Middle and Neo-Babylonian Literary Texts in the Frau Professor Hilprecht Collection, Jena 9783447118811

The book contains first editions of thirty-three cuneiform tablets from the Frau Professor Hilprecht Collection, dating to the second half of the second millennium and the first millennium BCE, as well as duplicates and parallels from other museums. The majority of the edited tablets stem from the city of Nippur, but the book also includes manuscripts from Assur and Babylon. The tablets comprise literary, magic, and divinatory texts, as well as fifteen Middle and Neo-Babylonian school manuscripts with excerpts from various compositions. The literary texts include a large prayer invoking blessings of Nippur gods upon the king, known in other cities as well; a wisdom monologue, and a manuscript of The Exaltation of Ištar. The magic section includes Middle Babylonian versions of anti-witchcraft incantations previously known in the first millennium, as well as exorcistic spells, and formulas to be recited upon the consecration of Nippur priests. Extispicy, hemerologies, and physiognomy are among the divinatory texts edited. The school tablets contain excerpts from several texts previously unknown to have survived into the respective periods, such as a Middle Babylonian version of Tamarisk and Palm and a first-millennium version of the wisdom text Hearken to the Advice. The introduction of the book contains an overview of Nippur history, as well as a discussion of the provenance of the tablets and their social and school contexts. The city of Nippur, whose scholarly production circulated widely in Antiquity, is strangely bereft of scholarly manuscripts, a fact that the book seeks to explain. Ancient Near Eastern Studies Cover 1 Title Pages 4 Contents 10 Vorwort des Herausgebers 6 Acknowledgements 8 Introduction 12 1. Nippur in the Course of Time 13 2. Nippur as a Center of Cuneiform Scholarship 19 3. The Nippur Excavations and the Hilprecht Collection 23 4. Social Context 30 5. School 32 Catalogue of Tablets Edited 42 I. Literature 44 No. 1: HS 1941 and Duplicates, Blessings for a King 46 No. 2: HS 1916, The Exaltation of Ištar III (Bilingual šuʾila-prayer) 80 No. 3: HS 1919+ HS 1936, A Wisdom Monologue 86 II. Magic 106 No. 4: HS 1887, Middle Babylonian Prayer to Marduk (forerunner to BMS 12) 108 No. 5: HS 1888, A List of Appurtenances for a Ritual 118 No. 6: HS 1889, Middle Babylonian Anti-witchcraft Incantation 124 No. 7: HS 1934+ CBS 14075, Bilingual Incantation (Udugḫul IX and Zipad) 128 No. 8: HS 1948, Bilingual Incantation (Consecration of a Priest) 136 No. 9 // 10: HS 1927 // HS 2156, Amulets 148 III. Divination 152 No. 11: HS 1923, Iqqur īpuš, General Series (§§ 94–96, 103–104) 154 No. 12: HS 1951, Extispicy, Finger (Middle Assyrian) 160 No. 13: HS 2941, Extispicy, Lungs 170 No. 14: HS 1933, Enūma Anu Enlil “57” (= 60) 174 No. 15: HS 1945, Šumma kittabru(ŠE) for Women 182 No. 16: HS 1947, Iqqur īpuš, Monthly Series (VIII Month) 186 IV. School Tablets 194 No. 17: HS 1890, Hymn to Ištar and Lexical Excerpt 196 No. 18: HS 1892, Tamarisk and Palm 200 No. 19: HS 1895, Bilingual School Dialogue and Lexical Excerpt 204 No. 20: HS 1896, Bilingual Text and Lexical Excerpt 212 No. 21: HS 1898, Extispicy (Front of the Pouch) 216 No. 22: HS 1899, Extispicy (Coils) 220 No. 23: HS 1905, Curses and Lexical Excerpt 222 No. 24: HS 1910, Sumerian Wisdom and Lexical Excerpt 228 No. 25: HS 2943, Historical Epic and Lexical Excerpt 232 No. 26: HS 1914, Incantation (Type 2) 236 No. 27: HS 1921, Incantation (Type 2) 244 No. 28: HS 1925 (Type 1) 248 No. 29: HS 1935, Incantation (Type 2) 252 No. 30: HS 1938+ HS 1939 (Type 1) 256 No. 31: HS 1943, Incantation and Šimâ milka (Type 2) 260 No. 32: HS 1946, Magical and Lexical Incipits 268 V. Uncertain 272 No. 33: HS 1906, Ritual (?) 274 Index of Abbreviations 278 Bibliography 282 Glossary 318 Proper Nouns 318 Sumerian Words 321 Akkadian Words 324 Index of Tablets Copied 340 Plates 342 Ancient Near Eastern Studies,Cuneiform,Nippur,Assur,Babylon,Incantations,Ritual Studies