Reading akkadian PRayeRs & Hymns An Introduction

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READING AKKADIAN PRAYERS AND HYMNS: AN INTRODUCTION
20. [ikrib erēni ina upun]ti zuqqupi (or sukkupi), “an ikribu-prayer that accompanies
the setting up(?) 180 of cedar in flour.”
25. [ikrib nignakka] pēnta mullî-ma kunni, “an ikribu-prayer that accompanies the
filling of a censor with charcoal and setting (it) out.”
31. [ikrib p]uḫādi ḫuppi, “an ikribu-prayer that accompanies the purifying of the
lamb.”
The fact that these prayers are to be recited sequentially within a broader ritual
is demonstrated by another ikribu-text that preserves ritual instructions prescribing
a series of recitations of ikribu-prayers and their associated ritual actions, all
of which precisely match the sequence above (see BBR, nos. 75–78: 22–29). 181
Ikribu-prayers typically begin with the invocation of Shamash and Adad, the
gods of extispicy, though other deities could be invoked, too (e.g., Ninurta as the
star Sirius, 182 Ishtar of Nineveh, and Sin). The wording of the invocation of
Shamash and Adad is almost always the same: Šamaš bēl dīnim u Adad bēl bīri, “O
Shamash, lord of judgment, Adad, lord of divination.” 183 The middle section of
the prayers contains statements and petitions appropriate to whatever ritual
actions are being prescribed. The most important theme in this section is acceptance
of the diviner’s ritual actions. The prayers do not end with praise as many
of the prayers discussed so far. Rather, they tend to conclude with very formulaic
petitionary phrases that lay emphasis on the central concern of the ritual as
a whole. For example, YOS 11 23, a long OB text preserving a number of ikribuprayers,
preserves the following concluding formula in several brief prayers near
the tablet’s end: ina imitti puḫādim annîm kittam u šumēl puḫādim annîm kittam
šuknān, “in the right of this lamb (place) truth, and the left of this lamb place
truth” (see lines 137, 140, 142). Similarly, the first millennium ikribu-prayers
conclude—when a conclusion is preserved—with the following formula: Šamaš u
Adad izizzānim-ma ina qibītīya nīš qātīya ina mimma mala eppušu tamīt akarrabu
kitta libši, “O Shamash and Adad, stand here that in my speaking, the lifting of
my hands, whatever I do, the query that I pray there may be truth!” This final
petition for the gods to place truth (kittu), an idea that arises quite frequently in
180
The meaning of zuqqupu or sukkupu is uncertain (see CAD Z, 54).
181
The same five prayers, referenced by rubric only (the text is not given), appear in the same
order in Zimmern, BBR, no. 96: 6–10.
182
For a new edition of the Ninurta as Sirius prayer, see now Werner R. Mayer, “Das Gebet des
Eingeweideschauers an Ninurta,” Or n.s. 74 (2005), 51–56 (reference courtesy of Christopher
Frechette).
183
There are exceptions to this invocation, however. See, e.g., YOS 11 23:1 (= HSM 7494),
edited by Starr, Rituals of the Diviner, 25–106, specifically 30, and AO 7032: 1, given in copy by
Jean Nougayrol, “Textes hépatoscopiques d’époque ancienne conserves au Musée du Louvre,” RA
38 (1941), 67–88, specifically 87, transliterated by Starr, Rituals of the Diviner, 122. Both of these
read: Šamaš bēl dīnim u Adad bēl ikribī u bīri, “O Shamash, lord of judgment, Adad, lord of extispicy-rituals
and divination.” See the same additional epithet throughout the ikribu-related OB
prayer of the diviner, beginning on page 85.