Texts from Tell Haddad and Elsewhere

Author(s): F. N. H. Al-Rawi
Source: Iraq, Vol. 56 (1994), pp. 35-43
Published by: British Institute for the Study of Iraq
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4200383
Accessed: 13/02/2010 12:57

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=bisi.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

British Institute for the Study of Iraq is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Iraq.

http://www.jstor.org
 35

TEXTS FROM TELL HADDAD AND ELSEWHERE

By F. N. H. AL-RAWI

This article presents a number of short, but important, inscriptions found on objects excavated at
Tell Haddad and elsewhere.1 Texts nos. 1-6 are from Tell Haddad or the neighbouring site of Tell
al-Sib, no. 7 is from Sippar and nos. 8-10 are of unknown provenance.

1. Inscription of Arlm-Lim of M?-Turan. IM 124744; Haddad 577 (Figs. 1-2)

This inscription, written on a stone foundation tablet re-used as a door socket (overall dimensions
36 ? 22 ? 13*8 cm), was excavated at Tell Haddad, out of context near the Neo-Assyrian buildings
in Area 3, Level 1, but derives originally from the early Old Babylonian period. The text was made
available some years ago to the Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia Project of the University of
Toronto, in whose system it is catalogued as E4.16.1. A transliteration and translation has been
published by D. Frayne, Old Babylonian Period (RIME 4), p. 700.

2. Stone axe-head of Nergal. IM 95520; Haddad 581; ticket no. 3649 (Fig. 3)
This broken axe-head, excavated in the Neo-Assyrian temple at Tell Haddad, Area 3, Level 1,
measures 9 ? 6*4 ? 5 ? 1 ?7 cm. A photograph and description of the piece have appeared in La terra
tra i due fiumi: venti anni di archeologia italiana in Medio Oriente (Torino, 1985), p. 320, top right,
and p. 415, no. 211.2 According to the catalogue entry for this piece the axe-head is made of "bluish
marble" (marmo bluastro). The text itself, if correctly restored, identifies the stone as uqn?, a term
which is commonly translated "lapis lazuli" but may have been applied to a range of blue stones.
The axe blade is trapezoidal in shape and triangular in section, with rounded corners. The side
opposite the edge of the blade is broken at a pattern of three grooves, near the point where the shaft
of the handle would have been fitted. The two flat faces and the two edges of the blade are polished
smooth and bear an inscription of nine lines of cuneiform: eight on the upper surface and one on the
trailing edge. The inscription, which is in Neo-Assyrian monumental script, is not complete, for the
beginnings of the lines are lacking; evidently the inscription began before the grooved pattern, on
the mounting of the shaft, which is now broken away. As restored the text confirms the evidence of
Assurbanipal's bricks, that the building excavated is E-sa-hulla, the temple of Nergal at M?-Turna.3
In the following transliteration signs marked with an asterisk are read from the photograph or from
a paper squeeze made by the writer:

1 [ana dnergal] asar?d(sag) //?m(dingir.dingir) la a-dir ^kakki^nku?) s?-as*-me*

2 [. . . kas]-kas zt?m'(dingir.dingir) la g?mil?u) lemn?ti(hu\*)me
3 [a-sib ?.sa].h?l sa q?-reb UTUme-ttir-ni b?li(en) rabi(ga\) b?li(en)-sii

1 For the excavations at Tell

Haddad (OB M?-Turan, later Assurbanipal, F. Rashid, Sumer 37 (1981), p. 80 (Arabie
M?-Turna or M?-Turnat) see Iraq 43 (1981), pp. 177 f.; Na'il section); and manuscripts of Erra II, Al-Rawi and Black,
Hanoon, Sumer 40, pp. 70 f.; ?raq47 (1985), p. 220, and the Jraq 51 (1989), pp. 111-22: H 319 = IM 121299; EAEXYV,
bibliography given there (note also Sumer, ?ndex to Vols. 33- Al-Rawi and ?. R. George, AfO 38-9 (1991-2), p. 70f.: H
45, p. 30). For a general survey of the Sumerian literary 352 = IM 121332; and En?ma elisW, Al-Rawi and Black,
tablets found at the site, in OB levels of Areas I and II, and JCS forthcoming. Other tablets from the site have been the
the publication of the bilingual hemerologies H 77 and H 83, subject of the unpublished dissertations of Mustafa Akat,
an Akkadian medical text, H 170, and an Akkadian fable, H "The Old Babylonian tablets from Me-Turan (Tell Al-Sieb
unnumbered, see now A. Cavigneaux and F. N. H. Al-Rawi, and Tell Haddad)", University of Glasgow, 1983; and A. K.
Iraq 55 (1993), pp. 91-105. Other OB tablets include a tablet Mohammed, "Studies in unpublished cuneiform texts from
of laws, Al-Rawi, Sumer 38 (1982), pp. 117-20: H 116; an the Diyala region, Himrin basin", Baghdad University,
inventory of the jewellery of Adad, Al-Rawi and J. A. Black, 1985. The texts published here are presented by permission
Sumer 39 (1983), pp. 137-43: H 514; a perfect mathematical of the Iraqi Directorate of Antiquities and Heritage and the
tablet from Area II, Room 10, published by Al-Rawi and M. excavators. Thanks are due to A. R. George and W. G.
Roaf, Sumer 43 (1984), pp. 175-218: H 104; three fragments Lambert for help with the preparation of this article, and to
of the Sumerian Georgics (Cavigneaux, Aula Or 9 (1991), pp. the British School of Archaeology in Iraq for financial
37-46: H 110, H 139, H 178; and two manuscripts of assistance.
2 Note
GilgameS and the Bull of Heaven (Cavigneaux and Al- that the museum number given there is IM 95920.
3 See A. R.
Rawi, RA 87 (1993), pp. 97-129: H 144 and H 160). Texts George, House Most High, gazetteer entry
from the NA levels so far published are brick inscriptions of 1020.

IraqLVI(1994)
36 F. ?. H. AL-RAWI

^Pfl5${$f\

i?

ffCtff^

^H
s

tMmm^

& &>- mm

y$?l&*

t$

fr

>?^ ? "Uff

JE?

Fig. 1. No. 1: Inscription of Anm-Lim. Fig. 2. No. 1: Inscription of Anm-Lim.

Fig. 3. No. 2: Stone axe-head of Nergal. Fig. 4. No. 3: Prism fragment.

 TELL HADDAD 37

4 G1 . . . sakin(ga.r)l m]?f(kur) na-i-ri ?a-r?s(lu*.sag) msarru(20)-k?n(gm) sar4 m?i(kur) Assur(As)

5 [ina takkas n&4uqn]i([za.g]m*) hi-ip sad?(kuv)-s? ina si-pir
6 ^nin-zadim u ?nin-kur]-ra lpus(d?*)-ma ana bal?t(tm) naps?ti(z\)mc-su
1 [ar?k ?mlsui] /w?(du10) libbi(s?)-su kas?d(kur) lemn?ti(hu\)me-s?
8 [l? bas?] mursu(tu.ra) la ga-me-lu
9 [? su]-lu-us UbbH$k)-s? ukln(gin)

1 2
[For Nergal,] foremost of the gods, fearless in battle and warfare, [. .. ] most powerful of the
gods, who spares not the wicked,3 [who dwells in E-sa]-hul, which is in M?-Turna, the great lord, his
4 5
master, [pn, governor] of Nairi, eunuch of Sargon, made [(this axe-head) out of a block of lapis]
6
lazuli quarried from its mountain source, by the skill of [Ninzadim and Ninkur]ra, and set it up for
8
his life's good health,7 [the lengthening of his days,] his heart's ease, the capture of his enemies, [the
9
absence] of unsparing disease, [and the] gladdening of his heart.

The restoration of 1. 5 follows a prism of Esarhaddon, where this phrase refers to blocks of the
stone in its raw state, among tribute brought to Nineveh by the Medes (tak-k?s na4w^wi(za.gin) hi-ip
sad-di-su: R. Borger, Esarh., p. 54 f., iv 38). In 1. 6 the restoration of Ninzadim and Ninkurra, the
divine lapidary and his wife, relies on their status as patrons of craftsmen who worked with stone.
Their expertise in lapis-lazuli is attested explicitly in the stone tablet of Nabu-apla-iddina, which
reports that a new cult-statue of Samas at Sippar was fashioned of (implicitly wood decorated with)
"red gold and pure lapis-lazuli, through the crafts of Ninildu [the divine carpenter], Kusigbanda (or
Guskinbanda) [goldsmith], Ninkurra and Ninzadim [lapidaries]" (ina si-pir dnin-ildu ^k?-sig^-b?n-
da dnin-kur-ra dnin-zadim ina ?turasi ru-us-si-i na4w^/ii1[za.g?n) eb-bi: BBSt 36 = V R 61, iv 15-19; cf.
Borger, Esarh., p. 89, 24; R. C. Thompson, AAA 20 (1933), p. 82, 33-6).

3. Prism fragment. Excavation and museum numbers unknown (Fig. 4)

The right-hand part of an eight-sided clay prism of Sargon II was retrieved from fill about 150 cm
below the surface of Tell Haddad, in the area of housing outside the temple of Nergal (near the
north corner of Area 3, next to the north-east section, in Level 1). As preserved, the fragment is 10-9
cm long; its diameter at the extant end is 4-6 cm, and 6-5 cm at the break. The prism was inscribed
along its length in Neo-Babylonian clay script with a standard inscription of Sargon. The prism's
first two faces, with the first twenty lines, are preserved at the right edge, as is also a little of its eighth
face, which yields what must be the very end of the inscription. The opening of the text is a duplicate,
or close parallel, of Lyon, Sar., pp. 1 ff., 1-19, or C. J. Gadd, Iraq 16 (1954), p. 199, [1]?18 (I am
indebted for this information to A. K. Grayson). The preserved text runs as follows:

1 [Sarru-k?n saknu Ellil nu.?s na'id Assur nisJt ml] da-nim u dda-gan
2 [sarru rab? sarru dannu sar kissat sar m?t Assur sar kibr?t arba'i migir] z7i(dingir)mes
rab?ti(g&\)me*
3 [r?u k?nu sa Assur Marduk sarr?t l? san?n usatlim?s?ma z]i-kir sumi(m?)-s? ?-se-su-? a-na
re-se-e-ti
4 [s?kin subarr? Sippar Nippur B?bili h?tin ens?tlsunu mu-sal]-li-mu hi-bil-ti-su-un
5 [k?sir kidinn?tu Baltil batiltu musassik tupsikki Der m]u-sap-si-hu nisl(xm)me*-su-un
6 [le"i kal malkl sa eli Harr?n andullasu it-ru-s?]-ma ki-i sa-ab da-nim rt?
7 [Dag?n isturu zak?ssu zikaru dannu halip namurrati sa] a-na sum-qu-ti m?f(kur) na-ki-ri
8 [sutb? kakklsu sarru sa ultu um b?l?f?su malku gabar?su] la ib-su-? i-na qat?-la
9 [t?h?zi l? Imuru munihhu m?t?ti kal?sina klma hasbatti ?-daq-q]?-qu-ma ha-am-ma- ? sa ar-ba- 7
10 [iddu serretu hurs?rii ber?ti sa n?rebsunu ?s]-tu la mi-na ip-tu-ma i-mu-ru
11 [durugsun t?d?t l? a'?ripasq?ti sa] a-sar-si-na sug-lu-t? i-ta-at-ti-qu-ma
12 [itebbiru nagab ber?ti istu m?t R?si mi-s?]r m?t e-lam-ti lupu-qu-du ]uda-mu-nu
13 [D?r-Kurigalzi Rapiqu madbar kal?su] a-di na-hal m?t mu-us-ri m?t a-mur-ri-i rapasti(daga?)n
14 [m?t Hatti ana sihir?sa ib?lu istu m?t Hasmar adi UT]Usi-mas pat-ti m?t ma-da-a-a ru-qu-?-ti
15 [sit Samsi m?t Namri m?t Ellibi m?t Bit Hamban m?t pa]r-su-mas m?t ma-an-na-a-a m?t
?-ra-?s-tu
38 F. ?. H. AL-RAWI

16 [m?t Harr?n m?t Taballum adi m?t Musici iksudu rabltu qa-as]-su
17 [s?t-reslsu sakn?ti ellsunu istakkan?ma biltu ma-da-a]t-ti
18 [Jmissun?ti etlu qardu sa ina reblt Der itti mhum-ba-ni-g]a-?s
19 [sar m?t Elamti innamr?ma iskunu taht?su . . . mu]-ri-ib kuTblt(?)-hu-um-ri
20 [rapsi sa ina ?l Rapihi dabd? m?t Musri iskun?ma H?n?nu sar ?l Hazati ka-mu-us-s]u ?-se-ri-
b[u ?l Assur]

lacuna of ca. 75 lines to last line:

l' [ . . . ... ana mi-s]ir m?t das-sur ?-ter-ra

'
-
'?

-%;?

Fig. 5. No. 4: Duck weight. Fig. 6. No. 4: Duck weight.

4. Duck weight. IM 124067; Haddad 539 (Figs. 5-6)

The weight, found at Tell Haddad, Area 3, Level 2 (Old Babylonian period), measures 12.7 ? 8.3
? 6 cm. It is inscribed with the label 2 ma-na gi.na sa dutu, "2 minas, certified, belonging to
Samas."

5. Liver model. IM 85441; Sib 388 (Figs. 7-8)4

This model, of coarse clay, was excavated in a private house at Tell as-Sib adjacent to Tell Haddad
(Room 4, Level 3). The inscription, in early Old Babylonian script, reports briefly on the extispicy,
predictably favourable, that attended the succession of Dad?sa of Esnunna. If the report follows the
pattern of other OB reports the counting of the number of the intestinal loops, txr?nu (1. 3), should
mark the end of the report proper.5 What follows that is taken as a quotation of an omen, complete
with an emphatically favourable apodosis (11. 3-5). The source of the report is then given though
unfortunately I have not been able to restore the name and patronym of the diviner (11. 5-6). Finally
the occasion on which it was obtained is described (11. 7 ff.).
4 Cf.
?raq 47 (1985), p. 220. I am grateful to Khalid Salim object.
5 See J.
Ismail for providing additional information about this Nougayrol, JCS 21 (1967), pp. 232 f.
 TELL HADDAD 39

Fig. 7. No. 5: Liver model.

1 ka-ar-su-um su-me-lam
2 ta-ri-ik li-bu-um su-me-lam ta-ri-ik
3 ti-ra-nu 14 ka-as-ka-su
4 i-mi-tam ha-mi-is* i-na su-me-el ha-x
5 li-tum ia-tum i-[n]a* qa-ti* air ? if-tint
6 ?>anm(m?s.su.g?d!.g?d!) m?r(tur) G?x1 sa G??il'
7 da-du-sa i-na ni-x[ ? x dlb]a-ti-rrf-t[iml ( . . ?)]
8 w n?-pi-is-tim si-ru-u[m x x] wm? x[. . . ]
9 warah(it?) da-du-sa a-na kussfm(g\x.za) x[. . .
10 ? si-mu-ru-um ba-ti-[irkl . . .]
11 [x (x) ]x rte1-re-tum [sa-al-ma (or: i-sa-ra)]
12 [(perhaps nothing missing)]
I.e. i-na s?r-ru-ut da-du-sa / si-ru-um an-nu-um

1 2
The belly was dark on the left. The heart was dark on the left.3 There were fourteen loops of
4
the gut. "(If) the breastbone is bent over on the right, from the left...:5 victory is mine." By the
7
hands of...,6 the divination priest, son of... Dad?sa in [... (the goddess?)] Batir?tum [... ]8 and
the extispicy. The state of the organs [...]...[...]
9
The day of the new moon that Dad?sa [ascended] the throne [(...)]10 and Simurrum, Batir [...]
11
[...] The omens [were favourable.]le* At the (assumption of) kingship by Dad?sa, this was the
state of the organs.

As has been pointed out by Ivan Starr, for an organ in extispicy to be dark on the left side is a
favourable omen (The Rituals of the Diviner = BiMes 12, pp. 18ff.). The place Batir and its goddess
are known from the brick inscription of Ayy?bum, the headman of ba-ti-irM (Frayne, RIME 4, p.
702, 4), which records the construction of the temple of Batir?tum (1. 6: bit dba-ti-ri-tum). The brick
was discovered at Tell al-Suleimah near the Diyala, not far from M?-Turan, and this mound
probably represents the remains of Batir. The Mount Batir where Anubanini of Lullubum and,
probably, Iddin-S?n of Simurrum carved their rock-reliefs is, however, some distance away, at Sar-i-
pul-i-Zohab in western Iran (i-na sa-du-im ba-ti-ir: ibid., pp. 705, i 6-7; 713, 21-2). Whether this is
more than coincidence is for the moment unclear. Simurrum is older Simurrum, near the Jebel
Hamrin, like M?-Turnat. The name of Dad?sa's accession year is sanat(mu) da-du-sa a-na blt(?) a-
bi-su i-ru-bu, "the year Dad?sa inherited his patrimony" (see S. D. Simmons, JCS 13 (1959), p. 80).
40 F. ?. H. AL-RAWI

?a
o
?

00
db
E
 TELL HADDAD 41

Fig. 9. No. 6: Liver model. Fig. 10. No. 6: Liver model.

6. Liver model. IM 106795 (Figs. 9-10)

The model, excavated in a private house at Tell Haddad, is also inscribed in an early Old
Babylonian script. The text comprises a single omen: sum-ma na-ap-la-si a-na ka-ak-ki-im i-tu-?r
[n]a-ak-rum i-na ba-bi-im [t]a-ha-za-am i-pe-es, "If my 'spy-hole' turns back to the 'weapon', the
enemy will do battle at the gate."

J?PW5

fefeL
fill >fH*l

Fig. 11. No. 7: Stamp.

7. Stamp. Sippar 8-1627; pottery (Fig. 11)

A rectangular clay stamp, measuring 7-2 ? 4-6 ? 1-7 cm, was found in E-babbarra, the temple of
Samas at Sippar, during the eighth season of excavations conducted there by the University of
Baghdad (Square 15, Area 107, Room 352, in fill of level 2).6 It is inscribed with the following label,
written in reverse: su-?en-l? mara(d\xmu) sar-ru-kln(g\) w(lugal) kisl, "Su-Enlil, son of Sargon, king
of Kis." There is no reason to suppose that the stamp is anything other than a genuine artefact of the
Old Akkadian period, perhaps kept in the temple of Samas, alongside many other antiquities, as a
curiosity. Su-Enlil was evidently a brother of R?mus and Manist?su. Other persons of this period
bearing the name are found in tablets from Kish (MAD 5, no. 25, i 2: [sui]-?en-l?l, no patronym,
taking delivery of sheep; no. 36, 15: su-?en-l?l [dumu] dingir.g?r). [Now RIM E2.1.1.17.]

6 See now Walid

Al-Jadir, "Le Quartier de l'?.babbar de et Elam = CRRA 36, pp. 193-6, and, for earlier bibliogra-
Sippar", in L. De Meyer and H. Gasche (eds.), M?sopotamie phy, ?raq 52 (1990), p. 1491.
42 F. ?. H. AL-RAWI

Fig. 12. No. 8: Boundary stone fragment.

8. Boundary stone fragment. IM 56385 (Fig. 12)

The fragment, which is Middle or Neo-Babylonian, measures 12-8 ? 8-2 ? 6-5 cm. Its provenance
is unknown. The surviving text comprises the remains of curse clauses only. The text is freely
restored, mostly from the phraseology standard in such monuments; other variations on these well-
worn curses are equally possible.

1' e-x[ . . .
l! dgu-l[a a-zu-gal-la-tu b?ltu rabltui]
3' si-im-ma ma[r-sa ak-sa la-az-za sal]
4' la i-nu-uh-hu [i-na zumri-su li-sab-sii]
5' bal-tu-us-s? /[/-......]
6' liq-tu-? si-ru-^su1 [.]
? ab?let(mn)-ekalli(?.gal) i-na blt(?) ?ar[n(lugal) b?li(en)-sui]
8' da-me-eq-ta-s[w a-a iq-bil]
9' wra(lugal) a-na gal-le-e [li-ter-sui]
10' ru-?-a-i ? it-ba-r[i a-a ?-sar-si-sui]
11' //w(dingir)mes rabutu(gai)mes ma-l [a ina (muhhi) nar? a???]
12; sum-su-nu u[d-du-u? . . .]
13' sum-su l[i-hal-li-qu . . . ilu sarrui]
14' rub?(nxm) u sa-k[a-nak-ku a-na ser-ri-sui]
15' rlf -[tu-ru-us . . .

2 3
May Gula, [the great lady physician, cause to break out on his body] a painful carbuncle,
4 5 6
[grievous and festering, from which] he will gain no relief; may he [be ... ] alive, and his flesh
7 8
perish [... May] Belet-ekalli [not speak in his] favour in the house of the king, [his lord; may she
10 n
turn]9/ the king into a demon [for him, and deprive him of] friends and allies. May the great
12 13
gods, as many as their names are made [known on this monument, . . . destroy] his name,
14
[and . . . ] May [god, king,] prince and governor [turn into his enemy . . .

9. Stone monument fragment. IM 42076 (Fig. 13)

Middle or Neo-Babylonian; 7*0 ? 12-8 ? 6-5 cm; provenance unknown; curse clauses?
 TELL HADDAD 43

1' . . . ]x
2' . . . ]x
3' ... ]-nu
4' ... ]-tum
5' ...] i7?(dingir)me? rrai>u/i(gal.gal)'ime?
6' . . . ]x na-kar
7' . . . ] sa-ru-ru-su
8' ... ]-lid i-lit-ti
9' ... ]-li-su
10' ... na]-pis-tus
11' ...]x-e
12' ... ]-ta
13' ... ]-ki-su
Fig. 13. No. 9: Stone monument fragment. 14' ... ]x-fi

i.e.
J*~T

li

Fig. 14. No. 10: Statue fragment.

10. Statue fragment. IM 55640 (Fig. 14)

Statue of human figure, fragment measuring 8-4 ? 12-5 ? 6? cm, provenance unknown; NA
monumental script. Note the mention in 11. 6'-7' of Assur-n?r?r?, king of Assyria, presumably the
fifth of that name (754-45 b.c.). Official documents from the administration of this king are
extremely rare. The piece is inscribed with the remains of a what may be a royal grant (cf. 1. 9':
uzakklsu). The grant appears to have taken place in the aftermath of a rebellion, in which a local
commander may have been elevated to the kingship and a certain Marduk-aha(?)-usur installed as
provincial governor (11. 2'-5').
G x[...\x faes"1 k[i . .
2! uru? x[ (x) ]x u na-bal-k?t-[t? . . .
3' rnukurtu(kxxr) is-sa-ki-nu ni-x[. . .
=
4' lugal gar bi ( ?u'sakin-su?) a-na sarru-?-ti [issu? . . .
5' mdmarduk(mes)-aha(ses)\l-usur(PAP) a-na ]ub?l(en) [plhat?tP. .
6' ip-pa-ri-ma istu(ta) mas-sur-n?ra?(?rm.OVH) sar4 [mat as-sur
r mas-sur-n?r?rl(?nn.Dvn) sar4 mat (kur) as-sur a-na m[ . . .
8' sapa-an ^te-pa/hat-ta-a x[. . .
9' ?-zak-ki-su a-na mza-za-[a? . . .
10' V la is-sab-ba-ma [. . .
11' [. . . ] ? ? ha kilxx[. . .