Explaining Disaster: Tradition and Transformation of the 'catastrophe of Ibbi-Sin' in Babylonian Literature (Dubsar)

"The aim of this study is to investigate the philosophy and the reasoning that transformed the plain historical fact of the destruction of the empire of the Third Dynasty of Ur under its king Ibbi-Sîn (ca. 2028-2004 BCE) into a balanced and logical model of crime and divine punishment in the course of Babylonian historiography. The study presents nearly 80 excerpts and new editions of Babylonian texts dealing with the fall of the "great city" under an "ill-starred king" by divine disfavour or wrath, among them full new editions of numerous historical omens, the Esaĝil Chronicle, the Book of Prodigies and the Religious Chronicle. It also contains excerpts from cultic lamentations, the Royal Correspondence of Ur, the Marduk Prophecy, Chronicle P, the Chedorlaomer Texts and various royal inscriptions."--Publisher's website Cover 1 Title Page 4 Table of Contents 6 Preface 10 1. Introduction 12 1.1. The Subject 14 1.2. History of Research 14 1.3. Method 25 1.4. Selecting the Sources 26 1.5. Range of Topics 29 1.6. Intentional History and Typification 32 1.7. Excursus: “Nebuchadnezzar”, Khosrau and Jerusalem 41 2. Ibbi-Sîn King of Ur 47 2.1. General Outlines of Ibbi-Sîn’s Reign 48 2.2. Ibbi-Sîn’s Family Relations 51 2.3. Ibbi-Sîn’s Name and Titles 52 2.4. Ibbi-Sîn’s End 56 3. The Figure of Išbi-Erra and Isin as Heiress of Ur 60 4. Destructions of Babylon and Abductions of Marduk 65 4.1. Divine Primacy of Agency 65 4.2. The Abductions of Marduk 72 4.3. Ancient Explanations 84 5. The Formation of a Tradition 92 5.1. Isin’s Answer 93 5.2. Larsa’s Answer 94 6. The Tradition of the Historical Omens 100 6.1. The Ibbi-Sîn Omens 104 6.2. Excursus: The Element “Four” and the “Four Winds of Heaven” 111 6.3. Excursus: The “Oracle of the Square Temple” at Jerusalem 119 7. The Formation of a Rationale: The Esaĝil Chronicle 124 7.1. Sin and Sanction: Mirror Punishment 128 7.2. Sin and Sanction: Collective Punishment 139 7.3. Historical Part 149 7.4. The Abuse of the Fish Offering to Marduk 177 8. More Disaster: The Religious Chronicle & The Book of Prodigies 185 8.1. The Tower of Babel: When Adad smote Etemenanki 187 8.2. The Tower of Babel: Jewish-Babylonian Traditions 193 9. Periodicity of Disasters? 197 10. The Impact of the Compositions on Politics 205 10.1. Sargon II and Marduk-apla-iddina II: The New Ibbi-Sîn? 205 10.2. Aššurbanipal and Bēl-ēṭir: The New Utu-ḫeĝal? 207 10.3. Nebuchadnezzar II and the Fish Offering to Marduk 209 10.4. The Sins of Nabonidus 212 10.5. Dareios and the Fall of Babylon 217 10.6. Xerxes and the Statue of Marduk 218 11. The Participants 226 11.1. The Gods 226 11.2. Kings and Priests 229 11.3. The People 240 A. ṣābū kidinni “The Privileged Citizens (of a Babylonian City) 240 B. nammaššû “The People (of Babylonia)” 241 C. ṣalmāt qaqqadi “The Black-Headed (People)” 242 11.4. The Enemy 246 A. Elam and Šimaški 247 B. Gutium and the Ummān-Manda 250 C. The Subhuman Barbarians from the Eastern Mountains 254 12. Summary: Explaining Disaster 257 Edition of the Sources 261 1. Early and Middle Second Millennium 261 Source 1: Excerpts from CKU no. 22B & 24: The Wrath of Enlil 261 Source 2: Excerpt from CKU no. 23: Išbi-Erra’s Brazenness 268 Source 3: Excerpt from CKU no. 24: Ibbi-Sîn’s Error (ISO 1) 272 Source 4: Excerpts from the Lament for Sumer and Ur 280 Source 5: Excerpt from a Lamentation: Ibbi-Sîn died at Anšan 288 Source 6: Excerpts from the Lament for Uruk 289 Source 7: Excerpt from the Lament for Ur 290 Source 8: Excerpts from the Lament for Eridu 294 Source 9: Excerpts from the Lament for Nippur 295 Source 10: Inscriptions & Year Names: Šu-ilīšu & the Return of Nanna 296 Source 11: Omen: The Fall of Akkade 300 Source 12: Omen of Ibbi-Sîn (ISO 2) 302 Source 13: Omen of Ibbi-Sîn (ISO 3) 303 Source 14: Omen of Ibbi-Sîn (ISO 4) 304 Source 15: Omen of Išbi-Erra of Isin (IEO 1) 305 Source 16: Omen of Išbi-Erra of Isin (IEO 2) 306 Source 17: Omen of Ku-Baʾu (KBO 1) 308 Source 18: Omen of Ku-Baʾu (KBO 2) 310 Source 19: Omen of Ku-Baʾu (KBO 3) 311 Source 20: Omen of Ibbi-Sîn (ISO 5) 312 Source 21: Omen of Ibbi-Sîn (ISO 6) 312 Source 22: Omens of Ibbi-Sîn (ISO 7, ISO 8, ISO 9) 314 Source 23: Omen: The Fall of Akkade 315 Source 24: Omen of Ibbi-Sîn (ISO 10) 317 Source 25: Omen of Ibbi-Sîn (ISO 11) 318 Source 26: Omen of Ibbi-Sîn (ISO 12 318 Source 27: Omen of Amar-Sîn of Ur (ASO 1) 319 Source 28: Omens of Amar-Sîn of Ur (ASO 2, ASO 3, ASO 4 322 2. Late Second and First Millennium 323 Source 29: Omen of Ibbi-Sîn (ISO 13) 323 Source 30: Omen of Utu-ḫeĝal 324 Source 31: Shalmaneser I and the Soil of Arinnu 326 Source 32: Nebuchadnezzar I and the Wrath of Marduk 327 Source 33: The Misdeeds of Šutruk-Naḫḫunte I and Kutir-Naḫḫunte II 333 Source 34: Excerpts from the Marduk Prophecy 336 Source 35: The Esaĝil Chronicle 349 Source 36: The Book of Prodigies: Omens of Ibbi-Sîn (ISO 14) & Ku-Baʾu (KBO 4) 411 Source 37: The Religious Chronicle 437 Source 38: Excerpts from a Political Letter Quoting Omens of Disaster 456 Source 39: Excerpt from the Poem of Erra 459 Source 40: Omen of Ku-Baʾu (KBO 5) 464 Source 41: Omen of Ku-Baʾu (KBO 6) 466 Source 42: Omen of Ku-Baʾu (KBO 7) 467 Source 43: Omen of Ku-Baʾu (KBO 8) 468 Source 44: Chronicle of Early Kings: Sargon of Akkade & the Soil of Babylon 469 Source 45: Omen of Sargon of Akkade: The Soil of Babylon 470 Source 46: Sennacherib and the Soil of Babylon 473 Source 47: Aššurbanipal and the Soil of Elamite Cities 474 Source 48: Chronicle of Early Kings: The Sins of Šulgi 475 Source 49: Chronicle from Uruk: The Sins of Šulgi 477 Source 50: Omen of Amar-Sîn of Ur (ASO 5) 487 Source 51: Omen of Amar-Sîn of Ur (ASO 6) 488 Source 52: Omen of Ibbi-Sîn (ISO 15) 489 Source 53: Omen dealing with the Element “Four” 490 Source 54: Omen of Ibbi-Sîn (ISO 16) 491 Source 55: Omen: Devastation of Ur and of the Land 496 Source 56: Omen: Devastation of Ur and of the Land 499 Source 57: Omen: The Wrath of Marduk 503 Source 58: Omen: Devastation of Babylonia 505 Source 59: Omen: Disaster for the King of Babylonia 507 Source 60: Omen: Disaster for the King of Babylonia 511 Source 61: Omen of Ibbi-Sîn (ISO 17) 511 Source 62: Omen of Ibbi-Sîn (ISO 18) 512 Source 63: Omen of Ibbi-Sîn (ISO 19) 514 Source 64: Omen of Ibbi-Sîn (ISO 20) 515 Source 65: Omen of Ibbi-Sîn (ISO 21) 516 Source 66: Omen of Ibbi-Sîn (ISO 22) 517 Source 67: Omen of [Ibbi-Sîn] (ISO 23) 517 Source 68: Omen of Išbi-Erra of Isin (IEO 3) 518 Source 69: Omen of Išbi-Erra of Isin (IEO 4) 519 Source 70: Letter of Samsu-iluna: The Sins of the Priests of Babylonia 519 Source 71: Chronicle P: Crimes & Punishment of Tukultī-Ninurta I 523 Source 72: Chedorlaomer Texts: Crimes & Punishment of Wicked Kings 533 Source 73: Diary: Xerxes I is killed by his Son 546 Source 74: Esarhaddon: The Sins of the Babylonians 547 Source 75: Excerpts from the Babylonian Chronicle 563 Source 76: Assyrian Prophecy: Marduk’s Mercy 566 Source 77: Nebuchadnezzar II and the Fish for Marduk 570 Glossary 576 Akkadian 576 Non-lemmatic 620 Cardinal Numbers 621 Complex Cardinal Numbers 621 Ordinal Numbers 621 Month Names 622 Sumerian 622 Divine Names 632 Temple Names 634 Temple Gates 635 Personal Names 635 Geographical and Ethnographical Names 637 City Gates 640 Rivers and Canals 640 List of Figures 641 Abbreviations 642 Bibliography 643 Indices 705 Divine Names 705 Temple Names 705 Personal Names 705 Geographical & Ethnographical Names 706 Terms 706 Topics 707 Cuneiform Texts 708 Biblical & Jewish Literature 711 Classical Literature 711 "The aim of this study is to investigate the philosophy and the reasoning that transformed the plain historical fact of the destruction of the empire of the Third Dynasty of Ur under its king Ibbi-Sîn (ca. 2028-2004 BCE) into a balanced and logical model of crime and divine punishment in the course of Babylonian historiography. The study presents nearly 80 excerpts and new editions of Babylonian texts dealing with the fall of the "great city" under an "ill-starred king" by divine disfavour or wrath, among them full new editions of numerous historical omens, the Esaĝil Chronicle, the Book of Prodigies and the Religious Chronicle. It also contains excerpts from cultic lamentations, the Royal Correspondence of Ur, the Marduk Prophecy, Chronicle P, the Chedorlaomer Texts and various royal inscriptions."--Publisher's website