BIN 08 318


LineText originalText translated
o. 1[5? sila3] ⸢igi⸣ 3-[ĝal2 i3 ḫar-ra]-num25? 1/3 sila/litres of oil (aromatized) with ḫarrānum aromatic;
o. 2 16 sila3 i3 eren babbar 16 sila/litres of oil (aromatized) with ‚white‘ cedar;
o. 3 8 sila3 i3 ši-iq-dum 8 sila/litres of almond oil;
o. 4 2c dug 6 sila3 2 jars and 6 sila/litres (= 66 litres)
r. 1 i3 ĝiri3 of oil for travel;
r. 2 i3 bar-ra ĝal2-la oil that is set apart;
r. 3 ba-al-ne2 (with) Ba’alni.
r. 4 1 mu 8 iti Year 1, month 8
Commentary

Text listed by Foster 1982: 122 under the entry for almond oil in Umma C.

o.1 –3: Note the similar composition of oils in BIN 08 339, an expenditure for a festival. The relation of the quantities there (2 – 6 – 3 sila/litres) has informed the speculative restoration of o.1.

o.1: ḫar-ra-num2 oil appears frequently in Umma texts. ar-ra-num2[glossary=ar-ra-num2] is an aromatic, measured according to its weight (TJAMC 65 49).

o.2: eren babbar[glossary=eren babbar] is probably the most frequently attested wood used to aromatize oil in the Presargonic and Sargonic periods.

r.1: The noun phrase i3 ĝiri3=ak[glossary=i3 ĝiri3], also attested in the Sargonic Umma text BRM 3 103, was read „i3-anše[glossary=i3-anše]“ for example by such an authority as Westenholz 2014: 140 (CUSAS 26 165; „Umma“, CS), thereby referring to Foster 1982: 117-18. Foster 1982: 165-66 fn. 69 only mentioned Deimel 1926a: 13 and paraphrased the reference: “šim i3-anše ‚aromatic of donkey oil/fat‘ „sehr häufig“.“ This, however, is not what Deimel 1926a: 13 sub 18 writes; instead the latter refers to the “in den Listen der Periode sehr häufig sich findenden Sammelnamen für Tempelbedienstete anšu-sí(g)-ga” (i.e., “the collective noun for temple personnel which is frequently attested in the lists of the period”), easily recognizable as the term ĝiri3-si3-ga “menials, personnel” which is frequent, not the mysterious „donkey fat“.  ĝiri3 and anše are the same sign down to the Old Babylonian period (Mittermayer 2005: 28-35). „Donkey fat“ can be confidently deleted from the list of animal fats, since i3 „ĝiri3/anše“ is made from milk-fat, namely „milkfat from cows“ (i3-ab2) and „butter“ (i3-nun) from goats to which aromatics are added; the subscript reads: „aromatics added to the oil for travels“, šem i3 ĝiri3-ka si3-ga-am (VS 14 131 iii 6; at the time of the edition by Bauer 1972: 331-334, no. 119, the sign group had not been disentangled yet; this is the document edited by Deimel 1926a: 5 no. 18, referred to by Foster etc.). The reading and understanding of i3 ĝiri3(=ak), literally „oil of the travel, road“, is informed by the fact that oils and fats are regularly distributed to messengers and travellers on an official mission.

o.4–r.1: The 2 dug 6 sila3 can not be the total of the previous entries; space in o.1 does not allow to restore a much higher quantity there.

Bibliography

  • Bauer 1972 = Bauer, Josef (1972): Altsumerische Wirtschaftstexte aus Lagasch. Studia Pohl 9. Roma: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum.
  • Deimel 1926a = Deimel, Anton (1926): Produkte der Viehzucht und ihre Weiterverarbeitung, in: Orientalia SP 21, 1-40.
  • Foster 1982 = Foster, Benjamin R. (1982): Umma in the Sargonic Period. Memoirs of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences 20. Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books.
  • Mittermayer 2005 = Mittermayer, Catherine (2005): Die Entwicklung der Tierkopfzeichen. Eine Studie zur syro-mesopotamischen Keilschriftpaläographie des 3. und frühen 2. Jahrtausends v. Chr. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 319. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.
  • Westenholz 2014 = Westenholz, Aage (2014): A Third-Millennium Miscellany Of Cuneiform Texts. Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology 26. Bethesda, MD: CDL Press.