Adapa and the South Wind: Language Has the Power of Life and Death 9781575065243

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Adapa and the South Wind

General Editor Jerrold S. Cooper, Johns Hopkins University Editorial Board Walter Farber, University of Chicago Marvin Powell, Northern Illinois University Jean-Pierre Grégoire, C.N.R.S. Jack Sasson, University of North Carolina Piotr Michalowski, University of Michigan Piotr Steinkeller, Harvard University Simo Parpola, University of Helsinki Marten Stol, Free University of Amsterdam Irene Winter, Harvard University 1. The Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur Piotr Michalowski 2. Schlaf, Kindchen, Schlaf! Mesopotamische Baby-Beschwörungen und -Rituale Walter Farber 3. Adoption in Old Babylonian Nippur and the Archive of Mannum-mesu-lißßur Elizabeth C. Stone and David I. Owen 4. Third-Millennium Legal and Administrative Texts in the Iraq Museum, Baghdad Piotr Steinkeller and J. N. Postgate 5. House Most High: The Temples of Ancient Mesopotamia A. R. George 6. Textes culinaires Mésopotamiens / Mesopotamian Culinary Texts Jean Bottéro 7. Legends of the Kings of Akkade: The Texts Joan Goodnick Westenholz 8. Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography Wayne Horowitz 9. The Writing on the Wall: Studies in the Architectural Context of Late Assyrian Palace Reliefs John M. Russell 10. Adapa and the South Wind: Language Has the Power of Life and Death Shlomo Izre'el 11. Time at Emar: The Cultic Calendar and the Rituals from the Diviner’s Archive Daniel E. Fleming

Adapa and the South Wind Language Has the Power of Life and Death

Shlomo Izre'el

Eisenbrauns Winona Lake, Indiana 2001

ç Copyright 2001 by Eisenbrauns. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Izre'el, Shlomo Adapa and the south wind : language has the power of life and death / Shlomo Izre'el. p. cm. — (Mesopotamian civilizations ; 10) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 1-57506-048-5 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Adapa (Assyro-Babylonian mythology) 2. Assyro-Babylonian poetry—History and criticism. I. Title. II. Series BL1625.A35 I97 299u.21—dc21

2001 00-067676 CIP

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. †‘

Contents

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

vii

Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

xi

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1

Adapa the Sage 1 The Story 4 Previous Studies and the Present Study

5

Chapter 1 Texts and Fragments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fragment A Fragment A1 Fragment B Fragment C Fragment D Fragment E

9

9 15 16 34 38 44

Chapter 2 Dating and Compositional Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

47

The Amarna Fragment 47 Dating 47 The Origin of the Amarna Recension 49 Who Wrote the Adapa Tablet Found at Amarna? 51 Excursus: Chemical Analysis of Amarna Literary Tablets EA 356, EA 357, and EA 358 and Implications by Joseph Yellin 55 The Nineveh Fragments and Their Relationship to the Amarna Fragment 59 Excursus: The TMA System and the Narrative Sequence 60 The Origins of the Myth 67

Chapter 3 The Myth as Poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Introduction 72 Poetic Devices 72 Consonance 73 Repetition, Parallelism, Chiasm, and Word Order v

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72

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Contents Red Points and Meter 81 Verse Structure 91 Who Applied the Red Points?

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Chapter 4 Language Has the Power of Life and Death: Structure and Meaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Introduction 107 The Myth and Its Variants 108 Multidimensionality of Language and Meaning 110 Unfolding the Narrative: The Linguistic Component and Meaningful Structural Ties 111 Symbols, Views, and Concepts 120 Mythic Messages and Levels of Meaning: Human and Divine 120 Divine Nature 120 The Essence of Humanity 121 Wisdom and the Concept “Bad,” and the Question of Life and Death 125 Language and Wisdom: The Essence of Humanity Again 130 The Plot: Transition and Maturation, Initiation and Acquisition of Knowledge 137

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Plate 1. Photos, Fragments A and A1 174 Plate 2. Copy, Fragments A and A1 175 Plate 3. Photo, Fragment B (obverse) 176 Plate 4. Copy, Fragment B (obverse) 177 Plate 5. Photo, Fragment B (reverse) 178 Plate 6. Copy, Fragment B (reverse) 179 Plate 7. Photos, Fragments C and D 180 Plate 8. Copy, Fragments C and D 181 Plate 9. Photos and copies, Fragment E 182 Plate 10. Color enlargement of Fragment B:39u–41u, showing three red points 183

Preface

My interest in the Adapa myth started as an extension of my studies of the Amarna archive, which had consumed a great deal of my time for many years. The impetus to deal seriously with this text did not come, however, until Marianna Vogelzang had initiated a preliminary group for textual studies during the Philadelphia RAI in 1988. This group, which had Adapa as one of its concerns to start with, changed its goals and membership to become, eventually, The Mesopotamian Literature Group (Groningen). In response to that first initiative, I came up with some suggestions concerning the Amarna recension of Adapa and its possible contribution to the study of Akkadian metrics, which I presented at the Ghent RAI in 1989. During the academic year 1991–92 I was privileged to attend a course on Mesopotamian religion given by Piotr Steinkeller in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization at Harvard University, where I spent my sabbatical. The result for me was an aroused interest, not only in the linguistic and formal aspects of the text, but also in its mythological facets. These were enhanced by a seminar on Adapa that I gave, at the invitation of Tzvi Abusch, at Brandeis University the same year. During these years, I read the Adapa myth on several occasions, either in classes and seminars or in study meetings with colleagues at the École Biblique in Jerusalem. Each reading resulted in more understanding of the text and its formal and substantial aspects. Since the first presentation of my studies on the Adapa text at the RAI in Ghent in 1989, I have been given opportunities to present my ideas both on the formal aspects of the text (linguistic and metrical) and on some of its mythological aspects on different occasions before a variety of audiences: The Mesopotamian Literature Group (Groningen); the group for Hamito-Semitic Studies at the School for Advanced Studies at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem; the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University; the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University; the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literatures at New York University; the Oriental Institute of the University of Oxford; the Department of Hebrew at University College, London; the Archäologisches Institut at Universität Hamburg; the Altorientalisches Seminar of the Freie Universität in Berlin; the Symposium on Linguistic and Ethno-Cultural History of Semitic Peoples in Moscow; vii

viii

Preface

the Forum for Cultural Studies at Tel-Aviv University; and the Prague RAI in 1996. I thank the participants in the discussions that followed each of these talks for illuminating remarks regarding points that needed more clarification as well as other insights. The people, both scholars and students, from whom I have learned and whose insights on various textual and other aspects are spread throughout pages of this book are too numerous to mention here, yet each of them is highly respected. With many colleagues I have discussed various topics of interest, at times at considerable length and with much effort on their part. Especially helpful were the contributions of Hannes D. Galter, Wayne Horowitz, Peter Machinist, Stefan Maul, Marcel Sigrist, Kathryn Slanski, Magda and Piotr Steinkeller, Meir Sternberg, Joan Goodnick Westenholz, and more than anyone else Tzvi Abusch, with whom I spent many good hours of illuminating discussion. Brigitte Groneberg, Wayne Horowitz, and Piotr Michalowski read and commented on previous versions of the manuscript. Tzvi Abusch commented on an earlier draft of chapter 4. Tamar Kamionkovsky read and commented on the edited texts and their commentaries. Nehama Orda read chapter 4 with the eye of a psychologist. Jürgen Osing discussed the question of red points with me and graciously shared relevant sections from his forthcoming book. W. G. Lambert helped with good advice on collating tablets at the British Museum. David Wasserstein helped in obtaining xeroxes of rare publications from abroad. The staff of the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, C. B. F. Walker and the staff of the British Museum, and Joachim Marzahn and Evelyn Klengel of the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin have assisted in many ways during my visits to the respective museums. Special thanks are due to Joachim Marzahn, who has made it possible to conduct a neutron activation analysis on literary and other Amarna tablets, and to Joseph Yellin of The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, who took it upon himself to make the analysis and to publish some of the results here. Yuval Goren has kindly shared with me his latest results of petrographic analyses of Amarna tablets. Margalit Mendelson helped in the technical editing of the manuscript. Moshe Kislev helped with the latest stage of proofreading. Joshua Fox helped to improve the English of the text translation and to make it more idiomatic. Jerrold S. Cooper, the general editor of this series, has shown interest in the project from its initial stages and has made it possible to see the light of day in spite of many difficulties. The publisher, Jim Eisenbraun, and especially my copy editor, Beverly Fields, invested much effort and care in ensuring that my ideas were expressed clearly. Michael O’Connor was kind enough to comment on some of the most difficult issues therein. The research was supported by The Israel Science Foundation, administered by The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and by The Tel-Aviv University Basic Research Foundation. The tablets and their respective photographs are published by permission of the Pierpont Morgan Library (Fragment A), the

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trustees of the British Museum (Fragments A1, C, D, E), and the Vorderasiatisches Museum (Fragment B). I thank all colleagues, students, and friends for many insights, for great willingness and enthusiasm, for much-needed support and encouragement, for hard questions and rough criticism, and for the good time I enjoyed during the ten years I have spent with Adapa, the greatest of all sages. Shlomo Izre'el Tel-Aviv, March 1996, February 2001

Abbreviations

ABD AfO AHw AS

BH BM C CAD col(s). CT CV(C) CVm D DN DT EA fig(s). G GAG GE HKL K LB

The Anchor Bible Dictionary. 6 volumes. Edited by David Noel Freedman. New York: Doubleday, 1992. Archiv für Orientforschung Wolfram von Soden. Akkadisches Handwörterbuch. 3 volumes. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1965–1981. Wolfram von Soden and Wolfgang Röllig. Das akkadische Syllabar. 2d edition. Analecta Orientalia 42. Rome: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum, 1967. Biblical Hebrew British Museum consonant The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of Chicago. Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 1952–. column(s) Cuneiform Tablets from Babylonian Texts in the British Museum consonant—vowel(—consonant) consonant—vowel—m D stem divine name Siglum for British Museum tablet Tablet siglum for el-Amarna texts in Knudtzon 1915 and Rainey 1978 figure(s) G stem Wolfram von Soden. Grundriss der akkadischen Grammatik. Analecta Orientalia 33/47. Roma: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum, 1969. R. Campbell Thompson, The Epic of Gilgamesh: Text, Transliteration, and Notes. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1930. Rykle Borger, Handbuch der Keilschriftliteratur, volume 3. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1975. Siglum for tablets from the Kouyunjik collection of the British Museum Late Babylonian xi

xii MA MB MLC MVAG N NAA n. n.d. NA OA OB PA PBS

Abbreviations

Middle Assyrian Middle Babylonian Siglum for tablets from the Pierpont Morgan Library Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft N stem neutron activation analysis note no date Neo Assyrian Old Assyrian Old Babylonian Peripheral Akkadian Publications of the Babylonian Section of the University Museum, University of Pennsylvania pl(s). Plate(s) PN personal name Rm Siglum for tablets from the British Museum SB Standard Babylonian SO(A)V Subject-Object(-Adverb)-Verb word order STT I O. R. Gurney and J. J. Finkelstein, The Sultantepe Tablets, I. Occasional Publications of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara 3. London: The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, 1957. TMA Tense-Mood-Aspect S S stem V vowel VAT Vorderasiatisches Museum tablet prefix VC vowel–consonant Ug. 5 Jean Nougayrol, Emmanuel Laroche, Charles Virolleaud, Claude F. A. Schaeffer, Ugaritica V: Nouvaux textes accadiens, hourrites et Ugaritiques des archives et bibliothèques privées d'Ugarit, commentaires des textes historiques (première partie). Mission de Ras Shamra 16. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1968. Vm vowel–m VS Otto Schroeder, Die Thontafeln von El-Amarna. Vorderasiatische Schriftdenkmäler der Königlichen Museen zu Berlin [= VS] XI–XII. Berlin. Reprinted: Osnabrück: Otto Zeller, 1973. W Siglum for tablets from Warka YBC Siglum for tablets from the Yale Babylonian Collection ZA Zeitschrift für Assyriologie

Introduction

Adapa the Sage Adapa was known in Ancient Mesopotamia as The Sage. The original etymology of the name Adapa may not have reached us. A lexical text lists a term adapu as meaning ‘wise’ (Igituh I: 107), an attribute that is further attested in another late text (Lambert 1962: 74). This adjectival noun is undoubtedly derived from the name of the mythological figure Adapa (CAD A/1 102 s.v. adapu B; AHw 1542 s.v. adapu III). This lexical text has ù . t u . a . a b . b a ‘born in the sea’ as the Sumerian equivalent of adapu, an equation that may have resulted from folk etymology (Lambert 1962: 73–74). In any case, whether primary or secondary, this possible etymology shows the mythological characteristics attributed to Adapa by the Mesopotamians, since he, as one of the first antediluvian sages, was thought to have emerged from the sea. At some point, the name Adapa was interpreted as an epithet rather than as a proper noun, and as such it co-occurs with the name Uan(na) ‘the light of An’ (see below). Whether the word was originally an epithet or a name is hard to tell, especially since one cannot draw any sound conclusions regarding the origin of a myth or of any individual mytheme from the chronology of its occasional textual finds. In a Sumero-Akkadian bilingual account of the first sages, a priest of Eridu is mentioned as one who ascended to heaven: [. . . l ú]. i s i b nun.ªkiº. [g a] [. . .] i-sip-pu [eri4-du10] [. . .] l ú a n . s è b a . a n .ªe11º [. . .] sá ana an-e i-lu-[ú] [nun.me z a l á g . g a s u h]u r. k u6 a . a b . b a i m i n . n a . n e . n e [ap-kal-lu n]am-ru-tu4 pu-rad tam-ti si-bit-ti sú-nu [7 nun.me] í d . d a m ú . m ú . d a g i s . h u r a n . k i . a s i . s á . ne [si-b]it ap-kal-lu sá ina na-a-ri ib-ba-nu-ú mus-te-si-ru ú-ßu-rat an-e ù ki-tim 1

2

Introduction [PN,] the purification priest of Eridu [. . .] who ascended to heaven. They are the seven brilliant apkallus, puradu-fish of the sea, [sev]en apkallus “grown” in the river, who insure the correct functioning of the ordinance of heaven and earth. (K 5519: 1u–9u after Reiner 1961: 2, 4)

Reiner (1961: 6–7) suggested that the subject here was Adapa. However, taken in its context as part of the bit meseri ritual, the name of the apkallu mentioned is Utuabzu (‘born in the Apsu’), who comes seventh in a list of apkallus (Borger 1974: 192–94). In another place in the same text, the last of seven sages is Utuaabba, mentioned as one who descended from heaven (Borger 1974: 193–94; see also Borger 1994: 231 and p. 232 n. 37). The name Uan is listed as the first apkallu, who served during the time of the king Ayyalu (van Dijk 1962: 44). It is he who is mentioned as the one who “completed the ordinance of heaven and earth.” The Greek variant of the name Uan, namely Oannes, is known from the account of Babylonian history by Berossus, The Babyloniaca, where it is said that before civilization was introduced to the people of Mesopotamia, there was a great crowd of men in Babylon and they lived without laws as wild animals. In the first year (i.e., of the reign of Alorus) a beast named Oannes appeared from the Erythrean Sea in a place adjacent to Babylonia. Its entire body was that of a fish, but a human head had grown beneath the head of the fish and human feet likewise had grown from the fish’s tail. It also had a human voice. A picture of it is still preserved today. (Burstein 1978: 13) [see fig. 1]

This “beast,” Oannes, gave to the men the knowledge of letters and sciences and crafts of all types. It also taught them how to found cities, establish temples, introduce laws and measure land. It also revealed to them seeds and the gathering of fruits, and in general it gave men everything which is connected with civilized life. From the time of the beast nothing further has been discovered. (Burstein 1978: 13–14)

The evidence in our possession thus seems to point to at least two different original traditions (cf. Wiggermann 1986: 153) that have become a single unified tradition in the most prominent remaining texts (cf. the remarks by DenningBolle 1992: 44–45). I believe that in the myth of Adapa and the South Wind, as it was interpreted in the traditions that have reached us, there is a strong case for such a unified tradition. Variation, it must be noted, is a part of the very nature of mythological traditions (cf. pp. 108–10 below). Moreover, there is further textual evidence for the identification of the two figures in the combined name u4-(d)an(-na) a-da-pà or u4-ma-da-num a-da-pà (Lambert 1962: 73–74; van Dijk 1962: 44–48; Hallo 1963: 176; Bottéro 1969–70: 106; Borger 1974: 186; Pic-

Introduction

3

Figure 1. A human-looking figure dressed in the skin of a fish. Drawn by A. H. Layard from a monumental stone relief, one of a pair flanking a doorway of the temple of Ninurta at Kalhu. Used by permisson of the Trustees of the British Museum.

chioni 1981: 97–101; Kvanvig 1988: 202–4; Denning-Bolle 1992: 44–45; cf. Albright 1926). 1 1. The form with m, possibly the result of nasalization of a glide (w§m between vowels), seems to be a late etymologization of the name as ummanu ‘craftsman’. Dalley (1989: 182) suggests that the Sumerian name Uan “also forms a pun on the SumeroAkkadian word for a craftsman.”

4

Introduction

The mythological figure Adapa has, thus, two variants: one is called Uan; another is called Adapa. The myth of the seven primordial sages shares with the Berossus tradition the mytheme of emergence from water. The etymological equation between Adapa and ù . t u . a . a b . b a is related to a similar tradition, while his having ascended to heaven is perhaps recalled by the name Uan, which includes a direct reference to heaven (An). Thus, it was Oannes-Adapa who instructed people about the ordinance of the earth. It is with this theme that the myth of Adapa and the South Wind opens.

The Story The myth as we know it opens with a description of the background to the main narrative. This background has reached us through what is now called Fragment A, of which the very first line or lines are missing (for the find and the extant fragments, see below). The first legible lines refer to the power of divine speech, and it is said that Ea—known to us as the Mesopotamian god of fresh water and wisdom—perfected Adapa “with great intelligence, to give instruction about the ordinance of the earth. To him he gave wisdom, he did not give him eternal life” (lines 3u–4u). Adapa was a servant of Ea. Respected and adored by his community, he performed the chores necessary to the daily rituals, which included, among others, supplying fish from the nearby sea. One day, Adapa’s journey to the wide sea ended unexpectedly in a sudden burst of the South Wind. Adapa was plunged into the sea. Here begins the narrative as we know it from Fragment B. This fragment has some close, albeit broken, parallels in Fragment C and at the beginning of Fragment D. Adapa, who for the first time in his life had met with some difficulty, could do nothing other than to threaten the blowing wind that he would break its wing. As soon as he uttered this threat, the wing of the South Wind broke. Nothing could be done against Adapa’s spell, and Anu, the sky god and the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon, called Adapa to task. The situation was indeed unpleasant for the disciple of Ea. Yet, a god such as Ea would not risk a meeting between his loyal servant and Anu without proper preparation. As might be appropriate for the god of wisdom, Ea, well known also for his artful character, supplied Adapa with minute instructions that were intended to save his life. Among these were strict orders to avoid any food or drink offered to him in heaven, any of which Ea said would bring death on Adapa. However, the situation turned out to be rather different from what Adapa anticipated. While in heaven, Anu’s anger was appeased by two deities, Dumuzi and Gizzida, who were standing at the gate of heaven. Following Ea’s instructions, Adapa had paid a tribute of flattering words to them. Instead of being offered

Introduction

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deadly food and water, he was offered the food and water of life. Adapa refused it, and thus—at least according to one recension, recorded in Fragment B—lost a unique and irreversible chance for eternal life. However, according to another version of the story, recorded in Fragment D, Anu seems to have shown Adapa the awesomeness of heaven and to have installed Adapa in his own rather than in Ea’s service. This fragment also adds to the myth a healing incantation that is based on the very fact that Adapa, “a seed of humankind,” succeeded in breaking the wing of the South Wind.

Previous Studies and the Present Study The scholarly world first became aware of the myth of Adapa and the South Wind when its largest fragment was discovered among the scholarly tablets of the El-Amarna archive in 1887 (Harper 1891; Scheil 1891; cf. Zimmern 1892; Sayce 1892; Izre'el 1997: 1–13, 43–50). A fragment of the myth (now known as Fragment D) had, in fact, already been published before that time by one of the pioneers of Mesopotamian studies, George Smith (Smith 1876: 125–26). Smith, however, did not have at his disposal enough data to identify this fragment as part of the myth to which it belonged and attributed it to the Erra narrative (for which see Cagni 1969, 1977). While discussing the Berossus account of Oannes, Smith stated that “it is a curious fact the legend of Oannes, which must have been one of the Babylonian stories of the Creation, has not yet been discovered” (Smith 1876: 306). Sayce, who said he had copied this fragment, “related to an otherwise unknown individual called Adapa,” “many years ago,” was able to attribute this fragment to the Adapa myth only after the discovery of the Amarna fragment (Sayce 1892; cf. Sayce in Morgan 1893: 183–84; Bezold 1894a: 114 n. 1, 1894b: 405 n. 1; Strong 1894; 1895). We now have at our disposal six fragments of the myth. The largest and most important fragment is the one discovered at Amarna (“Fragment B”) and thus dated to the 14th century b.c.e. (see further pp. 47–49). Five other fragments (A, A1, C, D, and E) were part of the Assurbanipal library and are representative of this myth as it was known in Assyria about seven centuries later. Only two of the extant fragments (A and A1) are variants of the same text. Fragments C and D come from different sections of the text. Fragment E represents another recension of the myth, which also seems to be similar to the known versions. The following is a list of the extant fragments edited in this volume, with their museum numbers and main previous editions. Fragment A: MLC 1296 (Pierpont Morgan Library, New York); Scheil 1898: 124–33; Clay 1922: 39–41, pls. IV, VI (cf. Clay 1923: 10–11); Picchioni 1981: 112–15, 127–31, 161 (fig. 1), tav. I.

6

Introduction Fragment A1: K 15072 (British Museum, London). Parallel to the last extant section Fragment A. Schramm 1974; Picchioni 1981: 114–15, 131, tav. IV–V. Fragment B: VAT 348 (Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin); Winckler and Abel 1889–90: 240; Schroeder 1915: #194; Harper 1894: 418–25; Jensen 1900: 94– 99, with comments on pp. 411–13; Knudtzon 1915: 964–69 (= EA 356); Picchioni 1981: 114–21, 131–36, 162–63 (figs. 2–3 = Schroeder 1915: #194), tav. II–III; Izre'el 1997: 43–50, copy (= Schroeder 1915: #194 with collations = pp. 177, 179 below), photographs. Fragment C: K 8743 (British Museum, London). Expanded parallel to part of Fragment B. Langdon 1915: pl. IV, #3, and p. 42 n. 2; Thompson 1930: pl. 31; Jensen 1900: xvii–xviii; Picchioni 1981: 120–21, 136–37, 164 (fig. 4), tav. IV– V. Photograph also in Böhl 1959: Taf. 12. Fragment D: K 8214 (British Museum, London). Virtual parallel to the end of Fragment B with additions. Strong 1894; Furlani 1929: 132; Picchioni 1981: 122–23, 137–41, 165 (fig. 5), tav. VI. Photograph also in Böhl 1959: Taf. 12. Fragment E: K 9994 (British Museum, London). A small fragment probably representing a different recension of the myth. Von Soden 1976: 429–30; Picchioni 1981: 95–6, tav. IV–V. A cuneiform copy is published here for the first time, courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum. The notation “Fragment E” is introduced here.

In addition to these fragments, one may note a possible title to the myth. The catalog of literary texts Rm 618 (Bezold 1889–99: 4.1627) lists a title of a work on Adapa (line 3): a-da-pà a-na qé-reb an[-e] Adapa into heaven (. . .) Picchioni (1981: 87 n. 244) suggested that this might be an incipit of the first verse of the myth; Talon (1990: 44, 54) agrees (see further Hallo 1963: 176; cf. Lambert 1962: 73–74). It is difficult to see how this line could have been the opening verse of any of the versions known to us, since both Fragment A and Fragment B seem to have opened differently (cf., for Fragment B, p. 108, and, for a literary analysis of Fragment A, pp. 112–13). It may perhaps be suggested that this was a title rather than an incipit (thus also Röllig 1987: 50), because we know that Adapa’s ascent to heaven is also referred to elsewhere (p. 4). Von Soden, while suggesting the attribution of K 9994 (= Fragment E) to this myth (cf. also Borger 1975: 62, following Lambert), also made some observations concerning K 10147, saying that although the attribution of this fragment to the myth is doubtful, it may have formed part of the beginning of the text, before the extant Fragment A (von Soden 1976: 431; already Bezold 1894b: 405 n. 1). This

Spread is short 1 pica

Introduction

7

and other small fragments mentioning Adapa or relating to this figure have been collected by Picchioni (1981). 2 A Sumerian version of Adapa from the OB period has been discovered at Tell Haddad (ancient Meturan) and has been announced by Cavigneaux and al-Rawi (1993: 92–93). The Sumerian version is reported to be similar to the Akkadian version. It includes “an incantation-like passage” at the end, as does the Akkadian version represented by Fragment D. Furthermore, the myth is the second part of a longer narrative, the first part of which describes the time just following the deluge and describes the feeding of the gods and the organization of mankind. The discovery of the myth of Adapa and the South Wind immediately attracted wide attention. Its ideology and its correspondence to the intellectual heritage of Western religions precipitated flourishing studies of this myth, both philological and substantive. Many translations have appeared during the past century, shedding light on various aspects of the myth and its characters. Picchioni (1981) made use of the scholarly work that preceded him, but following his monograph further studies and new translations of the Adapa narrative appeared (among which were Michalowski 1980; Müller 1983–84; Dalley 1989; Talon 1990; Dietrich 1991; Izre'el 1991a; Müller 1991; Dietrich 1993; Foster 1993; Izre'el 1993: 52–57; 1997: 43–50; Kämerer 1998: 254–59). 3 Picchioni’s monograph marked a turning point in the Assyriological study of the myth and became the standard edition of the myth. There are several reasons for this: first, it summarized the diverging views published in the secondary literature. Second, 2. Borger (1975: 62) suggested a possible attribution of the BM fragment DT 227 to the Adapa myth. This is a small fragment of a literary text, which bears upon its surface and side three holes. The remains are: (1) ]ªkuº (2) ]ªir ?º-di (3) ] kimin (4) ]†e4-hi-su (5) ]x-mu-su (6) ]x sum-sú-nu (7) ]ªiº-sal-lu (8) ] u kar-ri (9) ]x-a-lu-sú (1) ] . . (2) ]he drove(?) (3) ] ditto (4) ]his approaching (5) ]they . . . him (?) (6) ] . . their name (7) ]they submerge themselves (8) ] and the harbor (9) ]they . . . him (?) On the reverse there are remains of the respective last signs of three lines, perhaps of lines 2–4 or 3–5. This fragment was listed in Bezold’s Catalogue (Bezold 1889–99: 4.1561) as “part of a religious text”; it is published here courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum. It does not seem to be related in any way to the myth of Adapa and the South Wind, nor does it seem to have anything to do with the persona of Adapa. Kinnier Wilson has published a “fragment in poor condition belonging to an unidentified composition” (K 4476), about which he mentions that “Adapa has been considered” (Kinnier Wilson 1990: 88, #4). 3. Unfortunately, I could not make use Kämerer’s study, which was published after this study had gone to the publisher.

8

Introduction

Picchioni’s critical edition of the text was solid and up to date. Third, his study established (although not without precedent; see Böhl 1953: 149–50; 1959; Hecker 1974: in passing, index: p. 214; cf. already Zimmern in Gunkel 1895: 420–21 n. 2) that the structure of the text (more specifically, the Amarna fragment) must be viewed as verse. 4 This enhanced our understanding of the text as a piece of literature (cf. von Soden 1984: 227–30; Izre'el 1991a). However, in spite of comprehensive treatment of the personae and symbols of the myth, Picchioni’s treatment of the narrative itself was remarkably brief (cf. Xella 1983). It is precisely with this in mind that I am publishing the present study: I am unveiling the myth of Adapa and the South Wind as mythos, as story. To do this, I will analyze the underlying concepts through extensive treatment of form. First I offer an edition of the extant fragments of the myth, including the transliterated Akkadian text, a translation, and a philological commentary. As the reader will see, I consider language the salient and crucial part of any textual treatment, especially one that analyzes the overt and covert meanings of a myth. I cannot overemphasize the need for thorough philological and linguistic analysis before discussing meaning, even though some interpretations are merely the result of context-realizations. The analysis of poetic form that follows will then lead to analyzing the myth as a piece of literature and to uncovering its meaning—or rather, meanings. This study therefore marks another phase in the long, extensive, and neverceasing research into this abysmal Mesopotamian myth. 5 Being just one of many human beings allured to and intrigued by this tale told in ancient times to a more understanding audience than ours, I wish to share with my own audience both my interpretation and my impression of this particular myth, as well as the methodology that I have adopted for my inquiry. Within these confines, I hope that this study will have something to offer to the more general study of the Mesopotamian, especially the Akkadian, mythological texts. 4. Cf. Böhl 1959: 421: “Die Widerherstellung der metrischen Enteilung auch beim (als Prosa Geschriebenen) Amarna-Fragment (B) ist eine interessante Aufgabe.” 5. In this study I also hope to determine, recapitulate, and update our knowledge of the Akkadian recensions of this myth, which might also serve us well in the study of its relationship to the recently found Sumerian recension (see p. 7).

Chapter 1

Texts and Fragments Fragment A Obverse Column i 1u. [x (x) s]im-tum x x [ 2u. [q]í-bit-su ki-ma qí-bit d[anu(1)] ªlu?º ªúº ªma? º x x [x] 3u. ªuºz-na rapasta(dagal-tum) ú-sak-lil-sú ú-ßu-rat mati (kur) kul !(mu)-lu-mu 4u. ana sú-a-tú né-me-qa iddissu(sum-sú) napista(zi-tam) da-rí-tam ul iddissu(sum-sú) 5u. ina u4-me-su-ma ina sa-na-a-ti si-na-a-ti ap-kal-lum ªmarº(ªdumuº) eri-du[10] 6u. dé-a ki-ma rid-di ina a-me-lu-ti ib-ni-su 7u. ap-kal-lum qí-bit-su ma-am-man ul ú-sam-sak 8u. le-é-um at-ra ha-si-sa sá da-nun-na-ki su-ma 9u. ªeºb-bu el-lam qa-ti pa-si-sú mus-te-ª-ú par-ßi 10u. [i]t-ti nu-ha-tim-me nu-ha-tim-mu-ta ip-pu-us 11u. [i]t-ti nu-ha-tim-me sá eri-du10 kimin 12u. ªaº-ka-la u me-e sá eri-du10 u4-mi-sam-ma ip-pu-us 13u. [in]a qá-ti-su el-le-ti pa-ás-su-ra i-rak-kas 14u. [in]a ba-lu-us-su pa-ás-su-ra ul ip-pa†-†ar 15u. eleppa([gi]ß.má) ú-ma-har ßu.ku6.ud.da-ku-tam sá eri-du10 ip-pu-us 16u. ªìº-nu-mi-sú a-da-pa mar (dumu) eri-du10 17u. nadi (ßub) dé-a ina ma-a-a-li ina sá-da-di 18u. [u]4-mi-sam-ma si-ga-ar eri-du10 is-sá-ár 19u. [ina k]a-a-ri el-li kar(kar) uskari(u4.sakar) sahhita(giß.má.ßà.˘a) ir-kab-ma 20u. [ba-lu giß.s]í-kan-ni-ma eleppa (giß.má)-sú iq-qé-lep-pu 21u. [ba-lu giß.gi-]mus-si-ma eleppa(giß.má)-sú ú-mah-har 22u. [x x x x ina ta]ªmº-ªti º ra-pa-ás-ti 23u. [x x x x x x x x x x] ªú?º[ 9

10

Chapter 1

Column ii 1u. ana? [ 2u. a-[ 3u. a-[ 4u. a-d [a? 5u. ana k [a? 6u. ina m[a? 7u. a-na[ 8u. man[ 9u. a[ß ? Reverse broken Translation Column i 1u. [ . . d]estiny? . . . [ 2u. Let? his [s]peech be? . . . [ . . ] like the speech of [Anu.] 3u. He perfected him with great intelligence, to give instruction about the ordinance of the earth. 4u. To him he gave wisdom, he did not give him eternal life. 5u. In those days, in those years, the sage, a native of Eridu, 6u. Ea made him (his) follower among people. 7u. The sage’s speech—no one repudiates; 8u. Skilled, foremost in understanding, of the Anunnaki is he: 9u. Pure, clean handed, anointed, solicitous after rites: 10u. [W]ith the cooks he performs the duties of a cook, 11u. [W]ith the cooks of Eridu ditto: 12u. He daily prepares the food and drink of Eridu; 13u. [Wi]th his clean hands he sets the table, 14u. [Wi]thout him the table is not cleared; 15u. He steers the [b]oat, he does the fishing for Eridu. 16u. At that time, Adapa, a native of Eridu, 17u. —Ea lying, lingering in bed— 18u. Would [da]ily attend to the (gate-)bolt of Eridu. 19u. [At the] holy [h]arbor, the Crescent Harbor, he embarked on a sailboat. 20u. [Without a r]udder his boat drifts along, 21u. [Without a pu]nting pole he steers the boat. 22u. [ . . . . . in the] wide [s]ea 23u. . . . . . Column ii 1u–9u. . . . . .

Texts and Fragments

11

Comments References to Picchioni are to his Il poemetto di Adapa (1981) in the commentary to Fragment A (pp. 127–30). Column i 1u. Although [ta-s]im-tum, which is the accepted restoration, remains a possibility, the mentioning of simtu ‘decree’ in Fragment D: 11u (sim-tam) may suggest a similar understanding of the string here. Note that Fragments A and D have some similar elements (cf. Fragment A: 2u with Fragment D: 6u, and see the literary analysis on p. 116). Cf. further the comment on ußurat mati (line 3u) below. 2u. Restored after Fragment D: 6u. Picchioni suggested restoring a-nu in a syllabic spelling. However, the smooth surface surrounding the break perhaps better supports the restoration of the diß sign. For Anu as d1 rather than d60, see Parpola 1993: 182–84. Picchioni, following Lambert, suggests reading ªluº? ú-ma-ªªº?-ªárº? ‘può governare’ at the end of the line. Kienast (1978: 188) follows the parallel in Fragment D: 6u (ú-at-tar ‘make greater’) more closely and suggests ªú-attiº-[ir]; Talon (1990: 54) suggests ªú-at-tarº [x x]. My own collation is not certain: lu is possible; ú probable; ma possible. However, -ª- seems to me impossible; ta or at would be preferable. The following sign has been very hard to restore. It should be noted, moreover, that there is still room for another sign at the end of the line. 3u. The phonetic complement in dagal-tum may represent a case of dissonance (cf. Kinnier Wilson 1968), but I would rather interpret this spelling as a logographic, dictionary-like form for rapasta. Note that, unlike other cases of dissonance, the final consonant of the two nouns (n in uzna, t in rapasta) are not identical. Fragment D (line 20u) probably attests to /-tu/ for the accusative in sit-tum dùg-tum ‘good sleep’. For the finalis construction of kullumu (infinitive absolute with a locative-adverbial ending), cf. Aro 1961: chap. 4. The meaning of this form, although apparently ambiguous, must be transitive (cf. CAD K 522), which may recall the fact that Adapa was known as the instructor of humanity (cf. p. 2). If so, ußurat mati would imply laws of the earth or cultural order, similar to Sumerian g i s - h u r (Farber-Flugge 1973: 183–91). 5u. While ina umisu is common as a temporal adverbial phrase (AHw 1419– 20), the use of the sign me here may indicate that the form is plural (ina umesuma), thus corresponding to the following sanati ‘years’ (cf. the apparent variant ì-nu-mi-su, line 16u). 5u–6u. The nominative case in apkallu can indicate either that it is the subject of a nominal clause (apkallu mar eridu ‘the apkallu was a native of Eridu’), as

12

Chapter 1

taken by Labat 1970: 290 and Dalley 1989: 184 or, preferably, a casus pendens, an extraposed object of the following sentence. Another possibility is that both apkallu and mar eridu are extraposed to the sentence in line 5u, with apkallu being the agent and mar eridu the patient of the verb ibnisu in line 6u, where the patient is resumed by the pronominal suffix -su. Thus parallelism exists between Ea the apkallu and Adapa the ‘native of Eridu’. 6u. Literally: ‘as a follower’. The string mes-di has been interpreted as either sed-di ‘(protective) demon’ or rid-di. The latter reading has been adopted here for two reasons: (1) a spelling that reflects a double consonant is less expected in the first case than in the second (cf. CAD S/2 256; AHw 981, 1208); (2) the meaning sedu can hardly fit this context: Adapa is not formed or made into a protective spirit (or an evil one) or a “spirit or demon representing the individual’s vital force” (CAD s.v.). As indicated in Fragment D: 12u, Adapa is conceived in this myth as a “seed of humankind” (Jensen 1928: 33), and this human is a ‘native of Eridu’ in Fragment A: 5u. Speiser’s “model” in the sense of “something to be followed” (Speiser 1950: 101 n. 1a) does not seem to me to fit. With von Soden (AHw 981 s.v. ridu 3) and Talon (1990: 44), I understand riddi as ‘follower’. This interpretation fits the context, in which Adapa is as wise as Ea, and it fits the description of Adapa’s chores as a priest of Ea. It also is consistent with the immediate context, namely, ina ameluti ‘among people’. A follower is not, in my mind, necessarily a human replacement to the god in his tasks, as von Soden (1976: 428) visualizes (this hypothesis has also been considered by other scholars, e.g., Talon 1990: 44–45). Was Ea indeed performing the cooks’ duties together with and as one of Eridu’s cooks? We must remember that people already existed when Adapa was chosen as Ea’s ‘follower’ (= devotee, disciple) ina ameluti ‘(from) among people’. The verb banû does not necessarily imply that Ea created Adapa from scratch. It may mean that he made him what he became, that is, ‘created’ in the metaphorical sense (cf. CAD B 87–88 s.v. banû A 3a2u). 8u. This verse has eluded sound, conclusive interpretation. The character described must be either Ea or Adapa. Both characters fit the attributes of the first colon but neither fits the second colon of this verse. Heidel (1951: 148 with n. 2) takes Adapa as the one being referred to and translates: ‘The skilful, the exceedingly wise among the Anunnaki was he’. Kienast (e.g., 1965: 154) takes Ea as the referent. Talon (1990: 44), who also holds this view, translates: ‘le savant, le plus intelligent des Anunnaki, c’est lui’. However, the metrical structure of this verse suggests a caesura just before sa: leªû atrahasisa | sa-anunnaki suma (cf. p. 92). Consequently, I am reluctant to accept the common interpretation of the string sa anunnaki suma as an attribute of hasisa only. Picchioni’s tempting interpretation of the particle sa as “genitivo di eccellenza” is based on a suggestion by Gordon for Ugaritic that can

Texts and Fragments

9u.

12u. 14u.

15u.

17u.

13

hardly be applied to Akkadian. It seems to me very unlikely that there was a need to mention that Ea was part of the Anunnaki or even to emphasize that Ea was the wisest of them. I have already objected to the view that Ea is the referent here, for extralinguistic reasons (cf. the comment to line 6u). Furthermore, if Adapa were wiser than the Anunnaki, the statement in line 3u would be contradicted, namely, that Adapa was given knowledge of only the earth and not knowledge of both heaven and earth (for the significance of this distinction, see pp. 115–17). Only the Anunnaki, who are gods, possess knowledge of both earth and heaven. 6 Thus, it is also hard for me to accept the attractive suggestion by Denning-Bolle (1992: 46): “with broad understanding (of what belongs) to the Anunnaki” (cf. also Foster 1993: 430). Moreover, the epithet atra hasis is so clearly required here that the division of the epithet into its two components is unlikely. (The -a ending of hasisa should be regarded merely as attraction to the first component of the expression or conflation between two doublets of the term: atra hasis and the later atar hasisa; cf. von Soden 1960: 166; Reiner 1984: 178.) I suggest that the second colon of this verse be regarded as an independent nominal clause, taking the phrase sa anunnaki as an independent possessive phrase. This might be rendered either as Adapa’s being part of the Anunnaki (cf. Dalley 1989: 184) or as his being their servant. Since Adapa is human and the Anunnaki are gods, he can hardly be referred to as one of them. Thus, the latter suggestion is to be preferred. Note that his tasks as a cultic servant appear immediately following. As noted by Picchioni, the two cola include words that are synonyms of each other: ebbu = ella qati | pasisu = musteªªu parßi. Thus, pasisu implies the ‘anointed’ priest (cf. Renger 1969: 143–44, 160–72). Literally: ‘food and water’. The accusative form of passura seems to have resulted from attraction to the form in the preceding line, where the same word forms a complement to the verb (von Soden 1976: 428). For the reading of the sign sequence ßu.ku6.ud.da-ku-tam, see Picchioni’s discussion; AHw 1260 s.v. suhaddaku and suhaddakutu; also Salonen 1970: 46–48. For umahhar see the comment to line 21u. All previous suggestions rely on the assumption that there was one broken sign preceding the first visible sign (cf. Picchioni). Although the beginning of the sign is slightly broken, it can hardly be any other than ru (pace CAD

6. It is very unlikely that the Anunnaki mentioned here are gods of the netherworld as opposed to the gods of heaven (the Igigi; cf. Kienast 1965: 145–46). Adapa—or Ea—would not be connected to the chthonic world, at least not before the incident that brought about his celestial visit.

14

Chapter 1

M/1 118, cited by Foster 1993: 434) and, in any case, it is definitely the first sign of this line. Hence I suggest, in accordance with the second part of the line, reading ßub for nadi with the meaning ‘lying (in bed)’ (cf. CAD N/1 92). For a very similar, though not identical, context, cf. nadima enkidu isten um [sanâ uma] sa enkidu ina mayyalisu [. . .] ‘Enkidu lies a day, [a second day] that Enkidu [. . .] in his bed” (Gilgames VII vi: 7, cited also in CAD N/1 92). The two cola of this verse consequently form semantic parallelism within the syntactical frame of circumstantiality: the first colon is in the form of a sentence; the second is in the form of an infinitival construction (cf. Aro 1961: 251). 18u. The reading of the first sign is confirmed by the corresponding line (line 3’) in Fragment A1. For sigaru ‘bolt, gate-bolt’, see Potts 1990. Here it may stand for ‘gate’, in a synecdochic use (cf. CAD S/2 409–410). The exact meaning of issar here, commonly translated by ‘attend to’ (which can have a wide range of senses), is unclear. Because sigar eridu is its object and because the immediately following context refers to going out to the sea, it may mean something like ‘loosen the bolt’ or ‘open the gate’ (‘head toward the gate’ would imply issir rather than issar). Picchioni follows Böhl in translating ‘il santuario di Eridu provvedeva di cibo’ (cf. CAD A/2 s.v. asaru A; for the rendering of sigaru, see Picchioni’s commentary to this line). Dalley (1989: 184), with a similar understanding of the verb, translates ‘used to “feed” the bolt of Eridu’, interpreting this as a ritual (p. 188 n. 4). 19u. The precise meaning and connotations of (the term?) kar u4.sakar are still unknown to us (cf. Picchioni). Borger (in Schramm 1974: 163) suggested the reading kar tam-hir, but no plausible translation has been offered; furthermore, the -W ending implied in Borger’s reading is unwarranted. 21u. According to CAD M/1 67–68, muhhuru implies that the boat sails upstream, the context here and in line 15u being taken as exceptional (p. 68). Yet, there is no reason to separate the relevant occurrences of this verb into two categories of submeanings since, according to the evidence of the citations given in the CAD, muhhuru implies just the sailing or steering of a boat, the direction being implied only from geographical indications or knowledge of the world. Even the parallelism with neqelpû ‘drift’ (line 20u) does not necessarily imply sailing upstream for umahhar here, since neqelpû may mean just drifting, downstream being only an implication. Moreover, the change from intransitive to transitive may be the only reason to change lexemes. Note further that Eridu is depicted as being located directly at the seashore (p. 140 n. 43). Hence, I cannot accept Foster’s suggestion that here (in contrast to its employment in line 15u) umahhar implies an upstream direction and is used as “signs of superior ability” (Foster 1993: 430 n. 2).

Texts and Fragments

15

Column ii Schramm suggested that the traces on lines 3u–9u of this column are parallel to Fragment B: 22u–25u. He restored, accordingly: (3u) a-[na (4u) a-d[apa (5u) x (x) (6u) ina m[a-a-ti-ni (7u) a-na[-ku (8u) man[-nu (9u) ªdº[dumu-zi.

Fragment A1 Obverse 1u. ªeleppaº(ªmáº) ªúº-ªmaº-ªhar?º ß[u? 2u. ì-nu-mi-sú a-d [a-pa 3u. u4-mi-sam-ma s [i 4u. ina ka-a-ri e[l-li 5u. ba-lu giß.s[í-kan-ni-ma 6u. ba-lu[ giß.gi-mus-si-ma 7u. ina ti [-a-am-ti(?) 8u. i-n[a? 9u. ˘a[ Reverse broken Translation 1u. 2u. 3u. 4u. 5u. 6u. 7u. 8u. 9u.

He steers the boat, [he does the] f[ishing for Eridu.] At that time, Ad[apa, a native of Eridu,] [Would] daily [attend to the (gate-)]b[olt of Eridu.] At the h[oly] harbor, [the Crescent Harbor, he embarked on a sailboat.] Without a r[udder his boat drifts along,] Without [a punting pole he steers the boat.] In the [wide?] s[ea? ..[.. fish?[

Comments This fragment is a duplicate of Fragment A: 15uff. The following comparison shows the differences between the two fragments: A1 1u. A 15u.

ªeleppaº(ªmáº) ªúº-ªmaº-ªhar?º ß[u? eleppa([gi]ß.má) ú-ma-har ßu.ku6.ud.da-ku-tam sá eri-du10 ip-pu-us

A1 2u. A 16u.

ì-nu-mi-sú a-d[a-pa ªìº-nu-mi-sú a-da-pa mar(dumu) eri-du10

A1 A 17u.

——— nadi(ßub) dé-a ina ma-a-a-li ina sá-da-di

A1 3u. A 18u.

u4-mi-sam-ma s[i [u]4-mi-sam-ma si-ga-ar eri-du10 is-sá-ár

16

Chapter 1 A1 4u. A 19’.

ina ka-a-ri e[l-li [ina k]a-a-ri el-li kar(kar) uskari(u4.sakar) sahhita(giß.má.ßà.˘a) ir-kab-ma

A1 5u. A 20u.

ba-lu giß.s[í-kan-ni-ma [ba-lu giß.s]í-kan-ni-ma eleppa(giß.má)-sú iq-qé-lep-pu

A1 6u. A 21u.

ba-lu[ giß.gi-mus-si-ma [ba-lu giß.gi-]mus-si-ma eleppa(giß.má)-sú ú-mah-har

A1 7u. A 22u.

ina ti[-a-am-ti(?) [x x x x ina ta]ªmº-ªtiº ra-pa-ás-ti

A1 8u. A 23u.

i-n[a? [x x x x x x x x x x] ªú?º[

A1 A

˘a[ [

9u.

Fragment B Obverse 1u. 2u. 3u. 4u. 5u. 6u. 7u. 8u. 9u. 10u. 11u. 12u. 13u.

e-ªpºu[-us? su-ú-tu• x [ a-na pí-i t[u? x i]a ªúº-ªsaº-am-ßi i x[ su-ú-tu• [sa?-a?-]ra-ni• ah-he-e-ki• ma-la i-[ ka-a-[ap-pa-]ki lu-ú-se-bi-ir• ki-ma• i-na pí-i-s[u i ]q-bu-ªúº sa[ su-ú]-ti ka-ap-pa-sa• it-te-es-bi-ir• 7 ú-ªmiº• [su-ú-t]u a-na ma-a-ti• ú-ul i-zi-iq-qá• da-nu [a-na s]u-uk-ka-li-su• di-la-ab-ra-at• i-sa-a[s]-si• [amº-mi-ni• su-ú-tu• is-tu 7 ú-mi a-na ma-a-ti• la i-zi-qá• [s]u-uk-ka-la-su• i-la-ab-ra-at• i-pa-al-su• bé-[e-l ]i• Ia-da-pa• ma-ar• dé-a sa su-ú-ti• ka-ap-pa-sa• is-te-bi-ir• da-nu a-ma-ta• an-ni-ta• i-na se-e-mi-[s]u il-si na-ra-ru• it-ti-bi i-na ku-us-si-su• su-p[u?-ur?-ma? li?-i]l ?-qù-ni-su•

14u. 15u. 16u. 17u. 18u. 19u.

an-ni ?-ka-a• dé-a sa sa-me-e i-de• il-pu-us-[sú?]-m[a] [Ia-da-pa(?)]• ªma?º-ªlaº-ªaº• ªusº-te-es-si-su• ka-a-ar-r ªaº• [ul-ta-al-bi-is-sú †e-]ªeº-ma• i-sa-ak-ka-an-su• [Ia-da-pa a-na pa-ni da-ni s ]ar-ri§ at-ta ta-la-ak• [a-na sa-me-e te-el-li-m]a(?)• a-na s [a-me-]e• [i-na ]ªeº-li-k[a a-na ba-ab da-ni i-na †e4-]ªhi ?º-ªka?º

Texts and Fragments

17

2u. The most significant difference between the two fragments is the absence of Fragment A: 17u from the text of Fragment A1. Schramm (1974: 162) suggests that it may have been inscribed together with the previous verse on line 2u. However, one might also consider the possibility that the missing verse is additional to an alleged original text, the latter preserved in Fragment A1. If so, this may explain the unusual word order manifest in this verse (p. 70). 5u. sí (zi) probable; si not excluded. 7u. My collation (p. 175) confirms Schramm’s reading. This form of ti occurs also in Fragment E: 11. The restoration is according to Fragment A: 22u (already Picchioni 1981: 130, who restores ti-[a-ma-ti . . .]). 8u. If the second sign is indeed na, the string i-na may have been the beginning of a longer word. The preposition ina is always written with the aß sign in any of the late fragments (but cf. a-na, Fragment D: 14u, similar form). 9u. Schramm (1974: 162) suggests ˘a.[meß(?)] for ‘fish’.

Translation Obverse “. . . 1u. I di[d (?) 2u. O? South Wind . . [ 3u. I? . . . . . according to [m]y . . [ . . . Call,?] 4u. O? South Wind, [the (other) win]ds, your brothers! As much as they[ 5u. I shall break your wi[ng].” As soon as he spoke, 6u. the South Wind’s wing broke. Seven days 7u. [the South Wi]nd did not blow toward the land. Anu 8u. cried to his minister, Ilabrat: 9u. [“W]hy hasn’t the South Wind blown for seven days toward the land?” 10u. His [m]inister, Ilabrat, answered him: “My lo[rd], 11u. Adapa, Ea’s son, broke the South Wind’s 12u. wing.” Anu, upon hearing this, 13u. cried, “Help!” (and) got up from his throne. “Se[nd? (someone) to b]ring him 14u. here!” Ea, who knows heaven, touched 15u. [Adapa?], made him wear (his) hair unkempt, [dressed him] 16u. in a mourning garment, and gave him instructions: 17u. [“Adapa,] you are going [to K]ing [Anu], 18u. [you will ascend to heaven. When y]ou have ascended 19u. to heaven, [when you have app]roached [Anu’s gate],

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20u. 21u. 22u. 23u.

[i-n]a ba-a-bu• da-n[i ddumu-zi ù dgiz-zi-]ªdºa• iz-za-az-zu• im-ma-ru-ka il-t[a?-n]a-a-ªlu?º-ka ªe†º[-lu] a-na ma-a-ni• ka-a e-ma-ta• Ia[-da-p]a• a-na ma-an-ni ka-ar-ra• la-ab-sa-ta• i-na ma-a-ti-ni• i-lu si-na§ ha-al-[q]ú-ma•

24u. 25u. 26u. 27u. 28u. 29u. 30u. 31u. 32u. 33u. 34u. 35u. 36u.

a-na-ku• a-ka-na• ep-se-e-ku• ma-an-nu• i-lu• se-na• sa i-na§ ma-a-ti• ha-al-qú• ddumu-zi• ù dgiz-zi-da• su-nu• a-ha-mi-is• ip-pa-la-sú-ma• iß-ße-né-eh-hu• su-nu• a-ma-ta da-mi-iq-ta• a-na da-ni• ªiº-ªqáº-ab-bu-ú• pa•-ni• ba-nu-ti• sa da-ni• su-nu• ú-ka-la-mu-ka• a-na pa-ni• da-ni i-na ú-zu-zi-ka• a-ka-la• sa mu-ti• ú-ka-lu-ni-ik-ku-ma• la-a§ ta-ka-al• me-e mu-ú-ti• ú-ka-lu-ni-ik-ku-ma• la ta-sa-at-ti• lu-ú-ba-ra• ú-ka-lu-ni-ik-ku-ma• ªliº-it-ba-as• sa-am-na• ú-ka-lu-ni-ku-ma• pí-is-sa-as• †e-e-ma• sa ás-ku-nu-ka• la te-mé-ek-ki• a-ma-ta• sa aq-ba-ku• lu ßa-ab-ta-ta• ma-ar si-ip-ri• sa da-ni• ik-ta-al-da• Ia-da-pa sa su-ú-ti• [k]a-ap-pa-sa• is-bi-ir• a-na mu-hi-ia• su-bi-la-ás-su•

Reverse 37u. [har-r]a-an ªsaº-me-e§ ú-se-eß-bi-is-sú-ma§ ªaº[-n]a sa-me-e i-t [e-li-m]a?• 38u. a-na sa-me-e• i-na e-li-su• a-na ba-ab da-ni• i-na †e4-hi-su 39u. i-na ba-a-bu• da-ni• ddumu-zi• dgiz-zi-da• iz-za-az-zu• 40u. i-mu-ru-su-ma• Ia-da-pa• il-su-ú na-ra-ru• 41u. e†-lu• a-na ma-an-ni• ka-a e-ma-a-ta• a-da-pa• 42u. a-na ma-an-ni• ka-ar-ra• la-ab-sa-a-ta• 43u. i-na ma-ti• i-lu se-e-na• ha-al-qú-ma• a-na-ku ka-ar-ra• 44u. la-ab-sa-ku• ma-an-nu i-ªluº ªsiº-na§ sa i-na ma-a-ti§ ha-al-qú• 45u. 46u. 47u. 48u. 49u. 50u. 51u. 52u. 53u. 54u. 55u. 56u. 57u.

ddumu-zi• ªdºªgizº-zi-da

a-ha-mi-ªisº• ip-pa-al-su-ma§ iß-ße-né-eh-hu• Ia-da-pa• a-na pa-ni• da-ni •sar-ri• i-na qé-re-bi-su• i-mu-ur-su-ma§ da-nu il-si-ma al-ka• Ia-da-pa• am-mi-ni• sa su-ú-ti ka-ap-pa-sa• te-e-es-bi-ir• Ia-da-pa• da-na ip-pa-al be-lí• a-na bi-it• be-lí-ia• i-na qá-a-ab-la-at ta-am-ti nu-ni• a-ba-ar§ ta-am-ta i-na mé-se-li in-si-il-ma• su-ú-tu i-zi-qá-am-ma• ia-a-si• u†-†e-eb-ba-an-ni• [a-n]a bi-it• be-lí• ul-ta-am-ßi-il§ i-na ug-ga-at• li-ib-bi-ia§ [x(-x)-s]a?• ªaºt-ta-za-ar• ip-pa-lu• i-da-ªsu?º[ ddu]m[u-zi] [ù] dªgizº-zi-ªdaº ªaº-ªmaº-ªsúº ªbaº-ªni ? º-ªtaº ªaº-ªnaº da-ªniº i-qá-ab-bu-ú• it-tu-uªhº li-ib-ba-su is-sà-ku-at• am-mi-ni• dé-a• a-mi-lu-ta§ la ba-ni-ta• sa• sa-me-e§

Texts and Fragments 20u. 21u. 22u. 23u. 24u. 25u. 26u. 27u. 28u. 29u. 30u. 31u. 32u. 33u. 34u. 35u. 36u.

19

[a]t An[u]’s gate [Dumuzi and Gizzi]da will be standing. They will see you; they will que[st]ion you: ‘You there, for whom are you changed this way? A[dap]a, for whom are you dressed in a mourning garment?’ ‘From our land two gods are missing, and so I have done this.’ ‘Who are the two gods that are missing from the land?’ ‘Dumuzi and Gizzida.’ They will look at each other and smile; they will say something good to Anu; they will show you the favorable face of Anu. When you stand before Anu, you will be offered food of death; do not eat! You will be offered water of death; do not drink! You will be offered a garment; dress! You will be offered oil; anoint! Do not neglect the order I gave you; you must keep to what I said to you.” The messenger of Anu arrived: “Adapa broke the South Wind’s wing. Send him to me!”

Reverse 37u. He put him on the [ro]ad to heaven, and he ascended to heaven. 38u. When he ascended to heaven, when he approached Anu’s gate, 39. at Anu’s gate Dumuzi and Gizzida were standing. 40u. They saw Adapa and cried: “Help! 41u. You there, for whom are you changed this way? Adapa, 42u. for whom are you dressed in a mourning garment?” 43u. “From the land two gods are missing, and so I am dressed 44u. in a mourning garment.” “Who are the two gods that are missing from the land?” 45u. “Dumuzi and Gizzida.” They looked at each other and 46u. smiled. When Adapa approached the presence of King Anu, 47u. Anu saw him and cried: 48u. “Come! Adapa, why did you break the wing 49u. of the South Wind?” Adapa answered Anu: “My lord! 50u. For my lord’s household I was catching fish 51u. in the middle of the sea. He cut the sea in half, 52u. the South Wind blew, and me—she drowned. 53u. I was plunged into the lord’s house. In the rage of my heart 54u. I cursed [he]r?.” [Du]m[uzi] [and] Gizzida answered (standing) at his sides, 55u. they recited his good speech 56u. to Anu. His heart calmed, he became silent. 57u. “Why did Ea expose to a human what is bad

20 58u. 59u. 60u. 61u. 62u. 63u. 64u. 65u. 66u. 67u. 68u. 69u. 70u. 71u.

Chapter 1 ù er-ße-e-ti• ú-ki-il-li-in-si• li-ib-ba§ ka-ab-ra• is-ku-un-su• su-ªúº-ma• i-te-pu-us-su• ni-nu• mi-na-a• ni-ip-pu-u[s-s]u• a-ka-al ba-la-†i• le-qá-ni-su-um-ma• li-kul•[ a-k]a-al ba-la-†i [i ]l-qù-ni-su-um-ma• ú-ul i-k[u-]ul• me-e ba-la-†i [i ]l-qù-ni-su-um-ma§ ú-ul il [-ti ]• lu-ba-ra• [il-q]ù-ni-su-um-ma• it-ta-al-ªba?º-as sa-am-na• [il ]-qù-ni-su-um-ma• it-ta-ap-si-is• id-gu-ul-su-ma• da-nu• iß-ßi-ih i-na mu-hi-su• al-ka§ Ia-da-pa• am-mi-ni• la ta-ku-ul• la ta-al-ti-ma• la ba-al-†a-ta ªaº-a ni-si da-a-l [a?-t]i• dé-a• be-lí• iq-ba-a• la ta-ªkaº-al• la§ ta-s [a-a]t-ti• ªl ºi-i-ªqá ?º-ªsu?º-ªma?º•[ te?-e]r?-ra-su• a-ªnaº qá-qá-ri-su [x x x x x x x x x x x x (x) ]x-ul-x[

Comments References to Picchioni are to his Il poemetto di Adapa (1981) in the commentary to Fragment B (pp. 131–36). References to Knudtzon are to his edition of the text in Die el-Amarna-Tafeln (1915: 964–69). References to Schroeder are to his cuneiform copy in VS XII (1915: #194; reproduced below, pp. 177, 179). Except for a few lines at the beginning of the obverse (and at the end of the reverse), there was a gap in the middle of the obverse at the time of the find. An unsuccessful later restoration attempt resulted in deformation and the loss of many readable parts, especially on the obverse. Judging from its proportions, the size of the tablet at the time of discovery seems to have been close to its original size in antiquity (cf. Kienast 1973: 236; 1978: 181 with n. 4 on p. 196). Its color, however, has probably changed, and it is now dark red. Because of the changes in the shape of the tablet, conditions for collation are very poor at present. Fortunately, Knudtzon, in a collated transliteration (1899: 128–30), and—following Knudtzon’s masterly edition of the Amarna tablets (1907 = 1915, vol. 1)—Schroeder, in a good hand copy, had recorded the original shape of the tablet and its cuneiform text. Hence, much, although not all, of the transliteration presented in this edition follows my predecessors and my own former treatments of the text (Izre'el 1991a; 1992; 1993; 1997: 43–50). The Amarna fragment of the Adapa myth has red-tinted points applied on the tablet at specific intervals. (For the significance of these points, see pp. 81–106.) With regard to the red points, I have mainly followed the observations of Knudtzon. I have also inserted points that were observed by

Texts and Fragments 58u. 59u. 60u. 61u. 62u. 63u. 64u. 65u. 66u. 67u. 68u. 69u. 70u. 71u.

21

in heaven and earth? (Why did he) establish a ‘fat heart’ (in) him? He is the one who has done this; (and) we, what can we do (for) him? Bring him the food of life, that he may eat.” He was brought the [fo]od of life; he did not e[a]t. [H]e was brought the water of life; he did not dr[ink]. [He was br]ought a garment; he dressed. [He was b]rought oil; he anointed. Anu looked at him; he laughed at him: “Come, Adapa, why did you not eat or drink? Hence you shall not live! Alas for inferior humanity!” “Ea my lord told me: ‘Do not eat, do not dr[i]nk!’ ” “Take? him? and [retu]rn? him to >his