Each column contains two sub-columns with the Sumerian version on the left and the Akkadian on the right. By the Middle Assyrian period we already have a more or less standardised text.Īs a general feature of lexical texts of this period, this list offers Akkadian equivalents to Sumerian terms. This list of objects made of wood is part of a large multi-thematic series, known by its first entry as ur 5-ra : hubullu, whose forerunners are known from the Old Babylonian period. This quite well-preserved tablet contains six columns of text.
However, we do not look at a full record. That may suggest that both were educated at the same time.
They checked each others copy in several instances. The texts copied by the two brothers Marduk-balassu-eresh and Bel-aha-iddina offer a rather vivid picture. Little to nothing is known about these aspects of Middle Assyrian administration. It is not known, whether the scribes attested in the colophons worked together or were educated at the same place. Studying the extant colophons in the so-called "reconstructed Iibrary" M2 allows us to a certain extent to reconstruct the scribal sphere of a particular period in Assur's history. Forerunners of this lexical list are in fact known from Old Babylonian Nippur (ca.
The tablet’s colophon states that it’s source is Nippur. In ana ittišu, each phrase is separated by a ruling from the subsequent one. We will come across a different format when discussing copies of literary compositions. This column-based format of bilingual texts was mainly used for lexical texts. Each column of this four-column tablet has two sub-columns with a Sumerian version on the left and its Akkadian equivalent on the right. The Middle Assyrian manuscript, on the other hand, preserves almost the entire text.Īs we have seen in earlier posts, the lexical texts from Assur are already bilingual.
This manuscript has just a small fraction of the list preserved. There is so far just one other manuscript ( K 4317+), dating to the neo-Assyrian period and belonging to Assurbanipal’s royal library in Nineveh. This text artifact in the Vorderasiatische Museum, Berlin, is a copy of the sixth tablet of this series. ki-ulutin-bi-še 3), “upon pertinent notice given.”
This series is called after its first entry ana ittišu (Sum. Veldhuis, "The Cuneiform Tablet as an Educational Tool," Dutch Studies on Near Eastern Languages and Cultures 2 11-26). Thanks also to Jason, Joe, and Rob for mixing help.īowl with two cranes and geometric forms, Mimbres (New Mexico), circa 1250 CE, currently held at the Art Institute of Chicago ( anthropology.si.edu/cm/mimbres.So far, seven “tablets” are known, which belong to a lexical series which “gives a hodge-podge of words and phrases relevant to business documents mixed with laws” (N. The dancing and music at the end of 12 is from the Starry Plough's (Berkeley) Monday night ceili, with music led by Richard Page. You're hearing John Morgan ( ), his old roommate whose name I can't recall, Rob Schwerdt, and I, playing darkly stuff at the end of 6. Paul Anderson, Philip Batchelder, Jason Courtney, and Chris Dillingham played harmonica, fiddle, bouzouki, and high whistle & bones, respectively, on 12 ( ) Todd Bradford played electric guitar on 6, trumpet on 10, with groans on each Jason Lauterjung sang on 2, banged pots and pans on 6 This project was recorded between 20, at Ex Studio, and in living rooms, bedrooms, and my driver's seat, with extra engineering help by Todd Bradford and Angela Don.