Double attribution in a letter from Egypt to Ugarit (RS 88.2158).

• Author: Fisher, Loren
• Position: Report

INTRODUCTION

Sylvie Lackenbacher has given us a detailed study of this Akkadian text from Ugarit, (1) with transliteration, translation, detailed notes, an autograph, and a photo. I have been interested in this text for some time. When I first read it, I was doing some work on the Egyptian stelae of Seti I and Ramses II, which were found at Beth Shan. (2) At that time, I thought that the Marniptah stela proposed in this letter, which he wants to install in the temple of Ba'al in Ugarit, should be related to the stelae from Beth-Shan. This still needs to be investigated in detail. However my main concern here goes beyond these stelae.

Marniptah succeeded Ramses II and reigned from 1224 to 1214 B.C.E. If our chronologies are about correct, this means that he probably wrote this letter to Ibiranu, who ruled at Ugarit from about 1230 to 1210 B.C.E., not long before the fall of Ugarit in 1190 B.C.E.

We know that Akkadian was used at this time for international correspondence. We also know each local setting had its own way of writing Akkadian. With this in mind, Lacken-bacher gives deserved credit to E. Edel, Zipora Cochavi-Rainey, and L. Depuydt for their studies of Akkadian written by Egyptian scribes. (3) These studies are important, and they make clear that the scribes who wrote Akkadian in Egypt could not and did not hide the fact that they were Egyptians. I would like to extend this discussion by looking at one structural element in this text. It is what I would like to call "double attribution."

DOUBLE ATTRIBUTION

The first example is in lines 10-16. Here the quote is from the King of Ugarit:

10. u ki-i at-ta tas-pu-ru um-ma-a And thus you have written saying: LUGAL li-id- "May the king agree 11. a-na a-la-ki l-en LU pur-kul-la to send one sculptor, u a-na ia-si li-is-sa and to me may he come 12. a-na e-pe-si l-en [.sup.d]ALAM to carve one image sa [sup.m]Mar-ni-ip-t[a-ah] of Marniptah 13. Ha-at-pa-mu-a i-na pa-ni Hatpamua (standing) before [.sup.d]ALAM an-ni-i sa the image of Ba'al, [.sup.d]ISKUR 14. sa i-na lib-bi E.DINGIR-li which is in the heart of this an!-ni-i is-sa-a? temple (where) [he.sup.4] presented (an offering), 15. sa a-na-ku e-te-ne-e-[pu]- which I often make us-su a-na [.sup.d]SIKUR for ba'al 16. [sa.sup.KUR]u-ga-ri-it of Ugarit." At-ta ka-an-na taq-bi You, thus you have sad. In line 10a we have the first attribution, and then after the quote there is the second attribution in line 16b, which serves as the end-quote. It is...