The Textual Criticism of Sumerian Literature.

• Author: Ludwig, Marie-Christine
• Position: Book review

The Textual Criticism of Sumerian Literature. By PAUL DELNERO. The Journal of Cuneiform Studies Supplemental Series, vol. 3. Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research, 2012. Pp. viii + 230. $89.95. [Distributed by ISD, Bristol, Conn.]

Paul Delnero's publication The Textual Criticism of Sumerian Literature, based on his doctoral dissertation Variation in Sumerian Literary Compositions: A Case Study Based on the Decad, University of Pennsylvania, 2006, contains a completely new approach to dealing with variants in Sumerian literary compositions of the Old Babylonian Period. Inspired by the text-critical methods developed by biblical and classical scholars (Emanuel Tov, Karl Lachmann, Paul Maas, Martin West, and Bernard Cerquiglini), he has created his own analytical procedures to evaluate systematically different types of textual variants occurring in duplicates of Sumerian literary compositions, thereby going beyond the mostly descriptive attempts of the past.

His overall aim is to introduce a method for providing reliable reconstructions of the extant Sumerian literary compositions, hypothetical "correct versions," in a text corpus where definite "original" versions have not survived and, given their roots in oral tradition, are unlikely to have ever existed.

Delnero bases his investigations on the texts of the so-called "Decad," a group of ten well-known compositions of the Old Babylonian school curriculum, mainly attested at Nippur and Ur, and he works from his own carefully prepared score transliterations. Six chapters (2-7) with detailed descriptions of different types of variants and discussions of their possible causes represent the core of this study.

Chapter 8 is dedicated exclusively to the exemplary analysis of two lines, [section]A 66 and InB 90. "Conclusions" are summarized in a final chapter, followed by a bibliography and indices.

Faced with the necessary task of selecting a manageable group of compositions for his project, Delnero chose the "Decad." These texts he regards as a fixed and well-defined group, mostly from Nippur (House F) and from the time before, during, and after the reign of Samsuiluna, with plenty of sources providing a large but finite number of variants suitable for quantitative analysis. Although the "Decad" seems to be a sensible choice, these compositions do not actually represent the fixed and well-defined group Delnero wishes to see in them; in fact such a group does not exist. All finds of...