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In Praise of IštarLob der Ištar: Gebete und Ritual an die altbabylonische Venusgöttin by Brigette R. M.GronebergReview by: A. J. FerraraJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 120, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 2000), pp. 199-205Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/605023 .

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REVIEW ARTICLES

IN PRAISE OF ISTAR

A. J. FERRARA

ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO

The divine dyad Inanna/Istar, analyzed according to its two main divine personalities, represents a major figure of the Mesopotamian pantheon from earliest times and one which enjoyed a wide-

spread acceptance in various forms in the ancient Near East. The personalities reflected by various

types of textual evidence present a complicated picture. In the volume under review, we are given two new texts and the reworking of a third which add substantial knowledge regarding this most fascinating deity.

To PARAPHRASE RILKE'S FIRST DUINO ELEGY, every goddess is terrifying, and the divine dyad Inanna/lltar is no exception. Her customary and well-known amatory and bellicose attributes evoke the Wife of Bath's "Vene- rien and Marcien" traits.' To be counted among her other

already known attributes are paradox: [ g ] u 1-1 u d i m 2 -

x-me zi-zi ga2-ga2 dinanna za-a-kam, "To de-

stroy, to build up; to tear out and settle are yours, Inanna"2; enigma: ni3- AK.AK.-da-ni ab-si-kur2-ru gar-bi n i 3 n u - z u, "She changes her own action, no one knows how it will occur"3; and pleonexia: eri- - n a, "tem- pestuous lady."4 It is, therefore, a pleasure to have new materials anent this divine personality which expand on several levels Hallo's "typology of divine exaltation."5

This is a review article of: Lob der Istar: Gebete und Ritual an die altbabylonische Venusgottin. By BRIGETrE R. M. GRONEBERG. Cuneiform Monographs, vol. 8. Groningen: STYX PUBLICATIONS, 1997. Pp. xix + 187 + 40 plts. HF1 150.

Abbreviations follow the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary or the

Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary unless otherwise noted. 1 Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, Prologue of the Wife of

Bath's Tale, ed. A. C. Cawley (London: J. M. Dent, 1996), 11.609- 12 (p. 174):

For certes I am al Venerien In feelynge and myn herte is Marcien. Venus me yaf my lust, my likerousnesse And Mars yaf me my sturdy hardynesse.

2 Ake W. Sjoberg, Inninsagurra, 1. 19; cf. "Iftar-Louvre," I 13 (pp. 22-23).

3 Innins-agurra, 1. 7; cf. "Istar-Louvre,"I 16 (pp. 22-23).

4 Innins-agurra, 1. 1. 5 W. W. Hallo and J. J. A. van Dijk, Ninmesarra, 64-68.

Groneberg's careful, sympathetic and well-thought-out treatment of three lyrically couched liturgical compositions from the Early Old Babylonian period, "lstar-Louvre," Agusaya A and B, and "Istar-Bagdad," provides a substantial and welcome addition to our growing fund of information and knowledge about this very complex goddess as well as some of the practices of her cult in the early part of the second millennium. The author's selection and treatment of these compositions are steps toward a much more ambitious goal: an eventual examination of Inanna/lstar foregrounded against the rest of the Meso- potamian pantheon-especially its goddesses. Although the texts under discussion give us a tantalizing glimpse of Inanna/Istar and her cult, the information conveyed by them raises many questions and is highly suggestive for further inquiry. What, for instance, is precisely meant and intended by Istar-Louvre I 24 (p. 23)? The materials also prompt a reexamination of Oppenheim's iron dictum that a Mesopotamian religion should not be written.6

Groneberg's rationale for the limitation she has placed on the present work and her selection of texts is clearly set out:

Neben dem Gebete an Annunitum ... sind diese drei Texte sicherlich die informativsten religiosen Texte iber die Gottin Inanna/lstar. (p. vii)

Possibly so, and given her eventual goal, Groneberg's present contribution may be regarded as a work in progress.

The introduction contains a brief overview and characterization of the texts. In addition to furnishing new information about the nature of the goddess, "Istar-Louvre"

6 A. L. Oppenheim, Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civili- zation (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1964), 172.

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Journal of the American Oriental Society 120.2 (2000)

(AO 6035) preserves a detailed narrative account of a ritual, possibly occasioned by a building project associated with a shrine. The ritual contains mention of the cultic practice of transvestitism which was previously known to us from an earlier Iddin-Dagan sacred-marriage hymn.

Groneberg has critically edited Agusaya A and B before, and it is presented here in a revised translation along with an extensive discussion of its literary structure, style, and content. It is included here because of its top- ical affinities with the other two texts under discussion. 'Igstar-Bagdad" (IM 58424), a lament bearing similarities to ludlul bel nPmeqi, gives us a picture of personal piety. Groneberg suggests that it was composed of several shorter Old Babylonian prayers, which were reedited into a larger composition in post-Old Babylonian times.

All three texts are written in lyrical language typical of the period and present a combination of epic and lyric genres. Groneberg is to be commended for avoiding use of the more conventional albeit misleading term, "hymnisch- epische Dialekt" and opting instead for "lyrisch-babylo- nische Sprache" to describe the elevated and occasionally difficult literary language of the texts-a Kunstsprache, to use Rollig's convenient and more accurate term (p. xv).7 With regard to the literary quality of the texts, Groneberg states:

Unter stilistischen Gesichtspunkten haben wir in den drei hier neu bearbeiteten Texten kunstvolle, hochentwickelte Hymnen vor uns, die in der Dichte des poetischen Aus- drucks auf der gleichen Ebene liegen wie die Istar- Gebete RA 22, 170ff. und VS 10, 215. (p. xv)

However, Agusaya A and B bear the marks of a much less

polished work, possibly attributable to the fact that the scribe had difficulty with the text (p. 58). Notwithstanding the difficulties presented by its troubled transmission, Groneberg's discussion of the composition's structure is well done (pp. 61-63).

All three compositions present us with a spectrum of the goddess's attributes, including a novel connection with ardat lili. We see a polarity of behaviors, which range from capricious to caring, similar to those expressed in Inninsagurra and which are central to several interrelated theses advanced by Groneberg in the course of the book. The materials provide an occasionally unfamiliar and fascinating look at expressions of public and personal piety and cultic praxis associated with these. "Istar-Bagdad," for example, illustrates the "hierarchischen Konzeption des babylonischen Pantheons" (perhaps alternatively ex-

7 W. Rollig, RIA 6, s.v. "Literatur," 48.

pressed, given Groneberg's associated thesis, as Transzen- denz?) and the necessity of invoking one's own personal god, il abi, as a means to approach the remote divine pres- ence (p. xv).8 For Groneberg, the well-known story of Agusaya illustrates this principle in mythic terms: a sub- stitute being is created to protect humankind against the more capricious and destructive of Inanna/Istar's tenden- cies. I would suggest that on a thematic level, this is evoc- ative of the anti-Gilgamesh aspects of Enkidu, which result as well in dramatic contest. This mechanism is ac- companied by ecstatic ritual practices, in this instance, an aetiologically-based report of the whirling dance, gustu, which is apotropaically motivated: 11. 15-17: li-ib-si sa- at-ti-sa li-is-sa-ki-in gu-us-tu-d i-pa-ar-si-im sa-at-ti (p. 86). How better to approach the falcon of the gods, the unapproachable, than with dizzying ecstasy?9 It is reminiscent, as well, of a motif commonly found in combat myths: knowledge of the adversary given to the opponent by a wise and/or divine helper prior to a direct engage- ment between the contestants.10

Groneberg concludes the introduction with a more general discussion of parallel practices in cults of the Greco-Roman period. She focuses on the oriental cults of Aphrodite and Cybele and the possible connection between Cybele's cultic personnel, the galloi and gal5- la2:gallu of Mesopotamia. I miss mention of other cultic personnel in Cybele's service who, similar to the galloi, practiced castration and ecstatic rites: the metragyrtes.11 Missed too, is any mention of another mother goddess from Asia Minor and Syria, and one who is closer to the point: Atargatis/Derceto, the consort of Hadad, generally referred to as the "Syrian Goddess" (dea syria). She too had galloi devoted to her, although probably not as cultic personnel per se, but as wandering mendicants.12 Argu- ably, it was she whose incorporation into the Syrian pan-

8 Cf. W. G. Lambert, BWL 86, 11. 256-57. 9 W. H. Ph. Romer, "Eine sumerische Hymne mit Selbstlob

Inannas," Or 38 (1969): 98,1.21: dingir buru5-me-es me- e mu-tin-me3, "The gods are (but) birds, I (Inanna) am a falcon." The alternative approach is to soothe her troubled heart with the laments of the gala priests, as the Sumerian

aetiological tale tells us. See S. N. Kramer, "BM 29616, The

Fashioning of the Gala," Acta Sum 3 (1981): 1-11. 10 Cf. Agusaya A VI 14-49 (pp. 80-81), Ea to Saltu; Agusaya

B I 1-9 (p. 84), Istar to Ninsubur; CT 13, 23-24: tas-pu-ra-an-ni be-el re-hu-ut nari [ ] ul i-de-e-ma sd lab-bi [ ]: "You have sent

me, o lord, [to slay?] River's offspring. (But) I do not know [the

ways?] of the Lion-Serpent." 11

Apuleius, Metamorphoses, books 8-9. 12 Lucian, De dea syria.

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FERRARA: In Praise of lstar

theon can be traced back to the worship of Nanaya by the Aramean tribe Bit Ammukani, which was centered in and around Uruk in the late first millennium.'3

Chapters I and II are devoted to "Iftar-Louvre," [ser] tanati Istar, "[song?], glory to Istar," according to its su- perscript (editio princeps). Chapter I contains a detailed discussion of all aspects of this unprovenanced text, from paleographic to literary features. Especially welcome is Groneberg's discussion of the "poeticity" of the composition-with respect to the feature of assonance, among others (pp. 12-15).

Die Poetizitat des Textes wird bewirkt durch Lautassonan- zen und die Wortstellung. Spannung wird erzeugt durch die Varianz im Vokabular und die Anordnung der Satzgliedern in den Versen. (p. 12)

One is struck here by the general similarity between these features and Latin poets' attempts to adapt Latin verse to Greek metric schemes, such as are found in the Odes of Horace.'4 Chapter II contains a transliteration and translation on facing pages. In a similar manner, Chapters III and IV treat Agusaya A and B (VS 10, 214 and RA 15, 174ff., respectively). Chapter III is an in-depth discussion of the composition's style and content, and chapter IV contains a transliteration and translation of the composition.

"Istar-Bagdad" (editio princeps) is treated in chapters V and VI. In chapter VII Groneberg offers a detailed discussion and analysis of Istar's ritual as disclosed here in comparison with others previously known, both explicit and implicit: the Old Babylonian Mari ritual, the Iddin- Dagan sacred marriage rites, the late Istar ritual, tablet 19 of the balag uru2-am3-ma-ir-ra-bi and the festival pro- cession reported in a prayer to Nanaya for Sargon II. Groneberg discusses as well how these rituals reflect the personality of the goddess to a greater or lesser extent. Of special interest here is her discussion of the shamanistic function of Inanna/lstar:

Es ist zu vermuten, daB der schamanistische Aspect dieser Gottin ein wichtiger Hintergrund fur ihre Bedeutung in Mesopotamien ist. Sie nimmt im Pantheon eine hervorra-

13 Joan Goodnick Westenholz, "Nanaya: Lady of Mystery," in Sumerian Gods and their Representations, ed. I. L. Finkel and M. J. Geller, Cuneiform Monographs, vol. 7 (Groningen: Styx Publications, 1997), 78-79.

14 For a discussion of prosodic analysis at the syllabic and intra- syllabic levels, see R. H. Robins, "Aspects of Prosodic Analysis," Proceedings of the University of Durham Society, series B.1 (1957): 1-12.

gende Stelle ein. Ihre Bedeutung nicht nur als weibliche Gottheit, als die sie keine besondere Rolle spielte, sondern als staatserhaltende weibliche Gottheit, geht daraus her- vor, daB ihre Macht nicht nur fur kriegerische Ausein- andersetzungen genutzt wird, sondern auch fur die Festigung des Konigtums im Fruchtbarkeitsritus des hieros gamos. Sie verleiht ebenso wie die groBen mannli- chen Gotter die Insignien der Konigsherrschaft. (p. 154, nn. 285 and 286)

An extensive bibliography and several indices, both top- ical and lexical, are provided. The tablets are presented in photographic plates with facing autographs by Groneberg for "l'tar-Louvre" and autographs by A. Cavigneaux for "l'tar-Bagdad." The quality of the photographs of the former is not the best; that of the latter is much better. Photographs of the Burey Relief, a detail of the Larsa Vase depicting Istar lilitu and a plaque depicting the same complete the work. The text is remarkably free of typo- graphical errors. I note the following: in the list of plates, I-XXVI present "Istar-Louvre," not I-XXXVI (p. 187). P. 153 note 273: "Ausfomuliert."

There is much here which is new and challenging, both in terms of materials presented and of Groneberg's interpretations. Suffice it to point out some of the more salient features of her treatment and theses and to offer some critical observations.

Here, if only for a moment, Istar's cult again be- comes palpable. Read in conjunction with other available materials, we see a Mesopotamian Homo ludens to a degree where one may venture to consider "participa- tion mystique" in Levy-Bruhl's sense of the term. Given the difficulties and occasional novelties presented by these compositions, Groneberg is to be commended for confin- ing her approach to the phenomenological and letting her translations and interpretations reflect her understanding of what the texts appear to say, rather than succumbing to the temptation of a more allegorical hermeneutic strategy which has been occasionally fashionable when dealing with this goddess.15 The latter unfortunately tends toward a meaningless (save for the commentator) eisegetical result reminiscent of Hans-George Gadamer's aphorism:

15 See Parpola's characterization of Istar's Descent: Simo Par- pola, Assyrian Prophecies, State Archives of Assyria, vol. 9 (Hel- sinki: Helsinki Univ. Press, 1997), xxxi-xxxvi. For a discussion of phenomenological hermeneutics, see Richard E. Palmer, Hermeneutics (Evanston: Northwestern Univ. Press, 1969). For phenomenological aesthetics, see Roman Ingarden, The Cogni- tion of the Literary Work of Art (Evanston: Northwestern Univer- sity Press, 1973).

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Wirkungsgeschichtliches Bewufitsein ist mehr Sein als

Bewufitsein.16 One of several ways of dealing with Inanna/Iltar in

scholarly circles is the "characterological," if it may be so termed, based upon whatever predominant traits of the goddess are reflected in a given text.17 Sometimes this yields a bifurcated model of the divine dyad's personality: a "Semitic" Istar and a "Sumerian" Inanna.18 Although the texts treated here do not by themselves afford a basis for distinguishing the two components or judging how these may relate to a common Semitic 9attar, they do challenge the simpler bifurcate model and, when incor-

porated into a larger paradigm of divine personality, present an even more complicated picture.

Groneberg is probably correct in observing, based upon her examination of Inannallstar's attributes as reflected in "Istar-Louvre," that with respect to their presentation, no

"logical" system can be discerned (p. 124). But this can

just as easily be regarded as yet another index of the

complex personality which we confront in the sources. The list of attributes should probably be viewed as the cumulative result of accretions over time and an innate conservatism in dealing with them. The elusive logic we seek when encountering difficult and apparently contra-

dictory enumerations such as this, is partly attributable to our post-Aristotelian heritage. Belief systems, for which these texts are but one type of evidence, generally treat

16 Hans-Georg Gadamer, Wahrheit und Methode, vol. II (Tiibin-

gen: J. C. B. Mohr [Paul Siebek], 1993), 11. 17 Utilizing a similar taxonomy, this sometimes yields a tripar-

tite arrangement: (1) goddess of love and sexual behavior; (2) goddess of war: violent and searching for power; (3) astral aspect:

morning and evening star. These are reflected as well in the ico-

nography. Cf. Claus Wilcke, RIA 5, s.v. "Inanna/Istar," 82-83; and

"Politische Opposition nach sumerischen Quellen: der Konflikt

zwischen Konigtum und Ratsversammlung: Literaturwerke als

politische Tendenzschriften," in La Voix de l'opposition en Me-

sopotamie, ed. A. Finet (Brussels: L'Institut des hautes etudes de

Belgique, 1973), 37-65. Note Cooper's criticism, Curse ofAgade, 9, 13 and note 41. Cf. further, J. J. A. van Dijk, "Les contacts

ethniques dans la M6sopotamie et les syncr6tismes de la religion sumerienne," in Syncretism, ed. Sven Hartman (Stockholm: Alm-

qvist & Wiksell, 1969), 194-203; J. J. M. Roberts, The Earliest

Semitic Pantheon (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Univ. Press,

1972), 37-40; Tzvi Abusch, "Iitar'" Dictionary of Deities and

Demons in the Bible, ed. Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, and

Pieter W. van der Horst (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1995), 847-55. 18 This observation leaves out of account her astral dimorphism,

which is apparent on several levels (p. 123).

that heritage as a step-sister. Inherent in them are histor-

ically attested "logical" conflicts. One need only point to the long-standing fitful coexistence of monotheistic ideas of a divine moral guarantor with our experience of evil and the problem of theodicy which is prompted thereby. The search for a logical resolution to apparent contradic- tions posed by a given text, or series of texts, raises the

larger question of cognitive structures of the civilization under examination.19 Perhaps the logic we seek does not

reside in the surface of the text. I would suggest that a

structuralist reading strategy, adapted to the materials at

hand, similar to that adopted by Roland Barthes, may be

more appropriate in isolating features not otherwise

readily discernable.20 To be distinguished here is a read-

ing strategy, not an interpretive one, as a means of iden-

tifying characteristic features of the cultural code(s) which are embedded in a given text.21

Viewing the wider body of available evidence for this

goddess, we encounter a bewildering array of apparently conflicting filiations, cult-locale associations, alternative consorts and attempts at systematization in the god lists. We are obviously dealing with a syncretism as yet, if

ever, to be carefully sorted out and awaiting further evi-

dence. The Inanna-Iltar dyad presents a bundle of traits

with multiple origins and undoubtedly a very long prehis-

tory of interrelated developments. To characterize then, as

Groneberg does, the Igtar/Nanaya complex as " ... zwei

Hypostasen einer Gottheit," without further qualification

only complicates matters (p. xiii, n. 4). What she asserts

may well be true for the first millennium, but the avail-

able evidence for earlier periods seems to suggest that

19 Mogens Trolle Larsen, "The Mesopotamian Lukewarm

Mind: Reflections on Science, Divination and Literacy" in Lan-

guage, Literature, and History: Philological and Historical Stud-

ies Presented to Erica Reiner, American Oriental Studies, vol. 67, ed. Francesca Rochberg-Halton (New Haven: American Oriental

Society, 1987), 203-25. Cf. Francesca Rochberg, review of Jack

N. Lawson, The Concept of Fate in Ancient Mesopotamia of the

First Millennium: Toward an Understanding of gimtu, Orientalia

Biblica et Christiana, vol. 7 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1994), in JNES 58 (1999): 54-58.

20 Roland Barthes, S/Z (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1970). Cf.

W. Heimpel, RIA 7-8, s.v. "Mythologie," 540. Claude Levi-

Strauss suggests that certain cultural texts do present contradic-

tions within or among themselves and that these are dealt with by mechanisms of neutralization or mediation. Is this the context in

which to view Agusaya? 21 William 0. Hendricks, "Folklore and the Structural Analy-

sis of Literary Texts," Language and Style 3 (1970): 83-121.

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FERRARA: In Praise of Istar

Istar/Nanaya or Inanna/Nanaya/lstar are to be kept somewhat distinct, although we are able already to discern some syncretistic processes underway. Reliance on the two liturgical texts cited by Groneberg and the similarities reflected there is simply insufficient.22

Of the three functions of "lftar-Louvre" identified by Groneberg, the didactic is most touching and extends across millennia to address not only the intended hearer but an unintended audience for which this text has been

reappropriated as well: col. I 1. 11: i-la-am-ma-ad iq-qe- er-bi la ha-si-su a-i-lu (pp. 22-23).23 For the formula kumma Istar cf. z a -(a)- kam d i n a n n a of Inninsagurra and m a - (a) - k a m of her hymn of self-praise.24 Grone-

berg concludes that the similarity of attributes and facul- ties between the list in "Istar-Louvre" and Inninsagurra is thematic and not a direct translation, although a similar format is used in both (p. 10). In this regard, she may well be correct, although a detailed analysis not neces-

sarily confined to these two texts needs to be conducted to support this view.

Additional comments: pp. 43-44: for sgid2-(da): ariktu, "flute" cf. "Inanna's Descent," p. 147, 1. 353 (citing here YBC 4621 rev. 69, Sladek's text U): sipa-de3 gi-gid2 gi-di-da igi-ni su nu-mu-un-tag-ge-de3,"The shepherd (Dumuzi?) does not play his flute and pipe for her."25 This occurs in a difficult context where Inanna and the band of demonized deputies have just discovered Dumuzi and she is about to condemn him. See also an ersemma to Dumuzi, in a context where Dumuzi has al-

ready been taken from the fold, CT 15, 18 11. 38-41:

tug2am2-bara3-ga-na ur ba-e-nu2 mu-lu-ma3 rig7-ga-na ugamu"en ba-e-dur2

gi-di-da-ni tum10-e am3-me mu-lu-ma3 en3-du-ni tum10-mi-ir-re am3-me

The dog lies upon his (Dumuzi's) spread garment. The raven perches in my man's fold.

22 Westenholz, "Nanaya," 73. 23 Cf. Agusaya B V 11-16 (p. 86). 24 Romer, "Eine sumerische Hymne," 98-99. 25 W. R. Sladek, "Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld" (Ph. D.

diss., Johns Hopkins Univ., 1974), 147. Recent collation of YBC 4621 shows that there is no need to bracket fully nu. Cf. Jacob- sen's translation: "Starting (the deputies) by hitting the shepherd in the face with the reed pipes and flutes," The Harps that Once... (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1987), 225. Other ex- emplars, unavailable to either Kramer or Sladek, suggest the pos- sibility of irony or a "jeu de mots" between the two meanings attested for g i g i d2(- d a ): "reed pipe"; "lance."

The wind plays his reed pipe. The northwind sings my man's songs.26

For Groneberg, the Anunna's conditional release of Inanna from KUR, which requires that she must find a sub- stitute, affords a key to understanding the role of Saltu in

Agusaya A and B. Her reading of this, bound up with themes of conflict reflected in the compositions "Inanna and Enki" and "Inanna's Descent," is intriguing but requires a much more developed argument (p. 69).

For a similar, albeit not identical, creation of a being by Enki, this time from the clay of Abzu, see UET VI/2 36:

den-ki-ke4 im-abzu-a ba-al-ku2 ba-da-an-dim2, "Enki fashioned a turtle from the clay of Abzu."27

The image of battle as a festival, column III, 11. 7 and 11 (p. 76) is attested as well in AO 6702 column I 19: [i ] -si-nu-um sa mu-ti in-ni-pu-us.28

Agusaya A III 13: cf. CAD A/I, s.v. alalu, p. 328.

Agusaya B I 23 (p. 84): a-li-'i-tim ma-da-at, "fur den

Sieg ist sie vielfiiltig (geeignet)," presents us with the somewhat confusing etymological relation between ald- lum, "exclamation of joy," "song," its denominative verb aldlu B, and alilu, "brave one," "warrior." In her earlier treatment, Groneberg did not venture an interpretation: "Sie missachtet(?) packt nicht die ... "29 Generally, I pre- fer Foster's translation, as well as his imaginative, albeit more conservative, text-critical treatment of these lines that contain an inordinate number of presumed scribal errors.30

P. 144 ad (9): See also Sulgi X 11. 14-19,31 as well as the following: SRT5, 1-8 = PAPS 107,521 (N 4305) = CBS 8037+N 1703 ii 14'-rev. i 23', a bal-bal-e of Inanna

26 Mark A. Cohen, Sumerian Hymnology: The Ersemma, He- brew Union College Annual Supplements, vol. 2 (Cincinnati: KTAV Publishing House, Inc., 1981), 91-92.

27 Bendt Alster, "Ninurta and the Turtle," JCS 24 (1971): 120- 25.

28 J. Nougayrol, "Un Chef d'oeuvre in6dit de la litt6rature babylonienne," RA 45 (1951): 169-73.

29 B. Groneberg, "Philologische Bearbeitung des Agusaya Hymnus," RA 75 (1981): 107-34. See, especially, p. 109 and note ad 11. 23, 120.

30 Benjamin R. Foster, "Ea and Saltu," in Essays in the Ancient Near East in Memory of Jacob Joel Finkelstein, ed. Maria deJong Ellis, Memoirs of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol. 19 (Hamden: Archon Books, 1977), 83 and n. 31; cf. idem, Before the Muses, I (Bethesda: CDL Press, 1993), 85 n. 1.

31 J. Klein, Sulgi, 136-37; cf. S. N. Kramer, "Cuneiform Stud- ies and the History of Civilization," PAPS 107 (1963): 495-96, 11. 11-24; 497-98, obv. ii 12-17.

203




dealing with the hieros gamos (reading with SRT5, which is the best preserved text):

1. nin9-mu e2-a a-na-am3 mu-e-[ak] 2. lu2-tur e2-a a-na-am3 mu-e-rakl 3. a im-ma-tu5 na-ma im-ma-su-ub 4. a-sen-dili2 ku3-ga im-ma-tu5 5. na-ma bur-babbar-ra im-ma-su-ub 6. u5-ze-ba bur-ra im-ma-ses232 7. tug2pala3-na-am-ga-sa-an-an-na im-ma-mu433 8. rur5l-re e2-a mi-ni-ib2-nigin2-nigin2-e-en 9. sim-rbil-zi-da i-bi2-ma3 mu-ni-mar-mar34

10. gu2-bar-mu mu-gub si bi2-sa2 11. sig2-mu im-da-la2 a bi2-tu5 12. gi?tukul-mu bala in-na-sa6-ga mu-zu 13. sag-mu ba-sub3 si bi2-sa2 14. mus2-mu ba-bur2-bur2 mu-dub!-dub! 15. gu2 gu2-bar-ra-ka mu-ni-in-sub 16. bar-ku3-sig17 (= KU3.GI) su-ma3 im-mi-du335 17. za-tur-tur gu2-ma3 im-mi-si 18. murub2-bi gu3-sa-ma3 si bi2-sa2

1. My sister, what did you [do] in the house? 2. Precious one, what did you rdo' in the house? 3. I bathed in water, washed with soap. 4. I bathed myself with water from a pure ewer. 5. I scrubbed myself with soap from a bright bowl, 6. Anointed myself with good oil from a bowl. 7. I donned the garment of the queenship of heaven. 8. Then I wandered about the house. 9. I painted my eyes with kohl.

10. I straightened my braids. 11. My hanging hair I washed. 12. I.. .my...36 13. My hair was in disarray, I straightened it. 14. My tresses were loose, I combed them, 15. Tossed them to the sides of my nape. 16. A golden bracelet I put on my wrist. 17. Small lapis beads I fastened about my neck. 18. The clasp I positioned at the back of my neck.

TAD 8/11 pits. 4-5, rev. 2'-16':

2'. [.. .] mu-unl-ri-ri gestu2-g[a-ni...] 3'. im-da-du7-ru im-da-du7-ru x x i-[bi2-...]

32 Cf., VASII29 17-18: a sen-dili2 ku3-ga im-ma-an-

tu5 naga bar-babbar-ra im-ma-an-su-ub U5 ze2-ba bur-ra im-ma-an-ses2.

33 Cf. Sladek, "Descent" 122,1. 160. 34 Cf. Sladek, "Descent" 117,1. 110. 35 Cf. Sladek, "Descent" 117, 1. 112. 36 The context is obscure.

4'. sim-bi-zi-da im-da-d[u7-ru] 5'. mu-un-dub-dub-be2 mu-un-bur2-b[ur2-re] 6'. a im-ma-tu5 naga im-ma-[su-ub] 7'. na-ma bur!-babbar-ra im-ma-[su-ub] 8'. aurudusen-dili2 ku3-ga im-ma-[tu5] 9'. u5-ze2-ba na4bur-ra [i]m-ma[-ses2]

10'. tug2-dan3-na-ni im-ma-[mu4] 11'. mu-un-bur2-bur2-re mu-un-du[b-dub-be2] 12'. i-bi2-ni sim-bi-zi-da [mu-ni-mar] 13'. na4za-gin3 gu2-si-a im-ma-[si]37 14'. murub2-bi gu2-sa-na si bi2-[sa2] 15'. na4kisib gu2-bar-ra-na im-mi-[in-sub] 16'. tug2pala3-na-am3-ga-sa-an-na-ka bar-r[a

ba-an-dul]

2'. She gathers [ ... her] ears [ ... 3'. She mixes, mixes [ ... her] ey[es... ] 4'. She mi[xes] kohl paste. 5'. She loosened (her tresses) which were tight. 6'. She bathed, [scrubbed] herself with soap. 7'. [She washed] herself with soap from a bright bowl. 8'. [She bathed] herself with water from a pure ewer. 9'. She anointed herself with fine oil from a stone bowl.

10'. She [donned] her clean garment. 11'. She tightened (her tresses) which were loose. 12'. [She painted] her eyes with kohl. 13'. Lapis beads she fastened about her neck. 14'. She placed the clasp at the back of her neck. 15'. She [ ... ] the seal on her nape. 16'. She [donned] her garment, the queenship of heaven.

Owen, Nippur No. 8 column I 5ff.:

5. gada-babbar za3 kes2-du-a-ni [.. ] 6. tug2su-gur4-a men-edin-na 7. sag-ga2 gal2-a-ni 8. ib-gal-se3 giri3-dab5-ba-ni 9. ib-gal-ta giri3-dab5-ba-ni

5. When she (Inanna) tied a white linen garment about her waist [...].

6-7. When she put a turban on her head. 8. When she set out to the shrine Ibgal. 9. When she departed from the shrine Ibgal.39

37 Cf. Sladek, "Descent" 116,1. 107. 38 Cf. Sladek, "Descent," 116,1. 105. 39 Cf. Sladek, "Descent" 184; TuM 3, 2 obv. i 5': ummaki-a

ib-gal mu-un-sub (his text E); cf. BM 29 + 73 + 89 (unpub- lished excerpt tablet containing a portion of "Inanna's Descent") obv. 14': ummaki e2-za-gin3-na mu-[x-x]. I thank Pro- fessor Aaron Shaffer for calling my attention to this text. Nippur

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FERRARA: In Praise of Istar

Groneberg has given us a well-written, well-researched, carefully documented, and thoroughly enjoyable work. It will prompt the exploration of many avenues of inquiry

8, when read in conjunction with YOS 11, 58 (5NT 434) 1-5:

en2-e2-[nu-ru]

kur-se3 gin-na-[ni] kur-se3 gin-[na-ni] ki-sikil-dinanna

[kur-se3 gi]n-na-ni

Incan[tation]: When she went to the netherworld. When she went to the netherworld.

as we attempt to respond to the questions posed by these texts. I wish her well in attaining her larger goal and ea-

gerly anticipate the results.

When the maid Inanna went to the netherworld. When she went to the netherworld,

suggests that these texts, stemming from Ur III, may be re-

garded as an allusion to "Inanna's Descent" and may provide a terminus ante quem for the composition. See Piotr Micha- lowski, review of David I. Owen, Neo-Sumerian Archival Texts

Primarily from Nippur in the University Museum, the Oriental Institute and the Iraq Museum (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisen- brauns, 1982), JNES 45 (1986): 326-28.

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