Introduction
Since
the initial clay tablet fragments were first translated in 1914, the Sumerian
“Inanna’s Descent to the Netherworld” (hereafter referred to as ID) myth has
captured the attention and imagination of scholars, students, and the general
public.
While the more recent Assyrian account of “The Descent of Ishtar” is dated to
ca. 1100 BCE, scholars have agreed that the Sumerian version is older.[3]
ID is almost one thousand years older based on current date estimates of
related artifacts—that is, it is loosely dated as belonging to the Old
Babylonian period (ca. 1900 – 1600 BCE).[4]
It is difficult to know the exact time period and origin of the myth because of
how the related artifacts were discovered and processed by scholars,
governments, and curators over its four thousand-plus year history. The most
authoritative version of ID was published in 2001 by the contributors to the
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (hereafter referred to as the
ETCSL version), a collaborative project by the University of Oxford and other
institutions.[5]
While many prominent scholars have published other translations, the present
survey will use the ETCSL version as its focus. As we will see, the ETCSL
version relied on efforts from dozens of scholars and almost fifty separate
artifacts in order to compile the total 412 lines of translated text it has
today.[6]
ID
can be briefly summarized as follows. Inanna, the Sumerian deity, sets her mind
on going to the netherworld and abandons various cities that are represented by
other deities. She takes with her the seven divine powers (the “me”), as
represented by articles of clothing, jewelry, makeup, and objects. Her travel
companion, Nincubura, accompanies her during the journey. Inanna gives precise
instructions to her companion to plead on her behalf if she does not return
within three days. Upon reaching the netherworld, she informs the
gatekeeper—Neti—that she has come to observe the funeral rites for her sister’s
husband, Gugulana. Neti proceeds to ask Ereshkigal, who is Inanna’s sister (and
the ruler of the netherworld), whether Inanna can come in. Ereshkigal instructs
Neti to allow Inanna to enter and Inanna proceeds through seven gates. At each
gate, one item she brought (including her clothing) is removed until she is
naked. Upon reaching the throne, she is seemingly killed, and her corpse is
hung on a metal hook. After three days, Nincubura follows the instructions
provided and travels to various temples to plead for Inanna’s life. In agreeing
to help Inanna, the god Enki devises a plan to bring her back to life and is
successful. As Inanna ascends back up from the netherworld, she is accompanied
by two demon-like figures that insist on bringing a different person back in
her place. Inanna discovers her husband, Dumuzi, and offers him in her place,
ending the poem.
Modern Relevance
The
plot summary of ID may provide us with one of the earliest recorded
descriptions of the afterlife. While the difficulty of proper dating methods
cannot be stressed enough, scholars can generally attribute time periods based
on the Sumerian language that was used and the location of the cities that were
referenced. Whatever the exact origin date of ID was, scholars recognize that
ancient Sumer was one of the earliest civilizations on our planet. Their
initial writing system, called cuneiform, was thus a means toward some of the
world’s first pieces of literature. We can reasonably deduce that writing in
the Sumerian language constitutes some of the earliest literary works of mankind—the
gravity of this statement needs no further explanation as to its importance for
historians studying death in the ancient world.
Inanna,
ID, and mythology have attracted interest from other disciplines as well as
mainstream culture. Within psychology, feminist theory interpretations have
been made of ID and used in clinical counseling settings for therapy.[7]
For many years, sociologists have used ancient history as a window to peer
through to see why and how society is the way it is today. A modest number of
general Sumerian references are made in the Judeo-Christian Bible,[8]
with scholars like Joseph Reider and others speculating that Ishtar was a
consistent mention in the Hebrew texts.[9]
The growing field of psychohistory is also anxiously awaiting newly translated
literary texts in order to assess the mentality of authors, listeners, and
characters, particularly as they relate to power relations between men and
women in antiquity.[10]
While the present survey cannot pass judgment or offer analysis on the validity
of these interpretations or uses, it is clear that there is interdisciplinary
interest in the Sumerian deity named Inanna, later known as Ishtar.
Mythology,
and particularly ID, have also made their way into mainstream culture,
sometimes without any reference to formal scholarship whatever. For example,
Inanna and her myth are readily utilized in the context of modern cultural
issues like gender identity and women’s rights. Evidence of this is present in
undergraduate scholarship[11]
as well as more public friendly news websites, among others.[12]
Within the sphere of cinema, too, we time and time again see the subtle
influence of ancient mythology—that is, behind the veil of special effects, fun
music, and action-filled plots are the literary remains of cultures that have
been long forgotten. As of the writing of this paragraph, the most popular
movie in America is Avengers: Endgame, featuring an archvillain named
Thanos who kills half the universe.[13]
Thanos, an oddly similar name to Thanatos
(Θάνατος), the Greek deity associated with
death and dying, is another example of modern cinema perhaps leaning on
mythology.[14]
The entirety of the current paragraph intentionally digressed from
authoritative scholarly references (with admittedly cherry-picked straw man
examples without peer review) to illustrate a broader cultural trend that is
most apparent. There is no question about the interdisciplinary interest and
modern sociocultural importance of mythology like ID—especially for the general
public.
Addressing the Needs of a Broader
Audience
A
major problem the present survey will hopefully address is the steep learning
curve the public and other scholars face when trying to investigate scholarship
related to ID. In considering the intimidating list of cuneiform artifacts
(sources, sometimes called witnesses) used for ID in the ETCSL version, we can
only imagine how a less trained scholar or reader may feel. Upon inspecting the
fifty listed artifacts,
one is immediately arrested by the sheer complexity of the acronyms,
publication annotation schemes, outdated resources, and jargon (like sigla).[16]
To make sense of a single artifact, say CBS 9800, for example, one must possess
at least basic proprietary technical knowledge in archaeology, linguistics,
Sumerian studies, cuneiform studies, and several other fields. Just locating
and assigning artifacts to translations and using the tools and websites
available are daunting—headache envelops the reader like a garment. Even with
having the necessary technical skills, readers are likely unprepared for the
further complexities related to prior scholarship, dissociated cultural timelines,
and other inherent obscurities present within any domain of ancient studies.
The
primary purpose of this survey is to belatedly pay tribute to a century of
scholarship on ID by organizing the accomplishments for a broader audience.
Most of the scholars who contributed many years of their lives to ID are no
longer with us. The present work will attempt to organize their contributions
systematically and chronologically for a reader who is wholly unfamiliar with
the material but wishes to engage more rigorously. My humble contribution is,
therefore, solely as a compiler of such efforts—that is, I have excluded
my own interpretations and analysis as much as possible. The following pages
will hopefully provide an accurate and truthful survey of all major individuals,
artifacts, resources, citations, and milestones in the last one hundred years
of scholarship for ID.
Scope and Contents
The
main text of the present survey is primarily intended to be a basic field guide
for individuals and researchers without proprietary training in the fields
traditionally required for in-depth scholarship. The background broadly
explains the historical context of Sumer, Inanna, cuneiform, and the process of
artifact publication. The scholarship chronology covers the main contributions
by individuals and institutions for ID from 1889 to the present day. The future
of ID and conclusion speculate on interesting areas of future research. The
appendices provide what will hopefully be useful artifact, translation, and
publication information for the entire 412 lines of ID. The visualizations and
artifact catalog data tables in the appendices may be particularly useful to
seasoned researchers with formal training.
Background
ID
represents an immensely important literary composition pertaining to a
significant deity in one of the world’s oldest civilizations—Sumer. Sumer was
an ancient civilization located in the southern region of modern-day Iraq,
situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The Zagros Mountains are located
to the north of the settlement area. This region is in the Middle East and
referred to as the fertile crescent, or Mesopotamia.[17]
Evidence suggests that long-term settlement and farming were practiced in
Mesopotamia by circa 4500 BCE.[18]
By ca. 1900 BCE, the Sumerian people were likely diffused into northern
Akkadian influence due to prolonged regional conflict.[19]
The time period from 4500 BCE to 1900 BCE is commonly known as the Chalcolithic
period, or Copper Age, and was followed by the Bronze Age. The duration of the
Sumerian empire has also been labeled as the Uruk period, and some notable city
settlements included Uruk, Ur, Eridu, Nippur, Lagash, and Kish.[20]
Figure 1.1.
SUMER in MESOPOTAMIA. Digital Illustration by OMNIKA
Foundation. “Inanna’s Descent Myth & Summary,”
OMNIKA: Digital Library of Mythology (OMNIKA Foundation), May 3, 2019,
https://omnika.conscious.ai/myths/inanna-descent.
Finally, it is worth noting that the name Mesopotamia originates from the Greek
word Μεσοποταμία, which
means “land between rivers.” It was in this region that civilization as we know
it came to be—likely as a consequent of the world’s first cities.
Inanna
Inanna
had a special place in Sumerian history and was perhaps considered the most
beloved deity of her time.[21]
Cities such as ancient Nippur and Ur all had temples erected and dedicated to
Inanna, along with artwork in the forms of vases, masks, and cylinder seals.[22]
Figure 1.2.
Cylinder seal VA 243. Museum artifact
published by Anton Moortgat, “West Asian Cylinder Seals,” Vorderasiatische
Rollsiegel (1940): 101. [The figure to the far left may depict Inanna]
While scholars do not always agree with one another when it comes to
identifying deities, certain symbolic indicators do give helpful clues. For
example, Inanna was often associated with the symbol of an eight-pointed star.
The ambiguity of precise symbolic identification must be stressed because both
Sumerian and Akkadian cultures featured Inanna prominently.
Like the seal, the
Mask of Warka, pictured below, featuring the Lady of Uruk,
may be Inanna.
Figure 1.3. Mask
of Warka (3200–3000 BCE). Alabaster carving of the Lady of Uruk.
Photograph by Osama S. M. Amin, uploaded May 10, 2019. Wikimedia Commons
(Baghdad: National Museum of Iraq). [Pictured on title page]
The Mask of
Warka is an alabaster carving that seemingly features a female head with
thin lips, broad and connected eyebrows, a chipped nose, as well as a pair of
fierce, wide eyes. Even if it was not carved after Inanna’s likeness, it is
still regal and divine in both posture and tone.
Figure 1.4.
Warka Vase. Lost Treasures from Iraq, Iraq Museum
Database, last modified April 14, 2008,
http://oi-archive.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/dbfiles/objects/14.htm.
Another related artifact at the Iraq Museum is the Warka Vase. The vase
seems to picture lines of naked men giving offerings to what appears to be
Inanna (in the middle at the top). The double staffs at her side have been
cited as indicators of this deity.
Scholars
have attempted to decipher Inanna’s family tree with respect to other Sumerian
deities without consistent agreement. Samuel N. Kramer depicted Inanna as the
Queen of Heaven and Earth, birthed by the moon god Nanna and moon goddess
Ningal, and laterally related to the sky god An and water goddess Nammu.
Figure 1.5. Inanna’s
Family Tree. Artwork
by Elizabeth Williams-Forte. Samuel N. Kramer and Diane Wolkstein, Inanna:
Queen of Heaven: Hymns from Sumer (New York: Harper & Row, 1983): x-xi.
As shown in
Kramer’s 1983 publication, the family tree is both extended and symbolically
represented by animals, cities, and celestial bodies. The exact nature of these
relationships differs by the time period, composite myth, parent culture, and
scholar doing the interpretation.
Cuneiform
Whatever
the exact fourth-millennium origin date of cuneiform was, scholars recognize
that ancient Sumer was one of the earliest civilizations on our planet with a
surviving writing system. The Sumerian language may be considered a linguistic
isolate—that is, there is no known parent language from which it is derived.[26]
Cuneiform, literally meaning wedge-shaped, is a form of writing traditionally
inscribed on soft clay tablets with a reed stylus.[27]
The little wedge-shaped marks represent symbols and can be combined into
coherent sentences read from left to right. Unlike wood or papyrus that can
deteriorate, once the clay tablet cools off, the inscription can last for
thousands of years. It is widely believed that cuneiform came from more
primitive pictures representing symbols, which were then turned sideways and
simplified to basic lines.
Figure 1.6. Table
illustrating the simplification of cuneiform signs. Illustration
by Ernest A. Budge and Sir Leonard W. King, A
Guide to the Babylonian and Assyrian Antiquities (London: British Museum
Trustees, 1922), 22.
A
few minor but important details about cuneiform and language are worth
mentioning. First, cuneiform is a form of script, not a language. It is more
appropriately labeled as an alphabet. Second, it is important to distinguish
between Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and other related languages. While these
civilizations were in close physical and cultural proximity (overlapping and
diffusing eventually) to one another, the languages were not one and the
same.[28]
Third, writing systems, alphabets, and display forms are also different from
language, grammar, and usage. While the Akkadian language may have used the
cuneiform script, its language was different from Sumerian.[29]
Finally, while cuneiform script usage may date back to as early as 9,000 BCE,
most artifacts before the fourth-millennium BCE represent systems of accounting
or record keeping.[30]
Almost 95 percent of all Sumerian cuneiform artifacts fall into this former
category, and all known literary works like ID are likely less than six
thousand years old.[31]
While much more can be said about the differences between script, language, and
the cultures of the ancient Near East, existing scholarship has covered these
topics extensively.
Clay to Composition
The
publication of a coherent and readable English translation like the ETCSL
version is not a linear path with a small number of scholars doing the work
start-to-finish. Institutions like museums, universities, and governments must
secure funding from their stakeholders for archaeological expeditions into geographical
areas of interest. Except for tasteless exceptions like war and plunder, these
institutions must acquire permits and negotiate arrangements with local
governments (and sometimes local peoples) to secure permission for digging in
the ground. Having met these requirements, institutions then send their able
and qualified associates into the field to coordinate the work of
archaeology. Discovered artifacts may be documented at that time, or they may
be boxed and shipped to the institution that secured ownership rights during
prior negotiations.
Once
relocated, the long process of restoring and publishing artifact findings takes
place. Restoration is oftentimes required because the artifacts may be
fragmented, weathered, or otherwise destroyed. Cataloging usually takes place
in some form or another, hence why we will read artifact names like CBS 9800
and YBC 4621. The cataloging systems differ by institution and will likely have
little to no association with the contents of the artifact.
Initial publication may take place whereby photos or sketches of the symbols
are made available to other scholars or the general public. As is common with
cuneiform script-based languages like Sumerian, the symbols need to be
transliterated before they can be translated. Transliteration is “the method of
mapping from one system of writing to another based on phonetic [pronunciation]
similarity.”[33]
Figure 1.7. Artifact terminology table.
Illustration composite by Boban Dedović; Artifact photo by CDLI (see
artifact N 953); Artifact sketch by William R. Sladek, “Inanna’s Descent,” 288,
Figure VIII. [The translation depicted is only for illustration purposes]
Translation is
mapping the meaning of text in one language into another with as much accuracy
as possible. An artifact or source related to a specific composition may also
be called a witness. Collation means mapping the transliteration lines
to a corresponding line in the translation. It must be mentioned that there are
many other complexities and challenges associated with the process and
limitations of collating translations. When we read that a scholar published
artifact findings, we must, therefore, understand that this may mean
photographs, sketches (also known as autographs and sometimes published
as plates), transliterations, translations, or a combination of several
types.
Because
of the fragmented nature of artifacts and partial publications, it may take
several scholars many years before a complete rendering of a story or myth is
possible. Some artifacts, like YBC 4621, provide some ninety lines of text for
ID while others merely provide insight into how many lines long a missing gap
is.[34]
In the case of ID, almost fifty years passed between the initial discovery of
five artifacts to the publication of over half of the full translation (250
lines). Some scholars conducted the archeology, others published photographs
and sketches, while others did restoration work to enable translators. Once
enough artifacts are associated with a given contextual theme, they may be
organized into a composition. A composition is another name for a coherent
translation of a story that seems to be fit for standing alone. Any critical
mistake or oversight during a single step of this laborious process may set
back the accuracy of a composition for decades. Consequently, the speculative
and difficult nature of the publication process must be highlighted so that we
can see a complete translation of ID with the appreciation it deserves. As
uninformed readers, we cannot easily appreciate the years scholars spent getting
their hands dirty with digging, cleaning, and restoring clay objects so
that other scholars half a world away could attempt to decipher what they mean.
Scholarship Chronology
The
chronology of scholarship for ID is most easily understood as a timeline from
1889 until the present day. During this period, five scholars and five major
institutions primarily contributed their efforts toward publishing findings on
some fifty artifacts and 412 lines of translated text. While many
scholars contributed to the decipherment of ID, Edward Chiera, Samuel Noah
Kramer, Cyril John Gadd, Bendt Alster, and William R. Sladek may be candidates
for what we can call the big five.[35]
|
Edward
Chiera
|
Samuel
N. Kramer
|
Cyril J.
Gadd
|
Figure 1.8. Three of the ‘big
five’ of ID. Illustration composite by Boban Dedović; Photograph of
Edward Chiera’s 1924 passport application by unknown author, uploaded May 31,
2011, accessed May 1, 2019, Wikimedia Commons,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edwardchiera1924.jpg; Photograph of
Samuel N. Kramer. Thorkild Jacobsen, “Samuel Noah Kramer (1897-1990),” Archiv
für Orientforschung 36./37, no. Bd (1989/1990): 198. Photograph of Cyril J.
Gadd by unknown author. D. J. Wiseman, “Obituary: Cyril John Gadd,” Bulletin
of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 33, no.
3 (1970): 595. [Photographs of Sladek and Alster could not be located]
The five major
institutions that secured funding and sponsored coordination for such efforts
related to ID include the University of Pennsylvania, the University of
Chicago, the British Museum, Oxford University, and the University of
California at Los Angeles.[36]
Together, these individuals and institutions were involved with the discovery,
publication, and decipherment of most of the artifacts and roughly 370 lines of
ID.
Discovery
and Initial Publication (1889-1919)
The
first known artifacts containing ID were discovered in Nippur, modern-day
central Iraq, between 1889 and 1900. The University of Pennsylvania (hereafter
Penn or Penn Museum) and the Istanbul Museum of the Ancient Orient[37]
(hereafter Ottoman Museum) jointly conducted four archaeological expeditions in
what was then part of the receding Turkish empire.[38]
The two parties agreed that Penn would fund the expedition in exchange for
ownership of half of the recovered artifacts.[39]
This arrangement resulted in thousands of artifacts being boxed and transported
a world apart—effectively separating the scholarship efforts between
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Istanbul, Turkey.[40]
The artifacts were not cleaned, restored, documented, compiled, translated, and
published at the time of discovery; instead, many scholars spent the next fifty
years collaborating and independently publishing their findings.
In
1914, Stephen Herbert Langdon (1876-1937),[41]
an American born British Assyriologist, published the first two fragments
containing snippets of the myth.[42]
In the same year, Arno Poebel published three other fragments from Penn’s
museum.[43]
With the initial five pieces published, in 1916, Langdon published the first
translation of ID and named it the “Sumerian original of the Descent of
Ishtar.”[44]
Up until 1916, many scholars were familiar with the Assyrian myth known as “The
Descent of Ishtar.” This version was shorter, and in many contextual ways, very
different from ID.[45]
With the first publication of ID, scholars recognized that Inanna was a
Sumerian deity, and the Assyrian version was adapted from the former. At this
point, ID was comprised of less than thirty lines of text, and its meaning was
obscure.
More Artifacts and Assignments (1920-1934)
Major
breakthroughs in artifact publication and composition assignment came when
Edward Chiera (1885-1933)[46]
emerged into the fold. Throughout his career, Chiera was an incredibly
important figure in the history of ID. Mainly, he was involved with almost
every major museum and academic institution that owned tablets containing ID:
Penn, Chicago, and the Ottoman Museum. Chiera was also known for creating
extremely detailed and precise sketches of the artifacts he came into contact
with. In 1923, Chiera spent a year in Istanbul sketching various tablets from
the Nippur excavations and published his findings in 1924.[47]
After his return to Penn in the same year, he spent several years restoring and
documenting some three hundred artifacts. Most critically, he discovered that
the previously unpublished Penn tablet, named CBS 9800, was joined with (part
of another fragment) the Ottoman Museum’s Ni 368 tablet.
Figure 2.1. Artifact
CBS 9800. Photograph, "Archival view of
P345344." Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI), University of
California at Los Angeles (UCLA), accessed May 1, 2019,
https://cdli.ucla.edu/search/archival_view.php?ObjectID=P345344. [Obverse
side]
Together, these
two tablets produced almost 250 out of the 412 lines of text we have today.
Chiera continued contributing toward locating various fragments and was
preparing to publish his findings until his untimely death in 1927.[48]
His findings were posthumously published in 1934 by Samuel N. Kramer,[49]
a prominent Sumerian scholar we will cover extensively in this survey.
Before
proceeding, it is important for the reader to understand basic terminology related
to cuneiform tablet artifacts. When obverse and reverse are mentioned, this
refers to the front and the back. A side may occasionally have content on it,
but this is rare among artifacts related to ID. Consequently, a single tablet
may have upwards of four photographs of it. A plus sign “+” or the word join
notates that the tablets are fragments that were originally one piece. In the
case of CBS 9800 and Ni 368, we may see them notated as “CBS 9800 + Ni 368.” “1
Ni 0368” or “1st Ni 0368” means that it is the first edition (copy)
of that fragment and subsequent copies were baked to replicate its contents.
Finally, the word column (abbreviated as Col. I for example) means an intended
physical separation of line blocks. Scholars vary in their practices of
documenting line numbers, columns, and other markers, but it is unlikely to see
a composition name listed (e.g., you likely will not see “Inanna’s Descent”
listed on the artifact photographs or sketches).
Before
Chiera passed away, he provided one more instrumental contribution to the
myth’s composition: the association with an unpublished tablet named YBC 4621
(now YPM BC 018686)[50]
from Yale’s Peabody Museum.[51]
This tablet provided ninety-one lines of text and was preserved in excellent
condition. The picture below shows how both complete and stunning this
unusually well-preserved artifact is.
Figure 2.2. Artifact YPM
BC 018686 (formerly YBC 4621). Photograph of "YPM
BC 018686: Tablet. Inanna's Descent. Old Babylonian. Clay.," Yale Peabody
Museum of Natural History, Yale University, accessed May 2, 2019,
https://collections.peabody.yale.edu/search/Record/YPM-BC-018686. [The obverse,
reverse, left, and right sides of the tablet are shown]
It is important to highlight that the provenance—or historical origin—of an
artifact is an important component of its contribution toward a composition.
For the Nippur excavation tablets, geographic provenance was less of a concern
because the artifacts were discovered and documented during the same
expedition. However, Yale’s YBC 4621 tablet deserves mention because it has no
known or documented provenance.[52]
This means that scholars have almost no idea where it came from, the time
period it is from, and who created it. Like many historical artifacts, it was
likely acquired and purchased through an informal antiques dealer.[53]
The origin of the YBC 4621 tablet is doubly important because it provides text
that comes at critical plot points of ID.
More
expeditions were conducted in Iraq from 1922-1933 between Penn and the British
Museum, leading to further artifact discoveries containing snippets of ID.
These Ur excavations recovered many new artifacts and were directed by Sir
Charles Leonard Woolley (1880-1960),[54]
a British archaeologist.[55]
The expeditions were also accompanied by British historian Cyril J. Gadd
(1893-1969),[56]
the main person who copied the artifact contents so they could be published as
texts for other scholars to translate and interpret.[57]
Other institutions were also conducting expeditions during this time period.
From 1929-1937, the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute conducted
several excavations in neighboring regions of Nippur. These excavations,
alongside the ones at Ur, dug up most of the remaining artifacts required for a
full translation of all 412 lines of ID. A notable field Assyriologist for
Chicago’s Oriental Institute was Thorkild Peter Rudolph Jacobsen (1904-1993),[58]
a newcomer who would later lead the Oriental Institute and publish critical
translations and commentary of ID.
The
1920s were also important years for the composition and blueprint toward full
decipherment of ID. Chiera compiled and published sketches and notes on tablet
fragments that contained almost 275 lines of the total composition.
Additionally, he left valuable clues and details for the next generation of
Sumerian scholars interested in ID. Separate excavations in Iraq by leading
institutions like the British Museum (jointly with Penn) and the University of
Chicago collected thousands of artifacts containing snippets of ID. While many
of these artifacts would not be published as translations until as late as
1966, they were nonetheless in the hands of other scholars.[59]
In summary, by 1933, some thirty-five fragments utilized in the current ETCSL
translation of ID were at least discovered and awaiting translation.
Kramer’s First Wave
(1935-1951)
From
1935-1951, Samuel Noah Kramer (1897-1990)[60]
published a majority of the scholarship on ID, including some thirty books and
dozens of journal articles. His first comprehensive publication containing a
translation of ID was in 1937 and included 250 out of 412 usable lines,
roughly two-thirds of the myth.[62]
This translation primarily took advantage of the CBS 9800 tablet that was
previously identified by Chiera and Langdon, but not translated.[63]
Kramer evidently took a keen interest in ID because he “travelled to Istanbul
in 1937, and with the aid of a Guggenheim fellowship, devoted some twenty
months to the copying of one hundred and seventy tablets and fragments in the
Nippur collection of the [Ottoman] Museum of the Ancient Orient.”[64]
Like Chiera, Kramer explored the other half of the original Nippur
expeditions of the 1890s. These efforts paid off because Kramer spent the next
fifteen years publishing new versions of ID at a furious pace. In 1939, Kramer
published a subsequent translation with the addition of tablets Ni 4200 and Ni
2762.[65]
These tablet additions resulted in a highly authoritative 1942 translation of
ID that contained roughly 270 out of 412 usable lines. With each version Kramer
published, key lines were refined, and new artifact additions were integrated
into the whole. Indeed, it’s also likely that Kramer’s translation skills
improved throughout the process.
Further
improvement, refinement, and translated material contributed to a strong
version of ID by Kramer in 1951. The early 1940s was a relatively tepid period
for ID scholarship because of World War II.[66]
After 1944, several translations emerged from various scholars that were based
on Kramer’s original 1937 framework. For instance, German Assyriologist Adam
Falkenstein (1906-1966)[67]
published a translation of ID in 1944. He was followed by a fellow German,
Friar Maurus Witzel (1882-1967),[68]
who published another translation in 1945.[69]
At this point, almost one-third of the lines were still missing from the
currently known 412. Scholars were aware of the previously mentioned Yale YBC
4621 tablet, but its 90 lines of text were yet to be translated. These efforts
culminated in Kramer’s 1951 publication of ID, which included the Yale tablet.
As later scholars have noted,[70]
Kramer’s 1951 publication proved to be the most authoritative (known as textus
receptus) version of its time.[71]
In total, Kramer published almost fifteen different updated translations of ID
from 1937 to 1951, making him the most decorated contributor during this time
period.
At
this juncture, it is important to note that Kramer’s translations during this
time period reflected revision-based activity toward the work of previous
scholars. Throughout these fourteen years, Kramer seemingly corrected mistakes
that Chiera[72]
and other scholars[73]
had made.[74]
Special mention of scholarly correction is important because it may represent
schism between pseudo schools of thought that each representative scholar may
have embodied in their interpretation of the artifacts and their contents.
Revision of previous scholars’ work may also represent the field’s collective
maturity and progress in artifact restoration methodologies. Revisions,
therefore, do not necessarily represent disagreement. Nonetheless, Kramer’s
authoritative 1951 version of ID included the use of fifteen sources (nineteen
artifact fragments) and a total line count of 344 out of 412.
New Artifacts and Commentary
(1952-1973)
The
1950s and early 1960s provided much-needed commentary, interpretation, and
analysis on Kramer’s 1951 version of ID. During this time period, several key
passages were improved upon, especially the last one hundred lines (which had
artifacts that would not be translated for another fifteen years). Witzel
published a commentary on Kramer’s work in 1952 that focused on the role of
Inanna’s husband and his fate—the ending.[75]
Falkenstein also provided important commentary on Kramer’s work: “In the same
year [1952] Falkenstein read a paper at the third Re[n]contre Assyriologique
Internationale in which he discussed ID.”[76]
A new, albeit small, fragment named BM 17427 was also added in 1959 by H. H.
Figulla as a result of his publication of the tablets discovered in Ur some
thirty years earlier.[77]
Significantly more authorship related to ID occurred in the 1950s by the likes
of Jacobsen and Ferris J. Stephens (1893-1969),[78]
Kramer and Inez Bernhardt in 1962, and Benno Landsberger in 1960. Through 1963,
these aforementioned scholars refined key passages of ID so that they made
sense from a peer-reviewed perspective. There is no doubt that deciphering ID
was a team effort. Almost every reputable translation of ID—whether print,
digital journal, or blog—cites artifact or translation publications from the
scholars previously mentioned, primarily the big five.[79]
1963
was an important year for compiling the whole story with the addition of newly
translated artifacts from the Ur excavations done by Woolley in the 1920s and
1930s. In 1963, Kramer and Gadd published translations of several artifacts
collectively grouped as belonging to the Ur Excavation Texts [volume 6,
number 1] (UET VI) series: UET VI 8, 9, and 10.[80]
Figure 2.3. Artifact UET
VI 9 (6/1 9). Photograph and sketch of "Archival
view of P346094," Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI), University
of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), accessed May 1, 2019,
https://cdli.ucla.edu/search/archival_view.php?ObjectID= P346094.
[Obverse and reverse tablet orientations]
The importance of
these three unusually wide tablet artifacts cannot be understated as they
provided over 160 lines of translated text during key plot points. More
importantly, the contents included clues about a new ending that other scholars
had debated for roughly twenty years.[81]
The main concern was what happened to Inanna’s husband, Dumuzi, at the end of
the story.
These new findings prompted Kramer to publish several new artifact translations
as well as a critical 1966 update to his previous version of ID.[83]
The remainder of the 1960s and early 1970s saw Kramer publish many minor
updates in what we can call his second wave. The new UET series artifacts would
later result in seventy new translated lines of ID, moving the total usable
line count to roughly 360 (still fifty-two lines short of the ETCSL version).
Concurrently,
Jacobsen and others began assimilating unique interpretations into their
translations of ID, differing significantly from Kramer’s canonical texts.
While Kramer and other scholars were publishing translations in the mid to late
1950s, Jacobsen was conducting further excavation work in central and southern
Iraq (formerly Ur of Sumer)[84]
with Robert McCormick Adams Jr. (1926-2018).[85]
Notably, Jacobsen and Adams were documenting canals and the impact of
irrigation flooding on ancient Sumerian peoples.[86]
These unique hands-on experiences in modern-day Iraq may have impacted
Jacobsen’s perspectives of Sumer and ID. By the 1960s, it was clear that
Jacobsen and Kramer had different interpretations, despite co-authoring a paper
as early as 1953.[87]
For instance, Jacobsen notably began replacing the word netherworld with
Hades—a known Greek term for the underworld.[88]
Additional scholarship and artifact assignment took place in the 1960s via
Bendt Alster (covered more prominently later), Falkenstein,[89]
and several new individuals like Muazzez Çig[90]
and Miguel Civil.[91]
Kramer contributed toward the identification of artifacts mentioned by these
scholars as well. By now, we can clearly see the amount of complex coordination
required for these scholars to work together—all in an age without the
internet, no less. By 1972, Kramer’s authoritative version of ID included
twenty-nine artifacts (fourteen new ones from the previous 1951 period) and
increased the total coherent line count from 250 to roughly 360. The main
problem that remained was the crucial missing gap of lines at the end of the
poem (lines 380-412).
The First Semi-Complete Translation
(1974-1996)
Between
1974 and 1996, several prominent ID scholars passed away, and new individuals
built upon their work to compile a semi-complete translation. The first and
most notable of these new scholars was William R. Sladek Jr. (1938-1993),[92]
who in 1974 published a 300-page PhD dissertation (in philosophy) at the Johns
Hopkins University. He appropriately titled his dissertation “Inanna's Descent
to the Netherworld.”[93]
Sladek deserves special recognition in the chronology of ID for three reasons.
First, his addition of almost ten critical artifact translations resulted in
the most complete version of ID of his time. Sladek’s artifact translation
contributions represent almost 10 percent of all the artifacts in the ETCSL
version of ID; moreover, his dissertation still receives generous citations
among other ID scholars. Second, Sladek’s work was (and still is) well-regarded
by cuneiformists and ID scholars alike—indeed, even Kramer formally approved of
Sladek’s work.[94]
Finally, the present survey would not have been possible without Sladek’s
robust documentation. Sladek’s dissertation included sketches, translations,
and transliterations of almost all remaining lines of ID with the use of seven
previously untranslated artifacts: N 2523, CBS 12757, 3N-T 211, 3N-T 499, N
983, 3N-T 400, and N 2986. His published version of ID contained 386 usable
lines that clarified the obscure meanings Kramer and other scholars wrestled
with for the past fifty years. Finally, Sladek’s version introduced the line
count of 412, the authoritative total still in use today in the ETCSL version.
Figure 2.4. Sladek’s
published artifacts. Illustrations published by William R. Sladek, [Figure[s] I
– IX], “Inanna’s Descent to the Netherworld” (Ann Arbor: University Microfilms,
1974): 280-9. [While better photos of these artifacts exist, Sladek’s originals
are included to highlight the labor required in his efforts. The images have
been cropped and grouped together to save space, but are otherwise unmodified.]
The
remainder of the 1970s and 1980s featured further translations by Kramer and
Jacobsen, as well as new artifact publications by Bendt Alster (1946-2012),[95]
a Danish scholar. While Kramer actively published more translations leading up
to his passing in 1990, a most notable version of ID was included in a 1983
book he co-authored with Diane Wolkstein, a cultural folklorist.[96]
In Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer,
Kramer and Wolkstein provided a public-friendly and easy-to-read version of ID,
as well as a summary of scholarship in the entire field.[97]
This version, like Jacobsen’s a few years later, was written in verse
form, meaning that the lines were short and grouped in poetic stanzas.
Jacobsen also published his final version of ID in 1987 before passing away in
1993.[99]
It was thus the end of an era with the passing of Kramer, Sladek, and Jacobsen
before 1995.
Alster
spearheaded the resolution efforts of the ambiguous ending of ID by publishing
partial translations of ID in 1983[100]
and 1996[101]—effectively
filling in the remaining gap of lines 380-412 in the ETCSL version of ID. In
these final publications, Alster reinterpreted the ending of ID using artifact
UET 6/1 10[102]
and CBS 6894 by indicating that Inanna ultimately repented for giving her
husband up to the demons.[103]
It is worthy to note that Alster’s 1996 translation relied heavily (in some
cases solely) on CBS 6894, a fragment not listed as a cuneiform source
in the ETCSL version of ID.[104]
Ironically, this excluded fragment was the only artifact that contained usable
text for lines 380-412. In a final reversal, Alster concluded his translation
by arguing that the divine couple of Inanna and Dumuzi came to an agreement
whereby they would split time between the heavens and the netherworld—reversing
Sladek’s interpretation of Dumuzi not being a dying-and-rising god.[105]
With Alster’s contribution, the stage was set for the 1997 release of our
412-line (forty-eight artifact) translation of ID by the ETCSL.
Having
chronologically reviewed the painstaking effort and coordination required over
the last one hundred years of scholarship, we can now—with full
appreciation—see the fruit of these labors in vivid color. As the table on the
following page shows, the decipherment of ID required stitching together the
textual contributions of many artifacts, thousands of miles apart. Each
fragment that was added helped improve the translation of existing passages or
provided fresh material for gaps, such as the last thirty lines. With the
initial 1997 publication of the ETCSL version of ID, a century of hard work and
collaboration came to fruition.
|
Table
1.1. Artifact waterfall view of “Inanna’s descent to the nether world,” ETCSL
(2001)
|
|
Line #
Cuneiform sources by line count and first appearance
|
Color
Key *
|
|
 
|
|
|
Note: See
exact line numbers, column numbers, tablet orientation, and more details in
Appendix B.
* BM 69737, BM 67932, BM 96680, and three UET 6 fragments did not seem to
provide text with line numbers.
|
The Digital Age (1997-2006)
The
internet enabled prestigious institutions like Penn, Oxford, and UCLA to expand
the availability of Sumerian literature to the entire world (for free, no
less). These institutions took advantage of digital publishing to offer free
cuneiform resources for a wider audience. Penn integrated the digital facet of
its offerings in 2004 with the launch of the Electronic Pennsylvania Sumerian
Dictionary (hereafter ePSD).[107]
The ePSD project was initially started in 1974 by Åke Sjöberg, the same person
who mentored Sladek during his influential dissertation publication.
The digital index offers translated texts as well as a robust online
dictionary. Unfortunately, however, the homepage indicates it has not been
updated since 2006, perhaps due to funding issues.[109]
In
1997, Oxford University began work on the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian
Literature (ETCSL) under the guidance of Jeremy Allen Black (1951-2004),[110]
the main coordinator for the project. The project sought to publish a Sumerian
dictionary and literature index, but unfortunately lost its funding in 2006,
stagnating its progress.[111]
Despite this setback, the utility of ETCSL as a digital resource is still
important. In 2000, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) launched
the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (hereafter CDLI) as a means of
distributing scholarly research on cuneiform to a wider, non-local audience.[112]
Figure 2.5. Digital libraries with Sumerian
literature. Illustration composite by Boban
Dedović. [See Appendix B for URLs and reference numbers of digital
resources related to ID]
The CDLI hopes to
make available all 500,000 artifacts it estimates exist in the form of
cataloged records, translations, transliterations, high-resolution photos, line
art (sketches), and composition materials.[113]
Indeed, almost every artifact we reviewed in this survey is contained within
composition number Q000343, which includes all fifty related source materials
for ID, as well as new ones.[114]
Any scholar that is serious about ID will undoubtedly take advantage of the
ePSD, ETCSL, and the CDLI.
Current Scholarship (2007-2019)
The
loss of institutional funding for key online resources and passing of notable
experts like Black in 2004 and Alster in 2012 has, perhaps, left a gap in
current scholarship for ID. As of this writing, all of the big five
scholars originally mentioned have passed away. Also, most of the institutions
that shared their research seem to be troubled by a lack of funding for
Sumerian literature and cuneiform related projects. Additionally, the digital
age and its transformation of the publishing industry has seen many notable
journals go defunct. Mainly, most of the journals that the scholars of ID
published their findings in seem to be out of print or acquired by other
parties. In abstaining from pessimism, we can say there is good news regarding
the CDLI. As of May 17, 2019, CDLI’s About and Staff pages seem to be regularly
updated under the leadership of their principal investigator, Robert K.
Englund.[115]
The CDLI is actively publishing user-submitted journal articles, notes, and
extensive preprints of future volumes of work—all online and available for the
general public.[116]
Indeed, the most recently listed publications were dated April 16, 2019, and
attributed to Jeremiah Peterson at the CDLI.[117]
These publications are unpacking more UET series artifacts, first published in
the 1960s, with more commentary and revised translations.
By
looking at the most recent composite version of ID on the CDLI’s website, we
can, perhaps, peer into what progress is being made. In reviewing composite
number Q000343 (the CDLI’s translation of ID), the score page lists a total of
seventy-eight artifact fragments.
Many of these fragments seem to be part of the UET (Ur Excavation Texts)
collection of artifacts, housed in the British Museum, and published by Aaron
Shaffer in his 2006 catalog of the same name.
These artifacts were probably documented or seen by Gadd and Kramer in 1963-6
and seem to provide robust textual contributions toward ID.
The translation of some of these UET artifacts is being done by the CDLI, as
previously cited by Jeremiah Peterson’s preprint record. Passage translation
improvements are being released, albeit in small parts. Some artifacts, like
the 3N-T ones from Sladek’s dissertation, have been re-cataloged under the IM
prefix (The IM prefix is the museum record number from the National Museum of
Iraq) . The remaining three artifacts listed on CDLI’s artifact source section
list MS 3281 and MS 3282 as forthcoming publications by Konrad Volk, a German
Assyriologist.
It is, therefore, likely that we can expect continued artifact translation
publications and translation revisions to ID—hopefully, with the promise of a
more robust and agreed-upon ending.
Other
prominent scholars, as well as institutions, are actively contributing to
better understanding ID. Since 1995, Dina Katz has published various journal
articles and books that try to reconstruct Inanna’s place in the pantheon of
Sumerian literature and deities.[122]
Other universities, like Cornell, are actively building their own digital
libraries that resemble the ETCSL and CDLI (Cornell’s efforts are in
collaboration with the CDLI).[123]
The University of Leiden in the Netherlands seems to be providing a population
of interested scholars who are willing to migrate to the United States to join
such research efforts. Numerous independent scholars are also doing graduate
work on the matter. A recent search for scholarship related to ID on academia.edu
yielded hundreds of search results within the last year.[124]
As Kramer did so in 1937, German scholars like Nikita
Artemov are also challenging previous scholars’ interpretations of ID. For
example, in 2012, Artemov contributed to a print volume whereby he asserted
that the Sumerian concept of the netherworld represented geography indicative
of the material Earth; that is, he argued that the netherworld represented a
real location on a map, not an underground or metaphorical one.
Sladek and others have maintained that the netherworld was an underground
location. There are surely other ID scholars positing ideas that challenge the
work of previous ones, and the present survey, unfortunately, cannot address
them all. Ultimately, while the major individuals that led initial scholarship
on ID have passed, their work seems to be continuing in the form of fresh
ideas, new individuals, and online tools accessible to a broader audience and
readership.
The Future of ID (2020 and Beyond)
Having
covered the broad strokes of past scholarship on ID, let us briefly consider
what the future may hold. While I wish I could present the reader with clear
visibility into the future research direction of this fascinating myth, I do
not have 20/20 vision. Puns aside, many disciplines require that authors reserve
a section at the conclusion of the article for research limitations and
promising areas of future inquiry. In affirming my limited experience in
cuneiform script and Sumerian translation, I can only offer a brief list of
areas that seem to be promising for future scholars who are properly trained. I
must disclose to the reader that the items mentioned hereafter are entirely
speculative and pure conjecture—that is, research efforts in these areas may
not yield meaningful progress for ID or our understanding of Sumer.
Additionally, previous works unknown to me or simultaneously published
scholarship may have covered these areas already. Finally, I would like to make
it crystal clear that in sharing my perspective on promising areas of research,
I harbor no intention or attitude of disrespect toward the many scholars who
contributed to the contents of the present survey. These scholars are indeed
giants, and worthy of a familiar phrase by Isaac Newton; if I am, by incredibly
good fortune, seeing anything interesting, it is because I am standing on their
shoulders.
In
carefully reviewing and documenting fifty ID artifacts and some fifty
translations, there are three outstanding pink elephants. For instance,
a savvy historian will likely immediately recognize the problem associated with
grouping fifty artifacts with extremely dubious (or nonexistent) provenance
documentation into the same time period. Indeed, the CDLI, British Museum, Yale
Museum, and Penn Museum all date the artifacts as belonging to the Old
Babylonian period (ca. 1900 - 1600 BCE). The general cultural period seems to
have been adopted from the earliest publications by Langdon. This dating
estimate was factually mentioned in most publications as a single sentence and
never challenged, to my knowledge. There does not seem to be any scholarship or
analysis related to dating methodology or difference of opinion whatever. Thus,
it seems promising to take advantage of newer and more robust dating methods in
order to reassess the core assumption of the cultural period.
The
second matter that may deserve future scholarship is the curious discrepancy
between depictions and associations between Inanna and Ishtar. Objectively
speaking, ID is a more recently discovered piece of Sumerian literature and was
differentiated from the Assyrian “The Descent of Ishtar” (hereafter AI) in the
last 120 years, according to previous references by Sladek. Indeed, scholarship
related to the chronologically latter composition seems to be overlapping
extensively with the former. The present survey intentionally withheld from
mentioning AI more extensively because of the significant objective differences
between the two compositions. For example, ID consists of 412 lines while AI is
roughly a fourth of the line count. Several previous scholars have agreed that
Sumerian Inanna was contextually different. In commenting that Inanna seemed
more subdued than her Assyrian counterpart, Kramer’s folklorist, Diane
Wolkstein, likely did not nearly go far enough.[126]
Inanna and Ishtar are often referenced as one and the same (sometimes a single
deity named Inanna/Ishtar) when perhaps they should not be. It may
therefore be beneficial to more carefully review the contextual differences in
mentality, linguistic differences, cultural diffusion, and context that one
thousand years of oral transmission can bring to a piece of mythology.
The
third matter that may deserve future attention is the question of modality and
audience analysis. It is reasonable to presume that the scholars who prepared
the numerous translations sat and read the composition of ID many times over.
While careful readings of source materials are important, interesting questions
related to content consumption arise. If ID was meant to be read, who could
have read it between 2,500 BCE and 1,800 BCE? Indeed, literacy rates present an
immediate modality problem. As a starting point, global literacy rates in 1820
CE were estimated to be only 12 percent.[127]
The lone strongly accepted study of literacy rates in ancient times was seemingly
done by William Harris in 1989. Harris found that in Roman times (ca. 100 BCE),
the literacy rate was roughly between 5 and 10 percent, for males in
certain provinces.[128]
If we backtrack even further to ca. 2000 BCE—just roughly one thousand years
after the cuneiform writing system was likely invented—we can broadly speculate
that there was no mass literacy or readership.[129]
The modality then could not have been formal readership as we practice today.
Indeed, Kramer and many others have indicated that stories like ID were poetry
intended for public consumption with the aid of a musical instrument.[130]
However, this modality consideration is often tucked away in a footnote when perhaps
it should not be. Perhaps this information deserves more concrete and
scientific study in all facets of interpretation and analysis.
In
light of the aforementioned literacy considerations, interesting questions
emerge—who was ID initially written for, why was it written, and what are the
implications of the answers to these questions? Was ID consumed by the masses
in a public gathering at major cities like Ur and others, or was it intended
for private royal gatherings of kings and Sumerian aristocracy? Did someone
directly authorize its initial composition or was it an oral story that
everyone just knew? What purpose (if any at all) did ID have in the broader
scheme of Sumerian culture, especially during the turbulent times of the third
and fourth Ur dynasties? The questions presented depart massively from
spiritual or existential inquiry and dig deeper into the practical, political,
and social facets of the poem’s role. More can be said about this matter, but
that endeavor is for future scholars with proper training to unpack.
Conclusion
In
these last few pages, we have outlined potential areas of research for ID. Of
main concern was the issue of unknown artifact provenance, particularly as it
relates to dating methods. The contextual differences between the Sumerian
Inanna and Assyrian Ishtar were also cited as promising for the future of
clarifying how the myth either evolved or was diffused into the latter from the
former. Finally, statistics on literacy rates in ancient times were highlighted
to show how the poetic nature of ID may provide important clues as to how it
was meant to be consumed. Given the general trajectory of digital publishing
and the desire for inclusive access of resources, it is highly likely that new
and innovative digital indexes and tools will be designed for broader
audiences. Such tools will likely connect researchers directly to the artifacts
and original scholarship without the need for many years of proprietary
training. The world is collectively
grateful for the digital efforts by institutions like Oxford, Chicago, Penn,
and UCLA, and more are likely to follow.
Whatever
future scholarship on ID yields, it is my sincere hope that the few pages I
have provided here will inspire and enable further interest in ID from all walks
of life—regardless of discipline or other factors. If anything (at all) can be
learned from the centennial survey presented, it is that advancements in
understanding ID will require a team effort whereby new individuals will build
on the work of prior generations. Perhaps then, we may hope to find out what really
happened to Inanna’s husband Dumuzi, why she would take a risky journey to be
killed and hung like a rotting piece of meat at the hands of her sister, and
whether she really repented for her actions. Then, finally, we may be
able to confidently peer not just at but into those fierce
alabaster carved eyes and see, as the Sumerians perhaps saw, a glimpse of
Inanna’s divine catharsis—or nothing whatever.
Appendix A: Artifacts Table and Visualizations
When
attempting to search for artifact publications related to ID, navigating
through obscure abbreviations for defunct journals may cause researchers to
spend more time than is necessary. Table 3.1 provides an organized
manifest of all artifacts related to ETCSL’s 2001 version of ID and an
abbreviation of each publication. Such a table may save future researchers
valuable time and energy. In a similar vein, Table 3.2 provides a
comprehensive version of Table 1.1, whereby every artifact utilized in the
ETCSL version of ID is listed by order of translated line number, first
appearance, and frequency in a waterfall style view. All 412 lines of ID are
mapped on axis A with respect to the associated artifact on axis B. A color key
provides a museum number reference guide for the three-page table. Some
artifacts have been purposefully excluded from this table and those reasons are
provided in the footer of the table.
|
Table
2.1. Detail artifact table for “Inanna’s descent to the nether world,” ETCSL (2001)
|
|
|
#
|
Museum number(s)
and corresponding lines of ID
|
Publications
*
|
|
|
1/A
|
CBS
12638 + 12702 + 12752 + 12684 (4 artifacts)
Lines: 1-31
(obverse), 32-48 (reverse)
|
SEM/OIP 15,
Chiera, 1934, pl. 50.
PAPS 85, Kramer,
1942, pg. 303.
JCS 5, Kramer, 1951.
|
|
|
2/B
|
CBS
13932
Lines: 1-25
(obverse), 26-29 (reverse)
|
SEM/OIP 15,
Chiera, 1934, pl. 49.
PAPS 85, Kramer,
1942, pg. 303.
JCS 5, Kramer,
1951.
|
|
|
3/C
|
CBS
9800 + Ni 368
Lines: 3-57
(Column I), 58-84, 89-113 (Column II), 114-167 (Column III), 168-211 (Column
IV)
|
BE, Langdon,
1914, pl. 33.
SRT, Chiera,
1924, pl. 53.
RA 34, Kramer,
1937.
RA 36, Kramer,
1939.
PAPS 85, Kramer,
1942, pg. 293.
JCS 5, Kramer,
1951, pg. 1.
Sladek, 1974,
pg. 100.
|
|
|
4/D
|
Ni
2279
Lines: 3-23
(obverse), destroyed (reverse)
|
BE 31, Langdon,
1914, pl. 34.
JAOS, Kramer,
1940, pg. 246.
|
|
|
5/E
|
HS
1480 + HS 1580 + 2505
Lines: 5-45
(Column I), 55-95 (Column II), 124-173 (Column III), 185-236 (Column IV)
|
TMH NF 3, Kramer
& Bernhardt, 1961, pl. 2.
PAPS 107,
Kramer, 1963, pg. 256-7, figure III.
|
|
|
6/F
|
N
2523
Lines: 28
(obverse), 29-31 (reverse)
|
Sladek, 1974,
pg. 281, Figure I.
|
|
|
7/G
|
CBS
13908
Lines: 52-74
(obverse), 76-97 (reverse)
|
SEM/OIP 15,
Chiera, 1934, pl. 48.
PAPS 85, Kramer,
1942, pg. 303, pl. 5.
JCS 5, Kramer, 1951,
001.
|
|
|
8/H
|
CBS
12757
Lines: 59-61
(obverse), destroyed (reverse)
|
Sladek, 1974,
pg. 282, Figure II.
|
|
|
9/I
|
3N-T
211 (IM 058380)
Lines: 66-76 (obverse), 77-81 (reverse)
|
Sladek, 1974,
pg. 283, Figure III.
|
|
|
10/J
|
3N-T
499 (IM 058522)
Lines: 80-94 (obverse),
116-123 (reverse)
|
Sladek, 1974,
pg. 284, Figure IV.
|
|
|
11/K
|
Ni
4034
Lines: 89-94
(obverse), destroyed (reverse)
|
SLTNi, Kramer,
1944, pl. 030.
PAPS 85, Kramer,
1942, pl. 10, pg. 323.
|
|
|
12/L
|
BM
80054
Lines: 99-107
(obverse), 161-7 and 202-8 (reverse)
|
CT 58, Alster,
1990, pl. 49a.
|
|
|
13/M
|
CBS
11064 + 11088
Lines: 100-23
(obverse), 124-44 (reverse)
|
PBS 5, Poebel,
1914, pl. 023.
PAPS 85, Kramer,
1942, pg. 303.
Sladek, 1974,
pg. 101.
|
|
|
14/N
|
Ni
9685
Lines: 107-22
(obverse), 129-40 (reverse)
|
JCS 4, Kramer,
1950, p. 214.
Sladek, 1974,
pg.101.
|
|
|
15/O
|
UET
6/1 8 (UET VI 8)
Lines: 114-121
(Column I), 164-181 (Column II), 265-278 (Column III)
|
UET 6 8, Kramer
& Gadd 1963.
UET 6 8, Kramer
& Gadd 1966.
UET 6 8,
Shaffer, 2006.
|
|
|
16/P
|
BM
80094
Lines: 115-129,
130-135 (obverse), 185-189, 195-203, 209-217 (reverse)
|
CT 58, Alster,
1990, pl. 49b.
|
|
|
17/Q
|
CBS
(?) lost artifact
Lines: 131-135
(obverse), destroyed (reverse)
|
PBS 5 24,
Poebel, 1914, pl. 24.
|
|
|
18/R
|
CBS
15212
Lines: 145, 147-149,
150-177 (obverse), 180-207 (reverse)
|
BASOR 79,
Kramer, 1940, pg. 22-3.
PAPS 85, Kramer,
1942, pl. 7.
|
|
|
19/S
|
UET
6/1 9 (UET VI 9)
Lines: 149,
151-154, 156-166 (obverse), 167-177 (reverse)
|
UET 6 9, Kramer
& Gadd 1963.
UET 6 9, Kramer
& Gadd 1966.
UET 6 9,
Shaffer, 2006.
|
|
|
20/T
|
Ni
4200 + Ni 4187
Lines: 211-233
(obverse), 234-253 (reverse)
|
PAPS 85, Kramer,
1942, pl. 8.
PAPS 107,
Kramer, 1963, pg. 525.
SLTNi, Kramer,
1944, pl. 028.
RA 36, Kramer,
1939, pg. 78.
|
|
|
21/U
|
BM
17427
Lines: 224-230
(obverse), 253-257 (reverse)
|
CT 42, Figulla,
1959, pl. 03.
JCS 23, Kramer,
1970, pl. 010.
|
|
|
22/V
|
UET
6/1 10 (UET VI 10)
Lines: 231-251,
280-295 (obverse), 351-398 (reverse), 398-412 (reverse)
|
UET 6 10, Kramer
& Gadd 1963.
UET 6 10, Kramer
& Gadd 1966.
UET 6 10,
Shaffer, 2006.
|
|
|
23/W
|
Ni
9838 + Ni 2762
Lines: 253-274
(obverse), 287-312 (reverse)
|
ISET 2, Kramer,
1976, pl. 17, Ni 9838.
SLTNi, Kramer,
1944, pl. 029.
PAPS 85, Kramer,
1942, pl. 8, Ni 2762.
PAPS 107,
Kramer, 1963, pg. 524, fg. 8, Ni 9838.
|
|
|
24/X
|
N
983
Lines: 258-265
(obverse), destroyed (reverse)
|
Sladek, 1975,
pg. 285, Figure V.
|
|
|
25/Y
|
YBC
4621 (now YPM BC 018686)
Lines: 273-325
(obverse), 327-375 (reverse)
|
JCS 4, Kramer,
1950, pg. 212-3.
ASJ 18, Alster,
1996.
|
|
|
26/Z
|
CBS
13902
Lines: 275-306
(obverse), 307-339 (reverse)
|
PBS 5, Poebel,
1914, pl. 022.
PAPS 85, Kramer,
1942, pl. 9.
JCS 5, Kramer,
1951.
|
|
|
27/a
|
3N-T
400 (Museum No. IM 058460)
Lines: 300-333
(obverse), 340-370 (reverse)
|
Sladek, 1974,
pg. 286-7, Figures VI-VII
|
|
|
28/b
|
Ni
9776
Lines: Destroyed
(obverse), 322-327, 339-340 (Column I, reverse), 376-384 (Column II, reverse)
|
ISET 1, Kramer
& Muazzez, pg. 183, pl. 025.
|
|
|
29/c
|
CBS
15162 + N 953 + N 3200
Lines: 338-354
(obverse), 358 (reverse), 345-351 (obverse)
|
PAPS 85, Kramer,
1942, pl. 10, CBS 15162.
Sladek, 1974,
pg. 288, Figure VIII.
BPOA 09 033,
Peterson, 2011.
|
|
|
30/d
|
N
2986
Lines: Different
composition (obverse), 375-380 (reverse)
|
Sladek, 1974,
Figure IX
JCS 29, Sjöberg,
1977, pg. 33.
|
|
|
31/e
|
CBS
6894
Lines: Destroyed
(obverse), 380-412 (reverse)
|
ASJ 18, Alster,
1996, pg. 10.
|
|
|
32/f
|
BM
67932
Lines: (?)
|
BMDR, 67932.
|
|
|
33/g
|
BM
69737
Lines: (?)
|
PAPS 124,
Kramer, pg. 297-8, 302.
CT 58, Alster
& Geller, 1990, pl. 50, pg. 62.
|
|
|
34/h
|
BM
96680
Lines: (?)
|
PAPS 124,
Kramer, 1980, pg. 297-8.
BA 46, Kramer,
1983, pg. 74.
BMDR, 96680.
AuOr
05, Kramer, 1987, 89-90.
|
|
|
35/i
|
UET
6 *269
|
CDLI
|
|
|
36/j
|
UET
6 *306
|
CDLI
|
|
|
37/k
|
UET
6 *320
|
CDLI
|
|
Table
2.2. Waterfall view of cuneiform sources for “Inanna’s Descent” (lines 1-145)
|
|
Cuneiform
sources by line count and first appearance
|
|
Artifact color
key
|
Border key
|
|
|
|
|
|
Table
2.2. Waterfall view of cuneiform sources for “Inanna’s Descent” (lines
145-290)
|
|
Cuneiform
sources by line count and first appearance
|
|
Artifact color
key
|
Border key
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Table
2.2. Waterfall view of cuneiform sources for “Inanna’s Descent” (lines
290-412)
|
|
Cuneiform
sources by line count and first appearance
|
|
Artifact color
key *
|
Border key
|
|
|
|
Note:
Lines 380-412 rely solely on two sources, clouding
our precise understanding of the myth’s ending.
* Artifacts f – k are not included in the line count table because they
either belong to different compositions or may have been recataloged by the
museum. Please see the full artifact page in Appendix B for more precise
information.
|
Appendix B: All
Artifact Data
Less
experienced researchers in other disciplines or members of the general public
interested in ID may have trepidation over using currently available online
resources for the purpose of artifact research and discovery. For that reason,
the following appendix provides detail pages for all cuneiform artifacts
utilized in the 2001 ETCSL version of ID. Full citations and references are
provided as well as links to online indexes of similar contents.
Basic
information about each artifact is provided: museum number, line numbers,
current location, initial publication, secondary publication(s), CDLI number,
photograph, and the autograph (where available). Artifacts are listed in the
order they appear on the tables in Appendix B and are color coded similarly to
the waterfall table for easier side-by-side comparison. Redactions and other
useful notes are listed in the foot of each table as an additional resource.
The fully listed citations are purposefully redundant so that less familiar
researchers do not have to rely on navigating between the bibliography and
appendix.
While
this appendix does not provide all the information needed for future
researchers interested in ID, it may provide a useful introductory framework
that will assist in artifact location and identification. Please note that
catalog numbers and classification information may change, so the utility of
this (and any) static resource will diminish with respect to the time of its
publication. All data are current as of April 8, 2019. Unless otherwise
noted, the high-resolution color images are derived from the corresponding CDLI
record for the artifact in question.
All
contents from the CDLI and other sources are property of their respective
owners. The fair use of third-party images and artifacts within this
unpublished undergraduate seminar research paper is asserted through its purely
educational and noncommercial nature. All other non-third-party contents have
rights reserved by the author.
|
1/A
|
CBS 12638 +
12702 + 12572 + 12684
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 1-31 (obverse), 32-48 (reverse)
Location:
Penn Museum (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
|
CDLI: P267276
OMNIKA: CBS
12XXX
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
OIP
15 or SEM 50
Chiera, Edward. Sumerian
Epics and Myths: Cuneiform Series—Volume III. The Oriental
Institute, Vol. 15. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1934. [See
plate no. 50; Available on the Oriental Institute’s website:
https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/oip15.pdf]
|
Line art
(sketches)
|
|
|
PAPS
85
Kramer, Samuel
N. “Sumerian Literature; A Preliminary Survey of the Oldest Literature in the
World.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 85, no. 3
(February 1942): 293-323.
|
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
Commentary
|
|
|
JCS
05
Kramer, Samuel
N. “‘Inanna's Descent to the Nether World’ Continued and Revised. Second
Part: Revised Edition of ‘Inanna's Descent to the Nether World.’" Journal
of Cuneiform Studies 5, no. 1 (1951): 1-17.
|
Translation
Transliteration
Commentary
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1/A
|
CBS 12638 + 12702 + 12572 + 12684
*
|
|
Photo
|
Line art
(sketch)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* More 12XXX
series artifacts have been added to this source and later versions of the ID
composition.
|
2/B
|
CBS 13932
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 1-25 (obverse), 26-69 (reverse)
Location:
Penn Museum (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
|
CDLI: P268937
OMNIKA: CBS
13932
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
OIP
15 or SEM 49
Chiera, Edward. Sumerian
Epics and Myths: Cuneiform Series—Volume III. The Oriental Institute,
Vol. 15. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1934. [See plate no. 49;
Available on the Oriental Institute’s website:
https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/oip15.pdf]
|
Line art
(sketches)
|
|
|
PAPS
85
Kramer, Samuel
N. “Sumerian Literature; A Preliminary Survey of the Oldest Literature in the
World.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 85, no. 3
(February 1942): 293-323.
|
Translation
Collation
|
|
|
JCS
05
Kramer, Samuel
N. “‘Inanna's Descent to the Nether World’ Continued and Revised. Second
Part: Revised Edition of ‘Inanna's Descent to the Nether World.’" Journal
of Cuneiform Studies 5, no. 1 (1951): 1-17.
|
Translation
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2/B
|
CBS 13932
|
|
Photo
|
Line art
(sketch)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* More 12XXX
series artifacts have been added to this source and later versions of the ID
composition.
|
3/C
|
CBS 9800 + Ni
368
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 3-57 (Column I), 58-84, 89-113 (Column II), 114-167 (Column
III), 168-211 (Column (IV)
Location:
Penn Museum (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) [CBS 9800]; Istanbul
Archaeology Museum (Istanbul, Turkey) [Ni 368]
|
CDLI: P345344
OMNIKA: CBS 9800 + Ni 368
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
BE
Vol. 31, Plate 33
Langdon,
Stephen. The Babylonian Expedition of The University of Pennsylvania:
Series A: Cuneiform Texts. Vol. XXXI, Historical and Religious Texts
from the Temple Library of Nippur. Leipzig: August Pries, 1914. [Sketch
of Ni 368; Plate 34 also contains Ni 2279]
|
Line art
(sketches)
|
|
|
RA
36
Kramer, Samuel N. “Additional
Material to « INANNA'S DESCENT TO THE NETHER WORLD ».” Revue
d'Assyriologie et d'Archéologie Orientale 36, No. 2 (1939): 68-80. [See
pages 72 and 75 for photographs of Ni 368]
|
Photograph
Partial
collation
Commentary
|
|
|
RA
34
Kramer, Samuel N. “Inanna's
Descent to the Nether World. The Sumerian Version of Ištar's Descent.” Revue
d'Assyriologie et d'Archéologie Orientale 34, No. 3 (1937): 93-134. [See
pages 72 and 75 for photographs of CBS 9800; Kramer noted CBS 9800 could not
be copied because of its condition.]
|
Photograph
Translation
Collation
Transliteration
|
|
|
SRT,
Plate 53
Chiera, Edward. Sumerian
Religious Texts. Upland: Crozer Theological Seminary, 1924. [Sketch of Ni
368]
|
Line art
(sketches)
|
|
|
PAPS
85
Kramer, Samuel
N. “Sumerian Literature; A Preliminary Survey of the Oldest Literature in the
World.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 85, no. 3
(February 1942): 293-323.
|
Translation
Collation
|
|
|
JCS
05
Kramer, Samuel N. “‘Inanna's
Descent to the Nether World’ Continued and Revised. Second Part: Revised
Edition of ‘Inanna's Descent to the Nether World.’" Journal of
Cuneiform Studies 5, no. 1 (1951): 1-17.
|
Translation
|
|
|
Sladek Inanna
Sladek, William R. "Inanna's
Descent to the Netherworld." Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1974.
|
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
Commentary
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3/C
|
CBS 9800 (Columns III & IV)
|
|
Photo
|
|
|
* Because of the
condition of CBS 9800, Kramer cited that he could not copy sketches of it (unpublished).
|
3/C
|
Ni 368 (Columns I & II)
|
|
Photo
|
Line art
(sketch) *
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Because of the
condition of CBS 9800, the sketch only shows Ni 368.
|
4/D
|
Ni 2279
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 3-23 (obverse), destroyed (reverse)
Location:
Istanbul Archaeology Museum (Istanbul, Turkey)
|
CDLI: P345106
OMNIKA: Ni 2279
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
BE
Vol. 31, Plate 34
Langdon,
Stephen. The Babylonian Expedition of The University of Pennsylvania:
Series A: Cuneiform Texts. Vol. XXXI, Historical and Religious Texts from
the Temple Library of Nippur. Leipzig: August Pries, 1914. [Plate 33 also
contains Ni 368]
|
Line art
(sketches)
|
|
|
JAOS
60
Kramer, Samuel N. “Langdon's
Historical and Religious Texts from the Temple Library of Nippur-Additions
and Corrections.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 60, no. 2
(June 1940): 234-257. [See page 246]
|
Translation
Collation
|
|
|
Line art
(sketch)
|
|
* Photos
could not be recovered for this artifact.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5/E
|
HS 1480 + HS
1580 + 2505
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 5-45 (Column I), 55-95 (Column II), 124-173 (Column III),
185-236 (Column IV)
Location:
University of Jena, Germany (Hilprecht collection)
|
CDLI: P345597
OMNIKA: HS
Series
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
TMH
NF 3
Kramer, Samuel
N., and Inez Bernhardt. Texte und Materialien der Frau Professor
Hilprecht-Sammlung vorderasiatischer Altertümer im Eigentum der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität
Jen. Vol. 1. Mythen, Epen, Weisheitsliteratur und andere
Literaturgattungen. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1961. [See NF III]
|
Translation
|
|
|
PAPS
107
Kramer, Samuel
N. “Cuneiform Studies and the History of Literature: The Sumerian Sacred
Marriage Texts.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
107, no. 6 (December 20, 1963): 485-527. [See figure 3, pages 526-7]
|
Photograph
Translation
Transliteration
Commentary
|
|
|
Photo
(obverse)
|
Photo
(reverse)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Line art could
not be located.
|
6/F
|
N 2523
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 28 (obverse), 29-31 (reverse)
Location:
Penn Museum (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
|
CDLI: P275003
OMNIKA: N 2523
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
Sladek Inanna
Sladek, William R. "Inanna's
Descent to the Netherworld." Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1974,
281. [Figure I]
|
Line art
(sketches)
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
Commentary
|
|
|
Photo
|
Line art
(sketch)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7/G
|
CBS 13908
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 52-74 (obverse), 76-97 (reverse)
Location:
Penn Museum (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
|
CDLI: P268918
OMNIKA: CBS
13908
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
OIP
15 or SEM 48
Chiera, Edward. Sumerian
Epics and Myths: Cuneiform Series—Volume III. The Oriental
Institute, Vol. 15. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1934. [See
plate no. 48; Available on the Oriental Institute’s website: https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/oip15.pdf]
|
Line art
(sketches)
|
|
|
PAPS
85
Kramer, Samuel
N. “Sumerian Literature; A Preliminary Survey of the Oldest Literature in the
World.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 85, no. 3
(February 1942): 293-323. [Plate number 5]
|
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
|
|
|
JCS
05
Kramer, Samuel
N. “‘Inanna's Descent to the Nether World’ Continued and Revised. Second
Part: Revised Edition of ‘Inanna's Descent to the Nether World.’" Journal
of Cuneiform Studies 5, no. 1 (1951): 1-17. [Plate number 5]
|
Translation
Photograph
|
|
|
BPOA 09 030
Peterson, Jeremiah. Sumerian
Literary Fragments in the University Museum, Philadelphia. (Biblioteca
del Próximo Oriente Antiguo, 9.) 372 pp., 68 plates. Madrid: Consejo
Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 2011.
|
Line art
(sketches)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7/G
|
CBS 13908
|
|
Photo
|
Line art
(sketch) *
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* The obverse side
of the tablet seems to be destroyed.
|
8/H
|
CBS 12757
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 59-61 (obverse), destroyed (reverse)
Location:
Penn Museum (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
|
CDLI: P267359
OMNIKA: CBS
12757
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation *
|
Includes
|
|
|
Sladek Inanna
Sladek, William
R. "Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld." Ann Arbor: University
Microfilms, 1974, 282. [Figure II]
|
Line art
(sketch)
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
Commentary
|
|
|
Line Art
(sketch) **
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* The CDLI lists
this artifact as being originally published by “Shaffer, Aaron, Inanna, p.101
[sic].” This citation and the contents of the publication could not be verified.
** A photograph could not be recovered for this artifact.
|
9/I
|
3N-T 211 (Museum
No. IM 058380)
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 66-76 (obverse), 77-81 (reverse)
Location:
National Museum of Iraq (Baghdad, Iraq)
|
CDLI: P274954
OMNIKA: 3N-T 211
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
Sladek Inanna
Sladek, William
R. "Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld." Ann Arbor: University
Microfilms, 1974, 283. [Figure III]
|
Line art
(sketch)
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
Commentary
|
|
|
Photo
|
Line art
(sketch) *
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* The top is the
obverse and the bottom is the reverse side.
|
10/J
|
3N-T 499 (Museum
No. IM 058522)
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 80-94 (obverse), 116-123 (reverse)
Location:
National Museum of Iraq (Baghdad, Iraq)
|
CDLI: P274957
OMNIKA: 3N-T 499
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
Sladek Inanna
Sladek, William
R. "Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld." Ann Arbor: University
Microfilms, 1974, 284. [Figure IV]
|
Line art
(sketch)
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
Commentary
|
|
|
Photo
|
Line art
(sketch)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
11/K
|
Ni 4034 *
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 89-94 (obverse), destroyed (reverse)
Location:
Istanbul Archaeology Museum (Istanbul, Turkey)
|
CDLI: P345161
OMNIKA: Ni 4034
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
SLTNi
or SLT 1944
Kramer, Samuel
N. Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Vol. XXIII. Sumerian
Literary Texts from Nippur in the Museum of the Ancient Orient at Istanbul.
New Haven: 1944. [Plate XV (15), number 30]
|
Line art
(sketch)
|
|
|
PAPS
85
Kramer, Samuel
N. “Sumerian Literature; A Preliminary Survey of the Oldest Literature in the
World.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 85, no. 3
(February 1942): 293-323. [Plate 10, page 323]
|
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
Line art
(sketch)
|
|
|
Line art
(sketch)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Existence of a
photograph is not confirmed.
|
12/L
|
BM 80054
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 99-107 (obverse), 161-7 and 202-8 (reverse)
Location:
British Museum (London, United Kingdom)
|
CDLI: P274244
OMNIKA: BM 80054
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation *
|
Includes
|
|
|
CT
58
Alster, Bendt,
and Geller, Markham J. Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the
British Museum. Vol. [Part] 58. Sumerian Literary Texts. London:
British Museum Publications, 1990. [Plate 49a]
|
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
Photograph
Line art
(sketches)
|
|
|
Photo
|
Line art
(sketch)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* The British
Museum lists publication of the artifact under the name “Leichty E et al 1988a
p.212-3” and indicates it is joined with BM 80094, another artifact in this
composition.
|
13/M
|
CBS 11064 +
11088
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 100-23 (obverse), 124-44 (reverse)
Location:
Penn Museum (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
|
CDLI: P266238
OMNIKA: CBS
11064+11088
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
PBS
5
Poebel, Arno. The
University of Pennsylvania: The University Museum Publications of the
Babylonian Section. Vol. 5 [V]. Historical and Grammatical Texts.
Philadelphia: The University Museum, 1914.
https://archive.org/details/historicalandgr00sectgoog/page/n6. [Plate 023]
|
Line art
(sketches)
|
|
|
Museum
Journal 07 180 *
|
(?)
|
|
|
PAPS
85
Kramer, Samuel
N. “Sumerian Literature; A Preliminary Survey of the Oldest Literature in the
World.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 85 no. 3
(February 1942): 303.
|
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
|
|
|
Sladek Inanna
Sladek, William R. "Inanna's
Descent to the Netherworld." Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1974,
101. [Artifact referenced in list]
|
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
*
Museum Journal is a journal in the field of curatorship. 07 may refer to
volume 7, which was published in July of 1964 as issue number 3. Page 180
corresponds to an article titled “A Great Museum Pioneer of the Nineteenth
Century” by Bo Lagercrantz, and has to do with recent trends in unearthing
artifacts related to Genesis (Adam and Eve), among other topics. Artifact
information was not be verified.
|
13/M
|
CBS 11064 + 11088
|
|
Photo
|
Line art
(sketch) *
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* The obverse was
so mutilated that the author did not compose a sketch (noted by CDLI curators).
|
14/N
|
Ni 9685
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 107-22 (obverse), 129-40 (reverse)
Location:
Istanbul Archaeology Museum (Istanbul, Turkey)
|
CDLI *: P356898
OMNIKA: Ni 9685
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
JCS
4 214
Kramer, Samuel
N. “’Inanna’s Descent to
the Nether World’ Continued and Revised.” Journal of Cuneiform Studies
4, no. 4 (1950): 199-214. [See page 214]
|
Line art
(sketches)
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
Commentary
|
|
|
Sladek Inanna
Sladek, William R. "Inanna's
Descent to the Netherworld." Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1974,
101. [Artifact referenced in list on page 101 and also cited as being
published by Kramer in 1950 on page seven]
|
Translation
Transliteration
Commentary
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
*
An important note should be made about the CDLI’s page for this artifact. They
list “ISET 3, 025, Ni 09685” as the original publication; however, this
artifact was first published by Kramer some nineteen years earlier, based on
the publication dates. For the sake of thoroughness, the citation for ISET I is
provided below.
Muazzez, Cig, and Hatice Kizilyay, Istanbul
Arkeoloji Müzelerinde Bulunan Sumer Edebî Tablet ve Parcaları (Sumerian
Literary Tablets and Fragments in the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul) –
I 183 (1969). [pl. 025]
Ni 09685 may be published in ISET
3, but it likely wasn’t the oldest publication. Sladek, 1974 (page 101), also
lists this artifact’s publication date as Kramer’s 1950 publication. This
artifact is not listed in ISET II (Kramer, 1976).
|
14/N
|
Ni 9685 *
|
|
Line art
(sketch)
|
|
|
* A photograph
could not be located for this artifact.
|
15/O
|
UET 6/1 8 (UET
VI 8)
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 114-121 (Column I), 164-181 (Column II), 265-278 (Column III)
Location:
The British Museum (London, United Kingdom)
|
CDLI: P346093
OMNIKA: UET VI 8
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
UET
6 0008 (1963) *
Gadd, Cyril J.
and Samuel N. Kramer. Ur excavations texts. / VI.1, Literary and religious
texts. First part. London: Publications of the British Museum and of the
University Museum of Pennsylvania, 1963.
UET
6 0008 (1966)
Gadd, Cyril J.
and Samuel N. Kramer. Ur excavations texts. / V1.2, Literary and religious
texts. Second part. London: Publications of the British Museum and of the
University Museum of Pennsylvania, 1966.
UET
6 0008 (2006)
Shaffer, Aaron
and Marie-Christine Ludwig. Ur Excavations Texts V6.3: Literary and
Religious Texts. Third part. London: British Museum Publications, 2006.
|
Varied
contents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
*
This artifact first appeared in the 1963 UET publication. Subsequent
publications may have added minor fragments and new lines.
|
15/O
|
UET 6/1 8 (UET VI 8)
|
|
Photo
|
Line art
(sketch)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
16/P
|
BM 80094
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 115-129, 130-135 (obverse), 185-189, 195-203, 209-217 (reverse)
Location:
The British Museum (London, United Kingdom)
|
CDLI: P469280
OMNIKA: BM 80094
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
CT
58
Alster, Bendt,
and Geller, Markham J. Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the
British Museum. Vol. [Part] 58. Sumerian Literary Texts. London:
British Museum Publications, 1990. [Plate 49b]
|
Line art
(sketches)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
16/P
|
BM 80094
|
|
Photo
|
Line art
(sketch) *
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
17/Q
|
CBS (?) lost
artifact
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 131-135 (obverse), destroyed (reverse)
Location:
Penn Museum (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
|
CDLI: P404875
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
PBS
5 *
Poebel, Arno. The
University of Pennsylvania: The University Museum Publications of the
Babylonian Section. Vol. 5 [V]. Historical and Grammatical Texts.
Philadelphia: The University Museum, 1914.
https://archive.org/details/historicalandgr00sectgoog/page/n6. [Plate 024]
|
Line art
(sketch)
|
|
|
Line Art
(Sketch)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
*
The CDLI lists this artifact as plate number 24 of Poebel’s 1914 publication;
however, most records indicate this artifact cannot be located. Sladek (1974)
also listed this artifact as lost. For that reason, a photograph could not be
recovered.
|
18/R
|
CBS 15212
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: Lines: 145, 147-149, 150-177 (obverse), 180-207 (reverse)
Location:
Penn Museum (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
|
CDLI: P269767
OMNIKA: CBS
15212
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
BASOR
079
Kramer, Samuel
N. “Ishtar in the Nether World According to a New Sumerian Text.” Bulletin
of the American Schools of Oriental Research 79 (October 1940): 18-27.
[See pages 22-3]
|
Line art
(sketches)
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
Commentary
|
|
|
PAPS
85
Kramer, Samuel
N. “Sumerian Literature; A Preliminary Survey of the Oldest Literature in the
World.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 85, no. 3
(February 1942): 293-323. [See plate seven in the appendix after page 323.
These sketches are a recopy of the 1940 BASOR publication.]
|
Line art
(sketches)
Photograph
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
Commentary
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
18/R
|
CBS 15212
|
|
Photo
|
Line art
(sketch)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 19/S
|
UET 6/1 9 (UET
VI 9)
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 149, 151-154, 156-166 (obverse), 167-177 (reverse)
Location:
The British Museum (London, United Kingdom)
|
CDLI: P346094
OMNIKA: UET VI 9
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
UET
6 0008 (1963) *
Gadd, Cyril J.
and Samuel N. Kramer. Ur excavations texts. / VI.1, Literary and religious
texts. First part. London: Publications of the British Museum and of the
University Museum of Pennsylvania, 1963.
UET
6 0008 (1966)
Gadd, Cyril J.
and Samuel N. Kramer. Ur excavations texts. / V1.2, Literary and religious
texts. Second part. London: Publications of the British Museum and of the
University Museum of Pennsylvania, 1966.
UET
6 0008 (2006)
Shaffer, Aaron
and Marie-Christine Ludwig. Ur Excavations Texts V6.3: Literary and
Religious Texts. Third part. London: British Museum Publications, 2006.
|
Varied
contents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
*
This artifact first appeared in the 1963 UET publication. Subsequent
publications may have added minor fragments and new lines.
|
 19/S
|
UET 6/1 9 (UET VI 9)
|
|
Photo
|
Line art
(sketch) *
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
20/T
|
Ni 4200 + Ni
4187
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: Lines: 211-233 (obverse), 234-253 (reverse)
Location:
Istanbul Archaeology Museum (Istanbul, Turkey)
|
CDLI: P345159
OMNIKA: Ni 4200 + Ni 4187
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
RA
36
Kramer, Samuel N. “Additional
Material to « INANNA'S DESCENT TO THE NETHER WORLD » [sic].” Revue
d'Assyriologie et d'Archéologie Orientale 36, No. 2 (1939): 68-80. [See
page 78 for a sketch of Ni 4200]
|
Line art
(sketches)
|
|
|
SLTNi
or SLT 1944
Kramer, Samuel N.
Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Vol. XXIII. Sumerian
Literary Texts from Nippur in the Museum of the Ancient Orient at Istanbul.
New Haven: 1944. [Ni 4200 sketches, plate 14 (XIV), number 28]
|
Line art
(sketches)
Collation
|
|
|
PAPS
85
Kramer, Samuel
N. “Sumerian Literature; A Preliminary Survey of the Oldest Literature in the
World.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 85, no. 3
(February 1942): 293-323. [Ni 4200 sketches; See plate 8. It’s in the
appendix after page 323.]
|
Line art
(sketches)
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
Commentary
|
|
|
PAPS 107
Kramer, Samuel N. “Cuneiform
Studies and the History of Literature: The Sumerian Sacred Marriage.” Proceedings
of the American Philosophical Society 107, no. 6, Cuneiform Studies and
the History of Civilization (December 20, 1963): 485-527. [Sketch of Ni 4187,
page 525.]
|
Line art
(sketches)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
*
A photograph of either artifacts could not be located.
|
20/T
|
Ni 4200 + Ni 4187
|
|
Line art
(sketch, Ni 4187)
|
Line art
(sketch, Ni 4200)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Photographs
could not be located for this artifact.
|
21/U
|
BM 17427
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 224-230 (obverse), 253-257 (reverse)
Location:
The British Museum (London, United Kingdom)
|
CDLI: P283756
OMNIKA: BM 17427
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation *
|
Includes
|
|
|
CT
42
Figulla, H. H. Cuneiform
texts from Babylonian tablets in the British Museum. Pt. 42 [XLII] / by H. H.
Figulla. London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1959. [See plate 3]
|
Line art
(sketches)
|
|
|
JCS
23
Kramer, Samuel
N. "Collations to ‘CT XLII.’" Journal of Cuneiform Studies
23, no. 1 (1970): 10-16.
|
Collation
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
*
The CDLI did not explicitly list a major translation publication; however, most
translations of ID after 1970 include this artifact (including the ETCSL
translation).
|
21/U
|
BM 17427
|
|
Line art
(sketch) *
|
|
|
* A photograph
could not be located for this artifact.
|
22/V
|
UET 6/1 10 (UET
VI 10)
|
|
Locate
|
|
|
Lines: 231-251, 280-295 (obverse), 351-398 (reverse), 398-412
(reverse)
Location:
The British Museum (London, United Kingdom)
|
CDLI: P346095
OMNIKA: UET VI
10
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
UET
6 0008 (1963) *
Gadd, Cyril J.
and Samuel N. Kramer. Ur excavations texts. / VI.1, Literary and religious
texts. First part. London: Publications of the British Museum and of the
University Museum of Pennsylvania, 1963.
UET
6 0008 (1966)
Gadd, Cyril J.
and Samuel N. Kramer. Ur excavations texts. / V1.2, Literary and religious
texts. Second part. London: Publications of the British Museum and of the
University Museum of Pennsylvania, 1966.
UET
6 0008 (2006)
Shaffer, Aaron
and Marie-Christine Ludwig. Ur Excavations Texts V6.3: Literary and
Religious Texts. Third part. London: British Museum Publications, 2006.
|
Varied
contents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
*
This artifact first appeared in the 1963 UET publication. Subsequent
publications may have added minor fragments and new lines.
|
 22/V
|
UET 6/1 10 (UET VI 10)
|
|
Photo
(obverse)
|
Photo
(reverse)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
22/V
|
UET 6/1 10 (UET VI 10)
|
|
Line art
(sketch)
|
|
|
|
23/W
|
Ni 9838 + Ni
2762
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 253-274 (obverse), 287-312 (reverse)
Location:
Istanbul Archaeology Museum (Istanbul, Turkey)
|
CDLI: P343629
OMNIKA: Ni 9838
+ Ni 2762
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
ISET
2
Kramer, Samuel N. Istanbul
Arkeoloji Müzelerinde Bulunan Sumer Edebî Tablet ve Parcaları (Sumerian
Literary Tablets and Fragments in the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul) –
II (1976). [Ni 9838, plate 17]
|
Line art
(sketches)
|
|
|
SLTNi
or SLT 1944
Kramer, Samuel
N. Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Vol. XXIII. Sumerian
Literary Texts from Nippur in the Museum of the Ancient Orient at Istanbul.
New Haven, 1944. [Ni 2762, plate 14 (XIV), number 29]
|
Line art
(sketches)
Collation
|
|
|
PAPS
85
Kramer, Samuel
N. “Sumerian Literature; A Preliminary Survey of the Oldest Literature in the
World.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 85 no. 3
(February 1942): 293-323. [See plate 8 for Ni 2762]
|
Line art
(sketches)
Translation
Transliteration
|
|
|
PAPS 107
Kramer, Samuel N. “Cuneiform
Studies and the History of Literature: The Sumerian Sacred Marriage.” Proceedings
of the American Philosophical Society 107, no. 6, Cuneiform Studies and
the History of Civilization (December 20, 1963): 485-527. [Sketch of Ni 9838,
page 524, figure 8.]
|
Line art
(sketches)
Translation
Transliteration
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
23/W
|
Ni 9838 + Ni 2762
|
|
Ni 9838
– Line art (sketch)
|
Ni 2762
– Line art (sketch)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Photographs
could not be located for these artifacts.
|
24/X
|
N 983 *
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 258-265 (obverse), destroyed (reverse)
Location:
Penn Museum (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
|
CDLI: P275001
OMNIKA: N 983
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
Sladek Inanna
Sladek, William
R. "Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld." Ann Arbor: University
Microfilms, 1974, 285. [Figure V]
|
Line art
(sketch)
Translation
Translation
Collation
Commentary
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
*
The CDLI lists this artifact as joining N 7710 (Peterson, Jeremiah, BPOA 09,
031), but it is not included in this survey.
|
 24/X
|
N 983
|
|
|
Photo
|
|
|
|
|
|
Line art
(sketch)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
25/Y
|
YBC 4621 (now
YPM BC 018686)
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 273-325 (obverse), 327-375 (reverse)
Location:
Yale Peabody Museum (New Haven, Connecticut)
|
CDLI: * P293336
OMNIKA: YPM BC
018686
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
JCS
4 214
Kramer, Samuel
N. “’Inanna’s Descent to
the Nether World’ Continued and Revised.” Journal of Cuneiform Studies
4, no. 4 (1950): 199-214. [See page 214]
|
Line art
(sketches)
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
Commentary
|
|
|
Yale
Museum (YPM BC 018686)
"YPM BC
018686: Tablet. Inanna's Descent. Old Babylonian. Clay.," Yale Peabody
Museum of Natural History, Yale University, accessed May 2, 2019,
https://collections.peabody.yale.edu/search/Record/YPM-BC-018686.
|
Photograph
|
|
|
ASJ
18 010f.
Alster, Bendt. “Inanna Repenting.
The Conclusion of Inanna's Descent.” Acta Sumerologica 18 (1996):
1-18.
|
Translation
Transliteration
Commentary
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
*
The CDLI listing does not contain sketches or photographs.
|
 25/Y
|
YBC 4621 (now YPM BC 018686)
|
|
Photo
(obverse) *
|
Photo
(reverse)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* The side of the
tablet also has several lines. The Yale Museum reference contains high
resolution images.
|
25/Y
|
YBC 4621 (now YPM BC 018686)
|
|
Line art
(sketch, obverse) *
|
Line art
(sketch, reverse)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* This tablet contains
some lines on its sides as well.
|
26/Z
|
CBS 13902
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 275-306 (obverse), 307-339 (reverse)
Location:
Penn Museum (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
|
CDLI: P268913
OMNIKA: CBS
13902
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
PBS
5
Poebel, Arno. The
University of Pennsylvania: The University Museum Publications of the
Babylonian Section. Vol. 5 [V]. Historical and Grammatical Texts.
Philadelphia: The University Museum, 1914.
https://archive.org/details/historicalandgr00sectgoog/page/n6. [Plate 022]
|
Line art
(sketches)
|
|
|
PAPS
85
Kramer, Samuel
N. “Sumerian Literature; A Preliminary Survey of the Oldest Literature in the
World.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 85 no. 3
(February 1942): 293-323. [Plate 9]
|
Line art
(sketches)
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
|
|
|
JCS
05
Kramer, Samuel
N. “‘Inanna's Descent to the Nether World’ Continued and Revised. Second
Part: Revised Edition of ‘Inanna's Descent to the Nether World.’" Journal
of Cuneiform Studies 5, no. 1 (1951): 1-17.
|
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
26/Z
|
CBS 13902
|
|
Photograph
- Obverse
|
Photograph
- Reverse
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
26/Z
|
CBS 13902
|
|
Line art
(sketch) - Obverse
|
Line art
(sketch) - Reverse
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
27/a
|
3N-T 400 (Museum
No. IM 058460)
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 300-333 (obverse), 340-370 (reverse)
Location:
National Museum of Iraq (Baghdad, Iraq)
|
CDLI: P356670
OMNIKA: 3N-T 400
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
Sladek Inanna
Sladek, William
R. "Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld." Ann Arbor: University Microfilms,
1974, 286-7. [Figures VI-VII]
|
Line art
(sketches)
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
Commentary
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
27/a
|
3N-T 400 *
|
|
Line art
(sketch) - Obverse
|
Line art
(sketch) - Reverse
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Photographs
could not be located for this artifact.
|
28/b
|
Ni 9776 *
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: Destroyed (obverse), 322-327, 339-340 (Column I, reverse),
376-384 (Column II, reverse)
Location:
Istanbul Archaeology Museum (Istanbul, Turkey)
|
CDLI: P343420
OMNIKA: Ni 9776
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
ISET
1 (1969) 183
Muazzez, Çig,
and Hatice Kizilyay. Istanbul Arkeoloji Müzelerinde Bulunan Sumer Edebî
Tablet ve Parcaları – I 183, 1969. [Plate number 125]
|
Line art
(sketches)
Collation
|
|
|
Sladek 1974
Sladek, William R. "Inanna's
Descent to the Netherworld." Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1974,
102. [Sladek uses the artifact as source X]
|
Translation
Transliteration
Commentary
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
*
Usable photographs and line art could not be located for this artifact.
|
29/c
|
CBS 15162 + N
953 + N 3200 *
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: 338-354 (obverse), 358 (reverse), 345-351 (obverse)
Location:
Penn Museum (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) [CBS]; Istanbul
Archaeology Museum (Istanbul, Turkey) [N]
|
CDLI: P269717
OMNIKA: CBS
15162 + […]
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
PAPS
85
Kramer, Samuel
N. “Sumerian Literature; A Preliminary Survey of the Oldest Literature in the
World.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 85, no. 3
(February 1942): 293-323. [CBS 15162, plate number 10]
|
Line art
(sketches)
Translation
Transliteration
Commentary
|
|
|
Sladek Inanna
Sladek, William
R. "Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld." Ann Arbor: University
Microfilms, 1974, 288. [N 953, Figure VIII]
|
Line art
(sketches)
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
Commentary
|
|
|
BPOA 09 033
Peterson,
Jeremiah. Sumerian Literary Fragments in the University Museum,
Philadelphia. (Biblioteca del Próximo Oriente Antiguo, 9.) 372
pp., 68 plates. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas,
2011. [The CDLI record lists page 48 as join information for the artifact,
which may correspond to plate number 33]
|
Line art
(sketches)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
*
N 3200 is listed as an unpublished artifact, so line art could not be located.
|
29/c
|
CBS 15162 + N 953 + N 3200 *
|
|
Photo
|
Line art
(sketch) *
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Line art could
not be located for N 3200.
|
30/d
|
N 2986
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: Different composition (obverse), 375-380 (reverse)
Location:
Penn Museum (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
|
CDLI: P275004
OMNIKA: N 2986
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
Sladek Inanna
Sladek, William
R. "Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld." Ann Arbor: University
Microfilms, 1974, 289. [See N 2986, Figure IX, for the obverse side only.
Sladek indicated the reverse side belonged to a different composition]
|
Line art
(sketches)
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
Commentary
|
|
|
Sjöberg
(1977) 033 (JCS 29)
Sjöberg, Åke.
“Miscellaneous Sumerian Texts, II.” Journal of Cuneiform Studies 29,
no. 1 (January 1977): 3-45. [Page 33 has the sketches of the obverse and
reverse side]
|
Line art
(sketches)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 30/d
|
N 2986
|
|
Photo
|
|
 
|
|
Line art
(sketch) - Obverse
|
|
|
|
31/e
|
CBS 6894 *
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: Destroyed (obverse), 380-412 (reverse)
Location:
Penn Museum (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
|
CDLI: P264321
OMNIKA: CBS 6894
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Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
ASJ
18 010f.
Alster, Bendt.
“Inanna Repenting. The Conclusion of Inanna's Descent.” Acta Sumerologica
18 (1996): 1-18.
|
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
|
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|
Photo
(obverse, reverse, left to right)
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* Line art could
not be located for this artifact.
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32/f
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BM 67932 *
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Locate
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|
Lines: (?)
Location:
The British Museum (London, United Kingdom)
|
CDLI: P357189
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
British
Museum Digital Record
“BM 067932:
Collection online.” The British Museum (Trustees of the British Museum). https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=343318&partId=1&searchText=67932&page=1
(accessed May 12, 2019).
|
General
information
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*
The CDLI does not list any secondary publications, translations, transliterations,
or anything else whatever. The British Museum does not list photographs and
indicates the dimensions are roughly 4.13 by 5.08 centimeters, meaning it is a
very small artifact. The curator’s comments read “See also 1902,0415.1
(BM.96680),” perhaps indicating, that it is joined. The bibliography field
listed “Leichty E & Grayson A K 1987a p.219” as the source; however, the
resource only provided a tabular list of contents at the British Museum and no
other information. The source listed from the British Museum was found as
follows:
Leichty, Erle, and Albert Kirk. Catalogue
of the Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum, Volume VII: Tablets from
Sippar 2. London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1987, 219.
Kramer also made mention of the artifact
in a few publications. However, no evidence reviewed suggested that this
artifact provided meaningful lines of text towards the decipherment of the
composition.
|
33/g
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BM 69737
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|
Locate
|
|
Lines: (?)
Location:
The British Museum (London, United Kingdom)
|
CDLI: P274245
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation
|
Includes
|
|
|
PAPS
124 *
Kramer, Samuel Noah. “Sumerian
Literature and the British Museum: The Promise of the Future.” Proceedings of
the American Philosophical Society 124, no. 4 (August 19, 1980): 295-312.
[Line art on page 302. The author noted that the artifact was recently identified
by himself]
|
Line art
(sketches)
Commentary
Translation
Transliteration
Collation
|
|
|
CT
58 (1990) 50
Alster, Bendt,
and Markham J. Geller. Cuneiform texts from Babylonian tablets in the
British Museum. Part 58, Sumerian literary texts. London: British Museum
Publications, 1990. [Plate 50, page 62]
|
Line art
(sketch)
|
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*
The footnote on page 302 notes that the table may be a duplicate of line 70ff
[sic] of the Ur [sic] “UET 10 (?)” tablet. Further documentation by Kramer
suggests this artifact relates to a composition named “Dumuzi’s Dream.”
Otherwise, it may belong to an alternate version of “Inanna’s Descent.”
|
33/g
|
BM 69737 *
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Photo
|
Line art
(sketch)
|
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|
* Kramer
and other scholars have noted that this artifact likely contains text
that belongs to a different composition, or an alternate version of “Inanna’s
Descent.”
|
34/h
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BM 96680
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: (?)
Location:
The British Museum (London, United Kingdom)
|
CDLI: P345778
|
|
Publications:
Shorthand Name & Full Citation ****
|
Includes
|
|
|
PAPS
124 *
Kramer, Samuel Noah. “Sumerian
Literature and the British Museum: The Promise of the Future.” Proceedings of
the American Philosophical Society 124, no. 4 (August 19, 1980): 295-312. [A
brief description of the tablet on pages 297-8. Note that this artifact
contains a different myth entirely and is not “Inanna’s Descent.”]
|
General
information
|
|
|
BA
46 **
Kramer, Samuel
Noah. “The Weeping Goddess: Sumerian Prototypes of the Mater Dolorosa.” The
Biblical Archaeologist 46, no. 2 (Spring, 1983): 69-80. [See page 74 for
a description]
|
Line art
(sketch)
|
|
|
British
Museum Digital Record ***
“BM 096680: Collection online.”
The British Museum (Trustees of the British Museum).
https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=801579&partId=1&searchText=sumerian&page=4
(accessed May 12, 2019). [The British Museum describes the artifact as
follows: “Clay tablet with two and two columns of inscription; literary -
Sumerian religious composition; Old Babylonian.”]
|
General
information
|
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|
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|
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* In PAPS 124,
Kramer noted the following description of the artifact: “BM 96680. ‘The
Suffering Goddess: A balag of Inanna.’ This four-column tablet of one hundred
and ninety-six lines, more than half preserved, consists of kirugu 16-22, that
is, the last seven kirugu, of a composition known from the published British
Museum tablet 96933. The text inscribed on our tablet, which is structured
somewhat differently from that inscribed on the published piece-it is divided
into twenty-two kirugu as contrasted with twenty-nine in the latter, but some
of these have a much fuller text-and has numerous variants, will be of immense
value for filling in the gaps and breaks in the second half of the composition,
which consists largely of a prayerful dialogue between some concerned
individual and Inanna who is depicted as having suffered dire calamities
because of the wrath of Enlil.” (297)
** Kramer noted
that this artifact did not contain lines for the composition of “Inanna’s
Descent.” At the time of the writing, 1983, he described BM 96680 as a “Tablet
containing first Inanna liturgic lament. Housed in the British Museum.”
*** The British
Museum listings cited the two articles presented here. The listing indicates
its dimensions as 4.5 inches by 8.5 inches.
**** The citation
named “AuOr 05, Kramer, 1987, 89-90.” could not be located.
|
35/i
|
UET 6 *269 [sic]
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: (?)
|
N/A
|
|
Information
|
Includes
|
|
|
The CDLI
indicates this is a small fragment containing mathematical (accounting)
records.
|
(?)
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36/j
|
?UET 6 *306
[sic]
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: (?)
|
N/A
|
|
Information
|
Includes
|
|
|
The CDLI
indicates this is a small fragment containing mathematical (accounting)
records.
|
(?)
|
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|
37/k
|
UET 6 *320 [sic]
|
|
Locate
|
|
Lines: (?)
|
N/A
|
|
Information
|
Includes
|
|
|
The CDLI indicates
this is a small fragment containing mathematical (accounting) records.
|
(?)
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Appendix C: Translations of “Inanna’s Descent”
Table
2.1 lists selected translations of ID and includes additional information
that may be useful: publication reference, textual contribution, and artifact
usage. The selected translation section includes the full text of ID (the 2001,
ETCSL version).
|
Table
3.1. Top translation publications of “Inanna’s Descent” (1900-2019)
|
|
|
|
Publication
details
|
Textual
contribution*
|
|
|
Year, nickname, citation
|
Lines
|
Artifacts
|
|
|
1937 (Kramer’s
first version)
Kramer, Samuel N. “Inanna’s
Descent to the Nether World. The Sumerian Version of Is[h]tar’s Descent.” Revue
d'Assyriologie et d'Archéologie Orientale 34, no. 3 (1937): 93-134. [JSTOR]
Unusable lines: 96-9, 115, 119,
161-6, x1-x9, x35-x36, x54-x56
|
276 Available
250 Usable
26 Unusable
250/412 Total
|
10 (11 fr.)
|
|
|
1951 (Kramer’s
canonical version)
Kramer, Samuel N. “‘Inanna's
Descent to the Nether World’ Continued and Revised. Second Part: Revised
Edition of ‘Inanna's Descent to the Nether World.’" Journal of
Cuneiform Studies 5, no. 1 (1951): 1-17. [JSTOR]
Missing/unusable lines: 224-40
and 381-412
|
363 Available
44 Usable
19 Unusable
344/412 Total
|
15 (19 fr.)
|
|
|
1963 (Kramer
adds UET series items)
Kramer, Samuel N. “Cuneiform
Studies and the History of Literature: The Sumerian Sacred Marriage Texts.”
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 107, no. 6 (December 1963):
485-527. [JSTOR]
|
Various
lines added from 150-412 from addition of artifacts UET VI 8, 9, 10
|
|
|
1974 (Sladek’s
PhD dissertation version)
Sladek Jr., William R. “Inanna’s
Descent to the Netherworld.” Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1974, 153-181.
[OMNIKA]
Unusable lines: 245, 272, and
381-406.
|
412 available
360 usable
26 unusable
386/412 Total
|
29 (36 fr.)
|
|
|
1983 (Kramer and
Wolkstein version)
Kramer, Samuel Noah, and Diane
Wolkstein. Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from
Sumer. New York: Harper & Row, 1983, 51-89. [Archive.org]
|
N/A (verse form)
|
|
|
1987 (Jacobsen’s
final version)
Jacobsen, Thorkild. The Harps
that Once…: Sumerian Poetry in Translation. New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1987, 205-33. [Google
Books]
|
N/A (verse form)
|
|
|
1996 (Alster’s
ending)
Alster, Bendt. “Inanna Repenting.
The Conclusion of Inanna's Descent.” Acta Sumerologica 18 (1996):
1-18. [OMNIKA]
|
Translated
lines 351-412 from 8 artifacts (mainly CBS 6894)
|
|
|
2001 (ETCSL
version)
Black, Jeremy A., Graham E
Cunningham, Eleanor Robson, Gábor Zólyomi, and Esther Flückiger-Hawker. Inana's
descent to the nether world: translation. July 9, 2001. http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr141.htm
(accessed April 5, 2019).
Note: Unusable lines: 245, 381-2,
385-9
|
412 available
405 usable
7 unusable
405/412 total
|
37 (48 fr.)
|
|
|
2019 (CDLI
composite version – score)
“Q000343 = CDLI Literary 000343
(Inanna’s Descent) composite.” Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI).
University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Accessed May 5, 2019. https://cdli.ucla.edu/tools/scores/Q000343.html
|
412/412 total
|
(78 fr.)
|
* A source includes joins while an
artifact represents a single fragment. “10 (11 fr.)” = ten sources, eleven
fragments.
Selected Translation: “Inanna’s Descent”
(ETCSL, 2001)
|
“Inana’s descent to the nether
world”
Citation: Black, Jeremy A., Graham E Cunningham, Eleanor Robson, Gábor
Zólyomi, and Esther Flückiger-Hawker. Inana's descent to the nether world:
translation. July 9, 2001.
http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr141.htm (accessed April 5, 2019).
Redactor’s Note: The
translation has not been modified by the author (as is).
|
|
[1-5] From the great heaven she set her mind on the
great below. From the great heaven the goddess set her mind on the great
below. From the great heaven Inana set her mind on the great below. My mistress
abandoned heaven, abandoned earth, and descended to the underworld. Inana
abandoned heaven, abandoned earth, and descended to the underworld.
[6-13] She abandoned the office of en, abandoned the
office of lagar, and descended to the underworld. She abandoned the E-ana in
Unug, and descended to the underworld. She abandoned the E-muc-kalama in
Bad-tibira, and descended to the underworld. She abandoned the Giguna in
Zabalam, and descended to the underworld. She abandoned the E-cara in Adab,
and descended to the underworld. She abandoned the Barag-dur-jara in Nibru,
and descended to the underworld. She abandoned the Hursaj-kalama in Kic, and
descended to the underworld. She abandoned the E-Ulmac in Agade, and
descended to the underworld. (1 ms. adds 8 s: She abandoned the Ibgal in
Umma, and descended to the underworld. She abandoned the E-Dilmuna in Urim,
and descended to the underworld. She abandoned the Amac-e-kug in Kisiga, and
descended to the underworld. She abandoned the E-ecdam-kug in Jirsu, and
descended to the underworld. She abandoned the E-sig-mece-du in Isin, and
descended to the underworld. She abandoned the Anzagar in Akcak, and
descended to the underworld. She abandoned the Nijin-jar-kug in Curuppag, and
descended to the underworld. She abandoned the E-cag-hula in Kazallu, and
descended to the underworld.)
[14-19] She took the seven divine powers. She
collected the divine powers and grasped them in her hand. With the good
divine powers, she went on her way. She put a turban, headgear for the open
country, on her head. She took a wig for her forehead. She hung small
lapis-lazuli beads around her neck.
[20-25 ] She placed twin egg-shaped beads on her
breast. She covered her body with a pala dress, the garment of ladyship. She
placed mascara which is called "Let a man come, let him come" on
her eyes. She pulled the pectoral which is called "Come, man, come"
over her breast. She placed a golden ring on her hand. She held the
lapis-lazuli measuring rod and measuring line in her hand.
[26-27] Inana travelled towards the underworld. Her
minister Nincubura travelled behind her.
[28-31] Holy Inana said to Nincubura: "Come my
faithful minister of E-ana, my minister who speaks fair words, my escort who
speaks trustworthy words (1 ms. has instead: I am going to give you
instructions: my instructions must be followed; I am going to say something
to you: it must be observed).
[32-36] "On this day I will descend to the
underworld. When I have arrived in the underworld, make a lament for me on
the ruin mounds. Beat the drum for me in the sanctuary. Make the rounds of
the houses of the gods for me.
[37-40] "Lacerate your eyes for me, lacerate
your nose for me. (1 ms. adds the line: Lacerate your ears for me, in
public.) In private, lacerate your buttocks for me. Like a pauper, clothe
yourself in a single garment and all alone set your foot in the E-kur, the
house of Enlil.
[41-47] "When you have entered the E-kur, the
house of Enlil, lament before Enlil: "Father Enlil, don't let anyone
kill your daughter in the underworld. Don't let your precious metal be
alloyed there with the dirt of the underworld. Don't let your precious lapis
lazuli be split there with the mason's stone. Don't let your boxwood be
chopped up there with the carpenter's wood. Don't let young lady Inana be
killed in the underworld."
[48-56] "If Enlil does not help you in this
matter, go to Urim. In the E-mud-kura at Urim, when you have entered the E-kic-nu-jal,
the house of Nanna, lament before Nanna: "Father Nanna, don't let anyone
kill your daughter in the underworld. Don't let your precious metal be
alloyed there with the dirt of the underworld. Don't let your precious lapis
lazuli be split there with the mason's stone. Don't let your boxwood be
chopped up there with the carpenter's wood. Don't let young lady Inana be
killed in the underworld."
[57-64] "And if Nanna does not help you in this
matter, go to Eridug. In Eridug, when you have entered the house of Enki,
lament before Enki: "Father Enki, don't let anyone kill your daughter in
the underworld. Don't let your precious metal be alloyed there with the dirt
of the underworld. Don't let your precious lapis lazuli be split there with
the mason's stone. Don't let your boxwood be chopped up there with the
carpenter's wood. Don't let young lady Inana be killed in the
underworld."
[65-67] "Father Enki, the lord of great wisdom,
knows about the life-giving plant and the life-giving water. He is the one
who will restore me to life."
[68-72] When Inana travelled on towards the
underworld, her minister Nincubura travelled on behind her. She said to her
minister Nincubura: "Go now, my Nincubura, and pay attention. Don't
neglect the instructions I gave you."
[73-77] When Inana arrived at the palace Ganzer, she
pushed aggressively on the door of the underworld. She shouted aggressively
at the gate of the underworld: "Open up, doorman, open up. Open up,
Neti, open up. I am all alone and I want to come in."
[78-84] Neti, the chief doorman of the underworld,
answered holy Inana: "Who are you?" "I am Inana going to the
east." "If you are Inana going to the east, why have you travelled
to the land of no return? How did you set your heart on the road whose
traveller never returns?"
[85-89] Holy Inana answered him: "Because lord
Gud-gal-ana, the husband of my elder sister holy Erec-ki-gala, has died; in
order to have his funeral rites observed, she offers generous libations at
his wake -- that is the reason."
[90-93] Neti, the chief doorman of the underworld,
answered holy Inana: "Stay here, Inana. I will speak to my mistress. I
will speak to my mistress Erec-ki-gala and tell her what you have said."
[94-101] Neti, the chief doorman of the underworld,
entered the house of his mistress Erec-ki-gala and said: "My mistress,
there is a lone girl outside. It is Inana, your sister, and she has arrived
at the palace Ganzer. She pushed aggressively on the door of the underworld.
She shouted aggressively at the gate of the underworld. She has abandoned
E-ana and has descended to the underworld.
[102-107] "She has taken the seven divine
powers. She has collected the divine powers and grasped them in her hand. She
has come on her way with all the good divine powers. She has put a turban,
headgear for the open country, on her head. She has taken a wig for her
forehead. She has hung small lapis-lazuli beads around her neck.
[108-113] "She has placed twin egg-shaped beads
on her breast. She has covered her body with the pala dress of ladyship. She
has placed mascara which is called "Let a man come" on her eyes.
She has pulled the pectoral which is called "Come, man, come" over
her breast. She has placed a golden ring on her hand. She is holding the
lapis-lazuli measuring rod and measuring line in her hand."
[114-122] When she heard this, Erec-ki-gala slapped
the side of her thigh. She bit her lip and took the words to heart. She said
to Neti, her chief doorman: "Come Neti, my chief doorman of the
underworld, don't neglect the instructions I will give you. Let the seven
gates of the underworld be bolted. Then let each door of the palace Ganzer be
opened separately. As for her, after she has entered, and crouched down and
had her clothes removed, they will be carried away."
[123-128] Neti, the chief doorman of the underworld,
paid attention to the instructions of his mistress. He bolted the seven gates
of the underworld. Then he opened each of the doors of the palace Ganzer
separately. He said to holy Inana: "Come on, Inana, and enter."
[129-133] And when Inana entered, (1 ms. adds 2
lines: the lapis-lazuli measuring rod and measuring line were removed from
her hand, when she entered the first gate,) the turban, headgear for the open
country, was removed from her head. "What is this?" "Be
satisfied, Inana, a divine power of the underworld has been fulfilled. Inana,
you must not open your mouth against the rites of the underworld."
[134-138] When she entered the second gate, the
small lapis-lazuli beads were removed from her neck. "What is
this?" "Be satisfied, Inana, a divine power of the underworld has
been fulfilled. Inana, you must not open your mouth against the rites of the
underworld."
[139-143] When she entered the third gate, the twin
egg-shaped beads were removed from her breast. "What is this?"
"Be satisfied, Inana, a divine power of the underworld has been
fulfilled. Inana, you must not open your mouth against the rites of the
underworld."
[144-148] When she entered the fourth gate, the
"Come, man, come" pectoral was removed from her breast. "What
is this?" "Be satisfied, Inana, a divine power of the underworld
has been fulfilled. Inana, you must not open your mouth against the rites of
the underworld."
[149-153] When she entered the fifth gate, the
golden ring was removed from her hand. "What is this?" "Be
satisfied, Inana, a divine power of the underworld has been fulfilled. Inana,
you must not open your mouth against the rites of the underworld."
[154-158] When she entered the sixth gate, the
lapis-lazuli measuring rod and measuring line were removed from her hand.
"What is this?" "Be satisfied, Inana, a divine power of the
underworld has been fulfilled. Inana, you must not open your mouth against the
rites of the underworld."
[159-163] When she entered the seventh gate, the
pala dress, the garment of ladyship, was removed from her body. "What is
this?" "Be satisfied, Inana, a divine power of the underworld has
been fulfilled. Inana, you must not open your mouth against the rites of the
underworld."
[164-172] After she had crouched down and had her
clothes removed, they were carried away. Then she made her sister
Erec-ki-gala rise from her throne, and instead she sat on her throne. The
Anuna, the seven judges, rendered their decision against her. They looked at
her -- it was the look of death. They spoke to her -- it was the speech of
anger. They shouted at her -- it was the shout of heavy guilt. The afflicted
woman was turned into a corpse. And the corpse was hung on a hook.
[173-175] After three days and three nights had
passed, her minister Nincubura (2 mss. add 2 lines: , her minister who speaks
fair words, her escort who speaks trustworthy words,) carried out the
instructions of her mistress (1 ms. has instead 2 lines: did not forget her
orders, she did not neglect her instructions).
[176-182] She made a lament for her in her ruined
(houses). She beat the drum for her in the sanctuaries. She made the rounds
of the houses of the gods for her. She lacerated her eyes for her, she
lacerated her nose. In private she lacerated her buttocks for her. Like a
pauper, she clothed herself in a single garment, and all alone she set her
foot in the E-kur, the house of Enlil.
[183-189] When she had entered the E-kur, the house
of Enlil, she lamented before Enlil: "Father Enlil, don't let anyone
kill your daughter in the underworld. Don't let your precious metal be
alloyed there with the dirt of the underworld. Don't let your precious lapis
lazuli be split there with the mason's stone. Don't let your boxwood be
chopped up there with the carpenter's wood. Don't let young lady Inana be
killed in the underworld."
[190-194] In his rage father Enlil answered
Nincubura: "My daughter craved the great heaven and she craved the great
below as well. Inana craved the great heaven and she craved the great below
as well. The divine powers of the underworld are divine powers which should
not be craved, for whoever gets them must remain in the underworld. Who,
having got to that place, could then expect to come up again?"
[195-203] Thus father Enlil did not help in this
matter, so she went to Urim. In the E-mud-kura at Urim, when she had entered
the E-kic-nu-jal, the house of Nanna, she lamented before Nanna: "Father
Nanna, don't let your daughter be killed in the underworld. Don't let your
precious metal be alloyed there with the dirt of the underworld. Don't let
your precious lapis lazuli be split there with the mason's stone. Don't let
your boxwood be chopped up there with the carpenter's wood. Don't let young
lady Inana be killed in the underworld."
[204-208] In his rage father Nanna answered
Nincubura: "My daughter craved the great heaven and she craved the great
below as well. Inana craved the great heaven and she craved the great below
as well. The divine powers of the underworld are divine powers which should
not be craved, for whoever gets them must remain in the underworld. Who,
having got to that place, could then expect to come up again?"
[209-216] Thus father Nanna did not help her in this
matter, so she went to Eridug. In Eridug, when she had entered the house of
Enki, she lamented before Enki: "Father Enki, don't let anyone kill your
daughter in the underworld. Don't let your precious metal be alloyed there
with the dirt of the underworld. Don't let your precious lapis lazuli be
split there with the mason's stone. Don't let your boxwood be chopped up
there with the carpenter's wood. Don't let young lady Inana be killed in the
underworld."
[217-225] Father Enki answered Nincubura: "What
has my daughter done? She has me worried. What has Inana done? She has me
worried. What has the mistress of all the lands done? She has me worried.
What has the hierodule of An done? She has me worried." (1 ms. adds 1
line: Thus father Enki helped her in this matter.) He removed some dirt from
the tip of his fingernail and created the kur-jara. He removed some dirt from
the tip of his other fingernail and created the gala-tura. To the kur-jara he
gave the life-giving plant. To the gala-tura he gave the life-giving water.
[226-235] Then father Enki spoke out to the
gala-tura and the kur-jara: " (1 ms. has instead the line: One of you
sprinkle the life-giving plant over her, and the other the life-giving
water.) Go and direct your steps to the underworld. Flit past the door like
flies. Slip through the door pivots like phantoms. The mother who gave birth,
Erec-ki-gala, on account of her children, is lying there. Her holy shoulders
are not covered by a linen cloth. Her breasts are not full like a cagan
vessel. Her nails are like a pickaxe (?) upon her. The hair on her head is
bunched up as if it were leeks.
[236-245] "When she says "Oh my
heart", you are to say "You are troubled, our mistress, oh your
heart". When she says "Oh my liver", you are to say "You
are troubled, our mistress, oh your liver". (She will then ask:)
"Who are you? Speaking to you from my heart to your heart, from my liver
to your liver -- if you are gods, let me talk with you; if you are mortals,
may a destiny be decreed for you." Make her swear this by heaven and
earth.
1 line fragmentary
[246-253] "They will offer you a riverful of
water -- don't accept it. They will offer you a field with its grain -- don't
accept it. But say to her: "Give us the corpse hanging on the
hook." (She will answer:) "That is the corpse of your queen."
Say to her: "Whether it is that of our king, whether it is that of our
queen, give it to us." She will give you the corpse hanging on the hook.
One of you sprinkle on it the life-giving plant and the other the life-giving
water. Thus let Inana arise."
[254-262] The gala-tura and the kur-jara paid
attention to the instructions of Enki. They flitted through the door like
flies. They slipped through the door pivots like phantoms. The mother who
gave birth, Erec-ki-gala, because of her children, was lying there. Her holy
shoulders were not covered by a linen cloth. Her breasts were not full like a
cagan vessel. Her nails were like a pickaxe (?) upon her. The hair on her
head was bunched up as if it were leeks.
[263-272] When she said "Oh my heart",
they said to her "You are troubled, our mistress, oh your heart".
When she said "Oh my liver", they said to her "You are
troubled, our mistress, oh your liver". (Then she asked:) "Who are
you? I tell you from my heart to your heart, from my liver to your liver --
if you are gods, I will talk with you; if you are mortals, may a destiny be
decreed for you." They made her swear this by heaven and earth. They
.......
[273-281] They were offered a river with its water
-- they did not accept it. They were offered a field with its grain -- they
did not accept it. They said to her: "Give us the corpse hanging on the
hook." Holy Erec-ki-gala answered the gala-tura and the kur-jara:
"The corpse is that of your queen." They said to her: "Whether
it is that of our king or that of our queen, give it to us." They were
given the corpse hanging on the hook. One of them sprinkled on it the
life-giving plant and the other the life-giving water. And thus Inana arose.
[282-289] Erec-ki-gala said to the gala-tura and the
kur-jara: "Bring your queen ......, your ...... has been seized."
Inana, because of Enki's instructions, was about to ascend from the
underworld. But as Inana was about to ascend from the underworld, the Anuna
seized her: "Who has ever ascended from the underworld, has ascended
unscathed from the underworld? If Inana is to ascend from the underworld, let
her provide a substitute for herself."
[290-294] So when Inana left the underworld, the one
in front of her, though not a minister, held a sceptre in his hand; the one
behind her, though not an escort, carried a mace at his hip, while the small
demons, like a reed enclosure, and the big demons, like the reeds of a fence,
restrained her on all sides.
[295-305] Those who accompanied her, those who
accompanied Inana, know no food, know no drink, eat no flour offering and
drink no libation. They accept no pleasant gifts. They never enjoy the
pleasures of the marital embrace, never have any sweet children to kiss. They
tear away the wife from a man's embrace. They snatch the son from a man's
knee. They make the bride leave the house of her father-in-law (instead of
lines 300-305, 1 ms. has 2 lines: They take the wife away from a man's
embrace. They take away the child hanging on a wet-nurse's breasts). (1 ms.
adds 3 lines: They crush no bitter garlic. They eat no fish, they eat no
leeks. They, it was, who accompanied Inana.)
[306-310] After Inana had ascended from the
underworld, Nincubura threw herself at her feet at the door of the Ganzer.
She had sat in the dust and clothed herself in a filthy garment. The demons
said to holy Inana: "Inana, proceed to your city, we will take her
back."
[311-321] Holy Inana answered the demons: "This
is my minister of fair words, my escort of trustworthy words. She did not
forget my instructions. She did not neglect the orders I gave her. She made a
lament for me on the ruin mounds. She beat the drum for me in the sanctuaries.
She made the rounds of the gods' houses for me. She lacerated her eyes for
me, lacerated her nose for me. (1 ms. adds 1 line: She lacerated her ears for
me in public.) In private, she lacerated her buttocks for me. Like a pauper,
she clothed herself in a single garment.
[322-328] "All alone she directed her steps to
the E-kur, to the house of Enlil, and to Urim, to the house of Nanna, and to
Eridug, to the house of Enki. (1 ms. adds 1 line: She wept before Enki.) She
brought me back to life. How could I turn her over to you? Let us go on. Let
us go on to the Sig-kur-caga in Umma."
[329-333] At the Sig-kur-caga in Umma, Cara, in his
own city, threw himself at her feet. He had sat in the dust and dressed
himself in a filthy garment. The demons said to holy Inana: "Inana,
proceed to your city, we will take him back."
[334-338] Holy Inana answered the demons: "Cara
is my singer, my manicurist and my hairdresser. How could I turn him over to
you? Let us go on. Let us go on to the E-muc-kalama in Bad-tibira."
[339-343] At the E-muc-kalama in Bad-tibira, Lulal,
in his own city, threw himself at her feet. He had sat in the dust and
clothed himself in a filthy garment. The demons said to holy Inana:
"Inana, proceed to your city, we will take him back."
[344-347] Holy Inana answered the demons:
"Outstanding Lulal follows me at my right and my left. How could I turn
him over to you? Let us go on. Let us go on to the great apple tree in the
plain of Kulaba."
[348-353] They followed her to the great apple tree
in the plain of Kulaba. There was Dumuzid clothed in a magnificent garment
and seated magnificently on a throne. The demons seized him there by his
thighs. The seven of them poured the milk from his churns. The seven of them
shook their heads like ....... They would not let the shepherd play the pipe
and flute before her (?).
[354-358] She looked at him, it was the look of
death. She spoke to him (?), it was the speech of anger. She shouted at him
(?), it was the shout of heavy guilt: "How much longer? Take him
away." Holy Inana gave Dumuzid the shepherd into their hands.
[359-367] Those who had accompanied her, who had
come for Dumuzid, know no food, know no drink, eat no flour offering, drink
no libation. They never enjoy the pleasures of the marital embrace, never
have any sweet children to kiss. They snatch the son from a man's knee. They
make the bride leave the house of her father-in-law.
[368-375] Dumuzid let out a wail and turned very
pale. The lad raised his hands to heaven, to Utu: "Utu, you are my brother-in-law.
I am your relation by marriage. I brought butter to your mother's house. I
brought milk to Ningal's house. Turn my hands into snake's hands and turn my
feet into snake's feet, so I can escape my demons, let them not keep hold of
me."
[376-383] Utu accepted his tears. (1 ms. adds 1
line: Dumuzid's demons could not keep hold of him.) Utu turned Dumuzid's
hands into snake's hands. He turned his feet into snake's feet. Dumuzid
escaped his demons. (1 ms. adds 1 line: Like a sajkal snake he .......) They
seized .......
2 lines fragmentary
Holy Inana ...... her heart.
[384-393] Holy Inana wept bitterly for her husband.
4 lines fragmentary
She tore at her hair like esparto grass, she ripped
it out like esparto grass. "You wives who lie in your men's embrace,
where is my precious husband? You children who lie in your men's embrace,
where is my precious child? Where is my man? Where ......? Where is my man?
Where ......?"
[394-398] A fly spoke to holy Inana: "If I show
you where your man is, what will be my reward?" Holy Inana answered the
fly: "If you show me where my man is, I will give you this gift: I will
cover ......."
[399-403] The fly helped (?) holy Inana. The young
lady Inana decreed the destiny of the fly: "In the beer-house and the
tavern (?), may there ...... for you. You will live (?) like the sons of the
wise." Now Inana decreed this fate and thus it came to be.
[404-410] ...... was weeping. She came up to the
sister (?) and ...... by the hand: "Now, alas, my ....... You for half
the year and your sister for half the year: when you are demanded, on that
day you will stay, when your sister is demanded, on that day you will be
released." Thus holy Inana gave Dumuzid as a substitute .......
[411-412] Holy Erec-ki-gala -- sweet is your praise.
|
|
Artifact sources
|
|
· BM 17427
(CT 42 2), BM 67932, BM 69737 (CT 58 50)
· BM 80054
(+) BM 80094 (CT 53 49) ***
· BM 96680
· CBS 9800
(photo RA 34 94f.; PAPS 85 pl. 5)
· CBS
11064 + CBS 11088 (r. PBS 5 23; both photo PAPS 85 pl. 6)
· CBS n/u
(PBS 5 24) ***
· CBS
12638 + CBS 12702 + CBS 12752 (all SEM 50)
· CBS
12684, CBS 12757 (fig. 2), CBS 13902 (PBS 5 22)
· CBS
13908 (r. SEM 48; photo PAPS 85 pl. 5)
· CBS
13932 (SEM 49; photo PAPS 85 pl. 3)
· Ni 368
(BE 31 33; SRT 53; photo RA 36 75)
|
· N 953
(fig. 8), N 983 (fig. 5), N 2523 (fig. 1)
· N 2986
(fig. 9), N 3200, Ni 2279 (BE 31 34)
· Ni 2762
(SLTN 29; RA 36 78) + Ni 9838 (ISET 2 17)
· Ni 4034
(SLTN 30)
· Ni 4187
(ISET 2 11; PAPS 107 525) + Ni 4200 (SLTN 28; RA 36 78)
· Ni 9776
(ISET 1 125), Ni 9685 (JCS 4 124)
· UET 6 8,
UET 6 9 = U 16873, UET 6 10
· UET 6
*269, ?UET 6 *306, UET 6 *320
· YBC 4621
· 3N-T211,
3N-T400, 3N-T499
· CBS
15162 (PAPS 85 pl. 10), CBS 15212 (BASOR 79 22f.)
· HS 1480
+ HS 1580 (both TMH NF 3 2; photo PAPS 107 526f.) + HS 2505 (WK* 13)
|
|
Print sources (provided as is
from the ETCSL page)
|
|
Alster, Bendt, "Inanna
Repenting. The Conclusion of Inanna's Descent", Acta Sumerologica
18 (1996), 1-18: commentary, translation, score transliteration
Alster, Bendt, "The
Mythology of Mourning", Acta Sumerologica translation, commentary
(ll. 230, 231=257, 258, ll. 233-234=258-260)
Bottéro, Jean, and Kramer, Samuel
Noah, Lorsque les dieux faisaient l'homme. (rev.ed.), Éditions
Gallimard: 1989, reprinted 1993, 276-290: translation
Jacobsen, Thorkild, The Harps
that Once.... Sumerian Poetry in Translation. Yale University Press: New
Haven/London, 1987, 205-232: translation
Kramer, Samuel Noah,
"Sumerian literature and the British Museum: the promise of the
future", Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 124-5
(1980), 299-310: commentary, photograph, translation, composite text
Römer, Willem H.Ph., and Edzard,
Dietz Otto; Kaiser, Otto, (ed.) Mythen und Epen, 1 (Texte aus der
Umwelt des Alten Testaments III, 3), Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn:
Gütersloh 1993, 458-495: translation, commentary (by Römer)
Sladek, William R., Inanna's
Descent to the Netherworld. University Microfilms: Ann Arbor, 1974:
translation, composite text, score transliteration, handcopy, commentary
|
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“Zum
Tode von Adam Falkenstein (17.9.1906—15.10.1966).” Zeitschrift für
Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie 59, no. 1, (November 2009):
1—10. https://doi.org/10.1515/zava.1969.59.1.1.
[3]. William R. Sladek Jr.,
"Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld," Ann Arbor: University
Microfilms, 1974, i.
[4].
“CDLI Literary Q000343 (Inanna’s Descent) Composite,” Cuneiform Digital Library
Initiative (CDLI), University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA),
accessed May 18, 2019,
https://cdli.ucla.edu/search/search_results.php?CompositeNumber=Q000343. [All
known artifacts with text related to this composition of ID are dated to the
Old Babylonian period (ca. 1900 – 1600 BCE)]
[5]. Jeremy A. Black and Graham
E. Cunningham, Inana's descent to the nether world: translation, ETCSL
(University of Oxford), last modified July 9, 2001.
http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr141.htm.
[6]. Ibid. [The list of artifacts is at
the bottom of the page]
[7].
Florence Vandendorpe, "When Myth Shows What the Mind Does Not Reach,"
Storytelling, Self, Society 7, no. 2 (August - May 2011): 91.
[9]. Joseph Reider, "A New
Ishtar Epithet in the Bible," Journal of Near Eastern Studies 8,
no. 2 (1949): 104.
[10].
Psychohistory is the psychological study of historical people, places, events,
and literature. It is not to be understood as a historical sub-field within
Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic school of thought.
[11]. Kimberly Torres, “Resurrecting Inanna: Lament,
Gender, Transgression” (Undergraduate honors thesis, University of Central
Florida, 2012), 31-48.
[13].
“Weekend Box Office April 26-28, 2019,” Box Office Mojo, last modified
May 21, 2019,
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?view=&yr=2019&wknd=17&p=.htm.
[14].
Hesiod, Theogony; Works and Days; Shield, trans. Apostolos N.
Athanassakis (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983), 42. [Thanatos
is said to be born of Nyx and simply called the son of night and brother of
sleep in lines 211 and 756]
[16]. Sigla (plural of siglum) is when a
letter like “A” is used to denote a complete work. Scholars will often times
include a full page of abbreviations to quickly reference the works or
artifacts they reference.
[17].
James Henry Breasted, Ancient Times: A History of the Early World
(Boston: Ginn and Company, 1916), 100-1.
[18].
Charles Keith Maisels, The Near East: Archaeology in the “Cradle of
Civilization” (New York: Routledge, 1993), 140.
[19].
Samuel Noah Kramer, In the World of Sumer: An Autobiography (Detroit:
Wayne State University Press, 1988), 97-140.
[20].
Jean-Jacques Glassner and Donald M. Herron, The Invention of Cuneiform:
Writing in Sumer (Baltimore: JHU Press, 2003), 31-2.
[21].
Samuel Noah Kramer and Diane Wolkstein, Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth:
Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer (New York: Harper & Row, 1983), xiii.
[22].
Stuart L. Harris, “Decipherment of Sumerian Cylinder Seal VA-243,” Academia,
last modified July 2018,
https://www.academia.edu/37152695/Decipherment_of_Sumerian_cylinder_seal_VA-243.
[27].
Geoffrey Sampson, Writing Systems: A Linguistic Introduction (Redwood
City: Stanford University Press, 1985), 77.
[28].
Andrew George, “Babylonian and Assyrian: A History of Akkadian,” in Languages
of Iraq, Ancient and Modern, ed. J.N. Postgate (London: British School of
Archaeology in Iraq, 2007): 37-8.
[29]. Akkadian was a Semitic language while
Sumerian was not, among other differences.
[30].
Kramer and Wolkstein, Inanna, 116-124.
[34]. For example, if artifact A is broken
off and has an unknown number of missing lines, artifact B may be broken in
another place while providing the line count of the broken portion of A.
[35]. The methodology for determining the
big five was based on a quantitative scorecard of artifact
discoveries, related publications for new materials, line count of translation
contributions, and general field work in excavation sites and associated
artifact-owning institutions. Thorkild Jacobsen, Jeremy Black, and Stephen
Langdon are honorable mentions in what was a painfully close scorecard.
[36]. A similar methodology was used for
institutional notoriety with a stronger weighted emphasis on artifact
ownership. The notable exception here is the Istanbul Archaeology Museum
(formerly known as the Istanbul Museum of the Ancient Orient or the Ottoman
Museum) in Istanbul, Turkey, as other institutions ultimately published the
findings of artifacts held there.
[37]. The term orient or oriental
with the Ottoman Museum or Oriental Institute (University of Chicago) should
not be confused with dated references to China or cultures in the Asian
Pacific.
[38].
Kramer and Wolkstein, Inanna, 127.
[41].
R. Campbell Thompson, “Professor Stephen Herbert Langdon,” The Journal of
the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland no. 4 (October
1937): 719-26.
[42].
Stephen Langdon. The Babylonian Expedition of The University of
Pennsylvania: Series A: Cuneiform Texts, Vol. XXXI, Historical and
Religious Texts from the Temple Library of Nippur (Leipzig: August Pries,
1914), pl. 33. [See plate 33 for artifacts Ni 2279 and Ni 368]
[43].
Arno Poebel, The University of Pennsylvania: The University Museum
Publications of the Babylonian Section, Vol. 5, Historical and
Grammatical Texts (Philadelphia: The University Museum, 1914), Plate XIV,
No. 23, https://archive.org/details/historicalandgr00sectgoog/page/n6.
[44].
Sladek, “Inanna’s Descent,” 1. [See bibliography reference to “PSBA 38 55ff.”]
[46]. Ephraim A. Speiser, “In
Memoriam: Edward Chiera, Raymond P. Dougherty,” Journal of the American
Oriental Society 53, no. 3 (September 1933): 308.
https://docslide.net/documents/in-memoriam-edward-chiera-raymond-p-dougherty.html.
[48].
Kramer and Wolkstein, Inanna, 130.
[49].
Edward Chiera, Sumerian Epics and Myths (Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press), 1934. [Posthumous reprint]
[50].
Tablet YBC 04621 was later re-cataloged by the Yale Peabody Museum as YPM BC
018686 but will be referred to in this survey by its original name. Please see
the appendix for more details and references for all artifacts.
[51]. Edward Chiera, Sumerian
Texts of Varied Contents (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press), 1954.
[Posthumous reprint]
[53].
Kramer and Wolkstein, Inanna, 131.
[55].
Sir Leonard Woolley, Excavations at Ur: A Record of Twelve Year’s Work
(New York: Columbia University Press, 2006).
[56].
D. J. Wiseman, “Obituary: Cyril John Gadd,” Bulletin of the School of
Oriental and African Studies, University of London 33, no. 3 (1970): 592.
[57].
Cyril J. Gadd, “A Bibliography of C. J. Gadd.” Iraq 31, no. 2 (Autumn,
1969): 184-188. [Gadd published numerous works (with Kramer) based on artifacts
and materials recovered from the Ur excavations]
[58]. J.A. Brinkman, “In
Memoriam: Thorkild Peter Rudolph Jacobsen,” The Oriental Institute,
1992-3, 6-7,
https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/ar/91-00/92-93/92-93_Memoriam_Jacobsen.pdf.
[59].
Cyril J. Gadd and Samuel N. Kramer, Ur excavations texts. / VI.2, Literary
and religious texts. First part (London: Publications of the British Museum
and of the University Museum of Pennsylvania, 1963).
[60].
John N. Wilford, “Samuel Noah Kramer, 93, Dies; Was Leading Authority on
Sumer,” New York Times, accessed May 22, 2019,
https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/27/obituaries/samuel-noah-kramer-93-dies-was-leading-authority-on-sumer.html.
[62].
Samuel N. Kramer, “Inanna’s Descent to the Nether World. The Sumerian Version
of Is[h]tar’s Descent,” Revue d'Assyriologie et d'Archéologie Orientale
34, no. 3 (1937): 93-134.
[63].
Ibid., 95. [In footnote three, Kramer noted that he elected not to copy the
text and only included photographs because the tablet was in very poor shape]
[64].
Samuel N. Kramer, “A Preliminary Survey of the Oldest Literature in the World,”
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 85 no. 3 (February
1942): 294. [Kramer made subsequent trips to Istanbul for the same purpose,
leading to several artifact publications (see ISET 2)]
[65].
Samuel N. Kramer, “Additional Material to ‘Inanna’s Descent to the Nether
World.’” Revue d'Assyriologie et d'Archéologie Orientale 36, no. 2
(1939): 68-80.
[66]. Many scholars who were interested in
ID were Assyriologists of German heritage (like Falkenstein). While nationalism
and political differences may have played a role in discontinuing international
cooperation with other scholars, wartime pressures surely slowed down joint
scholarship efforts.
[67]. “Zum Tode von Adam
Falkenstein (17.9.1906—15.10.1966),” Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und
Vorderasiatische Archäologie 59, no. 1, (November 2009): 1,
https://doi.org/10.1515/zava.1969.59.1.1.
[68].
Ottokar Bonmann, P. Maurus Witzel, O.F.M. (1882-1968) in Piam
Memoriam (Typis Montis Mariani, 1968).
[69].
Sladek, “Inanna’s Descent,” 3-4.
[71].
Samuel Noah Kramer, “‘Inanna's Descent to the Nether World’ Continued and
Revised. Second Part: Revised Edition of ‘Inanna's Descent to the Nether
World,’" Journal of Cuneiform Studies 5, no. 1 (1951): 1-17.
[72]. Sladek, “Inanna’s Descent,”
3.
[73].
Kramer, Inanna’s Descent [1937], 93. [Kramer did not mince words—in his
initial 1937 publication of ID, Kramer cited previous translation attempts as
“largely erroneous”]
[74]. Kramer and Wolkstein, Inanna,
129. [In Kramer’s 1983 publication with Wolkstein he insisted that Langdon was
an “...enthusiastic, energetic, but rather careless scholar...” Kramer’s tone
and choice of vocabulary in 1983 was in sharp contrast to his more subtle, and
highly apologetic, demeanor toward Langdon in writings during the 1940s and 1950s.
Indeed, Kramer’s voyage to Istanbul was said to be largely inspired by his
mission of correcting Langdon’s miscopies of tablets in the Nippur collection
at the Ottoman Museum.]
[75].
Witzel, Maurus. "Ischtar (Inanna) gegen Tammuz?" 1952, 435ff. [Full
reference available in Sladek, “Inanna’s Descent,” bibliography]
[76].
Sladek, “Inanna’s Descent,” 5.
[77].
H. H. Figulla, Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets (London: Trustees
of the British Museum, 1959).
[78]. Richard S. Ellis, “Ferris
J. Stephens, 1893-1969,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 90,
no. 3 (July—September 1970): 423.
[79].
Sladek, “Inanna’s Descent,” 5. [Full credit to author for recounting the
contributions of each scholar]
[80].
Cyril J. Gadd and Samuel N. Kramer, Ur Excavations Texts VI.1: Literary and
Religious Texts (London: British Museum Publications, 1963),
http://www.ur-online.org/media_item/20/.
[81].
Sladek, “Inanna’s Descent,” 6.
[83].
Cyril. J. Gadd and Samuel. N. Kramer, Ur Excavations Texts VI.2: Literary
and Religious Texts (London: British Museum Publications, 1966),
http://www.ur-online.org/media_item/18/.
[85].
Ryan P. Smith, “Smithsonian Leader Who Helped Launch the American Indian Museum
Dies at 91,” Smithsonian, last modified January 29, 2018,
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/former-smithsonian-leader-robert-mccormick-adams-dies-91-180967977/.
[86].
Thorkild Jacobsen, “The Waters of Ur,” Iraq 22, no. 1-2 (Spring-Autumn
1960): 174-185, https://doi.org/10.2307/4199683.
[87].
Thorkild Jacobsen and Samuel N. Kramer, "The Myth of Inanna and
Bilulu," Journal of Near Eastern Studies 12, no. 3 (July 1953):
160-88. [Kramer and Jacobsen seemed to regard each other well, often citing one
another in publications and with Jacobsen even authoring one of Kramer’s
obituaries]
[88].
Bendt Alster and Thorkild Jacobsen, “Ningishzida’s Boat-ride to Hades,” in Wisdom,
Gods and Literature: Studies in Assyriology in Honour of W. G. Lambert,
eds. Andrew R. George and I. L. Finkel (University Park: Eisenbrauns, 2000),
315-44. [Jacobsen co-authored a translation of another underworld myth with
Bendt Alster where the term Hades was used in addition to his final 1987
translation of ID, which exclusively used Hades as the preferred name for the
netherworld]
[90]. Muazzez Çig and Hatice
Kizilyay, Istanbul Arkeoloji Müzelerinde Bulunan Sumer Edebî Tablet ve
Parcaları (Sumerian Literary Tablets and Fragments in the Archaeological
Museum of Istanbul) – I 183 (1969): pl. 125. [The name of the artifact is
Ni 09776. This journal is commonly abbreviated as ISET I in many other sources.
Çig is a noteworthy scholar because she was one of the few women who published
extensively in the male-dominated field of Assyriology and Sumerian studies
(during her time period). In 2005, she published Vatadaslik Tepkilerim (My
Citizenship Reactions), which referenced the Sumerian origins of the
headscarf, or turban; that is, Çig maintained that Sumerian prostitutes wore
turbans in ancient times as part of religious rites (most translations of ID
suggest that Inanna wore a turban during her descent to the netherworld). The
assertion seemingly landed Çig in legal trouble with the Turkish authorities on
the basis of insulting Islam and the tradition of the Hijab. In 2006, when Çig
was ninety-two years old, the Turkish news website hurriyet.com.tr reported
that the scholar was acquitted on charges of inciting hate and dissent. Çig was
born in 1914 and is reported to be alive as of this writing.]
[91]. Miguel Civil, "Supplement to the Introduction to ISET
I," Orientalia, NOVA SERIES, 41, no. 1 (1972): 83-90.
[92].
“[Obituary for] Dr. William R. Sladek Jr. Professor of Ancient History [sic],” York
Daily Record [Pennsylvania], November 6, 1993; Arnold Blumberg, ed., Great
Leaders, Great Tyrants?: Contemporary Views of World Rulers who Made History (Westport,
CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995), xiii. [An acknowledgment passage by
Arnold Blumberg, who seems to have been Dr. Sladek’s past student, indicates
that Dr. Sladek’s death was untimely, and that he was a professor of ancient
history for the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.]
[93].
Sladek, “Inanna’s Descent.”
[94].
Kramer and Wolkstein, Inanna, 134. [Kramer gave Sladek a special mention
in this work and consistently cited his work in subsequent publications until
his own passing in 1990]
[95].
Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI), “Alster, Bendt,” CDLI:wiki, last
modified April 18, 2016, http://cdli.ox.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=alster_bendt.
[Obituary for Dr. Alster]
[96].
Kramer and Wolkstein, Inanna, xv.
[99].
Thorkild Jacobsen, The Harps that Once…: Sumerian Poetry in Translation
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987), 205-32.
[100].
Bendt Alster, "The Mythology of Mourning," Acta Sumerologica 5
(1985): 1-16. [This publication includes translation, commentary, and artifact
references for lines 230-60 of ID]
[101].
Bendt Alster, "Inanna Repenting. The
Conclusion of Inanna's Descent," Acta Sumerologica 18 (1996), 1-18.
[This publication includes translation, commentary, and artifact references for
lines 350-412 of ID]
[102]. Aaron Shaffer and
Marie-Christine Ludwig, Ur Excavations Texts V6.3: Literary and Religious
Texts (London: British Museum Publications, 2006). [While Shaffer, Kramer,
and Gadd contributed to Ur Excavation Texts originally published in 1963
and 1966, Alster attributed artifact identification of UET 6/1 10 to Shaffer
while he was working at the British Museum]
[103]. Alster, Inanna Repenting, 15.
[104]. The ETCSL website does not
list the artifact but cites Alster’s 1996 translation of its contents. Lines
380-412 are used almost verbatim. The CDLI composition for ID (Q000343) lists the
artifact and indicates it contains thirty-six lines, but only twenty-six lines
contain text used in the composite.
[105]. Ibid. [It should also be noted that
another artifact, UET VI 11, not included in the present survey, was listed as
being an alternate ending to ID. Jacobsen and Kramer both consulted UET VI 11,
as well as other liturgic texts related to the topical nature of demons and
Dumuzi, for their attempts to reconstruct the ending of ID.]
[107].
“About the PSD,” Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary, University of
Pennsylvania, accessed May 18, 2019,
http://psd.museum.upenn.edu/project.html.
[109].
“About the PSD,” 2019. [The last update is dated as “June 26, 2006”]
[110]. Andrew R. George,
“Obituary: Jeremy Allen Black” Iraq (Journal of the British School of
Archaeology) 66 (2004): vii–ix.
[111].
“General Information,” Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL), University
of Oxford, last modified April 4, 2007, http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/edition2/general.php.
[112].
“About CDLI,” Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI), University of
California at Los Angeles (UCLA), accessed May 18, 2019,
https://cdli.ucla.edu/?q=about.
[115]. Dr. Englund mentored Dr. Suriano—the
recipient of the present survey—while he was a candidate for earning his PhD at
UCLA.
[122]. Dina Katz, ZA
85 (1995) 221-233, “Later Treatment in Images of the Netherworld,” CDL Press
2003, Appendix 1 and passim.
[123]. Cuneiform
Library at Cornell
University, “Cuneiform Library: Introduction,” Cornell University,
accessed May 14, 2019, http://cuneiform.library.cornell.edu/about-0.
[124]. Academia.edu is a website that lets
researchers and scholars share their work online with others. Researchgate.com
is an online resource with similar functionality.
[126]. Kramer and Wolkstein, Inanna,
xvi.
[127].
Max Roser and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, “Literacy,” last modified September 20,
2018, Our World in Data, https://ourworldindata.org/literacy
[128].
William V. Harris, Ancient Literacy (Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1989), 22.
[129]. Samuel N. Kramer,
"Schooldays: A Sumerian Composition Relating to the Education of a
Scribe," Journal of the American Oriental Society 69, vol. 4
(Oct-Dec 1949): 199-215; Samuel N. Kramer, History Begins at Sumer:
Thirty-Nine Firsts in Recorded History (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 1981), 3–5.
[Kramer published
artifact translations and commentary related to scribal schools in ancient
Sumer; however, he clearly indicated that literary (non-accounting)
works like ID were primarily dated to ca. 1000–1500 BCE. He argued that these
isolated examples were a cultural exception, likely reserved exclusively for
children of wealthy individuals. Consequently, these discoveries do not imply
mass readership or literacy.]
[130].
Almost every scholarly publication pertaining to ID indicated the poetic
modality of the poem.
