The Susa Funerary Texts: A New Edition and Re-Evaluation and the Question of Psychostasia in Ancient Mesopotamia.

• Author: Wasserman, Nathan

1. INTRODUCTION

   A century ago Jean-Vincent Scheil (1916) published seven (1) tablets excavated by Roland de Mecquenem from a grave ("vault no. 3") located to the east of Darius' palace in Susa, Elam. (2) These tablets--immediately given the appellation "funerary," or "funeraires"--were recopied by Dossin (1927), and labeled accordingly as MDP 18, 250, 251, 252, 253, 255, 256, and 259. (3) Since then, the "Susa Funerary Texts" (hereafter, SFT) have attracted continuous scholarly attention. Ebeling, in his Tod und Leben, stimulated discussion of these texts by interpreting them as "eine Art Vademecum fur den Toten" (Ebeling 1931: 20), a view which was carried over in later studies. Bottero (1982) presented a new edition and translation of the SFT and Tsukimoto (1985) discussed some of the SFT tablets in his monograph on the kispum-ritual.

   The most recent edition of the SFT by Steve and Gasche (1996) shed light on the tablets' complex archaeological context, offered a detailed discussion of their paleography, and suggested that they contained crucial information about Elamite and later Iranian religions. Tavernier (2013) accepted the reading of Steve and Gasche, rendered their French translation mot a mot into English, and reinforced the idea of a supposed connection between the SFT and later Elamite and Iranian religious texts. Recently Van der Stede (2007) treated the SFT in her monograph on Mesopotamian views of the netherworld, regarding them, as had Tsukimoto (1985), as less relevant to the study of the netherworld than previously imagined. The SFT are also mentioned in various studies on Elamite and Iranian religions (on which see infra).

   Given the scholarly interest in this group of texts, (4) their importance to understanding the concept of the afterlife in the ancient Near East, the questions to which they give rise (e.g., are the SFT akin to the Book of the Dead? Do they contain references to a belief in the weighing of souls? etc.), and especially the problems inherent in previous editions of the SFT, it is striking that no philological treatment of the SFT has been forthcoming to date and that the tablets were never collated. (5) The present article aims to fill these lacunae, offering a detailed philological study based on collations of the accessible tablets, and a new interpretation of the texts. (6)

   The article consists of the following sections: After the Introduction ([section]I) there follows a new edition and translation accompanied by a philological commentary ([section]II). The physical characteristics of the SFT are then discussed ([section]IIIA), followed by a description of the unique character of this group of texts compared to other Mesopotamian death-related texts ([section]IIIB), and their literary context ([section]IIIC). The question of the genre, or rather genres, of the SFT is then tackled ([section]IIID), as is their supposed reference to the weighing of souls ([section]IIIE). I end the paper by reconsidering the appellation "funerary" as it is applied to this group of texts ([section]IIIF).

   The importance of the SFT for understanding the afterlife in the ancient Near East in general, and in Mesopotamian religion in particular, has driven scholars to proceed from the top down--interpreting the texts according to different religious assumptions, while neglecting, or entirely overlooking, the philological foundation of the texts. This article takes a bottom-up approach, proceeding from text to interpretation, to arrive at novel conclusions.

2. EDITION, TRANSLATIONS, AND COMMENTARIES

   Text No. 1: MDP 18, 250 (Sb 19319). (7) Photo: Fig. 4

   Obv. 1. al-ka lu-li-ka i-li be-li

   2. a-na ma-ah-ri-ti E-nu-na-ki

   3. lu-ti-iq har?-ra?-na

   4. lu-hu-uz qa-at-[ka.sub.4] i-na ma-ha-ar i-li

   5. ra-bu-ti

   6. lu-us-me-ma di-na lu-us-ba-ta

      Lower edge

   7. se-pi-[ka.sub.4]

   8. ad?-di-ma bit ekleti(E.[GI.sub.6]) i-li

      Rev. 9. tu-sa-ah-ba-ta-an-ni

   10. ap-pa-ra sa ma-ki

   11. u du-ul-li

   12. i-na qa-aq-qa-ar da-na-ti

   13. [te.sub.9]-se-a-ni

       Upper edge

   14. tu-qi-ra me-e u sa-am-ma

   15. [i]-na e-qi-il su-ma-mi-ti

       1-3. Come my god, my lord: may I walk before the Anunnaki! May I pass along the road!

       4-5. May I hold your hand in the presence of the great gods!

       6-7. May I hear the verdict! May I grasp your feet!

       8-11. Since / have abandoned the house of darkness, oh my god, you make me wander through a marsh of need and hardship.

       12-15. You look for me in the land of hunger; you made water and pasture precious for me in the land of thirst.

       Commentary

   2. ana mahriti: The prepositional use of mahritu is rare and besides the SFT is found in an EA letter from Tyre (see CAD M/I 105), supplying a possible hint as to the time frame of the Susa texts.

   3. har?-ra?-na: Steve and Gasche (1996: 334) read sa-aq-qal?'-na, "Pesee," which cannot be accepted: (8) the form saqqalna is unknown and grammatically impossible (apart from the fact that one expects /sa/, which is common in Elam, not /sa/). Instead--with Bottero (1982: 394) and Van der Stede (2007: 96)--I follow CAD G 70a, which reads har?-rd?-na (a lemma which appears in MDP 18, 251: 1 = No. 2, spelled ha-ar-ra-na).

   8. addi-ma bit ekleti(E.[GI.sub.6]) i-li. There is no consensus in earlier studies about the reading of the first word of this line. (9) Based on photos, I read, with caution, ad'-di-ma at the beginning of this line. The verb nadum referring to a house, a city, or a country as direct object, means "to abandon, to leave" (CAD N/I 76-77). Hence, this passage (11. 8-11, note the connecting -ma in 1. 8) describes how the dead person is setting off from his burial place ("the house of darkness") to reach the Anunnaki, going through harsh terrain, accompanied by his personal god.

      10: A similar phrase is found in Irisum's inscription, where the god Assur is described as apadru la habarim qaqquru la kabasim palgu la eteqim, "reed swamps that cannot be traversed, terrain that cannot be trodden upon, canals that cannot be crossed." (10)

      14: u' sa-am-ma: Against Van der Stede (2007: 96: u-sa-am-ma, "j'habite"), the earlier suggestions of Thureau-Dangin (1933: 55), Bottero (1982: 394), and Tavernier (2013: 476) are to be upheld. There is no objection to reading u sa-am-ma, since u is used as a conjunction also in MDP 18, 255: 4 (No. 5).

      tese"anni... tuqira...: CAD S/II 358, 3b translates: "you (my god) have called me to account(?) in a harsh territory," and CAD S 244: "you have...-ed me in a terrain of hunger, you have made water and pasture rare for me in a region of thirst." To my mind, both translations take a wrong approach, since clearly the personal god is depicted as a savior, not one "who calls to account," or makes water and pasture "rare." (11) The land of the dead is sterile and dry, as told in the Neo-Assyrian "Bird Text" (Kwasman 2017-18: 206-7: 14 and 15 and commentary on 210).

      Text No. 2: MDP 18, 251 (Sb 21854) (12) Photo: Figs. 5-6

      Obv. 1. sa-ab-tu ur-ha i-la-ku ha-ar-ra-na

   2. Is-ni-ka-ra-ab u La-ga-ma-al i-la-ku ma-ah-riso

   3. [Su-si]-na-ak i-na su-ut-ti a-wa-tao i-qa-[??]abo[??]-[??]bio[??]

   4. [iz-za]-az a-na mu-se-ki-li-im-ma iz-za-q[a-ar]

      Rev. uninscribed

      1-2. They take the path, walking in the road. Isni-karab and La-gamal are walking before him.

      3-4. [Susi]nak is speaking in a dream, [stan]ding in front of the One-Who-Darkens and says:

      Commentary

   1. sabtu illaku: The verbal forms are not in the dual since they refer not only to the divine couple Isni-karab and La-gamal, but also to the dead person.

      Although the metaphorical use of urhu is found already in Old Babylonian, using this lemma in connection to death is, as far as known attestations go, post-OB. This too may point at a late OB date, if not later, for the composition of the SFT

      2: On Isni-karab and La-gamal, see Grillot-Susini (2001: 141-42), Tavernier (2013: 481-82), Basello 2013b: 2, and recently De Graef 2018: 124.

      ma-ah-ris?: Van der Stede's reading (2007: 96) is confirmed by collation. (13)

   3. ina sutti: Following Ebeling (1931: 21: "in der Grube"), Tavernier (2013: 476-78) argues that suttu here means a pit, based on a single equation of suttu with hastu in Malku = Sarru. (14) The same stance is found in Hinz (1976-1980: 118), who refers to Insusinak, in our text, as "der in der Gruft seinen Spruch kundet." This suggestion should be rejected, (15) and I join CAD M/II 268, CAD S/III 406, Tsukimoto (1985: 17), Metzler (2002: 586), and Van der Stede (2007: 99) in taking suttu in its common meaning, "dream." (16) A parallel from the "Underworld Vision of an Assyrian Prince," "Ereskigal appeared in a dream (in sutti) in the middle of the night and said to him... ," (17) leaves no doubt that suttu in the SFT means a dream, not a pit. (More on this below in [section]IIID.)

   4. mu-se-KI-li-im: The opinions regarding this form vary considerably. In his editio princeps, Scheil (1916: 170 n. 6) analyzed this form as ppl. of akalum-S, "celui qui procure la nourriture." Ebeling (1931: 20-21), followed by Leibovici (1984: 41-42), Steve and Gasche (1996: 334 and passim), Tavernier (2013: 476-77 and passim), took it as museqqilum: ppl. of saqalum-D. A third option is found in CAD M/II, 263, (18) Tsukimoto (1985: 17), and Van der Stede (2007: 98-100), (19) who parsed it as musekilum: ppl. of ekelum-S. (20) Finally, in principle, it is not impossible to parse this form as from sukkulum, "to wipe, rub, polish" (CAD S/III 219). (21)

      In fact, only the third option is correct, for the following reasons: a) The vowel coloring a>e before i in the next syllable, which occasionally takes place in D- and S-stems, happens only from the Middle Babylonian period onwards (and even then, only sporadically). (22) The expected ppl. of saqalum-D is therefore musaqqilum, not museqqilum, as the name of the astral group "balance," musaqqiltum (CAD M/II 260a), proves. For the same reason Scheil's suggestion that this form be read as akdlum-S must be rejected (as also sukkulum). b) The D-stem of saqalum is attested virtually only in Old Assyrian...