A Stray Nuzi-Type Tablet, Probably from Kurruhanni, and Its Possible Meaning.

• Author: Maidman, M.P.

The tablet presented here (hereafter SNT, for Stray Nuzi-type Tablet) was purchased in Europe about a half century ago. Subsequently, I had an opportunity to examine it without, however, making a complete copy of its inscription. Rather, I made a transliteration and rough copies of sign fragments. The orthography, palaeography, onomasticon, and probably its content all point to the region of Nuzi as the origin of this document. Just where in this region is discussed below.

I offer here the results of that examination and some comments. A true publication and edition of this tablet await someone's future examination of the piece. The artifact is the upper right part of a tablet. Its dimensions are: height, 45 mm; width, 69.5 mm; thickness, 25 mm.

TRANSLITERATION

Obverse

(1.) [n A]'NS [E]! SE.MES sa mTa-'i'-[Se]-en-ni

(2.) [n ANSE SE.ME]S sa mYa-a-ri

(3.) [n A]'NS' [E] SE.MES Sa mA-ri-ha-a-a DUMU EN-SES.MES-.SU

(4.) [n]+l [ANSE] SE.MES Sa mHu-ti-si-mi-ka4

(5.) [n]+l A[NSE] SE.MES Sa mMa-a 't-t' e-'ya"'?

(6.) [n A] 'NS' [E] SE.M[ES] sa mTe-[ ]

Rest of obverse, lower edge, and start of reverse destroyed. Bottom of reverse and upper edge blank.

Left edge gone.

TRANSLATION

(1-6)... homers of barley of Tai-senni;... [homers of] barley of Yari;... homers of barley of Arih-haya son of Bel-ahhesu;... +1 [homers of ] barley of Hutip-simika; ... +1 homer(s) of barley of Mat-te-ya('?);... homers of barley of Te-......

NOTES TO THE TEXT

The beginning of each line should consist of a number and a unit of dry measure. 1. l:A'NS E. [phrase omitted]

(1.) 1: [phrase omitted] The restorations, 'i'-[se], are virtually certain, resulting in the common PN Tai-senni. Only one other Nuzi PN beginning with Ta and ending with enni is known, Tasenni, but that rarely attested name cannot be reconciled with the surviving trace. The PNs Tarmip-tasenni and Tarmi-senni do not come into consideration, since neither ever begins with TA but always with TAR (and the former PN is far too long to be restored in this line).

(11.) 2, 4: [ANSE]. See below, n. 25 and its referent.

(1.) 2: [ME]S. A single horizontal wedge survives.

(1.) 3: [fA] 'NS' [E]?.

(1.) 5:A[NSE].

1. 5: 'ya?. 'sup' appears less likely.

1. 6: [A] 'NS' [E].

COMMENTS

Before commenting on the main topics of this essay, a confusing issue of terminology should be mentioned--actually two interrelated issues. The first one involves Tell al-Fahhar, the site. It lies perhaps some thirty-five kilometers or so southwest of Nuzi. The odd locution, "perhaps some thirty-five," arises because the exact location of Tell al-Fahhar is debated in the scholarly literature. (1) The second issue, more important in the present instance, involves the ancient name of Tell al-Fahhar. Tablets excavated there frequently mention the ancient town name, Kurruhanni, much more often than any other comparable GN. Scholars are divided on whether Tell al-Fahhar is Kurruhanni or some other ancient settlement. (2) In short, Kurruhanni may or may not lie beneath the surface of Tell al-Fahhar, and, even if it does. we are still not sure where Tell al-Fahhar actually is. However, regardless of the ambiguities, the fact that the physical tablets from Tell al-Fahhar mention Kurruhanni frequently and in important contexts must mean that Kurruhanni, if not modern Tell al-Fahhar, should be very close to that site. (3) It is for this reason that the tablets from Tell al-Fahhar are referred to here as Kurruhanni tablets. And the activities described in these tablets, unless otherwise indicated, are assumed to have taken place in or about Kurruhanni, just as it is regularly assumed that activities described in tablets from Yorghan Tepe occurred in ancient Nuzi, unless otherwise indicated.

Therefore the term Tell al-Fahhar is used here to indicate the site itself from which the Kurruhanni tablets emerged.

Turning to the text itself, does the surviving prosopography of this text contain any pattern that helps elucidate the context of its contents? The names of only six parties are preserved. Four or five of these lack patronymics. (4) Of these six parties, the last, Te-... (1. 6), is useless for prosopographic analysis. Furthermore, fully preserved names such as Tai-senni (1. 1) and especially Hutip-simika (1. 4) and Mat-teya (1. 5, or even Mat-tesup) are sufficiently common PNs so as to render prosopographical analysis also virtually useless. The remaining two, Yari (1. 2) and Arih-haya son of Bel-ahhesu (1. 3) are more interesting, the former because of the rarity of the name, the latter because he is identified by patronymic as well as by PN. (5)

Let us begin with Yari (or Yari). Such a PN is never attested, as far as I can determine, in the texts from Nuzi or in those from Arrapha City. The only Yari(s) to appear in the Nuzi orbit of PNs is/are to be found in the Kurruhanni texts. (6) All were recovered in official, relatively well-recorded excavations. There are five or six instances where the name appears. (7)

(1.) Yari son of Huziri, gatekeeper (LUKA-ill) is attested at IM 70802 (= T[F.sub.1] 160): 10 (witness), 21 (sealer). (8)

(2.) Yari (patronymic effaced), gatekeeper appears at IM 73425 (= T[F.sub.2] 788): 41 (witness), 43 (sealer). (9)

(3.) Yari, gatekeeper is to be found at IM 73441 (= T[F.sub.2] 813): left edge, 1. 2 (sealer, the witness list is effaced). The tablet was written after the proclamation at the gate of Kurruhanni (II. 9-11). (10)

The other examples are merely mentioned in the literature.

(4.) Ismail and M. Miiller apud G. Muller (1994: 69) mention a Yari in his capacity as gatekeeper in a text with other gatekeepers at IM 73249 (= TF [sic] 567).

(5.) Fadhil (1972: 58) mentions Yari, gatekeeper at IM 73442 (= T[F.sub.2] 814): 19 (sealer).

(6.) There is possibly an additional mention of Yari son of Huziri (no profession named) at IM 70767 (=T[F.sub.1], 47): 39 (left edge, sealer). (11) Qader (2010-2012: 107) suggests to read here mYa-ri?? S. [H]u-zi-r[i]. This interpretation is possible (based on al-Rawi's copy) but no more than that. Against this...