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
1. KU-? [ ]
1.
2. kalag giš [ ]
2. Oh strong one [ ]
3. me-ri kuš-ù-[zu[257] ]
3. Thy weary foot [ ]
4. á-lirum-šu[258]-[kuš-ù-zu ... ]
4. Thy weary arms—breast—hands [ ]
5. a-zu[259]-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-ma[260]-ni ... zu-dé
11. Oh strong one, when into his assembly thou ...
12. a-rib[261] šu-si me-ri ... a-bal-mà na-nam
12. 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.
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-dim[264]
21. 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-na[265] ni- ? ?
25. Daily(?) he [sorrows?][266]
Reverse
1. šă-ab-er-ri[267] 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-mu[270] d.Gu-nu-ra
5. Daughter of the temple, Queen Gunura.
6. tum-lu-azag ama é-šăb-ba mèn
6. Holy tumlu mother of Ešabba am I.
7. d.En-á-nun[271] ama gù-an-ni-si mèn
7. 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-te[273] ... ga-ša-an La-ra-ak-(ki) mèn
9. 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-ma[276]-ge ma-a kuš-ù-mu
15. 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-ga[277]-ge ma-a kuš-ù-mu
17. 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] mu
21. 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,
23. ṭu-mu-tūr ṭu-[mu ... ]
23. The little son, the ... son [...]
24. ga-ša-an [...]
24.
25. šă-ab [...]
25.
26. AN-NE [...]
26.
27. sukkal [...]
27. [279]
L. E. a-šab-ba-ni a-ba-bar-ra-ni
L. E. How long his ravishing? how long his absence?[280]