Nabu and munabbiatu: two new Syrian religious personnel.

• Author: Fleming, Daniel

Recently published Akkadian texts from Mari and Emar include two previously unattested religious personel whose titles are derived from the verb nabu(m), "to name, call, lament."l The nouns nabu and munabbiatu (both plural) appear in the following sources:(2) [na.sup.lu.mes]-bi-i, Emar 387:9 (text F, Msk 74286b];(3) [na.sup.lu-bi-i.sup.mes], AEM I.1 no. 216:7 (A.22090);(4) [mu.sub.x.sup.mi.mes]nab-bi-ia[ti], Emar 373:97 (Msk 74292a);(5) [mu.sub.x]-na-bi-a-ti, Emar 379:11-12 (Msk 74264);(6) [mu.sub.x.sup.mi.mes]-nab-b[i-(i)a-ti], Emar 383:10 (Msk 74226a).(7) [mu.sup.mi.mes]-na-bi-ia-ti, Emar 406:5 (Msk 74107az).(8)

The connection with biblical Hebrew nabi is clear, but not so the function of these individuals and the etymology of their titles. This paper treats first the two Emar titles, together with relevant evidence for the verb nabu and for Ishara, the mistress of both personnel at Emar. It will then review the Mari text and conclude by considering the etymological problem.

Emar

1. The [na.sup.lu.mes]-bi-i of Emar 387

   The archives of 13th-century Emar include a large collection of previously unattested rituals, which offer a view of religious practice in inland Syria to complement and contrast with the material from Ugarit.(9) These include a set of "kissu" festivals for the gods Dagan, [ERES.sup.d].KI.GAL, Ea, and Ishara (with [NIN.sup.d].URTA).(10) The festival for Ishara and [NlN.sup.d].URTA (Emar 387, in Arnaud) appears in two copies, kissu texts F and J.(11) The kissu festival appears to last two days, and its rites consist primarily of offerings to the designated deities. Emar 387 only indicates a location for the rites at the start of what seems to be the second day (line 9). In text J this site is the temple of Ishara, and the sacrifice which follows is for Ishara alone. Unfortunately the F text is broken, but it begins its description of the site with "the house (E) of the nabu." The relevant lines have been collated, but the reading offered here remains tentative:(12)

   [Mathematical Expression Omitted]

   While the "house of the nabu in F does replace the temple of Ishara, the traces indicate an elaboration not present in J. This might add the temple of [NIN.sup.d].URTA, thus letting the E [na.sup.lu.mes]-bi-i stand in for Ishara's temple, or the bit nabi might define a specific location within the temple of Ishara, in grammatical apposition.

   By either reading the [na-sup.lu.mes]-bi-i are closely linked to Ishara, so much so that one scribe substitutes their house for her temple as the place of sacrifice to the goddess, in a ritual devoted to her veneration.

2. The munabbiatu of Emar

   The munabbiatu of Emar appear four times, three times in the divine name Ishara (sa) munabbiati (373:97; 379:11-12, 383:10) and once as possessors of the Bu-uk-ku-ra-[tu.sub.4] in a small fragment (406:5).(13) In the last example, the diviner ([[MAS.sup.lu].SU.GID.GID) appears in the line above (406:4) and the scribe ([DUB.sup.lu].SAR) in the line below (406:6) in a context that might involve distribution of meat portions. As with the nabu, the function of the munnabbiatu is opaque, but the feminine title likewise defines a group (so, the plural) that is associated with the cult of Ishara.

3. The Verb nabu at Emar

   Outside the titles already described, the verb nabu occurs at Emar in only one idiom: in legal documents designating a female heir, the woman is declared "male and female" (so, having the rights of a son?) and exhorted to "nabu" the gods and the dead(?) of the testator. The documents then go on to allocate the property in question. This pattern appears in full in two wills and in an adoption text, and it should probably be inferred in the will Emar 185.(14)

   Huehnergard, Text 1:8

   DINGIR.MES-ia u me-te-ia lu-u tu-na-bi

   Huehnergard, Text 2:11-12

   DINGIR.MES-ia u me-te-ia

   lu-u tu-na-ab-bi

   ME 121:6-7

   DlNGlR-MES-ia [IS.sub.8.sup.d][ar.MES-ia]

   lu-u ta-nab-bi-mi

   Emar 185:2-3 (Msk 74300)

   DINGIR.MES-ia u me-te-ia

   lu-u-na-ab-bi

   The verbs appear to be separate G and D precatives (3f.s.), with the same meaning.(15) In the Huehnergard texts and ME 121 the female subject of the verbs is indicated by the t-prefix, and the context is complete. The top of Emar 185 is broken, but the remaining text makes the man's wife "mother and father" of his house (lines 4-6) and the ensuing text defines the rights of his daughters among potential male heirs. The form lu-u-na-ab-bi can have either masculine or feminine subject,(16) and 185:1 could be read, a-na [NITA u MI e-te-pus(-ma)], "I have made ([PN.sup.f]) male and female."(17)

   In three of the texts, me-te-ia appears to represent an Assyrian form of mitiya, "my dead (ones),"(18) and the combination of "gods" and "dead" would parallel the Nuzi cult to family gods (ilanu) and spirits of the dead (etemmu).(19) One Nuzi will actually assigns the right to perform these rites for the dead, and, as at Emar, it involves a female heir:

   ilani u etemmiya ipallahsu

   (She) will give cult to my gods and my spirits.(20)

   The alternative specification of "gods and goddesses" in ME 121 suggests instead of the dead the personal protective spirits (see CAD, s.v. istaru 2) that would govern a family's fortune. - ,

   The verb nabu most commonly means "to name, call," occurring in the G stem with S causative and N passive, but a second verb nabu has the distinct meaning "to wail, lament," with no discernible nuance separating the G and D conjugations.(21) The Emar idiom follows the G = D pattern of "to lament," but the variant with gods and goddesses shows a verbal action that is not restricted to mourning the dead. The required cult serves the broader need to keep the family on good terms with its patron gods and spirits. The Nuzi idiom with palahu defines this requirement without language of mourning, and Emar nabu should mean, "to call on, to invoke," not "to lament." It is not surprising to find newly attested D stems in Syrian Akkadian texts.(22)

   The Emar inheritance texts use the verb nabu (G = D) to describe invocation of divine beings in the context of family religion. It is private individuals, not professionals, who do this "calling," and no temple is said to be involved, but this evidence nevertheless provides a Syrian use of nabu from which the Syrian nouns may be explained.

4. Ishara at Emar

   Ishara was first known as a Sumerian goddess, and her presence in the Hittite pantheon was once explained by Hurrian importation from Mesopotamia.(23) When she was found in the Ebla pantheon, this view was revised, and Ishara is now widely considered an old north Syrian goddess.(24) Ishara is one of the three most prominent goddesses at Emar, with Istar/Astart and [NIN.sub.d]KUR(=?).(25) She receives a kissu festival with [NIN.sup.d]URTA at the town of Satappi (Emar 387), she appears repeatedly in the independent offering lists (379:3; 380:14; 381:12; 382:15?; 383:10), her treasure (sukuttu) is recorded in a temple inventory (282:6), and she joins Dagan and the city god [NIN.sup.d].URTA in a curse on anyone who changes a recorded decision (125:38). Ishara is not invoked in many Emar personal names, but the name Abdi-Ishara belongs to several men of substance.(26)

   As already mentioned, Ishara is often paired with the city god [NIN.sup.d].URTA,(27) and one of her manifestations is Ishara GASAN URU.KI, "the mistress of the city, (373:95). Although her importance may have declined in some quarters, this title appears to reflect an old association with [NIN.sup.d].URTA at the core of the Emar pantheon. The kissu festival for Dagan joins Ishara and [NlN.sup.d].URTA with Dagan in receiving special tables for offering, contrasted with two tables for the gods Alal and Amaza (385:8-9). Comparison with an equivalent arrangement in the NIN.DINGIR festival (369:24-25, cf. 80-81) shows that the last two tables were set apart for "the gods below" and "impure," over against the first two "pure" tables. Ishara is thus separated from gods specially identified with the underworld.

   All the above evidence for Ishara at Emar offers little to establish her precise sphere of influence and the function of the personnel linked to her cult, but Ishara appears to be both native and prominent in Emar religion, and the nabdu and munabbiatu should be so as well.

   MARI: AEM I/1 NO. 216

   The new Mari appearance of the nabu occurs in a letter from Tebi-gerisu(28) to his lord Zimri-Lim.(29) Tebigerisu...