Reading akkadian PRayeRs & Hymns An Introduction

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Among OB Texts:
READING AKKADIAN PRAYERS AND HYMNS: AN INTRODUCTION
A hymn to Nanaya (VAS 10 215) is composed in fourteen quatrains, as is
the hymn to Ishtar in this volume (see page 111). The Nanaya hymn is relatively
well-preserved, though still incomplete. 227
A hymn to Ishtar from the Louvre (AO 6035) was edited by Brigitte Groneberg
for the first time relatively recently. Although the tablet is not complete
and an English translation is not available (to my knowledge), Groneberg’s edition
is accompanied by an extensive commentary. 228
Another OB hymn that has regularly found its way into anthologies praises
the obscure god Papulegarra. 229 The tablet probably contains several hymns, but
breaks make precise demarcations between the hymns impossible. 230
Among SB Texts:
Although there are several examples that could be listed, two lengthy and
well-preserved hymns ought to be mentioned first: the Great Shamash Hymn and
the Gula Hymn of Bulluṭsa-rabi.
The Great Shamash Hymn, edited by W. G. Lambert in his book Babylonian
Wisdom Literature, 231 is a two-hundred-line hymn that celebrates a wide array of
the sun-god’s attributes. 232 The hymn begins with Shamash’s role as the universal
illuminator of darkness, whose light reaches the innermost parts of everything,
and then continues on to mention various justice-related attributes of the deity:
investigation of cases, protection of travelers and other innocents, enforcement
227 See W. von Soden, “Ein Hymnus an Nanâ für Samsuiluna von Babylon,” ZA 44 (1938), 30–44
for an edition. Foster, 89–92, Seux, 42–45, von Soden 237–39, and Hecker, TUAT II/5, 724–26
offer translations.
228 See Brigitte R. M. Groneberg, Lob der Ištar: Gebet und Ritual an die altbabylonsiche Venusgöttin
(Cuneiform Monographs 8; Groningen: Styx, 1997), 3–54 for an edition, translation, and
commentary (with plates I–XXVI). The Agushaya Poem, also called Ishtar and Ṣaltu (ṣaltu means
“strife” in Akk.), recounts a chapter in Ishtar’s mythology, but it contains a significant hymnic
element. See Groneberg, Lob der Ištar, 55–93 for an edition, translation, and commentary. See
Foster, 96–106 and Hecker, TUAT II/5, 731–40 for translations.
229 See M. Krebernik, “Pap(a)-ule-ĝara,” RlA 10 (2003–2005), 329–30, who draws on the hymn
just mentioned for most of what the article says about this god.
230 See Th. G. Pinches, “Hymns to Pap-due-garra,” JRAS Centenary Supplement (1924), 63–86
with plates VI–IX for an edition. Foster, 93–94, Seux, 46–50, and Hecker, TUAT II/5, 728–31
have translated the text.
231 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1960; repr., Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1996), 121–38 (text), 318–
23 (notes), and 346 (addendum), with plates 33–36, 73. See A. R. George and F. N. H. Al-Rawi,
“Tablets from the Sippar Library. VII. Three Wisdom Texts,” Iraq 60 (1998), 187–206 for a recent
addition. See also G. R. Castellino, “The Šamaš Hymn: A Note on Its Structure,” in Kramer
Anniversary Volume: Cuneiform Studies in Honor of Samuel Noah Kramer (ed. B. L. Eichler; AOAT
25; Kevelaer: Butzon & Bercker / Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1976), 71–74.
232 The content of the hymn (“practical advice on living”) led Lambert to include it among his
collection of “wisdom” texts (Babylonian Wisdom Literature, 5). See page 6 above for the potential
hortatory purpose of prayers and hymns among human listeners.