Sumerian Liturgies E-Book

Stephen Langdon

• Herausgeber: Stephen Langdon
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Undoubtedly the group of texts which have the most human interest and greatest literary value is the epical group, designated in Sumerian by the rubric zag-sal. This literary term was employed by the Sumerian scribes to designate a composition as didactic and theological. Religious texts of such kind are generally composed in an easy and graceful style and, although somewhat influenced by liturgical mannerisms, may be readily distinguished from the hymns and psalms sung in the temples to musical accompaniment. The zagsal compositions are mythological and theological treatises concerning the deeds and characters of the great gods. The most important didactic hymns of the Nippur collection and in fact the most important religious texts in early Sumerian literature are two six column tablets, one (very incomplete) on the Creation and the Flood published by Dr. Poebel, and one (all but complete) on Paradise and the Fall of Man.

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Table of contents

Introduction.

Lamentation of Ishme-Dagan Over Nippur. 13856 (No. 1)

Liturgical Hymn to Innini. 7847 (No. 3 and duplicate No. 4)

Lamentation to Innini on the Sorrows of Erech. 13859 (Poebel No. 26)

Liturgical Hymn to Sin. 8097 (No. 7)

Lamentation on the Destruction of Ur. 7080 (No. 11)

Liturgical Hymns of the Tammuz Cult. 3656 (Myhrman No. 5)

Liturgy of the Cult of Kes (Nippur Fragments and Ashmolean Prism.)

Ashmolean Prism, Col. II

Babylonian Cult Symbols. 6060 (No. 12)

Footnotes

Introduction.

With the publication of the texts included in this the last part of volume X, Sumerian Liturgical and Epical Texts, the writer arrives at a definite stage in the interpretation of the religious material in the Nippur collection. Having been privileged to examine the collection in Philadelphia as well as that in Constantinople, I write with a sense of responsibility in giving to the public a brief statement concerning what the temple library of ancient Nippur really contained. Omitting the branches pertaining to history, law, grammar and mathematics, the following résumé is limited to those tablets which, because of their bearing upon the history of religion, especially upon the origins of Hebrew religion, have attracted the attention of the public on two continents to the collections of the University Museum.Undoubtedly the group of texts which have the most human interest and greatest literary value is the epical group, designated in Sumerian by the rubric zag-sal.1 This literary term was employed by the Sumerian scribes to designate a composition as didactic and theological. Religious texts of such kind are generally composed in an easy and graceful style and, although somewhat influenced by liturgical mannerisms, may be readily distinguished from the hymns and psalms sung in the temples to musical accompaniment. The zagsal [pg 234] compositions2 are mythological and theological treatises concerning the deeds and characters of the great gods. The most important didactic hymns of the Nippur collection and in fact the most important religious texts in early Sumerian literature are two six column tablets, one (very incomplete) on the Creation and the Flood published by Dr. Poebel, and one (all but complete) on Paradise and the Fall of Man. Next in importance is a large six column tablet containing a mythological and didactic hymn on the characteristics of the virgin mother goddess.3 A long mythological hymn in four columns4 on the cohabitation of the earth god Enlil and the mother goddess Ninlil and an equally long but more literary hymn to the virgin goddess Innini5 are good examples of this group of tablets in the Nippur collection.6 One of the most interesting examples of didactic composition is a hymn to the deified king Dungi of Ur. By accident both the Philadelphia and the Constantinople collections possess copies of this remarkable poem and the entire text has been reconstructed by the writer in a previous publication.7 1 have already signaled the unique importance of this extraordinary hymn to the god-man Dungi in which he is described as the divinely born king who was sent by the gods [pg 235] to restore the lost paradise.8 The poem mentions the flood which, according to the Epic of Paradise, terminated by divine punishment the Utopian age. The same mythological belief underlies the hymn to Dungi. Paradise had been lost and this god-man was sent to restore the golden age. There is a direct connection between this messianic hymn to Dungi and the remarkable Epic of Paradise. All other known hymns to deified kings are liturgical compositions and have the rubrics which characterize them as songs sung in public services. But the didactic hymn to Dungi has the rubric [dDungi] zag-sal, “O praise Dungi.” It would be difficult to claim more conclusive evidence than this for the correctness of our interpretation of the group of zagsal literature and of the entire mythological and theological exegesis propounded in the edition of the Epic of Paradise, edited in part one of this volume.9When our studies shall have reached the stage which renders appropriate the collection of these texts into a special corpus they will receive their due valuation in the history of religion. That they are of prime importance is universally accepted.From the point of view of the history of religion I would assign the liturgical texts to the second group in order of importance. Surprisingly few fragments from the long canonical daily prayer services have been found. In fact, about all of the perfected liturgies such as we know the Sumerian temples to have possessed belong to the cults of deified kings. In the [pg 236] entire religious literature of Nippur, not one approximately complete canonical prayer service has survived. Only fragments bear witness to their existence in the public song services of the great temples in Nippur. A small tablet10 published in part two of this volume carries a few lines of the titular or theological litany of a canonical or musically completed prayer book as they finally emerged from the liturgical schools throughout Sumer. Long liturgical services were evolved in the temples at Nippur as we know from a few fragments of large five column tablets.11 The completed composite liturgies or canonical breviaries as they finally received form throughout Sumer in the Isin period were made by selecting old songs of lament and praise and re-editing them so as to develop theological ideas. Characteristic of these final song services is the titular litany as the penultimate song and a final song as an intercession. A considerable number of such perfected services exist in the Berlin collection. These were obtained apparently from Sippar.12 The writer has made special efforts to reconstruct the Sumerian canonical series as they existed in the age of Isin and the first Babylonian dynasty. On the basis of tablets not excavated at Nippur but belonging partly to the University Museum and partly to the Berlin collection the writer restored the greater part of an Enlil liturgy in part 2, pp. 155-167.13 In the present and final part of this volume another Enlil liturgy has been largely reconstructed on pages 290-306.14 From these two partially reconstructed song services the reader will obtain an [pg 237] approximate idea of the elaborate liturgical worship of the late Sumerian period. These were adopted by the Babylonians and Assyrians as canonical and were employed in interlinear editions by these Semitic peoples. Naturally the liturgical remains of the Babylonian and Assyrian breviaries are much more numerous and on the basis of these the writer was able in previous volumes to identify and reconstruct a large number of the Sumerian canonical musical services. But a large measure of success has not yet attended his efforts to reconstruct the original unilingual liturgies commonly written on one huge tablet of ten columns. Obviously the priestly schools of the great religious center at Nippur possessed these perfected prayer books but their great size was fatal to their preservation. It must be admitted that the Nippur collection has contributed almost nothing from the great canonical Sumerian liturgies which surely existed there.Much better is the state of preservation of the precanonical liturgies, or long song services constructed by simply joining a series of kišubs or songs of prostration. These kišub liturgies are the basis of the more intricate canonical liturgies and in this aspect the Nippur collection surpasses in value all others. Canonical and perfected breviaries may be termed liturgical compositions and the precanonical breviaries may be described as liturgical compilations, if we employ “composition” and “compilation” in their exact Latin sense. Since Sumerian song services of the earlier type, that is liturgical compilations, are more extensively represented in the Nippur temple library than in any other, this is an appropriate place to give an exact description of this form of prayer service which preceded and prepared the way to the greatest system of musical ritual in any ancient religion. If we may judge from the literary remains of [pg 238] Nippur now in the University Museum, the priestly schools of temple music in that famous city were extremely conservative about abandoning the ancient liturgical compilations. These daily song services, all of sorrowful sentiment and invariably emphasizing humility and human suffering, are constructed by simply compiling into one breviary a number of ancient songs, selected in such manner that all are addressed to one deity. In this manner arose intricate choral compilations of length suitable to a daily prayer, each addressed to a great god. Hence we have in the temple libraries throughout Sumer and Babylonia liturgies to each of the great gods. Even in the less elaborate kišub compilations there is in many cases revealed a tendency to recast and arrange the collection of songs upon deeper principles. A tendency to include in all services a song to the wrathful word of the gods and a song to the sorrowful earth mother is seen even in the Nippurian breviaries of the precanonical type. I need not dilate here upon the great influence which these principles exercised upon the beliefs and formal worship of Assyria and Babylonia, upon the late Jewish Church and upon Christianity. The personified word of god and the worship of the great mater dolorosa, or the virgin goddess, are ancient Sumerian creations whose influence has been effective in all lands.As examples of the liturgical compilation texts the reader is referred especially to the following tablets. On pages 290-292 the writer has described the important compiled liturgy found by Charles Virolleaud.15 It is an excellent example of a Nippurian musical prayer service. It contained eleven kišubs, or prayers, and they are recast in such manner that the whole set forth one idea which progresses to the end. The liturgy has in fact almost reached the stage of a composition. And in these same pages [pg 239] the reader will see how this service finally resulted in a canonical liturgy, for the completed product has been recovered. On pages 309-310 will be found a fragment, part of an ancient liturgy to Enlil of the compiled type. Here again we are able to produce at least half of the great liturgy into which the old service issued. In the preceding part of this volume, pages 184-187, is given the first song of a similar liturgy addressed to the mother goddess.Undoubtedly the most important liturgical tablet which pertains to the ordinary cults in the Nippur collection is discussed on pages 279-285. The breviary, which probably belongs to the cult of the moon-god, derives importance from its great length, its theological ideas, especially the mention of the messengers which attend the Logos or Word of Enlil, and its musical principles. Here each song has an antiphon which is unusual in precanonical prayer books of the ordinary cults.16 Students of the history of liturgies will be also particularly interested in the unique breviary compiled from eight songs of prostration, a lamentation for the ancient city of Keš with theological references. This song service was popular at Nippur, for remains of at least two copies have been found in the collection. A translation is given on pages 311-323.The oldest public prayer services consisted of only one psalm or song. A good number of these ancient psalms are known from other collections, especially from those of the British Museum. In view of the conservative attitude of the liturgists at Nippur it is indeed surprising that so few of the old temple songs have survived as they were originally employed; ancient single song liturgies in this collection are rare. The following [pg 240] list contains all the notable psalms of this kind. Radau, Miscellaneous Sumerian Texts No. 317 is a lamentation of the mother goddess and her appeal to Enlil on behalf of various cities which had been visited by wars and other afflictions. Radau, ibid., No. 16 has the rubric ki-šu18 sìr-gal dEnlil, “A prayer of prostration, a great song unto Enlil.” A psalm of the weeping mother goddess similar in construction to Radau No. 3 is edited on pages 260-264 of this volume.19 No. 7 of this part, edited on pages 276-279, is an excellent illustration of the methods employed in developing the old single song psalms into compiled liturgies. Here we have a short song service to the moon god constructed by putting together two ancient psalms. The rubrics designate them as sagar melodies,20 or choral songs, and adds that it is sung to the lyre.21 An especially fine psalm of a liturgical character was translated on pages 115-117. It is likewise a lament to the sorrowful mother goddess.The student of Sumero-Babylonian religion will not fail to comment upon one remarkable lacuna in the religious literature of every Sumerian city which has been excavated. Prayers of the private cults are almost entirely nonexistent. Later Babylonian religion is rich in penitential psalms written in Sumerian for use in private devotions. These are known by the rubric eršagģunga, or prayers to appease the heart. Only one has been found in the Nippur collection,22 and none at all have been recovered elsewhere. Seals of Sumerians showing them in [pg 241] the act of saying their private prayers abound from the earliest period. Most of these seals represent the worshipper saluting a deity with a kiss thrown with the hand. The attitude was described as šu-illa, or “Lifting of the Hand.” Semitic prayers of the lifting of the hand abound in the religion of Babylonia and Assyria. Here they are prayers employed in the incantation ritual. We know from the great catalogue of Sumerian liturgical literature compiled by the Assyrians that the Sumerians had a large number of prayers of the lifting of the hand.23 In Sumerian religion these were apparently purely private prayers unconnected with the rituals of atonement. At any rate the Nippur collections in Constantinople and Philadelphia contain a large number of incantation services for the atonement of sinners and the afflicted. These resemble and are the originals of the Assyrian incantation texts of the type utukku limnuti, and contain no prayers either by priest (kišub in later terminology is the rubric of priest's prayers in incantations) or by penitent (šu-il-la's). The absence of prayers of private devotion in the temple library of Nippur is absolutely inexplicable. Does it mean that the Sumerians were so deficient in providing for the religious cure of the individual? Their emphasis of the social solidarity of religion is truly in remarkable contrast to the religious individualism of the Semite. But the Sumerian historical inscriptions often contain remarkable prayers of individuals. The seals emphasize the act of private devotion. The catalogue of their prayers states that they possessed a good literature for private devotions. When one considers the evidence which induces to assume that they possessed such a literature, its total absence in every Sumerian collection is an enigma which the writer fails to explain.[pg 242]In the introduction to part two of this volume24 the writer has emphasized the peculiarly rich collection of tablets in this collection pertaining to the cults of deified kings. In the present part is published a most important tablet of that class. This liturgy of the compiled type in six kišubs sung in the cult of the god-man Ishme-Dagan, fourth king of the Isin dynasty, is unique in the published literature of Sumer. Its musical intricacy and theological importance have been duly defined on pages 245-247. With the publication of these texts the important song services of the cults of deified kings are exhausted. In addition to the texts of this class translated or noted in part two, I call attention to the very long text concerning Dungi, king of Ur, published by Barton, Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions No. 3. In that extremely long poem in six columns of about 360 lines25 there are no rubrics, which shows at once that it is not a cult song service. Moreover, Dungi had not been deified when the poem was written. It is really an historical poem to this king whose deification had at any rate not yet been recognized at Nippur. It belongs in reality to the same class of literature as the historical poem on his father Ur-Engur, translated on pages 126-136.The only Sumerian cult songs to deified kings not in the Nippur collection have now been translated by the writer and made accessible for wider study. One hymn to Ur-Engur which proves that he had been canonized at his capitol in Ur will be found in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Literature, 1918, 45-50. The twelfth song of a liturgy to Ishme-Dagan published by Zimmern from the Berlin collection is translated on pages 52-56 of the same article. Finally a long liturgy to [pg 243] Libit-Ishtar, son of Ishme-Dagan, likewise in Berlin, has been translated there on pages 69-79.26 Since the Berlin texts probably came from Sippar their existence in that cult is important. For they prove not only the practice of cult worship of deified kings in that city, but the domination of Isin over this north Semitic city is thus documented for a period as late as Libit-Ishtar.Nearly all the existing prayer services in the cults of the deified kings of Ur and Isin are now published and translated. The student will observe that they are all of the compiled type but that there is in most cases much musical arrangement and striving for combined effect. A few, and especially the Ishme-Dagan liturgy published as No. 1 of this part, reveal theological speculation and an effort to give the institution of god-man worship its proper place in their religion. The hymns of these cults comparatively so richly represented in this volume will be among the most interesting groups of religious texts supplied by the excavations at Nippur.27

Lamentation of Ishme-Dagan Over Nippur. 13856 (No. 1)

The liturgical character of this tablet is unique among all the numerous choral compositions of the Isin period. It is a large two column tablet containing six long kišub melodies. Liturgies of such kind, compiled by joining a series of kišubs, or melodies, attended by prostrations, represent an advanced stage in the evolution of these compositions in that the sections are not mechanically joined together by selecting older melodies without much regard for their connection, but as a whole they are apparently original compositions so arranged that they develop a motif from the beginning to the end of the liturgy. Choral services composed of