the sacrificial altar in assyrian temples

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THE SACRIFICIAL ALTAR IN ASSYRIAN TEMPLES: A suggested new interpretation of theterm makittuAuthor(s): Anna VivanteSource: Revue d'Assyriologie et d'archologie orientale, 88e Volume, No. 2 (1994), pp. 163-168Published by: Presses Universitaires de FranceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23281642 .Accessed: 03/07/2014 07:05

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[RA 88-1994] 163

THE SACRIFICIAL ALTARIN ASSYRIANTEMPLESA suggested new interprtation of the term maskittu

Anna Vivante

Our knowledge of Mesopotamian temple architecture is based on archaeologicalexcavations. But archaeology alone cannot answer ail the questions which keep

coming up the further one studies the matter. One particularly elusive questionstill concerns what exactly took place within the temples during the rituals described

in the records, and just what certain cuit furnishings in the temple area were meant

for. This explains why written evidence is of the utmost importance in identifyingthe various rooms in the temple1 and in indicating as well the use for the various

cuit furnishings.An interesting analysis, in this connection, is that of text nd 1120 published by

G. van Driel in Cuit of Assur. This text, discovered at Nimrud near the Burnt Palace,describes a set of rituals which took place in the city of Assur, it is dated the 22nd of

Kislimu or Tebet ofSargon,

when Istardri waseponymous,

that is in 714 bc.2

In this tablet, the term maskittu/ofering table3 repeatedly turns up and,

according to G. van Driel, refers to the main object of this ritual. It would therefore

be interesting to identify this cuit structure within the Temple of Assur where the

ritual was carried out.

Unfortunately, excavation records make no clear distinction between offering

tables, altars and podiums which are the most important cuit furnishings found in

Mesopotamian temples. What is usually referred to as an altar4 is the brickwork

1. See on the matter: J. N. Postgate, The Bit Akiti in Assyrian Nab Temples, Sumer 30 (1974), pp. 51-74;D. Charpin, Temples dcouvrir en Syrie du Nord d'aprs des documents indits de Mari, Iraq 45 (1983),

pp. 56-63; J. M. Durand, L'organisation de l'espace dans le palais de Mari: le tmoignage des textes, Strasbourg,

1987, and especially pp. 89-103.2. G. van Driel, Cull of ASSur, Assen, 1969, pp. 198-205.3. CAD: offering-table (CAD Ml, 376a). AHw: Opfertisch-tafel (AHw 6276).4. C. L. Woolley, The Excavation at Ur, 1925-26, AnlJ 6 (1926), p. 370; E. A. Speiser, Excavation al Tepe

Gawra I, Philadelphia, 1935, p. 14; A. Parrot, Les fouilles de Mari, Syria 19 (1938), p. 23; T. Baqir, Excavation

at 'Aqar Quf, Iraq Supp. (1944), p. 8; R. Dhorme, Les religions de Babylonie et d'Assyrie, Paris, 1945, p. 189;M. A. Mustafa, Soundings at Tell Al Dhiba'i, Sumer 5 (1949), p. 178; P. Delougaz, Pottery from the Diyala

Rgion, OIP 63, Chicago, 1952, p. 203.

Revue d'Assyriologie, 2/1994

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164 ANNA VIVANTE [RA 88

structure built against one of the cella's sides and doubtlessly used to support the

statue or statues of the god5. Clearly, podium would be a more appropriate term for

this kind of structure, considering its purpose,6 regardless of the fact that it would

surely have beenvery

awkward to perform a sacrifice on a podium with one side set

against the wall and several steps to another side. Podiums in fact are quadrilatralstructures, built of mud bricks with, in some cases, one or more steps facing the cella.

In other instances, the main structure may have one or two side steps at either end.7

They generally occupy the short side of a room usually identified as the temple cella,but they may also turn up in other parts of the religious precinct.8

E. Heinrich assumes that, at certain periods, there was an object of worshipset on top of them and he therefore believes that a divinity symbol rather than a

cuit statue was exposed on the cella podium.10 That this structure should have

been found, and generally set in the same place, indicates not only its prdominant position within these temples but above ail its crucial importance in cuit

practice.

Furthermore, it would be very helpful to know the prcis rles played by altars

and ofering-tables respectively, since these are often confused in archaeologicalrecords.11 Victims were slaughtered upon altars almost certainly located outside the

cella in the courtyard.12 On the other hand the offering-tables/passru, judging bytheir reprsentations or by their actual appearance during excavations, were made of

5. A. L. Oppenheim, Ancient Mesopotamia, Chicago and London, 1964, p. 172; A. Spycket, Les statuesde culte dans les textes msopolamiens des origines la In Dynastie de Babylone, Paris, 1968, p. 5; J. N. Postgate,

Early Mesopotamia, London and New York, 1992, p. 117.6. In this connection, see A. Vivante, Cuit Furnishings of Mesopotamia from the Ubaid to the End of

Early Dynastie Periods, CMAO (1993), pending publication.7. In other cases, stylized horns decorate the short sides of the podium, as for example in the occupations I

and II of Nintu Temple VI, cella P 45:51 : P. Delougaz, S. Lloyd, Pre Sargonid Temples in the Diyala Rgion,OIP 58, Chicago, 1942, p. 87, Pl. 78. This feature was observed by H. Frankfort in P. Delougaz, S. Lloyd,op. cil, p. 300, and also by E. Dhorme, Les religions de Babylonie et d'Assyrie, Paris, 1945, p. 179.

8. In fact, from E. D. on, a podium is often set up in the temple court suggesting that difTerent ritualswere celebrated there.

9. Many scholars agree instead that the statue of a divinity was set on the top of the podium: W. Andrae,

Die archaischen-tempel in Assur, WVDOG XXXIX (1922), passim; P. Delougaz, S. Lloyd, ibid., p. 194, Pl. 159;E. Dhorme, ibid., p. 175; M. Mallowan, Excavation at Brak and ChagarBazar, Iraq IX (1947), p. 32; A. L. Oppenheim, op. cit., p. 172; H. Frankfort, The Art and Architecture of Ancient Orient, Harmondsworth, 1969, p. 23;A. Spycket, op. cit., pp. 8 and 12; A. L. Perkins, The Comparative Archaeology of Early Mesopotamia, Chicago,1975, p. 112.

10. E. Heinrich, Die Tempel und Heiligtumer im Allen Mesopolamien, Berlin, 1982, p. 127, he examines

closely Van Buren's thesis: E. D. Van Buren, Religious Rites and Rituals in the Time of Uruk IV-III, AfO XIII

(1939), p. 133.11. P. Delougaz - S. Lloyd, op. cit., passim; M. A. Mustafa, op. cit., ibid. One should in fact distinguish

between an offering and a sacrifice, following the practice of religious historians.12. P. Amiet, La glyptique msopolamienne archaque1, Paris, 1980, p. 165.



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1994] THE SACRIFICIAL ALTAR IN ASSYRIAN TEMPLES

if

Fig. I. Offering-Table in the Temple of Sibitti at KhorsabadF. Safar, The Temple of Sibitti at Khorsabad, Sumer 13 (1957), flg. 4

wood or stone, easy to carry and small (fig. 1). These reprsentations show them

bearing various vegetable oferings, as well as small bowls and fabrics14 but never

any blood sacrifice.16

13. F. Safar, The Temple of Sibitti at Khorsabad, Sumer 13 (1957), pp. 219-221, figs 3-4; P. Amiet,op. cit., n. 1344. B. Mallowan calls them altar-tables: B. Mallowan,

AssyrianTemple Furniture, Aspects

ofArt

and Iconography: Analolia and ils neighbors (M. J. Mellink, E. Porada, T. Ozgu d.), Ankara, 1993, p. 385;W. G. Lambert, Donations of Food and Drink to the Goods in Ancienl Mesopotamia: Ritual and Sacrifice in theAncient Near East (J. Quaegebeur d.), Leuven, 1993, p. 194.

14. P. Amiet, op. cit., n. 1183, 1184, 1193, 1327.15. Historians of religions claim that there is a diffrence between sacrifice and ofTering: J. van Baal,

Oferings, Sacrifice and Gift, Numen 23 (1976), p. 161. A sacrifice normally involves the slaughter of a victim :A. M. di Nola in M. Gozzini (d.), Enciclopedia delle Religioni, Firenze, 1973, Sacriflcio e oflerta , pp. 650,653, 656, and to accomplish this action is considered to be a necessary step to enter into contact with the godswhereas an ofTering is a form of sacrifice with a broader meaning; A. M. di Nola, art. cit., p. 674. The author

repeatedly points out that since the meaning of sacrifice and oflering varies according to each religion, one should



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166 ANNA VIVANTE [RA 88

Many indications in the text nd 1120 definitely prove instead that the maskittu

was not an oiering-table but rather an altar where sacrifices took place: [ ] they

slaughter on the maskittu, the temple of Assur is cleared .16 [ ] with everything

they need the slaughtered sheep which is on the maskittu .17 Further on we are told

that the kal will recite after the sheep has been slaughtered on the maskittu.18

Furthermore, aside from the blood offerings, mention is also made of anointingthe maskittu: (no offering shall be made?) without oil on the great gods' maskittu .19

But to my mind these offerings are diffrent from those which usually adorned an

offering-table. They have a diffrent meaning: from a symbolical point of view, theyhave more in common with the burnt incense mentioned by Herodotus20 than with

solid offerings such as we find represented on Assyrian or Egyptian tables.21

Since no cuit furnishing whatsoever was found either within or without the

Temple of Assur's premises (except for a basait basin now in Berlin), it is very hard

to imagine this maskittu's location. Nevertheless the text offers us a very helpfulclue which further confirais our point. In fact, with regards to the maskittu's emplacement inside the temple of Assur, we are told that this structure is set in the courtyard,22which is in front of the entrance of Ninlil .23 When we consider Assyrian temples,

contemporary to the Temple of Assur, we observe that only square altars appearedin the courtyard and, what's more, that these were always located in front of the

temple's entrance24 (fig. 2, 3). The offering-tables, instead, found in temples belongingto the same period, were always round and made of stone and were never whitewashed.

Their emplacement varied according to where they were needed.25

study each case separately while keeping in mind the speciflc cultural background concerned. The purpose ofthis article is precisely to attempt to point out the diffrences between each type of ritual, using the available data.

16. [ ]x ugu maS-ki-it-te e-pa-su-ni A-Sur pa-su-uq: G. van Driel, op. cit., p. 200: 18.17. [ ]a-di ha-s-ha-te-ti>-Si-na udu.nita2 na-ak-su sa ugu mas-ki-it-te: G. van Driel, op. cit.,

p. 202: 10'.18. [ ] i-na ugu ma5-ki-it-te i-na-kis lgala i-za-mur, on the table for offerings he will eut, the

kal will recite : G. van Driel, op. cit., p. 202: 9'.19. i-na ma-al-ki-it-ti ilani rabuti ba-lu samunu [ ]: H. Zimmern, BBR, No, 80: 5.20. Herodotus, Book I, London, 1983, p. 229.21. The Assyrian or Egyptian offering-tables represented on numerous relief are clearely made of wood

or of stone sculpted like if it was a woodden rappresentation: See fig. n. 3, a-b.22. mas-ki-t s tr Sa ir?-te-su diM, In case they remove the maskittu of the courtyard which

Adad : G. van Driel, op. cit., p. 94, 9'. This and the following quotation are taken from text bm 121260:G. van Driel, op. cit., pp. 74-119.

23. S ina pu-ut ni-ri-bi 5 Nin-lil lu-li-u dg.ga: G. van Driel, op. cit., p. 94: 10'.24. As for example, in the Temple of Nab and Tasmetum at Nimrod: M. Mallowan, Nimrud and its

Remains I, London, 1966, p. 232, flg. 194; p. 234, flg. 196; un Courtyard II of the Temple of Nab at Khorsabad:G. Loud-Ch. B. Altman, Khorsabad II, OIP 40, Chicago, 1938, p. 61, Tables 22 C-F, Tables 71 and 79; in the

Temple of Nin-Ezen at Ur: C. L. Woolley - M. Mallowan, The Neo-Babylonian and Persian Period, UE 9 (1940),p. 35 and Table 68.

25. As in the Temple of Sibitti at Khorsabad: F. Safar, art. cit., pp. 219-20, Tables 3-4.



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Fig. 2. Altar in front of the entranceof the Nab cella in the Nab

Temple of Khorsabad.

(From E. Heinrich, Die Tempel und Heiligtiimerin Alten Mesopotamien,Berlin 1982, vol. II, fig. 355.)

Fig. 3. Square Altar before the main portaiof the Nab Temple.

(From G. Loud, C. B. Altman, Khorsabad,Part II, OIP 40, Chicago 1938, Pl. 22, C.)



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168 ANNA VIVANTE [RA 88-1994]

From the text translated by G. van Driel one cannot make out what material the

maskittu was made of but it must certainly have been very heavy since we are told

that it was pushed from an unknown location to the Temple of Assur.26 We are also

told that the maskittu was dried before being whitewashed27 and then coated with

clay from the palace.28 In the Cuit of Assur texts referred to, the only point at variance

with our maskittu/altar hypothesis is that the maskittu was moved from some

undetermined location up to the temple29 which therefore straight-away confirms that

it cannot possibly be one of the brick altars so often found in temple courtyards.But G. van Driel also maintains, in his introduction to text nd 1120, that the

fragment cannot be regarded as a ritual in the usual sense of the word and besides:

seems to be a report concerning ceremonies apparently connected with the puttingin use of certain cultic implements .30 In fact, if we regard this text as a descriptionof the

implementation accompanied byconscration ceremonies, of an altar within

the Temple of Assur, then the information we gather from the lines following the ones

just cited take on quite a diffrent meaning.Sure enough, the maskittu was whitewashed inside the temple precints following

a complex set of rituals which would make no sense for a moveable piece of cuit

furnishing such as an offering-table or passru.31 Moreover, K. Deller's intgrationin text nd 1120 of the term passru32 (offering-table) is further evidence in favour

of my proposai. In fact, in the following line, the term maskittu/altar appears, provingthat two diffrent cuit furnishings were used during the same ceremony but in totally

diffrent ways.The available data, therefore, suggested that this structure was more likely an

altar on which victims were slaughtered and that it surely stood outside the cella,in the courtyard which was far more suitable indeed to this type of blood ritual.

26. [ ] ki.tu i-Sa-da-du-ni maS-ki-it-tu i-na SX ki-Su i-da-'i-pu, [ ] they will drag the

socle, they will push the makittu from its place : G. van Driel, op. cit., p. 200: 4.27. [ ]a-na maS-ki-it-te si-a-ri lemx a.meS Sa dASur ib-tal-lu: G. van Driel, op. cit.,

p. 200: 14.28. [ ] [ina] Ub-bi ti-it-ti Sa si-i-ri ta SX Sa .gal ik-ta-ru, [ ] with the

clay for whitewashing from that of the palace they have rubbed ; G. van Driel, op. cit., p. 200: 15. In this

period, both altars and podiums bore several coats ot whitewash; in certain cases they were faced with glazedtiles as in Court II of the Temple of Nab at Khorsabad; G. Loud - Ch. B. Altman, op. cit., p. 61.

29. See n. 26.

30. G. van Driel, op. cit., p. 198.31. List of offerings to the ASsur Temple frequently mention parts of animais used as offerings to god.

Those lists never mention the maSkittu and don't tell whether the animais were slaughtered; F. M. Fales,J. N. Postgate, SAA VII, pp. 182-203. In fact, the offerigs were disposed on offerings-tables similar to the ones

on Assyrian carved reliefs.32. As to the intgration in verse 65: '3 and '4 of text nd 1120, see K. Deller, Die Hausgtter der Familie

Sukrija S. Huja in Studies E. R. Lacheman, Winona Lake in 1981, p. 185; B. Menzel also analyses the textnd 1120 but she does not approach this subject; B. Menzel, Assyriche Tempel, Rome, 1981, p. 239.

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