Sumerian Hymns E-Book

Frederick Augustus Vanderburgh

• Herausgeber: Frederick Augustus Vanderburgh
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

The gods honored in the hymns treated in the following Thesis are Bêl, Sin (Nannar), Adad (Ramman) and Tammuz, all deities of the old Babylonian pantheon, representing different phases of personality and force, conceived of as incorporated in nature and as affecting the destinies of men. These gods are severally designated in the hymns as follows:in Tablet 13963, Rev. 1, “O Bêl of the mountains;”in Tablet 13930, Obv. 2, “O father Nannar;”in Tablet 29631, Obv. 10, “O Ramman, king of heaven”; andin Tablet 29628, Obv. 3, “The lord Tammuz” (CT. XV, 10, 15, 16, 17 and 19).The attributes and deeds belonging to these divinities are adduced from a wide range of literature, beginning with the royal inscriptions of the pre-dynastic periods and ending with the inscriptions of the monarchs of the later Babylonian empire. In fact, the building inscriptions of the Babylonians, the war inscriptions of the Assyrians, the legendary literature, the incantations, as well as the religious collections, particularly the hymns, afford us many descriptions, of greater or less length, of all the Babylonian gods.

Leseprobe

Frederick Augustus Vanderburgh

Sumerian Hymns

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Table of contents

Preface

List of Abbreviations

Introduction

Chapter I Tablet 13963, Plate 10, Hymn to Bel

Chapter II Tablet 13930, Plates 16 and 17, Hymn to Sin

Chapter III Tablet 29631, Plates 15 and 16, Hymn To Adad

Chapter IV Tablet 29628, Plate 19, Hymn to Tammuz

Footnotes

Preface

Vol. XV. of the “Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum, printed by order of the Trustees”, was published in 1902. Plates 7-30 of this valuable volume contain hymns addressed to Bêl, Nergal, Adad, Sin, Tammuz, Bau and Ningirgilu. Of these, besides the translations given in the present work, the following have been translated and commented on; viz., J. Dyneley Prince, Jour. Amer. Or. Soc., xxviii, pp. 168-182, a hymn to Nergal (Pl. 14); and a hymn to Sin (also rendered and explained in this thesis) by E. Guthrie Perry, in Hymnen und Gebete an Sin (Pl. 17). In press at present are also translations by J. D. Prince, a hymn to Bau, Vol. XV. Pl. 22 in the Harper Memorial Volume (Chicago); and, by the same author, a hymn to Ningirgilu, Vol. XV. Pl. 23, in the Paul Haupt Collection to appear in 1908.All these hymns in Plates 7-30 stand by themselves as distinct from anything hitherto published. They are unilingual, a fact indicating that they are very ancient and furthermore adding materially to the difficulty of their translation. This Thesis ventures a transliteration, translation and commentary of four of the hymns which are peculiarly difficult owing to their unilingual Non-Semitic character. Of the history of the tablets in question, which are all in the Old Babylonian character, we have no information. They must tell their own story.The writer of this Thesis wishes to acknowledge with much appreciation the aid given him by Dr. John Dyneley Prince, Professor of Semitic Languages in Columbia University, in the preparation of this work.F. A. Vanderburgh

List of Abbreviations

AL:Assyrische Lesestücke, von Friedrich Delitzsch. Vierte durchaus neu bearbeitete Auflage.ASK:Akkadische and Sumerische Keilschrifttexte, von Paul Haupt.BN:Das Babylonische Nimrodepos, von Paul Haupt.Br:A Classified List of Cuneiform Ideograms, Compiled by Rudolph E. Brünnow.CDAL.:A Concise Dictionary of the Assyrian Language, by William Muss-Arnolt.CḤ:The Code of Ḥammurabi, King of Babylon, by Robert Francis Harper.Cler:Collection de Clercq. Catalogue. Antiquités Assyriennes.CT:Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum.Déc:Découvertes en Chaldée, par Ernest de Sarzec.EBH:Early Babylonian History, by Hugo Radau.EBL:Explorations in Bible Lands during the 19th Century, by H. V. Hilprecht.HBA:A History of Babylonia and Assyria, by R. W. Rogers.HW:Assyrisches Handwörterbuch, von Friedrich Delitzsch.IG:The Great Cylinder Inscriptions A and B of Gudea, by Ira Maurice Price.JA:Journal Asiatique.JRAS:The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.MSL:Materials for a Sumerian Lexicon, by John Dyneley Prince.N:Nippur, or Explorations and Adventures on the Euphrates, by John Punnett Peters.OBI:Old Babylonian Inscriptions, chiefly from Nippur. By H. V. Hilprecht.OBTR:Old Babylonian Temple Records, by Robert Julius Lau.R:Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, prepared by Sir Henry Rawlinson.RAAO:Revue d’Assyriologie et d’Archéologie Orientale.RBA:Die Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens, von Morris Jastrow, Jr.RSA:Recueil de Signes Archaiques de l’Écriture Cunéiforme, par V. Scheil.SSD:Les Signes Sumériens derivés, par Paul Toscanne.SSO:A Sketch of Semitic Origins, by George Aaron Barton.SVA:Die Sumerischen Verbal-Afformative nach den ältesten Keilinschriften, von Vincent Brummer.TC:Tableau Comparé des Écritures Babylonienne et Assyrienne Archaiques et Modernes, par A. Amiaud et L. Mechineau.TEA:Der Tontafelfund von El Amarna, herausgegeben von Hugo Winckler.TR:Travels and Researches in Chaldaea and Susiana, by Wm. K. Loftus.

Introduction

The gods honored in the hymns treated in the following Thesis are Bêl, Sin (Nannar), Adad (Ramman) and Tammuz, all deities of the old Babylonian pantheon, representing different phases of personality and force, conceived of as incorporated in nature and as affecting the destinies of men. These gods are severally designated in the hymns as follows:in Tablet 13963, Rev. 1, “O Bêl of the mountains;”in Tablet 13930, Obv. 2, “O father Nannar;”in Tablet 29631, Obv. 10, “O Ramman, king of heaven”; andin Tablet 29628, Obv. 3, “The lord Tammuz” (CT. XV, 10, 15, 16, 17 and 19).The attributes and deeds belonging to these divinities are adduced from a wide range of literature, beginning with the royal inscriptions of the pre-dynastic periods and ending with the inscriptions of the monarchs of the later Babylonian empire. In fact, the building inscriptions of the Babylonians, the war inscriptions of the Assyrians, the legendary literature, the incantations, as well as the religious collections, particularly the hymns, afford us many descriptions, of greater or less length, of all the Babylonian gods.To aid the student in understanding better the character of the four gods whose hymns have been translated in the following Thesis, I here give a brief descriptive sketch of each of the deities whose praises were sung in the documents which I have chosen to render. “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ ‘ “ “ “ “ “