Reading akkadian PRayeRs & Hymns An Introduction

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READING AKKADIAN PRAYERS AND HYMNS: AN INTRODUCTION
Text. Edition: Scurlock. “Magical Means of Dealing with Ghosts,” 351–54. i
Translations: Foster, 658–59. Seux, 432–33. Study: Walter Farber. Beschwörungsrituale
an Ištar und Dumuzi: Attī Ištar ša Ḫarmaša Dumuzi. Veröffentlichungen
der Orientalischen Kommission 30. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag GMBH,
1977, 117–18, 150–53.
i The text is not treated in her published revision of the dissertation, Magico-Medical Means of
Treating Ghost-Induced Illnesses. A revised edition of the text, incorporating new material, will be
published in Tzvi Abusch and Daniel Schwemer, Corpus of Mesopotamian Anti-witchcraft Rituals,
Volume 2 (Ancient Magic and Divination; Leiden: Brill, forthcoming).
1. at-tu-nu GIDIM kim-ti-ia ba-nu-ú qab-[ra]
2. AD.MU AD AD.MU AMA.MU AMA AMA.MU ŠEŠ.MU NIN.MU
3. kim-ti-ia ni-šu-ti-ia u sa-la-ti-ia
Line 1: One of the witnesses to the prayer, LKA 89, preserves traces of the word ÉN =
šiptu, “ritual wording, incantation,” which indicates to the user of the tablet that a prayer
or incantation follows. GIDIM = eṭemmu, “ghost of a dead person.” Given the 2mp pronoun
attunu, “you,” at the head of the line in apposition to the vocative eṭemmu, the latter is
certainly to be rendered as a collective, thus “ghosts.” Notice also the consonance between
attunu and eṭem (the bound form of eṭemmu). Kimtu, “family.” One might consider rendering
eṭem kimtīya as “my ancestral family” (see Abusch, “Etemmu,” 309). Bānû, literally
“builder,” but in the context of kinship is better rendered “begetter, progenitor” (also collective).
Qabru, “grave.” If the restoration at the end of the line is correct, the case ending
should be understood as an adverbial accusative of place. Line 1 begins a long anacoluthon,
recognized as such only after the appearance of the words kispa aksipkunūši in line 4.
attunu eṭem kimtīya bānû qabra
Line 2: AD = abu, “father.” MU = 1cs pronominal suffix, “my.” AMA = ummu,
“mother.” ŠEŠ = aḫu, “brother.” NIN = aḫātu, “sister.” Specific relatives are listed, thereby
further defining the ghosts addressed by the prayer. We should probably assume that the
bound form of the word for ghost, eṭem, has been elided from the head of the line but in
fact governs all of the nouns. The nouns should therefore be taken as genitives (see the
next line, where the oblique case form of the 1cs pronominal suffix is explicitly indicated).
The repetition of abi and ummi, the similar sounding aḫi and aḫāti, and the six instances of
the oblique 1cs pronominal suffix give the line a sing-song sound.
(eṭem) abīya abi abīya ummīya ummi ummīya aḫīya aḫātīya
Line 3: Nišūtu, “kin, relatives.” Salātu, “family, clan.” Again, eṭem has been elided
from the head of the line but governs the nouns in the genitive. The prayer reverts back to
collective kinship terms to designate the ghosts addressed. Notice how the 1cs pronominal
suffixes on each feminine noun affect the phonological rhythm of the line.
(eṭem) kimtīya nišūtīya salātīya