to see Ezek. 47:1-12 as the initial point of entry of a Babylonian tradition into the Hebrew Bible. We follow D. Barthelemy, who points out that the original reading in v. 9 is naḥalayim “rivers, double current,” and that the versions that transform it into a singular represent an obvious lectio facilior. The double current echoes the iconographic and textual motifs of two rivers encompassing the fa.ade of several Mesopotamian temples. The trees of healing are found in Middle and Neo-Assyrian healing incantations. In Ezekiel’s exilic prophecy, these motifs illustrate the...