Notes on the old Babylonian hymns of Agusaya.

• Author: Streck, Michael P.
• Position: Report

The two hymns of Agusaya, known as Agusaya A and B, are among the most difficult literary texts in Old Babylonian. A copy of Agugaya A was published by H. Zimmern as VS 10, 214. Photos of the tablet were published by Zimmern (1916, plates 1-2) and Marzahn and Schauerte (2008: 345 [rev. v-viii]). The editio princeps of Zimmern (1916: 10-28) was followed by several editions by B. Groneberg (1971: 43-66; 1981: 107-25; 1997: 75-93). Numerous translations and studies have also appeared, among them the translations of Hecker (1989: 731-38) and Foster (2005: 96-106) The tablet, whose provenance is unknown, is kept under the siglum VAT 5946 in the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin.

Agugaya B was edited by Scheil (1918: 174-82 [with photol]), followed by the editions of Groneberg (1971: 53-57, 67-71; 1981: 126-34; 1997: 84-93). Translations of the text were presented by, among others, Hecker (1989: 738-40) and Foster (2005: 103-6). Unfortunately, no copy of the text exists, and the text itself, again of unknown provenance, seems to have been lost.

Both texts still present numerous philological problems, and the following notes are intended to improve their understanding. They are the fruit of a full new transliteration and English translation prepared for the project "Sources of Early Akkadian Literature." (1) Agusaya A was collated by the author on 1.4.2009; signs corrected by collation are marked by *

AGUSAYA A

Upper edge: u-ta-ar MUS, "It turns the snake," interpreted as D utar serram. Groneberg (1997: 59 and 75) analyzes the verb as Dt uttar and translates "Zuruckgewendet wurde die Schlange," which is difficult because of the tense (present) and the orthography (one would rather expect ut-ta-ar). Cf. Hecker 1989: 732: either "er/sie brachte die Schlange zuruck" or "die Schlange brachte struck."

i 3-4: bu-uk-ra-at (d) Nin-gal (erasure) du-un-na-sa lu-ul-li! su-um-sa, "The first-born of Ningal, her strength let me extol, her name!" Note the Janus-parallelism dunnasa lulli sumsa. According to von Soden 1981: 193 n. 49, sumsa is an alternative reading of dunnasa (added by the scribe).

ii 1: i-li u sar-ri i-ga-a-as, "She dances around gods and kings." gasum 'to dance' is to be connected with gugtum 'dance' in Agusaya B v 16. Both gagum and gustum certainly allude to Istar's name Agusaya in Agusaya B, as was already cautiously assumed by Groneberg 1971: 42 and confirmed by Foster 2005: 96.

ii 5: Istar(U.DAR) ta-ni-da *-ta-sa lu-az-mu-ur, "Istar, let me sing of her praise." The form tanidatasa, confirmed by collation, has a construct state in -a- instead of-i-. Cf. istaratasin A ii 12 and teretasa A v 20', both with -a- instead of -u-, and see von Soden 1931: 214-15.

ii 12-13: [i-q]u-ul-la is-ta-ra-ta-si-in [si-iq-r]u-us-sa, "Their (= mankind's) goddesses [h]eed her [wor]d." For istaratasin cf. ii 5, above.

iii 1-2: et-lu uk-ta-ap-pa-ru sa ki ar-ka-tim, "Young men are cut off as if for spear poles." The translation follows Foster (2005: 98), who explains: "The simile may mean that the young men are lopped off like poles to be made into spears, that is, 'cut down to size.' " See CAD K 180 kaparu B 1 'to strip, clip, to trim down', followed by AHw 1566, where against AHw 442 two verbs kaparum are recognized. The image of cutting for aggression (hasasu D, nakasu) is well attested, e.g., in the epic of Erra; see Streck 1999: 196 1.1.2. On the contrary, neither Hecker's (1989: 733) "Die Manner messen die Krafte, als waren sie Lanzen" nor Groneberg's (1997: 76) "Die Manner reinigen sich kultisch so wie die Flotenspieler(?)" has any parallels in the imagery of Akkadian literature. Hecker's translation supposes the weakly attested verb gaparum (see AHw 281). Besides, for the Dt one would rather expect * ugdapparu (see Groneberg 1997: 88). Groneberg's translation "Flotenspieler(?)" is based on CAD A/II 268 ariktu C 'long flute' (literally 'the long one'), a hapax legomenon, but the text doesn't have sa arkatim "Flotenspieler," as she argues (1997: 65 n. 34), but only simple arkatim.

iii 4: i-ba-as-si is-ta-ta qu-ra-du, "There is a unique one, a hero." Zimmern's (1916: 13) "Sie ist allein ein Held," Hecker's (1989: 733) "Sie ist als einzige Held," and Groneberg's (1997: 76) "Es ist eine einzige ein Held" translate ibassi as copula. However, ibassi rather means 'there is, exists'. Foster (2005: 98) translates "There is a certain hero, she is unique," which neglects the sequence of words. Von Soden (AHw 401b isti A 2 and 1981: 193) reads istasa; see also Bottero and Kramer 1989: 206: "La vaillance l' accompagne." However, the copy has a clear ta. Note the -a-case of istata, which can be compared to sebeta in the Epic of Etana, Morgan tablet i 10: se-be-ta ba-bu ud-du-lu e-lu da-ap-nim, "The seven gates were still barred against the mighty." Both forms might be an old status absolutus ending in -a; see Streck 2009: 484-85.

iii 5: Istar(U.DAR) su-tu-ra-at da-pa-na ti-de, "Istar is surpassing, she knows how to smite down." With Hecker 1989: 733 and Foster 2005: 733, I analyze Istar as the subject of suturat.

iii 8, 12: su-ut-ra-(aq)-qii-du a-an-ti, "dance-making the ..." The hapax sutraqqudu is S Dtn of raqadu; cf. GAG [section] 95c "Iterativ-oder Habitativform zum SD" and AHw 957b, where the form is analyzed as SDt. Groneberg (1981: 113 and 120, as well as 1997: 76 and 88) derives a-an-ti from CAD A 146 antu A 'ear (of barley)' and translates "das Tanzenlassen der Ahren." But the form is singular, as noted correctly by Hecker 1989: 733. It is difficult to reconcile Groneberg's comment (1997: 88) "Naturlich handelt es sich formal urn einen Singular ..., der selbstverstandlich hier als Plurale tantum zu sehen ist" with the form, since a plurale tantum is by definition a formal plural; apparently, she means a sort of collective noun. Bottero and Kramer (1989: 206) and Foster (2005: 98), both following Zimmern (1916: 13 and 30), translate "d'entrechoquer les combattants" et "staging the dance of battle," correcting the text to a-an-ti. The problem with this is not so much that the same mistake must be assumed for two lines (Groneberg 1997: 88), because it is possible that the scribe simply copied a mistake. However, the incipit of a song, enuma turaqqidu an-ta in KAR 158 ii 40 (cf. CAD 146 antu B), points to a noun antu as object to raqadu D or SDtn (cf. CADR 167 raqadu b). Thus it seems wise to follow CAD A 146 antu B and Hecker 1989: 733 and leave open the interpretation of antu.

iii 9: i-sa-tu u-ul ta-am-ha-at a-te-li "She weaves (? battle), doesn't hold the lords." The analysis of i-sa-tu tentatively follows Hecker 1989: 733 n. 9a (also followed by Groneberg 1997: 76 "Sie verknupft(?)" and Foster 2005: 733 "She comes to grips with"), hence isattu. sdtu A 'to pull, to drag' or sdtu B 'to be negligent' (CAD S 242-43) are both difficult because the final -u cannot be explained as a sandhi-spelling (see already Hecker 1989: 733 n. 9a, against Groneberg 1981: 120 and 1997: 88-89): the following li-ul clearly points to I'ull. Moreover, the copy shows a space between i-sa-tu and u-ul. isattu is problematic, because elsewhere satu 'to weave' in the sense 'to join battle' has a word for 'battle' as an object (anantu, qablu, tuqumtu; see CAD S/I 218a satu B l c). An alternative analysis would involve the noun isatu 'fire'. Though Istar is sometimes designated as 'fire' (see CAD I 229 isatu lb1'), isatu is never the subject of tamahu or taru, which also makes this analysis improbable. For atelli < etelll, cf. malemmi < melemml A iv 8. In both cases an original /e/ has been falsely re-analyzed as /a/.

iv 1-2: ha-at-ti sar-ru-ti (gls) GU.ZA a-gu-u sa(text: TA *)-ar-ku-si an-sa-as na?-tu gi-im-ru, "The scepter of kingship, the throne, the tiara are bestowed on her (Istar). Everything is appropriate(?) to her." ta- instead of sa- seems to be a scribal error; note that von Soden (AHw 1183 saraku I G I 2 and 1981: 194 with n. 53) reads tarkusi for sarkusi. The interpretation of the second part of 1. 2 follows CAD N/II 132 natu A c 4' "for her everything is fitting," Groneberg 1981: 113 "fur sie ist die Gesamtheit geeignet," CAD S/II 171 sasi 1 b "everything is appropriate to her," and Foster 2005: 98 "all of them are her due." See also AHw 1197 s. v. sds. Von Soden (AHw 919 qiasum 3 and 1981: 194) reads qi-tu, analyzing...