Reading akkadian PRayeRs & Hymns An Introduction

404
READING AKKADIAN PRAYERS AND HYMNS: AN INTRODUCTION
the gods are bound, by oath, to obey his commands in the wake of the conflict
with Tiamat. 5 Later on the same tablet (but within the litany of Marduk’s fifty
acquired names), Anu also gives Marduk the name “Asalluḫi” (VI 147) as well as
two variants associated specifically with the Asalluḫi moniker, d nam-til-la and
d nam-ru. The two names do not seem to reflect any deity actively worshipped or
widely (or narrowly) recognized in the society of ancient Iraq. Rather, they appear
to be deified abstractions that reflect upon specific facets of Marduk-
Asalluḫi’s godhead. The ancient hermeneutics of name etymology in Akkadian
are beyond the scope of this introduction. Nonetheless, a few, brief comments
can be made.
The first of these variants, d nam-til-la, (VI 151) is grounded in the creation
myth: bēlum ša šiptīšu elletim uballiṭu ilī mītūti, “( d nam-til-la is) the lord who, by
his pure incantation, revived the dead gods” (VI 153). This mythic etiology links
Asalluḫi (i.e., Marduk in incantation, šiptu) with Marduk as the gods’ savior in
Enūma eliš (nam-til = balāṭu). 6 Nonetheless, the link that connects this deified
idea and the god Asalluḫi is unclear. The second variant, d nam-ru, (VI 155) is
explained in Enūma eliš as if it were the Akkadian word namru, “shining,” and by
extension, “pure”: ilu ellu mullilu alaktīni, “the pure god who purifies our ways”
(VI 156). 7 However, nam-ru can also be read nam-šub, a logographic writing of
šiptu! 8 In this case it is entirely clear why the abstract idea should be divinized
and associated with Asalluḫi.
In addition to this, both d nam-til-la and d nam-ru appear in the same order in
the god-lists. 9 There, the name d nam-ru is understood differently: Asarluḫi namru
: Marduk ša mēti, “Asalluḫi is Namru : Marduk of the dead.” The scribe who
contributed this explanation in the god list understood the name as Sumerian
and, perhaps, interpreted it as nam = Sumerian abstraction morpheme + šub =
miqittu, “fallen one” (corpse, etc.), creating a (artificial) Sumerian word nam-šub
= “fallenness,” i.e., death. While this answer to the name’s Akkadian explanation
in the god-list is admittedly speculative, it is supported by the fact that the
name before it is d nam-til-la, “life.” Such polarized epithets are appropriate descriptors
of Marduk as Asalluḫi who is in command of fate, as our prayer tells us
(lines 2–10)
5 Thus, compare lines 4–10 with Enūma eliš VI 102–104 .
6 Note also, that Marduk, as part his personal armament in his battle against Tiamat, holds an
incantation on his lips, ina šaptīšu tâ ukalla (IV 60). The terms šiptu and tû frequently occur in
parallel (see CAD T, 441 for references). See also our prayer here, line 9.
7 Foster, 475.
8 See CAD Š/3, 86b.
9 d Richard L. Litke, A Reconstruction of the Assyro-Babylonian God-Lists, AN : an-nu-um and AN :
anu ša amēli (Texts from the Babylonian Collection 3; New Haven: Yale Babylonian Collection,
1998), 89–90 (II 186 and 187).