Reading akkadian PRayeRs & Hymns An Introduction

262
READING AKKADIAN PRAYERS AND HYMNS: AN INTRODUCTION
9. MUL ta-nu-qa-a-ti muš-tam-ḫi-ṣa-at ŠEŠ.MEŠ mit-gu-ru-ti
10. mut-ta-ad-di-na-at it-ba-ru
11. it-bur-ti be-let tu-šá-ri mut-tak-ki-pat šá-di-ia
12. d gu-še-e-a šá tu-qu-un-ta ḫal-pat la-bi-šat ḫur-ba-šá
13. gam-ra-a-ti šip-ṭa u EŠ.BAR ur-ti KI.TIM u šá-ma-mi
14. suk-ku eš-re-e-ti né-me-da u BÁRA.MEŠ ú-paq-qu ka-a-ši
Line 9: MUL = kakkabu, “star.” Tanūqātu, “battle cry.” Šutamḫuṣu (Št lex. of maḫāṣu),
“to cause constant enmity” (see CAD M/1, 84). ŠEŠ = aḫu, “brother.” Mitguru, “harmonious.”
kakkab tanūqāti muštamḫiṣat aḫḫī mitgurūti
Line 10: Itaddunu (Gtn of nadānu), “to give constantly, repeatedly.” Itbāru, “friend,
colleague.” Compared to the rest of the text, this line is half as long as a normal line. But
on the tablet BM 26187, it is written as a whole line. Compare line 92, where the second
part of the line is erased.
muttaddinat itbāru
Line 11: Itburtu is a hapax legomenon. AHw, 263 (etpuru) derives it from apāru and
translates “mit Tiara geschmückt” (“adorned with a Tiara”), compare CDA, 136 (itpuru).
Zgoll, 62 explains the form as a Gt verbal adjective of abāru / ubburu, characterizing Ishtar’s
strength; see CAD I/J, 295. The same meaning is assumed in the translations of Foster
(“Strong (?) one,” 601) and Stephens (“O mighty one,” 384). Tūšaru (tūšāru), “battlefield,
pitched battle.” Muttakkipu, “goring, knocking over” (based on the Gtn participle of nakāpu).
Zgoll, 62 identifies šá-di-ia as a late Babylonian writing for šadî, “mountains” (gen.).
itburti bēlet tūšari muttakkipat šadî
Line 12: Gušea is an alternative name for Ishtar, related to the poem of Agushaya and
Ishtar’s function as goddess of war (see Zgoll, 62). Ḫalāpu, “to slip into,” but in the predicative
(as here, 3fs), “clad in.” Labāšu, “to clothe oneself”; predicative, “clothed with.”
Ḫurbāšu, “terror, frost.”
Gušea ša tuqunta ḫalpat labišat ḫurbāša
Line 13: Gamāru, “to bring to conclusion, to settle.” Šipṭu, “judgment, verdict,” is
mentioned again in line 73 as something the supplicant has witnessed and is a source of
his complaints. EŠ.BAR = purussû, “decision.” Ûrtu ([w]uʾʾurtu), “command, commission.”
KI.TIM = erṣetu, compare line 5, also concerning the syllabical writing of šamāmū,
“heaven,” which can be found twice in this text, always at the end of the line (lines 13,
63).
gamrāti šipṭa u purussâ ûrtī erṣeti u šamāmī
Line 14: Sukku, “shrine, chapel.” Ešertu, “shrine, chapel.” Nēmedu, “base,” as a designation
of a sanctury. BÁRA = parakku, “cult dais, sanctuary.” Line 14 is one of the most