Die hethitischen Tontafelkataloge aus Hattusa (CTH 276-282).

• Author: Beckman, Gary
• Position: Book review

Die hethitischen Tontafelkataloge aus Hattusa (CTH 276-282). By PAOLA DARDANO. Studien zu den Bogazkoy Texten, vol. 47. Wiesbaden: HARRASSO-WITZ VERLAG, 2006. Pp. xviii + 396. [euro]98.

Among the debris of the archives of the Hittite capital there have been recovered a small number of tablets that list collections of other compositions, usually cited by their colophons (sometimes abbreviated; see p. 14). These tabulations, of which around sixty-five have now been identified, have traditionally been characterized by scholars as "catalogues" (so CTH) or "shelf lists." But Paola Dardano, author of this complete edition and study of the material, demonstrates that the lists are unlikely to be records of all tablets stored together in a particular location, or even of the complete holdings of a library dealing with a certain topic. Rather, the presence of unrelated genres in a single compilation seemingly indicates that they record texts removed by the Hittite archivists from their proper place for some temporary purpose, say for consultation or recopying (pp. 9-11). Dardano points out that the majority of the listed texts belong to types intended for use over a long period (p. 17). It is this very sort of record whose contents we would expect to be checked most frequently and renewed if necessary.

These registers afford us an opportunity to appreciate just how much of the original contents of the Hittite tablet collections has been lost. The lists at our disposal, which are for the most part fragmentary, mention around 650 compositions, of which the character of some 430 can be established. Of these 430, only about eighty (18.6%) can be identified with recovered texts (p. 5).

On the topic of losses, it is sadly amusing for the Hittitologist to read the remarks appended by his Hittite counterparts to some of the entries (pp. 7-9): Tablets are "missing" (NU.GAL), "lacking" (waq-), "not yet found" (natta wemiya-), "not available" (natta ar-), "not included" (natta handai-), "old" (LABERU), or "totally abraded" (arha harran).

The author makes good use of those lists whose find-spots are known, in order to establish the ancient storage location for cited compositions recovered during the early excavations at Bogazkoy when an object's place of excavation was generally not noted. This information, although sometimes tentative, will certainly contribute to efforts currently underway to...