The Babilili-Ritual from Hattusa (CTH 718)

113 Pages·2014·19.08 MB·English

by  Gary M. Beckman

The babilili-Ritual from Hattusa
General Editor
Jerrold S. Cooper, Johns Hopkins University
Editorial Board
Walter Farber, University of Chicago Jack Sasson, Vanderbilt University
Piotr Michalowski, University of Michigan Piotr Steinkeller, Harvard University
Simo Parpola, University of Helsinki Marten Stol, Free University of Amsterdam
Karen Radner, University College, London Irene Winter, Harvard University
1. The Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur, by Piotr Michalowski
2. Schlaf, Kindchen, Schlaf! Mesopotamische Baby-Beschwörungen und -Rituale, by Walter Farber
3. Adoption in Old Babylonian Nippur and the Archive of Mannum-mešu-liṣṣur, by Elizabeth C. Stone and
David I. Owen
4. Third-Millennium Legal and Administrative Texts in the Iraq Museum, Baghdad, by Piotr Steinkeller and J. N. Postgate
5. House Most High: The Temples of Ancient Mesopotamia, by A. R. George
6. Textes culinaires Mésopotamiens / Mesopotamian Culinary Texts, by Jean Bottéro
7. Legends of the Kings of Akkade: The Texts, by Joan Goodnick Westenholz
8. Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, by Wayne Horowitz
9. The Writing on the Wall: Studies in the Architectural Context of Late Assyrian Palace Reliefs, by John M. Russell
10. Adapa and the South Wind: Language Has the Power of Life and Death, by Shlomo Izre’el
11. Time at Emar: The Cultic Calendar and the Rituals from the Diviner’s Archive, by Daniel E. Fleming
12. Letters to the King of Mari: A New Translation, with Historical Introduction, Notes, and Commentary,
by Wolfgang Heimpel
13. Babylonian Oracle Questions, by W. G. Lambert
14. Royal Statuary of Early Dynastic Mesopotamia , by Gianni Marchesi and Nicolò Marchetti
15. The Correspondence of the Kings of Ur: An Epistolary History of an Ancient Mesopotamian Kingdom, by Piotr Michalowski
16. Babylonian Creation Myths, by W. G. Lambert
17. Lamaštu: An Edition of the Canonical Series of Lamaštu Incantations and Rituals and Related Texts from the Second and
First Millennia b.c., by Walter Farber
18. The Lamentation over the Destruction of Ur, by Nili Samet
19. The babilili-Ritual from Hattusa (CTH 718), by Gary M. Beckman
The babilili-Ritual
from Hattusa
(CTH 718)
Gary M. Beckman
Winona Lake, Indiana
EisEnbrauns
2014
© Copyright 2014 Eisenbrauns
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
www.eisenbrauns.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Beckman, Gary M., author.
The Babilili-ritual from Hattusa : (CTH 718) / Gary M. Beckman.
pages cm—(Mesopotamian civilizations ; 19)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 978-1-57506-280-8 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Hittites—Religion. 2. Kizzuwatna (Cilicia)—Religion. 3. Akkadian language—Texts.
I. Title.
BL2370.H5B43 2014
299′.199—dc23
2014031149
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. ♾™
—to the memory of Heinrich Otten
(1913–2012)

Contents
acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Register of Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The Main Texts: Transliterations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The Main Texts: Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
The Fragments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
The Commentary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
The Incantations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
vii

acknowledgments
I am grateful to Professor Andreas Schachner for supporting my request to the Turkish Ministry
and Culture for permission to examine the relevant tablets in The Museum of Anatolian Civiliza-
tions in Ankara, and to Zülküf Yılmaz for granting the research permit. Dr. Rukiye Akdoğan was a
gracious host during my time in the Museum. The late Professor Heinrich Otten took an interest in
this work from its inception and afforded me access to his copies and transliterations of still unpub-
lished material.
My research was furthered in 1997–1998 by a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Jewish Stud-
ies, University of Pennsylvania, whose Director, Professor David Ruderman, and remarkable staff
well deserve my appreciation.
As usual in my work, I have been privileged to utilize the lexical files of the Hittite Dictionary
Project of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. It is my great pleasure to thank the
former and current Executive Editors of the Project, Professors Harry A. Hoffner, Jr., and Theo van
den Hout, for unstintingly allowing this access.
Dr. Giula Torri sent me her copy of KBo 56.208 before its publication, for which I am most
grateful.
My colleagues Professor H. C. Melchert, Professor Piotr Michalowski, Professor Walter Farber,
and Dr. Richard Beal have contributed in various ways to this undertaking.
The preparation of this work has taken a long time—too long, so that I must certainly have for-
gotten some of those who helped me in completing it. To all of them I apologize.
Finally, I cannot neglect to acknowledge the unwavering encouragement and love of my wife,
Dr. Karla Taylor, whose support over the past thirty years has enabled me to bring this study to a
conclusion.
Note to the reader: Abbreviations used here are those employed and listed in the Chicago Hittite
Dictionary (Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 1980–). In transliterations, asterisks mark textual read-
ings that differ from those of published hand copies but are here secured by collation or examination
of photographs. Raised er indicates erasures made by the ancient scribes.
ix