'Les Mite D'Assyrie': moths in the Assyrian texts of the second millennium B.C.

• Author: Michel, Cecile

The moth was one of many insects that people from the ancient Near East had to battle. Although found universally and at all periods of the year, the moth is relatively rarely mentioned in written documentation from antiquity, possibly perhaps because its damage, though common, was not on a large scale. Normally it is cited in cuneiform texts almost exclusively concerned with fabric packed in bundles or enclosed in containers for long periods. For this reason, it is not surprising to find moths mentioned in the private archives of the Assyrian merchants who, at the beginning of the second millennium B.C., exported large quantities of textiles to Anatolia, storing their goods in warehouses of the karum Kanis.

Some six hundred years later, the chief steward of the Assyrian royal storehouse in Assur, Babu-aha-iddina, also had to fight moths attacking wool and other textiles stored in sealed chests. He orders trustworthy agents to protect them. The rare references to moths and to information on the conservation of textiles in Assyrian tablets of the second millennium B.C. allow a small study of these insects, of the damage they caused, of steps taken to protect textiles threatened by their appetite, and the use made of the damaged material.

DOCUMENTATION

The Old Assyrian tablets from Kultepe are unique in documenting the presence of moths in textiles.(1) Leaving Assur, donkey caravans loaded with tin and textile bundles reached Kanis in six weeks. Once there, the donkeys were sold, the tin and the textile packages were either stored locally, forwarded to other Assyrian commercial settlements in Anatolia, or offered for sale in Kanis. Textile bundles, normally still sealed, could be stored for appreciable intervals before clearance by Anatolian authorities, transfer to sales representatives, or sale.

Four OA letters mention the presence of moths in textile bales. One tablet, preserved in New York, is written by two members of Imdilum's family, Su-Laban and Assur-imitti, both living in Assur (CTMMA 1 77, 7-40).(2) Anxious about goods they sent to Kanis that seem moth infested, they ask their representatives there to verify the stock and to take care of the damage. The second letter, written by Ili-aLUM from somewhere in Anatolia, is addressed to Assur-nada in Kanis (TTC 14, 36-39). IIi-aLUM informs his correspondent that some recently sent fabrics were infested.(3) The third tablet, just published, concerns almost one hundred pieces of textile stored in the town of Zalpa (TPAK 1 58, 3-7), one fifth of which had damage.(4) The last text, unearthed in 1993 and still unpublished, belongs to Assur-taklaku's archives.(5) As a result of difficulties with the Anatolian palace, this merchant was in jail, his business neglected. When he is released, he complains about the commercial damages he suffered, among which were moth attacks (Kt 93/k 542).

Another OA private letter refers to the inventory of a large batch of fabrics stored in a private house in Kanis (TCL 14, 28). More than two hundred pieces belonging to Innaya were deposited in the house of Imdilum's daughter in Anatolia.(6) According to instructions the owner sent, four of his representatives were to air the textiles and then repack them.

The airing of textiles is also attested by a few tablets belonging to the Middle Assyrian period in Assur. These texts, discovered during the 1908 excavations at Assur, west of the Nabu temple, recall the activities of Babuaha-iddina, son of Ibassi-ili, a high official of the Assyrian kings? His letters contain orders to trustworthy representatives concerning the inspection, the delivery, or the arrival of different kinds of goods or raw materials. The representatives are to open sealed storerooms, unseal chests, and withdraw from them a wide variety of objects, mostly woolen garments but also ivory, ebony, lapis lazuli, furniture, wooden articles, leather, weapons, spices, ointments, oil, wax, alum, and wine. They are to register these materials on tablets and send them for transfer to craftsmen.(8) Textiles are to be aired before once again being stored in chests. Every container is to be sealed again and deposited in sealed storerooms.(9)

Two letters and one administrative document belonging to Babu-aha-iddina contain orders concerning the airing of textiles preserved in sealed chests. Both of the letters, KAV 99 and 109, dated by the eponyms Ittabsiden-Assur and Sunuqardu, were addressed to the same majordomo (sa muhhi biti), Assur-zuquppanni, in both tablets; but also to Kidin-Gula in KAV 99.(10) This last message was also sent to Ma anayu and Assur-bel-salim. To make sure his orders are followed, Babu-aha-iddina conveyed his letters also to commissioned agents, trustworthy intermediaries (qepum) or artisans (kasirum); frequently he also sent along his own cylinder-seals.(11)

The third tablet concerned with the same subject is an administrative text published by E. Weidner in 1959.(12) It reports on the execution of the order conveyed in KAV 99. During the eponymy of Ittabsi-den-Assur, the three qepu of KAV 99 (and Ma anayu, one of the addressees, as well) discover damage while examining the textiles. They separate the damaged textiles from those unaffected and hand them over to two stewards. One other letter fragment (KAV 195 + KAV 203) in Babu-aha-iddina's archives must be added to this corpus because it also refers to damaged textiles that must be checked and names the same correspondents as KAV 99.(13)

TERMINOLOGY

The clothes moth is the common name of several genera of the family Tineidae, which belong to the order of Lepidoptera. The best known moth is Tineola bisselliella, a smallish white butterfly. It exists over the entire world and, to evade the cold, stays year-round indoors.(14) The moth's yellowish-white larvae feed on wool and furs, leaving holes that betray its presence. These larvae also eat objects made of skins, horns, or horsehair. The moth breeds quickly, laying about two hundred eggs every three months. The eggs hatch in fifteen days and larvae have three months to do their damage before turning into moths.

Beyond its occurrence in the letters cited in this article, the word for moth occurs in lexical lists and omens: Akkadian sasum (UR.ME) seems specifically to mean "moth." Kalmatum seems to indicate the more generic "parasite." Thus, the "garment parasite" or kalmat subati occurs only in lexical texts.(15) In the summa alu omen series there is a section devoted to various insects and their presence seems to be uniformly auspicious. In section 36, which opens, "If a moth is seen in man's house," two paragraphs treat the sighting of UR.ME and of sasum, thus making a distinction between the two terms.(16) The UR.ME is said to fly into houses, moving from the top to the bottom of walls.(17) The sasum, however, is said to be found in human garments.(18) This is why W. Heimpel rightly proposed to identify the insect UR.ME with the adult moth and the sasum with its larva.(19)

Moths are not always mentioned explicitly in the private correspondence of OA merchants from Kanis and never in the archives of Babu-aha-iddina. But when cited in the OA tablets, the word used is sasum, establishing that the Old Assyrians bad identified the cause of the damage: sa-sa-am (TPAK 1, 58, 5; CTMMA 1 77, 8, 25), sa-sa-am (TTC 14, 39); sa-su-um (Kt 93/k 542, 35). Sasum is used as a collective singular, always the subject of the verb.

MOTH DAMAGE

Two verbs are connected with moth attacks. The first, akalum, "to eat, devour," corresponds to...