Jewels for the ladies of Ebla

Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie und Vorderasiastische Archaeologie

Volumn 92, Issue 2, 2002, Pages 161-199

  Archi, Alfonso ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 61349180128     PISSN: 00845299     EISSN: 16131150     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1515/zava.2002.92.2.161     Document Type: Review

References (49)

1. Some passages concerning childbirth are quoted by G. Pettinato, in: H. Waetzoldt/H. Hauptmann (eds.), Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft von Ebla (Heidelberg 1988) 300-302
2. ARET I 15 (12)-(20), a document dated to the same month of ARET IV 7, could concern the same birth, according to M. G. Biga, Amurru 1 (1996) 31-32. Precious objects used in the marriage rite of Tabur-Damu with king Išar-Damu, registered in ARET XI 2, are listed in the AAM TM.75.G.1730 = MEE VII 34(+) (Ib. 13), see M. G. Biga, VO 8 (1992) 6-11
3. 12-gúm. References to the marriage of Iti-mut are also in the two following documents, both to be dated to the minister Arrukum, TM.75.G.1567 obv. x 6-8: in ud níg-mu-sá I-ti-mu-ut; 1872+ obv. ix 5-8: in ud nídba bur-kak I-ti-mu-ut
4. ki, Ti'a-išar seems to have been daughter-in-law of IrNE
5. TM.75.G.1896 obv. vi 30-vii 5 lists several clothes and 6 "pins", bu-di, for Re'itu from the house of Nagaum, é Na-ga-um
6. 4-šeš (-mí), of the god of Ebla, Kura, see A. Archi, VO 10 (1996) 41. In general Arzatu appears after Dusigu; there is an Arzatu also among the dam en. According to TM.75.G.2332 obv. v 5-14, Arzatu's husband was Zudu, he also son of the king: Zú-{top left corner}du{top right corner} dumu-nita en níg-a-dé ì-giš a-li-iš sag Ar-za-du dumu-míen
7. the town Enegi is described as "big pipe (a-pap-gal), pipe of Ereškigal's underworld"; see W. G. Lambert, in: B. Alster (ed.). Death in Mesopotamia (Copenhagen 1980) 61, who comments as follows: "the 'pipe' is the clay tube down which offerings to the dead of a liquid kind were poured"
8. H. Waetzoldt had already noted in BiOr. 43 (1986) 434a with note 6, that these two passages are parallel
9. Cf. ARET I 15 (8)
10. See Archi, Amurru 1 (1996) 105 (KÉŠdut) and 108 (Irib-Damu and Netibutu)
11. For Zugalum, see A. Archi, UF 20 (1989) 3-4
12. For the priestess (dam dingir) Tinib-dulum, see A. Archi, in: M. Dietrich/I. Kottsieper (eds.), "Und Moses schrieb dieses Lied auf". Festschrift O. Loretz (Münster 1998) 46-48
13. ead., Subartu IV, 2 (1998) 17-22
14. For Tarib-Damu, see Archi, Festschrift Loretz, 48-49
15. There is no silver or gold, or a single object, which could have been used as "fare" to reach the Netherworld. On addir "ferry toll" in the Sumerian practice, see G. J. Selz, AoF 22 (1995) 197-209
16. For the study of the artifactual assemblages in order to ascertain the social role of the buried person, see P. R. S. Moorey, What do we know about the people buried in the Royal Cemetery?, Expedition 20 (1977) 24-40
17. id., Where did they bury the kings of the IIIrd dynasty of Ur?, Iraq 46 (1984) 1-18
18. W. L. Rathje, New tricks for old seals. A progress report, in: McG. Gibson/R. D. Biggs (eds.), Seals and Sealing in the Ancient Near East (Malibu 1977) 25-32
19. D. T. Potts, Mesopotamian Civilization. The Material Foundations (London 1997) 221. This work offers at pp. 220-235 a good synthesis on the "mortuary practices" in Ancient Mesopotamia
20. In general, see J. Bottéro, La mythologie de la mort en Mésopotamie ancienne, in: Death in Mesopotamia, 25-52 (at p. 36: kimāhcombining breve belowu: the grave as "lieu suprême"; bīt scombining dot belowalāli "résidence de paix", šubat dārāti "demeure éternelle")
21. E. Cassin, Le mort: valeur et représentation en Mésopotamie ancienne, in: E. Cassin, Le semblable et le différent (Paris 1987) 236-257, stresses the importance that the escombining dot belowemtu "bone, frame of the body" would be kept in a grave in the earth
22. See Assurbanipal, Prism A vi 70-76, which R. Borger, Beiträge zum Inschriftenwerk Assurbanipals (Wiesbaden 1996) 55, translates in the following way: "Die Grabstätten ihrer früheren und späteren Könige ... zerstörte ich ... Ihre Gebeine nahm ich mit nach Assyrien. Ihren Geistern legte ich Ruhelosigkeit auf. Totenopfer und Wasserspenden versagte ich ihnen."
23. I. J. Winter has devoted a recent study to the deposition of vessels as grave goods in the Royal Cemetery of Ur, in: Fluchtpunkt Uruk. Schriften für H. J. Nissen (Rahden/Westf. 1999) 229-256 (with a wide bibliography). See, in general, the papers collected in: S. Campbell/A. Green (eds.), The Archaeology of Death in the Ancient Near East (Exeter 1995)
24. x, are not mentioned in all the sets of gifts. The dead reached the netherworld as a "spirit", gidim, etcombining dot belowermmu. Inanna, in her "Descent to the Netherworld", is stripped of her best clothes and jewellery as she passes through the seven gates of Ereškigal's realm. This is a metaphor that the dead arrived naked and powerless in the Netherworld. D. Katz, Inanna's Descent and Undressing the Dead as a Divine Law, ZA 85 (1995) 222-223, thinks, on the contrary, "implausible that (the deads) were expected to arrive naked in the Netherworld". According to her, "the assemblies of objects scattered in graves ... point to a belief that the deads retained their social status in the Netherworld". I would write here "grave" instead of "Nether-world". On such matters, however, there were probably no strictly defined belief systems. See, in general, B. Groneberg, Mesopotamische Unterweltsvorstellungen, AoF 17 (1990) 244-261; J. Bauer, Der 'Schlimme Tod' in Meopotamien", in: H. Behrens et alii (eds.), Studies in Honor of Å. W. Sjöberg (Philadelphia 1989) 21-27. According to M. Sigrist, Le deuil pour Šu-Sin, in: Studies Sjöberg, 499-505 the way in which the spirit of Šu-Sin approached the realm of Ereškigal can be followed through the several offerings he received; but cf. W. Sallaberger, in: P. Attinger/M. Wäfler (ed.), Annäherungen 3 (Fribourg 1999) 171
25. A hypogaeum was built under the north-eastern wing of the royal palace, the floor of which lies 6 m below that of the palace. It was found completely empty. See P. Matthiae, AoF 24 (1997) 268-287
26. For the cult of the ancestors at Ebla, see A. Archi, in: T. Abusch et alii (eds.), Historiography in the Cuneiform World (Bethesda 2001) 1-13
27. The interment of draught-animals is excluded also for the royal graves of Tuttul, see E. Strommenger/K. Kohlmeyer, Die altorientalischen Bestattungen. Tell Bi'a-Tuttul I (Saarbrücken 1998) 47-77
28. Die Schichten des 3. Jahrtausends v. Chr. im Zentralhügel E. Tell Bi'a-Tuttul III (Saarbrücken 2000) 8-15. These royal tombs were above ground; on this topic, see E. Peltenburg, in: G. del Olmo Lete/J.-L. Montero Fenollós (eds.), Archaeology of the Upper Syrian Euphrates. The Tishrin Dam Area (Barcelona 1999) 427-442
29. See also the study of the graves of Djebelet el-Beda by J.-W. Meyer, AoF 24 (1997) 294-309
30. For the tombs of Tell Umm el-Marra, see G. Schwartz et alii, Antiquity 74 (2000) 771-772
31. The hypogea of Ugarit, 18th-13th century B.C., have been reconsidered recently by J.-F. Salle, in: The Archaeology of Death, 171-184
32. see M. G. Biga, VO 8/2 (1992) 3-11
33. See in general J. Bauer, in: J. Bauer/R. K. Englund/M. Krebernik, Mesopotamien. Späturuk-Zeit und Frühdynastische Zeit (Freiburg/Göttingen 1998) 558-564. The most important documents are TSA 9 and Fö 137 = AWL 66, concerning the funeral of Baragnamtara, Lugalanda's spouse, and DP 159
34. a list of deliveries of bread by Sasag, Uruinimgina's spouse. These documents list a very large number of people involved in the cultic action, but not the gifts for the grave. On the document concerning Bíl-làl-la of Adab, published by D. A. Foxvog, in: Death in Mesopotamia, 67-75
35. see the bibliography commented by W. Sallaberger, JCS 47 (1995) 17-18 note 16
36. For the value of these garments, see A. Archi, in: Y. Avishur/R. Deutsch (eds.), Michael. Studies M. Heltzer (Tel Aviv-Jaffa 1999) 53
37. See in: P. Matthiae et alii (eds.), Ebla. Alle origini della civiltà urbana (Milano 1995) 336 no. 95
38. A. Parrot, MAM 3 (Paris 1967) XLVIII-L
39. For gàr-su, see A. Archi, Festschrift P. Fronzaroli (in print)
40. For the ì-giš-sag ceremony, see id., Amurru 1 (1996) 17-18
41. See G. Conti, MisEb. 3, 94, no. 179
42. for previous bibliography, id., MisEb. 1, 36-37
43. On the circumstances of later periods which needed an "interpreter", see, in general, A. M. Ulshöfer, Sprachbarrieren und ihre Überwindung: translatorisches Handeln im Alten Orient, in: L. Milano et alii (eds.), Landscapes. CRAI 44 (Padova 2000) 163-169
44. The LL, 110.571, have balag-di = na-ti-lu (-um). These two terms do not mean "lamentation singer" in the sense of "mourner". They appear in the ritual for the king's marriage, ARET XI 1 A (63): na-ti-lu ti-na-da-ú / B (66): balag-di-balag-di balag-di "the lyre players sing"; see the commentary by Fronzaroli at p.42
45. id., MisEb. 1, 12
46. For the Ebla documents, see Archi, Amurru 1 (1996) 18 note 33; in general, see PSD A,1, 96
47. See J. Pasquali/P. Mangiarotti, NABU 1999/7, who mention Ug. bkyt "weeping women" in the 'Aqhatu poem; parallel to them are the mšspdt "wailing women"
48. Cfr. D. O. Edzard, Gudea and his Dynasty. RIME 3/1 (Toronto 1997) 32
49. This index concerns only the objects given to ladies according to the texts transliterated above. I am grateful to G. Schwartz for having put at my disposal the list of the objects found in the tombs of Umm el-Marra. The volume by H. Waetzoldt, Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungstexte aus Ebla. MEE XII (Roma 2001), came into my hands only after I had already finished this study. This volume was of assistence in my reconsiderations of certain meanings put forward, even when I found myself in disagreement