The Statue of Idri-mi 1912090848, 9781912090846

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T H E STATUE OF IDRI-MI

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I

8IR LEONARD WOOLLEY,

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_*

LL.D,

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PubWed by 'ThE BRTTeH INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY l[N ANECARA 56 QUEEN ANNE S m B 3 ' LONDON, w* I

FRONTISPIECE

OCCASIONAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE BRITISH INSTITUTE O F ARCHAEOLOGY I N ANKARA No.

I

T H E S T A T U E OF IDRI-MI by

SIDNEY SMITH School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

With an Introduction by

SIR LEONARD WOOLLEY, D.Litt., LL.D.

Published by T H E BRITISH I N S T I T U T E O F ARCHAEOLOGY I N ANKARA 56 QUEEN ANNE STREET LONDON, W.I

Price 251- nett

CONTENTS PAGE

Preface ...

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Introductioni . The Statue. by Sir Leonard Woolley

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111

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... I1. Grammar ... ... I11. Idri-mi's Kingdom ...

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ii . The Inscription Abbreviations

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The Biography of Idri-mi

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CommentaryI . Orthography

IV . Chronology ...

V. The Personal Names

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13 14

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58 69

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Appendix : Lake Jabbiil. by Miss V . Seton-Williams

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VI . The Events Recorded VII . The Gods

Vocabulary

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PLATES . The Statue

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Photographs of Text

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Copy of Text

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Sign List

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MAP . Northern Syria about 1400 B.c.. with index

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End

PREFACE

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The inscribed statue found by Sir Leonard Woolley in the excavations at 'Afshana, which is published in this brochure, arrived in the British Museum in the early summer of 1939, at a time when the technical staff of the department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities was engaged on work required for the re-arrangement of exhibition in galleries closed since 1932. Work on cleaning and preserving the surface of the statue was barely begun when the figure had to be repacked and placed in safety owing to the conditions of modern war, in early September of the same year. I t was not possible to examine the figure again till the summer of 1947, when it was unpacked, cleaned and repaired. A translation of the inscription was read at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries in December, 1947, when Sir Leonard Woolley reported on his excavations during the spring of 1947. Mr. P. M. Game, of the Department*of Minerals, Natural History Museum (British Museum), has very kindly supplied a note on the stone. Mr. Mackay, of the Royal Geographical Society, drew the blank map which has been the basis of the map included here, giving suggested locations of ancient cities and political units discussed. To both of these gentlemen our grateful thanks are due. I have to thank Sir Leonard Woolley for entrusting the publication of this inscription to me, and the technical staff of the department in the British Museum, where the figure is now in place and ready for exhibition, for much kindly help and assistance in making it possible to read the curving surfaces. I am specially indebted to my friend Professor S. R. K. Glanville, F.B.A., for very kindly reading and correcting the parts of the Commentary dealing with Egyptian texts, though he is in no way responsible for the views expressed, or deficiencies of type, and to Miss Seton-Williams for the extracts from various sources concerning Lake Jabbiil printed in the Appendix. My colleague Professor Wittek very kindly translated for me an account of the localities round the Gulf of Issus from Turkish, and I ask him to accept my thanks tendered here. The edition presented in these pages is meant for those who can only read such texts with the assistance of vocabularies, and will welcome the material justifying the interpretation, in so far as matter discussed is not easily available. For the specialist, the detqil in photographs of the text should in general be sufficient, but it has not been possible to avoid distortion of signs in the photographs, or even omissions, owing to the curvature of the surface. Perhaps a word of warning as to the proposal of new readings will not be out of place. Photographs of cuneiform inscriptions are never absolutely reliable when reading characters which

iv

PREFACE.

alter their appearance owing to the incidence of light ; incorrect readings said to be ' according to photo.' sometimes arise from misplaced shadow. In the present inscription, particularly, only autopsy should be a justification of correction in decipherment. The first edition of an inscription, particularly in the case of a shallow cutting, where the mason's work has been badly done, and the scribal copy, from which the mason worked employed unusual or otherwise unknown forms of signs, is bound to need many corrections. I apologise for my errors in advance ; such errors should be attributed, not to lack of care, but either to mere ignorance or inability to foresee the possibilities that may present themselves to others. The cost of this publication has been borne by the British Institute of Archaeology in Ankara. Owing to the generosity of that body, I have been enabled to add a commentary which will, it is hoped, put the reader in possession of information as to the material in other historical sources on which the interpretation of the statue inscription should depend. I tender my humble thanks to the Committee of the Institute for their interest in this work. SIDNEYSMITH. LONDON, 26th January, 1949.

i. The Statue. The statue of king Idri-mi was found a t Atshana-Alalakh in the spring of 1939. We were clearing the site of a temple which, as was subsequently proved, was founded in the 14th century R.C. (our archaeological Level 111),was destroyed and rebuilt on a somewhat different plan in the succeeding period (Level 11) and was again remodelled in drastic fashion in the next period (Level I). During this last period the building underwent further modifications and, in the latter part of it, suffered much from neglect ; it was finally destroyed, probably at the time when the whole city was sacked and burnt by the Peoples of the Sea in their great migratory movement a t the beginning of the twelfth century B.C1 I t was in the ruins of this latest and decadent building that the discovery was made.

FIG. 1.-Atshana, Temple of Level I Phase B. RePvoduced b~ permission of the Society of Antiquaries of Lowdon.

Thanks to the denudation of the soil the ruins lay close to the modern surface but had not been disturbed in recent times ; the sanctuary, which was raised and approached by a flight of stone steps, had indeed disappeared. but the courtyard below it, although little remained of its walls, was littered I t is true that some very heavy stone foundations lying a t a higher level showed that there had been a t least an attempt to reconstruct the temple in what we call Level 0 ; but I am inclined to think that this was part of an abortive effort a t re-settlement made after the wave of invasion had passed.

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THE STATUE

with objects belonging to the final phase of the temple's existence. A columned gateway led into the court (see Fig. 1) ; at the N.W. end, facing the entrance, was the sanctuary with its steps flanked by lion reliefs, and on the N.E. side there was a large annexe containing a passage and three or four rooms (see the plan, Fig. I), all very much destroyed. On the floor of the courtyard lay a basalt tank and what may have been a statue-base in the same material ; by the N.E. wall lay a bronze dagger or spear-head decorated with two lions cast in the round-clearly a ritual object and one that recalled the " Dagger God of the Yasilikaya rock reliefs. In the north room of the annexe there was a steatite bulla seal inscribed with Hittite hieroglyphs, a carved basalt altar and a broken statue-base in the form of a throne with arms supported by lions. At the N.E. end of the room there was found a hole dug into the floor ; it was filled with earth and large stones (the largest weighed nearly a ton and a half) and underneath those was the statue ; the head had been broken off and was set beside the body, together with two smaller fragments, one of the beard, the other of a foot ; only part of one foot was missing. I t is quite certain that the statue belonged to the basalt lion-throne found close by ; in the latter there was a socket cut, with projections for the two feet, into which the statue fitted exactly ; moreover, as will be shown later, the work on the figure is conditioned by the character of its base, there being no detail and no inscription on those parts of it which would be hidden by the arms of the throne. I t is practically certain that the statue was on its throne when destruction overtook the temple, for the breaking of the feet is most consistent with its having been knocked violently off its base, into which the feet were socketted ; it may have been the same blow that broke the head from the body. This must have been the work of an enemy who laid waste the whole building and probably the whole city1 because the lion throne and the altar were left where they lay to be covered in due time by the rubbish of the crumbling mud-brick walls ; but very soon after the disaster someone was at pains to collect the fragments of the statue itself and hide them in a hastily-dug hole in the floor of the room in which presumably it had sat. Obviously the intention was to preserve it from further de~ecration.~. The inscription on the statue proves that its date of manufacture was not later than the first quarter of the fourteenth century B.C. ; but the circumstances of its discovery show that it was preserved in the temple, or rather, in the temples which successively occupied the site, until the opening years of the twelfth. "

We find the evidence of destruction everywhere. The fact that the hiding-place was forgotten and that the lion-base and the altar were buried out of sight when an attempt was a t last made to rebuild the temple implies a considerable lapse of time. Since i t is not possible to fit a long period of desertion into the relatively short time which is all that we can allow for the existence of the Level I temple prior to 1190 B.C., this is a strong argument for the theory that the final attempt to rebuild was made after the invasion of the Peoples of the Sea. 1

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THE STATUE

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The statue measures 3 ft. 5 ins. in height and is of white stone which, where the surface is preserved, is finely polished, but it has suffered much from decay and over the larger part of the figure this surface was reduced to a soft powder such that the least touch was likely to destroy all the detail of the work. I t was necessary to treat it before removal. I used first a 24 per cent. solution of cellulose applied with a vapouriser, and thereafter stronger solutions put on with a camel's hair brush ; the stone was then lifted out from the pit in which it lay and the worst of the dirt was removed with acetone and camel's hair brushes so that the inscription could be photographed, and the final treatment was carried out at the British Museum. On the character of the stone Mr. P. M. Game, Assistant Keeper of the Department of Minerals, Natural History Museum, South Kensington, reports :" The statue is composed of dolomite (carbonate of calcium and magnesium) and magnesite (carbonate of magnesium). The magnesite is soft, white and chalky to the touch. The dolomite forms translucent veinlets and lenticles which, on account of the relative hardness of the mineral, stand out in low relief. The statue has been highly polished, but there is no evidence to suggest the use of special abrasive or glazes. The soft magnesite doubtless acted as the general polishing agent. I t is likely that the magnesite occurs as a metasomatic replacement of the dolomite. Owing to the widespread occurrence of these minerals, it is unfortunately impossible to suggest localities of origin." Actually, in spite of the material being widespread, we have found only one other object at Alalakh made of it ; this is a piece of applied sculpture, a ram's head1 found in the palace of king Niqmepa and therefore only a generation or so at most older than the Idri-mi statue. The statue was roughed out from the block with a tubular drill having a diameter of 8 in. ; in the parts that would be invisible, e.g., between the feet and below the hem of the skirt, the drill-holes remain, the projections between them not having been cut away ; but generally the surface has been cut and then ground and polished-the polish is not merely superficial, the final shaping of the statue having been done with the grinder. The eyes and eyebrows of the figure are inlaid with black stone, which at present gives too startling an effect in contrast to the extreme whiteness of the rest. But there can be no doubt but that paint was freely used, although no traces of it remain. The beard, falling back sharply from the chin, is smooth and plain, the whiskers shown only by a slight outline against the cheek, whereas we know that a king's beard should be elaborately curled and arranged. For an older period, that of Yarim-Lim in the 1sth century, B .C., we have pastiches, beards carved separately in darkcoloured stone and attached to the statue's face by metal pins ; and 1

Published in Antiquaries Journal, 1939, Vol. X I X , P1. XI1 ; see below, p. 8.

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THE STATUE

similarly we find then stone wigs with elaborate hair-dressing which also were fixed to the heads of statues, whereas Idri-mi's smooth conical headdress presents no suggestion of a coiffure. He wears a high conical head-dress, plain and smooth, surrounded by a simple bandeau ; below the bandeau, at the back, the line of the head-dress is continued to the nape of the neck, where it ends in a slight rouleau, but there is nothing to show whether this is part of the head-dress itself or hair escaping below the head-dress, the latter ending with the bandeau. There cannot have been here, or in the case of the beard, applied hair in a different material because there are no attachment-holes in the stone ; but we can safely assume that beard and head-dress were painted and that on the smooth surface of the beard the formal curls were duly figured. Probably the. whole figure was ccloured, the drapery perhaps with intricate designs of embroidery such as is proper to kings. As it is the drapery is hard to understand. I t consists of a long chiton falling to the ankles, over which is worn a cloak with a very heavy roll border (though at the back, where it was not seen, the heavy roll is replaced by two parallel incised lines). But the garments are so schematised as to have no longer any relation to actual clothes. There are no folds, nor does the drapery in any way adapt itself to the form of the body beneath it ; it is simply a solid casing, and although the rolled border which crosses the upper part of the body transversely and comes round the wrist to fall down to the edge of the skirt gives well enough the effect of a cloak, yet cloak and tunic merge into one and the border does not correspond to any possible cut of garment. Mr. Sidney Smith has pointed out to me that a similarly heavy rolled edging occurs on a figure from Tell Beit Mirsim where it represents not the material of the garment, but a serpent coiled round the legs of what must be a snake goddess1 according to Dr. Albright, who cites other parallels from Syria. Even if the Tell Beit Mirsim stela does represent a serpent, as to which opinions are divided, that can scarcely be the case here, for the emblem of the snake goddess would be entirely out of place on the statue of a king ; Idri-mi's rolled fringe can be no more than a fringe although what seems to be a tassel does correspond remarkably to the snake's head in the Palestinian relief ; but, as Dr. Albright himself allows, "of course it is not impossible that an iconographic adaptation of the winding serpent to the winding fringe was made at some time." I t is perhaps worth suggesting that the artist intended to represent a cloak lined with sheepskin such as is commonly worn in North Syria ; the edges of these cloaks often turn back showing a roll of fleece not altogether unlike that on the statue ; had the original ~ a i n t been preserved the real character of the fringe would have been obious, and probably the analogy with the Tell Beit Mirsim snake would not have 1 W. F. Albright, The Excavation of Tell Beit Mirsim in Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Vol. XVII, for 1936-37, P11. 21, 22, p. 42.

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THE STATUE

struck anyone. The sculptor was not interested in drapery as such ; he satisfied the observer by putting in a conventional fringe which gave the illusion of cloak and tunic though it had no correspondence with reality ; but for him the whole value of the dress was that it should offer a favourable field for inscription. The inscription covers the whole front of the figure, i.e., all that was visible, runs across arms and shoulders and is even cut down one side of the beard and whisker; the back, and the flat smooth sides of the cushioned seat on which the king sits, are uninscribed because they were to be hidden by the throne. That the text should be cut upon the face also is curious ; it would seem inconsistent with the dignity of the king that his features should be regarded merely as a tabula rasa, and room could certainly have been found elsewhere for the few characters that disfigure the royal countenance. Manifestly no such sentiment was felt at the time, but an explanation does seem to be called for. A Hittite inscription giving the text of a royal proclamation or pronouncement is normally introduced by a character in the form of a human head and arm with the hand pointing to the mouth1, the source of the message-a very simple ideogram for " Thus and thus say I." But in one case2 the head and shoulders are elaborated into a complete small figure, and in another3 King Katuwas appears as a full-size relief against the background of the text but still holds his hand to his mouth in the convention of the hieroglyph. I t may be the same thing here. King Idri-mi does not hold his hand pointing to his lips, but that the text comes on to his face may be equally a convention guaranteeing its authorship. The throne is cut from a block of basalt measuring 2 ft. 7 in. by 1 ft. 114 in., and, in its present broken state, 2 ft. 1 in. high. The lower part is smoothly worked but quite plain, up to a height of 1 ft. 2 in. ; then, slightly set back, there is a chair carved in relief. The chair has for feet very low square blocks which, at the sides, are joined by horizontal bars on which stood the figures of lions, carved in relief and forming the sides and arms of the throne. At the back, two vertical bars, square in section, summarily represent the structure of the chair frame. Above, the stone is hollowed out to form the seat and in the flat surface of the latter there is roughly cut a socket to take the base of the statue with, in front, two slots for the feet. The front of the block is plain, but across it runs a horizontal incised line and from this, two vertical incised lines run up to the level of the seat a t the corners where the arms rose ; in the middle of the horizontal line, across it and for the most part below it, there is a deep ragged hole in the stone's face which would appear to have been made by the violent

up

~ E . g . , C a v c h e m i s h I , P 1 . A . 2 , P 1 . A . l l , a a n d b , I I P. l . A . 1 2 , A . 1 4 , A . l 5 , b , A . l 8 a . O p . Cit. I. P1. A.6. 3 O p . Cit. 11. Pl. 13 d .

1

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THE STATUE

breaking-away of something which had been morticed or rivetted into the block. The upper part of the throne is all broken away and only the legs of the lions supporting the arms are left. They are carved in low relief, in profile, represented as standing upright, the front leg coming to the front edge of the chair-arm, so that there is no room on the arm for the lion's head, which must have projected and must therefore have been carved in the round, that being of course the normal convention which we see illustrated in the nearly contemporary lion sculptures found in the same temple as the Idri-mi statue. A curious difference is that whereas in the other lion sculptures the chest and forelegs of the animal are carved on the front of the stone so that the side view gives a complete profile and from in front the complete beast is seen full-face, on the throne the side view gives the complete profile of the lion but from in front there was only a lion's mask projecting as an ornamental knob above the plain square shaft of the arm's support. The scheme is artistically awkward, and was made more so by the fact that the upright shaft is very narrow (no more than 34 in. across), much less than the breadth of the lion's head, assuming that that was in proportion to the body ; to achieve that breadth the head must have been carved in high relief and would therefore have been not central to the shaft, but well to one side of it. Such awkwardness suggests that this may have been an early essay in what was to become a favourite motive of applied art in Hittite countries-the lion as supporter of corner-stone or statue-base-and that the architectural lions found in the same temple, though of not much later date, represent an advance in the development of the tradition. On the analogy of those lions, it is easy to restore those on the throne (see Fig. 2), and if the proportions of the animals are made the same, the arms of the throne are found to be of precisely the correct height. When the king's figure is placed in position it is seen that what he is sitting on is really the cushioned chair-seat as distinct from the wooden framework represented by the basalt ; the cushion was presumably coloured. Moreover when the figure is in position the further restoration of the throne becomes obvious. The toes of the figure come almost to the front edge of the block, so close that if he were to move his feet but a little, they would be dangling over a void and if he were to stand up he would fall down ; and the front of the block beneath his feet is not even a smoothly-finished surface but is scored across by the incised lines already described and is (accidentally of course) marred by a hole. The reasonable explanation is that there was attached to the front of the block by a tenon a separate piece of stone in the shape of steps conforming to the incised lines, which were indeed intended as a guide to the mason ; the hole is due to the violent breaking apart of the two stones. If the steps be restored as suggested in the sketch (Fig. 2)

THE STATUE

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the figure gains immensely in dignity and the uneasy sense of a precarious balance goes. I t has been suggested to me that the long slot on either side of the basalt block at the base of the throne was intended as a lodgement for poles used to lift the statue when it was carried in procession. Of course the parading of statues of the gods was a common custom in Mesopotamian temple ritual, and the custom was not confined to Mesopotamia-at Hamath there was found a small stone statue the base of which is pierced with holes obviously meant for ropes used for such porterage.' But I do not see how mere slots would serve the purpose, it is dangerous to assume that rites proper to a god would necessarily be extended to a statue of a dead king, and, though the statue itself is not so very heavy, the weight of the basalt throne is such that the two together could hardly have been lifted and carried about even by \.\c-----I J-I the most devout of worshippers. In any case the slots represent the open space between the chair-legs, the chair-rail and the ground, and in my opinion they are nothing more than that, and their rather FIG.2. Proposed restoration of statue and base. deep cutting was simply meant to emphasise the difference between the chair and the ground it stands on ; none the less, the suggestion that they also served a practical purpose deserves to be put on record. An interesting point is the honour paid to this statue. As has already been said, it dates to the early years of the 14th century B.C. ; the temple in which it stood was pulled down and rebuilt to a fresh plan ; later it was again pulled down and rebuilt, but in spite of those changes the statue was preserved on the same site. At the beginning of the twelfth century the shrine was destroyed by an enemy and the contents of it smashed, but even so some survivor of the disaster took the trouble, and perhaps the risk, of hunting through the ruins for the fragments of the figure and hiding them in a hastily-dug pit, under great stones, so that they might be recovered if and when the remnant of the inhabitants settled again in the town. Had the statue been that of one of the city's chief gods the care taken to preserve 1

H . Ingholt, Sepf Campafnes de fouilles a Hama en Svrie 1972-38, PI. XXXV, 4-5, p. 108.

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THE STATUE

it through the vicissitudes of two centuries would have been only natural, but this is a statue of one king out of a long line of kings. The inscription, which as an autobiography is not likely to minimise his importance, shows that he played a considerable part in the history of his city at the time, but it certainly does not claim for him a r61e such as must have been played by, for example, his grandfather Niqmepa or, in older days, king Yarim-Lim ; a ruler who spent seven years of his reign in exile and regained his throne only by foreign help was not so successful that we should expect his memory to be so exceptionally honoured. I t seems to me possible that the statue was valued on quite other grounds. I t is not, technically speaking, a good piece of sculpture, and it is almost grotesquely ugly, so that purely aesthetic reasons would not account for its survival, but it may have been of peculiar interest in the history of art. The style of the monument has nothing at all in common with the art of earlier periods so far as we have evidence for judging them ; it shows a complete break from the Sumerian-influenced school that produced the magnificent portrait head of Yarim-Lim, as also from the Egyptianising school which preceded Yarim-Lim in the 19th century B.C. On the other hand we do find echoes of its style in later North Syrian works, such as the Tell Hallaf statues, and the lions supporting the arms of the throne are the early and clumsier predecessors of the innumerable lions that were to adorn the architecture of Syro-Hittite palaces ; if the Idri-mi statue has no apparent roots in the past it is at least the earliest example that we know of much that was to characterise the work of later generations in North Syria. I t may be that an independent school of North Syrian sculpture began in Idri-mi's reign and was fostered by him, his own statue being the first major work of that school ; if that were so, and if the fact were recognised, a high value might well be set by local patriotism on an outstanding "primitive" of the local art tradition. The only other piece of sculpture of the time that we possess is the ram's head in the same dolomite/magnesite stone found in the palace built by Niqmepa, which cannot be much earlier than and may be almost contemporary with Idri-mi. The remarkable feature of that head1 is its extreme conventionalising. Bossert has published it side by side with a ram's head in terra-cotta of not dissimilar date2but in the Anatolian Hittite style, and it is impossible to exaggerate the difference between them. The Anatolian head is strong, the physical characteristics of the animal are emphasised and in spite of the convention due in part to clay technique it is definitely realistic. The artist at Alalakh has on the contrary done his best to eliminate everything individual ; he has reduced his subject to a formal pattern ; his modelling aims not a t the reproduction of anything in nature but a t the reflections of light on a series of subtly contrasting planes ; one is aware that the subject is a ram-it is indeed extraordinary how much 1

Antiquaries Journal, 1939, Vol. XIX, P1.XII.

2

Altanatolien, PI. CXLVI, Nos. 622, 623.

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THE STATUE

of the ram's character survives the process of simplification-yet so far has the animal been left behind that it is difficult to point to any one feature in which the sculpture resembles a ram. Here is an abstract art which might well be something new. The Idri-mi statue, with its simplification of form, its suppression of detail and its treatment of the body whereby the limbs disappear and the drapery, schematised out of all relation to reality, becomes merely a solid mass relieved by the variation of plane surfaces, is another and, because of its subject, a more important experiment in the same abstract school. The ram's head was lost when Idri-mi's ancestral palace was burnt. The statue of Idri-mi was set up in a temple which in due course1 was decorated with lion reliefs carved in the tradition of Idri-mi's throne. In the successive temples that occupied the site the lions were re-used more than once, adapted to purposes for which they had not been intended by the original artists, and in that re-use we have definite proof of the respect felt for ancient sculptures as such-even when they had been broken the fragments of them were worked into the decoration of the new building. But after the disaster of the Peoples of the Sea there was no attempt made to salve the lion figures, only the bits of the king's statue were collected.and safely hidden. Of course as a free statue it was more important than the architectural reliefs of lions ; but it may also have been more prized because it was the oldest surviving product of the local school, the prototype of the lions in the temple and the forerunner of what may be called North Syrian art.

LEONARD WOOLLEY.

1 The date of the lions is uncertain. They may have originated in the period of Level 11; more probably they belong to Level 111, to which the Idri-mi statue also belongs ; but they seem to be rather later than the statue.

ii. The Inscription The smooth surfaces of the stone, namely the two sides of the throne and the back, are not inscribed ; yet there, incised marks, and a certain regularity in slight surface striations, might suggest that there had been cuneiform signs, and lines of writing, across those surfaces. Whether this is an illusion or not I cannot say.', The whole surface of the stone is peculiar, in that a very thin top surface, polished hard or, where decayed, chalky in nature, is distinct in colour and texture from the inferior limestone base. On all the parts of the surfaces inscribed, otherwise than rounded sides of arms, a flattening is noticeable which I find it very difficult to reconcile with what the sculptor originally intended. Faults in the basic stone, and in some cases superficial damage, have everywhere been avoided in the cutting of the inscription. The few signs now damaged have suffered from rubbing owing to their position or from some accidental cause. The inscription starts on the figure's own right shoulder, and the first ' case ' ends on the lower bend of the right forearm. The front of the skirt is roughly ruled up into a case with two columns ; the bottom line of this case is a little more than half-way down from the knees, leaving a fair space above the fringe. The inscription of the left column, from the spectator's standpoint, begins above the knee, runs into the left column of the case, and continues below the bottom line of the case, extending there under the right column. The continuation, in the spectator's right column, begins and ceases with the top and bottom lines of the 'case', but runs round the side of the skirt. The third 'case' is on the figure's own left shoulder ; the lines begin on the central side of the dress fringe, and many run round the curved side of the arm. This 'case' ends on about the level of the lowest finger of the figure's right hand, which might almost be said to point to this part of the inscription. The wording continues on the figure's left forearm, and follows its line, thus running obliquely to all the rest. The last three lines are written perpendicularly down the figure's right cheek, on a surface that I think more probably represents a leather chin-piece than a beard. These lines must have been inscribed while the figure was lying on its back.

Th,e Forms of Signs. No cuneiform inscription on stone was ever cut without a copy on clay. The copy given to the mason was rarely, if ever, the original document. The mason's copy gave the forms of the signs to be used on the monument, whereas the original would be written in the contemporary Mr. Gam3's report suggested an experiment which satisfactorily explains the marks, not only on the plain surface but even some puzzling incisions that cannot be wedges. The mason of the department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities was asked to polish aloose fragment of magnesite with a rubbing stone, and found it impossible to do so without leaving scratches exactly resembling the traces on the original.

THE INSCRIPTION

11

forms of signs used on clay. There are, then, in any stone document, two possible sources of error. The scribe may confuse two different types of sign. The mason will commit his own errors, including those due to faulty recognition as well as those of the ordinary copyist. Mason's mistakes can occur even on most carefully executed monuments, such as Hammurabi's stele of laws. Mixed types of signs may be found in great historical inscriptions like Shalmaneser 111's Annals. The present inscription is peculiar not so much in the types of error, as in the apparently intentional variation in the forms of signs ; incompatible forms of one and the same sign occur within a few lines, sometimes in the the same line, occasionally next to one another. At various times I have thought that, in individual cases, there might be a reason, such as different phonetic value, a particular use, or the like, but I have been unable to find any general justification. I t would be possible, perhaps, but at present hardly worth while, to classify the variations. The table of forms will show the recurrence in various signs of similar changes, and also the not infrequent repetitions of forms which, because they do not occur elsewhere, one is inclined to call errors. Forms customary in one type of script, e.g., that of Bogaz Koi, occur side by side with normal Babylonian forms. A sign may appear in the monumental style of the First Dynasty of Babylon, and recur in a much simplified form closely akin to late Assyrian. The effect is chaotic, and I must confess that I have only been able to decipher many signs after copying the original several times and drawing up the table of forms. Even so, many readings have only been possible because the context suggested the sign meant. I have tried to indicate every case where I think doubt legitimate. For my own errors I have no other excuse than the right to guess. The mason was a poor craftsman. His cutting is not more than a superficial scratch as compared with the ordinary stone inscriptions of Babylonia or Assyria : the ' wedges ' are reduced to lines with slight indication of the head. The heads themselves are sometimes mere small drill holes, never cut to the triangular shape. Also the lines dividing one row of signs from the next, even after allowance is made for the irregular surface, are poorly done. Most of the variations in the detail must be ascribed to him ; in turning from his pattern to cut the stone he made the oddest changes in the angles at which his ' wedges ' are placed, and though in some cases, no doubt, the present appearance of the sign is due to his position in relation to curving surfaces, his work was careless. But some of the erroneous forms are due not to carelessness but to an inclusion of too many wedges in the signs, and there are also unnecessary lines or wedges between signs. I am inclined to believe that this superfluity may be due to

12

THE INSCRIPTION

a badly cracked clay surface, for it is very easy to see more than the correct number of lines on such tablets. The errors which can reasonably be attributed to the scribe who wrote the mason's copy consist in failures to maintain throughout the monumental forms of sign. The complete inability to maintain any sort of standard is probably a mark of inexperience ; there was not enough work of this kind to train a scribe in consistent monumental writing. But why, even so, different forms should be employed side by side remains, to me, a mystery ; such changes are, I think, due to the scribe, not the mason. The importance of distinguishing the nature and causes of error depends upon the inferences. The mason made mistakes. But the mistakes are only the mistakes any copying may entail, and are all, in nature, visual. Tablets, on the other hand, fall into two classes, those which were copied from originals, where the mistakes are visual, and those which were taken down at dictation, where the mistakes are oral. The scribe who prepared the mason's copy made mistakes. Emendation of the present inscription, or even correction of errors in the present edition, should be guided by this principle : for though the signs may be badly written or difficult to recognize, they render the original manner of writing the words, and the first task must be to decide what the original signs were. For the author of the original draft I have great respect. He was perfectly trained in his own school, which used signs according to an old tradition, different from that of Babylonia, but consistently and reasonably. What he has to say is said firmly and simply, again in a style that is different from that of the Babylonians, but characteristic of other North Syrian inscriptions, and in a language which is, to my mind, no mere borrowing from Babylon but the dialect the scribe himself spoke.

ABBREVIATIONS *

Indicates doubt in reading, translation, or date.

Sign no.

Cuneiform signs as numbered in Deimel.

A.f.0.

Archiv fur Orientforschung.

Am.

Amama letters.

B.K.

Texts found at Bogaz Koi.

Bilabel.

F. Rilabel, Geschichte Vorderasiens und Aegyptens vorrt 16-1 1 Jahrhurtdert vor Chr. Heidelberg, 1927.

F. Th. M. Rohl, Die Sprache der Amarna-Rriefe (Leipziger Semitistische Studien, Band V). Leipzig, 1909. Breasted, A. R.

J. H. Rreasted, tlncienf Records o j Egypt. Chicago, 1%-1907.

Brunnow.

R. Brunnow, d Classijed List. Leiden, 1889.

Dussaud, Topographie.

R. Dussaud, Topographie historique de la Syrie, Paris, 1926.

Deimel.

A. Deimel, Sumerisches Lexikon.

Gardiner, Onomastica

A. H. Gardiner, Ancient Egjy5tia.n Onomastica. Oxford, 1947. (Page nos. followed by * as in this work).

Labat.

R. Labat, L'Akkadien dc: Boghaz-Koi. (First citation refers to page).

Labat, Manuel.

R. Labat, Manuel de l1L?fiigraphie akkadienne. Paris, 19-48.

Luckenbill, A. R.

D. D. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia. Chicago. 1926-1927.

Meyer, Geschichte.

Eduard Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums (Zweite Auflage) Band 11, Erste Abteilung. Stuttgart und Berlin, 1928.

Thureau-Dangin, Syllabaire.

F. Thureau-Dangin, Le Syllabaire accadien. Paris, 1926.

Ungnad, Grammatik.

A. Ungnad, Babylonisch-assyrische 1906.

Rome, 1927-1933.

Bordeaux, 1932.

Grammatik. Berlin,

THE BIOGRAPHY a-na-ku 7 id-ri-mi mar7 dim-i-lim-ma arad izlA4i'a'He-bat z t ' " W a r belit la-la-la-a& belti-ia NOTES. 1. mar : the bizarre form cannot be sign no. 331, meaning ' brother.' 2. IM: the doubt as to the reading is due to the association with Hebat, whereas in 97 Adad is clearly indicated - iftar: to be treated perhaps as the common noun, not the proper name, for these city-goddesses probably had individual

i-na a'&a-la-apK' bit a-bi-ia ......... ma-Si-ik-tu it-tab-& u bal-ka-nu p a n ameluti ale-m.ayKI a-&a-te !!'.A Sa um-mi-ia u a$-ba-nu a-na ale-marK' a&-be?', -ia Sa ali-ia i ~ t a b b z Z ~ ' . ~ it-ti-ia-m.a aS-bu-u u ma-an-nu-um-ma a-wa-te" l a i b - k S u u-ul ib-Su-US u m - m a a-na-ku-m,a ma-an-nu-um bit a- bi-sit lu-u i-*Su li-kal u ma-an-nu-um [la i-Su] a-na r n a ~ e ~ale-marK' '.~ lu-u t l 4 NOTES. 4. Three signs at most missing-pan,IGI 5. Probably there is nothing missing. 7. el;, ~u~-irtnbbi7, GAL.GAL

: run over, for the same reason

sisi-ia u narkabti-za z~ kizi-ia el-te-qi-&&-nuzt i-lam ma-at hu-ri-ib-teK' e-te-ti-iq u li-bi !a bepl su-tu-uK' e-te-ru-ub it-ti-& a-na li-bi narkahti ;a-(1i)lil-te-a bi-da-ku i-na Sa-ni umi(mi) an-mu-US-ma u a-na ma-at ki-in-a-nimK' al-li-zk i-na ma-at ki-in-a-nimK' a lam-mi-iaK' as'-bu i-na alam-mi-iaKr mare"' acba-la-a$K' marept ma-at m ~ t - k i - i S - & ~ ' marepl ma-at ni-ibKr u [sabe]v%a-at a-ma-eK' aS-bu i-mu-ru-un-ni-ma i-nu-ma m a r be-li-&nu a-na-ku u a-na eli-ia ip-ku-ru-nim-ma NOTES. 13. sisi : I M E R . K U R . R A :- ~CIS ~ .GIGIR-ki~i ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ : ~u.13. I t seems clear from the narrative that the singulars are for plurals.

IDRI- M I Protocol I am Idri-mi, son of Ilim-ilimma, servant of the weather-god and his consort and of the goddess who is the mistress of Alalakh, my mistress. epithets in each city.-belti-ia : sign no. 356, written at the end of the line, is repeated in the run-over into the next line because the mason wished to avoid writing -ia on an inconvenient surface.

Rebellion and Family Disputes. There was trouble in the city Aleppo, my inheritance, so we fled to the men of the city Emar, my mother's relatives, and we abode in the city Emar. My brothers, who grew great against me, abode with me nevertheless. But none of them pondered on the words on which he once pondered. So I said : ' Whoever still has an inheritance, let him hold (thereto), and whoever has not, let him join the sons of Emar.'

11. *Su. The sign is a form commonly used for no. 318 in this inscription ; the reading is simply based on the context.

The Flight. I took to me my horse and my chariot and my squire and went up (thence). I traversed the waste land and entered among the warriors who are Sutu. With him, within my covered chariot, I spent the night. The next day I departed and went to the land of Canaan. I n Canaan I approached the city Ammia. In Ammia sons of the city Aleppo, sons of the lands Muki@i and Ni', and warriors of the land Ama'u dwelt. They saw me, and behold, I was the son of their lord. And verily, they assembled against me.

14. The first three signs are damaged but certain. 16. The first sign is damaged.

16

THE BIOGRAPHY

26ctd. a-ka-a-na ka-li tab-%-a IU 27. u-ra-ak u a-na li-bi sabeP1 Eabire P~ issure u-za-ki 28. a-na M U - ~ - K A N US-ba-ku 29. pubade ab-ri-ma u Se-ib-i Sa-nu-ti ilAdad 30. a-na qaqqadi-ia it-tu-ru NOTES. 26. li : this value is attested by Briinnow no. 11249, but does not appear to be used in any other text. 27. hubire : L~.SA.GAZ.

saba*l-nu u l si-ku a-na elifq5ate u-far-ki-ib-fu-nu u A . A B.BA a-na ma-at mu-ki-iS-beK' it-be *al-ku u pa-an burs'ani US-zi a-na da-pa-lim ak-ba-tu e-li-ia-ku u ma-ti-ia if-mu-un-ni-ma aleu u senu a-na pa-ni-ia tabif lu-u ZlG u i-nu-al-kam ki-m.a iSten(en) amelu ma-at ni-biK' ma-at a-ma-eK' ma-at mu-ki-iS-beK' u "'a-la-la-abK' aliK'-ia a-na ia-si-im it-tu-ru-nim a&evl-ia if-mu-u-ma u a-na mab-ri-ia il-li-ku-u a&-hiH'.A-ia k i it-ti-ia-ma in-nu-bu-u ~ b - b e " . ~ - i al u u-kin-am-%-nu NOTES. 30. elippate : GIS.MA.HI.A. 31. s i : the horizontals on the right are certainly accidental or erroneous. 32. A.AB.BA : translated as adverbial, but the syntax is doubtful.

42ctd. up-eu-na . ~ *su-tar-na farru dan-nu 43. M c ~ T - Y - K A N ~7 ' ba-ra 44. far ;abe*l bur-riK' u-na-kir-an-ni 45. i-na Se-ib-i Sa-nu-ti a-na 7 ba-ra su-ar-na iarri(ri) 46. Sar ?abeP1 V AN-wa-an-da US-da-par u at-bu-te 47. m,a-na-ba-[te at]-be Sa a-b~-teH1'.~-ia i-nu-ma 48. ~ - b u - t e ~ ' . ~ a-na - i a eli-iu-nu in-nu-bu-u 49. u [a-wa]-ti-ni a-na S a r ~ a n i ~Sa ' . ~;abepl bur-riK' da-mi-ip 50. u a-na bi-ri-Su-nu N A M - E R I M dun-nu 51. [it]-ku-nu-nim-na Sarru dun-nu n ~ a - n a - k a - t e ~ ' . ~ 52. i a pa-nu-ti-ni u N A M - E R I M Sa bi-ri-Su-nu*;;-*pu-ur 53. u it-ti ma-m.i-tz bu-ta-zu-Su ah-*ab a-wa-at 54. ma-mi-ti u *ab ma-nu-&a-tepl- *amel Su-ul-mi-ia 56, im-da-har u ki-nu-nu Sa emidG(du-a)-Sa G A Z

THE BIOGRAPI-FY

17

Exile. Accordingly I led all my companions away and I abode among the 'Apiru-warriors for seven years. I made (omens from) the birds clear, I examined [intestines from] lambs. And the seven years of the weathergod turned over my head. 28. "Adad in accordance with 97, but see 2-ma qaqqadi-ia : there seems to be no parallel for this phrase, and indeed the whole clause is unusually metaphorical.

The Return. And I made me ships. The soldiers who were not sick I ordered to embark on the ships. So I approached the land MukiSbe by sea. They arrived and I disembarked in front of the mountain. When I had grown *twice as strong, I went up (thence), and my land heard (and obeyed) me. Oxen and sheep came up before me in (token of) friendship, and kept on coming. As one man the lands Ni', Ama'u and hluki$ze, and the city Alalakh, my capital, turned back to me. My brothers, individually, heard too and they came into my presence. When my brothers had jointly been reconciled with me, even me, verily I appointed them jointly as my brothers. 35. alpe : GUD.HI.A.-sene : UDU.HI.A. 36. tabiS: DUG-Chi : NIM-i-nu-al-kam defective : the mason has omitted ta after i . 37-38. These lands are probably placed in order of importance. 41. ki much damaged.

The Treaty with Sutarna. Now *lord Sutarna, the mighty king, king of the warriors of the Khurri-land, had been hostile to me for a period of seven years. In the seventh of the years I sent in reply to *lord Sutarna, the king, king of the warriors [of the Khurri-land] AN-wanda as messenger with brotherly requests for terms of peace, those of my fathers, when my fathers were at peace in relations with them. And our word seemed good to the kings of the warriors of the Khurri-land. Then they set down for us in writing the mighty oath between them. The great king sent word as to the treaty of our forebears, and the oath between them. And with (the taking of) the oath, which they had taken for themselves, my messenger bearing greetings received in reply *a copy of the words of the oath and *a copy of the terms of peace. And 1 made a great brazier whereon I put a sacrifice. And with my officers and my

18 THE BIOGRAPHY 66. zc-$a& zc bit bal-ku-u-te-niK' 57. i-na amelu-ti-ia i-na ki-nu-ti-ia *u-ru an-nu-am 58. a-*as-*bat-Su u s'arra-ku NOTES. 43. The two small wedges after ba-ra, if intentional, may be intended as a divider ; the absence of these strokes in 45 may favour the view that they have no significance. -*su : this form is not entered in the sign list, for I am not certain whether su or Su was intended : perhaps su, in view of 45, is the better reading. 45. su-ar-na : defective. The mason has omitted ta after szc. 46. !though only a scratched line is clearly visible, but elsewhere in this inscription there are erroneous verticals.--wa is certain : it cannot be ma.-The idea readily occurs that the original had ummanpl(an)-manda, and that this corresponds to ;abePz hur-riKr in 44, 49. The decisive argument against this is grammatical. The copula before atbute demands an object of aSdapar immediately before the verb. Presumably the mason has omitted bur-riK' after sabep'. 47. The restoration, for which there is sufficient space on the irregular surface, is not incompatible with the traces.-The vertical after i is an error of the mason. 50. NAM-ERIM here and in 52 refers to exactly the same thing as mamiti in 53 and 54, but the word meant must be masculine.

56ctd. a-na aza-la-la-a&K' SarranuPz $a *LIL-ia u US-ia *il-1%-an-ni-ma u ki-ma h - n u - t i ku-um-da el-ku ku-ma-ti-s'u-nu Sa a - b ~ - t e ~i-na ' . ~ qa-qa-ri tab-ku-u u a-na-ku i-na qa-qa-ri u-Sa-at-bu-*ku u a-na-an-da u-Sak-ku-lu-Su-nu NOTES. 59. LIL : though this seems the obvious reading, no satisfactory sense results. What seems to be required is a word like el1atu.-US : presumably represents a derivative of redZ.--il : the form is an apt illustration of the mason's attempt to copy the lines he saw on a cracked surface. 60. kumati : there is an otiose horizontal wedge before the perpendicular of ti.

sabep' HAD el-te-qi u a-na ma-at ha-at-teK' e-te-li u 7 a'balH-'.A-sakare-SYZC-nu "$&a-a$-fa-heK'azda-ma-ru-ut-re'iK' "lhu-laJZ-ba-anKralzi-*si*KI i - e K r a z u - l ~ - zaliKr i u azza-ru-naKr an-mu-u a z ~ a l H ' ~ hare-Su-nu A-~a u ul-lu-u a&-te-bat-Su-nu-ti ma-at &a-at-teKr u-ul ip-bur u a-nu eli-ia u-ul il-li-ku Sa lib-bi-ia e-te-9%-us' s'dl-la-teHr.Asu-nzc " w

w

THE BIOGRAPIIY

lieges I led away the households of those who had fled from us. *favour from him. Then I became king.

19

I "accepted

52. *if-*pu-zrr: originally 1 read the last two signs GAR-ma and transliterated (is) iSkun-ma, thinking that the clause conveyed a ratification by the great king of the act of the vassal kings. After repeated study of the stone and consideration of the mason's tricks with other signs, I consider the present reading more probable. 53. ah-*a&. There is one wedge too many in the second sign. I know no other instance of this word, but this reduplicated type occurs in Akk. 54. *ab : there is an otiose wedge or line before this sign.-*amel : the reading is a guess dictated by the context ; I originally read -ni, which leaves Sulmia unexplained, 55. emidu : NITAH. For the rare double phonetic complement in B.K. see Labat, 19 sub I c. 56. KI : for the form see sign list. The determinative affects the meaning of bit. 57. *u-ru : the reading is a guess for the sign is illegible. 58. a-*as-*bat : if the reading is correct, the form of as is abbreviated and bat has an otiose wedge. Can tar or qup be meant ?

Tribute of the Vassals. The kings of my *confederation and of my *following came up to me to the city Alalakh. And just as they themselves had taken "booty, I too ordered that their deliveries of *booty which the fathers had spread out on the ground they should spread out on the ground. And I made them suffer for sin. 61. qaqari. The careful distinction between two forms of qa, the first being the form common in B.K., the second an irregular variant of the Babylonian form, though apparently quite senseless, is typical in this inscription. 62, uSatbuku. The sequence I, 1-111, 1 is such common form that it can hardly be missed here : but the sign read k u could only be so read with an allowance for mason's error. uSatbZ would avoid the -u end of indic., but ' to cause to rise from the ground ' is not the sense required here.

Expedition against Hittite strongholds. I took to myself soldiery, *infantry, and went north again, to the land Hatte. Now there were seven fortresses, their market-quays : the cities PaSSabe, Damarut-re'i,, Hulahban, Zisi, the district I'e, and the cities Uluzi, the capital, and Zaruna. Those were the fortresses, their marketquays, and those I plundered again. The land of Hatte did not assemble, and they did not march against me. What I would, that I did. I carried off their portable property. I took for myself their trade goods, their *household goods and their *personal

20

THE BIOGRAPHY

73. aCC11-211-ma nam-ku-ri-Su-[nu]bu-Se-Su-nu u ba-si'-tu-[&-]nu 74. el-te-qi u u-za-iz a-na ;abeP1 be-ra-ti-ia 75. ameluti~'ab-beH'%a 76. 2~ ameluti" ip-ru-teH'A-ia ka-du-sit-nu-ma 77. a-nu-ku el-te-qi NOTES. _HAD: it is doubtful whether, when written without determinative, this can be transcribed Eat&. In any case ba,t,tu is, specifically, the mace as a royal symbol, not a weapon in contemporary use. If a distinction is being made between different troops, then the distinction may be either between the chariotry used in the plains and the infantry who would alone be serviceable in the difficult hill country, or between the levy, which would be necessary for a great battle, and the standing troops in regular service. Perhaps 74-76 should be considered in favour of the last. I f by any chance urn" 'a-pa-du is to be read am' (&a)Ead-duin Am.no. 162177, then the reference is to a runaway officer of the standing Egyptian troops. But it is more probable that the reading there must be corrected and am"pa&atuis intended. For references to the use of this ideogram in B.K. see Deimel, 295/4 and 62. aklzc is not suitable in meaning. 65. This is the best transliteration I can propose. In 87 the writing U R U . ~ A L , H I . A led me originally to take these signs together here and to assume that ZA belonged with the following sign to some unknown ideogram. I now believe that there is an omission in 87.

64.

77ctd. u a-na ma-at mu-ki-iS-hiKrat-tu-ur 78. u e-ru-ub a-na "'a-la-la-ahKr aliK'-iai-na Sal-la-tim 79. u i-na mar-s'i-tim i-na nam-ku-ri i-na bu-si u i-na ba-5-tu 80. Sa is'-tu ma-at ha-at-teKru-Se-ri-du bitam UH-te-bi-iS 81. kuSSi-ia ki-ma kussepl Sa SarraniP1u-ma-si'-il 82. ameluti~'A RA D-K URpt-iaki-ma A R A D-K URpl fa Sarrani"' mareP1-ia 83. ki-ma marepl-Su-nu u ameluti~'qur-bu-teH'.*-iau qur-bu-te Su-nu 84. u-ma-Si-la-u-Su-nu*sutu s'a a-na lib-bi ma-ti-iaKr 85. Subat-Su-nu tabtam(tam)u-Se-Si-ib-Su-nuSa Subta la u-US-Sa-bu 86. a-na-ku u-Se-Si-bu-Su-nuu ma-tiK'-ia u-ki-in-nu 87. u u-ma-$4 "'HALH'.A -;a ki-me-e pa-nu-ti-ni-ma ki-ma A-A-ni-ma u-ki-in-nu-u-ma 88. i t - t e p z Sa ilanipZs'a aza-la-lahKx 89. u ni-iq-qiH'.ASa a-bi abi-ni Sa US-te-bi-Su-u-Su-nu 90. a-nu-ku e-te-ne-$u-UH-Su-nu an-mu-u e-te-pu-UrJ-s'u-nu 91. u a-na qa-ti ! "Adad-ni-ra-ri mari-ia a+-ta-qi-id-sit-nu NOTES. 78. aliKI-ia : the perpendicular between K1 and ia is a mason's error. 79. Between the two signs of the last i-na there is zn unnecessary perpendicular : mason's error. 83. After the last sign transcribed there are marks which show in the photograph

THE BIOGRAPHY

21

possessions, and divided them up among my garrison troops, the officers my ' brethren ' and the officers I maintain. Together with them I myself took (a share).

67. Zi-*si*.Kr The form interpreted as KI does not exactly resemble any other form ; if it had a short oblique before the horizontal it would be a fairly common form. Originally I took all the signs from z i to e inclusive as one name, thus securing a1 and K1 the usual positions. There were two objections to this : the signs do not produce a credible geographical name, and the number of city names given is then six, not seven, as stated in 65. 68. a l i K r : that the signs are to be read so seems certain from 38, 78. 71. ip : lacks one horizontal. 72. U S : broken but certain. 73. US : lacks a horizontal-ba-Si-tu-[Su-]nu : after S i there is a long piece of bad surface avoided by the scribe. t u - n u is on a smooth surface which turns at such an angle as not to be visible on the photograph. The mason omitted S u between tu and nu. 74. nu : broken but certain. 76. i+ : lacks the inner horizontal.

Internal Administration. Then I returned to the land Muki%e and entered the city Alalakh, my capital. With the portable goods and the material acquired, with the trade goods, with the *household goods and with the "personal possessions which I had ordered to be sent south from the land gatte, I had a house built. I made my throne exactly like the thrones of the kings, the officers my state servants like the state-servants of the kings, my sons like their sons ; and I made the officers of my court to be as their court. Sutu whose dwellings were within my land I caused to abide in content ; those who had no settled abode, I made to abide in one. So I established my land. And I made my fortresses even as those of our forebears and of our ancestors. The appointed times which the gods of the city Alalakh had established, and the sacrifices and libations of our ancestors' ancestors, which they had ordained should be made for them; I repeatedly celebrated. These things I did in my turn and in my turn handed on the trust to the management of my son, Adad-nirari. as if part of a sign. I can make nothing of these traces and do not believe a sign was intended ; the only sign possible would be -ti, but the marks are either from a hammer or some peculiarity of the stone. 84. sutu : sup' This seems the obvious interpretation : the scribe treated sutu

THE BIOGRAPHY

as an adj. pl. There may be more reason in this than would be granted at first thought : it might explain ( m a t ) s ~ - & (a~-hi ~ formation of Khurrian origin) and KU"subarK1 (a Sumerian term to be analysed into su and bar, where baru is a Semitic word, S. Arab. br(r)). 87. URU.HAL.FJI.A. : this can hardly be connected with the writing of the plural of which in older editions of Am. sometimes a h in Am. and B.K., URU.AS.AS.~I.A,

ma-an-nu-um-me-e salmi-ia an-ni-nu-ti iS-za-ar-ri-ku u bi-ri-@-sit li-il-ku-ut ilSa-mu li-iz-zu-ur-Su f a ab-du-ut-sa *kap-tu bi-ri-ib-Su li-il-ku-tu ilanip1 Sa Same u irsiti s'arru-ut-Su u ma-at-s'u* K U lim-du-du-s'zt ma-an-nu-um-me-e u-nu-ak-kir-Su i-ip-pa-US-Si "Adad be1 Same u K I ir-$ti u DINGIR-ME.$-GAL-GAL-E-NE Su-ma-Su u zeregl-Su li-bal-li-*qu ana ma-ti-*w,a Summa Sar-ru wa !up-Say Sakkanakki u-man-niS u an-na Summa Sar-ru wa ame1&5-SarSa il;alma an-ni-nu-tim is-tu-ru-Su i l a n i ~ lSa Same u irsiti li-bal-li-tu-u-Su li-n.a-;a-ru-sit l u u - K UG-lu-Su 'l.$amaS be1 e-lu-ti 7 u Sap-li-ti belu(1u-u) e-tim-mi l u u-ti-ra-Su NOTES. 94. -sa : the statue, but in 96, -Sa and -ti, in 98 4, inexplicably. 97. K1 ir-$-ti. This use of an explanatory gloss on an ideogram is I think unparalleled in any monumental inscription. In Am. such writings can occur, e.g., No. 162179, ina AN sa-me-e. Something of the same sort may be found in B.K, e.g., in K U B I11 5816, but there the gloss precedes the ideogram, a-ka-la NINDA-MES. See also Labat, 19, $ 1d.-DINGIR.ME~.GAL.GAL.E.NE : this is a tag from a liturgy, and should probably be left untransliterated. The MES is written so oddly that for some time I thought there was some scribal play with numbers. 98. *qu : not in the sign-list which was drawn up before I could decipher this barely legible passage-ana : this is the most likely reading I can suggest, but it is surprising to find this use in this inscription, and still more surprising if I am right in reading and take them Summa.-Sakkanakki : NER.ARAD. I should prefer to read TUR.ARAD

102. M i Y . 3 0 . 3 ~ME$ . Sarra-ku 103. ma-nu-ab-ti-ia a-na salmi-ia US-tu-ur li- . . . . . . 104. u a-na eli-ia li-ik-ta-nu- . . . . . . NOTES. *~, with 28 or 43-5 : sign No. 102. MU-30: one expects M U . ~ ~ . K AinN accordance 454, SIG,damqati, would be more usual. Perhaps the form intended is migrit;.

THE BIOGRAPHY

23

appears as URU.EJAL.HI.A. The form of HAL used in this inscription cannot be treated as AS.AS and is never, to my knowledge, a mark of the plural. I assume that the mason has omitted -$a : see 65. 69. 89. Sa uStebiS~Sunu: it is not clear to me whether this means that the gods established offerings for dead kings, or that the early kings fixed the offerings to the gods. 90. On the use of the sign ug see the section on orthography Comm. I $ 5 b.

Curses and Blessings. Whosoever steals this my statue, may divine Heaven carry away his shoot, curse him. May the gods of heaven and earth carry away the shoot of him who plans doing away with it, may they assign him as his portion his kingdom and his land in ruins. May the weather-god, lord of heaven and earth, and dei nzagni illi destroy for ever the name and seed of whosoever alters it (the inscription), smashes it (the statute). May the gods of heaven and earth grant health to him who, whether king, or governor's scribe, cons it over, and to this one, whether king or official scribe, who inscribes this divine statute : may they protect him, may they *support him. May the sun-god, the lord of what is above and what is below, the very lord, avert the shades from him.

as alternative objects, ' makes son or slave read it,' but the obliques at the end of the first sign favour NER, very badly written. 99. I t is not easy to explain why a king or scribe who writes on the statue should be blessed : ordinarily such an inscription would mean rubbing out part of the original and appropriating the figure. Perhaps the kind of inscription here meant is one recording finding and restoration.-iSturuSzl : I cannot explain the suffix, which does not seem to be required and is ungrammatical. 100. KUG : if this is to be read, as I have assumed in translation, ku, there is no parallel I think in any Akk. text. 101. 1 appears to mean that this line is an overlap.-EN-lu-u, a ' pausal ' form, to indicate unusual emphasis.

Envoi For thirty favourable years I have been king. I have written my and may........................... repeatedly labour on my statue ; may it on me. 103. salmi : the form might be MUH, but the context leads me to think it must be the form of No. 329 common in early times from the Agude dynasty onwards. Not included in sign list.

COMMENTARY I. ORTHOGRAPHY.

9 1. ldeograms. a. The true ideograms used for nouns call for no comment. b. SU.MES,84, if the interpretation selected for this edition is correct, belongs to the class 'false ideograms'. The view that it may mean ' enterers ', ' immigrants ' by a misuse of su for T U , erebu, ' to enter ', has been dismissed as improbable. In either case the absence of the determinative ~b is remarkable. baiitu, indeclinable, is also perhaps to be regarded as a ' false ideogram '. c. The ideograms used for verbs might occur in any inscription from the time of the dynasty of Agade to the Persian period : the impression given is that these ideograms taken together reflect the usage during the dynasty of Agade. d . The one case of an ideogram for an adverb, DUG, tabis', 36, is remarkable in that no phonetic complement is written, as in B.K., Labat, 19, b. e. The use of 7 for ana, 98, if the reading is correct, is, at this period and in this area, exceptional. Still more exceptional is its use for Summa, 98, 99, a use generally confined to omens. f. The gloss on an ideogram, KI irpiti, 97, is most unusual in a royal inscription, but such occur in H.K., Labat, 19. d, and in Am., Bohl § 5 e. g. The phrase in Sumerian, 97, is a tag rather than a series of ideograms. It may imply the use of Sumerian in the scribal schools. 92. Determinatives. a. No comment is needed on the use of

8, >>f, -ZfT.

b. '4" is not used. See Vocabulary sub matu. c. ~b is probably to be regarded as a determinative before SA.GAZ, 27, after SAB.MES. In other cases it is clearly to be read as part of the wording, and designates a social rank or official position ; it is, therefore, a true ideogram. The interesting variation dups'ar, 98, and LC dups'ar, 99, means that it was necessary in the second instance to distinguish between official and unofficial scribes in the matter of any further inscription. d . (w after place names is used with the prefixed =-EV7 and ma-ui ; these are, however, omitted in Hur-Y~KI 44, 49. The distinction between the sense with the two alternative prefixes is clearly that between an area

ORTHOGRAPHY

25

immediately controlled by a city and a province : in both cases the postfixed determinative retains its meaning as an ideogram. The distinction between H u r r i ~ land mat H a t t e ~is~ more difficult to apprehend. The presence of SAB.MES before Hurri is not the reason, to judge from sabe mat A m a ' e ~22, ~ , where the reading is certain though the first sign is obscured. The use of matia, 35, for ' men of my land ' precludes the idea that there is some distinction between a population and a geographical area. The interesting use of --EIV