Liturgical Hymns of the Tammuz Cult. 3656 (Myhrman No. 5)
The obverse of this fine single column tablet contained a
hymn in thirty-eight lines to the departed Tammuz. It represents
the people wailing for the lord of life who now sleeps in
the lower world. Thirteen lines have been completely broken
away from the top. The reverse carried a long liturgical song
of the cult of this god in which the mother goddess is represented
wailing for her ravished lover. Songs of the weeping mother are
common enough in these wailings for Tammuz, but all other
known examples of this motif represent the major unmarried
type of mother goddess Innini-Ishtar wandering on earth, crying
for her departed son. The hymn on our tablet reveals in a
wholly unexpected manner the close relation between the mother
goddess Gula of Isin and Innini. It was known that both sprang
from a common source, a prehistoric unmarried goddess, but one
had hardly supposed that the liturgists went so far as to introduce
[pg 286]
the married goddess of Isin in the rôle of the virgin mother
Innini. The great mother divinity of Isin, although attached in a
loose way to a male consort Ninurta, in that city retained, nevertheless,
much of her ancient unattached character. In the
standard liturgies she is almost invariably the type of Weeping
mother, whereas Innini is this type in the Tammuz liturgies.
Since Gula of Isin was the ordinary liturgical type we find the
influence of the ordinary liturgies effective in the composition
of the Tammuz hymn. It explains the extraordinary phenomenon
of the introduction of a long passage (Rev. 3-10) from one
of the wailing liturgies. And the short litany refrain lines 11-20
is obviously an imitation of numberless similar passages of the
ordinary liturgies in which the goddess wails for various temples;
here only for Nippur and Isin, since the composition was written
for the services at Nippur in the period of the Isin dynasty.
In a most gratifying manner our tablet shows how the lamentations
of the mother goddess in the canonical prayer books express
sorrows for certain concrete misfortunes and certain defined
temples and cities and find their general expression in the lamentations
for Tammuz, the representative of all human vicissitudes.
This edition has been made from my own copy. The tablet was
first published by Myhrman, PBS. Vol. I No.
5, and by Radau,
BE. 30 No. 2. To these copies I have been able to make only
slight additions.
Hymns of the Tammuz Cult
2. kalag giš [ ]
2. Oh strong one [ ]
[pg 287]
4.
á-lirum-šu258-[kuš-ù-zu ... ]
4. Thy weary arms—breast—hands [ ]
5.
a-zu259-guruš a-zu [ ]
5. Oh strong healer, oh ... healer [ ]
6. kalag
d.Da-mu-mu [ ]
6. Oh strong one, my Damu [ ]
7. ṭu-mu ù-mu-un mu-zi-da [ ]
7. Oh child, lord Gišzida [ ]
8. a-zu a dam ... ni-kuš-ù-a-zu
8. Oh healer, how long husband ... wilt thou be weary?
9. a-zu a ṭu-mu ... ni-kuš-ù-a-zu
9. Oh healer, how long son ... wilt thou be weary?
10. i-dé (?) ... ṭu-ru ? [na?] zu-dé
10. When before ... thou sittest,
11.
kalag da-ga-ám-ma260-ni ... zu-dé11. Oh strong one, when into his
assembly thou ...
12.
a-rib261
šu-si me-ri ... a-bal-mà na-nam12. Alas he whose fingers and feet [
are bound], my
irrigator
262 is he.
13. šag-zu-šú la-aģ-[la-aģ-]ģu-a-zu
13. Because of thee she wanders far for thee.
14. kalag d.Da-mu-mu
a-bal-mà na-nam
14. My sturdy Damu, my irrigator is he.
15. ama-zu mu-lu er-ri nu-kuš-ù
15. Thy mother she of lamentation rests not.
16. ama ga-ša-an tin-dib-ba túb-bi-šú nu-durun
16. The mother, queen who gives life to the afflicted, tarries not to repose.
17. ù-šub-ba-za ù-zi-ga-za sìr-ri-šú na-ri-bi
17. In thy perdition, in thy seizure, in melodious sighing she speaks of thee.
18. kalag a-rin-na-za ù(?) a-tar-ra-za sìr-ri-šú na-ri-bi
18. Oh hero, in thy contumely, in thy removal, in melodious sighing she speaks of
thee.
[pg 288]
19. ama-ugu-mu GAR-LUL-LUL-na-mu sìr-ri-šú nu-uš
ma-gub-bi
19. My child-bearing mother, my lamenter(?) with melodious sighing behold
she stands
20. kalag idim-[ma me-]en galu-kur-al
20. Oh sturdy one, prostrate thou art, a man of the land of
wailing(?)
263
21.
en ... me-en galu-kur-dim26421. Oh lord, ... thou art, a man of the land of lament.
22. unu-[dagal-mu] kur-idim-ma-mu
22. In my vast chamber, in my land of misery,
23. en me-en a-ra-li ki-sag kirud-da-mu
23. A lord am I. In Aralu, place where I am cast away,
24. kalag me-en kur-ri-sud-du-šú im-ma-ab-du
me-en
24. A laborer am I. Unto the faraway land I go.
25.
ud-me-e-na265 ni- ? ?
25. Daily(?) he [
sorrows?]
266
Reverse
1.
šă-ab-er-ri267
kuš-ù-a-mu ma-a-a nad-da-[mu]1. I weary with heart woe, where shall I rest?
2. balag-di šă-ab-er-ri kuš-ù-a-mu ma-a-a
nad-da-[mu]
2. Oh sing to the lyre; I weary with heart woe, where shall I rest?
3. ama uru-sag ga-ša-an tin-dib-ba mèn
3. Mother of the chief city,
268
queen who gives life to the dead am I.
4. sag-ṭu-an-na ga-ša-an Ì-si-in-(ki)-na mèn
4. First born daughter of heaven,
269 queen of Isin am I.
5.
ṭu-mu é-a ga-ša-an-mu270
d.Gu-nu-ra5. Daughter of the temple, Queen Gunura.
6. tum-lu-azag ama é-šăb-ba mèn
6. Holy tumlu mother of Ešabba am I.
[pg 289]
7.
d.En-á-nun271
ama gù-an-ni-si mèn7. Enanun mother of lamentation am I.
8. ga-ša-an nigín-mar-ra ki-azag-ga mèn
8. Queen of Niginmarra,
272 the holy place, am I.
9.
ga-ša-an áš-te273 ... ga-ša-an La-ra-ak-(ki) mèn9. Queen of Ašte,
274 queen of Larak.
10. ama é-a d.Ašnan
d.Azag-sud mèn
10. Mother of the temple, Ašnan the divine
lustrator
275 am I.
11. šă-ab-er-ri a-še-ir-ri ma-a kuš-ù-mu
11. Weeping and sighing where shall I find rest?
12. er é-kur-ra-ge ma-a kuš-ù-mu
12. Weeping for Ekur, where shall I repose?
13. er kenur-ra-ge ma-a kuš-ù-mu
13. Weeping for Kenur, where shall I repose?
14. er dù-azag-ga-ge ma-a kuš-ù-mu
14. Weeping for Duazagga, where shall I repose?
15.
er é-dīm-ma276-ge ma-a kuš-ù-mu15. Weeping for the “House of the King,” where shall I repose?
16. er uru-sag-gà-ge ma-a kuš-ù-mu
16. Weeping for the chief city, where shall I repose?
17.
er tir-azag-ga277-ge ma-a kuš-ù-mu17. Weeping for the sacred forest, where shall I repose?
18. er Ì-si-in-(ki)-na-ge ma-a kuš-ù-mu
18. Weeping for Isin, where shall I repose?
19. er é-gal-maģ-a-ge ma-a kuš-ù-mu
19. Weeping for Egalmah, where shall I repose?
20. er La-ra-ak-(ki)-a-ge ma-a kuš-ù-[mu ma-a na]-d-da-bi
20. Weeping for Larak, where shall I repose, where shall he rest?
21.
šă-ab dam-e-mu ša-ab [tu-mu-]278 mu21. The ravished one my husband, the ravished one, my son,
22. [...] ki-el-la šăb mu-ud-na-mu
22. [In ... ] the clean place, the ravished one my spouse,
[pg 290]
23. ṭu-mu-tūr ṭu-[mu ... ]
23. The little son, the ... son [...]
L. E. a-šab-ba-ni a-ba-bar-ra-ni
L. E. How long his ravishing? how long his absence?
280