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/vj«
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a*^
/^AC 141. 1
l^arbarli College l.tbrarD
FROM THE BEqUBST OF
JAMES WALKER, D.D., LL.D.,
(Class of x8x4)
FORMER PRESIDENT OF HARVARD COLLEGE;
#
' Preference being given to works in the Intellectual
and Moral Sciences."
r
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PROCEEDINGS
THE SOCIETY
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY.
JANUARY
DECEMBER, 1906.
VOL. XXVIII. THIRTY-SIXTH SESSION.
PUBLISHED AT
THE OFFICES OF THE SOCIETY,
37, Grrat Russell Strext, London, W.C.
1906.
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'"Ml
HARRISON AND SONS,
PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO HIS MAJBSTY,
ST. martin's LANS, LONDON.
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COUNCIL, 1906.
PresidenL
Prof. A. H. Sayce, D.D., &c., &c.
Vice-Presidents,
The Most Rev. His Grace The Lord Archbishop of York.
The Right Rev. The Lord Bishop of Salisbury.
The Most Hon. The Marquess of Northampton.
The Right Hon. the Earl of Halsbury.
The Right Hon. Lord Amherst of Hackney.
Walter Morrison.
Alexander Peckover, LL.D., F.S.A.
F. G. Hilton Price, Dir. S.A.
W. Harry Rylands, F.S.A.
The Right Hon. General Lord Grenfell, K.C.B., &c., &c.
The Right Rev. S. W. Allen, D.D. (R.C. Bishop of Shrewsbury).
Rev. J. Marshall, M.A.
Joseph Pollard.
Council,
Rev. Charles James Ball, M.A.
Dr. M. Gaster.
F. LI. Griffith, F.S. A.
H. R. Hall, M.A.
Sir H. H. Howorth, K.C.LE.,
F.R.S.,&c
L. W. King, M.A.
Rev. Albert Lawy, LL.D., &c.
Prof. G. Maspero.
Claude G. Montefiore.
Prof. E. NaVille.
Edward S. M. Perowne, F.S.A.
Rev. W. T. Pilter.
P. Scott-Moncrieff, B.A.
R. Campbell Thompson, M.A.
Edward B. Tylor, LL.D.,
F.R.S., &c.
Honorary Treasurer — Jiernard T. Bosanquet.
Secretary— ^zX\^x L. Nash, M.R.C.S. {Eng.\ F.S.A.
Honorary Secretary for Foreign Correspondence — F. Lcggc.
Honorary Librarian—^ 2ltex L. Nash, M.R.C.S. {Eng), F.S.A.
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CONTENTS.
Donations to the Library 2, 46, 90, 122, 158, 192, 240
Election of Members 46, 90, 122, 158, 192, 240
No. ccviiL January.
The Councirs Report for 1 905 3-4
The Hon. Emmeline Plunket. — The **Star of Stars"
and"Dilgan" 6-13
F. Legge.— A Note on '*The Early Monarchy of Egypt."
{Plate) 14-16
G. Legrain. — The Inscriptions in the Quarries of
ElHosh. {z Plates) 17-26
E. SiBREE, At. A. — Note on a Hittite Inscription (J. 11) ... 27, 28
Prof. J. Lieblein. — Observations on the Ancient History
of Egypt 29-32
Margaret A. Murray. — The Astrological Character of
the Egyptian Magical Wands, (2 Plates) 33-43
No. ccix. February.
The Hon. Emmeline Plunket.— The " Star of Stars "
and " Dilgan " — {continued). {Plate) 47-53
Seymour de Riccl — The Zouche Sahidic Exodus Frag-
ment (Exodus xvi, 6 — xix, 11). From the Original
Manuscript 54-67
Percy E. Newberry. — To what Race did the Founders
of Sais belong ? (2 Plates) 68-7 5
R. Campbell Thompson, M.A. — The Folk-lore of
Mossoul. 1 76-86
F. Legge. — A New Carved Slate (fragmentary). {Plate) 87
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CONTENTS. V
PACK
No. ccx. March.
Prof. A. H. Sayce, D.D,^ &*c. — Unpublished Hittite
Inscriptions in the Museum of Constantinople. (3 Plates) 91-95
Edward R. Ayrton. — Discovery of the Tomb of Si-ptah
in the Bibin el Molftk, Thebes. {2 Plates) 96
R. Campbell Thompson, M,A, — The Folk-lore of
Mossoul. I. — (continued), (2 Plates) 97-1 09
E. J. PiLCHER. — Two Klabbalistic Planetary Charms.
{2 Plates) 110-118
P. Scott- MoNCRiEFF, B,A. — Note on Two Figures found
near the South Temple at WM^ Haifa. {Plate) ... 1 1 8, 1 19
No. ccxL May.
Victor LoRET. — Le dieu Seth et le Roi S^thosis ... 123-132
Prof. A. H. Sayce, D.D,, 6-^.— The Ivriz Texts ; The
Ardistama Inscriptions ; Some Hittite Seals. (Plate).,. 133-137
E. O. WiNSTEDT. — Some Munich Coptic Fragments. I. 137-142
Prof. D. H. Muller. — The Hirayaritic Inscription from
Jabal Jehaf. {Plate) 143-148
Prof. F. C. Burkitt, J/.^.— The * Throne of Nimrod.'
(2 Plates) 149-155
The Rev. Dr. Colin Campbell. — Inscribed Slab with
a portrait of Khuenaten. (Plate) 156
No. ccxii. June.
F. Legge. — Magic Ivories of the Middle Empire. III.
{6 Plates) \.. 159-170
Prof. A. H. Sayce, D.D.^ dr'c. — An Inscription of
S-ankh-ka-Ra ; Karian and other Inscriptions. (2 Plates) 1 7 i-i 77
Prof. Dr. E. Revillout. — The Burgh Papyrus. Tran-
scribed, Translated, and Annotated 178-181
W. L. Nash, F.S.A. — A Hebrew Amulet against Disease.
{Plate) 182-184
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VI CONTENTS.
PAGE
E. R. Ayrton. — The position of Tausert in the XlXth
Dynasty. {Plate) 185,186
E. SiBREE, M.A, — Note on the Boss of Tarljiutimme ... 187, 188
Paul Pierret. — Le Nom du Pschent 189,190
No. ccxiii. November.
Prof. A. H. Sayce, D,D., 6-r.— The Chedor-laomer
Tablets 193-200
Dr. Valdemar Schmidt. — Two Statuettes of the Goddess
Buto. {Plate) 201, 202
Theophilus G. Pinches, LL,D, — The Babylonian Gods
of War and their Legends ... ... ... ... 203-218
R. Campbell Thompson, M,A, — An Assyrian Incanta-
tion against Ghosts ... 219-227
H. S. Cowper, F,S.A, — A Bronze Figure from Rakka
{Plate) 228
E. O. Winstedt. — Some Munich Coptic Fragments. II. 229-237
No. ccxiv. December.
Prof. A. H. Sayce, D.D., 6-^.— The Chedor-laomer
Tablets — {continued) 241-251
F. Legge. — The Tablets of Negadah and Abydos.
(2 Plates) 252-263
The Rev. F. A. Jones. — Pre-Sargonic Times. A Study
in Chronology. {Plate) 264-267
Prof. Dr. Valdemar Schmidt. — Note on a peculiar
Pendant shown on Three Statues of Usertsen III.
{Plate) 268,269
Theophilus G. Pinches, LL,D. — The Babylonian Gods
of War and their Legends ... ... ... ... 270-283
E. J. Pilcher. — A Leaden Charm made under the
influence of Saturn. {Plate) 284,285
Title Page.
Contents.
Index.
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LIST OF PLATES.
The Early Monarchy of Egypt
The Inscriptions in the quarries of El Hosh (3 Plates) ...
The Astrological Character of the Egyptian Magical Wands
(2 Plates)
The " Star of Stars " and " Dilgan "
The Founders of Sais (2 Plates)
A New Carved Slate
Hittite Inscriptions (3 Plates)
Tomb of Si-ptah (2 Plates)
Folk-lore of Mossoul (2 Plates)
Kabbalistic Planetary Charms (2 Plates)
Figures from Wady Haifa
The Ivriz Texts
Himyaritic Inscription from Jabal Jehaf
The Throne of Nimrod (2 Plates)
Inscribed Slab in Luxor Temple . . .
Magic Ivories (6 P/a/!(?j) ... 160,
Inscription of S-ankh-ka-Ra (2 Plates)
Hebrew Amulet
Carving in tomb of Tausert
Statuette of Buto
Bronze Figure from Rakka
The Tablets of Negadah and Abydos (2 Plates)
Pre-Sargonic Times
Statue of Usertsen III
Leaden Charm
PACE
16
26
40, 42
52
74
87
92, 94
96
102, 108
112, 116
118
134
144
152* 154
156
162, 164
172, 174
182
186
202
228
252, 254
264
268
284
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VOL. XXVIII. J^ej^ttifJSlt^E^. Fart i.
JL'N 11 190G ■
■ •.'- -■/
OF
THE SOCIETY
OF
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY.
-«*^-
VOL. XXVIII. THIRTY-SIXTH SESSION.
First Meeting y January lO/A, 1906.
-«o^
CONTENTS.
•^ PAGE
The Council's Report for 1905 3, 4
Thb Hon. Emmelinb Plunket.— The "Star of Stars" and
"Dilgan" 6-13
F. Lbggb.— A Note on "The Early Monarchy of Egypt."
(Plate) 14-16
G. Lbgrain. — The Inscriptions in the Quarries of £1 H6sh.
(3 PlcUes) 17-26
E. SiBRBB, M,A, — ^Note on a Hittite Inscription (J. 11) 27, 28
Prof. J. Libblbin. — Observations on the Ancient History of
Egypt 29-32
Margaret A. Murray.-— The Astrological Character of the
Egyptian Magical Wands. {^ Plates) 33-43
published at
THE OFFICES OF THE SOCIETY,
37, Great Russbll Street, London, W.C.
1906.
NO-CCV"^- Digitized by Google
SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY,
37, Great Russell Street, London, W.C
TRANSACTIONS.
To
ToNon.
To
To Nod.
Mmben.
Members.
Memben.
Memben.
s.
d.
s.
<^.
I.
d.
J. d.
Vol. I,
Part
I .
.. lO
6 ...
12
6
Vol. VI,
Part
2 .
.. 10
6
... 13 6
.. I,
2 .
.. lO
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12
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,, tvii,
I .
.. 7
6
... 10 6
„ II,
I .
.. 8
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10
6
.. VII.
2 .
.. lO
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» n,
2 .
.. 8
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„ VII,
3 •
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„ Mil.
.. i6
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21
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„ VIII.
I .
.. 10
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« IV,
I .
.. 10
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12
6
» VIII.
2 .
.. 10
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... 12 6
» IV.
2 .
.. lO
6 ...
12
6
» VIII,
3 .
.. lO
6
... 12 6
« V,
I .
. 12
6 ...
15
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,. IX,
I .
.. lO
6
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„ V.
2 .
. lO
6 ...
12
6
„ IX.
2 .
.. 10
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^, VI,
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12
6
* Vol. Ill can only be sold with complete sets,
t Vol. VII, Part I
PROCEEDINGS.
Vols. I— XXV. Prices on
application
to the Secretary.
To
To Members.
Non-Members.
J.
d
I. d.
General Index to Vols. XI-
-XX
... 5
...
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Vol. XXVI, Part i
1904
... 5
per
Part
..60
XXVI, Part 2
1904
... 5
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XXVI, Part 3
1904
... 5
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XXVI, .Part 4
1904
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6
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XXVI, Part 5
1904
... 12
6
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XXVI, Part 6
1904
... 12
6
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XXVII, Part I
1905
10
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1905
... 12
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XXVII, Part 3
1905
... 12
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XXVII, Part 4
1905
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A few complete sets of the Transactions and Proceedings still remain on
sale, which may be obtained on application to the Secretary, W. L. Nash.
F.S.A.. 37. Great Russell Street, London, W.C.
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.^ JUN 111906 "^
PROtE^mNVS
OK
THE SOCIETY
OK
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY.
THIRTY-SIXTH SESSION, 1906.
First {Anniversary) Meetings January lO///, 1906.
W. H. RYLANDS, Esq., RS.A,,
Vice-President^
IN THE CHAIR.
-4^»-
[No. CCVIII.] I A
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Jan. 10] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
The following gifts to the Library were announced, and
thanks ordered to be returned to the Donor : —
From F. Legge, Esq. — "Das Buch von den Zwei Wegen des
seligen Toten." Part I. By H.
Schack-Schackenburg.
M „ " Religion of the Ancient Egyptians." By
Prof. Steindorf.
The Council's Report for the past year was read to the
Meeting.
• The Statement of Receipts and Expenditure for the year
ending December 31st, 1905, was presented and approved,
and ordered to be printed and circulated among the Members.
The List of the Council and Officers was submitted and
approved.
Thanks were returned to the Council and Officers for
their services during the past year.
The following Paper was read : —
Miss M. A. Murray : " The Astrological character of the
Egyptian Magic Wands."
Thanks were returned for this communication.
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i^ JUN 111906 )^j
Jan. io] Tft^jj^P^ClL'S R^^R?^ [i9o6.
THE COUNCIL'S REPORT
FOR THE YEAR 1905.
In presenting their Report at the beginning of the Society's 36th Session,
the Council have to deplore the loss by death of many old and valued
Members, among whom four appear to call for special mention* Of
these, M. Jules Oppert was one of our few Honorary Members, having
received that distinction at the founding of the Society in 1870. He was
also the last survivor of the famous quartette, consisting of himself,
Fox-Talbot, Hincks, and Rawlinson, who triumphantly vindicated the
true method of reading cuneiform inscriptions, and thus raised Assyriology
to the rank of a science. He was a frequent contributor to our
Proceedings, and the Council feel that there is no need of any words from
them to draw the^ attention of Members to the very serious loss that his
death has caused both to this Society and to Oriental Archaeology
generally. Another most distinguished Member has also gone from
us in the person of Sir Charles Wilson. He, too, had been a Member
from the beginning, and had served for some time on our Council,
while the benefits he conferred on archaeology rendered by his explora-
tions in Palestine and Sinai, and the careful survey of both countries
which he published, all need as little recapitulation here as do his
brilliant services to the State in other capacities than that of archaeologist
Even nearer to us was the late Mr. F. D. Mocatta, who had been a Vice-
President of the Society since the year 1889, had always contributed in
the most generous manner to its funds, and showed his kindly interest in
it by bequeathing to it at his death the legacy to be presently mentioned.
Lastly, we have to lament the death of Mr. Thomas Christy, one of the
founders of the Society, who was specially invited by Dr. Birch to take
part in its government, on the ground that his business talents could be
exercised to its advantage. How abundantly this turned out to be the
case, both the Society and his colleagues on the Council know well.
Owing to the deaths of these and other less distinguished but equally
regretted Members, and to the resignations that must always occur in a
Society of such long standing as our own, the Council can announce
neither an increase nor a slight falling off in the number of Members
and subscribing Libraries, which now stands at exactly the same figure
namely, 410, as in January last. The net loss would have been much
greater but for the gratifying fact that during the past year seventeen new
Members have been elected. This compares favourably with the
eleven Members elected in 1904, and affords proof that the Society
is not losing ground either in popularity or usefulness. But the
3 A 2
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Jan. 10] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY. [1906.
Members must again be reminded that it is necessary for them to
obtain recruits to fill up the gaps that death and resignation yearly make
in our ranks, and that, with the increasing calls upon the income of the
classes where we are most likely to find them, this is likely to be a
greater difficulty in the future than it has proved in the past. The
Council would therefore impress upon all Members the extreme im-
portance of obtaining suitable candidates for election at as early a date
as possible.
The financial position of the Society has seldom been stron^'cr, and
the Council are glad to be able to report that it continues to improve.
Under the will of the late F. D. Mocatta, it has received a legacy of
;£ioo, which has been invested in 2^ per cent. Consols, in the names of
the Secretary, the Hon. Secretary for Foreign Correspondence, and the
Treasurer. Together with the amounts already invested, this makes a
Reserve Fund of £22f> 7s. 9^. stock producing income, and available
for emergencies, such as the termination of the Society's lease of their
present premises.
The appeal for donations has brought in the sum of £77 13J. o</., and
with the subscriptions paid in advance, and the proceeds of sales, has
enabled the Society to discharge the debt of ;^ioo to the Secretary, with
which it began the year 1905. It therefore begins the present year
without any debt save that for the printing of the December Proceedings^
and with a balance of more than ;^ioo to its credit. As before, this
result is due to the strenuous and unremitting exertions of the Secretary,
and the Council hope that the Members will redouble their efforts to
maintain the position that has been won with such difficulty. In
particular the Donation Fund, which during the past year was con-
tributed to by only fifteen Members out of a total of more than 400^
deserves more support from all the Members who can afford to contribute
than it has up till now received.
The Papers read before the Society which have appeared in the
Proceedings continue, it is hoped, to maintain the high level of the
Society's work. Omitting those by regular contributors, prominent
among whom is our learned President, and whose names are familiar to
the Members, the Council beg to draw attention to " The King Samou and
the Enclosures of el-Kab," and " Inscriptions from Gebel Abu Gorib,"
by M. G. Legrain, and "A Kabbalistic Charm" by Mr. P. Scott-
MoncriefF. Another most valuable contribution has been the " Himyaritic
Inscriptions on Jabel Jehaf," by Lieut. Yule, R.E., giving an account of
a hitherto unknown monument of great importance, a translation and
commentary on which by Prof. D. H. Muller, of Vienna, will be shortly
published in the Proceedings, In all these cases, the Council think that
the Society may be congratulated upon the addition to its strength, of
which such work is the best evidence.
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Jan. 10] COUNCIL. [1906.
The following Council and Officers for the current year
were elected : —
COUNCIL, 1906.
PresicUni,
Prof. A. H. Sayce, D.D., &c., &c.
Vice-Presidents,
The Most Rev. His Grace The Lord Archbishop of York.
The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Salisbury.
The Most Hon. the Marquess of Northampton.
The Right Hon. the Earl of Halsbury.
The Right Hon. Lord Amherst of Hackney.
Walter Morrison.
Alexander Peckover, LL.D., F.S.A.
F. G. Hilton Price, Dir. S.A.
W. Harry Rylands, F.S.A.
The Right Hon. General Lord Grenfell, K.C.B., &c., &c.
The Right Rev. S. W. Allen, D.D. (R.C. Bishop of Shrewsbury).
Rev. J. Marshall, M.A.
Joseph Pollard.
Council,
Rkv. Charles James Ball, M.A.
Dr. M. Gaster.
Y, Ll. Griffith, F.S.A.
H. R. Hall, M.A.
Sir H. H. Howorth, K.C.LE.,
F.R.S., &c.
L. W. King, M.A.
Rev. Albert Lowy, LL.D., &c.
Prof. G. Maspero.
Claude G. Montefiore.
Prof. E. Naville.
Edward S. M. Pbrownb, F.S.A.
Rev. W. T. Pilter.
P. Scott- Moncrieff, B.A.
R. Campbell Thompson, B.A.
Edward B. Tylor, LL.D.,
F.R.S., &c
Honorary 7r^«j«/w— Bernard T. Bosanquet.
Secretary— VfPii.T2.Vi L. Nash, M.R.C.S., F.S.A.
Honorary Secretary for Foreign Correspondence — F. Lbggb.
Honorary Librarian— Vf K\.lY.Yi L. Nash, M.R.C.S., F.S.A.
5
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Jan. 10] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHi«OLOGY. [1906*
THE "STAR OF STARS" AND "DILGAN."
By the Hon. Emmeline Plunket.
"When on the first day of the month Nisan the star of stars
" (or Dilgan) and the moon are parallel, that year is normal. When
" on the third day of the month Nisan the star of stars and the
" moon are parallel, that year is full."
This translation of an Accadian tablet was contributed to the
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (Vol. XXXIX,
p. 455) by Prof. Sayce and Mr. Bosanquet ; and in a very interesting
dissertation on the text they explained how, by observing whether
the " star of stars " set at the same time as the new moon on the
4rst or not till the third day of Nisan, it was possible for Accadian
astronomers to determine whether in the current year it would or
would not be necessary to intercalate a thirteenth month in their
soli-lunar calendar, in order to keep the year true to the length ot
the sun's revolution through the stars.
The writers tell us that "Dilgan," a star referred to in other
cuneiform inscriptions, " is to be identified with the * star of stars '
" of the rule by a passage in an unpublished tablet which makes the
" 'star of stars' equivalent to *the star Dilgan of Babylon,'"^ and
they proposed to identify Dilgan with the bright conspicuous star
Capella, in the constellation Auriga,
Mr, Maunder has lately again called the attention of astronomers,
in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (March,
1904), and in the Journal of the British Astronomical Association
(Vol. XIV, No, 6), to this Accadian tablet,
^ Notices oj the R,A.S>^ XL, 120.
6
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Jan. 10] THE "STAR OF STARS" AND "DILGAN." [1906
In these Papers he makes it very clear that two conflicting
theories have been propounded by Assyriologists in regard to the
Accadian calendar. The two theories are, firstly, that the Accadian
year was equinoctial ; secondly, that the successive constellations of
the zodiac were connected with the successive months of the year,
Aries being the leading sign.
Many years ago, in this Society's ProceedingSy I drew attention to
the fact that these two theories conflicted with each other, and I con-
tended that, as between their conflicting claimsi the evidence of the
tablets appeared to be strongly in favour not of an ancient Accadian
year counted from the vernal equinox, but of one counted from the
entry of the sun into the constellation Aries.
To this view Mr. Maunder is strongly opposed, and he quotes
the tablet which heads this Paper as one which, if it has been
rightly understood, must render the theory that in ancient times
Aries led the year utterly untenable.
He observes : " If Capella was Dilgan, the sun must have been
" passing through the constellation Taurus during the whole of the
" first month of the year, so that if any connection between the
" signs of the zodiac and the months of the year was then recognised,
" the Bull must have been regarded as the first sign, and the Ram
" as the last."
Now it must not be thought that these questions concerning the
precedence of the Ram or of the Bull in ancient zodiacs are of
merely astronomic or academic interest. It cannot with truth be
denied that the answer to many historical and mythological problems
are closely dependent on those given to such astronomic inquiries,
and it is for this reason that I venture to bring before the notice of
this Society the subject of the tablet translated by Prof. Sayce and
Mr. Bosanquet, and their identifications of the " star of stars " with
" Dilgan," and of " Dilgan " with " Capella."
In this inquiry it will be best to deal first with one of these
identifications exclusively, namely, that of Dilgan with Capella, and
afterwards to discuss whether the " star of stars " can with certainty
be equated either with Dilgan or with Capella.
Mr. Maunder thus sums up the considerations which led
Prof. Sayce and Mr. Bosanquet to recognise in Dilgan the star
known to us as Capella. He says, ** They identified Dilgan the
'* *star of stars' with Capella by means of a tablet in the Semitic
** language, which reads : —
7
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Jan. 10] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
" * The appearance at the beginning of the year of the star Icu
*' [Dilgan] . . . one observes.'
" And again : —
" *The star Icu in the month Nisan was seen.'
" These they take, and no doubt correctly, as being observations
" of the heliacal rising of Capella^ and they point out that it rose
** heliacally at the time of the spring equinox about 2000 B.C.,
" and further that its heliacal rising took place before its heliacal
" setting. These observations they join with the foregoing as
" together furnishing the determination of the beginning of the
" year."
It will be seen, from this summing up, that the identification of
Dilgan with Capella was based on two assumptions, namely : —
First, that the heliacal rising of Dilgan (Capella) had been
chosen by Accadian astronomers as a mark of the beginning of the
year at about 2000 b.c.
Secondly, that the year so marked by Dilgan (Capella) was one
beginning at the spring equinox.
When Prof. Sayce and Mr. Bosanqutt put forward their claim
or the identification of Dilgan with Capella, both the above
assumptions, though not actually capable of proof, were yet not
unreasonable.
The earliest known Accadian astronomic tablets were then
attributed to a date of about 1600 B.C. To hold that the observa-
tions recorded in them had been made some 400 years earlier must
have been deemed a sufficiently hazardous supposition. Again, as
history showed that at about the beginning of our era Nisan, the
first month of the Babylonians and of the Jews, fell close to the
spring equinox, the opinion that in past times these nations had
counted their years as beginning at that season was very generally if
not universally accepted.
Now however that we know that many astronomical observations
had been made and recorded long before 2000 b.c., it is impossible
to restrict the age of the two references to the star Dilgan in the
quoted tablets to that dale, and hence the argument for identifying
Dilgan with Capella, even admitting the equinoctial theory for the
Accadian year, is considerably weakened ; and it has further to be
borne in mind that two conflicting theories on the subject do exist,
and that it is not yet a proved fact, or one that can be treated as
an axiom, that the Accadian year was equinoctial.
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Jan. io] THE ''STAR OF STARS" AND "DILGAN." [1906.
As then there must still prevail much uncertainty regarding the
identification of Dilgan with Capella, it will be worth our while to
call to our aid in this inquiry some notices of Dilgan occurring in
other Accadian tablets, which may enable us to determine in what part
of the celestial sphere the star (or constellation) Dilgan was situated.
The translating of ancient astronomical tablets has presented
almost insurmountable obstacles to scholars ; for as Prof. Sayce
observes : —
" Their interpretation is for the most part difficult, since not only
" are the terms obscure and removed from ordinary life, but a large
** portion of the tablets is written ideographically. The astrological
" information they contain had to be concealed from the uninitiated,
*' and accordingly while the grammar is Semitic, the words are in
" great measure Accadian. Sometimes, however, these are Assyrian ;
" and the mixture of the two vocabularies considerably increases the
** difficulty of decipherment, as it is often uncertain whether the
" characters are to be read phonetically or not. Moreover, the
" same ideograph is not unfrequently used in totally different senses ;
** in fact we may say that whereas an ordinary Assyrian inscription
" endeavours to make itself intelligible to the reader, these
** astrological legends are intended to conceal their meaning as
" much as possible."
In the thirty years which have elapsed since Prof. Sayce wrote
these lines some advance has been made towards the right
understanding of cuneiform astronomical tablets. The advance has
been slow ; but when we take into consideration the difficulties
which had to be encountered at every step of the way, we can only
congratulate ourselves on what has been accomplished by the
scholars who have turned their attention to this arduous task.
It is now possible to claim with certainty a knowledge of many
Accadian technical terms which were still made use of in astronomic
and astrologic documents by Babylonian writers in the first and
second centuries B.C. The same claim can be made for our
knowledge of the Accadian names for the seven planets, and of the
first syllable, at least, of the twelve constellations of the zodiac.
The Accadian names of a few extra-zodiacal stars and constellations
have also been securely ascertained ; but for Dilgan, so far as 1 have
been able to learn, no more certain identification has been proposed
than that, as above stated, suggested by Prof. Sayce and
Mr. Bosanquet.
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Jan. 10] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
By making use however of the knowledge that has been gained
of the names of other stars and constellations, I think it will be
possible to suggest an identification for Dilgan with a well known
ancient constellation in the Grecian sphere.
Recorded observations of the position of the planet Venus in
different months of the year are to be met with in many ancient
tablets. Prof. Sayce translates as follows a passage in which Dilgan
is associated with the planet Venus in the month Sebat : —
W.A.L 53 :—
** 24. [In the month Chisluv] Venus is called the spark of Gula.
" 25. In the month Tebet, Venus is the spark of the double ship,
" 26. In the month Sebat, Dilgan of Babylon.
" 27. A royal crown it gives (?) to Merodach.
" 28. In the month Adar the spark of the Fish of Hea is Venus
" (and also Mercury).
" 29. In the month Adar on the third day (Venus) rises and
" in Nisan "
Fortunately for our inquiry concerning Dilgan, with which in
this tablet the planet Venus is associated in the month Sebat, we
can claim with almost certainty a knowledge of the names of the two
constellations which in the tablet appear as marking the path of the
planet in the two preceding months. Gula, it is scarcely possible to
doubt, designated the zodiacal Aquarius ; and Uz, formerly
translated ** the double ship," is now translated " Goat," and stands
astronomically for the zodiacal Capricornus.
The apparent path of the planet Venus is as a rule from west to
east amongst the constellations ; but for about a fortnight before
and a fortnight after inferior conjunction with the sun its path is
from east to west. When therefore we read that " In the month
Chisluv Venus is called the spark of Gula" (Aquarius), and that in
the following month, Tebet, ** Venus is the spark of the double
ship " (Capricornus), it is clear that at some time during those two
months Venus was moving in a retrograde direction through the
constellations, and that either at the end of Chisluv or the beginning
of Tebet the planet was in inferior conjunction with the sun.
The accompanying illustration represents what may have been
the zig-zag path of Venus in a year, in which the longitude of the
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Jan. io] THE "STAR OF STARS" AND "DILGAN." [1906.
planet coincided with that of the sun at a point on the echptic
between the Babylonian constellations Gula and Uz,
It is not by any means contended that the Babylonian con-
stellations bore in every case exactly the same figures as those
represented on the Grecian sphere — though there can be no doubt
that in many instances a close resemblance did exist. The illustra-
tion ^ points to the fact stated by Epping and Strassmaier, that for
purposes of astronomical measurement "jedem Bilde genau 30°
zugetheilt werden."
As to the initial point of their zodiacal series, I have adopted
that of the fixed Hindu sphere. The many considerations which
have led me to the opinion that not only in India but amongst
"the ancients " generally this was held to be the initial point of the
ecliptic circle, I have dwelt upon in Ancient Calendars and Con-
stellations. Epping suggests a point about 5° to the East of that here
given for the 1° Aries. This difference, though enough to affect the
answer given to many chronological problems, need not be taken
into consideration in our present inquiry concerning the position of
Dilgan in the Accadian sphere.
As the Babylonian years were soli-lunar, the position of the sun
on the first of a given lunar month might vary to the extent of about
29° in relation to the constellations of the zodiac. I have supposed
that the year in question followed one in which a thirteenth month
had been intercalated, and that the first of Chisluv occurred when
the sun had advanced about 20° through the Babylonian constella-
tion of the Archer.
During Chisluv, the path of Venus, as may be inferred from the
tablet, was through the stars of Gula (Aquarius), and in the following
month Tebet through the stars of Uz (Capricornus), therefore in the
beginning of the month Sebat the planet would traverse some of
the eastern degrees of Uz, and later in the same month would again
enter into the constellation Gula. The tablet however associates Venus
in the month Sebat not with Uz or with Gula, but with *' Dilgan,"
and this fact should lead us to the conclusion that Dilgan was a star
or constellation not far from the point on the ecliptic where the
constellations Capricornus and Aquarius meet.
Now Capella-rthe star with which, as we have seen, it has been
proposed to identify Dilgan — is distant by more than 95° of longitude
'•* The Plate will appear with the concluding part of the Paper.,
II
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Jan. 10] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
fiom this point. If therefore we place any reliance on the statement
made in the tablet concerning the planet Venus in the month Sebat,^
we must dismiss the suggested identification of Dilgan with Capella,
and we must seek for some star or constellation worthy of notice
in or near to Capricornus and Aquarius which could have marked
the path of Venus in Sebat, and which also should fulfil the astro-
nomical requirements demanded of Dilgan in the other ancient
tablets already quoted, namely : —
" The appearance at the beginning of the year of the star Dilgan
*• . . . one observes. *'
And—
" The star Dilgan in the month Nisan was seen.'*
To find at 2000 b.c. a star or constellation in the vicinity of
Capricornus and Aquarius whose appearance should announce the
arrival of the sun at the equinoctial point (then very close to the
Pleiades group), it would be necessary to fix upon some star or
constellation in quadrature to the sun, which star rising at midnight
might have called attention to the fact that the sun was at the
equinoctial point. That Accadian astronomers should have thus
elected to mark the beginning of the year, is a possible but some-
what far-fetched supposition, and to the advocates of an equinoctial
year— counted by methods first originated about 2000 B.C. — must
be left the task of identifying Dilgan under such a supposition.
^ Robert Browne, in Primitive Constellations^ Vol. II, p. 150, relers to a
" Dilbat " (Venus) tablet as follows :—
"The tablet 81.7.6, 102, for acquaintance with which I am indebted to
" Mr. Pinches . . . gives, but singularly enough, not quite in their regular order,
** the 12 months with 12 special stars . . . ." At a later page Mr. Browne gives
a translation of the tablet. I quote from it the lines referring to Dilbat (Venus)
in the months Chisluv, Tebet, Sebat, and Adar : —
** 7. The Star Gir-anna = Dilbat in Kisluv."
" 8. The star Uz = Dilbat in Tebet."
" 9. The star Dilgan = Dilbat in Sebat."
** 10. The star Kha (the Fish) = Dilbat in Adar."
Gir-anna, not Gula, is here a.'^sociated with Venus in the month Chisluv y but
for the following three months the path of the planet in both tablets is marked by
the same stars or constellations. It has occurred to me that possibly Gir-anna
may have been another Accadian name for the constellati n ** Gula," and if that
were the case, we might assume that the two tablets described the path of the
planet in one and the same year ; but be that as it may, we find Dilgan in both
tablets marking the path of Venus in the month Sebat. The posit io 1 of Dilgan
as in the vicinity of Uz is thus assured by the testimony of two independent
witnesses.
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Jan. io] THE "STAR OF STARS" AND "DILGAN." [1906.
If on the other hand we adopt the theory of an Accadian sidereal
year, dependent on the entry of the sun into the constellation Aries,
we should not find any great difficulty in identifying Dilgan with a
well known ancient constellation which could have been associated
with Venus in the month Sebat, and which also by its heliacal
rising might for Accadian and Babylonian astronomers have marked
the arrival of the sun at the initial point of the zodiac. This con-
stellation is the one known to us as Piscis Australis— the Southern
Fish.
It will be seen from the illustration that this constellation lies
to the south and to the west of Aries, and that it underlies the
constellations Aquarius and Capricornus.
A little reflection will, I think, convince us of its suitability for
identification with Dilgan.
. I have claimed that the heliacal rising of the ** Southern Fish "
might for Accadian and Babylonian astronomers have marked the
arrival of the sun at the initial point of the zodiac.
The late Mr. F. C. Penrose, in a paper published in the Trans-
actions of the Royal Society in 1893,* ^^^^s explains and discusses the
meaning of the term " heliacal rising." He says, p. 43, "... . the
" meaning of the term being that the star, when very slightly above
" the horizon, should just be visible in the twilight, before being
" extinguished by the dawn."
And further, p. 44 : —
"The conclusion I have come to is that (1) a first magnitude
*' star in fair average weather in Greece or Italy could be seen when
" rising heliacally at an altitude of 3°, the sun being 10° below
" the horizon ; (2) that second magnitude stars should require an
" altitude of 3° 30' with the sun 1 1° depressed, but that for a
" third magnitude star the sun's depression should not be less than
'3°.
* *• On the Orientation of certain Greek Temples and the Dates of their Founda-
tion derived from Astronomical Considerations, being a Supplement to a Paper on
the same subject published in the Transactions of the Royal Society in 1893.'
{To be continued,^
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Jan. 10] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
"THE EARLY MONARCHY OF EGYPT."
Note by Mr. F. Legge.
Since Prof. Petrie's Paper on " The Early Monarchy of Egypt "
was read before the Society, I have gone carefully over the evidence
in the hope of discovering something that might lead me to alter the
conclusions expressed by me in ** The Kings of Abydos " (jP.S.B.A.y
1904, pp. 125-144). My search, however, has been fruitless, and
Prof. Petrie seems to have ignored most of the points at issue
between him and his critics. As, in my former paper, I gave, with
such impartiality as I could, all the arguments adduced up to that
date by Dr. Naville, Dr. Sethe, and Prof. Petrie himself, there is no
need to recapitulate them here : but I may perhaps say that I do
not read Dr. Sethe's paper in quite the same sense as he does, and
that the former's doubting admission that the Horus- or hawk-name
of Ka may have belonged to one of Menes' immediate predecessors
(mag daher wirklich einem der letzten Vorgdnger des
Menes^ die das oberdgyptische beherrsckUn, angehort haben) can hardly
be given much weight against his frankly-expressed opinion that the
whole theory of a dynasty before Menes was due to Prof. Petrie's
finding names for which he had no room elsewhere ( ver-
dankt dock die von Petrie aufgestellte Dynastie von Konigen vor Menes
ihr Dasein im Grunde nur dem Umstande^ dass Petrie in der ersten
Dynastie keinen Platz mehr fUr sie hatte), — However that may be,
the real elenchus that Dr. Sethe, quite as much as Prof. Petrie, has
to face is the identification of Aha with Menes. As I endeavoured
to show in my former paper, this is the pivot on which turns the
identification of all the kings — except Usaphais and Miebis — claimed
for either the First or the Pre-Menite dynasty; and all arguments
from style, position of objects and the like, whether valid or not,
in the long-run start from this equation. It therefore seems useful
to give here two arguments which have come into force since I
wrote last year, and which seem to me to increase the probability
that the hawk-name of Menes has yet to be discovered.
14
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Jan. lo] ••THE EARLY MONARCHY OF EGYPT." [1906.
To the first of these arguments my attention was drawn by my
friend, Dr. Naville. It will be remembered that the one document
up to the present that bears signs inscribed near the name of Aha
which the utmost ingenuity can torture into yielding a name like
that of Menes, is the fragment of ivory discovered in the course of
M. de Morgan's excavations at Negadah. This fragment, which I
here reproduce (Fig. i of Plate), shows by the side of the hawk-
crowned srekh of Aha, a sort of Norman arch formed of three
parallel lines, under which appear the part of the royal protocol
generally called the vulture-and-uraeus or nebti signs, and underneath
them, a sign which first Dr. Borchardt and, following him, Dr. Sethe
and Prof." Petrie, have declared to be the draughtboard sign reading
Men^ and to be the archaic way of writing the name Menes. As
Menes from the analogy of the names Usaphais and Miebis must
have represented a cartouche-name, it follows that the arch here
shown must, on this hypothesis, be a primitive form of the cartouche.
Dr. Naville, on the other hand {L,P.A.M,^ I, p. 109), will have it to
be not the cartouche but an early variant of the sign \\\ which
denotes a building, and would make the whole group read menrubii
**the royal pavilion." Hitherto this view, though probable enough,
has lacked confirmation from precedents going back to very early
times, such scenes as that shown in Fig. 2 of the Plate, which
depicts the deceased person sitting in a pavilion and playing
draughts^ being taken from a Book of the Dead of the New Empire. 1
Now, however, M. Amelineau has published in his Nouvelles Fouilles
d^Abydos^ 1897-1898 (Paris: Leroux, 1904), PI. XV, fig. 19, an ivory
tablet coming from the tomb that he there calls Tomb 22 which in a
general way resembles the famous fragment of Negadah. On the
second register of this (see Fig. 3 of the Plate) there appears an arch
corresponding to that on the last-named, with the exception that it
is composed of two lines instead 9f three, under which appear only
the two signs '^^z^ and o. If we may read these nebt^ the whole
group might possibly mean something like "the queen's pavilion :"
1 The sign \\\ occurs on the Palermo Stone, which may be attributed to
the Vlth dynasty. It is there used in connection with the names of different
"Halls," such as "the Hall of the divine thrones" and the like. Cf, Naville,
Rec, de Trav.^ XXV, pp. 64 sqq, Schafer {Ein Bruchstiick AltdgypHscher
AnnaUn) disputes this.
IS
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Jan. 10] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
but, in any case, it would require very strong faith to see in the arch
any reference to the cartouche. The tablet, it should be noticed,
appears from the srekh in the left-hand extremity of the upper
register to have been made for the king whom Dr. Naville calls
Schestiy but whom Dr. Petrie would- call Zer, and would identify
with the king bearing in Manetho the cartouche-name of Atothis.
The probability of the truth of Dr. Naville's interpretation of the
so-called Menes tablet is now therefore at least twice as great as
before.
The other argument that I should like to impress upon the
Society is the old one from silence, which seems to me to gather
additional force every day. Aha was evidently a king ruling over a
great part of Egypt, as is shown alike by the richness of his funereal
equipage and by the fact that part of it appears at Negadah and the
rest at Abydos. M. Am^lineau, M. de Morgan, Prof. Petrie, and
Mr. Garstang have in turn unearthed monuments inscribed with his
hawk-name, of which we now possess many hundreds as against the
dozen or so that can be ascribed to well-authenticated names like
Usaphais and Miebis. On the other hand, the cartouche-name
which underlies that of Menes must have come down from very
early times as that of the founder of the kingdom, since we find both
Seti I and Rameses II beginning with it the lists of their predeces-
sors which they engraved on the walls of the temple at Abydos.
Hence it should have been as well known in the time of its bearer
as that of William the Conqueror was in his ; yet among all the
hundreds of examples that we now possess of Aha's inscriptions, not
one gives any hint of the name of Menes except the fragment given
in the Plate, to which a perfectly different and more plausible inter-
pretation can be given. At first this argument had liltle weight
because it might be said that the search for Aha's monuments was
not completed ; but now, when all find-spots likely to contain his
monuments have been ransacked, it seems to me to be almost
conclusive. Dogmatism, notoriously unsafe in matters of science,
is in Egyptology, peculiarly liable to disaster ; and it is, of course,
quite possible that the earth may yet give up some inscription that
will put the identity of Aha with Menes beyond a doubt. But until
this happens, he will I think be rash who will put faith in any lists
of the Menite dynasty which, like those of Dr. Sethe and Prof.
Petrie, are founded on this equation.
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Proc» Soc. Bibl. Arch. ^ Jan. 1906.
Fig. I.
From AVt-. de Trai.^ XXI, 105, 1899.
■Sfeatw
1-^ ylrM Viijiyrii-*, T :;,
t ail
^\\t
Fig. 3.
From»Amelineau ; Nouvelles Fouilles (CAbydos^ 1897-98. Paris : LerouxT^igcM. i
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Jan. io] INSCRIPTIONS IN THE QUARRIES OF EL h6sH. [i^^
THE INSCRIPTIONS IN THE QUARRIES
OF EL h6SH.
By G. Legrain.
Among the inscriptions which I have collected in the course of
my journeys through Egypt, more particularly those that I have
found between Edfii and Gebel Silsileh, are nearly one hundred
graffiti engraved in the quarries of El Hosh alone, and which for
the most part have not hitherto been published.
Various scientific observers, noticing that these graffiti are only
met with in the quarries, and not on the rocks which border the
river, have regarded them as '^ Sfeinmetzmarken,'* stone-workers*
marks, and in some cases have seen in them the mark of the owner
of the quarry, a sort of rebus which had no connection with any
language or alphabet whatever.
This opinion has seemed to me to be perhaps somewhat hasty,
and Prof. Sayce, to whom I showed my copies, encouraged me to
make a somewhat closer examination of these inscriptions than had
hitherto been done. It may be that these researches will yield no
results ; but in any case the Plates will serve the purpose of keeping
together the complete collection of these curious inscriptions.
For about twenty kilometres South of Edffl, on the West bank of
the river, lies the country of Ramadi, the Northern extremity of
which is marked by the Gebel Rashldi. At this point the mountain
approaches the river, and past the mouth oif a large irrigation canal
there is nothing but a narrow band of fertile earth to be found on
the border of the Nile. The view of the country from the river is
charming : palms, tamarisks, beans, lupins, and walled-in gardens
everywhere meet the eye. Those natives of the country who
travelled to the Sftdan after its re-conquest, brought back with
them the culture of the millet, which has proved an abundant source
17 B
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Jan. 10] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
of wealth to this pretty country, formerly so poverty stricken. The
village is perched on the mountain, fifty yards from the river, and is
sufficiently well protected from the attacks of the robbers who some-
times prowl about the river bank. It contains about fifty houses,
built of sandstone, and roofed with dried dUrrah, The population
approaches the Berberine type rather than that of the Arabs of the
Said.
The roofless quarries, which were worked in ancient times, lie
to the North, between El Hosh and the little Khor el Ashurai.
They are four in number, and we will distinguish them, starting
from the North, by the letters A, B, C, D. The quarry A is by the
inhabitants called el Maragha el ab'it^ and the quarry C el Hdsh abH^
Malar. These quarries being situated close to the river, working
them was an easy matter; the stone moreover was excellent, and
the Greek inscriptions found by A. C. Harris in 1857, show us that
it was still in use in the eleventh year of Antoninus.
Together with these inscriptions engraved on the unworked
walls, we find other texts composed of peculiar characters, for the
most part engraved in horizontal lines. These characters are some-
times carefully sculptured in bas-reliefs sometimes also they have a
double outline. The most beautiful example (Plate I, No. 16) is
found in the centre of the West wall of quarry A. Carefully
sculptured, it appears to be the ensign of the quarry, to indicate its
name, or that of its proprietor. This mark or inscription is com-
posed of two signs only — a harpoon and a circle crossed by a
horizontal bar. Sometimes a single sign only is engraved, at others
the engraver was more ambitious; thus, for example, No. 35
(Plate I) contains no less than eleven characters; Nos. 12, 20,
38, 44, have six characters each ; others again have five ; all which
strike one as an assemblage of a large number of conventional signs
for the simple purpose of a stone-worker's mark.
In the collection of the inscriptions given on Plates I and II the
Nos. 1-16, and No. 96, come from quarry A; Nos. 17-73 ^^om
quarry B ; Nos. 74-95 from quarry C. The Greek text No. 98
comes from quarry B, those which follow, from quarry C.
I do not think that these inscriptions are very ancient : Greek
letters are among the signs employed, and sometimes even are
intermixed with the foreign characters, as, for example, the syllable
riA in the inscription No. 88, which does not appear to be in any
way a palimpsest. On the other hand, we find the typical harpoons
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Jan. lo] INSCRIPTIONS IN THE QUARRIES OF EL h6sH. [1906.
engraved not far from the Greek texts (see Nos. 103, 104). No-
where else, on any rock, can this contiguity of signs have any
determinative value ; but it has some such value in the case of a
quarry which is being worked, where, contrary to what has happened
at Gebel Silsileh and Tfira, the " bench-marks " have been
neglected.
We will admit therefore, pending further information, that the
Greek inscriptions and their neighbours are contemporaneous, and
may be dated under the reign of Antoninus.
Can we, and ought we to, believe that these signs, so numerous
and so varied, had no meaning for those who engraved them?
Such an idea appears to me impossible. If such were the case we
miist also disregard, and declare to be meaningless, the Egyptian
characters, the signs T, TTT> ^^^-j and even the cartouche
( O j§ U J > which are found as marks on certain stones which
come from Pharaonic quarries. My own opinion is that when we
find any " quarry-mark " on a block of stone, it may, and even must,
have a meaning, just as much as the hieroglyphic or hieratic signs
engraved or painted in red in the Pharaonic quarries. These last
are comprehensible now that we know the meaning of the hieroglyphs,
but in former times they would have seemed as meaningless as the
characters of El Hosh.
The characters T nefer = " good " on the Pharaonic stones are
not an invention of the quarry-master to indicate that the stone was
good ; it was the sign and word belonging to the language of his
country which expressed the quality he attributed to the stone taken
from the quarry. The presence of these signs T does not lead to
the conclusion that no hieroglyphic language or writing existed in
which this sign and word were employed. The same reasoning is
surely applicable to the inscriptions from El Hosh, which appear to
be for the most part of remarkable length, if they are nothing more
than the conventional marks of a more or less ignorant quarry-man.
On Plate III I have arranged 77 of these signs — this is much for an
unlettered stone-dresser, and for recalling on the walls of a quarry
the quality of stones which are no longer there.
If we regard the signs from El Hosh as indicating the name of
the owner of the quarry, or his limit of working, we, in that case,
19 B 2
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Jan. 10] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906*
ought to find the same sign, or group of signs, continually repeated.
Our collection of the texts engraved in the three quarries (Plates I
and II) shows that the engravers had other purposes than those
which they seem to have sometimes expressed in a somewhat prolix
manner, as for example in the inscription No. 35. But the mere
fact of indicating a name is sufficient to raise these signs to the rank
of characters having a conventional meaning : in this case we find
ourselves in the presence of an unknown writing, and perhaps of a
language that we have yet to learn.
VVe have not a sufficient number of documents to allow of our
venturing very far in this hypothesis, but we may make some remarks
on the characters.
The presence of signs singly or in groups of two or three would
appear to indicate that most of them must be either syllabic or
pictorial. Their great number would moreover go to show that we
have not to do with a simple alphabet. Moreover, in certain
instances we find Greek or Egyptian characters which seem to have
been added to the clearly foreign signs, to aid or assure their vocali-
zation, which is an indication of the primitive poverty of the wriiten
system. The syllable HA may be the phonetic value of the circle
crossed by a horizontal bar (No. 88). The direction of the almost
hieroglyphic signs of the text No. 49 appears to indicate a reading
from right to left.
The whole signs may be divided into three groups : —
(i) The primitive groups among which I put the circles, har-
poons, keys, and some other geometrical signs.
(2) The group with Greek letters added, among which I believe
I have recognized the vowels A I O Y and the con-
sonants B A A n.
(3) The group oj pictorial signs, among which I recognize some
hieroglyphic signs.
On Plate III all the known signs are collected together. It is
very probably incomplete, and we must look to the discovery of
other inscriptions to enrich it.
In the following Table I give in one column the reference Nos.
of the signs on Plate III, and some notes on the signs ; in the other
column will be found the reference Nos. of the Inscriptions, given on
Plates I and II, in which each sign appears.
20
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Jan. 10] INSCRIPTIONS IN THE QUARRIES OF EL h6sH.. [1906.
PlJiTE III.
Signs.
1. A curved oblique line .
2. A vertical line, perhaps the Greek iota
3. Perhaps the hieroglyphic sign JU /i»»
4. Perhaps the sign Y hedj
5. Harpoon? . . . .
6
9, 10. These two signs are very similar.
Taking 25, which is more carefully
carved than the others, as the type, I
call all the signs from 9 to 26, Har-
poons. No. 9 is found on the right of
the Greek inscription 103.
Plates I and II.
Inscriptions.
Nos.
12, 60, 63, 96
64, 83, 87
33
69
91
96
I, 7, 20, 25, 33,
35» 36, 38, 52,
56, 57, 60, 62,
63, 72, 86, 89,
93» 94, 96
" i3» M, 22
12. Ift Inscription No. 67 ihis sign ap- 15, 17, 19, 29,
proaches the form of an anchor. {See 31, 34, 35, 41,
sign No. 92.) 46, 50, 62, 63,
65, 67, 68, 70,
71, 72, 73, 78,
79, 82, 85, 86,
92, 9<5
13 24
M 39
15 3o» 37» 59
16 3, 4, 5, 10, 53»
58, 61, 81
17 8, 42
18 12
19 64
21
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Jan. 10] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
Plates I and II.
Plate III. Inscriptions.
Signs. Nos.
20 9, 18, 35, 44,
45, 46, 48, 62,
66, 73, 77, 78,
80, 88, 92, 94
21 16, 82 (?)
22 23, 43, 47,
52(?), 54
23 6
24. The second example of this sign does 21, 97
not come from El Hosh. My copy
was made from an engraving of it
on a rock at Gebel Rashidi, some
kilometres further North, and I know
of other signs in the same neighbour-
hood.
25 28
26 10
27. Doubtful and ill defined ... 35
31. I suggest the name "keys" for the 45, 47
signs 31 to 41.
32 i9» 33> 34
33 35, 54, 65
34 55
35 8
36 37
37 43
38 56 '
39 71
40 44
22
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Jan. 10] INSCRIPTIONS IN THE QUARRIES OF EL h6sH. [1906.
Plate III.
Signs.
41.
45-
This sign, the most frequent of all, does
not appear to be the Greek 0. The
sign No. 82 must be its most perfect
form, and the two inscriptions 82 and
92, are similar. The inscription 88,
seems to indicate the reading PI A or
An, for this sign.
46. Probably not the Greek ♦.
47. Perhaps a compound of two different
characters.
48
49
50
SI
52. Perhaps the same as 45
53. See the Egyptian hieroglyph ®
23
Plates I and II.
Inscriptions.
Nos.
47
I, 2, 8, 9, 12,
15, 16, 17, 18,
20, 21, 25, 26,
29» 30, 3h 34,
35, 36, 37, 38,
39, 40, 42, 43,
44, 48, 49, 50,
52, 53, 54, 55,
56, 57, 60, 61,
62, 63, 66, 67,
Ih 72, 74, 75,
76(?), 77, 78,
80, 81, 82, 83,
85, 86, 87, 88,
90, 91, 92, 94,
96
7, 10, II, 12,
14, 19, 20, 22,
45, 46, 47, 58,
59, 65, 68, 70
8
87
83
83
10
76
64
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Jan. Xo] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
Plates I and II.
Plate III. Inscriptions.
Signs. Nos.
56. This sign is found in other places 8, 20, 21, 22,
besides £1 Hosh, for example at 29, 35, 38, 42,
Naukratis, cf, Petrie, Naukratis I, 44, 52, 55, 66,
PL XXXIV, fig. 397B, and also on 67, 68, 69, 74,
rocks, and blocks of stone in the
neighbourhood of El Hosh.
57 40
58 • 71
59 85
It appears to me that eight Greek letters
can be recognized, to which may be
added the sign No. 2 if we regard it as
the Greek iota^ thus completing the
series 'of the vowels A, I, O, Y, and
the consonants B, A, A, FI.
63. A, is found under the same form in the 36, 52, 88
Greek inscriptions 99, 100, 10 1, 102,
103, 104, 105, 106.
64. B 35» 56
65. A(?) 87 *
66. A see the Greek inscriptions, as above . 35, 84, 86
67. O (?) see the Greek inscriptions, as 8 (?), 10, 84,
above. 86 (?)
68. n 88
69. Y see Nos. 98, 103, 104, 106 . . 84
70. ♦ (?) 70
Some signs are borrowed from hieroglyphs.
74. §» her^ the face 95
71;, -C2>- ariy the eye ..... 49
24
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Jan. io] INSCRIPTIONS IN THE QUARRIES OF EL HdSH. [1906.
Platr III.
Signs.
77, 79- y ««^>4
80, 81. Q, 5 =
86. S(?) . .
shen
87. f ....
88. jlc = pycj
89. -It- am (?) see sign No. 3
91. § A . . . .
Plates I and II.
Inscriptions.
Nos.
50
26, 47, 8a
38
39
49, 62
95
Other signs apparently from different sources.
73. A Dolphin
78. A Foot
82. This does not appear to be the sign
@ No. 46. See sign No. 45.
83, 84. Branches of a tree ....
85. Arrow
90. A Graeco-Syrian Altar ....
92. Anchor ......
49
34
44, 45, 47
CI, 9o(?)
93
27
I h^ve left vacant spaces in the Plate of signs, as I am satisfied
it is far from complete. It is most desirable that we should ascertain
if similar Inscriptions do not exist elsewhere, and if so to add them to
those which I have here grouped together. I myself know of some
examples of the signs Nos. 8, 18, 20, 56 (Plate III), engraved on the
rocks outside the quarries in the country around El Hosh, between
Gebel Rashidi and Gebel Silsileh. It is by forming a sort of Corpus
of the Inscriptions that we shall be the better enabled to arrive at
the conclusion that these singular characters are probably not simply
25
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Jan. io] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
Stone-workers' marks, but are real characters which have served 10
transcribe a foreign language that the future may perhaps enable us
to understand.
Note by Prof. A. H. Savce.
I have copied similar groups of characters, elsewhere in Upper
Egypt, the following examples are from El-Kab.
On an isolated rock quarried in the Vlth dynasty mine to the
East of HilM, is an ankh and \J\ \ .
In the Ptolemaic quarries behind Mahamfd are an Altar (Plate
III, No. 90) : the branch (No. 83) : the ankk (No. 86) : and a
character ^ which I have found elsewhere as well as in an
inscription of the Middle Empire near Assuan.
26
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PLATE I.
Proc, Soc. Bibl. Arch. ^ Jan. ^ 1906.
XXI
teenitor'^xen
-n
■ri
Qt^^lCDoCP^
e^eiQ
IE
TF"
TV
16
tee
ent(D
u.
*i_
^^
ef0f
T0I
^£S —
®J
^i^e
43_
s:
i\
/
^^
ii__l5
i4
eJ ®^©i *
^ttii^iet
iff
^ ji* 1*3
Aer
i»o
iti
JeJ EtltOTt©/
Be?
T
m^
^
e
ib:
+ At-©K ei
\VB
"llO\Ql\Je\Vrh\\o^
^Te'|;e|f|Ttlt'^Trf|on
tezlltteorcDtxri^l'to
INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE QUARRIES OF EL HOSIl.
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PLATE II.
Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch. ^ Jan., 1906.
7r
76
+©
e^l
(^ le ^ e Q e It oA^ [f e«
Qt?/if|ie0'^erQTrf|©T
e r ri QT It" fetw^t^
96
T
97
3g
9?
AnoAAu^Av^lOC
MKXAMIKOC
AnoAAUt^NlOC
oQ:
A/T oAaujw I oc"
101
i£5
lIAAWtU/V/A/OCA1£COPH "^ L/AA/VTiOVwoc
OA/|AOCeiCHAeeM€IC AnoAAu>cn€Tt ^/.xoyMiocI
I0£ TO^^O^^\oA/^UCOPH|<cAPX/MKXAA'lK4^^
CHArAeuy
lOij LlAANTa;A///V0C€K0fAM6N'
A TOVC M€mAOYCAI0OVcr/ ;/
I nnXtuN /A€ICrHN^VAH^/!?:
TOYKypioy AnoXX \j^r^C'.--
^ I ^ -k K/'^'- ^J'^- TO rJ O piJAOMrl C
V^ATu;"^ >^'CA\tp^v.lKCK^
10?
noyro kj>,i '^pk»^
VT
• 06
INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE QUARRIES OF EL HOSH.
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PLATE III.
Proc. Soc. Bibt. Arc h.^ Jan. ^ 1906.
«*
z'
1
+
1
5
4
6
7
n
6
9
10
11
1
11
1
<5
/
15
I
16
17
\'
'9
f
^1
t
P
JA
I
I"
\
T
«?«
is
50
1
M
T
r"
35
17
J
J"
r
i.0
ki
^5
'I'l
45
e
46
47
4g
9
i,5
90
51
?
53
©
5/r
55
5«
f
58
S9
(0
61
6J
(5
A
i5
6^
A
<7
£8
n
65
Y
70
7/
7*
73
7*
75
76
*"
7«
i"
80
^
1*
y5
'7
88
S5
+
r
?4
95
?4
55-
96
^7
»
99
KK
(Ol
102
.03
loA
TABLE OF TTTK SIGNS WHICH OCCUR IN THE INSCRIPTIONS
1 TO 97.
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Jan. lo] NOTE ON A HITTITE INSCRIPTION (J. ii). [1906.
NOTE ON A HITTITE INSCRIPTION (J. 11).
By E. Sibree, M.A.
The inscription known as J. 11 begins with the words
%^ h (^ ODOO J k ^
123 4 56789 10
No. 9 has long been recognized as the symbol for "country."
M. Six has discovered that Nos. 3-6 represent the Hittite name of
Carchemish, 7 being the determinative of place. May not 9 also
be a determinative in the above instance ? If so, is it the deter-
minative of 8 or 10? In cuneiform the determinative of place
{airu) is affixed to a place-name, the determinative of country
(mdtu) being prefixed to the name of a country, as in the following
passage in the Sinjerli inscription of Esarhaddon (1. 14) : —
<^ -t^T t^:? -+ E"!=TT <m ^ "-" ^T T- -n<T
Sakkanak Bibili (DA) Sar (DP) §u-me - ri
Governor (or High Priest) of Babylon^ king of Sumer
If the Hittite arrangement of determinatives is the same as the
Assyrian, then 9 will be the determinative prefix of 10 — the name
of a country. It also follows that 8, which looks like a lamb's head,
will be the symbol for "king"; cf, the Sumerian word umun, mean-
ing both " sheep or lamb " and " king " (Jam) {vid. Ball, " Accadian
Affinities," Trans, IX Congr. of Orientalists^ Vol. II, p. 693 ;
Sayce, Assyrian Grammar, p. 29). Again, if 3-6 is the name of
Carchemish, then i, 2, may be a word meaning "governor," or the
like. Now, if we compare i, 2, with the hnear form of ^^ *"i^Ti
viz., C3 \7 , prototype also of the Egyptian | V , we shall see that
27
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Jan. io] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCH^:OLOGY. [1906.
2 bears some resemblance to the first symbol, while i may be
compared with the abridged form V , of the second symbol. The
transposition of the symbols m the Hittite is due probably to
causes similar to those which occasioned the change in reading
of >-i^fy ^::y zu-ab in Sumerian to t.t!\ *-^\ ab-zu in Assyrian.
Again, the immediate prototype of the Hittite symbol No. 2 is
possibly not the above Babylonian symbol, but rlT (= »-^yyy),
"dagger," since both this symbol and the above had the same
phonetic values, gir^ mer. If so, the Hittite symbol which re-
sembles a dagger must be regarded as merely due to a confusion
of signs which arose in the Babylonian prototype of the phrase.
The word represented by i, 2, maybe rendered either "governor"
or "high priest."
We might then translate the opening words of J 11 as "Governor
of the city of Carchemish, King of the land of . . "
28
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Jan. io] OBSERVATIONS ON ANCIENT HISTORY OF EGYPT. [1906.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF
EGYPT.
By Prof. J. Lieblein.
I long since expressed the opinion that the Egyptian civilization,
as manifested in its most developed form on the monuments of the
period of the pyramids, commenced in prehistoric times, probably
several centuries, or rather some thousands of years, before Menes.
It originated in that part of the Valley of the Nile which extends
from Heliopolis in the North to the neighbourhood of Abydos on
the South, that is to say, from 30° to 26^° of latitude.
It is this district, containing the cities Heliopolis, Heracleopolis
Magna, Hermopolis, and Panopolis, which is exclusively mentioned
in the most ancient part of the Book of the Dead— Chapter XVII —
which relates the history of the creation of the world. It is here
that the Sun was the principal deity, Ra, Horus, Tum, and that
Heliopolis, the place of his worship, was the holy city, the most
ancient centre of Egyptian civilization. In short, it is here that
lived the people who represented the Egyptians, properly so called,
and whom we may designate the " Heliopolitan people."
To the North of this district, in the swamp of the Delta, lived
the Semitic immigrants from the adjacent Asia, with their deity
Set-Typhon, who is doubtless to be identified with the Seth of the
Bible (Gen. v, 3 ss.), and with the god Set of the Khetas, mentioned
in the treaty between the Khetas and Rameses II.
To the South, beyond This — Abydos and Negadah — lived a third
people, immigrant perhaps from the Red Sea littoral, whose kings at
the very commencement of historic times constructed the tombs at
Negadah, and above all at Abydos. These immigrants, whom we
may call the "Abydenian People," finally settled at Abydos, and
when they had become accustomed to their new surroundings, and
felt themselves strong enough to continue the conquest of the
country, one of their kings, Menes, went northwards, subjugated the
29
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Jan. lo] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
Heliopolitan Egyptians and founded, for the first lime, the Egyptian
Empire. Osiris of Abydos was his god, and as the god of a people
shared the lot of his people, Osiris became at first the principal deity
of the Empire. The worship of the solar god Horns was so firmly
established among the most civilized Egyptians, that the necessity
for a compromise was very soon felt. Osiris became the father,
Horus the son. But later the worship of Horns took the ascendancy
over that of Osiris, and as the moral sense became simultaneously
developed, the relative position of the two gods became thus fixed :
Osiris as the dead god became the supreme judge in the other
world, while Horus as living god was king on earth. The Book of
the Dead, Chapter XVH, 5 ss., expressly says : " I am yesterday
and I know the morrow. Yesterday is Osiris, to-morrow is Ra, in
that day on which he has killed the enemies of the Universal Lord,
and on which he has given the royalty to his son Horus. In other
words, it is the day on which we celebrate the finding of the coffin
of Osiris." Again, 1. 69 ss, : " He to whom is given the royal crown
and joy in Heracleopolis Magna, is Osiris. It is given to him to
reign over the gods in that day on which the two countries (Upper
and Lower Egypt) are established before the Universal Lord. He
who is ordered to reign over the gods, is Horus, son of Osiris, who
governs in the place of his father Osiris. The day of establishing
the two countries, it is the union of the two countries (Upper and
Lower Egypt) on the burial of Osiris."
This, in my opinion, means, when Menes had finished the war
by a decisive battle, and had united Upper and Lower Egypt
under one rule, so Osiris had at the same time began to reign over
the gods. He was "yesterday." But the morrow was Horus, who
after the death of Osiris took the government in place of his father.
All is clear and simple, without either ambiguity or mystery.
The usual name of this god is " Osiris, Lord of Abydos," a name
which indicates that he was in fact the local god of Abydos. As a
dead god he is called " Khentament," he who is in Amentia the god
of the dead. A third name of this god is " Osiris Lord of Mendes,"
a name, however, which does not indicate that his worship originated
in Mendes ; on the contrary, we know that instead of being a primi-
tive deity at Mendes, he was introduced there at a later time. For
in the Book of the Dead, Chapter XVII, 42 j., we read, " I am a
soul in its two twins. Osiris enters into Mendes, he finds the soul
of Ra there; then they unite the one with the other and they
30
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Jan. lo] OBSERVATIONS ON ANCIENT HISTORY OF EGYPT. [1906.
become his soul in his two twins : It is Horus, avenger of his father
and Honis-Khont meriti. In other words : the soul in his two
twins is the soul of Ra with the soul of Osiris." This is a perfectly
clear and authentic statement to the effect that at a later epoch a
new worship of Osiris was introduced into Mendes, to be united
with the ancient worship of Ra.
Menes has therefore, by his victory, not only united the two
countries — the Abydenian and the Heliopolitan peoples — into a
single empire, but he has also arranged a compromise between the
worship of Ra and that of Osiris, which last has in course of time
become changed into a worship of the dead.
With regard to the third people, the Semites who had wandered
to the North in the swamp of the Delta, they were not yet subjected
to the new empire, but this probably took place under the last kings
of the Ilnd dynasty. At least, we know from M. Amelineau's
excavations at Abydos, a king Khasekhemui, last king of the
Ilnd dynasty, or, as M. Maspero thinks, one of the kings of the
Ilird dynasty, whose name ai)pears below two symbols which
represent the gods Horus and Set. Prof. Petrie in his History
(I, 28*, 5th ed.) writes as follows of the clay seaUngs of this king :
" In every case the name is surmounted by both Set and Horus ;
face to face where the name is of the full form ; both the same way
where the shorter form is used." Again, on page 27* speaking of
Khasekhem, whom he regards as the predecessor of Khasekhemui,
but who was probably the same person, he writes: **The seated
figures (of Khasekhem) are, one in slate and the other in hard
limestone. Around the base of each figure is a row of slain
enemies, and on the front is the inscription 'Northern enemies.*
these can hardly be of the Nile valley, nor are they likely
to be Sinaites, as such are not termed Northern."
All this accords perfectly well with my views, long since
expressed, on the most ancient history of Egypt.^
The "Northern enemies" were the Semites who dwelt in the
Delta, and the " two tribes of Horus and Set worshippers " were the
Egyptians represented by their god Horus, and the Semites repre-
sented by their god Set. The war between the Egyptians and the
Semites was long and fierce, but at last terminated, probably under
the reign of Khasekhemui of either the Ilnd or Ilird dynasty. A
' }. LlEBLBiN, Gammelagyptische Relig,, Kristiania, 1883, I, 81, ss.
31
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Jan. io] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
compromise, analogous to that between Osiris and Horus, was made
between Horus and Set, by which Set as god of the Semites obtained
a place by the side of Horus.
From the time of Khasekhemui, all Egypt, from the Medi-
terranean to the First Cataract, with its inhabitants of different
nationalities, was then united in one empire. At the commence-
ment of this period several colonies had been founded. Southwards :
(i) On-Denderah^ with the goddess Hathor ; here the names ot
the town and goddess recall the Heliopolitan town and
goddess.
(2) On (Ont) Esna.
(3) On of the South Hermonthis,
The two last were probably Heliopolitan colonies ; at least their
names recall the name of On-Heliopolis.
(4) Nubi-Ombos (?), with its double worship of Set and Horus.
As to the colonies in the North, we may be tempted to regard
Sais as a colony of SiHt, The hieroglyphic names of these two
towns closely resemble each other in some of their variants, and the
two towns, Upper Sau and Lower Sau, named in the Book of the
Dead, Chapter CXLH, 3 and 4, may very well be Siut and Sais.
The high civilization, that the monuments of Snofru and of the
other kings of the IVth dynasty attest, commenced in Middle Egypt
thousands of years before the immigration of the Abydenian people
in the South, and can certainly not have been developed in the
short space of fifty or a hundred years that separated the rude
Royal Tombs at Abydos from the fine monuments of Snofru's
period at Memphis.
32
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Jan. io] EGYPTIAN MAGICAL WANDS. [1906.
THE ASTROLOGICAL CHARACTER OF THE EGYPTIAN
MAGICAL WANDS.
By Margaret A. Murray.
In looking over the very interesting drawings and photographs
of magical ivory wands published by Mr. Legge in the May number
of the Proceedings^ one is struck by two things : first, by the number ^
of figures having reference to birth, and, second, by the extraordinary
number of signs having reference to astronomy. The combination
of birth and astronomy points to only one conclusion, Horoscopes.
The " science " of astrology is very ancient. Horoscopes of the
kings of the XlXth and XXth dynasties still remain to us, and it is
evident that these are not the first of their kind. The Egyptians,
even in primitive times, had a fair knowledge of astronomy ; and as
astrology always precedes the exact science, we may safely say that
if the Egyptians, at some primitive period of which the date is lost,
knew sufficient astronomy to reform their calendar and base it upon
astronomical data, they also were able to cast a nativity from the
stars and set down the result in conventional signs and figures.
To take the signs of Birth first. These consist of three, Taurt,
Bes, and Heqt. Taurt, goddess of birth and of magical, protection,
and Bes, god of birth and of magic, are constantly represented
over the doors of the royal birth-chapels in the temples ; and in
representations of the birth of a monarch, Taurt and Bes are in
conspicuous positions. It may be noted that Bes as god of birth is
not quite the same as Bes in his other rdles of god of pleasure and
of war. As god of birth, he wears no head-dress or other insignia,
^ T\ic Jigure numbers given below refer to Mr. Legge's Paper on ** Magical
Ivories " in the May number of the Proceedings of the current year ; plate numbers
to the plates accompanying this Paper.
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Jan. 10] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
and his hands are either empty, or more usually he holds a snake
in each. Taurt the hippopotamus has always been identified as the
goddess of birth, and these wands are made of hippopotamus ivory,
an appropriate material if they are used for recording the date of
birth and the prognostications to be derived from that date. The
frog-goddess Heqt, wife of Khnum the creator, is also a birth-
goddess, as is shown in the story of the birth of the kings of the
Vth dynasty (Westcar Papyrus), where Heqt comes with Isis,
Nephthys, Meskhent, and Khnum to assist at the birth. Taurt, Bes,
or Heqt occur on all the wands, except No. 7, a few small fragments
(and the one from the Hood Collection recently published).
The astronomical signs are, as might be expected, more varied
than those of birth, including, as they do, the signs of the Zodiac,
the planets, and the dekan-stars. The signs required, if all the
constellations and stars were represented, would be : —
Signs of the Zodiac.
Planets.
Stars and constellations of the dekans.
Deities of the dekans.
Symbols of the dekades.
Deities of the dekades.
Besides signs which refer to other constellations. This number is
far beyond those figured on the wands, on which there are, roughly,
about sixty signs represented.
Signs of the Zodiac. — The Egyptian signs of the Zodiac, as
given at Denderah, are the same as our own, with the exception of
Cancer, which is there given as a scarab. In the star maps of the
Tombs of the Kings, the Scorpion is represented by the goddess
Serq, showing that a constellation keeps its name, though the
representation of it may change. The Zodiac of Esneh gives
Gemini as a double-headed animal {Desc, de VEgypte^ I, pi. 87);
we may therefore take the double-sphinx to be the sign Gemini,
which in the Zodiac of Denderah is represented by the twin deities,
Shu and Tefnut. Shu and Tefnut are often represented elsewhere
as a double lion, and it is not difllicult to see in the lion with two
human heads the double lion, which is the representation of Shu
and Tefnut. Another proof that these are the signs of the Zodiac
is given in fig. 2, where the figures of a scarab and a ram-headed
man are divided off from the rest of the signs and from each other
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Jan. lol feGYPTIAN MAGtCAL WANDS. [1906.
by straight lines. In a well-drawn horoscope, the Houses are
divided from each other by lines ; in a modern horoscope, each
house is numbered, and the sign of the Zodiac to which it belongs is
written above it by its astrological symbol, and wiihin the House is
the astronomical symbol of any planet which happens to occur in
that sign. In this early astrology the representation is more simple ;
the House is given with only the sign of the Zodiac to which it
belongs, in this instance Aries and Cancer.
Here then are four out of the twelve signs of the Zodiac which
appear on the wands : —
Ram, or ram-headed god = Aries.
Double-sphinx = Gemini.
Scarab = Cancer.
Goddess = Scorpio.
Planets. — The planets are seven in number; Saturn, Jupiter,
Mars, Sol, Venus, Mercury, and Luna, and, according to the ancient
Greek usage, which has descended to our times, they each rule
two Houses (;>., signs of the Zodiac), with the exception of Sol
and Luna, which rule only one apiece.
Brugsch says {Aegypiologiey p. 338) that Egyptian astrology
recognised the same order, except that Jupiter and Mars change
places, Jupiter ruling. Aries and Scorpio, Mars, Sagittarius and
Pisces ; I am, however, inclined to think that the order was the
same as the Greek. The Houses of the Exaltations of the planets
appear, from the only indications left, to have been the same in
Egypt as in modern times. To quote from a mnemonic
rhyme, "The Moon is exalted in Taurus," and at Esneh and
Denderah {Desc. de fE^ypte, I 79, and IV, pi. 20) the bull, which
represents Taurus, cam'es on his back the disk of the moon. We
may therefore conclude that, if astrology has hardly changed in the
2000 years which have elapsed since the building of the Denderah
temple until the present day, it is hardly likely to have changed
even as much in the 2500 years which divide these ivory wands from
the Denderah temple.
The planets are represented at Denderah as hawks, distinguished
from one another by the crowns which they wear, but their charac-
teristics are so marked that in other places they are figured in other
shapes.
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Jan. io] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
Jupiter is, I believe, always a hawk, his name being ^y\/
Hor-up-sheia, which Brugsch {Ae^yptologie^ p. 336) says is the official
name of Osiris as king.
Saturn is called ^ f==^ ka pet^ "Bull of heaven," and is
represented as a bull-headed man.
Mars is called ^^^ Horakhti^ and is figured as a sun ©. In
Graeco-Roman times he is called ^. r-irn Hor-desJur^ * * The red
Horus"; in Greek, ^Eproai or 'Aprtfv, This planet is often considered
to be feminine among the Egyptians, and called Ifor deshert
The Sun as a planet is represented (Mariette, Denderah^ IV, 76)
as a disk on legs walking upon the body of the sky-goddess Nut.
Venus is identified with the Bennu-bird of Osiris, and in late
times is called ] ^ /^ neier dua^ " The god of the Morning-star."
Venus is always masculine in Egypt.
Mercury has two names, I US^ or I U'^^^:^ Sebek the
crocodile, and 1^ Set. Perhaps it would be more correct to say
that Sebek is his own name, and Set the god to whom he is
dedicated; but according to the Egyptian method he may be
represented either as a crocodile or as the Set-animal.
The Moon is commonly represented as the Sacred Eye, either
alone or carried by the ape which is the emblem of the Moon-god
Thoth.
Dekans. — The Dekans and Dekades offer the chief difficulties ;
the former may be represented by their own symbols, or under the
forms of the gods which govern them ; and as there are 36 dekans,
that makes 72 figures which can be used. Brugsch {Thes., p. 18)
gives the names and symbols of 58 dekades, the number of snakes
among the symbols being quite remarkable. The dekans denote
dates, and therefore their importance in a horoscope would be
second only to the Houses and the planets.
Constellations. Among the constellations "which are behind
Sothis" are ^^ ^^jH skethu, "the tortoise" and -*— -^^^
nesru, " Flame (?)."
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Jan. io] EGYPTIAN MAGICAL WANDS. [1906.
Taurt figures largely as a constellation in all Egyptian star-maps,
but in the earlier ones invariably with a crocodile on her back;
Taurt without the crocodile cannot be intended for the constellation.
The constellation round the Pole is represented by a jackal, and
this is striking when we remember that as a rule one end of the
wands bears a jackal's head. The other end has a lion's head, in
which I would see the sign Leo ; the two together representing the
solstices, Summer and Winter, North and South.
In applying this theory of their astrological use to the wands, I
find that it is upheld in so many instances as to induce me to believe
that it is the true solution. Although I cannot identify every sign,
yet enough can be identified with the planets and the signs of the
Zodiac to prove the fact of their astrological purpose, and the signs
of biith on each one shows that it was birth-astrology.
Fig. 3. In the Zodiac of Denderah we find Cancer represented
as a beetle, in Zodiacs of the Tombs of the Kings Scorpio is always
figured as a goddess, 1.^., as a woman, with her name Serq above her.
These two constellations hold the same place on the different sides
of the wand, and may therefore be considered as equally important.
A true birth-horoscope should be counted from the time, not merely
of birth, but of conception, which is evidently the case here, the
distance between Scorpio and Cancer being nine months. The one
horoscope modifies the other, when the future has to be read from
the signs. The planets of the two Houses are Mars and Luna.
Mars as the ruling planet is shown as a shining sun ; he also appears
as the shining sun on the other side of the wand alongside the
figures of his two houses, Scorpio and Aries. Luna as the Sacred
Eye appears at the far right hand corner of the reverse side of the
wand. Mercury under the form of Sebek the crocodile occurs three
times, once on the reverse side, where the figure is fully drawn out
and is placed above the Hawk and Sun (Jupiter and Mars), perhaps
10 show a conjunction with those planets; twice on the obverse,
where only the head is given. The positions of the heads are
interesting; one is in the middle of the wand, the other in the
right-hand corner. We know so little of ancient astrology that it is
impossible to say whether they are placed in those positions to
indicate their aspect to other planets or their direction to fixed stars
or constellations; or whether Mercury like Mars is placed beside
one of his houses, Gemini, represented by the double-headed
sphinx.
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Jan. lol SOCIEtY OF BIBLICAL AkCHiEOLOGY. [1906.
Fig. 4. Here I can only identify Luna as the Ape with the
sacred Eye, and Mercury as Set ; and I would suggest that the Lion
with the sacred Eye on his head and his knee is Sol, and that the
fire-sign is the constellation Nesru.
Fig. 16. First come three planets, Luna, Sol, and Saturn, perhaps
a conjunction of the three ; the three signs at the opposite end of
the wand appear to me to be the date — the House or sign of the
Zodiac, the Hour, and the Dekan constellation.
Fig. 19. Here are five figures between Taurt and the winged
serpent, two of which can be identified as planets; I therefore
presume that they are the five planets Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Mercury
and Venus. The first two figures are greatly damaged j the third.
Mars, is a female figure, but in late inscriptions Mars is constantly
spoken of as ^. ^ " the feminine Horus." The fourth is Set or
Mercury ; the fifth is a hawk-headed man representing Venus, which
among the Egyptians is essentially a masculine planet. The identi-
fication of the hawk with Venus is shown at Denderah {Dcsc. de
I'Egypte, IV, pL 20), where a human figure with two heads, a man's
and a hawk's, represents the planet.
In all astrology the ruling planet is looked upon as a protector.
A strong planet, when in the ascendant or as Lord of Mid-heaven,
will protect the "native" from ills and misfortunes innumerable,
and when favourably aspected, the good influence of that planet on
the fortunes of the •'native" is immensely increased. The ruling
planet exercises a continual influence on the life of the "native,"
and, except when in a definitely bad aspect, the influence is always
favourable and protective. This same idea of protection applies in
a lesser degree to the other stars.
The few inscriptions which remain upon the wands also point
to this same idea of the protective influence of the stars.
The purpose of these wands is V ^^y " Protection," and the
dekan-stars are called ^ V ^^^^^ ^^> "stars of protection."
(Brugsch, Thes.y p. 133.) One of the inscriptions of fig. 4 begins :
11^ Q Q^^^ ^^^ ^'^^^ >''^ ^^^9 "words spoken by the
fighter." In the tombs of the kings (Brugsch, Thes., p. 122) Set is
38
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Jan. io] EGYPTIAN MAGICAL WANDS. [1906.
called cy^ aha aa, '*The great fighter." Set is the same as
the planet Mercury, and on this wand Set occupies a prominent
place towards the middle of the obverse. In astrological language
he would be the Lord on the Nativity, i.e, the chief or strongest
planet in the horoscope, and would therefore be the star which
exercised most influence on the "native."
Fig. 9 gives k^ ___fl\ A "^^ ^^ medu ynuk kher uzat,
which Mr. Hall translates, " I am the possessor of the eye," but
taking kher in its literal sense of " under," this would read equally
well, " I am under the Moon," ue, the Moon is my ruling planet.
On some there is no inscription, but ^Q sa Ra^ " Protection of
Ra." Here I take Ra to mean the sun, not as a planet, but as the
ruler of the heavens, to whom all planets, stars and constellations are
in subjection.
No. 7. After the usual formula, the "protection of Ra" is
invoked "S^^ °5^ § 80 A S J ha khered py Nehy mes
Pert^ " around this child Nehy, born of Pert." Here the wand is
definitely for a child, and from the word-sign S) , probably a young
child. This is a clear proof that the wand was made for its owner
early in life.
The signs of wear which many of the wands show cannot be
explained, I think, by their having been worn on the person. On
most of them there is no means of attaching them securely ; besides,
they are never shown on any figure of that period, whether painting,
bas-relief, or statue. They are also never shown in any list or
pictures of objects intended for the use of the dead; but this is
easily accounted for if they are horoscopes, for at the death of the
" native " the use of the horoscope comes to an end. I account for
the signs of wear in this way : a horoscope when first drawn up is
fairly simple, merely indicating in a general way the character and
fortunes of the " native," and the stars which afford him protection ;
if definite information is wanted as to, e.g.^ a journey, the character
of a new acquaintance, an auspicious day for beginning any fresh
work, etc., the horoscope is sent to an astrologer, who calculates
from it the desired result. A simple horoscope like fig. 2 would
39
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Jan. io] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
require more additional calculation than an elaborate one like fig. 3,
and therefore shows more signs of wear.
The position and relative size of the figures appear to have some
definite meaning. Lane, in his notes to the Arabian Nights, describes
divination from the motion " or positions of birds or gazelles and other
beasts of the chase. Thus what was termed a Sdneh, i.e., such an
animal standing or passing with its right side towards the spectator,
was esteemed among the Arabs of good omen ; and a Bdreh, or an
animal of this kind with its left side towards the spectator, was held
as inauspicious." On these wands several of the figures, e.g., the
sun on legs, are represented sometimes turned to the left, sometimes
to the right, which, if my theory is correct, would show respectively
a bad or a good aspect of the planet or sign.
The relative positions of the planetary signs to each other appear
to show the Aspects : Conjunction, Sextile, Quartile, Trine, and
Opposition. And the size of a planetary sign, e.g., the crocodile on
fig- 3> which is very large in proportion to the other signs, indicates
the Lord of the Nativity, or the chief planet of the horoscope.
Fig. 2 (see Plate I). This is one of the simplest as well as one of
the oldest of the wands. The Houses are clearly shown as square
divisions, containing respectively the signs of Aries and Cancer.
These are the Houses of Conception and Birth, the House of Birth
being Aries, as it is in the principal place, in the middle of the wand.
The planets are given on the obverse, and are represented as follows :
Sol as a disk walking and with two uraei hanging from it ; Saturn
as a bull-headed man holding a sceptre ; Luna as the Ape with the
sacred Eye ; Mercury as a crocodile.
I read the figures thus : (i) The figure of Taurt, which I take
to be an astrological symbol, and may represent one of the " Signifi-
cators " which signify the events about to happen to the " native."
In modern astrology there are five significators, the Ascendant,
the Mid-heaven, the Sun, the Moon, and the Part of Fortune. In
early and less complicated astrology, the Sun and Moon would
probably be looked upon merely as planets, reducing the Significators
to three, which might be identified with the three birth-gods, Taurt,
Heqt and Bes, though this I think hardly likely ; the Ascendant
and Mid-heaven would be expressed by the position of the planet
on the wand. The three divinities may, however, very well be the
symbols for the Giver of Life, the Giver of Years, and the Lord of
the Nativity, and on a birth horoscope these symbols would be
40
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PLATE I.
Proi: Soi. Bibl. Arch. ^ Jan. ^ 1906.
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Jan. io] EGYPTIAN MAGICAL WANDS. [1906.
very appropriately expressed by figures of gods of birth. Of the
three, the term Giver of Life appears to me most applicable to Taurt.
On this wand, the unidentified planet, which I take to be Mars,
must be the Lord of the Nativity (/.<?., the strongest planet in the
horoscope), because being one of the leaders of the procession and
next to the Sun, he is evidently in the Ascendant, and in conjunction
with Sol. A Conjunction with the Sun, if it is Partil. />., exact, is
called In corde solis, and is one of the most beneficent of aspects.
Aries, one of the houses of Mars, is the House of Birth in this
horoscope, and one of the Decanates or Faces of Mars is in Aries*
All these combined, give Mars a greater number of dignities than
the other planets, and therefore make him Lord of the Nativity ; a
position which I take to be indicated by the Frog. Bes would
then indicate the Giver of Years. (2 and 3) Sol and a planet
unidentified, perhaps Mars, both moving towards the right. From
their position, />., leading the way, we may conclude that they are
in the Ascendant, Sol being the Giver of Life as indicated by his
position next to Taurt. They are divided from the next planet by
(4) the frog-sign, and are therefore placed closely together; a
position which evidently represents a Conjunction. A conjunction
of planets in the Ascendant is considered one of the most fortunate
and important of all aspects, and would be emphasized in any
horoscope, ancient or modern. The unidentified planet is the Lord
of the Nativity. (5) The bull-headed man, which is the planet Saturn.
From his position in the middle, and highest part, of the wand he
is the Lord of Mid-heaven, and from his position next to Bes, he is
the Giver of Years as well. Saturn stands alone, divided from Sol
and Mars by the frog-sign, and from the following planets by Bes*
Saturn in Mid-heaven is very important, and would exercise a very
strong influence on the horoscope. (6) Bes with snakes. (7) Luna
the Sacred Eye, followed by (8) Mercury the crocodile, from whom
she is partly divided by (9) a snake. This indicates an aspect of
the two planets with one another, but the interposition of the snake
shows a distant aspect, perhaps Trine, or even Opposition ; though,
as the figures face to the right, it is probably the auspicious aspect.
Trine. This is another strong combination, from the fact that
Cancer is the House of Conception, which gives more power to
Luna.
The reverse side of the wand offers more diflftculties, as I cannot
identify many signs, (i) Taurt, probably purely astrological; (2) a
41 D
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Jan. lo] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
lion, unidentified ; (3) a waved snake, perhaps the sign of a dekade ;
(4) a cat on a «^^-basket, unidentified; (5) Aries in the House of
Birth; (7) Cancer in the House of Conception; (8) a twisted
snake, probably the same as an astronomical sign or constellation at
Denderah ; (9) a panther, unidentified.
To recapitulate : Cancer is the House of Conception, Aries the
House of Birth, therefore Mars, the planet of Aries, is the ruling
planet. Only the strongest planets and their aspects are given;
Conjunction of Mars and Sol in the Ascendant; Saturn in Mid-
heaven ; Luna and Mars in Trine {see Plates).
That astrology was well-known in the Xllth Dynasty is shown
by the inscriptions on the coffin of Emseht, published by M. Daressy
{Annales du Service^ I, 8c). It begins with a seten dy hetep for
O^^^^ jI rlji^^ "^^ Lo^^ ^^ Heaven, in all his places."
[j]n®%^J| ^^^^ "Meskhu in the Northern heaven" (the
Great Bear); ^ % "Nut"; 13^ c^^^^^^ "^^^^ ^" ^^^
Southern heaven " (Orion). These are evidently parallel passages :
Ra, ruler of the starry host, and the chief constellation of the North ;
Nut, the sky goddess, and the chief constellation of the South. The
other constellations and stars are in pairs, the names jcined by the
word 8''''^ "Together with;" 0^^"^^^ "The Southern
Semd,'' and R ^^^^^"^^ "The Northern Semd:' M. Daressy
says that these are planets, the Southern Semd being Jupiter, the
Northern Semd Mercury. | \ ^ "The god traversing the sky"
and ^ "The upper arm " (of Orion). " The god traversing the
sky" is said by M. Daressy to be Saturn. "The upper arm" is a
dekan. Then comes A Jj "Sirius" and ^^\^ "The Great
Bear," a fixed star and a constellation. '^^^N " Akhy," and
+ ^^-^'^^ " That which is behind Akhy," both dekans. ,^\ 1
" Beginning of the thousands," and ^ T 1 " End of the
thousands," both dekans, perhaps the Milky Way i rffh "^ ^^ " The
42
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PLATE II.
Prot\ Soc. Bibl. Arch, ^ Jan. ^ 1906.
IVORY WAND. B.M., 24425.
Astrologically expressed.
Saturn I7 Lord of Mid-heaven,
Jupiter %
conjunction
Mars i 6 Q)
The Sun
Venus ?
Mercury ^
The Moon ])
Trine
A
J "1 The position in the Horoscope
5 J of 5 and ]) is conjectural.
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Jan. io] EGYPTIAN MAGICAL WANDS. [1906.
upper Khentet," and /^ "^ IL "The lower Khentet," both
dekans.
Thus the inscription contains the names of the ruler of the stars
and the sky-goddess, the two chief constellations of the North and
South, three planets, the most brilliant of the fixed stars, the most
brilliant group of stars which are always visible, and seven dekans.
This combination means nothing as it stands, but if we take the
names as referring to the horoscope of Emseht, they at once have a
definite meaning. Worship is paid to Ra and Nut as the rulers
of the sky, and to Orion and the Great Bear as the respective rulers
of the two parts of heaven. The dekans are used instead of the
signs of the Zodiac, and express the Houses which were most
fortunate to the " native," and the three planets were the most
important in the horoscope.
The "many protectors" referred to by the inscription on the
wand belonging to Mr. Hood, and recently published by Mr.
Legge (Proceedings, XXVII, p. 299), are the planets and other stars,
which are symbolised by the figures on the wand. The phrase
ti||||o r\
■¥• sa en dnkk may be translated " Protection for the life,"
a most appropriate expression for the horoscope of a new-born
child.
43
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Jan. io] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHi«OLOGY. [1906.
The next Meeting of the Society will be held on
Wednesday, February 14th, 1906, at 4.30 p.m., when the
following Paper will be read : —
R. Campbell Thompson, Esq., M,A.: "The Folklore
of Mossoul."
44
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SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHM06T PUBUCATIOKS.
A
GENERAL INDEX
TO THE
"PROCEEDINGS."
VOLS. XI— XX.
(MEMBERS, 5b.
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The Bronze Ornaments of the Palace Gates from
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Part V (the final part) with Introduction and descriptive letter-press,
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A few complete copies of the book remain unsold and can be
obtained on application to the Secretary.
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Society of Biblical ARCHiEOLOGY.
37, Great Russell Street, London, W.C.
COUNCIL, 1906.
President,
Prof. A. H. Sayce, D.D., &c., &c.
Vtce'IVesidenis.
The Most Rev. His Grace The Lord Archbishop of York.
The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Salisbury.
The Most Hon. the Marquess of Northampton.
The Right Hon. the Earl of Halsbury.
The Right Hon. Lord Amherst of Hackney.
Walter Morrison.
Alexander Pbckovbr, LL.D., F.S.A.
F. G. Hilton Price, Dir. S.A.
W. Harry Rylands, F.S.A.
The Right Hon. General Lord Grenfell, K.C.B., &c., &c.
The Right Rev. S. W. Allen, D.D. (R.C. Bishop of Shcwsbury).
Rev. J. Marshall, M.A.
Joseph Pollard.
Council,
Rev. Charles James Ball, M.A.
Dr. M. Gaster.
F. Ll. Griffith, F.S.A.
H. R. Hall, M.A.
Sir H. H. Howorth, K.C.LE.,
F.R.S., &c.
L. W. King, M.A.
Rev. Albert Lowy, LL.D., &c.
Prof. G. Maspbro.
Claude G. Montefiore.
Prof. E. Naville.
Edward S. M. Pbrowne, F.S.A.
Rev. W. T. Filter.
P. Scott-Moncribff, B.A.
R. Campbell Thompson, B.A.
Edward B. Tylor, LL.D.,
F.R.S., &c.
Honorary TVvanir^— Bernard T. Bosanquet.
S€cretarjh-^MJTV.K L. Nash, M.R.C.S., F.S.A.
Honorary Steretary for Foreign Correspondence — F. *Leggb.
Honorary Librarian—'^ KLT^^ L. Nash, M.R.C.S., F.S.A.
HARRISON AND SONS, PRINTERS IN ORMNART TO HIS MAJBSTT. ST.
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VOL. XXVI 1 1/ .- -. Part 2.
';; jb'M 111003 '
OF
THE SOCIETY
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY.
-^'^-
VOL. XXVIIL THIRTY-SIXTH SESSION.
Second Meeting, February 14/A, 1906.
-*o^-
CONTENTS.
PACE
The Hon. Emmeline Plunket.— The "Star of Stars" and
"Dilgan*'— (^^/7««iPdO {Plate) 47-53
Seymour de Ricci.— The Zouche Sahidic Exodus Fragment
(Exodos xvi, 6— xix, 11). From the Original Manuscript 54-^7
Percy E. Newberry.— To what Race did the Founders of
Sais belong? {2 Plates) 68-75
R. Campbell Thompson, M,A.—TYit Fplklore of Mossoul. I. 76-86
F. Leggb.— A New Carved Slate (fragmentary). {Plate) 87
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PUBLISHED AT
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. 12
6
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6
... 10 6
» 11.
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.. 8
.
.. 10
6
.1 VII,
II
2 .
.. lO
6
... 12 6
,• II,
>»
3 .
.. 8
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. 10
6
M VII,
If
3 .
.. ID
6
... 12 6
n Mil,
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.. i6
.
.. 21
o
.. VIII.
II
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.. lO
6
... 12 6
,. IV,
99
I .
. 10
6 .
. 12
6
„ VIII,
II
2 .
.. 10
6
... 12 6
„ IV,
II
2 .
. 10
6 .
. 12
6
11 VIII,
II
3 •
.. lO
6
... 12 6
„ V.
II
I .
. 12
6 ..
• 15
o
,. IX,
•1
I .
.. lO
6
... 12 6
» V,
II
2 .
. lO
6 .
. 12
6
.. IX,
II
2 .
.. 10
6
... 12 6
„ VI.
II
I .
.. 10
6 .
. 12
6
* Vol. Ill caji only be sold with complete sets,
t Vol. VII, Pkrt I
PROCEEDINGS.
Vols. I—XXV. Prices on application to the Secretary.
To
To Membcre.
Non-Membefs.
X.
d.
i.
d
General Index to Vols. XI-
-XX
... S
...
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Vol. XXVI,
Part I
1904
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per
Part
.. 6
» XXVI,
Part 2
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... s
II
.. 6
„ XXVI,
Parts
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II
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„ XXVI,
Part 4
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... 12
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II
... IS
6
„ XXVI,
Parts
1904
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„ XXVI,
Parte
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•. 13
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,. XXVII,
Part I
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„ XXVII,
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•• 13
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„ XXVII.
Parts
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i»
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i>
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Parts
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II
8
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»i
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A few complete sets of the Transactions and Proceedings still remain on
sale, which may be obtained on application to the Secretary, W. L. Nash,
F.S.A.. 37. Great Russell Street, London, WX.
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't JUN 111905 Yi
OF
THE SOCIETY
OF
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY.
THIRTY-SIXTH SESSION, 1906-
Second Meetingy February 14///, 1906.
Sir H. H. HOWORTH, K.CLE., KR,S., 6-^.,
IN THE CHAIR.
-9^S-
[No. ccix.] 45
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Feb. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY. [1906.
The following gifts to the Library were announced, and
thanks ordered to be returned to the Donors : —
J. Pollard, Esq.— "The History of Egypt." By Samuel Sharpe.
„ " Modern Egypt and Thebes." By Sir Gardner
Wilkinson, F.I^.S.
F. Legge, Esq, — " Scarabs — an introduction to Egyptian Seals
and Signet-rings." By Percy E. Newberry.
The Royal Museum, Leyden. — '* Suten-xeft, the Royal Book."
THE LIBRARY.
BOOK-BINDING FUND.
The following donations have been received : —
January, 1906: —
W. H. Rylands, Esq., F.S.A. {Fourth Donation) ;^2 2 o
W. L. Nash, Esq., F,S.A. {Third Donation) ... ;^2 2 o
The following Candidate for Membership was elected : —
Rev. A. E. Sufferin, M,A.^ Weybridge.
The following Paper was read : —
R. Campbell Thompson, Esq., M,A.\ "The Folklore of
Mossoul."
Thanks were returned for this communication.
46
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Feb. 14] THE "STAR OF STARS" AND "DILGAN." [1906.
THE "STAR OF STARS" AND "DILGAN/*
By the Hon. Emmeltne Plunket.
( Continued from page 13.)
In the illustration (see Plate) I have adopted as an approximate
limit of visibility a circle — having the sun as its centre — of 13°, and
I have thus attempted to show the relation of the sun, at the initial
point of the zodiac, in the horizon line of an observer in the latitude
of Babylon, just as the whole constellation of the Southern Fish
surmounted that line, at the dates in round numbers of 2000 and
3000 B.C. I have also drawn the horizon line for Fomalhaut — the
very conspicuous star of the first magnitude at the mouth of the
Fish — and given its circle of visibility when the sun was 8° to the
east of the initial point of the zodiac.
According to Mr. Penrose's observations quoted above, the
dotted circle of 13° given as the circle of visibility would suit for
that star;* though for the fainter stars in the head of the Fish a
wider circle ought to be allowed. I have, however, given the same
extent to the circles in each case, as it is not indeed possible, not
knowing what were the methods pursued, nor what were the powers
of observation possessed by Accadian astronomers, to give more
than a rough approximation to what they would have calculated
as the limit of visibility of a star rising heliacally.
Granting, however, these uncertainties of detail, it may be
inferred from a study of the illustration that the Southern Fish rose
heliacally when the sun attained to the initial point of the zodiac at
a date nearer to 3000 than to 2000 b.c.
" * To avoid a multiplicity of lines, the 3° for the altitude of the star and 10
of depression for the sun have been combined in one circle.
47 E 2
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Feb. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
In such a year as that represented in the illustration the
constellation during the month Tebet would have been invisible,
lost in the overpowering light of the sun, which in that month
traversed parts of the constellations Aquarius and Capricomus.
Early in the month Sebat the westernmost stars of the Southern
Fish would begin to be visible just before sunrise ; but not till some
date in Adar would the whole constellation rise visibly above the
horizon line, the sun then having arrived at the initial point of the
zodiac.
It has been a comparison of the tablet which described the
planet Venus as the spark of Dilgan in the month Sebat, with other
tablets which referred to Dilgan as worthy of observation at the
beginning of the year — it has been a comparison of these various
tablets which has given, as it seems to me, a reasonable ground for
suggesting that Dilgan was the Accadian name of the Southern Fish ;
and it further seems to me possible to detect in the Venus tablet, at
lines 28 and 29, a reference to the heliacal rising of the bright
star Fomalhaut :—
" 28. In the month Adar the spark of the Fish of Hea is Venus
" (and also Mercury).
" 29. In the month Adar on the 3rd day (Venus) rises, and
" in Nisan . . . ."
The Fish of Hea, in line 28, refers probably to the zodiacal
constellation Pisces, to the westernmost degrees of which the
planet attained at the close of the month, though as we do not
yet know definitely by what names Accadian astronomers dis-
tinguished from each other the many fish and marine monsters
represented on the celestial sphere near to the constellation
Aquarius, it is not possible to feel quite sure whether reference is
not still here made, under another name than Dilgan, to the
Southern Fish, near to which the path of the planet lay during the
greater part of the month Adar.
However that may be, it is to the words "and also Mercury,
&c. . . . ," that I wish to direct attention. At the date when the
above translation of the Venus tablet was made, the Accadian name
of the planet Mercury had not been correctly ascertained ; the
words "(and also Mercury)" are in brackets, and may be looked
on as a provisional translation, and the same may be said of the
word " (Venus) " in line 29.
If instead of these suggested renderings we might think that the
48
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Feb. 14] THE "STAR OF STARS" AND "DILGAN." [1906.
word translated "Mercury" really designated the star Fomalhaut,
we might read the two lines as follows : —
" 28. In the month Adar the spark of the Fish of Hea is Venus
" . . . . Fomalhaut.
" 29. In the month Adar on the third day rises . . . ."
The appearance of Fomalhaut on the 3rd of Adar, after its long
period of invisibility, would have been a noticeable phenomenon,
whereas Venus had for more than a month been a glorious object
in the eastern sky, and the planet for some months to come would
still continue to appear, but with diminishing lustre, as a morning
star.
If the reference is to Fomalhaut, it would furnish us with a clue
by which it might be approximately determined what was the latest
date at which the observations recorded in the tablet could have
been made.
In such a year as that dealt with in the illustration, the month of
Adar, it is assumed, had by intercalation in the preceding year been
pushed forward to its furthest limit in the Accadian calendar ; yet
even in such a year Fomalhaut could not have risen visibly on the
3rd of Adar at a date much later than 3000 b.c. If, however, the
conjunction of Venus recorded in the tablet took place, as possibly
might have been the case, in a year when the months had not been
pushed quite so far forward amongst the constellations, the observa-
tion of the heliacal rising of Fomalhaut on the 3rd of Adar might
have been made at a much higher date than 3000 b.c.
The clue obtained therefore would give us the latest possible,
but not the earliest possible date for the recorded observation.*
Without laying much stress on these speculations concerning the
rising of Fomalhaut on the 3rd of Adar, but returning to the main
proposition here made, that Dilgan was the Accadian name of the
constellation of the Southern Fish, and trusting to the strong
probability that in very early ages, and still on into Babylonian
times, the heliacal rising of its stars announced the approach of
the calendrical new year, I am led to think that the legend of the
•* Monstrous Cannes " handed down to us by Berosus, embodied not
an historical but an astronomical myth, that it did not refer at all
to the conquest or civilization of Babylonia by a race of men
* It must, however, be pointed out that if the initial point of the zodiac
proposed by Epping and Strassmaier is the correct one, the above suggested dates
must be lowered by about 1000 years.
49
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Feb. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY. [1906.
arriving from the south in ships, but to the heliacal rising of Dilgan.
Berosus tells us : —
" There was originally at Babylon a multitude of men of foreign
" race who had colonised Chaldea, and they lived without order
" like animals. But in the first year there appeared from out the
** Erythrean Sea where it borders upon Babylonia, an animal endowed
" with reason, who was called Oannes. The whole body of the
" animal was that of a fish, but under the fish's head he had another
" head, and also feet below, growing out of his fish's tail, similar to those
" of a man ; also human speech, and his image is preserved to this
" day. This being used to spend the whole day amidst men, without
'' taking any food, and he gave them an insight into letters, and
" sciences, and every kind of art ; he taught them how to found
" cities, to construct temples, to introduce laws and to measure land ;
** he showed them how to sow seeds and gather in crops ; in short,
*' he instructed them in every thing that softens manners and makes
" up civilization, so that from that time no one has invented any
** thing new. Then when the sun went down this monstrous Oannes
" used to plunge back into the sea and spend the night in the midst
" of the boundless waves, for he was amphibious."
For dwellers in Babylonia, and especially for those at the mouth
of the Euphrates, the constellation of the Southern Fish rose as it
were out of the Erythrean Sea. Fomalhaut, by . far its most con-
spicuous star, rose about 35° east of south.
At the season when Fomalhaut rose heliacally it might well have
been thought of as accompanying the sun, and therefore as " spend-
*' ing the whole day amidst men." When the sun went down
Fomalhaut did not indeed ** plunge back into the sea," but it was no
longer above the horizon, and morning after morning for many days it
would again and again rise out of the Erythrean Sea. But further, if
the season marked by the appearance of Fomalhaut in the early
dawn was that, as I have suggested, of the beginning of the
Babylonian calendrical year, there is no diflSculty in understanding
how so many beneficent acts were attributed to the divine '* being "
who, rising out of the Erythrean Sea, heralded the advent of the most
auspicious of all days, the first of the new year.
This ancient Oannes legend has been handed down to us in a
language foreign to the country in which it first took shape, and it
may be that instead of the words " in the first year " we should read
" on the first of the year," and so reading the passage we should,
50
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Feb. 14] THE "STAR OF STARS" AND "DILGAN." [1906.
I think, easily recognize in the being who appeared on the first ot
the year, and whose whole body was that of a fish, the constellation
Dilgan, the Southern Fish.
If now we adopt the opinion that Dilgan was the Southern Fish,
we have still to inquire how this opinion must affect the answer to
be given to the question of the identity of the " star of stars " with
Dilgan or with Capella.
And as to its equation with Dilgan the answer, either on the
equinoctial or the zodiacal theory, must be in the negative.
The star of stars "of the rule" was, as we have learned, to be
observed setting together with the new moon at the beginning of the
month Nisan, the first month of the year ; it must therefore have
followed and not preceded the sun during that first month.
According to the equinoctial theory the sun 2000 b.c. during
the first month of the year traversed the constellation of the Bull,
and according to the zodiacal theory the constellation of the Ram.
But when the sun was in either of these constellations the setting of
the Southern Fish could not have been observed, as it preceded and
did not follow that of the sun.
The first month of a year announced by the setting of the new
moon together with the Southern Fish must have been a month
during which the sun traversed parts of the constellations Sagittarius
and Capricorn us, and one which in Babylonian times must have
fallen in the late autumn.
If therefore Dilgan was the Southern Fish, it could not have been
the star of stars " of the rule ; " and we are thus brought face to face
with a discrepancy between the evidence of the Venus tablet above
considered, on which the identification of Dilgan with the Southern
Fish was based, and with that of the unpublished tablet referred to
by Prof. Sayce and Mr. Bosanquet, on which the identity of Dilgan
with the " star of stars " was based.
But it has been admitted, and it must still be admitted, that very
many difficulties and apparent discrepancies are to be met with
in the study of the obscure astronomical tablets. Further research
on the part of Assyriologists will no doubt result in the reconciling
of many such discrepancies ; meanwhile for those who hold that the
Accadian calendar was zodiacal, there can be no doubt that the
astronomical probabilities are in favour of the identification of
Dilgan with the Southern Fish, and not of that of Dilgan with
Capella.
5t
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Feb. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
The claim for the identification of the star of stars with Capella,
disencumbered of its equation with Dilgan, still remains, but can
only be based on the assumptions that the Accadian year was
equinoctial, and the date of the origin of " the rule " was not earlier
than 2000 B.C
But, as I have pointed out before, it is not possible to assume
either of these propositions as axioms; and if the arguments in
favour of Dilgan being the Southern Fish are accepted, the propo-
sition that the Accadian year was equinoctial will appear scarcely
tenable.
With increased confidence therefore in the zodiacal as opposed
to the equinoctial theory, I now venture fo suggest a quite different
identification for the star of stars than that of Capella.
In pursuance of this object we have to inquire: Is there any
very conspicuous star, or group of stars, which might worthily have
been chosen by Accadian astronomers to mark by its seleniacal
setting the beginning of a year dependent on the sun's entrance into
the constellation Aries ? The answer to this question lies at our
very hand.
There is, I think, In the heavens no star or asterism which more
easily attracts the attention and admiration of even the most casual
star-gazer than does the Pleiades group ; that —
" .... swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid."
In all lands and in all literatures the "sweet influences of the
Pleiades " have been sung.
This group of stars not only at 2000 B.C., but during all the
ages of Accadian and Babylonian history could have served, and,
indeed, down to the present day might still serve, to determine,
according to the method described in the tablet, the length of soli-
lunar years whose beginning was fixed at the initial point of the
Accadian zodiac.
I have not been able to ascertain what are the cuneiform signs
which stand in the tablet for the "star of stars," nor in what way^
those signs are transliterated ; but it has struck me that the name of
the Pleiades, or rather of the brightest star in that group, the Pleiad,
as it is given by Epping and Strassmaier in the Zeitschrift fur
Assyriologie (1892), might bear a meaning not very dissimilar to
that of the "star of stars." At pp. 224 and 225 a list is given
of 33 important stars the positions of which have been definitely
52
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\
Soc. BibL Arch.^ February^ 1906.
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Feb. 14] THE "STAR OF STARS" AND "DILGAN." [1906.
ascertained The name of the Pleiad there appears as " Temennu
On another page of the same paper (251) the writers draw atten-
tion in a footnote to the fact that according to Jensen the sign
^y may be transliterated as " Mulu " or ** Kakkabu," words which
I often observe are elsewhere translated as star or stars.
I am quite ignorant of cuneiform writing, Accadian or Assyrian,
but what seems to me the strong astronomical probability that the
Pleiades or the Pleiad was " the star of stars " of the rule, has led me
to think, or at least to hope, that the name of the " star of stars " of
the tablet may have been rendered in the Babylonian tablets studied
by Epping and Strassmaier by the signs ^f ^y, and that those
signs transliterated Te-te might bear the meaning of " star, star,"
" stars," or ** star of stars."
If Assyriologists do not forbid these renderings of the Babylonian
name of the Pleiad, and if it should be granted that the tablet quoted
at the head of this paper contains an ancient Accadian observation
of the simultaneous setting of that star and of the new moon of the
month Nisan, then the case for an Accadian sidereal year as opposed
to an Accadian equinoctial year must, I think, be considered as very
firmly established, and thus a point of vantage will have been gained
for the elucidation of many other astronomical, chronological, and
mythological problems.
53
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Feb. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHifSOLOGY. [1906.
THE ZOUCHE SAHIDIC EXODUS FRAGMENT,
(Exodus xvi, 6 — xix, 11),
FROM THE Original Manuscript.
By Seymour de Ricci.
This article contains an exact copy of the first six leaves of MS.
Zouche 109, belonging to Lord Zouche, and deposited on loan at
the British Museum with the other Zouche MSS., also known as
Curzon or Parham MSS.*
The fragment consists of six consecutive leaves (31 x 25
centimeters; writing 25 x 20), paged from 77 to 88 on the right-
hand upper corner of the odd pages and on the left-hand upper
corner of the even ones. I do not consider these numerals as being
written in the same hand as the text.
The body of the text is written in two columns of thirty-two
lines, in a large circular uncial hand, I would ascribe to the VII th or
Vlllth century a.d. There are no coloured initials nor ornaments
of any kind, the initial letters being larger than the other ones :
paragraphs are occasionally noted by projecting letters of ordinary'
size. Punctuation is extensively used, and takes the form of a full-
stop, half way up the height of the letters, and supplemented at times
by an accent ^ which is also used by itself. Some vowels are
distinguished by the two dots " others by a circumflex accent '*'. I
have endeavoured in my copy to reproduce accurately all these signs
exactly as they stand in the manuscript.
A single leaf of the same MS., paged 134-35, measuring 28 x 22 J
centimeters, and containing Exodus xxvi, 24-36, is preserved in
the Vatican Library (Borgia 4). It proves conclusively that the
Zouche leaves come from the Deir - Amba - Shenoudah (White
Monastery), near Akhmtm.
' The volume is very briefly described in Curzon*s Catalogue fof materials
or writing . . . etc. (London, 1849, folio), p. 28, n. 4. The Exodus leaves are
not mentioned by him.
54
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F«B. 14] THE ZOUCHE SAHIDIC EXODUS FRAGMENT. [1906.
This text was first copied by Rev. H. Tattam, who merely noted
it in his papers as a ** Sakidic fragment of the book of Exodus^ copied
from an ancient fragment on vellum, Cairo, January 29M, 1839."
Tattam's copy was copied in 1848 by the German Moritz Gotthilf
Schwartze, who died soon after, and most of whose papers were
given to Paul de Lagarde by Alexander von Humboldt. Schwartze's
copy was published in 1880 by Adolf Erman, Bruchstikke der
oberdgypHschen Ubersetzung des alten Testamentes, in the Nachrichten
von der K. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften und der Georg- August s-
Universitdt zu Gottingen, 1880, pp. 407-414 (see p. 402).
It was reprinted in the first volume of Cardinal Ciasca's Sacrorum
Bibliorum fragmenta Copio-Sahidica Musei Borgiani (Romae, 1885,
4'), pp. 46-51-
Erman did not know where the original MS. was, as Tattam's
copy said nothing about the owner of these precious leaves. They
were identified as being in MS. Zouche 109 by H. Hyvemat, in his
excellent "Etudes sur les versions coptes dela Bible" {Revue biblique.
Vol. V, 1896, p. 554, and VI, 1897, p. 59).
Tattam's copy is not very accurate ; it gives neither the division
into pages nor the division into lines. For such a valuable
Scripture text * as the Zouche Exodus it was highly desirable to have
a reliable edition.
2 For these parts of Exodus (xvi, 6 — xix 11) it is the only evidence
available, if we except a few verses (xvii, 1-7 and xix, i-ii) contained in a late
liturgical MS. on paper (Borgia 99) and a few other verses (xvi, 27-36) in a
Bibliothique NcUionaU MS.
55
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Feb. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY. (1906.
xeunuATMpor
eOT6TIJA6IU6
2C6n^oeicri6M
T4M|ijTHTTIie
BOAeunKAeu
KHue • unijjiT
TIIAMATenOOOT
unsoeic'eu
nTp€3C|CCOTU
eneriJKpupu
enijo^rre •
AllOIIAOAIIOM
IIIU2L'6T6TIJ
Kpupunpoij •
no^wqoiirio'iuco
HTpcinxoeiG
+iiHTrjrieeM
AquniiATupoT
eo'eoTcuu •
A ..
AVCUeONOeiKU
^llATll^TooTe
ercei • Anxonic
PApccoTuene
TIIKpiipUMAIM
TCOTII6T6TM
Kpupuuuoq
eeoTiiepcni •
AIJOIJCrOAIlOIJ
Miu'epenoTM
KpupUPAp^O
56
onAiieeoTue
pOII^ • AAAAOeOTIJ
eniiOTTe •
ne^rAqAGHcriuu)
TCHCIJIJA^plJ
AApCOII • 2C6A^IC
TiTCYiiArcorH
THpCIJlliSHpe
uniHA • 3ce+ne
TijovoeiiieeoTii
uneuToeBOA
un^oeic' • Aqccu
TUPApencrFij
Kpupu • Aq
UjA2C6AeiJcriAApaiii
lillAepiJTCTIIA
rainiTHpcIii
li^HpeunTiiA
AVKOTOVeepAl*
6T6PHUOC •
ACfOTCDIJ^nBOA
licrmeooTU
n^oeicepAieM
0TKA00A6
Aq."i A3cencri n^co
eiciiiiAepiiucu
TCHo'o(|xcoij
UOC^fSAVcUITU
eneKpupuiiM
^MHpeuniHA •
lyA^eiiuuATeK
^CUUIJOC'^OU
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THE ZOUCHE SAHIDIC EXODUS FRAGMENT.
Feb. 14]
OH
HMAVIipOYee
TeTMAOYtOUII
26M<\q • ATCOU
nMATWerOOTG
ereriJAcem
oeiKMTeTiiei
ue2:eAMOKne
n3f«oi<:n«Tij
MOYTe • poY
2>eAeAq^a)ne
AceieepAiifCTi
OT2HunHpe^
iXGeiOBCMTnA
peUBOAH •
gjTooTeAeAqjiico
ne^epo+coTG
MHreneciiTU
nKUITHMTnJL
peUDOAH •
i^VCOeiCeHHTG
6ICOTMK4\'CK|
noK2ipuneoiji
n^CixiV • ueeii
ovBJiejyHTeq
oYOB^Meeij
OT3CAq?p..vV2l
i^TMATAeepoq
Mcrm^Hpnu
niHA • nexe
noYA'noTA'ij
neT?iT OYcoq
[1906.
n:
2^60TnenAi •
ueYcooTiirAp
AMxeorne •
esAqMAYMcriuco
cHCxenAino
nooiKeMTAri:?cf>
eiCTAAqilHTIJG
OTOuq • RAino
n:?iAxeeMTAnyo
eiceoiiqeTOO
TM • xeccooYee
20VHIJ2HTq •
neTHnenoTA^
nOTA^ • OVUJIC5TA
neKATATiinBii
»reTU+Y.XH •
IIoTAnoTAUApoq
ciooTeeeoTM
WMeTOYHeimiiAq •
^V6ip«A62lllAm
criiJ^HpnuniHA •
ATccooveeeoTij
uiiAneeoTouii
RAnKori • AYU)ii
THpoY^rrqil
nj^i • unoRAne
eoropeoTo •
ATCOnAnKOYIU
nq^u>u)T •
noYA' nOTA\\C|CtO
oYeeeoTiJMueT
Hnepoq •
57
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Feb. 14]
SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHi€OLOGY.
[1906.
Ile^cAqAeiJATMcri
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uneqij'n^icone
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58
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nCABBATOMPAp
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iJHirije20TM •
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Feb. 14] THE ZOUCHE SAHIDIC EXODUS FRAGMENT.
n
DAToune • xeu
noTCiutjTepAiiJ
2HTq • AG^CO
[1906.
n6Aeeunu62c<i
iyqM2oovA2oei
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neqcon' • xexi
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59
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Feb. 14]
SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY.
[1906.
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!^6 U niHAAYOT
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60
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— A
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Feb. 14]
nB
THE ZOUCHE SAHIDIC EXODUS FRAGMENT.
[1906.
unei.\Aoc eTiK6
KOTineijcoei
coueepoi •
Il62CAqAeMcri n3L'o
6ICMMA2pUUa)
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AqeipeAoeiMAiM
criucoTCHc • unou
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peuniHA'AVCco
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uoTTeenpAMU
nUA6fuUAT3:6
61
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epAieiipA<|>iAaiij •
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MCriUCOYCHC •
AqBCUKeBOAAq
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14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
nr
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TAneUHTAA •
nuooreeiJOT
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62
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Feb. 14] THE ZOUCHE SAHIDIC
EXODUS FRAGMENT. [1906.
QA
UU10TCHCMC6
UTCpOK^UIJTGK
<|>iopAeiueiLJtiui
ceiuo'uundK
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63
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[1906.
acGAqTorxooT
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njiiouuucoY
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— A.
MAYMceei^^Apoi •
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roya'tatcabooy
64
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Feb. 14] THE ZOUCHE SAHIDIC EXODUS FRAGMENT.
[1906.
eMoreecAeMB
unuoTxe^uii
neqMOUoc •
n62i:AqA6M4\qiJ
crin:^ouuuco
vcHc'xeMrei
iilOTCOOTTM •
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MA^^trucrouAiJ
6AAqUATAAK •
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pUMTpeMATHIJ
oreecAeMeu
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Mouoc • Tjtta
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2caci2hV • mFfa
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atcumamuht'm
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65
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14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
iWconeiAAOCTH
:»HpeuniHA?u
pcjllHTe2paiG
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n6qUA2MOT6l
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6BOAeuniHATH
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pq • AqKAeiCTAU
TOeBOAUnTO
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or • AqBCOKB
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epAi ijcri ucoTCHC
MAM^e • ATCOM
eiuRTOOTU
AIJTAIOY • AVIUM
fiMorre • Aquor
aijuht' • ATKpiue
TeepoqiJcrinMov
UnAAOCMMATMIU •
Te'eBOA2unTo
^AxeAGMiuer
oreq^fcoiJiuoc •
A^ocoMoreitje
2^6MAIMeTKMA
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kiob' • MI'OYOM'
coBKAeuerKpi
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lloflUOOT •
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AfiBiuKeepAie
illJpUMKHUe •
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J^IOUTUeBOT^
eGMTMeMAeXOC •
UrieiGBOAMM
AeiCA?MTHTTM
66
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Fbb. 14] THE ZOUCHE SAHIDIC EXODUS FRAGMENT.
[I90«.
620TMepOI •
TeMOTcreiwoY
ccorijeTeTM
:^<\IJCUITU6n<l
2pOOY • MTeTM
KH • T6TM<\:^UJ
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ijiTioTMAeijTe
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UMTOTHHB • ATCU
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pocunAAOC •
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TAnMOTT620
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67
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Feb. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
TO WHAT RACE DID THE FOUNDERS OF SAIS
BELONG?
By Percy E. Newberry.
Evidence has lately been accumulating to show that the inhabi-
tants of the Delta in the earliest historical times differed to some
extent in race and culture from those of Upper Egypt ; but we are
still in the dark as to who these people really were. The object of
the present paper is to draw attention to a very interesting fact
regarding the dwellers in the North-western Delta which has as yet
escaped the notice of archaeologists.
Of the early history of Lower Egypt we know little beyond the
merest outlines. That it was at a very early period divided up
into a number of petty kingdoms, with a Chieftain at the head of
each,^ is certain. At a later period these Chieftains were united
under a common ruler, a king of Lower Egypt, who appears to
have been originally a Chieftain of Sais,* and whose capital was Sais.^
The chief deity of this city was the goddess Neith, and the crown
which she is generally represented as wearing is the same as that
which was worn by the pre-Menite kings of the Delta.* How many
* Newberry-Garstang, A SJiort History of Ancient Egypt ^ p. 17.
^Newberry, "On the Horus-title of the Kings of Egypt," P,S.B.A.y
Vol. XXVI, p. 298.
' In the inscriptions of the XXVIth Dynasty there are often references to a
temple of Osiris at Sais that bore the significant name ]\^ I, which means
" the Residence of the King of Lower Egypt " — a name which Mr. Griffith
(Petrie, Royal Tombsj I, p. 37) has observed may well preserve an important
relic of history.
^ On the Palermo stone the names of the kings of Lower Egypt are each
determined by the sign ^ .
68
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Fbb. 14] THE FOUNDERS OF SAIS. [1906.
kings of Lower Egypt there may have been we do not know ; but
the remains of the names of thirteen of them are found on the
Palermo stone.^ These Delta people, if they did not themselves
invent the system of hieroglyphic writing, at all events adopted and
Egyptianized it. They were clever artists, especially in sculpture,
and it seems probable that they were advanced in the science of
astronomy, for to them the Upper Egyptians owed the introduction
of the Calendar.* Their proficiency in writing and carving alone
show how civilized these Delta people were ; 7 they were nevertheless
conquered by a less cultured race, the Upper, or Dynastic, Egyptians,
on whom they imposed their civilization.
These Upper Egyptian conquerors were led by a king named
Narmer. He appears to have married Hetep,^ a Saite princess,
who brought with her to Upper Egypt a number of Saite attendants.®
It is possible that she was the mother of Aha (Menes), the Founder
of the Monarchy and the first king of United Egypt.^^ fhe name of
this queen occurs on several small tablets found in a royal tomb at
' Schafer, Etn Bnuhstuck aliagypHscher AnnaUn^ p. 14. The names are : —
(I) pu, (2) Seka, (3) Kha-au, (4) Tau, (5) Thesh, (6) Neheb(?), (7) Uaz-an,
(8) Mekha, (9) a ; of the remaining four names only the determinatives
are preserved.
• Breasted, History^ p. 32.
' Newberry- Garstang. Short History^ pp. 18, 19. Sals was celebrated for its
artists, and the Saite school of sculpture is, I believe, traceable right through the
whole course of Egyptian history.* Sais was also famous for its learned doctors
(see Ebers Papyrus^ p. 47).
• I read the name of this queen Hetep ** Peace," " Contentment," a common
^yptian name, rather than Neith-hetep ; the Neith-sign which usually accom-
panies it I take to be the title " Chieftainess of the Saite nome " (see P,S,B.A.^
Vol. XXVI, p. 298). In the Brussels Museum there is actually an end of an
ivory wand inscribed T3i«i£=a , "The Consort, Hetep," without the Neith-sign.
' Like Gilukhipa, the foreign wife of Amenhetep III, in later times (see
Newberry, Scarabs, PI. XXX). Petrie {Royal Tombs, II, p. 33) remarks: "It
will be noticed that out of 70 [grave-]stones [of domestics] with signs from around
[the tomb of] Zer, 16 have names compounded with Neith ; one may name Horns
(No. 100), but no other deity is mentioned. This strongly shows that the
domestics and harem of the king belonged to the Neith-worshipping Libyans,
rather than to the Dynastic race which specially adored Hathor." Zer, it should
be remarked, was the successor of Mena, and the stelae found around his tomb
may well have belonged to the attendants (nearly all females) of Queen Hetep ;
Petrie says that the toilet articles of Hetep were found in the graves of her
servants.
^ Newberry-Garstang, Short History, p. 19.
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Naqada and on many small objects discovered at Abydos. Accom-
panying the name on some of the monuments^^ is the sign ^ ,
which here I read as a title, "Princess of Sais,"!* and on three
of her toilet objects^* occurs the significant group T , " Consort
of the Double Dominion." ^* This latter title was borne by Nefret,
the queen of Senusret 11,^^ and by Hatshepsdt.^®
Three or four generations later we find another king of the
Upper Egyptian 1st Dynasty — Den — taking for his consort a
princess named Mer-neith, "the beloved of Neith," who, to judge
from her name, was also a daughter of the House of Sais. It is at
this period that we find a remarkable advance in the culture of the
Upper Egyptian people, due probably to the influence of this
powerful and enlightened queen; and it is important to note that
after this time and up to the end of the Old Kingdom, women of
the highest rank, and even queens themselves, often took the title
of Priestess of Neith.i7
Now the question arises, To what people did these princesses of
Sais and pre-Menite kings of the Delta belong ?
That they were worshippers of Neith is certain. Neith was
essentially a Delta goddess, and the seat of her cult was Sais.^® she
is, however, generally regarded by Egyptologists as of foreign origin
" Petrie, Royal Tombs, II, Pi. II, II and 12.
^■-^ For the standard-sign of a province meaning " the Chieftain " of the province,
see Lepsius, Denkmaler^ II, bl. 105.
" Petrie, Royal Tombs^ II, PI. II, ii and 12, and end of an ivory wand
found by Amelineau and now in the Brussels Museum.
" Griffith, in Petiie's Royal Tombs, II, p. 48. The title ^ J (](| c^, "She
who is united to Horus," is also well known as one of the titles of the queens of
the Old Kingdom.
** Petrie, Tanis^ II, PI. XI. No one who studies the two portraits of this
queen found at Tanis, and now preserved in the Cairo Museum, can doubt that
she does not belong to the Upper Egyptian (or Dynastic people), and it must be
remembered that the successor of her husband, Senusret III (probably her son),
is of an unmistakably foreign type.
w Naville, Deir el Bahariy PI. XLVIII, p. 16.
*' See Mar., MastabaSy pp. 90, 162, 201, 262, 326, 377, etc. ; Lepsius, Z>tf«/&.,
II, bl. 10, 15. ,
" Mallet, Le Culte de Neith, p. 83.
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— />., foreign to the Dynastic Upper Egyptians.^^ She is usually
spoken of as of Libyan 20 origin, but there is in reality no more
ground 21 for this statement than the fact that the people called
Libyans {Temehu) wove her emblem into their garments at the time
of the XlXth Dynasty : before that period she is not found especially
associated with Libyans. Her name occurs on monuments belonging
to the earliest period of Egyptian history ; 22 jt is constantly met with
on the most primitive type of Egyptian cylinder-seal ; ^ some of the
most ancient personal names, as we have seen, are compounded
with it,2* and one of the earliest historical tablets bears a representa-
tion of her shrine (PL I, figs. 4 and 5).
The emblem of the goddess at the time of the 1st Dynasty and
down to the IVth was (i) two crossed arrows, y\" , or (2) a slender
shield, shaped somewhat like the figure 8, with two arrows across it.'^
(PI. I, figs. 6, 7.)
During the IVth, Vth, and Vlth Dynasties the name of the goddess
is written with the crossed arrows alone, or with a sign which may
originally have been a rectangular shield (PL I, fig. 8) with crossed
arrows, but which in the Vth, Vlth, and Xllth Dynasties certainly
represented a shuttle 2« (PL I, figs. 9, 10). Later, the emblem of
the Saite nome is the regular rounded-top shield^ (PL II, fig. 12)
" In Ihe Pyramid Texts (Pep^ I, 696) Neith is named together with Set as
though she were his wife. Thothmes III was taught by Set to shoot with the
bow and arrow, and before him in the scene representing the King with his Divine
Tutor is the emblem of Neith (Moret, du caracUre religimx^ etc., p. 105).
* Mallett /.r., p. 84 ; Wiedemann, /Religion of the Ancient Egyptians ^ p. 140 ;
Petrie, Naqada and Ballas, p. 64; Breasted, History^ pp. 31-32.
** Maclver, Libyan Notesy pp. 69-70.
^ Loret, "Quelques id^es sur la forme primitive de certaines religions ^gyp-
tiennes," in Revtie igyptologique^ tome XI, p. 76, fig. 7 ; Breasted, History ^ p. 30.
» Cf, Newberry, Scarabs, PL III, 2, 5, 7, and 10.
« See Petrie, Royal Tombs, I, PL XXXI, 9-1 1, 20; PL XXXII, 14, 15;
Heyal Tombs, II, PL XXVI, 51-57, 72-75, 97-99.
® A reminiscence of this shield is/ound in the Neith-sign in the tomb of
Hetep-her-es of the Vth Dynasty at Sakkara (Mar., Mast., p. 90; cf. Mallet,
Le Culte de Neith, p. 178, and the figure in P,S,B,A., Vol. XXVI, page 298,
fig. 8 of Plate).
* Neith, besides being the Goddess of War, was the inventress of the art of
weaving : she was the weaver who made the world of warp and woof {cf. Mallet,
/.f., pp. 185-186, and Maspero, Dawn of Civilization, p. 128).
'^ This form of shield is found as early as the time of Menes ; indeed, it occurs
in his Horus-name, Q^ , Aha.
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of the people of Upper Egypt, with the crossed arrows. In the
XVIIIth Dynasty the name of Neith is sometimes written with an
oval shield (PI. II, fig. 11), which is found again in the XXVIth
Dynasty (PL I, fig. 5) ; but from the XlXth Dynasty onwards the
name of the goddess is generally written with the two forms of
shuttle, xiD< or x==x.
Now it is a remarkable fact that the 8-form of shield found on
the pre-dynastic cylinder-seals, in the title of Queen Hetep (PI. I,
fig- 3)» tablet of Aha (Menes) showing the shrine of Neith, on the
stele of Mer-neith (PI. I, fig. 7), and in the sign of the Saite nome
in the tomb of Methen (PI. I, fig. 6), should not have been used
in hieroglyphs after the IVth Dynasty. It is replaced in the Vth
Dynasty by the rectangular shield, and later by the common Upper
Egyptian shield, rounded at the summit and square at the base,
while in the XVIIIth Dynasty, and sometimes in the XXVIth, an
oval form of shield is shown.
This 8-form of shield which we find occurring in the earliest
standard-signs of Neith is of considerable interest; it is the
characteristic form that was used by the earliest historical inhabitants
of the Eastern Mediterranean. The Mycenaean shields 28 (PL II,
figs. 16-18) were of identically the same shape, and Prof. Ernest
Gardner has described 20 some curious objects found among
Mycenaean antiquities which '* have a symbolical meaning and are
of a form which is derived from shields. They are to be regarded,"
he continues, " as conventional and abridged representations of an
armed divinity. To call them Palladia is the simplest way of
expressing this fact, whether it be true or not that those who made
them identified this armed divinity with the goddess whom we know
as Pallas Athene of later Greece." These Palladia are of two shapes :
one is the 8-shaped ; the other is a form derived from it (see PL II,
fig. 21), and is exactly like the shield used by the Hittites in the
scene of the battle of Kadesh figured in the Temple of Rameses II
at Thebes 20 (see PL II, fig. 22). On a monument from the Castle
gateway at Zenjirli^^ (PI, II, fig 15), in Asia Minor, a Hittite warrior
* Cf. Journal of Hellenic Studies ^ Vol. XIII, p. 215, fig. 24 ; Schuchardt,
SckHetnanrC s Excavations^ pp. 229 and 277.
^ Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. XIII, p. 24.
^ The Boeotian shield is somewhat similar to this Hittite fonn. See ^M,S,^
XIII, p. 214.
^ Messerschmidt, The Hittites, p. 33, fig. 3.
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Feb. 14] THE FOUNDERS OF SAIS. [1906.
carries a shield of the 8-form (PI. II, fig. 15). The so-called
Amazonian shield of Pontus was shaped something like the
figure of 8, and it is important to note that "in early art the
Amazons are robed in Hittite costume. The dances they performed
with shield and bow in honour of the goddess of war and love gave
rise to the myths which saw in them a nation of women warriors.
The Thermadora, on whose banks the poets place them, was in the
neighbourhood of the Hittite monuments of Boghaz-Keui." The
ancilia^ of the Salii (PL II, figs. 19, 20) was of the same form \^
an oblong shield, which would have been a complete oval but for a
curved indentation on either side.
We have now seen that the shield used by the early people of
Sais, in the Western Delta, was (1) of a different form to that
employed by the Upper Egyptians, and (2) that it was of identically
the same shape as that used by the Mycenaeans, the so-called
Hittites, and the aborigines of Latium. The question therefore
naturally suggests itself. In what way were these inhabitants of
the Western Delta related to the people of the North-eastern
Mediterranean ?
Inhabiting the Delta in very early times was a mysterious people
called the Haau^ or " Fenmen," 3* foreigners to the Upper Egyptian
Dynastic race, to whom it was expressly forbidden to communicate
any of the magical protective formulae of the Book of the Dead.'*^
Whether these people were the same as the Ha-nebu of later times
is not certain, but Neith in a late inscription** — of the time of
Nectanebo — is called I '^i* t=t ^ " Mistress of the Mediterra-
nean," and in this quality accorded to the king T 1 1 11 , "all
foreign lands," and he in return dedicated to the temple of Neith a
® Baumeister, Denknuy p. 1546. On the history of the Salii see Marquardt,
Staatsvcrw,y III, pp. 427-438.
** Ridgeway, Early Age of Greece^ p. 455.
•* On the Ha€M or Ha-rubu see Hall, The Oldest Civilization of Greece^
pp. 158-160, and the same writer, ** Keftiu and the People of the Sea," printed in
the AnmuU of the British School at Athens, No. VIII, 1901-1902. Hall takes
these Fenmen to have been ignorant, uncultured people, but on this point I do
not agree with him.
^ It is important to note that Neith plays a very insignificant rdU in the Book
of the Dead.
^ Maspero, Musit du Caire^ PI. XLV, pp. 41-42.
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Feb. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCH/EOLOGY. [1906.
tenth of all the things which came from *Hk "^^^/^'w^^xjF^'
^*the Great Green Sea of the Hau-nebu." Now Neith has been
identified with the armed divinity we know as Pallas Athene of later
Greece, and there is a tradition recorded by Plato ^^ that "the
founder of Sais ^ was a goddess whom the Egyptians called Neith,
the Greeks Athene; and its inhabitants," he further remarks, "are
very much attached to the Athenians, to whom they consider them-
selves in some way related." Later Greek writers describe Cecrops
(a hero of Pelasgian race) as having emigrated into Greece with a
band of colonists from Sais, and Diodorus says inconsistently in one
passage that Sais sent a colony to Athens,^* and in another that Sais
itself was founded by Athenians.*^
"^ Tinuuo (ed. Franc), p. 1043.
^ It is curious that Manetho (according to Africanus) should mention that the
first king of the XVth Dynasty of Shepherd Kings *' was named Saltes, and the
Saite nome is called after him." The same andent historian says that the XVIth
Dynasty was composed of thirty-two Hellenic Shepherd Kings.
» I,28ff. 3-
« V, 57, ff. 45.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
PLATE I.
1. Cylinder Seal. (Strasburg Institute of Archaeology.)
2. „ „ (In the possession of the writer.)
3. Chieftainess Hetep.
4. The Shrine of Neith. (Tablet of Aha. Petrie, R.T., II,
PL X, fig. 2.)
5. „ „ (XXVIth Dynasty Stele. Bologna
Museum.)
6. Sign of Neith. (Tomb of Methen. Berlin Museum.)
7. „ „ (Stele of Mer-Neith. Cairo Museum.)
8. „ „ (Vth Dynasty Stele. MacGregor Collection.)
9. „ ,, (Vth Dynasty Stele. Cairo Museum.)
10. „ „ (Xllth Dynasty Stele. Cairo Museum.)
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PLATE I.
Proc, So€, Bibl, Arch.^ February ^ 1906.
^mm. 'mm'ss
JQCDOOCDQOQQQQQO
1
T
a
'M
3£ 3f
K
3C IK
10
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PLATE 11.
Pto<. Soc. BibL Arch.y February^ 1906.
11
12
13
15
16
20
21
22
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PLATE II.
11. Sign of Neith. (XVIIIth Dynasty Stele, D^r el Bahari.)
12. „ „ (Late Inscription. Cairo Museum.)
13. Typical Upper Egyptian Shield.
14. Shield of the N.W. Delta.
15. Hittite Shield. (Zenjirli.)
16. Mycenaean Shield. {J.H,S.<, XIII, 215, fig. 24.)
17. „ „ (Cornish, p. 552, fig. 932.)
18. „ „ (Cornish, figs. 1 51-154.)
19. Shield of the Salii. (Cornish, p. 552, fig. 932.)
20. „ „ (Cornish, p. 552, fig. 933.)
21. Mycenaean Shield.
22. Hittite Shield.
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THE FOLKLORE OF MOSSOUL.
By R. Campbell Thompson, M,A,
While engaged on the excavations at Kouyunjik (Nineveh) during
the years 1904-1905, which had been begun and carried on in 1903
and the early part of 1904 by Mr. L. W. King, for the Trustees of
the British Museum, I collected as many magical manuscripts as I
could from the natives of Mossoul, and at the same time made
notes on the folklore of the Arabs. Two MSS. that I bought through
an old Hebrew haktm seem to be worth publishing, because although
their spells may not be traditionally descended from the first inhabi-
tants of Nineveh, yet they are still believed in, in the unspoilt and
mediaeval town of Mossoul, where it is still possible to find
Arab superstitions comparatively uncoloured by Western additions.
The peculiar interest of the town of Mossoul is that it is built
close to the site of Nineveh, and it might well be expected that the
traditions of the modern inhabitants would retain something of the
beliefs and superstitions of the ancient Assyrians. First, however,
it must be remarked that, though many of the customs of the present
people are descended from the former inhabitants, there is another
element visible in the native grimoires and magic books which is to
be referred more probably to an immigrant influence than to a local
origin.
It is almost unnecessary to preface this article by saying that
devils of every kind are beheved in by all classes, and Shaydtin (the
equivalent of "Satans") and Jinn are, as elsewhere in the East,
rami)ant. According to an old Muslim magician, who came to me
one day, ihtjinn are mild compared with the Shaydtin, for if one of
the former enters a man, it can be expelled by exorcisms, but if it be
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Feb. 14] THE FOLKLORE OF MOSSOUL. [1906.
one of the latter, no power will avail. Demoniac possession is of
course firmly believed in, a madman being majnun ("possessed by
Jinn"), and giddiness and epilepsy are alike referred to the same
powers of evil. I am indebted to the courtesy of M. Abdullah
Michael, chemist of Mossoul, for the following traditional Arab
cure for epilepsy. A shekh must come and lay a knife on the
patient's head ; then, dates are brought and fumigated with
incense, the magician meanwhile uttering various chants over
them, and then, after spitting on them, he gives them to the
patient to eat.^
Now if we examine the ancient Assyrian magic, we find very
similar ideas prevailing. To the influence of the fl/z/zazw-demon
(" Seizer ") jaundice was attributed, the cuneiform medical tablets
describing it as follows : —
" When a man's body is yellow, his face yellow and black, the
root of his tongue black, ahhazu is its name : thou must bake great
wild muSdimgurinna, he shall drink it in fermented drink. Then
will the ahhazu that is in him be silent." ^
Of other diseases in Mossoul cases of dysentery, typhoid, and, of
course, malaria are frequently met with, and an epidemic of cholera
occasionally visits the city. Smallpox is comparatively rare, but
ophthalmic troubles of various kinds and the Baghdad boil are
common. These two latter have been there from the earliest times:
we find an Assyrian receipt for some form of ophthalmia inscribed
on one of the Royal Library tablets (W,A,L IV, 29*, 4 c, 10).
" Incantation : —
The wind blew in heaven and brought blindness to the eye
of the man : from the distant heavens it blew and brought
blindness to the eye of the man ; unto sick eyes it brought
blindness. The eye of this man troubleth ; his eye is hurt (?);
this man weepeth for himself continually.
^ This use of the knife is, of course, only an instance of the power of iron in
magic. My servant Mejfd told me that if a man falls down in a fit, or faint (I am
not quite clear as to which he meant), he is supposed to have been struck on the
head by the demon named Sdda, the equivalent of our Black Man. Giddiness is
also attributed to the influence of a demon, which can be exj>elled by a shikh.
^ Kiichler, Beitrdge zur Kenntnis dcr Assyrisch-Babylonischen Medizitty
p. 61.
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" Nab(i hath seen the sickness of this man and (hath said)
*Take pounded cassia, perform the Incantation of the Deep,
bind up the eye of the sick man.' When Nab(!l toucheth
the eye of the man with his pure hand, may the wind which
hath afflicted the eye of the man, go forth from his eyes."
An instance of the Baghdad boil occurs in an Assyrian astrolo-
gical report to the king from a priest. " Concerning this evil of the
skin, the king, my lord, hath not spoken from his heart. The sick-
ness lasts a year ; people that are sick (therefrom) all recover." ^
Now the boil is popularly supposed to last a year.
In many Oriental countries toothache is frequently supposed to
be due to a worm. This has always been the case in Mesopotamia,*
and I was assured by educated folk in Mossoul that if a man with
toothache burnt the berries of a certain plant known as ambubiy and
fumigated his open mouth with the smoke of them, the worm would
drop out from the teeth. Through the kindness of a friend of mine,
Pfere Makdo, a Chaldean priest of Mossoul, who obtained some of
this plant from the hills, specimens of the berry were sent to me,
and I am indebted to the courtesy of W. Botting Hemsley, Esq.,
F,jR.S,, of the Royal Gardens, at Kew, for identifying them. He
tells me that it is the Withanfa somnifera {soianaceae\ a narcotic
plant employed medicinally and otherwise by Eastern peoples, the
cTpvxvo^ vwvuyriKo^ of Theophrastus and Dioscorides. But this
theory of a worm in the tooth can be traced back to Assyrian times,
and I append the incantation against toothache for comparison's
sake: —
" After Anu [had created the Heavens],
The Heavens created [the Earth],
The Earth created the Rivers,
The Rivers created the Canals,
The Canals created the Marshes,
The Marshes created the Worm.
Came the Worm (and) wept before the Sun-god,
Before the god Ea came her tears : —
* What wilt thou give me for my food.
What wilt thou give me for my devouring ? '
• Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers^ No. 257.
^ It is also the case in China ; see Coffin, Denial Annual,
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* I will give thee dried bones,
(And) scented . . . -wood.'
* What are these dried bones to me,
And scented . . . -wood !
Let me drink among the teeth,
And set me on the gums ;
That I may devour the blood of the teeth,
And of the gums destroy their strength ;
Then shall I hold the bolt of the door.'
* Since thou hast said this, O Worm !
May Ea smite thee with the might of his fist.*
Incantation of the Sick Mouth.
Thou shouldst do the following :
Mix beer, the plant sa-kil-bir, and oil together.
Repeat thereon the incantation thrice,
(And) put it on his tooth." ^
Of charms and amulets, of course, there is no end, many of them
being, as usual, intended to ward off the Evil Eye. The blue beads
plaited into the manes of valuable beasts are almost too well known
to be worth mentioning. As an instance of the fixed belief in its
power, nothing could persuade the sergeant of my escort between
Aleppo and D^r from attributing a sprained wrist to the machinations
of a woman who had overlooked him in Aleppo as he was shifting
some sacks.^
My servant Mejid told me that if a man desired a charm (he did
not specify the kind), he was to take a dead hoopoe (which are fairly
common in the neighbourhood of Mossoul in summer), with a bit
of inscribed paper tied to it, to a cemetery, and lay it near a grave
at night. He must then read some book, while the demons gather
round, without turning to look round. Should he look round during
• Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia^ Vol. II, p. 160.
* At Tak-i-Bustan, near Kermanshah, in Persia, I noticed a small boy wearing
a necklet formed by a large silver ring with three pendent amulets. These latter
were two hands and a crescent moon, and the resemblance of the whole ornament
to the necklace worn by the Assyrian kings was most striking. The symbols
strung round their necks represent the Sun, Moon, Venus, and the forked lightning
of Adad, the Thunder-god, and I have little doubt that the hand, which the little
Persian was wearing, is an indirect descendant of the last named, the similarity of
form being most marked.
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his reading, the demons will have power to attack him. Another
charm against fever, told me by a boy employed on the excavations
named Shekho, who was by way of having a reputation as a magician,
was one well known in the East, and has come down from Assyrian
times. The shekh who is called in to cure the patient takes a
thread of cotton (single, not plaited in three, as he explained when
questioned), and ties seven knots in it, putting it on the patient's
wrist. After seven or eight days, if the fever still continue, he must
keep it on ; if it passes, then he may throw it away. He must then
make bread and throw it to the dogs. This latter Shekho explained
as a kind of thank-offering, but the root-idea is probably much
deeper down.
Now this charm was met with in Persia by 0*Donovan, who
gives a full description of it in his Mem Oasis (ii, p. 319). The
thread in his case was spun from camel's hair, folded three times
upon itself, and re-spun. Seven knots were then tied in it, and it
was to be worn on the patient's wrist; each day one of the knots
being untied, and finally the thread was to be thrown into the
river.
This very charm is met with almost exactly similar in the
Assyrian incantations against headache. The directions are : —
** Take the hair of a virgin kid; let a wise- woman spin it on the
** right side, and double it on the left; bind twice seven knots, and
" perform the Incantation of Eridu, and bind the head of the sick
" man, and bind the neck of the sick man, and bind his life, and
" bind up his limbs ; and go round his couch, and cast the water of
" the Incantation over him, that the headache may ascend to heaven
" like the smoke of a peaceful homestead, that like the lees of water
** poured out it may go down into the earth." '
A further use of the cord folded in three and knotted " twice
seven times " is found in the same tablet, and in the same way it is
to be tied on the head of the patient.
A Muslim cure for headache in Mossoul was for a skikh to come
and lay his hands on the patient's head, and then to drive a nail
into the wall. Now this is simply the nailing down of the headache
demon after he has been expelled by the laying on of hands, just as
the soul of a murdered man can be prevented from haunting a
house. I saw an instance of this latter when I was in Tripoli
' Drills and Evil Spirits, Vol. II, XXXVIII.
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Feb, 14] THE FOLKLORE OF MOSSOUL. [1906.
(Barbary) in 1903. While I was waiting for my caravan to be made
up for a journey round the inland districts, the proprietor of the
little Italian hotel showed me a nail that had been driven into the
paving of the porch-floor. A few years back a native had been
murdered close to the door, and immediately the neighbouring
Arabs thronged thither with hammer and nail, and thus secured the
freedom of the little locanda from being haunted by the dead man's
spirit. Some time after the proprietor attempted to remove the
nail, but he was at once prevented, on the grounds that the ghost
would thereby be released.®
My servant Mejid also told me that an Indian had shown some-
one how to obtain a charm in the following manner. He was to tie
a piece of paper inscribed with some writing round a fowPs neck, and
shoot at the fowl with a revolver from a short distance. If the fowl
was killed, then the charm was of no avail, but if it escaped un-
scathed, then he might wear the charm as proved and certain.
The discovery of thieves is a favourite exercise of Arab magicians.
One day my servant lost three mejidis (about nine shillings), and he
found a Muslim that had knowledge of such things. This latter
gave him a piece of paper inscribed with various invocations and
cabalistic figures, and told him to leave it at the place where the
money was lost. If the demons, who inhabit the air, had taken it to
add to the enormous treasure in their charge, which every Arab
believes to exist, they would return it at midnight ; if, however, it had
been stolen by human hands, then would they write the name of the
thief on the paper.
Ordeal by fire is still in use, as in other parts of Arabia, and it
was in this particular instance that it was suggested that a small boy
suspected of having stolen the money should be taken to a sJiekh^
who would put a red-hot knife on the tip of the boy's tongue, and if
it did not bum, he was innocent. I was incidentally assured that the
sh^kh had knowledge of certain drugs that could be used to prevent
the knife burning.
It is unnecessary to add that among the Assyrians almost all
diseases were due to demons, and were to be exorcised accordingly.
The beliefs in Palestine at the beginning of our era with regard to
epilepsy being demoniac possession are even more clearly indicated
in the New Testament than in the Assyrian tradition.
® Professor Sayce also mentions this in his "Cairene Folklore," /b/^A?r^, 1900,
Vol. 11, p. 389.
81
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Feb. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
It is, I believe, a current belief also in Mossoul that a wizard
who has continually had dealings with evil spirits may at last be
overcome and killed by them; at least, the explanation given me
by one of my diggers on the mound, when I failed to obtain a
siance with one of his sorcerer-friends, was that the magician had
not been seen for some time, and it was possible that the demons
had got him.
The following story was vouched for by my servants Mejid and
YakAb, and I heard that it was also current in Baghdad when I was
in that city. A certain woman died before the birth of her child,
and it was only after she was buried that her child was bom. He
grew up in the tomb for about ten years, and one day a man, digging
into the grave, found the child alive. The boy was taken out, fed
and clothed, and lived to a good old age.
The well-known story of death by fright from imaginary ghosts
was told me in the following form by Mejid : Within a short
distance of the town was a house supposed to be haunted by evil
spirits, and a certain man " dared " another to go by night and rap at
the door, the belief being that the demon would spring out to seize
what he might. Nothing daunted, the man set off and never
returned; and when the neighbours sought him, they found him
dead at the door of the haunted house, with his cloak caught on a
nail.
In all Semitic superstition there is a fixed belief in the ability ot
demons to ally themselves in marriage with human beings. Accord-
ing to Rabbinic tradition the female demon Lilith was Adam's
second wife, and by her he had many children, half devil, half man.
Similarly Liliths were supposed to ally themselves to men and bear
supernatural children to them which, when the man was dying,
would cluster round his death bed waiting to hail him as their father.
This had its origin in the ancient Assyrian beliefs which are
known to us from the incantation tablets, the Ardat lilt, which is
practically equivalent to Lilith, having the power of allying herself to
human beings. In a hymn to the Sun-god, among the possibilities
of affliction the two following cases are recorded : —
" The man whom an Ardat lilt hath wedded.
The man with whom an Ardat lili hath had union." ^
• Devih and Evil Spints, Vol. I, p. XXVII. Cf. Tobit, vi, 14, "For a devil
loveth her."
82
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Feb. 14] THE FOLKLORE OF MOSSOUL. [1906.
Another tablet states even more closely that the demon known
as the Alt2 might be brought into being by such semi-supernatural
means.^®
Now this is believed in by the Arabs to the present day.
Professor Sayce, in his article on "Cairene Folklore," ^^ mentions it :
"About fifteen years ago there was a man in Cairo who was
"unmarried, but had an invisible ^/««a as wife. One day, however,
" he saw a woman and loved her, and two days later he died. It
'• should be added that in Egypt, where early marriages are the rule,
"bachelors who have reached the prime of life are believed to be
" married to *afdrit or ginn,^^
I came across an instance of it at Mossoul. One night my men
were discussing jinn and kindred subjects, and incidentally (and
entirely spontaneously) one of them, Yakiib, told me that he knew a
man in Mossoul who declared he was visited of nights by a spirit in
the form of a beautiful woman who had borne him three children,
and the man was so enchanted with this arrangement that he
scorned an earthly marriage.
The "censer," which so frequently occurs in the paraphernalia
demanded by the Assyrian exorcisms, is still used in Arab priest-
craft. A magician told me that if a man were sick of a fever, the
s?iikh would come and " read " over him ; but if this were not
enough to cure him, the sh^kh would bring a censer to fumigate him,
by putting it at the patient's feet and letting him crouch over it.
As to actual native medicines in use, certain herbs are of course
in great demand. For a "weeping eye" I was told that -i*-^ S^
"red aloes" was used, and for "red eye" human milk. For a
stomach-ache a man was to drink cinnamon, which grows near
Mossoul ; and for a swelling, a lotion of oil and hawajawa^ a red
plant which grows wild, was to be rubbed on, five days being the
time it was supposed to take to cure the place.
Of local traditions with regard to the various ancient sites there
were many. The belief that Jonah is buried in the mosque on Nebi
Yunus, the mound to the southwards of Kouyunjik, is of course well
known. More curious, however, was a local belief that, as the
smaller mound of Nebi Yunus contained Jonah, the larger mound
of Kouyunjik contained the whale which swallowed him, and I believe
w Devils and Evil SpiHt's, Vol. I, p. XXVL
" Folklore, 1900, Vol. II, p. 388.
83
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Fkb. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
it was at one time supposed that we were hunting this whale in our
diggings. Another reason popularly given for our excavations was
that the English had learnt all their science, telegraphs and railways
from the cuneiform tablets that Layard found, and that we wished to
improve on this. Incidentally, while on the story of Jonah, it must be
an inaccuracy to state that the city of Nineveh was a three-days*
journey, as the one complete perimeter wall (excluding the outer
eastern ramparts, which do not make the journey much longer) can
be ridden round in less than an hour. There must be some tradi-
tional virtue ^2 in the plain surrounding the mound of Nebi Yunus,
which overlooks much flat land, for after the cholera had come to
Mossoul in the autumn of 1904, an enormous crowd came out thither
at dawn to pray that it might be averted. Unfortunately, not
knowing anything about this until it was over, I did not see it, but
the estimate given by my servant was that there were fifty thousand
people of all denominations. Curiously enough, this epidemic
ceased a few days afterwards.
Jonah's virtue has descended on one of the properties of the
mosque, and this is a large cauldron, contained in an adjoining
chamber, which is credited with a supernatural inexhaustibility, from
which the poor may be fed. This was working when I visited the
mosque, and. its virtues were carefully pointed out to me by the old
Said.
One curious survival in the everyday utensils in Mossoul is the
small copper vessel with a handle which is used by everyone for
carrying food about. In every detail of shape it is the counterpart
of that held by the winged griflSns on the Assyrian sculptures.
Hypnotism is of course part of the magician's stock-in-trade. A
shekh assured me that he would be able to show me the house-wall
removed, or would havQ put before me to eat anything I liked,
obviously by means of hypnotic suggestion. Inkpool-gazing (a
variant of crystal-gazing) is a form of clairvoyance still in use.
Water-, crystal- or ink-gazing has been from time immemorial an
Eastern practice, and directions for its performance are to be found
in Egyptian demotic and Grseco-Egyptian papyri, in Indian magic
^2 This peculiar sanctity of sites is not necessarily confined to Muslim saints.
While Mr. L. W. King and myself were collating the inscriptions at Behistun,
we noticed a bush covered with small pieces of rags at the foot of the gorge
beneath the great trilingual inscription of Darius, exactly as though the spot were
as sacred as a sMkfCs tomb.
84
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Feb. 14] THE FOLKLORE OF MOSSOUL. [1906.
books, and even in the Arabic and Hebrew manuscripts that I
picked up in Mossoul.
My servant Mejid found a shekh who was capable of showing
me the inkpool magic, and he came up to my hut on the mound of
Kouyunjik one day in September. He was a spare and ascetic-
looking man of about forty or forty-five, and when he came into the
hut he began his preparations. First a corner of the floor at the
door was swept, and he spread one of my blankets down on it and sat
thereon in the sunshine, and at his suggestion Mejld brought a fire-
shovel with hot coals on it; then we found a small boy of about eight
or nine years of age, by name Dio, the son of one of my diggers,
between whom and the magician there was little risk of collusion,
and the shikh made him sit down near, and began drawing cabalistic
figures in the boy's right hand. He then shut up the hand, and on
the thumbnail spread a large patch of ordinary ink, which he
moistened from time to time to keep it bright, the boy meanwhile
staring at it intently. Holding the boy by the right wrist, the sMkh
rapidly under his voice gabbled off some formulae, occasionally at
the periods giving a short sharp tone to the last word. He began
to throw some aromatic gum on the coal-pan; then he made his
recitation aloud, and said to the boy, " Say, * Come, Shemha'U ' ! "
" Say, 'Come, Berkin M" which (he boy did. I noticed that the boy
put his thumb about four or five inches from his left eye, not using
both eyes; but this was his usual custom, as he always had a
remarkable squint. Presently he said "He's come." Then the
shekh said " Say, * Set a chair for the king,' " and the boy repeated
it, and then the sMkh asked me what I wanted. I said I wanted to
know the thief who had stolen the three tnejidis from my servant.
"Tell him to bring the thief," said the magician to Dlo. So the boy
spoke to the demon in the ink, and the demon brought the likeness
of the thief. "What is he like?" said the sMkh, and the boy
answered, "Old, and with a white beard, from among the workmen."
We left this for the moment, and passed on to another question.
I asked for a relative of mine, and the demon brought his likeness. I
asked how he was, and the small boy said, " He is well and laughing,
and amin {i.e., a trustworthy person)." " What is he like ? " " He
is an oldish man, his face red, with a red moustache and a beard ;
his clothes are black."
Now it was very difficult to get anything certain from the boy,
and it was not until leading questions began that the red moustache
85 H
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Feb. 14] SOCIETy OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGV. [1906.
changed to white, and the beard vanished. Certainly the person in
question had no beard, nor was his moustache red. My last
question whether he was asleep in bed or in the market produced a
bad result. The boy asked the question of the image in his nail,
whether he was in the market, on the understanding that it was to
wave its hand for an affirmative answer, and at once it signified
"yes." Now all this was taking place about four hours after
sunrise in Mossoul, which is equivalent to an hour before dawn in
London.
The magician laid his hand on the boy's forehead, repeated some
words, and blew in his face. D!o awoke as though out of sleep,
stretched himself, and said he was tired, and then my servant carried
him off to identify the thief of the first half of the siance. In five
minutes he came back in high dudgeon, declaring that the boy had
pitched on a doddering old greybeard who could not run ten yards,
much less the distance necessary to have stolen the money.
The boy sat down again, the same process was repeated, and I
asked to know wheie I was to dig for "written stones" in the
mound. So at the question the boy said the demon was beginning
to dig in a certain place, and later on in the day he pointed it out
to me, giving me, in his uncertainty, the choice of two places. I was
curious to find out how he knew that Shemha'il was a demon, and
he told me later that he had a red head and black body.
Not even the most credulous of spiritualists would, I think,
venture to bring forward this instance as a confirmation of clair-
voyance, as it was not until leading questions were put that any
result approaching correctness was arrived at. But it was an
interesting survival of ancient Oriental magic.
{To be continmd.)
86
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Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch.^ February^ 1 906.
CARVED SLATE IN THE COLLECTION OF THE
REV. W. MACGREGOR.
{From a Photograph.)
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Feb. 14] A NEW CARVED SLATE. [1906
A NEW CARVED SLATE
(Fragmentary).
By F. Legge.
In the MacGregor Collection at Tamworth there is a fragment
of yet another carved slate, which resembles in most essential
particulars those already published by me in the Proceedings (see
P,S,B,A,y 1900, pp. 125-139, 270, 271; and 1904, pp. 262, 263).
When complete, it evidently resembled strongly the smaller of the
two slates from Hieraconpolis, now in the Ashmolean Museum, and
the fine slate from Damanhur, now in the Louvre. Like these two
examples, the upper margin was formed of the bodies of two dogs
heraldically ** supporting " the central disk, which formed the
principal motive of the slate's decoration. The eyes of the
remaining dog appear at one time to have been inlaid, like the
eyes of all the animals in the Ashmolean slate. Judging, however,
from the very small space left between the bodies of the dogs
and the central disk, it is doubtful whether the slate contained
any other decoration or inscription than that which now appears
on it. Mr. MacGregor tells me that he has no record of its
provenance, but that he thinks he remembers that it was said to
have come from Upper Egypt. The work is poor, but the persistent
use of hunting dogs as supporters leads one to wonder whether these
animals might not represent the totem of one of the tribes of early
invaders. In this case it might possibly be connected with the
worship of the god Apuat, who, according to distinguished
authority, is really a dog, and not, like his brother Anubis, a
jackal.
87
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Feb. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
The next Meeting of the Society will be held on
Wednesday, March 14th, 1906, at 4.30 p.m., when the
following Paper will be read : —
E. J. Pilcher, Esq. : " On Kabbalistic Planetary Charms."
88
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SOGIETT OF BIBUGAL ARGHM06T PDBLIGATIO^
GENERAL INDEX
TO THE
"PROCEEDINGS."
VOLS. XI— XX.
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"TRANSACTIONS/'
The Bronze Oraameats of the Palace Gates from
Balawat.
[Shalmaneser II. B.a 859-825.]
Part V (the final part), with Introduction and descriptive letter-press,
has now been issued to the Subscribers.
A few complete copies of the book remain unsold and can be
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Society of Biblical Archaeology.
37, Great Russell Street, London, W.C.
COUNCIL, 1906.
President.
Prof. A. H. Sayce, D.D., &c., &c.
Vice-Presidents.
The Most Rev. His Grace The Lord Archbishop of York.
The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Salisbury.
The Most Hon. the Marquess of Northampton.
The Right Hon. the Earl op Halsbury.
The Right Hon. Lord Amherst of Hackney.
Walter Morrison.
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The Right Hon. General Lord Grenfell, K.C.B., &c., &c.
The Right Rev. S. W. Allen, D.D. (R.C. Bishop of Shewsbury).
Rev. J. Marshall, M.A.
Joseph Pollard.
Rev. Charles James Ball, M.A.
Dr. M. Gaster.
F. Ll, Griffith, F.S.A.
H. R. Hall, M.A.
Sir H. H. Howorth, K.C.LE.,
F.R.S., &c.
L. W. King, M.A.
Rev. Albkkt Lovvy, LL.D., &c.
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Cauna'L
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Edward S. M. Pbrownb, F.S.A.
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Honorary TVwjwr^— Bernard T. Bosanqubt.
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HARRISON AND SONS, PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO liTS MAJESTY, ST. MARTlM'j
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VOL. XXVIII. . V ^ - Parts.
I I ^ ^ ^ ^ ' ^ ^ ' I III I I II I —
OF
THE SOCIETY
OF,
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY.
VOL. XXVIIL THIRTY-SIXTH SESSION.
TAird Meetings March 14/A, 1906.
%
CONTENTS.
PACE
Prof. A. H. Saycb, i>./>.— Unpublished Hittite Inscriptions in
the Museum at G>nstantinople. {'^Plates) 9l~9S
Edward N. Ayrton. — Discovery of the Tomb of Si-ptah in the
KbanelMolftk, Thebes, {z Plates) 96
R. Campbell Thompson, ^.-4.— The Folklore of Mossoul. I
{coniinued,) (2 Plates) 97-»09
E. J. PiLCHER.— Two Kabbalistic Planetary Charms, (2 Plates) 110-118
P. Scott- MONCRIEFF, B.A. — Note on Two Figures found near
the South Temple at Wady Halfei. {Plate) 118,119
PUBLISHED AT
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1906.
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^^OC0..L...;r^...
JUN 11 1906 '
PROCEEDINGS
OF
THE SOCIETY
OF
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY.
THIRTY-SIXTH SESSION, 1906.
Third Meetings March i^th^ 1906.
W. H. RYLANDS, ESQ., F.S.A
Vice-President^
IN THE CHAIR.
•5
[No. ccx.] 89
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Mar. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
The following gifts to the Library were announced, and
thanks ordered to be returned to the Donors :
F. Legge, Esq.— "The Egyptian Heaven and Hell." By
Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge.
Rev. A. B. Grimaldi, M,A. — "A Catalogue of Zodiacs and
Planispheres, ancient and modem."
From the Author, Dr. Oscar von Lemm. — " Iberica."
J. Pollard, Esq. — " Precis du systeme Hi^roglyphique des anciens
6gyptiens." Par ChampoUion Le Jeune.
The following Candidate for Membership was elected : —
Rev. Arthur H. Powell, The Vicarage, Bridgwater.
The following Paper was read : —
E. J. PiLCHER, Esq.: " On Kabbalistic Planetary Charms."
Thanks were returned for this communication.
90
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Mar. 14] UNPUBLISHED HITTITE INSCRIPTIONS. [1906.
UNPUBLISHED HITTITE INSCRIPTIONS IN THE
MUSEUM AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
By Prof. A. H. Sayce, D,D., &»€,
His Excellency Hamdy Bey has been kind enough to allow me
to publish the following three Hittite inscriptions which I copied
last May in the Museum at Constantinople. Nos. I and III are
published here for the first time ; a copy of No. II will be found in
the Rccueil de Travaux relatifs a VArMologie egyptienney etc,^ XV,
1-2, but owing to the conditions under which it was made it is of
little use to the decipherer. The present copy therefore makes it
available for study for the first time.
No. I. (Plate I). The monument (No. 11 93 in the Museum
Catalogue) is said to have been brought from Erzertim ; the upper,
uninscribed part of it is broken off. The elaborate picture of
a head with which it begins may represent anas "prince'';
more probably it is the ideographic representation of the name of
a king, since the suffix -sis in the proper name which follows is the
patronymic. The usual am^ or amei " I (am) " is here written i-a-me.
The lost character after md may be «; that which follows uan is
the " word-divider." There was no character after /. The ideograph
of plurality after the numeral IX was probably not pronounced ; in
addition to its phonetic values {i)s and {mt)isy representing the
ordinary plural in -j, the Arzawa tablets make it probable that it also
had the value of (/)/, since by the side of the plural in -s there was a
plural in -/.
When lines i and 2 are compared, it will be seen that mi^-mH-i
must signify "nine" and iu-a-w-i or tu-a-m-i "horses," since when
the words are written a second time mUmiii is omitted before the
numeral and iuawi is not accompanied by the ideograph of " horse."
91 12
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Mar. €4] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
The word for "horseman" in M. XXI, 6, w.-uas, indicates that we
must read tuaw-i and tua-uas, i.e. tuas. Consequently iua was the
Hittite word for " horse," iuas for " horseman." Now the word for
" chariot " was tua^ as is clear from the fact that both the character
which depicts the body of a chariot (No. 45) and that which
depicts the wheel (No. 86) were alike pronounced tua^ and both are
accordingly used in writing the name Tua-na "chariot-land" — a name
which reminds us of the chariot of Gordius, the sacred fetish of
Gordium. It is impossible not to be struck by the identity of
iua and tua with the names of the parents of the Egyptian queen
Teie, the mother of "the Heretic king," more especially as Dr. .
Elliot Smith pronounces the skulls of their mummies, discovered last
spring at Thebes by Mr. Theodore M. Davis, to be non-Egyptian.
The names would explain the burial of a chariot in their tomb, and
may be compared with those of Hengist and Heorsa in English
history. Hittite Sun-worship, which identified the Sun-god with the
god of the state and carved his disk on the monuments, throws light
on the foreign "Disk-worship" of Khu-n-Aten. That Iuas and Tuas
were Hittite proper names we know from the native inscriptions.
T(a)uas is found at Ivriz (see No. Ill below) and Tua-is or Tuaisis,
" son of the chariot," occurs on a seal in the collection of M. de
Clercq, where it is accompanied by the figure of a winged horse
(Pegasus). Teuwatti or Tuates (in the Tel el-Amarna and Vannic
texts) is "chariot-lord." In the Greek inscriptions of Cilicia we
have Oova^ and Ooa^ as well as 'Ovas and *Oav together with the
compounds "Ovaa^ "son of the horse," ^Ovappaai^ {t.e, luwasis) and
The inscription reads: (i) id. Tarka-T>ZT,-katni-is-na-s . . -id.-
. . 'Si'S i-a-me md[u?]-uan [div.] /«^-»»^-/-ix- (2) mis tu-iD.-a-w-i
Div.-na (J)-md ix-w-tsi md-a-ui unun-iD-u-J-BET, div. kai-amma
DIV. mis-t DIV. a-na-is ix-mis div. iu-a-w- (3) -DET.-«(a:j-DET. a-ma
DIV. ??iaiu(J)'U nu-DET.-nu-DET, DIV. tua-u-uan div. uan-nas-u-su-
uanBiw^w.-w-uuna-akasU'DET,; ". . of the district of Tarkamis, the
son of . . am I ; the place of the nine horses, (and) of this place (?)
of the Nine in the city (?) of the Sun-god the building I constructed,
being prince of the city of the nine horses ; for the place of the
chariot (?) I made strong a chariot of wood (and) troughs (?) of
stone."
"Tarkamis" is written Tarka-kamis "gate of Tarkus" but like
Sandapi for Sanda-dapi is probably to be read Tarkamis. Cp. the
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PLATE I. Proc, Soc, Bibl. Arch., March, 1906.
/f-rfll ,f. fC III (P y? 1?IC ILILIIUL
Fig. I.
erzerCm.
Constantinople Museum, No. 1 193.
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PLATE II.
Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch., March, 1906.
.c^>--
^^
^»n
oa> — —
.^
<>;j^\N?sN-
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Mar. 14] UNPUBLISHED HITTITE INSCRIPTIONS. [1906.
Thorgama of the Septuagint which seems preferable to the Togarmah
of the Hebrew text. It was the district from which horses were
brought to Syria (Ezek. xxvil, 14). Ashkenaz which is coupled
with Togarmah in Genesis is a formation like Tarkhu-na-zi " son of
the land of Tarkus" or Tarma-na-zi, the modern Turmannin, and
hence must be identified with the Greek Askanios and Aska-dnos.
Md'Uan is found in Ardistama A. 3. But perhaps we should
read mu-uan; at Hamath m^ is explained by the ideograph of
"mountainous country." In line 2 we could read md7vt\ i.e. miii,
but the sense of the passage is obscure. Afis-i corresponds with the
Arzawan ist pers. sing, in -/. The reduplicated nu-nu (ist pers.
sing, like misi) shows that we must read nu-wa and not anu-wa in
M. VII, I, 2, and so explains nu-mis (or nu-itl) M. XXXII, 2, 3.
Uanna-suan "wooden" is written (det.) uan-nd-ui-a-su on the
obelisk of Izgin where mi signifying "land" is given the value of na,^
The ideograph which follows uanna-su-an resembles that which I
have translated "food" in M. I, 3. It denotes something which
like the bowl was made of stone and was associated with horses.
The ideograph which I have left untranslated in M. VII, I, 2, must
represent a trough or tank with water flowing into it. (I cannot help
suspecting that we ought to read in this latter passage id.-w4-mis
ka-KAS-s-md i-us-i-ta " tanks for this chapel.") We must notice that
'U is the suffix of the plural.
No. II. (Plate II). From Palanga (No. 1215 in the Museum
Catalogue). What remains of line i reads " The prince (a-na-ais-J)
Musus (?) of the city of . . . and the land of . . . , I have built a
gate of the city." The ideograph composing the name of the prince
may be that which represents the syllable mus in M. XVI, i. The
first character in the name of the city is the picture of a boat. The
^ The land of Uan, west of Aleppo, is written Uanai in the geographical list
of Thothmes III (No. 145), and while it is followed (No. 148) by Auniauqa or
Unqi, it is preceded (No. 141) by its Semitic equivalent Bursu. Bursu is the
Assyrian burasUy the Hebrew CJ^lia, generally identified with the Aleppo pine
{piniis Halepensis)^ which must have been so characteristic of the original home
of the Hittite as to have been **the tree" from which the adjective ** wooden"
was derived. The name of the land of Uan survives in the Bannis of the
Peutinger Table, 27 miles from Aleppo on the road to Hierapolis or Membij ;
the name which follows, Thiltauri, 15 miles distant, is the Til-Turi of an
Assyrian tablet (Harper's Letters^ 625). In the Antonine Itinerary Bannis has
been corrupted into Bathnas. Here Thilaticomum, i.e, "the village of Tel-Atha,"
is placed immediately after Hierapolis.
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Mar. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
lost character before the ideograph of "gate" is "one'* (u). In
line 2 we have {ua)nas kamissu ka-a-uk-ma-a mis-wa " of these gates
the construction I built, being king of the city of Gam^r ; a stone
column ..." For Garner, see Proceedings^ Nov. 1905, p. 198,
where the inaccurate description of the first character of the name,
derived from the faulty copy in the Recueil^ must be corrected.
In line 2 we have : " a («) double-gate for the gods Sandes
(San-dau-wi)^ Aramis (and) Ammi {Am-mi-i) belonging to this gate "
{uana ka-me-isi). The form of the double-gate here explains the
" caduceus " which is merely the cursive form of the double-gate as
we see it in the equivalent of the name of (Kar-)kamis (M. XI, 3),
where we should read Kamesua-uas. The double-gate was naturally
the attribute of the city-god : hence it was assigned to both Apollo
and Hermes as representatives of Asianic deities. The serpents
associated in Greek art with the caduceus (which was assimilated to
the pomegranate) belonged originally to Sandes.
In line 4 we find aumes (unless it is part of the preceding word)
which enters into the composition of the name of Aum-gal-as (or
Aumenuas) and appears to signify "priest" in M. XXXI, A. Then
follows kasu-ma iu-w.-su-is na-u-a-u (i.e. nau) "for the . . of the
stone-towers." The ideograph is too much obliterated to be
determined with certainty. The line ends "I have made strong
(^v-nu-wa) the gate of the Sun-god ..." The 5th line, which is
not separated from the fourth by a line of division, has been added
to the inscription subsequently. The name of the Sun-god may
occur in it.
No. III. The lower part of the Tyana monument (M. XXXIII, A.)
has been recovered, and the whole stela is now in the Constantinople
Museum (No. 837 in the Catalogue). Inscriptions run down both
sides and under the feet of the figure ; that on the left side is more
than half broken away, and that under the feet may also be imperfect.
The commencement of the inscription on the right side, moreover,
is lost. On the left side (Plate III, fig. i) we have asi-si-nd-s {asinas)
"of the land of the sacred stone," and the name of the Sun-god twice
repeated ; also ua-na-ta which may possibly refer to the country of
the Veneti. On the right side (Plate III, fig. 2) we have (i) . .
iS'lsifyiu . . ; (2) the name of the Sun-god with the adjectival suffix
'is-si-i in the oblique case ; (3) the table on which the sacrificial meal
is represented in Hittite sculptures as being placed ; (4) gJui-lu-mes
(for which see Proceedings^ Nov. 1905, p. 194, note 3); (5) "the city
94
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PLATE III.
V/I'l
#r
ft
jo
i
/V<?f. 5(7^. BihI. Arch.^ March^ 1906.
'0
%}b
DC
IC
?1D -f-
1'^
Fig. I.
Fig. 2.
TYANA.
Constantinople Museum, No. 837.
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Mar. 14] UNPUBLISHED HITTITE INSCRIPTIONS. [1906.
of Tyana" (Tu-u-uan-uan-DET) — where the lock of hair must have
the value tu or fe and explains a character of the same form followed
by «, which is preceded by the ideograph of "house," in M. XI, 2,
and has hitherto been supposed to be a misformed na — ; (6) iD,-ka-
{m)is "protecting" or "consecrating," the position of the hand
indicating either one or other act. Hence the translation of the
whole text is " for the [priests] of the Sun-god a prince who provides
food (or * the prince provides food,' if we are to read it instead of
mis) for the communion-table; in the capital who protects (or *he
protects ') the sacred column of Tyana."
The passage is an important one for the history of religion, on
account of its reference to the communion-table on which the
sacrificial meal was served. The table was cross-legged, and the
priest is represented in the sculptures as sitting opposite the deity
and dressed in the same way, while on the table itself is a cup and
flat cakes of wafer-bread which are six in number, the cup being
placed in the middle (see Perrot and Chipiez, Hist de VArt dans
VAntiquite^ IV). One of the best examples of it is on a monument
from Mar'ash now in the Museum of Constantinople which records
the name of Sandu-w-a-s (or Sandu-w-a-s-mi-s). Since nothing similar
is met with in Assyria, Babylonia or Egypt we are now justified in
tracing to a Hittite origin that communion of the worshipper of Mithras
with his deity through bread and wine in which Justin Martyr saw the
devil's perversion of the Christian Eucharist. The influence of Asia
Minor upon early Christian thought and practice has been pointed
out by Prof. Ramsay, and the Hittite reliefs in which the deity is
seen partaking of the cup give a peculiar significance to the words :
'* I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God
shall come" (Luke xxii, 18).
In inscription C (Plate III, fig. 3) at the base of the stela I have
placed "^^ ^ too far from San-du, and the knife (su) and animal's
head {na\ which are much alike on the stone, should exchange
places. The text begins : ua det. San-du-me-s Tu- md-na-i,
"This the Sandian for the people {manai) of Tyana . . " The
character after Tua which has the value of na at Karabuma is,
I think, a picture of a horse's bit.
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Mar. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
DISCOVERY OF THE TOMB OF SI-PTAH
IN THE BIBAN el MOLl^K, THEBES.
By Edward N. Ayrton.
The following account of the discovery of the tomb of Si-ptah
is sent in fulfilment of my promise to Mr. Nash, made before I left
for Egypt to undertake the superintendence of Mr. Davis' work in
the Royal Valley at Thebes, that I would send him a note of any
fresh discoveries of interest we might make.
The position of the tomb, as will be seen from the sketch-map
(Plate I), is opposite to that of Tausert, and in fact completes the
family group of Sety II, Tausert, and Baii. There were at first no
indications of the existence of a tomb in this position, the ground
being quite level and unbroken.
The plan of the tomb is evidently somewhat similar to that of
Tausert's, the proportions however being larger. Two flights of
steps, with the usual slope between them, lead down to the first
entrance, from which three long corridors lead to a small square
chamber, which opens into a large square hall, the roof of which is
supported by four square columns. Through the centre of this hall
runs a sloping passage leading into two more corridors at a much
lower level. These corridors again open into a small chamber
which may possibly lead into another large hall which should
contain the remains of the burial, but has still to be excavated.
The first two corridors, above referred to, are well inscribed, and we
get a very beautiful portrait of the king. Unfortunately the tomb
was left open for some time after being plundered, and the water
entering has destroyed the stucco in the other chambers, and thus
absolutely obliterated all trace of inscriptions on their walls. The
roofs of the further chambers have also completely fallen in, and it
will be some time before we can get to the end of the tomb.
Fragments of a fine alabaster sarcophagus and one or two good
ushabtis of the king have been found; and numerous hieratic
ostraka and a good deal of pottery lay in the entrance of the tomb ;
all these objects will of course be published later. The photograph
(Plate II) gives a view of the entrance.
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PLATE I.
Proc. Soc. Bibl Arch,, March, 1906.
Bm
Tausert ...
Sety II ...
2 -§
PQ
H .2
O
I.
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PLATE II.
Proc Sot. Bihl. Arch.^ March, 1906.
X
<
o
o
H
X
H
O
o^
s
m
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Mar- 14] THE FOLKLORE OF MOSSOUL. [1906.
THE FOLKLORE OF MOSSOUL.
I.
By R. Campbell Thompson, B.A.
( Continued from page 86.)
The following is the text of the first of the two manuscripts. I
am indebted to the Rev. G. Margoliouth, M.A.^ for many kind
suggestions.
MS. No. I.
******
in nvnne^ ^d3 yji Tsd hv nioninni nioB'n i^« d «y d
on : [Sec Plate] on
DB^n nr n« -iidt ninnn b ^y ^iK^^i ^n b oy mriMT (2)
:Dy "ID «'D «in u^r\ nr i.T* ^ frn
nv^3 ^y imK niriDn inio:^ nnn d«i n^Wni ntryn im ^d^ (3)
fiDTafe }«n3K p«^aK pttdk B*h pjt^: i:vi Din r\hv "iiKpi
// // // II II
iDsrn tni -isy^ n^n^tr iy iniK ^v^\ poiibn cj^p ^y 'd nanx^ (4)
D'y : innxn k'^x in^« nne^^K' npK^ nr^xn i«
tr'Dn nv ti^p hv niDD nv-iriK' no ^Dni inoi XK^on nn^vni^w
noiB' i^^p rh ;*K ik'k Dam n^a-ii nxi ^vy h^dj ^k i^
lino lay npi ^nr^^ Dipn ^nn nDc^n Wy ^no iy ^k^idi
ni«^D n«-ini ni^nn nns hv in^ni y^opn ^1n3 i^^ni D^^D^n
:ny3
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Mar. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
nniK iinpi noi^ nn nv*n hv nina priK^n^ ^i3^ k^i ms i^vy^ (6)
didS« d^w V^dki did^ Dib^K ^D^K ^D^K DB^n m p«n
1DK Dt:'^ iDK^i wiB^n D^v y^DD HK^i nBHn niycr np M21\I^'? (V
on iina^ rr-DiDTn iniK «^di D^3p: D^npa ppn mix nip: in«)
i^« ninDi p-wn ^1nn oWn n« n^^ni nyv^ ^c' inK ntwi
HKini D^D» 'J iny K^K^ -inpn ininpni ik^i nnn d^b'i niDK^n
• . iD'3« 'DnD n^^ ^y naDn n^
niyK' oyo np hdik^ n^n^ i« rhyi^ nvni wik^ ^^ c»^ DM («)
niB^ niyc^n Tin^ n^jni m ninsi i^ b^^e' n^ixn mm ne^i
j'Ti ^i<j ^py irfi 'Dn Skib^ mnpn niivn nni« inpi d^dto
p«n ^h^ny nn^y^ i^vny n^Dn ^B':K' p« np n^n^ rTM3\I^7 w
ni^n^ nwB' nvn^ nvnn dki hwb' n^nn po^ bi d^dh imn
13^^ »3 '« D1pD3 DH'-DK' nWC'^ N^l D^3V StT 131t^»a pXH n^tm
3'y . . HK^B^n 3nD ik37 nr i«3^ nr
DE^3 'DK^n i^K B't v^y -lOKni onnp 'td -isy npn riMStt^bao)
pn n^nj noopi ninoi nivini nn'-Ki nx^pi nwc' i^^en n-ino
nn*«) nptni n^na nt^jt^^ m hk nt )h:^^ eSb pai n^nn ^d
3'y . . ^K31B' n^nn yht*n) yi5to k^d^di n^^o ncrp
liir^B' nb^ nis^trni 'k p« np oncrn ino-c' na n^'t^n^di)
"Dn [Sec Plate] E^TI HID^I inS^ ^K^DKI iniK DHiDnn niN^D
N^tr nnn 'x> d^d npi ^nan r\r]^^ y^n -inpo nsy np i^vim
nnn nn^^K'ni njiy inwi D^on oy nsyn tri^i nr nx nr ini
D^^B'^ K^i BaD m^ ID neyn ^rn nt y\T\:^ orntr -iid«i ixar^
yv ''nowDi pnn inatr
98
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Mar. 14] THE FOLKLORE OF MOSSOUL. [1906.
DH^^y Nipni nnon 'to nsy np D^po^ Dipoo i?"^ )h^ht:h M'y ")
^»)p nBTB' i^jtOT Kipnir B^n r'^n neyn ^n^nn iidc^i niDK'n ^^k
7V )niK inp^ n^iyo njTK'n cnn lin ns^nn ^y niriD M21tt>S(i4)
hp W5n :i:in ^roi nio^K' ly XDnn^ «Si ^nj ^^in n n^nn i3J
/. m nffSD^ liyb^ SpSn D^n'^a p^ rip lanp Tra fna irip It!p
DniD ninan siki D^ono oninni nac^a n^^ np n^i«^ ninx liycw)
r|Ki B^Kn^ir D^ynn Dipoa roon mn n^ni n^n '^^^h d»ctii n^n
^KDnn ^S>d7i ^K^n ^R'^fB'n Kn^ nb""! B'^xn^ «inn nnt^n
^^ffl ^Sn ^hSTi NfiSnn «n!5nn Krain Sfc< Sjs^^ ^R^^n ^«5Bn
^t53S £i5a ^XJIB' ^y fc53n fc53n «31i
DnDn pinoni enn Din Sy nioninn ib« nina wic'n n'^DnSa^)
nDK'D ^y^mn ik nne^n ^jk' nh'h^ KiiK'n n^nn dhik piirni
on /• [S€c Plate] B^h T r\v^2
*n 51DD oyD D^B^i inxivD npi ^iSn no Dvy np in^on^ M'^ut)
ay • • n'nn mix -inpi nn Dvy iinn bn d^k^i
TDyn jD ini ^i^n pic^n Dvy np }nK^ i3do pjid^^ n^n^fij' na M'y(i8)
inn iniN -lupi nit33 ^niK Dinoi m pjod Dy v^y pne^nc^
Di; : niK^D nx-in D^on rSy nay^c^Di d^dh nnn
p^noi niDB»n i^« v^y ainai dhk n^^im ^e^ do nry fc^'^d^;
^B* ^30 ifiN^ oe &p i^K "T^x t^'on ^n^3 nne b iisei D^on
, O — O , I
PK hv Drno n^B'^Str nyj^^n pe^-i Dvn ninD^ xaie^ ■P2fc^n^(20)
^S53 ainan tctk i^fc< oy p«n piitk'^ ^^fc<^ ^nioK^n i^k i»d
y^^K ^Runi bfcODK Ssno ^K^n^ ^x-anx ^SPynr ^«"»"5n^
ino^ 'D'n'D a*iKn nx nafc^ne^ i^ ^yoo Dnoiy d^dtj^ ^sobtk'
D'y 'D vn fc^ini jk'^ inpn niotrn i^« -lup i« tn e^n hb^
i^« i^r niDKi n^Wn ^Sn'n1nnD xnay no D'n . TV2rhl2hm
1BV nn non^D nie^ ni^ry^ d^!?d» n^i on-'^y pnn nioK^n
7iR^ ^ ^smino^ ^eriix n"d ^erox ^Rv n^^ og^a -loxn
itrpnB' DDniDT3 n^ ^«^fi^D htf^W ^^ ^^ !?«35n« ^«^5"aK
on ay i^k oyr iny^ iy yvro 'D'a'D niD^^a Sc' fc^a-p '^^hd b
99
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Mar. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
)^K ninDi rhyo nop h^ naiy np non^ Dn« pD rrMat&'^czz)
^"S^& ^«S^pB ^^spi i^pv fiyv rt) Si3K^ n^aS jni n^Sy nioB^n
Sgr^D ^«<^o ^tra^K ron aa k:b« b3'd ^kttd "s^i ^t^niBB
Dn^ju Di^cr n^n^ k^i on^rn nnnni n^^py nwK^ lannc^ ^d
• • iD"3K D^yS pi «Dr p nn^Ni nwn nwp «^« n^nv^ vh)
iiDvn n^K'pi 11DV D13 niDK^n i^« nina nji y: D^i«n Jnvn'jw
DK^ liiya n^n* -iisvn ^S^ d« mK'n ^3D ^y nniK mai i^a-a
ra ten fi5 m tyn m yr yrn yt dE'i c^n nn«n mo* nrn
Dn . . biK p p p 'J '3 pf p: 0^2 nw nni«n ^ikk6 nin^ sns
pop ne^r^ pim DipOD iK^anS ^k inion n^no dik N^vin^w
iyi-iT Sr injn^i Dn« ini« db^ ^y uv fiS'5 ^y mix iinD*)
'3n nitD -inr jDv ^n vn^ d^^i D*vn 'i ^y nina^ cnin^ k^w
«v^i D^vnn b«^i panK pVpfc' p^^^K^xr^i i^k nn^n ':i nv^D b ^y
D'y " DniD«n n^no
inn D^-KT^ i^D ^:^yn jn ki^d^i n^n^ ^*yv «in xoe' pnnw
o — o o — o 0—0 0—0 f 0—0 .
«i! «^<? 3«? '«y ''W} 5lP 51R ?f^ 3?; «Xl': '3^: 5^5 N^^ u?
D'y : HDUDi pnn «ini §1^
o — o 0—0 • . .
1DV Kiv 5p« % fcTO D7N DK^n Dn7 fiB 7y niriD^ nnn^w
• • lips KV^i K^nnn ^3«^i
lyK' npn mnnn^ nvni ^''^^ ^'^^ ^^ n^y'^v^D nmDnac' nK^^(28)
jnn) "QD13 oyoi n^^n nnno layi n n"«yipB^ Dim ne^n
tTKHK^ Dipon naan n« n^ni nn tDinn iniK nicj^pi nann oniK
j^BQx }^Di^« fBT3Vc iDKni K^n hv "inoan jni vnnn n^n^
Kni^« «ni^K ^iy^« ^3y^K ^iy^K ens inSii u'y Dih^K pdd«
• . pDD *^3 «i3n nn«i Nyo^K xyo^x «yD^« nhi^k
i36rn jni lEjy^ n^n^tr ny ini« Pinri pitDiWn tj^p ^y 3 nnn«^(»)
ninsni D^^n D^on lavnini cnn onn ^^d np innnD wik' "^IpJ^Soo)
nOTB> ym v^^ oe^i m nv-w ^d nt^^-v n^Di nnsu v^y
Dn : wiK'n n pier -ik'k nnn inpni » n^a
inp 'D isyi nvpi npii D^iin t np d^k^^k 'n pn niK^-iD(»i)
mK^n nvp idd cni Doipon onw pnn v^y Kipi D^v^n na^^pi
pn nw ^nnnc' iddi •D3B^ ena pn notDpi npi^no nnin
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Mar. 14] THE FOLKLORE OF MOSSOUL. [1906.
13 Dne'n pi Dn«n pD nnamr io3) on^^u ^nn^ ID ne^n^n
B«i ^y D^HDi DD-on nniK yavi idb^ -i^^^d nniv nc^ njib6
yvD« hv) Tnhn Skdb^ Syi ir3b pD* n* ^yi pSoB^ mivn
pD D^rai nn^^ii Swdc^ ^n hvy wVu piD^ S:n ^yi Unhn cjian
6' Kvin ^y n^ro inKn nvoi ^nne' dhko n-py ^wfio d^^j-ih
3 p^ hn bin op n^^n yvoxn) h ^kdb^ n^ Syi l po^ n- ^yi
n^^y DiDTK^ ny ^kdb^ in p«3 ddik jiodi V ^ndb' ^j-i Syi
PK nnn ik nax^o ^b^ k^^dd nnn nniK inn nn«i nnxn
^y IK B^Mn ^y p^ocr DK^n onix potDnc' nyn iidni onnn
kS IBO ^M nn nm 1^ n^n^ k^i ik^t ^r sna niv id ]2i^r\
3'y : n^^n k^i ova
ino^n nan lOO iB^pa^c^ no ba in^api -iine^ ^unn np «'V(83)
B^KH D^a iniK Knpi ^D«b 1^ jni na^ «in D^^i:mnn h)h2
D^Diyn DnD^ 'tD ne^n p aae nn« ^idk 1^ iD«ni e^pao nnxB'
aas oniB^ ^jk itD«ni db' inonen imn ^k ina^^m nnryn oini
npi aas mo* p noi ^lannn nr Dnc^iB^ oE'a Das nio^ pe^
imapni anna nnt^i iiiKa nnx la^a oniK ainni D^ono ^^b^
: n'ya in^B^ a^ixn d^^b'^ k^i -inan r\t^ hv
'D )DB^ ^y n^p iina Dni« ini iW u'hn ^d np iB^^^nn^ n^jw
Dipoa n:pn yh^n) n^pn ^d Dinoi ti cjoa naina Dxri 'd 'a
n KBin^ K^i n»o n^mi ^iB^Str )^ «a^i D^^ini oma: D^onc^
a'y : noiao) pna Kim njK^vvsr ny dk
Knaani kodk Sk nxn n^^y ainai kdi^ na nvn np nM3't&'?(36)
D^:ioD Dne^ nSan ^k^o yKo K^»n nnn ^a hKo n -lap ^d
K^i nniK nKT k^b' fi3B ^y Dae a^S isanne^ oana nycr hv
nniK K3B^i ^K^BTfc'i ^K^TTb ^R^BB^ ^K^3En ?T DFa noy nn^n^
^^reoS ^K^K ^K^BD D^a laayi Sinni loni iwdk nwjra
. . 1D"3K
nane^n iina ono d^i ioiB^n pne^tr Dipo r^vn joicr n>onS<'*>
wnnB' py« ora roi nCf^i n^ oann^B' j^ro loKni li^e^
a'ytwicrn niiD^ DnD> n iinai b3B nx unnm
lOI
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Mar. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCH-OOLOGY. [1906.
115BK nyn^h in^i ♦^^.n ik D^on DnoM ppriD ':in nr O' nnn«^(37)
• pnn «ini i-tj njin j^fi^n i^^m^Nn nrrn dB5k dssk ymn
h^o^p Dg^ fsra T6TO htf^ny ^«^B^ Dg^ D-on pinoi 'd k^(»)
^y Dna ^k' n^n^ ^idi n^e^sji n^nn ne^pn hn^n ^Knnn ^«5^
B3& nnnK
pmSn r'nm 5rK3 p^^ini hdk nm tid^ n^c^ nan ^y '3 v^m
ti It II
• •yv pnnD
[See Plate} K^^i^p ^K -iK3 ^n pin«i DJ3 ^KD p«3pi ^B nn3K nnnK^(«)
3y B3B D^^n B3B nnnfc^ wnn
I3n^ K^B^ K^«n in)Ki nnn otrn i i^ i3n^ kS ne^ nvntr ^d(«)
[See Plate] HiDninn ^^K B^H Pinb^Hi )^
[See Plate] 'K DV ^3 ^^'^^^ S3B HnHK ^P Bhfi
rwnzh \T\\ D'D3 pino^ '^w Dipon ^nv B^p ^p nar Din o «^(44)
HK^n nil fip: KB^p ^an«^ ihK ^p^ ^a« ^p^ ^^to ^e=np 'b^ti
^nao ^a»pT iid iBon ^nt^vo 3'y pnn) noiao n'^ a'3n Dni«
nioninn i^k nv f|Sp ^y o^ onxn Sy nomn ^^anV) pinB6(«)
D'y [Sec Plate] -|K flSW B^l tn^ltTH ^P D^B^I
'«i Dninva '«i ipnD '« oniK ^D«n on^pc^ 'a ^y '3 nmp^w
(ends) ^y^ BPip^a '3* 'KH b BTl^K^ nyB'S
Translation.
' No. I. Another, — Write these names and seals on the palms ot
thy hands and touch whomsoever thou wilt ; and these are they {see
Plate I, fig. i).
No. 2. For love with all livings and to have power over all spirits, —
Call on this name J^u^iel, or write it and keep it on thy flesh ; and
this is what thou shalt say : " Azor Azariah Lahabiel Hazan Y YY
Yeho." This name is twenty-one (and) twenty-four (in value)
102
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PLATE I.
Proc, Soc. BihL Arch,, March, 1906.
Fig. I.
■^-^jtgj/
•H-'
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
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Mar. 14] THE FOLKLORE OF MOSSOUL. [1906.
No. 3. For everything that thou dost, that thou mayst prosper
{therein). — And if thou wishest to test it, thou shalt write it upon an
egg and bind a thread upon it, and it shall not be burnt. And this
is what thou shalt write: "Abirirun Abriun Abrian Abirmun unSe
^dmaiah."
No. 4. For love, — Write on parchment Haswatos^ and bum it
until it becometh ashes, and put them in beer or whatever drink
that man drinketh, and they {sic) shall love thee.
No. 5. To prosper in business, and everything that thou wishest. —
Write on gazelle parchment, and this is what thou shalt write : " Go
to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise : which bath
no chief overseer, or ruler ; how long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard ?
when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep ? " and take dust from an ant's
hole and put it in the middle of the charm and hang it on the door
of the workshop and thou shalt see marvels by God's help.
No. 6. To bind a man so that he is afflicted with strangury. —
Write on an egg which is a day old, and bury it in the earth. And
this is what thou shalt write : " In the name of Almi Almi Almos
Lmos and Apil Asayim Almos Litayim Itayim Tayim Ayim Pi, the
member of N., son of N." And if thou wishest that the strangury
should cease, take it out of the earth.
No. 7. For an enemy. — Take new wax and make of it a figure of
the enemy, and his name and the name of his mother, and then
pierce it with a thorn in many holes and fill it with fine black glass,
and make a box of wax and put the figure in the box and write these
names and put (them) under its head ; and thou shalt bury it in a
grave three days old,i and thou shalt see with regard to the enemy
all that thou wouldst. And this is what thou shalt write : " Apapi
AkpiS AkpiSin AthSamiS, I adjure you that just as fire continually
devoureth the figures of N., son of N., on the altar, (so) it shall not
be quenched in the heart of N., son of N."
No. 8. If thou hast an enemy and thou wishest that he should
brought to an end or become mad, take a little wax and make the
likeness of the enemy which thou hast, and write this, and put in the
middle of the wax ten needles and bury this image in a grave of
Israel . . ., and this is what thou shalt write: "*Akel Gal Beren
N., the son of N., Pelal Marag Aphras."
1 The text here is difficult, and might be read D^D^ '3 l^V
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Mar. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
No. 9, For extreme hate. — Take a stone which a dog hath bitten,
and make it pass between them, and cast the stone into water ; and
every day shall there be hatred. And if thou wishest that there
should be extreme hatred, cast the stone into a dovecote, and they
shall not be left together in one place, for one shall go one way and
the other another for the greatness of the hate.
No. 10. For hate, — Thou shalt take dust from seven graves, and
say over it seven times these names: **In the name of Asniael,
Yabmael, L*ael, Tesel, Lil, Nuriel, Usiel, Usenaniel — Ye angels,
speedily shall ye bring down hatred and envy and enmity and con-
tention and strife and great hostility between all the household and
N., son of N., that they may hate each other with a great and strong
hatred and bitter enmity of heart and soul henceforth and for ever."
And thou shalt cast it into the house of thine enemy.
No. II. To kill^ so that the devils shall smite him. — Take a stone
and throw it to a dog which shall bite it, and on it write these names
and throw it into the house of thine enemy, and thou shalt see
wonders when they smite him, and it may be that he will be afraid
and die. And this is what thou shalt write : (see Plate I, fig. 2).
No. 12. Another, — Take dust from the grave of a murdered man
who hath been slain with iron, and take water from three wells which
cannot see each other, and knead the dust with the water and make
it into a cake and throw it into the house of thine enemy, and say :
"As this lord of the dust was slain, so may be slain N., the son of N.,
and he shall not complete his year." (Proved and certain.)
No. 13. Another: to drive him forth so that he shall go from place
to place, — Take dust from seven ovens and read over it these names,
and pour the aforesaid dust into his house ; and this is what thou
shalt read: "Taphtir Siztah Koti Kot Koph^itah Kab Teni*ah Sat
Hatot Wiph Titah." And it shall be successful by the help of God.
No. 14. For an enemy, — Write on a piece of new cloth at even-
time and bury it on his roof and there shall come on him great
sickness and he shall not be healed, till he die or the roof fall in.
And this is what thou shalt write : "Kal Yabhah Katho Pedin Bidad
Karbad Kah Perek Bihnam Haka Lsa*ah Lsa*ah."
No. 15. Another for a foe, — Take the heart of a lamb and put
needles (in it), and also shalt thou write in the heart's blood and put
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Mar. 14] THE FOLKLORE OF MOSSOUL. [1906.
it on the hole of the heart, and this heart thou shalt hide in a place
of evil, that it may rot, and that enemy may also rot and come to an
end. And this is what thou shalt write : " HaSdiel Hahkiel Hamiel
Harsel Hamamel Haluel Israel El Birketha Birketha Birketha Sick-
ness, Sickness, Sickness, thou shalt come, thou shalt come, thou
shalt come upon mine enemy, N., son of N."
No. 16. To kill the enemy, — Write these seals on a new potsherd
and wash (them) off in water, and sprinkle it in the house of the
enemy on the second night of the week or the fourth of the week
at the seventh hour. And this is what thou shalt write : (see Plate I,
% 3)-
No. 17. Another to kill him, — Take a hollow bone of a dead
man and take of (thine enemy's) excrement and put a little " living ''
silver, and put the whole into the bone aforementioned, and bury it
in the enemy's house.
No. 18. Another y that he should fall sick and be incontinent, —
Take a hollow thigh-bone and put some of the dust whereon he hath
made water with "living" silver, and seal it up carefully, and bury it
in the river underneath the water, and as the water passeth over it
thou shalt see wonders.
No. 19. Another, — Make a plate of red copper and write on it
these names, and wash (them) off in water and pour it out at the
door of his house. And this is what thou shalt write : " Ir Izir Kit
Tat Sathan Minni Y'md Ebel A§tan Bat A' Nitan Ya'anihu Amen."
No. 20. To destroy an enemy, — Write on the first day at the third
hour of the day upon a bit of limestone, these names \ and then let
him burn the stone with these that thou shalt write : " Nemael
Lahabiel Zeru'iel Ahabiel Yahariel Mariel Amiel Wahabiel Uriel
Seraphiel, Seraphs that stand above him, that ye may destroy the
enemy, N., son of N., to Maher-§alal-ha§-baz." Or bury these names
in an old grave (and this is proved and certain).
No. 21. For war, — . . . Take dust from under thy left foot and say
over it these names and scatter it against them (the enemy) and they
shall no more be able to make war ; and this is what thou shalt say :
"In the name of Loki Yoel AntSel. (Another book) AntSel and
Mehothiel Yoy Hia Abniel Ahamnel Yiol Wahi Yokiel MiSkathiel
Yah — by your purity that ye may bind all kinds of fighting for
105 K
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brigandage against N., son of N., henceforth and for ever, until the
wrath pass. Amen, so may the will be."
No. 22. For hatred between a man and his friend, — Take a cake
of fine flour, and write these names upon it, and give it to a dog to
eat ; and this is what thou shalt write : " §*aph §kas and Kaphiel
Pekise Pelal Memufeel Welo Soel ; N., son of N., shall hate N., son
of N., in the name of Ibiel Meriel Sephiel So, that ye may put hate and
envy and strife between them and there shall not be peace between
them nor love, but envy and hatred and enmity from this day for
evermore."
No. 23. That an enemy may be a fugitive and a wanderer. — Write
these words in a bird's blood and bind (it) on the bird's foot and let
it fly in the open fields. If the bird goes away, he shall be a fugitive
and a wanderer, and if it come back, the enemy shall die. And
this is what thou shalt write : "Za' Tiza' Zia' Haz Ta'z Hiz Puz Taphaz
Piz; N., son of N., shall go down into Sheol at this hour, by the
name of Gak Dik GG KKK."
No. 24. To bring a man out of prison, or to bring him in from a
distant place, — Let him make a charm and write it on gazelle parch-
ment in the name of that man and let him put it on his arm.
No. 25. Another for a prisoner. — Let him write on three eggs
(and if they are two days old, better still), and write on each egg
these three words : " Wi§k§ain SikSain Argin," and let him eat the
eggs and he shall go forth from the prison.
No. 26. This is what shall effect a man^s growing rich and being
high in favour before king and princes. — And this is it : " Ayan Repha
Selab Debi Ye*a Ye*ab Yezal Ketha* Mewab Tesai *Ai Keab Yea
Yewa Keaa." And it is proved and certain.
No. 27. For a prisoner. — Let him write on a piece of bread in
the name of Agas Sega Segi Asaph Sepha Sephu and let the prisoner
eat it and he shall go forth by God's help.
No, 28. For a woman that hath been separated from her husband
through enchantment, and wisheth to join him. — Thou shalt take a
hair of the woman, and a thread which she hath bound on him,* and
2 Or "it."
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Mar. 14] THE FOLKLORE OF MOSSOUL. [1906.
dust from beneath her feet, and a little coriander-seed, and thou shalt
put them in a (piece of) cloth and bind it with the aforementioned
thread and hang the cloth in a place under which the man is, and
put the coriander-seed upon the man and thou shalt say : ** Anusin
Anusin Atetin Atetin, do ye subdue and bring N., the son of N.,
swiftly, swiftly, swiftly, with speed, with speed, with speed, at once,
at once, at once ;" and then shall she come without a doubt
No. 29. For love, — Write on parchment Ha§wat6s, and bum it
until it becometh ashes, and put it in beer or whatever drink that
man drinketh and they (sic) will love thee.
No. 30. To uproot an enemy from his dwelling. — Take a vessel of
new pot and wash it in running water, and thou shalt write on it :
(the verse beginning) " Brimstone and salt (and) burning all its land "
and all (the rest) of it,^ "in the name Segehu Werega* Seheseth
Geherah Ab," and thou shalt burn it in the house wherein the
enemy dwelleth.
No. 31. Separation between two men. — Take seven mustard-(seeds)
and spices and nigella and dust from forty graves and eggshells
and read over them and scatter them in their place. And this is what
thou shall say : " Like the nigella in the fields, so shall contention
and dispute increase between N., son of N., and N., son of N. ;
and as the Lord (blessed be he) divided between the heaven and
earth, so may He divide between them ; and as He divided between
sea and land, so may He divide between them ; and as He divided
between man and devils, so may He divide between them ; and the
one shall not come back to the other for ever and ever."
No. 32. For an enemy, — Make a figure on parchment in his
name and dye it in saffron, and write upon the head of the figure
Samardin, and upon the right hand PagaS, and upon the left Tibtaz,
and on the middle of the body Tilhab, and upon the right foot
Bilao, and upon the left foot Belobab, and write between the feet
Sammael, Scorpio, Mars, Saturn ; and on the other side write on the
head P, and on the right hand G, and upon the left hand L^ and
on the middle of the body KT, and on the right foot K, and on the
left foot W, and conceal it in the earth with the left hand until the
enemy treadeth on it ; and then thou shalt put it under a work(man's)
• Deut. xxix, 23.
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hammer or under a fuller's stone, and say at the time that thou
buriest it : " in the name of &mnin " over the hammer or over the
stone; "so shall N., the son of N., be smitten on his head and he
shall have no peaceful rest in all his body, neither by day nor night."
No. 33. Another, — Take a black cock and buy it at whatever
price they shall ask from thee, and put it in the fowl-run by itself, and
feed it and call it by the name of the man thou seekest, and thou
shalt say to it : " Eat thou N., son of N. ; " thus shalt thou do for nine
consecutive days, and on the tenth bring it to the river and kill it
there, and thou shalt say : "I am killing N., the son of N., that N.,
the son of N., may die thus, in the name whereby this cock is killed,
and N., son of N., may surely die." Then take two needles and put
them in its heari, one lengthwise and the other breadthwise, and
thou shalt bury it on the brink of the river, and the enemy shall
not complete his year, by God's help.
No. 34. Another^ to make him feeble, — Take of his urine and put
it in a reed in his name, N., son of N., and put therein "living"
silver, and close up the mouth of the reed, and cast the reed into a
place where water is continually running, and diarrhoea shall come
upon him, and he shall immediately fall sick and shall not recover
until he taketh it out. And this is proved and certain.
No. 35. For hatred, — Take an egg one day old and write upon it
this name, and bury it in the grave of a man slain by iron. And
this is what thou shalt write : " I adjure you. Angels of destruction
which are set over the gates of Jehannum, that ye turn the heart of
N., son of N., against N., daughter of N., that he shall not look at
her, nor be joined to her, in the name of Jehovah, Haphkiel Saphkiel
Suriel and Seraphiel, and he shall hate her as with the hatred of
Amnon and Tamar, and cat and mouse, in the name of Samiel
Aphiel Tamtiel."
No. 36. To kill an enemy, — Watch the place where the enemy
passeth water and put a needle in the middle of his urine, and thou
shalt say : " I adjure you three, Aph, and Himah, and Sam, in the
name of Argaman, that ye come and slay N., son of N.," and within
four days the enemy will die.
No. 37. For love. — Write this on three tablets and wash them in
water or wiiie and give it to drink: "Atmaru Atmaru Kmarmadu
Armadu AWphu Akiphu."
ro8
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PLATE II.
Proc. Soc, Bib/. Arch, y March, 1906.
Fig. I.
\^m
'^^\^^
,j\JU-
!-<
Fig:- 2.
d^ji^ luasi ^iidduf^
Fig. 3-
wcyB
£
Fig. 4.
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Mar. 14] THE FOLKLORE OF MOSSOUL. [1906.
No. 38. Another, — Write these names on seven . . . and give
them to eat to whomever thou wishest, and he shall come after thee :
"Akmas Akmas Honah Haitunin Bi§umin Honah Gedu." And it
is proved.
No. 39. Another, — Write and wash off in water : " in the name of
Aphiel and Haniel Maspaz Maspaz ; in the name of Kasmiel Pni*ael
Hithriel Haniel. Ye shall bind the spirit and soul and all the being
of N., the son of N., for love of N., daughter of N."
No. 40. Another, — Write on a garment of hers, her name and
the name of her mother, and burn in fire: **Berubin Beru^iin
Berufein."
No. 41. For love, — Write on dijakja^ . . . and burn it in a great
fire : {see Plate II, fig. i) "Ye shall put love for N., son of N., into
the heart of N., daughter of N."
No. 42. Whoever wisheth for a woman and he (her father) will
not give her to him, — Write in the name of the daughter and that
man who will not give her to him, and thou shalt burn it in fire.
These are the seals (see Plate II, fig. 2).
No. 43. For love between a man and his wife, — Write these three
seals on three olive leaves in the name of N., the son of N., for love
of N., daughter of N., and he shall burn one each day (see Plate II,
fig- 3).
No. 44. Another, — Write in dove's blood on gazelle parchment
on a hairy place, and wash it off in water and give it (to him) to
drink. And this is what thou shalt write : ** Kursi Pa'ali Y'ki Ani
Y'ki Atho Yithni Kalpba Nakdo;" and this shalt thou do with
great attention. Proved and certain.
(I found this in the book of my worthy ancestor, Migdal David.)
No. 45. To crush and bring on deep sleep on a man, — Write on
gazelle parchment these seals, and he shall put it on the table. And
this is what thou shalt write : " Wath Nepher " (see Plate II, fig. 4).
No. 46. For fever, — Write on three almonds and let him eat
them, one in the morning and one at noon and one at the hour he
shivers. On the first write Bikdas : and on *******
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TWO KABBALISTIC PLANETARY CHARMS.
By E. J. PiLCHER.
Kabbalistic astrology conceived the Universe as consisting of
ten concentric spheres, each sphere being under the influence of
one of the Ten Sephiroth (or "Emanations" of the Absolute),
arranged in the following manner, one within the other : —
Jf- D'^'^i'^irr n^tt^M'l R&shUk ka-galgaUm = The primum mobile.
Mazloth = The sphere of the Zodiac.
ShabbathcU = The sphere of Saturn.
Sedeq = The sphere of Jupiter.
Madttn = The sphere of Mars.
Sheniesh = The sphere of the Sun.
Nogah — The sphere of Venus.
Kokab = The sphere of Mercury.
Lebanah = The sphere of the Moon.
Cholom yesodoth — The mundane sphere.
Each sphere had its own characteristics ; but the spheres of the
Seven Planets were supposed to be of the greatest importance to
mankind ; for each planet presided over a certain section of human
affairs, and the man who wished to succeed in these affairs must
know the mystic symbols of the governing planet, and the names
and attributes of the operating genii. When, therefore, we meet
with metal plates, or strips of parchment, bearing mysterious symbols
and devices, and lists of more or less unintelligible names, they are
usually to be explained as charms or talismans, intended to secure
to the possessor the offices of the spirits, or the influence of the
powers of the planetary spheres. These devices are of various
kinds. There is the "Signature " or character appropriated to each
planet — an arbitrary figure somewhat cruciform in outline. Also the
" signatures " of the beneficent indwelling spirits, and the maleficent
no
2.
ni'riD
3-
"•Nnntr
4-
pT2
S-
D"«n«o
6.
tt>Ott7
7.
nais
8.
9-
10.
iTniD"" o'rn
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Mar. 14] TWO KABBALISTIC PLANETARY CHARMS.
[1906.
demons associated with the planetary spheres. But the most striking
device is the " Magic Square ;" that is to say, a square figure formed
by a series of numbers in mathematical proportion, so disposed in
parallel and equal rows that the sum of the numbers in each row or
line taken perpendicularly, horizontally or diagonally, is equal.
The simplest of all the squares is that of Saturn. As Saturn
presides over the Third Sphere, he has a Magic Square composed of
three columns ; thus involving nine ciphers. The arithmetical sum
obtained by adding up each column perpendicularly is fifteen ; and
the same sum is obtained by adding up each row of ciphers horizon-
tally, and by taking them diagonally from corner to corner ; thus : —
4
9
2
3
5
7
8
I
6
Furthermore, by taking the arithmetical sum 15, and multiplying
it by the number of the sphere = 3, we get forty five as the product.
The numbers in italics should be carefully noted, because the
Kabbalist gives special mystic names to each of them, as well as to
the numbers derived in the same way from the Magic Squares of the
other planets.
In the case of Saturn : —
3 has the Mystic Name of Ab,
15 „ „ „ lah.
15X3 = 45
Zazel.^
The two talismans which form the subject of this paper are con-
structed upon Kabbalistic principles. They both contain blunders
arising from the carelessness or ignorance of the engraver ; but these
probably had no effect upon their magical virtues, or the estimation
in which they were held by their possessors. Occultists are perfectly
aware that practical magic is full of these blunders; but such
difficulties are explained by the convenient theory that the word or
^ The maimer of forming these mystic names is obvious to anyone acquainted
with the numerical properties of the Hebrew letters.
Ill
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[1906.
the symbol per se has comparatively little value. It only attains its
power when it becomes the medium of psychic force.
The smaller of the two charms (see Plate I, figs, i, 2) is appro-
priated to the planet Jupiter. It consists of a silver disk, an inch
and a half in diameter, with a suspension loop.
A talisman of Jupiter frequently bears in its centre a representa-
tion of a "nobleman." The date and provenance of the present
specimen is shown by the full length engraving of a Dutch burgo-
master, attired in the costume worn at the latter end of the seven-
teenth century. We may recognise the broad-brimmed hat, the
flowing wig, the square-cut coat, and the high-heeled buckled shoes.
He stands between the two halves of the quaternary square of
the planet The true Magic Square should be as under : —
4
14
15 I
9 ! 7
1
6 12
5
II 10 8
16
2
3 i 13
The component numbers of which have the following Mystic
Names : —
4 Aba,
4x4= 16 Hagiel.
34 Elab:
34 X 4 = 136 JohphieL
The numbers that actually occur on the talisman will not add
up. They, furthermore, have seven asterisks distributed among them
for the purpose of mystifying the reader.
Above the burgomaster is the " signature " of the indwelling spirit
of Jupiter; while he tramples under his feet the "signature" of the
corresponding demon.
The letters M L I M are possibly the initials of the owner, but
more probably the initials of the four Evangelists.
Around the whole device is a circle containing the names of angels-
The reverse of the talisman presents a circle with eight rays. In
the circle are engraved three lines of pseudo-Hebrew characters.
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PLATE 1.
Proc. Soc. BibL Arch., Manh, 1906.
OBVERSE.
2
REVERSE.
KABBALISTIC CHARMS.
Belonging to W. L. Nash, Esq.
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Mar. 14] TWO KABBALISTIC PLANETARY CHARMS.
[1906.
The rays bear the names of various angels ; and in the spandrels are
groups of three, seven, and nine stars, interchanged with crosslets.
Surrounding all is a border, containing the mystic names of the
component numbers of the Magic Square. First is Agiel ; probably
for the Angel of Jupiter, though the usual name of this functionary
is SachieL Then comes the planetary cipher 4, followed by its
Mystic Name Abab. This being the number of letters in the
ineffable name rniT it is expressed in Kabbalistic style by Tetra-
grammaton; followed by Hagiely Elab^ ^.nd /ohphiell for 16, 34 and
136 respectively.
These celestial names and transcendental cyphers, however, were
intended to serve a low practical purpose ; for they were engraved
upon this talisman with the object of securing mere temporal
advantages. The Kabbalist assures us that : —
"If this Magical Square be engraved upon a sheet of silver
representing Jupiter in a powerful and dominant conjunction, then
it will give riches, favour, love, peace, and harmony with mankind.
It will reconcile enemies. It ^vill ensure honours, dignities, and
government position."
The larger charm (Plate I, figs. 3, 4) is a silver disk, two inches
and an eighth in diameter. It is appropriated to the planet Venus.
Venus being the regent of the Seventh Sphere, her Magic Square is,
of course, septenary ; and is arranged as follows : —
1
22 47
16
41 10
1
35
4
5 ! 23
1
48
17
42
II
29
i
30 6
1
24
49
1.8
36
12
13
31
7
25
43
19
37
38 14
32
I
26
44
20
21 39
8
33
2
27
45
46 15
40
9
34
3
28
113
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Mar. 14]
SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY.
[1906.
The component numbers of this square are set out below, with
their Mystic Names in italics and in Hebrew letters : —
7 Ahea Kn«
lY.!^ 49 Hagiel hM^^^T^
175 QAdemel 'rMDlp
175 X 7 = 1225 Beni Seraphim D"»D'1tt^ ^32
The charm before us exhibits the erudition of the engraver by
setting out the planetary square in Hebrew characters. It has two
blunders in it, both of them in the second column from the left.
The second square from the top has J"^ for 33 ; and the second
square from the bottom has plv for tOT • The correct table is
this :—
13
Wi
V
ND
s
rh
T
n
33
no
r
30
«"•
133
S
1
ns
C5n
rp
^h
SI
r
«S
T
rt3
ao
ci>
h
rh
T
^
M
13
■ra
3
«D
taV
n
h
3
«
no
■>o
m
a
to
-h
:i
n3
Above the Magic Square is fc^HW , the Mystic Name of seven.
Below it is the well-known astronomical symbol of Venus ? .
In the outer circle we again meet with the mystic MpfM on the
right hand ; while, on the left, is WJin for Ilaj^'e[i] the Mystic
Name of 49.^ On the top is engraved 1225, the product of multi-
plying the arithmetical sum of the square by its planetary number.
The Name (Qedemei), or the Number 175, might have been expected
to figure at the bottom, but has been omitted for some reason.
* A corresponding charm in the British Museum has the full word ?N^3n Hagitl.
114
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Mar. 14] TWO KABBALISTIC PLANETARY CHARMS. [1906.
The reverse of the talisman gives us the ** Signature " of Venus ;
below which is the " Signature " of the indwelling spirit of the planet,
with the astronomical ? in the field.
Kabbalistic lore tells us that : —
"This Magic Square engraved upon a sheet of silver representing
Venus in a lucky conjunction, procures harmony, terminates discords,
and obtains female favours. It assists conception, prevents sterility,
and gives conjugal strength. It delivers from sorcery, makes peace
between husband and wife, and causes all kinds of animals to be
produced in abundance. Placed in a dovecot, it causes the pigeons
to multiply freely. It is good against melancholy sicknesses ; and is
strengthening. Carried upon the person it makes travellers lucky."
These two charms are interesting as memorials of the belief in
magic, astrology and witchcraft, which characterized the seventeenth
century. The belief was shared by the ablest and most learned
men of the period. In fact it was learning (of a kind) that gave it
its great influence. Johann Reuchlin in the sixteenth century, and
Athanasius Kircher in the seventeenth, devoted much time and
labour to expounding the abstruse teachings of the Kabbalah ; and
they were eagerly followed by a crowd of lesser luminaries. The
Kabbalah itself was at first a body of theosophic doctrine originated
by the Jews of Spain in the thirteenth century on the lines of Neo-
Platonism; but the mysticism of the early Kabbalists speedily
developed a system of magic, that gradually absorbed all the half-
forgotten fancies of Greek sorcery and astrology. Thus Kabbalism
became the principal repertory of magical ideas ; and all the forms
of modern occultism, whatever their names may be, have derived
their material from the Kabbalah ; although the debt is not always
acknowledged.
The British Museum possesses seven of these planetary charms,
exhibited in the Mediaeval Room, Table Case B. All of them
except No. I appear to have been part of the Sloane Collection.
They may be described as follows : —
I. A silver disk, pierced.
O^erse. — A magic square of four columns in Hebrew
characters; above which is the word 3b^"?M • On the right
side MIW. On the left side '^M^^DrP. At the base 7/.
Below all'* 136."
"5
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Mar. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCH/EOLOGY. [1906.
Retferse,^ The ** signature " of Jupiter ; below which is
the astronomical 1/ , and the " signature " of the indwelling
spirit of the planet. On the right hand the words, ^'Confirmo
O Deus potentissimusP^
II. A silver disk, pierced.
Obverse, — A magic square of four columns, without any-
dividing lines, above which are the words, ^^ Aba iohphiel
Hisviadr On the right hand the " signature " of Jupiter.
On the left " Sachieiy Below, the signatures of the spirit
and demon of the planet.
Reverse, — A nondescript winged figure, and the word
" Gabrielir
III. An octagonal plate, with suspension loop, cast in pewter.
Obverse, — A magic square of four columns, in Hebrew
characters, surmounted by the figure of a throned monarch.
At sides and base are various emblems.
ReiJerse. — Twelve lines of Hebrew.
IV. A thick oval of reddish bronze, with suspension loop. [The
rubric states that the talisman of Mars in a fortunate con-
junction should be of iron. But a charm constructed under
an unfortunate conjunction must be in "red brass." It
will then have sundry maleficent properties, including the
power of "striking terror into one^s enemies, and compelling
them to submit."]
Obverse. — A magic square of ?[vt columns, in Arabic
numerals, surmounted with the symbol of Mars ^.
Reverse, — A man in complete armour, of apparently
sixteenth century date, brandishing a drawn sword above
his head. Below him the ** signature " of Mars. Above, in
a kind of heraldic chief, the symbol cJ .
V. Square plate of silver, with suspension loop.
Obverse. — A magic square of seven columns, in Arabic
numerals; above which are the words Nihil Deo impassible.
On the right hand, Quis sicut injortibus. Running round
the bottom and left hand, O tetragramaton qui aperuisti
vulvam RachelcB concepit filii.
Reverse. — A clothed female figure seated on a throne,
bearing in her right hand a feathered dart ; in her raised
^ There is a precisely similar medal in the York Museum.
116
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PLATE 11.
Proc. Soc. Btbi. Arch,, Marchy 1906.
REVEKSE.
KABBALISTIC MEDAL.
Belonging lo W. L. Nash, Esq.
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Mar. 14] TWO KABBALISTIC PLANETARY CHARMS. [1906.
left hand a flower. Two birds on the back of the throne.
To right, the symbol ? , a balance with the sign £S:, and the
signature of the spirit of Venus. To left, the signature of
Venus, a crouching bull, surmounted by 0, and the
signature of the planetary demon.
VI. An exactly similar plate in capper ; with the same devices.
[According to the rubric, a talisman of Venus in a lucky
conjunction should be in silver. Under an unlucky aspect,
the charm should be in copper. It was then supposed to
have a precisely opposite effect. The two plates in the
Museum, therefore, are complementary ; and represent the
planet in both its beneficent and its maleficent qualities.]
VII. A silver disk, pierced. It bears an old label, reading,
" Silver amulet or talisman made under the Joint influence
of Venus and the Moon. Date XVI or XVII century:'
Obverse, — Magic square of seven columns, in Hebrew
characters. Above all 1225 and rnn''. On the right
h^yn . On the left MHM . Below all MnM .
Rruerse, — The "signature" of Venus; the signature pf
the indwelling spirit, €h and ? . The following words are
engraved in a spiral around these figures. ^^ Accipe mihi
petitione O Domine keep me as apple of an eye hide me under
the shadow of thy wings from all evel (sic) up Lord and help
us for thou art my strong rock and my castle Amen:'
To the above list I may add a description of a pewter medal
with Talismanic inscriptions belonging to Mr. Nash (Plate II),
bearing :
Obi^erse,
An interlaced star of eight points. In the spaces of the figure
are the letters of the word Tetragramaton. Around the figure
are the astronomical hieroglyphs of the seven planets, and a star with
eight rays, thus :
* O C ^? V c? ? ?
Around all are " Words of Power," separated by Maltese crosses :
qO^ adonay + sother 4- astisap + el -h on -h iesus + christus + hely +
G + M + B-h
117
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Mar. 14] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
Reverse,
An interlaced star of five points, forming the '* seal of David."
"Seals" of angels between the points. Surrounded by sixteen
" seals " of angels ; making twenty-one ** seals " in all.
In the surrounding circle are the words : —
o
S°o 2igla + tetragramaton + elion -h pantagaton + eloy + ananisapt +
emanuel
I wish also to draw attention to a very beautiful porcelain bowl
and saucer exhibited by Mr. Nash. Both pieces have a magic
square of sixteen spaces, surrounded by lines of an inscription
in Arabic alternating with lines of an ornamental pattern. I can
offer no further account of this object until the inscription has
been translated.
NOTE ON TWO FIGURES FOUND NEAR THE.
SOUTH TEMPLE AT WADY HALFA.
By p. Scott-Moncrieff, B,A,
While excavating for the Sudan Government at the XVIIIth
dynasty temple near Wady Haifa during the months of November
and December last, I opened up a vaulted brick chamber which
abutted on the old temenos wall. Its appearance is very much like
that of the vaulted shrine of Taharka at Semneh opened in 1904 by
Dr. Budge and Mr. J. W. Crowfoot, and for that reason the Haifa
chamber may very probably owe its origin to the same king. In
it, however, was found a strange miscellany of objects. The first
figure illustrated [Plate, figs, i and 2], which stands 17^ inches high,
was found with several Middle Empire grave-stelae, pots, and other
fragments, at the bottom of the chamber, some 12 feet below the
surface. It is the portrait of Sebek-em-heby ^§4 ^K\ [ { 1 , a scribe
of the soldiers ; the brief inscription on the knees of the figure only
118
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Proc, Soc, Bibt, Arch.^ Match, 1906.
Fig. I. Fig. 2.
FIGURES FROM WADV ^ALFA.
Found by P. Scott- Moncrieff, Esq.
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Mar. 14] TWO FIGURES FOUND AT WADY HALF A. [1906.
contains the name and office of the deceased, with the usual Suten
(a hotep formula addressed to Ptah. As may be seen from the
illustration, it is of fine workmanship, and executed in a style of
great dignity and repose. The material is black basalt, and it clearly
belongs to the Xlllth dynasty.
The other figure [Plate, fig. 3] was found some time before the
bottom of the chamber was reached, only about 3 feet from the
surface : close by it were two fragments of ostraka, inscribed in cursive
Meroitic. It is of soft limestone, and stands about t8 inches high.
In spite of the rudeness of the workmanship and the primitive idol-
like expression it bears, the object is surely meant for a copy of an
Egyptian figure. The red is exactly the tint found on Egyptian
work. The necklace and wig also seem to show an effort to copy
an Egyptian model. Its date and origin, however, are difficult to
guess, but it may possibly belong to the period of the later Nubian
empire, about which so little is at present known. The existence of
Meroitic ostraka close by would support this supposition.
The presence of Middle Empire objects in a brick chamber
which must be of much later date may perhaps be accounted for by
the fact that they originally came from the Middle Empire brick
temple a few hundred yards distant, and having perhaps been brought
into the XVIIIth dynasty temple soon after it was built, they were
afterwards, in unsettled times, thrown into the brick chamber.
Their position, lying anyhow, seems to confirm this. All the objects
are now in the Gordon College at Khartoum, and will eventually be
placed in the museum shortly to be built there.
119
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Mak. 14) SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHitOLOGY. [1906.
"THE STAR OF STARS" AND DILGAN.
The author omitted to refer to the identification, by Mr. R.
Brown, of the "Star of Stars" with the Pleiades (see ^^ Primitive
Constellations^^ II, 209), an identification, however, which is based
on different grounds to those adopted by the author of the Paper.
The next Meeting of the Society will be held on
Wednesday, May 9th, 1906, at 4.30 p.m., when the
following Paper will be read : —
Dr. Pinches: ''The Babylonian Gods of War,
and their Legends."
120
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SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHM06T PUBUCATIOMS.
A
GENERAL INDEX
TO THE
"PROCEEDINGS."
VOLS. XI— XX.
* J MEMBERS, 5..
\NON^MBMBBB8, Ob.
NOW READY-PRICE 808.
(Postage, 4/t)
A
GENERAL INDEX
TO THE nine' VOLUMES
OF
"TRANSACTIONS/'
The Bronze Ornaments of the Palace Gates from
Balawai
[Shalmaneser II, B.C 859-825.]
Part V (the final part), with Introduction and descriptiye letter-press,
has now been issued to the Subscribers.
A few complete copies of the book remain unsold and can be
obtained on application to the Secretary.
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Society of Biblical Archaeology.
37, Great Russell Street, London, W.C.
council, 1906.
President,
Prof. A. H. Saycb, D.D., &c., «kc
Vict'Prmdents. •
Thk Most Rev. His Grace The Lord Archbishop of Vork.
The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Salisbury.
The Most Hon. the Marquess of Northampton.
The Right Hon. the Earl of Halsbury.
The Right Hon. Lord Amherst of Hackney.
Walter Morrison.
Alexander Pbckovkr, LL.D., F.S.A.
F. G. Hilton Price, Dir. S.A.
W. Harry Rylands, F.S.A.
The Right Hon. General Lord Grenfbll, K.CB., &c., &c.
The Right Rev. S. W. Allen, D.D. (R.C. Bishop of Shrewsbury).
Rev. J. Marshall, M.A.
Joseph Pollard.
Rev. Charles Jambs Ball, M.A.
Dr. M. G aster.
F. Ll. Griffith, F.S.A.
H. R. Hall, M.A.
Sir H. H. Howorth, K.C.LE.,
F.R.S., &c.
L. W. King, M.A.
Rev. Albkrt I.6wy, LL-D., &c.
Prof. G. Maspero.
CounciL
Claude G. Montefiorb.
Prof. E. Naville.
Edward S. M. Pbrownb, F.S.A.
Rev, W. T. Filter.
P. Scott-Moncrieff, B.A.
R. Campbell Thompson, B.A.
Edward B. Tylor, LL.D.,
F.R.S., &c.
Honorary Treasurer— ^^%\c^K^l> T. BosANQUE'i .
5^tf«/ar^— Walter L. Nash, M.R.C.S., F.S.A.
Honorary Secretary for Foreign Correspondence — F. Leggb.
Honorary Librarian—^ KLTKH L. Nash, M.R.C.S., F.S.A.
KAKRISON AND SONS, PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO HIS MAJBSTV. ST. MARTIN'S ^^"K. ^jQQq[^
VOL. XXVIII. Part 4.
'; .!L"V n i;, ;
OF
THE SOCIETY
OF
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY.
-^0^
VOL. XXVIII. THIRTY-SIXTH SESSION.
Fourth Meeting, May gth^ 1906.
CONTENTS.
, PACE
Victor Loret.— Le dieu Seth et le Roi S^th6sis 123-132
Prof. A. H. Sayce. — ^The Ivriz Texts ; The Ardistama Inscrip-
tions ; Some Hittite Seals {Plate) 133-137
E. O. WiNSTEDT. — Some Munich Coptic Fragments. 1 137-142
Prof. D. H, Mullex.— The Himyaritic Inscription from Jabal
Jehaf. {Plate) 143-148
Prof. F. C. Burkitt, A/.^.— The * Throne of Nimrod.'
{2 Plates) 149-155
The Rev. Dr. Colin Campbell.— Inscribed Slab with a
portrait of Khuenaten. '{Plate) *. 156
— — ^M^
published at
THE OFFICES OF THE SOCIETY,
37, Great Russell Street, London, W,C.
1906.
No. CCXI. J^^^edbyV
SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY,
37, Great Russell Street, London, W.C.
TRANSACTIONS.
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Members.
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ff
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10
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„ Mil,
ff
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o
»> VIII,
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M
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M VIII,
2 .
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.. IV,
• 1
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„ VIII,
3 .
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... 12 6
„ V,
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• >
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. 10
6 ..7
6 ..
15
12
o
6
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X .
2 .
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A few complete sets of the Transactions and Proceedings still remain on
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F.S.A., S7, Great Russell. Street, London, W.C.
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J; JUN 111905 '^i
OF
THE SOCIETY
OF
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY
THIRTY-SIXTH SESSION, 1906.
Fourth Meetings May gth, 1906.
Rev. W. T. FILTER, M,A,,
IN THE CHAIR.
-#^-
[No. ccxi.] 121
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May 9] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
The following gifts to the Library were announced, and
thanks ordered to be returned to the Donors : —
From the Author, Prof. Dr. A. Wiedemann. — "^Egyptische
Grabreliefs aus der Grossherzoglichen Altertiimer-Sammlung, zu
Karlsruhe."
From the Author, Prof. Waldemar Schmidt. — "Choix de
Monuments 6gyptiens."
From the Author, Mon'. A. Baillet. — "Les Vases *Oucheb' et
*Sochen.'"
From the Publishers, Messrs. Putnam. — " Man's Responsibility,"
by T. G. Carson.
THE LIBRARY.
BOOK-BINDING FUND.
The following donations have been received : —
March, 1906 : —
The Rev. W. T. Pilter ;£i o o
The Hon. Miss E. Plunket £1 i o
The following Candidate for Membership was elected : —
C. Barclay Holland, Esq., 9, Beaumont Street, W.
The following Paper was read ; —
Dr. T. G. Pinches: **The Babylonian Gods of War, and
their Legends."
Thanks were returned for this communication.
122
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May 9] LE DIEU SETH ET LE ROI S6th6SIS. [1906.
LE DIEU SETH ET LE ROI s6th6SIS.
Par Victor Loret.
Dans son trhs curieux ouvrage Aus ^gyptens Vorzeit} — 011 se
rencontrent, k cotd d'assertions aventureuses et d^concertantes, un
grand nombre d'apergus ingdnieux et originaux qu'il serait bon de ne
pas laisser tomber dans Toubli, — F. I^uth a emis, au sujet du nom
du roi tS 00 > une id^e qui n'a pas fait fortune et qui pourtant, si je
ne me trompe, m^ritait un meilleur sort. A son avis, ce nom ne
doit pas se lire Seti^ ce qui edt donn^ en grec une transcription
*^€0i9^ mais bien Soutekhiy ou plutot Setoukhiy ce qui explique trfes
naturellement la transcription man^thonienne ^0ujot9j dans laquelle
le ® est rendu par un «. On constate, en effet, la m^me manifere de
rendre le ® par un « dans la transcription 2o«)0i9, 2aw0/« du nom
royal ©^ ^ .
D'apr^s Lauth, on le voit, le signe lo rdpondrait ici, non pas k
la forme lo du nom divin, mais bien k la forme 1 ^ IB ,
la plus frdquente d'ailleurs sous les Ramessides. Toute cette argu-
mentation me parait fort rationnelle, et je m'^tonne qu'on ne Tait,
dans la suite, jamais discutee, ni m^me signal^e. Or, il me semble
que Topinion de Lauth est d'autant plus juste, que m^me le nom
to, sur lequel repose pour to (1(1 la lecture Seh\ est loin de
presenter une apparence correcte et originelle.
On a, en effet, relev6 d^ja depuis longtemps, dans une copie du
chapitre XVII du Zt'vre des marts peinte sur le sarcophage de
Sebek4a (Moyen Empire), deux exemples de Torthographe ^ ^
pour le nom du dieu Seth.^ Cette orthographe est hors de toute
' Berlin, in 8°, 1 88 1, pp. 292-293.
* R. Lepsius, yEUeste Texte des TodtenJnuhs^ pi. xxxi, col. 27 et 28.
123 L 2
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May 9] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ACCH2EOLOGY. [1906.
discussion, le meme signe *o»— «> se retrouvant, k deux colonnes
d'intervalle, dans le mot bien connu 11'^^ (col. 26). II n'y
a done pas lieu de chercher k voir dans ce signe quelque d^terminatif
phon^tique du son , comme par exemple o— ou -«— «c. C'est
bien du «»-«=»► qu'il s'agit ici^ et ce signe repr^sente un dement
phon^tique du mot, soit le son ®, soit plutot la lettre cznzj. On a
remarque, en efFet, dans plusieurs textes du Moyen Empire, des
Equivalences comme O^fJ^, *»— ^[J,* oa^f]^, ou
, , , ou encore I /www '^sS*, , I /vwwv '^sS*, 3
I /VAAAAA 'y
D'autre part, un autre sarcophage de meme epoque, celui de
Mentou-hotep, presente au m^me chapitre XVII, au lieu de
^ M, Torthographe '^njf.^ L^ encore on pourrait h^siter et
chercher k voir dans ce signe Enza une variante du nniD des temps
post^rieurs. En r^alite, il n'y a aucun motif d'hesitation. Ce signe
se retrouve, sur le m^me sarcophage, et dans le m^me chapitre du
Zivre des morts^ dans les mots (col. 11, 12, 30), ^^k. -^
(col. 12, 13), cz£rD']I|r (col. 21), (col. 35), Uc:=>N P
(col. 35), ^^^ (col. 38). ^^^, ^ M- 43), etc. Le unm est
done bien partout un » vv 1 et, les deux sarcophages appartenant k la
meme Epoque, il est bien evident, puisque «»-«» et i=i3 se remplacent,
que le signe **-^=», dans le nom j=^ ^ , est bien la lettre r"\n.
^ Sur le sarcophage de | |^ ^Q (XII«* dyn.), r^cemment d^couvert k B^ni-
Hassan par M. Garstang et public par M. Lacau {Ann. du Sirv. des Antiq,, t.v.,
pp. 246-249), on rencontre trois nouveaux exemples de la meme orthographe
^Q_^ I (11, 6-7, 75 et 82). Le premier de ces trois exemples, qui appartient k un
texte ddja connu par ailleurs, a pour variantes, aux pyramides de Saqqarah,
>5:--J (Ounas, 69) et p ^^ (Pepi II, 330).
■* K. Sethe, Das irgyptische Verbufn^ t. I, § 259.
' R. LepSIUS, op. cit,y pi. II, col. 20.
124
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May 9] LE DIEU SETH ET LE ROI SJfcXHdSIS. [1906.
Done, sous le Moyen Empire, le nom du dieu Seth ^tait
^ Nf ^" ^ Jn > soit S-t-sch, En dtait-il de m$me aux dpoques
imm^diatement voisines, soit ant^rieures, soit post^rieures ? — Nous
allons voir que oui.
Dans les textes des pyramides de Saqqarah, partout le nom du
dieu, lorsqu'il n'est pas exprim^ au moyen du figuratif 5-=J> ^^^
^crit I , avec, comme dernier signe, un 1 1 qui pr^sente
exactement la mdme forme que le 1 1 (= u^siS) d'autres mots dans
les memes textes. Certes, le nom n'^tant pas suivi du ^^, d^ter-
minatif ordinaire des noms divins, — ce qui s'explique d'ailleurs par
Thostilit^ entre Seth et Horus, — on pourrait ^tre tentd de voir dans
I ' un d^terminatif et de le consid^rer comme Tequivalent de cniD ,
d'autant plus que ce dernier signe offre parfois la forme allong^e
C3i=3. Mais, aux pyramides de Saqqarah, les noms divins se pr^-
sentent le plus sou vent sans d^terminatif, et [1 = S-t-sch sans
d^terminatif n'est pas plus embarrassant que 8 , O, .^ , D ,
f]-<a>-, ^^J (T^tij ^7> 9I1 i43> 172), etc. J'admets que,
matdriellement, sous TAncien Empire, le » — n de I pent etre
aussi bien un □ qu'un t 1 . Mais, ce qui montre qu'il est bien un
I 1 (cscd), et que le I des pyramides de Saqqarah est iden-
tique au j=^_ ^ = ^ ^ du Moyen Empire, c'est que, encore
sous le Nouvel Empire et post^rieurement meme au rfegne de
S^thdsis, le nom du dieu Seth est toujours ^crit au moyen d'un
CZISZ3 bien caract^ristique et completement distinct du □.
Au Papyrus d'Ani, par exemple, le nom est ecrit ^ ^^ N| ^ ^'
f^ ^ J Or, c^3 est, au meme papyrus, employ^ dans
(pl. 19, § XV, 12) et P"^^''-^ est employ^ dans o TT (pl. 8,
• Facsimile of the papyrtts of Ani^ London, British Museum, in-fol., 1894,
pl. 8, § xvii, 67-68.
' Ibid.^ pl. 8, § xvii, 69.
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§ xvii, 61-62), dans CJirn ^ (pi. 8, § xvii, 70), dans ^^^ D ^^
(pl. 19, hymne k Osiris, i), tandis que □, dans le mot □
(pl. 19, §xv, 11), a une forme absolument diffi^rente.
Changer en S-t-sch un nom que tous, depuis ChampoUion, nous
avons toujours lu Set^ ^tait chose trop grave pour que je ne me sois
pas entour^, avant d'oser proposer cette nouvelle lecture, de toutes
les precautions possibles. J*ai patiemment d^pouill^ en son entier,
ligne par ligne, Tddition du Todtenbuch de Naville, dang laquelle se
trouvent r^unies un grand nombre de variantes datant de la XVIII®,
de la XIX* et de la XX* dynastie. Partout, k part d'insignifiantes
exceptions,8 lors qu*il n'est pas ^crit >JL=J ^^ i ^ ^ wl » ^^ "^^"^ ^"
dieu est dcrit ^ -^ , avec un i-r^— 1 qui pr^sente trois ou quatre
formes diffifrentes, mais toujours identiques aux formes varite que
rev^t le dscD dans des mots oil sa valeur alphab^tique est hors de
toute discussion. Or, ces variations m^mes, concordant toujours
exactement avec les variations du signe r-^w-n dans les autres mots,
constituent pr^cisement un argument dont il est impossible de
m^connaitre Timportance extreme. Par contre, dans ce m^me
recueil, le nniD ne pr^sente jamais aucun rapport avec le troisibme
signe du nom ^ ^ .
M^me constatation dans la riche collection des textes de sar-
cophages du Moyen Empire que public en ce moment M. Lacau
dans divers ouvrages, et Tauteur lui-m^me n'a pu, au moins une fois,
s*emp^cher d'attirer sp^cialement Tattention du lecteur sur ce fait
que le r-rr-i du nom de Seth est absolument identique ^ la lettre
csa d*autres mots.*
Je n'enum^rerai pas, par crainte de prolixity, une quantity d'autres
remarques analogues que j'ai relev^es un peu de tous cot^s. Je
dirai seulement que toutes les notes que j'ai prises sur cette question
m'ont unanimement et d^sesp^r^ment ramene a cette m^me conclu-
sion, qu*au moins jusqu'^ la chute des Ramessides (j'ai jug^ inutile
pour le moment de faire porter mon enqu^te au delk de cette ^poque)
le nom du dieu Seth s'est toujours ecrit S-t-sch,
^ M6me dans ces quelques cas exceptionnels, qui r^sultent de fautes d'inatten-
tion ou de transcriptions maladroites, jamais je n'ai rencontr^ le d].
• Annales du Service des Antiquithy t. v., p. 231, n. 2.
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May 9] LE DIEU SETH ET LE ROI s6th6sIS. [i9o6r
Ce fait nouveau, dont la r^alitd me paralt ind^niable, — et qu'en
tout cas chacun pourra facilement controler et verifier, — est appele k
Jeter quelque trouble dans des habitudes prises et dans des theories
admises depuis longtemps. 11 nous sera difficile de continuer a
parler du temple de S^ii k Abydos ; nous devrons dire Sitoukhi ou
S^touschi^ ou plus commod^ment SethSsts, II nous faudra renoncer
k voir dans le dieu Seth, du moins avant la XX® dynastie, le dieu de
la terre ou du desert ^ , , par opposition k quelque Osiris
niliaque ou k quelque Horus celeste. Enfin, nous devrons, nous
conformant d'ailleurs k la transcription classique 2/)^, orthographier
Seth et non plus Set le nom du dieu typhonien, afin de maintenir le
souvenir de Tancienne aspir^e vjh^^,
Quoi qu'il en soit, il est Evident que, du fait que le dieu Seth
s'est appel^ S-t-sch pendant plus de vingt dynasties, d^coulent
naturellement un grand nombre de remarques et d*observations,
dont je veux signaler ici quelques-unes des plus importantes.
I. — II est certain qu'^ un moment donn^ le nom du dieu Seth
s'est orthographic . Quelle est Torigine de cette orthographe,
et quel rapport prCsente-t-elle avec le nom 2y^?
L'orthographe est trbs rCcente. Elle est surtout frCquente
dans les textes ptolCmaiques. On la rencontre au Todtenbuch de
Lepsius et dans les nombreux travaux de mythologie pour lesquels
on a utilise ce tr^s malencontreux document. Cette circonstance
fait que, Torthographe Ctant devenue classique, s'Ctant ancrCe
en nous par la force de Thabitude, bien des Cditeurs d'inscriptions
ont copiC et fait imprimer dans des cas oh Poriginal portait
certainement ^ }^ Pour dCcouvrir TCpoque exacte du premier
emploi certain de , il sera done prudent de revoir les originaux.
'° M. Budge, qui fait imprimer ordinairement le nom || j^ ^ , m6me dans des
textes de la XVIII* djTiastie, le fait imprimer correctement dans la phrase
P f-^ ^ <=> Fm D P 11 (^>4^ Book of the Dead, Text, p. 496), tr^ certaine-
ment parce que le voisinage des signes ' « et EIID lui a fait remarquer entre les
deux une difference caract^ristique de forme.
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£n tout cas, je n'ai jamais remarqu^ ce nom dans les textes ant^rieurs
k la XX« dynastie.
II semble naturel, k premifere vue, que la forme r^cente
c^ nrmi
derive d'une erreur de lecture du nom ^ . En examinant la
question de plus prfes, il parait pourtant difficile qu'une telle erreur
ait pu se produire dans un nom de divinity aussi r^pandu que celui
du dieu Seth. Qu'un vieux mot, oublid pendant des si^cles, ait pu
reparaitre un jour sous une forme fautive, rien de plus admissible.
Mais, qu'un nom employ^ journellement ait pu se modifier brusque-
ment pour des raisons ^pigraphiques, c'est la un fait qu'il me parait
difficile d*admettre.
Si Ton a pu, un jour, dcrire , c'est-^-dire S-fy le nom d'une
divinite que tout le monde appelait S-t-sch^ c'est que le dieu Seth
devait porter, outre son nom S-t-schy un autre nom, analogue k S-t,
D^s lors, la confusion s'expliquerait. Et elle s'expliquerait encore
mieux si le nom S-t-sch, pour telle ou telle raison, avait disparu de
la langue ^ un moment donnd, ou plutot s'^tait modifi^ progressive-
ment au point de ne plus pouvoir ^tre machinalement reconnu dans
Or, ces deux particularit^s se pr^sentent.
J-
Le dieu Seth, en effet, dfes la XVIII® dynastie, porte tr^s souvent
le nom ^^ i v^Wl ■ ^^ ^^^ ^^ parait etre un ethnique analogue
k r^S\ ^ to , autre nom tr^s frequent du meme dieu. On sait que
le dieu Seth ^tait consid^r^ comme natif de la ville de 111,
dont le nom devait tr^s certainement se lire Sout.^^ Le nom
Que les Egyptiens, qui donnaient k Seth le nom de Sou/i, aient pu,
m^connaissant la valeur du groupe ^ , y voir un mot qu'ils
pronongaient Souti\ rien de plus vraisemblable, surtout si Ton
COT, dies (G. Maspero, £i. ^gypt-, t. I, p. 177, n. 3).
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May 9] LE DIEU SETH ET LE ROI SfiTH6SIS. [1906.
considfere que Ton rencontre parfois, dans les textes rdcents, les
orthographes interm^diaires I , I ^ et I ^
y nniD T -IT nniD t Jl omD
Mais, pour que les Egyptiens pussent voir dans ^ -fl un nom
Souti, il semble de toute Evidence qu'ils devaient en m^me temps
avoir cess^ de donner k Seth le nom de S-t-sch, sans quoi ils auraient
reconnu ce dernier nom dans ^ ^ . Or, cette seconde particu-
larity me parait ^galement certaine. Le nom 1 ^ -^, si r^pandu
en Egypte k partir des Ramessides, a dQ tres vite se confondre et
s'identifier avec le vieux nom ^ ^, et m^me le remplacer com-
plfetement. D'oti Texplication du double ph^nom^ne linguistique et
^pigraphique : Soutkh^ d'une part, supplantant Soutsch definitivement
banni de la langue ; , d'autre part, remplacant le mot ^
dans lequel, — ayant oubli^ le nom Soutsch^ — on ne pouvait voir
qu'une orthographe archa'ique de 1 ^ ^ ^ .
Enfin, je ne suppose pas que 2^^ pre'sente le moindre rapport
avec = Souti}^ Je crois preferable d'y voir plutot une trans-
cription de 1 vS ^ consider^ comme forme r^cente de ^ -^ .
II faut remarquer, en effet, que 2/)^ se termine par un ^, et non par
un T. Je sais bien que, dans Nj/ti9, le final r^pond k un ^^ , mais
il n'en est pas moins vrai que, dans des noms comme ^kOvp^ N€0^v9,
pour n'en citer que deux, le B rdpond ^ o + 8 • Certes, I '^ -^j ,
vocalist Sauth^ aurait d(i donner *2a'(? et non 2^^, mais on pourrait
citer bien des noms vocalises en ou qui ont pris aux dpoques
r^centes une vocalisation en /. Si j (I ^^. a pu devenir bh2C>
si \\ ^^ a pu devenir M/j/, rien d'anormal k ce que Sauth
/www JH S -Q n*\ ic\
ait pu devenir Saith (2?)^), tout comme ^^ J|V ^ ' Gaub^ est
devenu Gaib (KijP),
^^ Je crois me rappeler, mais je n'oserais affirmer que ma m^moire ne me
trompe pas, avoir rencontre la forme v % cmD dans des textes d*^poque
ptol^malque.
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May 9] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
Un fait assez significatif vient d*ailleurs corroborer cette mani^re
de voir. On sait que les Etymologies donn^es dans le traits grec
Sur Isis et Osiris sont g^ndralement correctes, sinon toujours au
point de vue raythologique, du nioins au point de vue linguistique.
Or (§§ 41, 49), le nom 2iy^ y est expliquE comme exprimant, en
Egyptien, les id^es de confraindre, opprimer^ soumettre^ renverser
(to KaTaBvvaff7€tfov xal Karafita^oticvoVf rijv apaarpo<P^v). Je ne vois
gufere que les factitifs en [ 1 de c^> 8 "^^ , " etre bas," et ^^ ,
"etre renversE," qui aient pu inspirer cette Etymologie. D'ou la
preuve formelle que le nom Egyptien transcrit 2jy^ comportait une
aspir^e finale. Aucun radical ou , ^ ma connaissance,
n'ambnerait h. la m§me signification.
La transcription SefA est done la plus correcte que nous
puissions donner du nom ^ ^ = 1 ^ JS . Elle a le double
avantage de transcrire exactement le nom ^tj0, et de conserver
Taspir^e finale du mot Egyptien.
2. — On rencontre assez fr^quemment, dans les textes du Nouvel
Empire qu'a publics Naville, une orthographe Q I ^ , dans
laquelle un signe nouveau vient s'intercaler entre la partie phondtique
et le d^terminatif du mot. Cette orthographe est m^me d'origine
bien plus ancienne, car on la rencontre sou vent sur des sarcophages
de la XIP dynastie.^'^ Ce signe nouveau repr^sente bien certaine-
ment la queue bifurquEe, si particulifere, de Tanimal typhonien. II
est m^me tr^s vraisemblable, Etant donnE le godt tr^s prononcE des
Egyptiens pour les calembours mythologiques, qu*ils ont pu voir
dans ^ quelque chose d'analogue ^ 1 >^ ^I^^*^J=5» "queue
de I'animal typhonien." En tout cas, cette queue bifurquEe leur a
paru caract^riser si spEcialement leur dieu S-t-sch que, dans les
memes textes, le nom ^ I ^ est fr^quemment r^duit ^ I r^ >
mot qu'il faut bien se garder de transcrire par j-L -^ . Cette
^' P. Lacau, dans Annates du Service des Antiquii^s^ t. V, pp. 231-245.
" IHd., pp. 231, 232, 234, 243, 244, 245.
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May 9] LE DIEU SETH ET LE ROI S^THOSIS. [1906.
queue typhonienne sert simple men t, par rinterm^diaire du jeu de
mot (1 x'^'^'5^' ^rendrelenom^l^.
3. — Enfin, une trfes importante question se pose, relativement
k I'origine du dieu Seth. Les Egyptiens connaissent, dfes les temps
les plus anciens de leur histoire, puisqu'on le trouve figur^ sur des
objets provenant des tombes thinites d'Abydos, un dieu dont
Tanimal sacr^ est un l^vrier d*un genre tout sp^cial.^^ Ce levrier a le
museau trfes allong^, trfes fortement courb^, et la queue termin^e par
une ^paisse touffe de polls. Ce dieu, dej^ ennemi d'Horus sous la
premiere dynastie, porte dans la suite le nom de ^ ^ ou ^ ^ .
Or, bien plus tard, les Hyqsos, puis ensuite les Hittites, intro-
duisent en Egypte, comrae divinity nationale de leur pays, un dieu
qui porte exactement le m^me nom, 1 ^ Jji , et qui a comme
animal sacr^ le m^me levrier si caracteristique.
Peut-il y avoir 1^ un simple effet du hasard ? Bien certainement
non. Ou bien les Hyqsos et les Hittites ont emprunt^, Dieu sait
comment, ce dieu aux Egyptiens et I'ont r^introduit plus tard en
Egypte; ou bien, au contraire, ce sont eux qui Font T6y6\6 aux
Egyptiens k Tdpoque thinite, et qui Font ramen^ avec eux chaque
fois qu'ils ont eu Toccasion de rentrer en contact avec les Egyptiens.
Par consequent, ou bien Seth est un vieux dieu ^gyptien qui eut la
bonne fortune de plaire k des Strangers et de se naturaliser en Asie ;
ou bien Seth est un vieux dieu asiatique qui s'acclimata de tr^s
bonne heure en Egypte, lors d'une invasion, et qui, sur les rives du
Nil, resta toujours plus ou moins le dieu ennemi.
" E. Lef^BURE, Vanimal typhcnien^ dans Sphinx ^ t. II (1898), pp. 63-74.
L'auteur rassemble dans cet int^ressant travail un certain nombre de documents
d^montrant que I'animal sethien etait un chien, et plus sp^cialement un levrier,
opinion que Brugsch avait d^ji ^mise, sans insister, dans son Dicticnnairc
hi^oglyphiqtu, t. IV (1868), p. 1422.
** II semble s'etre appele tout d'abord d'un nom d'animal, comme la plupart
des divinit^s primitives, ^. 1 u t , c*est-a-dire, ** le levrier " (F. Petrib,
Royal Tombs J t. II, pi. 22, no. 179), mot ^crit plus tard JMH (B^ni-Hassan),
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Comment sortir de ce dilemme ? Je n'ai trouv^, pour ce faire,
qu'un seul et unique moyen : ^tudier de trfes prbs les levriers
d'Afrique et les levriers d'Asie, et voir auquel des deux groupes
appartient le l^vrier de Seth* C'est 1^ une ^tude trbs compliqu^e,
qu'on ne saurait exposer sans de nombreuses citations et d'abondantes
figures, et que je compte publier avant qu'il soit longtemps. Je crois
pourtant int^ressant d'en donner des maintenant la conclusion.
Le l^vrier s^thien n'est ni un animal ^gyptien, ni un animal africain.
C'est bien indiscutablement un l^vrier asialique, originaire du
Taurus et du Caucase, c'est-k-dire pr^cisement des regions d'oii
ont pu venir les Hyqsos et les Hittites, et par consequent, tout
comme Horus, Seth est en Egypte un dieu d'importation ^trangere.
En attendant la publication du travail de zoologie mythologique
que je prepare sur cette question, j'espbre avoir au moins d^montr^,
ce qui constitue un point de depart important, que ^ Jji, ^ r^
et 1 v\ -^ sont un seul et meme nom, s'appliquant k un seul
et mfeme dieu.
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May 9] THE IVRIZ TEXTS. [1906.
THE IVRIZ TEXTS.
THE ARDISTAMA INSCRIPTIONS.
SOME HITTITE SEALS.
By Prof. A. H. Sayce, D,D.
Casts of the Ivriz texts are now in the Ashmolean Museum,
and I am therefore able to give correct copies of them at
last. In A (Plate, fig. i) the only important correction is in the
last line. The text reads : (i) wa-a DKi,;Sandun kai-s Taua-s kai-iva
(2) Au-mrfiu-a-si'S a-tu Ta-ba-Ia-u- (3) j-ma Uan-tU'iiWT, (No. 16)
-/rt, "This Sandes I T(a)uas making have made, being son of
Aumenuas (or Aumgalas), king of the Tabal, in the land of the
Veneti.'* It is possible that, after all, the king's name should be
read, not Aumgalas, but Aumenuas, an adjectival derivative, like
Karkamisiuas, from Omanos, whom Strabo (XI, 511, XV, 733)
describes as a Cappadocian god associated with Anaitis or Artemis.^
For Tauas or Tuas "horseman," see above.
B (Plate, fig. 2) is: {i)wa-a t-vsv-fnes Au-m- {2) nu-a-isi abakali
da(u) (3) i-u-is-ua, "This carving (^r erecting), the sculpture of the
high-priest the son of Aumenuas I have carved" (or "erected").
The last line shows that in the verb the ideograph (No. 65) was
pronounced usu. Da or du or dau (No. 43, which is, however, not
correctly drawn) represents a graving tool of a well-known type, not
a vase.
The whole of C (Plate, fig. 3) can be deciphered in the cast.
It reads: wa-is-a da-u-uas i-vs\}-mes is-su^-ua iD.-«-^a-«a?-DET.-«4 ID.-
nun-uk Au-m-nu-a-tsi a-isi-mH-ta a-isi-md-iu \kat-'\s atu-tu kai-amma
unni^ " These sculptures carving (or erecting) I have carved (or
erected), the place of the Sun-god of the land of the rock of . . ubana
(?) in the high-place (or food-place) of the son of Aumenuas, [makjing
^ Omanos would be itself a derivative from Aumes.
* Su as on my seal, Proceedings^ Nov. 1905, p. 253. The older form of the
character is found in one of the Carchemish fragments where we must read
uaS'S-u, I have hitherto confounded it with the basket m (No. 19), but the
handles rise on both sides like horns, which is not the case with m.
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this high-place {or food-place) of the king and the monument of the
god," or perhaps better, ** making this high-place (or food-place) for
the king as a monument for the god." For the determinative of
"rock," see Ardistama, I, 3. Since Ivriz was in the district of
Kubis-tra, the Khubis-na of the Assyrian inscriptions, while the leg
has sometimes the value of bi (see M. 11, 5),^ it is tempting to make
the obliterated character ts^ reading the foot as ku^ but to my eyes
the traces were those of na rather than is, Aisimd can hardly be
anything else than isimd " high-place " ; on the other hand on the
bowl (M. I, 3) " food-place " seems to be a-tsi-md-i-ua^ i.e. aisimiua.
But the high-place was also a place where food was offered and
eaten in honour of the gods and the dead. It will be noticed that
Sandes is identified with the Sun-god of the rock ; the Hittite god of
a locality was always also its Sun-god.
The Ardistama Inscriptions.
Since my copies of these were published in the Proceedings
for January, 1905, I have been able to study enlarged photographs
of them, which when compared with the squeezes necessitate
numerous and important corrections in my copies, more especially
in the first line of A.
A, line i. After Ma-me-{m)is two characters are lost, then comes
a bull's head, then the head of a bull on a pole. Na is more
probably the numeral i. The boot after aM a-ra should be deleted;
the character which follows nd is probably an arm, and it is followed
by uan not amis. After md is the determinative of divinity, Aram-u^
nana (the tree), ««, and a lost character. The double-headed eagle
does not exist : after amis we have simply a bull's head followed by
me-uan. The head on a pole should be made to face the other way;
a lost character which the traces show to have been amis preceded
it. Hence the whole line should read: Ma'me-{m)is [Skats'] am-k
ID. u{?) kaisima id. abii a-ra amis nd-aiu {?)-uan-md DET,-Aram-u-
Uana-nd-[uan\ iD,-amis ama-me-uan-AUis kai-s atu [kai-ysimd [amis]
DET .-Aram-me-uan AMis-mis-ta-amma am-a iT>,-md-md-uan, " Mames,
the maker of the bull of the bull-fetish of the high-place of Aramis,
the royal father of the city of the Natians (?), belonging to Aramis-
Uan the guardian of the bull-city, who has made for the king the
* My reading of baitt for the character rests on an error.
134
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Proc, Soc. BibL Arch., May, 1906.
- £ d ^ ii^ ^B Sid
/^ a|Q a^Q o^a ^
IJ^VV' Fig. 2.
Fig. 1.
IVRIZ. A.
IVRIZ. B»
V "> Vs n [h ci)<»^ ^^''V "^^ ''^*' ^ *p
4^ (ft ^ Jra ^u r)m(^ i^ ^ tn
Fig. 3.
IVRIZ. C.
THE IVRIZ TEXTS.
(From Casts in the Ashmolcan Museum.)
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May 9] THE IVRIZ TEXTS. [1906.
high-place of the Aramis-fetish, the . . . of the city of Mamau"
(perhaps identical with the city of Mamis). With the corrected
reading the translation presents no difficulties.
Line 2. After Ma-me-mis read \kai\s. The character before the
ideograph of "king" is a. Instead of the head-fetish we should
read the head (arcC) and ta\ nu and ka-i are right. Instead of
. . uana . . aram . . me^ read [det.] aram-u-\uana\-na-a {?) (or /a).
We are probably intended to read ara-nu-ta ka-i-KAi-m-a-uan-ta,^
Line 4. The character preceding the head {ara) is uan.
Line 5. After the lacuna read ara-me-su (the knife) instead of
ara-ara-me.
In B line i, instead of uan-uan- . . -nd read kas-u-uan-na ara
(the head). The next three characters are right ; so are uan and
AMIS, but a should be me.
In line 2, nd-m-a is right. Delete the first md in the name of
the city Md^mdu, After md-uan amis we should probably read
Ma-me-DKin-ni-uk Khatta-nd-m-a " the city of Mames in the land of
the Hiltite."
Line 3. After atu we have atu (No. 88) and m, which are
drawn quite differently in the original.
Line 4. Kai-uas is right. In the lacuna after kai-i-uas-i the
characters are katu (the seated image of the goddess) and the deter-
minative of " district."
In C face A, line i, delete the cross. After md read / isi
uas kat-t-md-AMiSf the determinative of divinity and uana (lyuan {?)-
na{i).
Line 2. We have a instead of a circle before nd. After the
determinative of god is the human head on a pole, a lacuna, and then
/^i^-[i]-«/ (7)-AMis. This is of course Aramis-ammeis **king of the
city," but in face B i, 3, the u after aram implies that we should
read atu-ammeis.
Line 3. In the lacuna after am-a is an arm. The head at the
end of the line is that of a calf {am).
Line 4. amis is right. Insert before it . . -me.
* The approximate translation of the line would accordingly be: *' Mames
who has [made] the high- place of the king {[aram-'^a) in the high-place of Aramis,
in building style {kaimduanda) in the land {a-amma-ta) of the sanctuary of the
city of Aramu-Uan (i.^. Aram-Uan), the chief minister of Siu (Sawa) and Attys,
dirk-bearer of Atu, attached to the queen of the rock (and) to the goddess-image,
the kingly."
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Line 5. At the end of the line is iir{?)-a'md "shrine" which
was probably preceded by \md-katu\ ; cp. A, 6.
Face B, line i. Read kas instead oi me.
Line 2. The line begins with ua-s, Nu is right and is followed
by uas ; cp. A, 2. The first uan is doubtful.
Line 3. After kas-uan is amis a-na.
Line 4. After the crown read nd instead of uan. Delete md :
" of the god Uan the king of the city of Siu," i,e, of the god of the
sacred dance (Siuwas).
Line 5. A after uan is doubtful, and uan is either the arm or
nd. For kai read uas, J/ should be the arm with a dagger. ^
HiTTiTE Seals.
The Ashmolean Museum has acquired some more Hittite
seals. Among them is one of semi-globular form, of white
stone, and with transverse hole : upon it on the flat surface is the
figure of a prince, standing and extending his arms. In front is
written the name Sandu-uan^ Sanduan, of similar formation to
Kuaruwan and signifying " belonging to Sandes." There is a border
of rosettes. On the concave surface is Sandu-ana, The second
character here is the arm (id. No. 2) which represents both ara-mis
and ana-mis. On either side of the name is a sacred stone, the
whole being enclosed in a rope pattern outside which is a border of
rosettes and pyramids, with the sacred tree at the top. Sanduan
would correspond with the Greek 'S.avcwv, Cp. Tarkon.
* Notwithstanding the broken condition of the inscription on the trough what
remains of it is worth giving : —
A. B.
, . . in the land of Siu a high-[place]
[I have erected ?], a monument of
the god Uan . . .
, . . city of the prince of the city of
Aramis-ammeis, of Kas . . .
, . . [ruling] the royal land (Arinna),
the city of the 9 courts, king of the
city of the land of Kas, prince . . .
, . . city of the three guardians . . .
. . [guardian] of the city of Uan
Atu-ammeis of Kas, [king] of the
dance-[city] (Siu), guardian . ,
136
. . [the high-place] of the city of
Uan Atu-ammeis of Kas . . .
. . formerly, the high-place of
Aramis . . .
, . guardian of the city of Uan
Atu-ammeis of Kas, prince . . .
. . the crown of the god Uan the
king of the city of Siu . . .
. . [ruling] the land of Kas, the
royal land, the kingly one, the
great.
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Note. — An examination of the original of M. XI in the British
Museum has made it clear that in line 2 Mr. Rylands was right in
the form which he gave to the character underneath
ikk
(det. 17); it is not kAat and occurs again at the end of the line in
the shape of two rods (?) tied together. It is also clear that the
character follows, and does not precede, the first uan. Since
has the phonetic value of w/2 attached to it in M. Ill, B. 2,
we must read : Kar-ka-me-is-m-Hi-jy^T tnH-uan Kha-tu-a-uan-v^KV ua-
uan-na i-uas-i-md atu-KTV-m-a suan-tu-u-?-mdy "this high-place, the
temple of /« . . of brick, belonging to the Hittite land of Carchemish,"
giving the new character the value of kha. The name of the city
at the commencement of the line will be Kka-atu-me^ the Khatuma
of the Egyptian texts. In liTie 4 the character which follows Tarkais
is uan, not na-, hence the line should be translated: "making the
gate-place of this priestly land here for the god, making the building
(kai-amma) of the temple of Tarkus {suan-anima Tar-ka-is-uari) for
the dance of these dancing priests in this city as before." In line 5
instead oi ni-m-a we should perhaps read Khatta-m-a "of the Hittite
land."
SOME MUNICH COPTIC FRAGMENTS.
I.
By E. O. Winstedt.
In the Proceedings of this Society, XXV, p. 267, 1903, Mr. Crum
published an article on "Coptic Texts relating to Dioscorus of
Alexandria," taken from Des Rivieres' papers now at Munich. As,
however, in some cases he omitted to print the Coptic text, I think
it may be worth while to supply the deficiencies, adding at the same
time one or two more fragments which would seem certainly to
come from the same text. Mr. Crum did not appear to be aware
that a few fragments of the original papyrus, written in a magnificent
137 M
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uncial of early dale, are also to be found at Munich in MS. Copt. 2.
For example, No. XCVI, of which the text is here given, as Mr. Crura
only gives a translation, exists in MS. as well as in the copies ; and
part too of No. XCV. As the collection seems practically unknown
and unworked, I add fragments of a few other texts of some interest
from Des Rivieres' copies — part of the martyrdoms of Ignatius and of
Peter and Paul, the beginning of a life of James the Persian, part
of a letter of Chrysostom to Basil, and a few ostraca. Lamentably
incomplete as they are, I think they are sufficient to show that
anyone who has time to work at the collection might glean a few
fragments, as Coptic texts go, comparatively worth gleaning.
I give first the Dioscorus fragments.
Copt 3, No. XCVI ; the original exists in Copt. 2. The top of
a page is complete, but some lines are lost at the bottom : —
nAceBHcneiJTA[qeni]
CKonoc, eepcouH ....
+AMAe6UATIt,6UIJ6[T]
XI u uootkataaaa[t]
TlcUOT • HKieTTA^e
oeijawAAAT, MjyAjce, eq
+OTBenAOrUAUM6IJ
eiOTe, GTOTAAB, eiJT[OT]
TATeuevpAIJ . UGTi*
rApOTBeN6TILJU[A'r]
Verso.
[UATjlt^eOUTeUOT, M
[tgt]ijoaocm3Caakh
AtOUTAieWTACTAVe
[^JrciccTsiTe, eeoTu •
eriioTAMOTcoT'neM
a^oeicicneTccuijiilcA
TUMTOTAMATjaAXG
epOC • ATCD+AIJAOe
[uAJTit^eiTecoBijiuH
[eBHjreiJiueiJTATnpA .
3COOT . .
* The letters in square brackets with dots are letters found in Des Rivieres*
copies with dots under them, and not now visible on the papyrus. Des Rivieres
seems to have used dots indifferently for uncertain letters and letters added by
conjecture.
a Verso, 1. i, [AMAe6UAT]lt,e. » ni, MS. ; HGI, Des R.
* 2COOT or TOOV, Des R. Only the tops of letters are visible. To
me they look more like 2COT.
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SOME MUNICH COPTIC FRAGMENTS.
[1906.
Copt. 3, XCVII :—
Te, eT2ATn[OAIC6Tu]
[lJA]T+CDnUUOC3L6 . . .
. . . ArAAC, Te • TAIO
weweioTe, ere ....
njiiiTAio • • ije[iJicKo]
nOCeMTATCCOOT[22TJTno]
AlC, ijTUMTe . . . . B6 . . .
UUOC • eAU6IJTA[cCO]
ore, 66ct)6COC, TA2CP[HT]
WeOTO • MAieUTA[KA]
eAipoTunACGBHc, ue
CTOpiOC, IJIIJM6IJTAT .
ueeve, eweTqueeTe
epooT • HweTu ....
OM, T6IJOT :
6TB6nAIKATAee -IJTAq
xooc2Ki[n]ec2Ai[ijAnoc]
TOAIKOM ....
Verso.
ne, nKApcu
eneiAHAG, Arernou
. . KATAee, eMTAICCOTU .
ATjafpTpiJAono .
AIMOTTeWTeTM . .
AB6IA • eATGTMU .
.... exGAwexe, eAi^aco.
.... iijAAATUeCOBMBp
pe^aiBeeeoTij, exni
CTIC, MOpeOAOTOC • 6
TBenAi+oTCDiy, expe
TeTweiuejceeifiJwe
TIJjaAHA'eTOTAAB, KAKI
. . xeAuroTpcoueiJ
peqpuoBG • AAAAeOUO
AOriAWTniCTIC, GT
AUAeTe'lJUOC
liiJTexA ....
I add here a fragment in the same writing which seems to be
connected with the same subject, though I can find no parallel
passage in the Bohairic and Syriac texts. Both the original and
^ Recto, 1. 6, CCOjecO, Des R. 7, AlC or AlC and BG or BO, Des R.
9, Des Rivieres TAAp . . . , but A might easily be confused with X. L. 16,
WTAq] possibly GMTAq. Des Rivieres* copy is blurred.
^ Verso, I. 4, ? AOPICUOC.
139 M 2
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Des Rivieres' copy exist, but I unfortunately omitted to note the
number : —
pue
enejyAHA • Aqoree
CA2MeeTpeTjaAHA'
THpOT, UUUAq • MTe
poTOTcoAe, erjyAHA
ijce2^cDunei\uHij •
THp0T2[l0]TC0n • Aq
[oTcowjMpcDq'iJcriniMOcr
[MAPlJoCeTUUAT, Aq
?|fg^WTeqcuHurieT
[uToJeBOATHpoT, eq
[2^CDu]U0C2C6UA'ei0T6
[exoTJAAB • noTcoja
[unijjOTTene, erpen
njTOUOCMAecOM
MOTAT
ejBOAeijij
OUIJTij
uoc • 3:en[Touoc]
[rJAe]C0MnAC6BHC
ATepiJqpciye
AnpooTAeun
6 • UIJAAAT, M
Aoru[A]
u
Verso.
pus-
enwoTTenuoMOPe
MHcnAOPocnejcceq
ncoja, uuoq6ct)Tcic
CMTeUMMCATUMT
OTAIJATMilAXeepOC •
AAAAU0T06I^MIU6
TGTMATATen
AXIC3CeAMAOe[UAeTCTM]
20AOCeMTACCO[OT2]
eTlXAAKHACOM
AMA0eUAeTCT[M20A0C]
IJAHOCTATHC
AUAe6UAenTo[uocij]
[AeJcDiinAceBHc
AGTBO
UAGUeT
TIMGMTee
[TUMTO]TAniATnOO[Me]
eiOTCCDTue
CICUMUTei
+20T
111
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SOME MUNICH COPTIC FRAGMENTS.
[1906.
The following fragments in the same handwriting seem to belong
here, though they are too small and indistinct to translate.
Copt. 2, 132^ = Copt. 3, XCV :—
and
UUIMUUO
niCTicAe, u
TOr^TOT
Ter<t)rcic
62COCOC
reTco
eciiMoeiu
4\TCOnAnOC[TOAOC]
nuoTTeo
IJK6AAAT
nCMTACO?^!
OTOei:^
ovoeiiyT
IJITI
ocni
UUOqATCU
[<lM]Ae6U«\Tlt.6
MG^^cune
iije2iou6
Lastly, Copt. 3, XCII, which Crum infers to be the end : —
unH ....
pocuen . . . [oe]
OniCTOCnAl[AKO]
Moc, euTAqe . . .
. . . ewTneuT
epouoc
. . T. ATTAUOI
. enuoTunAceBHC
. 620TOU4\pKIAIJOC
. 6IUA'6AT0
A small part of this fragment still exists in Copt. 2.
Translation.
XCVII. — " . . who were at (that city ?). I count it
The bishops who assembled in the city of Those who
assembled at Ephesus were far firmer, they who destroyed the
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unrighteous Nestorius and those that thought his thoughts or ... .
again now. For this reason even as he said in the apostolic writing
Ferso. — ". . But since they remember (?) according as I heard. . .
they trembled stand fast. I (admitted ?) no new change
in the orthodox faith. For this reason I wish that ye know through
your holy prayers, even if ... I am a sinner, yet the confession of
the faith, which .... grasps it ... "
P. pue. — ". . to the prayer. He commanded them all to pray
with him. When they had finished praying and all said *Amen'
together, that great (saint opened?) his mouth and (lifted up) his
voice in their (presence) saying : * Holy fathers, this is the will of
God, that we . . . the book of Leon the (book) of Leon
the unrighteous * "
Verso. — "God the only-begotten, the word, Christ, he divided
him into two natures after the ineffable unity. But at all times we
will teach Say * Anathema on the Synod which assembled in
Chalcedon, anathema on the apostate Synod, anathema on the book
of Leon the unrighteous ' "
Nos. XCVI and XCII are translated by Crum: XCV is too
small to be worth attempting a translation.
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May 9] HIMYARITIC INSCRIPTION FROM JABAL JEHAF. [1906.
THE HIMYARITIC INSCRIPTION FROM JABAL JEHAF.
By Prof. D. H. MCller.
I have been repeatedly asked by Mr. F. Legge to write an article
on the inscription discovered by Lieut. G. U. Yule, and published
in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, XXVII,
P- 153-155, 1905-
Various hindrances have hitherto prevented me from accom-
plishing Mr. Legge's wish, but since he has lately repeated his
request, I can no longer forbear complying with it.
Lieut. Yule gives a short description of the locality, with a
summarized map, a not particularly satisfactory photograph of the
inscription, and an excellent facsimile of the same. I here give the
inscription in Sabaean and Hebrew letters, exactly following the
facsimile, as follows : —
I hl1<i>[IIDIX)8 Nl'r-iiDOln-in
S)4'H oX)n iim ynii
4 )h8tHI?SniS)H' •^«n>.=rM2ilpn
5 mD?'i*MSnn)h \^^r^^^\\^1^^
6 hnis)EDi»iisHisn «ttrSipt3Di]-Ti]i
7 no<i>ix?mi<»>iii '^°'' ' ^"'=^"' I °
8 Iim<DiHI<»V)nh oipDiinniD
Those who have hitherto occupied themselves with the interpre-
tation of the inscription are : —
1. Hartwig Derenbourg, in the Boletin de la Real Academia
de la Historia, at Madrid (July-September, 1905).
2. Joseph Hal^vy, in the Revue Simitique^ 1905, p. 368-371.
3. Eduard Glaser, in a special publication, "Suwa* und al-*Uzza
und die Altjemenischen Inschriften," p. 3-17-
Dr. Glaser, as he announced, had already copied this inscription
on the 24th August, 1888, but only now, since the publication of
Lieut. Yule's, has he made his copy and his commentary public.
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On comparing the Glaser transcription with Yule's facsimile they
are seen to agree quite completely, even to the reading of irniS (for
imiD) , as a comparison of the ^ in <D V "I fl fl ® ^^^^ '^^ fl
in <D V ) n ft ^^^^y demonstrates. The English copy accordingly
rejects no single point of the Glaser transcription. Therefore where
^the readings of Derenbourg and Haldvy differ from the concordant
i^eadings of Glaser and Yule, they are simply not to be regarded.
Derenbpurg is certainly wrong in wishing to correct a stone
inscription,' and a|l his attempts to alter the reading have failed in
consequence. As to .the meaning of the inscription, in spite of the
three commentaries, it still remains doubtful. The difficulty lies in
the obscurity of the two words 7ltOt2 I H'ln of the first line, which
Haldvy treats as a proper name, Glaser, on the other hand, as
appellatives; further, in the meaning of the word >Z2, (preceding
•^Mnil), which Hal^vy takes to be a verb ("he built"), Glaser a
substantive, " the sons." Also with reference to the word n**3H,
Haldvy and Glaser are of a different opinion. The first considers it
a verb ("and here built"), and the last named an appellative. I
give Glaser's translation, and subjoin Hal^vy's in a note, so far as
his reading can be relied upon.
1. The territory of the district of A-
2. biratta* of Hirrdn
3. and of his people, the lords of the lowlands
4. of Hirran, the followers of Z>u-Ye/'ar,
5. the Rabibites, the Hayyatites (extends)
6. from this Inscription to the North point
7. and the branches and the defile (breach)
8. of its (of the district) borders S.W.N, el-ma-
9. §rik (towards the East) ^
^ Glaser gives also a synonymous interpretation of the individual phrases,
which I have left out. Halevy's translation reads : —
1. TrtMtwlA
2. brata* de ^larran
3. ainsi que ses Bakil de Hwm et
4. yarran a construit (le fort nomm^) Z?u-yat'ar
5. Arbaban A^yatan
0. depuis cette stele au nord
7 a construit le s-'vn oriental.
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May 9] HIMYARITIC INSCRIPTION FROM JABAL JEHAF. [1906.
Line i. Glaser has guessed the meaning of the first two words
71I0T3 I tT\r\ and though they are not guessed without some
ingenuity the solution cannot be relied on with any certainty.
Further, he has put the etymologically correct and incorrect side
by side.
The word fl'in niay very likely spring from ^f^ and certainly
originates therefrom in Glaser 379, 3, inn^th I ^T^ I irTO*»'TO I ]1
as, since in a similar place D'UTID appears, Mordtmann and
yL\i\A.^Vi, Sab. Denkmdler, 31, 4, in^^^Dn I ^^ I DlhlD 1 p,
" from the foundation to the roof." But niri cannot possibly be
connected with the Assyrian ^urru^ iurratu and the Aram. b^Jll'^'^'tt^ >
because phonetic laws are opposed to it.
In the same way 7IIOD must not be compared with Arab. 11^^
The meaning of " the extent of the district," or such like expression,
is consequently most uncertain ; but considering the obscurity of the
inscription I think this hypothesis preliminarily in the mean time
permissible. But much more probable, because etymologically
confirmed, is the rendering of H'lri as "foundation" ; what meaning
7110D bas in this connection (supposing it to be an appellative) I
dare not even venture to conjecture.
Line 2. I read with Haldvy, Abrata*, not Abiratta* (Glaser).
Hirrin is nom. loci\ "the village near the N.N.W. of the inscription
is to-day still called Di-Hirran " (Glaser).
Line 3. nrr^::in, Hal^vy, "and his bakir\ Glaser, "and of his
people" (tribe). According to Hamdani J.j^ means much the
same as »-*4^ or ?-:M^ multitude, people. He says in Iklil :
w4>jgvH aA^u JiLxIlU Glaser explains TOIHl as lowlands
(perhaps *U^ ), which is very possible. Nevertheless Hal6vy's
reading (which had also occurred to Glaser) pHI I DIHT is on no
account to be set aside. Perhaps both these words form a parallel
to D?Dnnn I Dinto = lA^^ J^.
Lines 4 and 5. The Beni Ya/'ar, the Rabibites, the Hayitites
(Glaser) appear to me to be correct.
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Line 6. "From this inscription to the North" (Glaser and
Haldvy) is fairly certain.
Lines 7-9. The words p^)l^J2 I jID ! in'^l^ I ^O) I TV^y) are
very difficult. I am inclined to think that they have no connection
with the preceding DNti^^i but begin another sentence : "And the
building (ajj^j) and the defile of his (of the 7110^) ^idr, swn of
the east " (or according to Glaser, towards the east).
In order to have an idea of the purport of the inscription we
must here repeat the short description of the locality given by Lieut.
Yule in its important points : —
"From the Dthala plateau the mountain mass of Jabal Jehaf
rises abruptly some 2,500 feet; one of the north-eastern spurs of this
mountain terminates in three small peaks, which are easily identified
by a white mosque half-way down the slope, which forms a conspicuous
landmark. Cut on the side of a cliffy on the north side of the centre
of one of these peaks, I found the Himyaritic inscription here
shown There are traces of an old road to the top of
this spur, with the foundation stones of one or two buildings, not
sufficient to show what sort of dwellings they were. About four
miles off is an old zigzag road up the Khureba Pass, which is said
to be Himyaritic."
From this description it follows that our inscription deals with
the road cut through the mountain, and also makes reference to the
building sites.
Very important is the word "^SIOj upon which Glaser has brought
forward what was necessary out of the dictionaries; but he is
certainly not right in connecting it with the Hebrew word *^5"T,
"passage for cattle," etc. This comparison must be rejected for
phonetic and essential reasons.
While Glaser in his most recent publication draws from Hamdini
both what is suitable and unsuitable, and plays fast and loose with
Hamdini's text, two places in the Gazirat and the Ik/it have escaped
him which appear of some importance to our rock inscription.
The quotation in Wt/ (Burgen and Schlosser, I, S. 8 and 26 [320
and 378]), reads: —
The founder {^^^\ ^JJ^j) of Ghomddn is 5>4^/», the son of Noah.
He has begun the building and dug the well which still serves
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May 9] HIMYARITIC INSCRIPTION FROM JABAL JEHAF. [1906.
as the drinking well of the Mosque of §an'a. After Noah's death
the inhabited portion of the northern districts (JU^Jl u^jO ^^^
become desert, and Skem went south, exploring the countries, until
he came to the first zone, and there found Yemen particularly
adaptable for human dwelling places. After a long time, while
he was roving through Yemen, he found in the plains of §an*i
most excellent water. There he laid his building-m^a^wr^ (^^aJ ^ j^j)
and afterwards built on the place oi \h^ foundations (^^^jAJi\ «_^«^)
in the neighbourhood of the mountain pass of Ghomdan
(j^ljk^ "j «_-^*^) west of the San*i plain, the angular column
( JiaJl) which is still known in San*i (or as Sana).
After the building was erected God sent a bird which seized the
cord and flew off with it. Shem followed him to see where he would
stop. The bird stopped on the hard ground of Na'im, on the slope
of the mountain Nuqum. After Shem had followed him there, the
bird flew farther, and dropped the cord on the stony ground (i^)
of Ghomdan, where it remained lying. Shem knew that he was
commanded to found a castle here, and he founded Ghomdin.^
ySb^ iO'^JLc j_*^j dj\ JC^ Ji ,£ *U^ *Ulc SJjJ^ fjj3
Ja5j- j^\^ *'iJV j^^ tr^r* v^ *^^ '^ J*^. ^^^ laJ^\
• • . . *^JjJ\ ^j>-j J^-^f>J^ ^j^ ^j u^j^. ^ *^*-!^ j^ '^T^T^
The whole situation of San*a and Ghomdin forcibly recalls LieuL
Yule's description of the locality.
Looking at the passage and taking note of the overlined Arabic
words, one finds in this account : —
1. The word "foundation" (^^^^\ and (jjJ\),
2. The word " north " ( JUaII).
3. The word " pegging-out cord " (kxiSO*
a The passage in GazSrat (p. 195) has the same rendering, but the word
}^ r \ \ is explained somewhat more in detail :
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May 9] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
4. The word "mountain pass " C^-^)'
5. It speaks of Jklall , which appears to denote a building.
Hamdini himself does not seem to have known the precise meaning
of the word.
6. The ** stony ground " (i^) is also mentioned.
As we know that the old Yemenite archaeologists often got
their knowledge from inscriptions which they in part misinterpreted,*
I think it not at all impossible that the narrative in the Ik/ilj
which is very ancient (j^ y^ ^), was constructed from our
inscription, but, from local patriotism, was made to refer to those two
renowned places, San'i and Ghomdin.
Foundation (^^LjO ^^^ derive from our J1*^J1, and kxci-
may be from our TtD*'nM . The equivalent of DMtZ^7 is Jl^*)\ ,
^ and^jsSff are taken from 3D and "^i:^, and ly^ can be
connected with ^T^,
A mere accidental clashing of locality and of the same expressions
used seems to me to be excluded. If a present day Himyarist can
mis-read 0(5>^ for ^(D|4, one may venture to believe that an
old Yemenite archaeologist has, bona or mala fide^ read ^|^ for
\<S>^ in order to bring the old inscription into connection with
the Bible and the Koran, to prove a primitive foundation for San*i
and Ghomdin.
The history of our little text shows us that knowledge is not
confined to any one individual, and that " four heads are better than
one."
* Compare my Siidarab, Studieny pp. 15-34, and Sab^ Denkni.^ p. 66.
148
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May 9] THE » THRONE OF NIMROD. [1906.
THE 'THRONE OF NIMROD.'
By Prof. F. C. Burkitt, M.A.
Some months ago I came into correspondence with Mr. J. G.
Shammass, a Protestant Missionary in Urfa, the ancient Edessa.
I asked him, if possible, to get me a photograph of the ancient
inscription on one of the two great Columns in the Citadel,
which are locally known as the Throne of Nimrod. This Mr.
Shammass succeeded in doing. He sent me last March a fair
photograph of the Inscription, which is here reproduced (Plate I),
together with a photograph of the Mosaics in the recently discovered
Tomb. As these ancient monuments were very little known in
England, I had intended to publish them in the F.S,B,A,y but in
the interval has appeared Dr. Rendel Harris's book on The Cult of
the Heavenly Twins (Cambridge, 1906), which contains a discussion
of the Column Inscription and of the Mosaic, together with photo-
graphic reproductions of them. This publication has naturally
altered the form of what I have to say. Dr. Harris's pictures seem
to be derived from the same negatives as the photographs sent me
by Mr. Shammass. His reproduction of the Mosaic {Harris^ Plate IV)
is very good, and it seemed unnecessary to give a representation
of it here, especially as we agree in the decipherment of the funeral
inscription except in the matter of the name of the maker of the
Tomb, But the Column Inscription (Harris^ Plate III) is not so
well executed, and we differ more seriously in the decipherment.
Dr. Harris's half-tone block has been touched by the engraver to
bring out the lettering. This is a usual practice among block-
producers ; in view therefore of the importance of the Inscription, I
give here (i) an entirely untouched reproduction of the sun-print
sent me by Mr. Shammass, and (2) my own retouching of this
reproduction, which shews what I think I see on the photograph.
These difficulties are inevitable in photographs of incised inscrip-
tions, for they are mainly visible by the shadows in the grooves ;
and if the shadow falls so as to make, say, the horizontal lines of
149
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May 9] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHi^OLOGY. [1906.
the letters fully defined, it will generally happen that the vertical
lines shew very little shadow and become almost invisible.
The Column Inscription was first made known by Badger
{NestorianSy i 323) ; a very much better attempt at decipherment
was made by Sachau, and published by him in Z,D,M.G, xxxvi
153-157, but of course Dr. Harris's transcription (7w/«j, p. iii)
supersedes the earlier publications.
The colossal pillar on which the Inscription is traced is built
up of 27 pairs of semicircular stones and crowned with a Corinthian
capital, the whole being about 50 feet high. On the seventh and
eighth courses the inscription is cut, and below it, as may be seen
from the reproduction, "a large piece of the column has, with
considerable skill, been cut out, and the triumphant * No God but
God* has been written below the erasure . . . Where the stone
has been cut away, there must have been something in the inscrip-
tion or an objectionable carving which provoked the hostility of the
Moslems" {Harris^ p. 107). No doubt it was the *Statue' mentioned
in the Syriac inscription, which was probably a figure in high relief,
like so many of the Palmyrene funeral monuments.
The Cufic Inscription runs, according to Sachau,
^LmJj J ^l4J <UU9 . . .
(The overlined letters are very uncertain.)
The last line implies that the defacement took place in the year
308 A.H., i.e,^ 920 A.D., but though I can identify ^Ui 'eight,' and
JuUj * hundred,' together with the 'and' between the numbers, I
confess that I do not see in the photograph the letters juj, />.,
^4Jj which makes 300 instead of 100. Is it possible that the
defacement took place in 108 a.h., i.e, 727 a.d. ? Of course it is
unlikely that Dr. Sachau was wrong, and it may be that it is mere
accident that the letters are illegible in the photograph. At the
same time, we may notice that 108 a.h. is a very likely date for the
defacement of the monument to have taken place, M. Duval, in
his excellent History of Edessa (p. 255), points out that until the
150
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May 9]
THE 'THRONE OF NIMROD.'
[1906.
time of the Caliph Abd-el-Malik, who died in 705 a.d., the
governors of the conquered provinces had been Christians. From
this epoch the new era of direct and often fanatical Moslem rule has
continued till the present day.
I read the Syriac inscription thus : —
■"-IJ
i3 cu
f^ ^^K*
Collation with Dr. Harris's Transcription {Twins^ p. iii).
kAK*] t?r, n^jjokAK* {F.CB)) KttokAK* Harris,
eu] cA Harris. 3 is Harris.
5. f«:\ji9K'o Harris.
8. ^Auk] idK* Harris.
iX^] nta + + + A Harris.
Translation.
I, Aphtoha
N , son of
Barsh[emash,] have made
this column
5 and ihe statue that is on it
for Shalmath the Queen, daughter of
Ma'nu the Viceroy,
wife of ,
my Lady.
This inscription raises questions which may be grouped under
the heads of Palaeography, Grammar, and Interpretation.
151
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MAY91 SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
Palctography.
The character is a type of Estrangela, sensibly earlier than
that of our earliest MSS., though not quite so archaic as the
inscription of Amassams^ at Deir Ja*kub, published by Sachau
{Z.D.M,G, xxxvi 145), or the coins of Wi'el, which must be dated
163-165 A.D. The style of the coins, however, may be simply
archaic, and so may furnish no clue to the date of this inscription.
All the letters are represented, except t and p, if my reading of
line I be correct. As in almost all ancient Syriac writing D (•) is
not joined to the following letter. This is the case in the inscription
with 3 (^) and ti^ («-) also, and what is more curious, this is
also the case with i ( s ). It also appears that n ( ^ )> H ( " )»
and 1 ( o ) do not allow of a ligature with the preceding as well as
with the following letter, but to this the k^ in the first line forms
an exception. It is worth notice that the first rc in i^^jsokAK*
(line i) cuts through the division between the stones. On palseo-
graphical grounds we could not place the inscription later than the
3rd century a.d., and it is probably much earlier. The tall a in
line 6 is particularly ancient in style.
Grammar,
MtO'^^^HM is to be vocalised adriattd. This word is an adaptation
of avBptaura, which is found elsewhere in Syriac, e.g. 2 Chron. xiv3.
The phrase QgAfti\iffm fie\.A^v9K'« r^e\j»f€ 'the column of the
statue of Philip,' actually occurs in Budge's Alexander, 60*. In this
inscription the n has been assimilated before the /, just as 'Otiti^T^M
is read for "Ot^tt) ]1?2M in the inscription at Deir Ja'kub.
The word following MlO^'^lb^ is T\ychv^, as is now acknow-
ledged by Dr. Harris, though he differs as to the interpretation of
these letters. I understand n2^ vj^l to mean, * which is upon
it,' t.e, the statue which occupied the niche on the face of the
column. The compound preposition ^.jm A.^ is given by Noldeke
{Gram,, § 156, end), but it is said to be rarely met with. This is,
of course, just the kind of point in which we might expect the
language of the Inscription to differ from the literary practice of
two centuries later. Dr. Harris connects m 1 *w\ %< with -^ *-■ ^ *^
* a young man,' and suggests that the word is a dual, and that the
'Aiimi are the Dioscuri. This surely is a counsel of despair. It
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PLATE 1.
Proc Soc. Bibl. Arch.^ May^ 1906.
THE COLUMN INSCRIPTION AT EDESSA.
{Repi'oduced by mechanical process only, u<ithottt retouching, from a photograph.)
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May 9] THE 'THRONE OF NIMROD.* [1906.
does not account for the perfectly legible ai at the end, shewing
that we are dealing with something that has the suffix of the third
person singular, added to a noun or preposition in the singular.
The word m if \ \9 cannot be a dual or a plural. In fact, there is
nothing in the terms of the Inscription to tell of whom the lost
figure was a representation, except that an avSpia^ must evidently
be a figure in human shape.
The word fc^l'HICJD, read here for the first time, is, I venture
to think, quite certain. The tail of the second letter is broken
away, but the other letters are quite plain. This puzzling word also
occurs in the Syriac Theophania ii 19, and in the Bardesanian
Hymn of ike Soul, line 48. In the Hymn it appears to be used
interchangeably with r^-jk^t^, *the second in command,' as the
title of the heir apparent to the throne.
The derivation of i«i..a^i-\^^ is quite obscure, but its presence
on the column clears up the difficulty felt by Sachau (p. 157) at the
absence of w^ n \ .in 'king' after the name of Ma^u, father of
Queen Shalmath. Possibly a coin published by Langlois, Numis-
matique de rArminie^ Plate V, no. 12)1 may refer to this title. On
one side of the coin is ABPAPOC Bi^CIA€YC; on the other,
MANNOC n^lC. The bearded head does not seem appro-
priate to a wa<9, so that perhaps the letters may be an abbreviation
or adaptation of Pasgriba, if that be the pronunciation. It is clear
from the Hymn that the word has only three syllables.
Interpretation.
A few words must be said in conclusion about the general
interpretation of this interesting monument. As I have said, the
Inscription itself tells us nothing about the cult in which the
monument was used, and I venture to think we shall be unable to
get much further until we have a good plan of the ruins, as well as
photographs of their general appearance. I give here (Plate II) a
view of the columns^ from a photograph by Father Raphael, of the
Capucin Mission at Edessa, which shews the ruined walls of the
Temple as well as the two pillars. We do not know for certain to
^ Another example is given by Babelon, J^evue belgt de numisnuUique for
1892, pi. xii, no. 8. * Le mot FIAIC est tout k fait insolite en numismatique,
says M. Babelon, p. 521.
153 N
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May 9] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906,
whom this Temple is dedicated. Fascinating as Dr. Harris's
theories are, and probable as is his account of the genesis of the
Legend of Judas Thomas the Twin, which is contained in the
so-called Acts of Thomas, I do not think he has made it probable
that these Columns, or the Inscription here edited, have anything to
do with the Dioscuri. It is extremely likely that the Heavenly
Twins were reverenced at Edessa, but I very much doubt whether
their worship was connected with this building.
The name of the writer of the Inscription, who also set up the
Column and the Statue, presents a difficulty. It is evidently the
same as that on the Mosaic edited by Dr. Harris, but it cannot be
nLma^u^tTy as Dr. Harris reads. The penultimate letter is not
very distinct, but its form is very different to the angular » of
fT lA \qpw in line 4. Moreover, if it had been a », it would
not have been joined to the final w. I am certain it is either
jt (i.e., n), or jj (i.e., ^i). These letters are much alike in
many Syriac scripts, but I think the evidence of the Mosaic makes
it practically certain that it is rtL^ua^u^tr. For the name Aphtoha
see S. A. Cook's Glossary of the Aramaic Inscriptions^ p. 24, s.v.
nnOM . Curiously enough the nilDfc^ of the Nabataean Inscrip-
tions (NoldekCy 9 ff.) was a sculptor or architect in stone ( M7DD )»
but I leave the possible Dioscuric inferences to be drawn by those
who have greater faith than I have.
With this correction the inscription on the Mosaic reads (Harris^
p. 109) :
"I, Aphtob^, son of Garmu, have made me this House of
Eternity for myself, and for my sons, and for my heirs, for the days
of Eternity."
(In the fourth line Dr. Harris reads Vt^\ for hiJL^ »A, but
the reading is certain.)
It is a pity that the ancestry of Aphtolia in the Column Inscrip-
tion has been so much damaged, but it does not seem as if we
could interpolate into it * son of Garmu.* In the third line of the
Column Inscription, after "^3, there comes a horizontal line.
Now the only letter which begins with a horizontal line in this script
is "C^, and that being so, considerations of space make it almost
154
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PLATE II.
Prof. Soc. BibL Arch,^ May, 1906.
GENERAL VIEW OF THE "THRONE OF NIMROD."
{Shoioin^^ ihi' alii^nnunt of the Walls.)
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May 9] THE * THRONE OF NIMROD.' [1906.
necessary to read the name M^HT ^2. Barshemash was the
name of one of the noble families of Edessa ; we read, for example,
in the Doctrine of Addai 40-- of t ^m t.jo w »aca.»ia« i.e. Maryhab
bar Barshemash, and the name occurs also on one of Sachau's
inscriptions {Z.D,M.G, xxxvi 163).
Unfortunately we cannot identify Queen Shalmath, as the name
was borne by several personages. The Queen of Abgar Ukkslma in
the Doctrine of Addai is also named Shalmath, but she was a
daughter of one Meherdath {i.e. Mithridates), and this is a daughter
of Ma*nu. The Queen was doubtless the wife of the King, but the
8th line is too much cut away to enable us to tell whether, as is
probable, it ran ^\:J^K^ naiMl JinDM, ie. *the wife of King
Abgar.' What, however, the decipherment of the title Ml"''^a2D
makes quite certain, is that the Column was raised under the auspices
of the old native dynasty of the Abgars and Ma'nus of Edessa,
though I must repeat that we do not yet know to what deity it was
dedicated.
^55
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May 9] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
INSCRIBED SLAB WITH A PORTRAIT
OF KHUENATEN.
By the Rev. Dr. Colin Campbell.
The annexed Plate is from a photograph of a slab, which I found
last winter lying in one of the Courts of the Temple of Luxor,
representing Khuenaten, the heretic king of the XVIIIth dynasty,
receiving from the Sun's rays, which end in hands, ankhs and User
sceptres, emblems ot life and power. With it I found a number of
small fragments inscribed with the king's name in cartouches.
Similar slabs have been often illustrated, but the chief interest of
this example lies in its being found in Luxor Temple. It seems
probable that all the fragments must have been removed there from
some other building — perhaps from the tomb at Thebes, which was
opened by the late Mr. Villiers Stuart.
The next Meeting of the Society will be held on
Wednesday, June 13th, 1906, at 4.30 p.m., when the
following Paper will be read : —
Prof. A. H. Sayce, B.D, : ** The Chedorlaomer Tablets."
156
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Proc. Soc. Bib I. Arch.^ May^ 1906.
C4
O
X
>-]
c
(14
H
c
e
•S
u
o
o
•s.
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SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCMOLOGT POBLICATIOMS.
A
GENERAL INDEX
TO THE
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The Bronze Ornaments of the Palace Gates from
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Part V (the final part), with Introduction and descriptive letter-press,
has now been issued to the Subscribers.
A few complete copies of the book remain unsold and can be
obtained on application to the Secretary.
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Society of Biblical ARCHiEOLOGv.
37, Great Russell Street, London, W.C.
COUNCIL, 1906.
President.
Prof. A. H. Sayce, D.D., &c., &c
ViU'jPresiderUs.
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The Right Rev. S. W. Allen, D.D. (R.C. Bishop of Shrewsbury).
Rev. J. Marshall, M.A,
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Council,
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Dr. M. Gaster.
F. Ll. Griffith, F.S.A.
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Sir H. H. Howorth, K.C.LE.,
F.R.S., &c.
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Rev. Albert Lowy, LL.D., &c.
Prof. G. Maspbro.
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Prof. E. Naville.
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Edward B. Tylor, LL.D.,
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Honorary Treasurer — Bernard T. Bosanquet.
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Honorary Secretary for Foreign Correspondence — ^F. Legge.
Honorary Lidrarian—VfAVTEK L. Nash, M.R.CS., F.S.A.
HAKRl;>ON AND SONS, PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO HIS MAJESTY, ST. MARTIK'S LANE.
)gle
^J-
VOL. XXVIII.
«*<
■• ''"
Part 5.
55S
.." JUL 3 3 1906
OF
THE SOCIETY
OF
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY.
VOL. XXVIII. THIRTY-SIXTH SESSION.
Ft/tA Meeting; June i^th, 1906.
«c»
CONTENTS.
PAGE
F. Legge.— Magic Ivories of the Middle Empire. III. {6 Plates) 159-170
Prof. A. H. Sayce, D.D,y ^c. — An Inscription of S-ankh-
ka-ra ; Karian and other Inscriptions. (2 Plates) 171-177
Prof. Dr. E. Revillout. — The Burgh Papyrus. Transcribed,
Translated, and Annotated 178-181
W. L. Nash, F.S.A. — A Hebrew Amulet against Disease.
(Plate) 182-184
E. R. Ayrton.— The position of Tausert in the XlXth Dynasty.
(Plate) 185, 186
E. SiBRBE, Jl/.^.-— Note on the Boss of TarVutimme 187, 188
Paul Pierret.-— Le Nom du Pschent 189,190
^M»
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^^0 CO!-L.c,^^
i . JUL 131906
PROCEEDINGS
OK
THE SOCIETY
OF
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
THIRTY-SIXTH SESSION, 1906.
Fifth Meetings June ilth, 1906.
Prof. A. H. SAYCE, D,D,,
IN THE CHAIR.
0»
[No. CCXII.]
157
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June 13] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY. [1906.
The following gifts to the Library were announced, and
thanks ordered to be returned to the Donors : —
From the Author, M. J. Baillet. — "La reunion de la famille
dans les enfers 6gyptiens."
From J. Pollard, Esq.—" Golgotha and the Holy Sepulchre." By
the late Major-Gen. Sir C. Wilson, K.C.B.
THE LIBRARY.
BOOK-BINDING FUND.
The following donation has been received : —
June, 1906 : —
Rev. Dr. Colin Campbell j^i o o
The Rev. F. A. Jones, 2, Argyle Road, Ilford,
was elected a Member of the Society.
The following Paper was read : —
Prof. A. H. Sayce, Z>.Z>. : "The Chedorlaomer Tablets."
Thanks were returned for this communication.
158
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JuNB 13] MAGIC IVORIES OF THE MIDDLE EMPIRE. [1906.
THE MAGIC IVORIES
OF THE MIDDLE EMPIRE.
By F. Legge.
III.
I am fortunately now in a position to complete, so far as can be
done at the present time, the collection of these objects which was
begun in the Proceedings of May and December last year. Although
most of those about to be noticed were unknown to me in May last,
some of them confirm in a striking manner the views that I then
expressed as to the meaning of the figures and the use and date of
the wands, and none I think will be found to conflict with them.
I venture to think that this is in itself a proof that the views then
expressed were correct, and that no other theory heretofore advanced
concerning these objects has shown any claim to general acceptance.
Description of the Plates}
Plate I. No. 49.
This, as will be seen, is the photographic reproduction of the
wand in the " Edwards " Collection at University College, London, a
sketch of which by Miss Murray appeared as No. 47 in the December
Proceedings. It is always as well in these cases to have as exact
a representation of the object as possible under one's eyes, but
the photograph here does little except to emphasize the accuracy
of Miss Murray's sketch. Attention may be drawn, however, to the
holes showing where the two halves of the wand were formerly
joined, and also to the fact that here, as in many other cases, the
middle of the wand was much worn and the figures inscribed thereon
were almost effaced before the fracture. This is in itself significant,
as will afterwards be shown, of the manner in which these wands
^ As before, the Nos. follow on those attached to the figures in the two earlier
papers.
159 O 2
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June 13] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCH^OLOGV. [1906.
were used. I may also say that the name of Nehi which we find on
wand No. 7 {P,S.B,A.y May, 1905, p. 139 and PL V), as that of the
son of the " lady of the house Pert " for whom the present wand was
made, is a name frequently met with on the seals of officials of the
Xllth-XIVth Dynasties, and that it appears on a scarab in the
Fitzwilliam Collection as that of a "Superintendent of the Interior
of the £>^p" and on another in the Murch Collection as that of the
" Great One of the Southern Tens." «
Plate II. No. 50.
This fragment I owe to the kindness of Prof. Wilhelm Spiegelberg,
of Strasbourg, who tells me that he bought it at I^uxor, in the year
1898, and that it was said by the vendor to have been found at
Drah Abu'l Neggah, whence came, it will be remembered, wand
No. 16 (P.S.B.A,, May, 1905, p. 143 and PI. IX).* On the same
authority, it is dark brown in colour, and the work is poorly
executed. The fragment that remains is the blunt end of the
wand, and contains the usual procession beginning in this case with
the hippopotamus-goddess, upright, and armed with a knife. She is
followed by the figure I have called the Chimaera, the human head
between the wings being but faintly indicated by a sort of rectangle
with a hole for the eye, which is, however, reproduced in the
hieroglyph of the seated woman on the reverse. This is followed
by the sun-disk, mounted on two human legs each of which bears a
knife at the foot, and encircled by a uraeus, whose head projects
some way in front. Behind this, the forepart of a human-headed
sphinx, crowned with the two plumes generally given to Amen-Ra,
and also armed with a knife, is just visible.
On the reverse is the inscription : —
"Protection around the royal daughter Mentuhotep, life, health
and power ! "
2 Newberry, Scarabs (London, 1906), pp. 133 and 143, and Plates XIII and
XVIL Cf, also "the Royal Clothier Neh^," p. 130 and PI. XII, and "the
Scribe of the Army Neh^, born of the lady Kesen," p. 195 and PL XLIII.
' Both Luxor and Drah Abu'l Neggah are, like Gurneh, in the immediate
neighbourhood of Thebes.
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PLATE I.
Proc, Sac, Bibh AnA,, /utte, 1906.
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PLATE II.
Proc. Soc, BibK Arck,, fuiie^ 1906.
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June 13] MAGIC IVORIES OF THE MIDDLE EMPIRE, [igoS,
It is not very likely that this was the queen Mentuhotep whose
coffin and other funeral equipage were found some years ago,'* but
the use of the same name for both the male and female members
of the same family is curious, and can be paralleled by other instances
on these wands. It also confines the date of the wand pretty closely
to the time of the Xlth-XIIth Dynasty.
Plate III. No. 5^-
This beautiful wand comes from the Public Museum at Liverpool,
no record of its provenance being obtainable. It is engraved on
one side only, and is nearly perfect, only a small piece near the
tip being missing, and having been replaced by cement. The
procession goes as usual from the lion's mask to the jackal's head,
both here very clearly shown, and begins with the figure of a cat
passanty having a knife in her forepaw. Behind her comes the
hippopotamus-goddess, leaning upon the sa sign, and armed with a
knife, and then the lion, which we have seen named maheSy or "lion
fascinateuT," 5 similarly equipped. The middle of the wand is
occupied by the snake-necked panther, also armed with a knife, with
a cresset or light displayed above his back, and followed by the
tortoise s?i€tufi The procession is closed by the chimaera, followed
by another cat, this time rampant, and armed with the knife displayed
by all the animals except the chimaera. The figures are carefully
executed, and the wand in excellent preservation.
Plate III. No. 52.
This fragment which, like the last, is engraved on one side only,
comes from the collection of Prof. Spiegelberg, and has the same
provenance as No. 50. Unlike the last-named, however, it is white
in colour, and the style of the figures is too dissimilar for it to have
* A.Z,, XXX, 46; XXXI, 23.
» P,S.B,A,, December, 1905, p. 302. On the i^hole siilject of the «*lioii
fascinatcur," Maspero, £t. de Myth,^ VoL II, pp. 4' 5 J^^'* ^^^ he consulted
with advantage.
• See last note and P.S.B.A,^ May, 1905, p. 149 and note 32, and references
there given.
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JCN« 13] • SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiBOLOGY. [1906^
been executed by the same hands as its fellow. The small piece
that remains shows the chimaera figure with the head between the
half open wings so far raised above the body as to be entirely
separated from it, which perhaps confirms the suggestion that this
was a symbolical or conventional way of portraying a mounted man.
After this comes the snake-necked panther, the neck being not
merely elongated, but waved in the manner which appears more
clearly In Nos. 3 and 9 in Part I df this paper. Following him
is a very long snake extended, and then the tortoise, after which
nothing can be distinguished.
Plate IV. No. 53.
This fragment comes from the Ashmolean Museum, and was
acquired in 1900, the place where it was found being said to be
Abydos.7 It is engraved on one side only, and the figures are
roughly cut. The most marked feature about it is a curious line
below the figures, made up of a series of curves, or, perhaps, neb
baskets, so as to present the form which heralds call " engrailed."
The subject seems to be the usual procession of animals armed with
knives, opening with a frog and closing with a lion ; but I can make
nothing of the intermediate objects.
Plate IV. No. S4-
This, like the last, is now in the Ashmolean, though no record of
its provenance is obtainable. It is in two parts, which have been
joined in the middle, though it is by no means certain that they
were originally continuous. On each side of the break is a figure
of the hippopotamus-goddess, upright, and bearing a knife, the one
on the right being followed by a seated lion, or perhaps a cyno-
cephalus baboon, devouring a snake. The other figures have been
too much defaced by the flaking of the ivory to be decipherable,
' This of course may mean very little, as it is the practice of the native
dealers in antiquities to label their goods with the name of any find-spot for
the moment in vogue. The year when this and the next wand were acquired
corresponds with the time when M. Amelineau's discoveries at Abydos were
beginning to attract attention, and the native shops were full of objects described,
with or without justification, as coming from his excavations.
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PLATE III.
Proc, Soc. Bibl. Arch.^ /ufie, 1906.
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PLATE IV.
Proc. Soc. BibL Arc A., /utie, 1906.
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June 13] MAGIC IVORIES OF THE MIDDLE EMPIRE. [1906.
Plate V. No. 55.
This is also in the Ashmolean, was purchased at the same time
as No. 54, and is also said to have come from Abydos. It bears no
figures, but shows the pains taken to. fashion the pointed end of the
tusk into the form of a jackaPs head, and thereby confirms the
opinion expressed in Part I of this paper, that this had a symbolical
or ritual meaning.
Plate V. No. 56.
Also in the Ashmolean, and said to come from Abydos, though
purchased a year after Nos. 53, 54 and 55. It is a small piece
broken off from the extreme tip of the tusk, which terminates with
an incised representation of the jackal's head, immediately after
which is seen what appears to be a human leg and foot, and may
possibly be a partly obliterated representation of the walking sun-
disk just about to disappear in the West. Facing this is a lion
couchant, armed with a knife, after which the wand is broken away.
Plate V. No. 57.
A small fragment of unknown provenance, also in the Ashmolean,
and included in this paper for the sake of completeness. It shows
the Anubis-term, with knife at foot, and the hind-quarters of some
feline animal with the interlaced snakes stretching over the two,
Plate V. No. 58.
I have kept this and the two which follow to the last, in the hope
that I might be able to get photographs of them. Unfortunately
all my efforts have been unavailing, and I cannot give any infor-
mation as to their present whereabouts.® They were all discovered
^ That this should be so shows the haphazard method still pursued with
reference to the distribution of the objects obtained by modem exploration in
Egypt. Mr. Quibell, when he found them, was working for the Egyptian
Research Account, and I therefore applied to Prof. Petrie in the first instance.
He told me that so far as his recollection went, they had been presented to some
Museum in America ; but although I have written to the curators of the Museums
of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Baltimore, I have received no
answer from any of them except in the case of Chicago,* where Dr. Breasted
informs me they certainly are not. Miss Murray, who was, I think. Secretary
of the Research Account at the time, is also ignorant of their whereabouts.
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June 13] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCH/EOLOGY. [1906.
by Mr. Quibell at Thebes in a wooden box containing some
broken papyri in Xllth century hieratic, in which, Mr. Newberry
tells me, were contained magical receipts.' From this it may be
judged that they formed part of the stock-in-trade of a professional
magician, which confirms the conjecture that I have before put
forward that Thebes was the hunting-ground of the workers in curious
arts. No. 58 is a piece of the pointed end of the tusk which once
terminated in the usual jackal's mask, the tips of the ears being
alone left. Immediately after this comes a snake, curled as though
about to spring, and facing a frog, who is followed by a seated cat.
After this, we have a cresset and the Anubis-term, followed by the
sun-disk walking, which in its turn is followed by the chimoera.
The pose of the snake is peculiar, as is the spot in the centre of the
sun-disk.
Plate VI. No. 59.
This is assumed by Mr. Quibell to be two fragments of the same
wand, though if the reproduction in " The Rafnesseum " is accurate,
it would appear that the more pointed end of the blunter half was
too small to fit accurately in with the other. Immediately behind
the jackal's mask, at the tip of the tusk, is the head of a long-eared
animal with a crest of hair, which may be the Set animal, or perhaps
the cow of wand No, i. Behind this, and back to back with it, is
the cynocephalus, dancing. After the break, the outline of the
knife-armed Anubis-term is just visible, and then the god Bes, in his
usual full face attitude, holding a snake in each hand. Then comes
the hippopotamus-goddess, upright, with knife in one hand, and
resting the other on the sa sign, another figure of the god Bes as
before, with perhaps a scourge in the left hand, and then the lion
mahes with knife and sa sign, in the act of devouring a snake. Lastly,
at the blunt end of the tusk, turned about to face the lion, is the
snake-necked panther, with a three-headed serpent extended over it.
Plate VI. No. 60.
This, which is only slightly broken, shows at the tip cf the tusk
the jackal's mask. Then comes the turtle SAetu^ and a bird of
' Quibell, TA€ Ramesseumt London, 1898, p. 3.
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PLATE V.
Proc. Soc, Bibh Arch,, Jutu, 1 906.
Wands in the Ashmolean Museum.
From Photographs,
No. 57.
Wand in the Ashmolean Museum.
From a copy by Miss MutTay,
No. 58.
Wand from Thebes.
From " The Ramesseum" by J. E. Quibell.
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PLATE VI.
Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch, ^ June ^ 1906.
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June 13] MAGIC IVORIES OF THE MIDDLE EMPIRE. [1906.
curious form, which is probably intended for a vulture, bearing a
scourge or flail as well as a knife. Then comes the chimaera, while
the frog seated on the neb basket closes the procession. The two
holes connected by a curved line at the end, are probably part of the
lion's mask, either broken or rubbed away.
Date of the Wands,
I now return to the question of date, which was only briefly
touched upon in Part I of this paper. All those which bear the
names of the persons for whom they were made can be dated with
reasonable exactitude, as with one exception they are all names
belonging to known personages of the Middle Empire. Thus, to take
them in their order, the name of Seneb or Senb, found on No. 3,
appears also on a scarab in the Cairo Museum ^^ which seems to be
the seal of an official describing himself as "the Instructor of the
House of Life, Senb"; on another in the British Museum^^ made for
" the ser hayt Senb " ; on another in the Berlin Museum, belonging
to "the Attendant Senb";^^ on another in the Cairo Museum,^*
belonging to " the Guardian of the Storehouse Senb " ; and on yet
another in the Murch Collection, 1* made for the "Royal Sealer,
Superintendent of the Prison Senb." All these scarabs are described
by Mr. Newberry as belonging to officials of the Xllth-XIVth
Dynasties, and it is therefore plain that the name must belong to
this period. So, the " Snaa-ab, daughter of Senb-se-ma " for whom
the wand No. 4 was made, bears the same name as the Ramenkhau
or Snaa-ab, whom Prof. Petrie^^ believes to be a king of the Xlllth
Dynasty, or the " ser hayt Senaab," whose scarab is in the British
Museum, and as the " Great One of the Southern Tens Senaa-ab" on
a scarab in the MacGregor Collection ;^® while her mother's name
seems to be the same as that of the " Superintendent of the Seal
Senb-su-ma " of the same period, of whose scarabs a long list might
be given. ^7 i^ehi again, the appellative of the owner of wand No. 7,
" Newberry, op, cit,, p. 135 and PI. XIII.
" Op. ciL, p. 141 and PI. XVI. " Op. ciL, p. I42 and PI. XVI.
" op, cii„ p. 197 and PI. XLIII. " Op. cit., p. 199 and PL XLIV.
^* Petrie, History of Egypt, Vol. I, p. 227.
^^ Newberry, op. cit,, p. 136 and PI. XIV.
^' Op. at., p. 126 and PL XI.
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JUNB 13] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
as has been mentioned above (note 2, sup^ is a name borne by several
officials of the same period, while his name and that of his mother
Pert has been found by Miss Murray under the circumstances
mentioned in Part I of .this paper. The princess Ptah-neferu of
wand No. 13 bears the same name, and may be the same person as
Ptah-neferu, daughter of Amenemhat III, of the Xllth Dynasty,
whose sarcophagus was found in her father's pyramid at Hawara.^®
The name of the Mer-senb-s of wand No. 46 I have not yet identified,
but that of her mother Nub-n-ab is sufficiently like that of Queen
Nub-em-hat, of the Xlllth Dynasty, to leave little doubt that it may
be assigned to the same period. As the name of Mentuhotep has
been already dealt with above, this leaves only the Seb-kai of wand
No. 14 to account for. His name, as mentioned in Part I of this
paper, cannot be found in any king-list ; but the title ** Fair God"
which precedes it, is said not to have been introduced until the
IXth Dynasty, 1® and the name is likely to be that of some usurper
or local chief during the troublous times of the Xlllth and XlVth
Dynasties. The likeness of style of the wands which can thus
be dated to those without names is sufficiently close in most cases
to admit of our confidently attributing the greater part of these last
to the Middle Empire.20
The Meaning of the Figures,
I will only add to my remarks under this head that the publica-
tion of the Book of the Am-Tuat and the Book of the Gates by
Dr. Budge has, to my mind, cleared up the mystery attaching to two
of the figures on these wands, namely the double sphinx of wands
Nos. 3, 7, and 18, and the double bull of Nos. i and 7. There can
be, I think, now no doubt that the double sphinx typifies the "Land
of Seker," perhaps the oldest of all the Egyptian gods of the dead,
over which the Sun-god was supposed to pass during the fourth
hour of the night. In Dr. Budge's version of the Book of Am-
^" Budge, History of Egypt, Vol. Ill, p. 62.
" Op, cit.. Vol. II, p. 167.
^ The only ones about which it seems to me that there can be any real doubt
are the two in relief in the British Museum (Nos. 2 and 27), which are certainly
very different in style and perhaps in intention from the others.
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June 13! MAGIC IVORIES OF THE MIDDLE EMPIRE. [1906.
Tuat, he explains how this veritable " land of darkness " was there
represented as "an elongated ellipse formed wholly of sand," and he
continues, " This mysterious oval is supposed to rest upon the bodies
of two man-headed lion sphinxes, set tail to tail ; of these, however,
only the heads and fore quarters appear, one at each end of the
ovaI."*i Moreover, this land of Seker was one "wherein lived
monster serpents of terrifying aspect, some having two and some
three heads, and some having wings." So terrible indeed were these
beings that the Sun-god in the Book never enters the land of
darkness at all, but passes over instead of through it in a specially
constructed boat ; while of the scarab, figured on the wand, as in the
Book, as immediately below it, it is said "Behold Klieperu who,
immediately the boat of Ra is towed to the top of this circle, unites
himself to the roads of the Tuat ; when this god standeth on the
head of the goddess he speaketh words to Seker every day."2« No
doubt the portrayal of the nightly triumph of the Sun-gods Ra and
Kheper over Seker, the master of serpents, was thought to be very
terrifying to all serpents who caught sight of it. Nor is the symbolism
of the double bull less plain. In his version of the Book of the
Gates, Dr. Budge tells us how, in the Third Division of the Under-
world, or third hour of the night, the tow-rope of the Boat of the Sun
" is fastened to the two ends of a very remarkable object, in the form
of a long beam, each end of which terminates in a bull's head." He
goes on to say that it is clear that the boat of Ra and the god
himself were believed to pass through this object from one end to
the other,^ and in the accompanying vignette a bull is seen standing
upon each end of the bull-headed object, which is alluded to as the
" Boat of the Earth," while the text says, " Praised be the soul
[i.e.y Ra] which the Double Bull hath swallowed."^* As it is evident
that both the Book of Am-Tuat and the Book of the Gates represent
attempts to synthesize, and, so far as could be, to bring into harmony
the different traditions of the Egyptians as to the Underworld, where
the sun went during the night and where therefore man might
expect to go after death, we can hardly refuse to believe that the
double sphinx and the double bull here represent the "house of
" Budge, TAe Egyptian Heaven and Hell, Vol. I, p. 93.
=» Op. cii,. Vol. I. p. 89.
» Op. cii.. Vol. II, p. 103.
^ Op. cit.. Vol. II, p. 106.
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June 13] SOCIETY OF LIHLICAL ARCIIiTiOLOGY. [1906.
Hades " as it was figured by two different but not necessarily con-
flicting traditions.25
The Use of the Wands.
While the additions that I have been able to make in Parts II
and III of this paper to the objects collected in Part I confirm the
views as to them expressed in Part I, I see nothing in them that
would lead me in any way to alter my original theory that they were
intended as phylacteries or magical " protections " against the bites
of snakes and perhaps other misfortunes. The word "phylactery"
((t>v\aicTl]pioi^) has of course precisely this meaning, but its Biblical
association with the frontlets of the Jews seems to have misled some
of my readers into supposing that it was necessarily something
attached to or worn on the person. This is, of course, not the case,
and in a mediaeval exorcism I find the magician commanding the
spirits " by virtue of these phylacteries which I hold in my hand."
Now, in magic, spirits of all kinds have always been supposed to
dread a pointed weapon, as is shown (to quote no other instance) in
the proceedings of Ulysses in the Xlth book of the Odyssey. And
the serpent, from its silence, swiftness, and the mystericus character
of the death which follows its bite, has always been considered by
primitive folk as the favourite abode of spirits if not a spirit itself.
Hence it is reasonable to suppose that the pointed end of the wand
was supposed to be especially efficacious if directed against the
serpents and other mysterious animals which it was intended to
frighten. But to point it towards them, or towards the quarter in
which they were supposed to be, it would be necessary to grasp the
wand by the middle, and this I think may account for the signs of
attrition that wands like No. 3 exhibit. That the wands were
actually regarded by their makers as phylacteries or " protections "
of some sort is, I think, sufficiently evident from the words of the
inscriptions on wands Nos. 3, 4, 7, 9, 13, 15, 46, 47, and 50.
I have to express my thanks to the Keepers of the " Edwards *'
" It follows from thb that the conjecture expressed by me in Part I
{P,S,B.A., May, 190$, p. 132, note 7), as to the great car\-ed slate of the British
Museum and Louvre {P.S,B.A,, XXII, p. 131 and PL II), is well founded, and
that the scene there depicted does represent the proto-dynastic invaders hunting
the aborigines, under the form of animals, into the underworld, or perhaps into
the caves and hollows of the earth.
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June 13] MAGIC IVORIES OF THE MIDDLE EMPIRE. [1906.
collection; of the Ashmolean Museum; of the Liverpool Public
Museum; and to Professor Dr. Wilhelm Spiegelberg; for their
kindness in allowing me photographs of the objects in their collec-
tions, and to Dr. Wallis Budge and Mr. H. R. Hall for much kind
help and assistance in reading the inscriptions and otherwise.
As it is unlikely that any considerable number of these objects
will be discovered in the future, I think I may refer, in conclusion, to
the gallant attempt made by Miss Murray, in the January number
of the Proceedings^ to show that these wands are not phylacteries
but horoscopes. As I remarked at the reading of her paper, she
seems to have gone astray in the matter, not from any want of
Egyptological knowledge, but from lack of practical acquaintance
with the "splendid imposture" of astrology — an ignorance for
which she is rather to be praised than blamed. Having gone into her
arguments fully at the Meeting where they were read, I may perhaps
be excused if I here present my refutation of them only in a very
brief and summary form, the length to which this paper has already
run being an additional reason for not dealing with them more
fully. My reasons for rejecting her proposed interpretation of the
wands are therefore as follows : —
(i) Bes, Heqt, and Taurt are only found in the "birth-chapels"
of the Pharaoh as the representative of the Sun-god,
and their appearance there is evidently due to the part
supposed to be played by them in the natural phenomena
of sun-rise. There is no reason for supposing that they
were thought to play a similar part at the birth of private
individuals such as most of those for whom these wands
were made.
(2) The language of the inscriptions on the wands themselves —
one of which speaks of cutting off "the head of the enemy"
— is quite inconsistent with the view that they were
intended for horoscopes ; while it agrees perfectly with the
theory that they were made for the protection of their
owners against snake-bite and other misfortunes.
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June 13] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY. [1906.
(3) The Egyptians, as the Palermo Stone and other monuments
show, even before the Middle Empire, had a perfectly
consistent method of indicating dates by the year of the
reigning king. Yet these wands contain nothing that can
by any ingenuity be twisted into the record of a date,
which is the most important point in the construction of a
horoscope.
(4) I have worked backwards by the usual process the horoscope
which Miss Murray has given in PI. II of her paper
{P.S,B,A,y 1906, p. 42) as what she considers the astro-
logical expression of wand No. 2. The only possible date
at which the greater planets were in the position there
ascribed to them seems to have been the 14th March,
2765 B.C., which is a good deal earlier than that which the
most generous chronology now in vogue gives for the
beginning of the Middle Empire. While the Sun and
Moon were then in the positions she attributes to them,
I find that Mars was then in the last degrees of Aries,
and Mercury and Saturn in the 15th and 5th degrees of
Aquarius. While therefore Mars was a whole sign or the
twelfth part of the circle further forward than the place
she would give to him, Saturn was a sign and a sixth in
front of and Mercury three signs behind their respective
positions in her figure. It appears from this last that none
of the planets could have been visible at the hour in
question, which must have been a little after 6 a.m., and
their positions must therefore have been ascertained, if
at all, by calculation from tables. Assuming — and it
seems a very large assumption — that the Egyptians of the
3rd millennium b.c. were in possession of such tables, we
must suppose Miss Murray's astrologer to have been so
unskilful in their use as to assign to Saturn a place in
the heavens that he was not to occupy for more than two
years to come.
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June 13] AN INSCRIPTION OF S-ANKH-KA-RA. [1906.
AN INSCRIPTION OF S-ANKH-KA-RA.
KARIAN AND OTHER INSCRIPTIONS.
By Prof. A. H. Sayce, D.D,, &*c.
Inscription of S-ankh-ka-ra.
(Plate I.)
While excavating last February at El-Hammim, on the western
bank of the Nile at Gebel Silsila, I discovered a good many rock-
inscriptions, including some Karian graffiti^ which are published in
the accompanying plate. I found most of these last on a boulder
of sandstone on the south side of the entrance to the Shatt es-Seba'
Rigala, where they surrounded a deeply-incised inscription of a
certain Ana or Ani, recording the name of S-ankh-ka-Ra Mentu-
hetep of the Xlth dynasty. As is well-known, the Shatt or valley is
full of inscriptions of this dynasty, one of them accompanying
representations of Neb-hapu-Ra Mentu-hetep and Antef, which
were discovered by Harris and are figured in Petrie's Season in Egypt
(1887), Plate XVI. Graffiti which I found on the plateau abc*"*
show that the valley was not a desert road, as has hitherto becK
supposed, but that the Xlth dynasty officials and workmen came
there in search of stone. As the hieroglyphic inscription is impor-
tant, mentioning, as it does, " the king of Upper and Lower Egypt,
S-ankh-ka-Ra, beloved of Horus, beloved of Sebek the lord of the
Lake of Khar(u)," I give it here. It would seem that the lake was
in the neighbourhood of Silsilis. The rude drawing of the donkey
to the right of the inscription was made by the same hand as the
hieroglyphic text.
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June 13] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
Karian and other Inscriptions.
I.
(Plate I.)
This Karian inscription is incised immediately above the inscrip-
tion of Ana. When I first copied it I thought that the downstroke
to the left of the second word belonged to the first letter of the
word, which might therefore be a new form of m. But a second
visit made it clear that such a supposition was unnecessary, and that
the stroke really belongs to the character below it in the second line.
Consequently the inscription reads : L-9-a-a-a Vu-u-v-s-^-a-1-y g-v- . .
th-y-gh. Since we have L-3-r-o-n in Sayce, I, 7, it is possible that
the third character is intended for r, not a. Vuvs^aly would
represent the "Ovo-ffoiXXo? or ^"SaawXKo^ of Greek Karian inscriptions.
Gh was a suffix ; we find it elsewhere, e.g., in vugh at Krya, duvugh
{RS.B.A.y May, 1905, No. Ill) and thagh at Silsilis (F,S,B.A.,
May, 1895). Here it seems to denote the third or first person of
the verb.
IL
(Plate I.)
Me-s-n-a-w-y. The name of Mesnawo occurs in a large number
of Karian graffitu We find it under the forms Mesnab^, Mesnbo,
Mesnaby, Mesnawwu, Mesnawy, Mesnawwa(u), and Mesnawyii
(genitive). Here a line is drawn after mes^ indicating that the
name is a compound. Cp. the name MessSve. The inscription
is written to the right of the hieroglyphic text. Since mes9ra-€k€thon
seems to mean ** they wrote," the word mes would signify " to write."
HI.
(Plate I.)
L-€-sh-w-wii-s(?)-6 d(?)-a-6 . . This inscription, which is also
to the right of the hieroglyphic text, may have lost some letters
between and ^(?). Instead of d the letter may be ^; it is too
much obliterated for certainty. For sh see below, No. VIII
(PL II). The sixth letter in the name is probably intended for ^;
it can hardly be m.
172
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PLATE I.
Proc. Soc. Bihl. Arch., June, 1906.
o
S5
< u
No. IV.
'■mi^kb
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June 13] KARIAN AND OTHER INSCRIPTIONS. [1906.
IV.
(Plate I.)
V-l-ss-b(?)-d-(?). A letter may be lost at the beginning of the
name, and instead of ^.'we may read e. If we could read the third
letter as gh we might compare the Greek Karian name *A\Kiht<Tai9.
It is doubtful whether the following word . • 1-z- • . -^ is a continuation
of the graffito, or an independent inscription. Both words are to the
right of the hieroglyphic text
V.
(Plate II.)
This reads ^-me-vu-h and is on a rock on the slope of the cliff
about a quarter of a mile north of £1-Hamm4m, where I found
a late Roman cemetery. No. VIII (PI. II) is on the same rock, as
well as a "prehistoric" giraffe, the outlines of which have been
hammered out by a flint, and are worn the colour of the rock. Over
the giraffe an Xlth dynasty inscription has been cut, the characters of
which still look fresh. There is also a Greek graffito . . A • • ANA.
VI.
(Plate II.)
This is a large and deeply-incised inscription facing the river,
on a boulder a few yards to the north of that on which No. V
(PI. II) is cut. The letters are not those of the Karian alphabet, the
m and b being formed differently, and were it not for the form of the
s we might suppose it to be Lydian, since the m has the same shape
as in the Lydian inscription found two miles to the south of it
{F,S.B,A,, May, 1905, Plate I, i). The last letter but one must be
a vowel, not th as in Karian. The name is enclosed in a sort of
cartouche, so that the m which introduces it must represent "I (am)."
The name reads P-n-o-b-l-o (?)-s with which I would compare the
liavapXrifii^ of the Budrum inscription.
VIL
(Plate II.)
This is on a broken tombstone from Memphis obtained in 1905
by Mr. Seymour de Ricci, who has kindly allowed me to take a
173 P
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June 13] SOCIETV OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
copy of it. The stone has the form of a doorway, the inscription
running round the three sides of it. It reads : . . . r (?)-a-l-a-dh (?)-
^-[u] d-€-u-l-[a]-dh (?)-^-u a-o-v . . . The nouns ending in u are
genitives. Cp. A-a-u-l-a-dh(?)-^, Sayce, IV, 26.
VIIL
(Plate II.)
This is on another stela, doubtless from Memphis, bought at
Giza in 1905 by M. Capart, who has been so good as to let me copy
it. It reads : M-S-y-v-o-w-u-o R-a-v-ss-y-sh-a-a-w-wu-s Gh-o-v-^-ii. As
there is a space between mey and Vowuo, mey must be a separate
word probably meaning " I (am) " like m in No. VI (PL II). The last
two words are " Ravssyshaawwus the son of Ghove " (or Ghova, since
the genitive of Megula is Meguleii).^ Ravssyshaawwus, which is a
compound of ra " son " (which appears as A/)- in Greek transcriptions
of Karian names), shows that the two sibilants which I have identified
in my alphabetic table (No. 24) are really distinct. The name may
be compared with that of R-a-vu-ii-ss-d-g-a-v-S-ii or R-a-vu-(u)-ss-d-a
(Sayce, IV, 24, 25) and the Greek 'Apvatrtr-iw, -JVus may be the
same termination as -woz in Lowoz, Erviioz, Uwoz (Ovuz-he); cp.
Lavus at Krya.
IX.
(Platen.)
This is on the same rock as No. V. Both the alphabet and
the language are unknown to me. The inscription may belong to
the Late Roman period.
X.
(Plate II.)
I have found these two Aramaic characters cut in three places
on the rocks of a sandstone quarry at Assuan, due east of the
^ We have U-y-gh-o-v-gh-o-v-6 in the Krya inscription {P.S,B.A., May, 1905) :
cp. Ughiive, Ughove, Ueghua, Eghua, VSghuU, Uaghav, Vaghav, and the Greek
* Oy aia. At Krya I think we ought to divide s-l-vu-gh-o (like sl-modo^ " to Apis,"
Sayce, II, 3) O-y-gh-o-v-gh-o-v-i l-a-vu-Sy comparing 'riyvyos, Lycian hghugha^
and the Phrygian aicci^ayo-XaFos. Since auvugh signifies **he has consecrated"
and -ugh in Nepugh {P.S.B,A.y May, 1905, No. II) seems to be the suffix of a
title, it is possible that the whole inscription should be translated : " Thogovus
the priest (rei-avitgA), the son of Uroreulva, of (or to) the god Ogygos the
minister." 5/-wail? may be "buU-god."
174
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PLATE II.
Proc. Soc. Bin. Arch., June, iqo6.
^Akv\-i-
No. V.
> ^
t
r\
Ch
<
O
IT
[^®i4^in
W|
No. VI.
o
e
No. VIII.
fA
Ej^t<JEIP^ i:KEPi«^PKZT
No. IX.
A
.y
fell
&p
No. X.
No. XL
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June 13] . KARIAN AND OTHER INSCRIPTIQNS. [1906.
famous " obelisk." They were intended to mark the ownership or
destination of the stones of the quarry, and the Assuan papjn-i which
I have been editing show that the word represented by them is ri'^n
" house." One of the persons who figures in the papyri is Phia the
"architect," and the quarry may have been selected by him.
XL
(Plate II.)
These two inscriptions were on an early seal-cylinder found in
Cyprus, of which Dr. Pierides took a sealing-wax impression which
he gave to me, some thirty-five years afterwards, in December, 1880.
The inscription to the right is Hittite, that to the left is in an
unknown form of hieroglyphic writing which, however, somewhat
resembles that of Krete. The "cartouche" with which it begins is
met with on a seal-cylinder discovered by Dr. Schliemann at Troy.
Note.
Several of the vocalic values assigned to the Karian letters in
the foregoing transcriptions differ from those given to them in my
Alphabet of 1887. The latter were avowedly makeshifts, and with
the increase of materials I have been able to approximate more
closely to the actual values by the help partly of a comparison of
variant forms of the same name, partly of identifications with Karian
names in Greek inscriptions. Thus I-ii-1-o-vu-h-ss-o-i (Sayce, VI, i)
is the genitive of the Budrum 'IXi'fiy^, U-z-6-gh-o-S (VI, 2) is
'Offoyw{a)j Y-a-ss-a-9-v-^-ii (IV, 26) is 'laaaiov^ R-a-vu(also y)-u-sh-
(d-S-a-v-ii) is *Apva(rG{i9\ M-a-v-a-o-e-n (II, 3) is Mo^ppov, M-a-g-s-a-ii
is Mofov, Lycian Makhzza, Mi-z-a-a is McVo?, Lycian Mizu, U-y-gh-
o-vgh-o-v-€ is *Q7v7os, Lycian Akhukha, L-3-r-(on) is A€p(ioit),
L-o-l-^-gh-a is the singular of A6\€769. In variant forms of the same
word a interchanges with a, e, and B (a), d with w,y with «, vu
and (in suflSxes) p and corresponds with Greek v, i interchanges with
e, u with Uy o and Greek o, u with ve, e^ ua^ va and vd^ b with eii and
u corresponding with Greek e and o, p with «, wu^ and y and
corresponds with Greek c In ra " son " for rav final v is lost.
The nominative of the noun terminates sometimes in a consonant,
fly dhy hy Zy Sy morc frequently in a vowel ay d, e, /, Oy d, iiyy. The genitive
singular ends in «, as in MegulSii from nom. Megula, where a
17s p 2
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June 13] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
becomes e before iiy Thuvloii from Thovl, or Miiuii the nominative
of which is found in the Greek Mvs.* By the side of feghuaii and
Vaghuii, however, we find the abbreviated feghua, and ra Ss-gh-o,
" son of Sgho," replaces Ss-gh-o-S-a-ii. In some stems -// follows a
consonant without the intervening / and a ; thus we have Aovyoshii,
Madsii, Ra-yg^thu, Uro-reulvii, Uvovu, Migaovu, VShii (cp. V^aii).
A dative sing, ended in -o and -<>, The adjective followed the
noun. Besides the suffix -h^ described in my Paper on the Karian
Language and Inscriptions (1887), we find a suffix -(^*)« as in L9r-on
"Lerian," and also a suffix -gh. Thus by the side of avnogh-hS
"the dragoman" (II, 3) stands avanogh {P,S.B,A., May, 1905).
The proper name AvnosS, Avnos (IV, 16, 17, 18) seems to belong
to the same root. NSpugh is parallel with Lol^gha in P,S.B,A^
May, 1905 (No. II), and perhaps also in Sayce, I, 7 (Nathup-on),
and Lol^gha, "Lelegian," may itself be an example of the same
suffix. Another suffix is -t^sosy nsa, in Ss-9-gh-s-n-s-o-s (I, i), LSreiido-
nsa (IV, 32), and the Budrum ^pa-vao^^ where the name of the
locality may reappear in the names S-r-a-a-u-h-S (I, 5) and S^reaganS
{P,S,B.A,y May, 1905). We find the suffix -sn in dhegysn — ^
''destroying" — , in an interesting 'bilingual* inscription on a bronze
rat now in the Cairo Museum. It was first published by M. Daressy,
in the Recueil de Travaux^ 6^r., XVII, p. 120, where, however, some
of the Karian letters are incorrectly copied, and later by myself in
F.S.B.A,, May, 1905, No. III. The hieroglyphic text reads : "(To)
Atum the great god, giver of life (and) health, Sh-r-k-b-i-m-DEx. (of
water)," i>., Sa-rikib-y^ma *'the sea-rover." The Karian text is : —
R-a-v-y-1-S-o-n dh-^-g-y-s-n-re-a-gh-o 9-gh + n-o + re-o-gh^ a-u-vu-gh,
which must signify "Ravyleon (cp. Pantaleon Hdt., I, 92) to the
Rat-destroyer this rat has consecrated." Atum is here identified
with Apollo Smintheus.
The suffix 'he is attached to the genitive ending in a 'bilingual '
found by Daninos Pasha at Abukir and published by him in the
Recueil de Travaux, XII, p. 214. The name in the hieroglyphics is
Petenit Si-Karr, i,e.j Petenit, son of a Karian ; the Klarian inscription
reads : Me-g-gh-a-sh A-th-D-v-S-ii-h-^. ^egghash is the Maghosh and
" Unless, as seems more probable from the fact that it is preceded by a
genitive, Ravmaii (IV, 35), muttii is merely a variant spelling of niauu
** memorial."
' By + I denote a minor mark of division of words in the originaL
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June 13] KARIAN AND OTHER INSCRIPTIONS. [1906.
Maghssh of Sayce, IV, 2, 3. I have given the Karian text in
P,S,B,A.^ May, 1905, No. IV. Magas may have been an Atyad.*
Agh and no are demonstratives {P.S.B,A,y Nov., 1894, No. I and
May, 1905, and Sayce, I, 7), They are combined in 9gA-no above.
Mey is probably " I " (above No. VIII).
"I am" is possibly smt {RS.B.A., Nov., 1894, No. I). The
third (or first ?) pers. S. of the verb seems to have terminated in
"i^^f e.g., /Ay-gA (above No. I), duvugA, " has consecrated," and
y-6-sh-v-o-s(^r m)-S th-a-gh y-o-d-a y-o-ss-v-gh {B.S.B.A., May, 1895,
and May, 1905). But we have another third person in 2Vugozeih
(Sayce, III) and wugozeth sava (II, 4), which perhaps signifies
"owns the tomb." In the plural we have mesPra-ekefAon, "they
have written" (?) (I, 7).. Ybdd may be the same word as vedii in
II, 4, where the meaning may be : ue gha vedii " whose epitaph (is)
here." Sava is the trova "tomb" of Stephanus Byz., and the
compound savn-vozhed (or samm-vozhea) in II, 2, can scarcely signify
anything else than " family tomb." In this case it is probable that
ovuzhe in II, i, is merely a different spelling of vozhe and has the
sense of " family."
* For a Karian Mcyaf see Ramsay : Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia I,
pp. 181-2, and q). //., XVI, 695.
>77
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June 13] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
THE BURGH PAPYRUS.
Transcribed, Translated, and Annotated
By Prop. Dr. E. Revillout.
This Hieratic Papyrus, already quoted by me, both in my
Revue igyptologique and in my Prids de droit igyptien^ and the
copy of which was obtained for me by my regretted friend
Prof. Aug. Eisenlohr, has never yet been published. The first part
of it is of special interest as showing us an ^^ Actio sacramenti^^ in
criminal cases, analogous to that which was in use in Roman Civil
Law (a solemn oath accompanied by the deposit of a sum of money,
which was forfeited if the cause was lost). The rdle of the accuser,
who is hot an accomplice, is shown more clearly than in the other
analogous law-suits which have come down to us.
Lastly, there is the question of a word which frequently occurs,
and which seems to me to be evidently Greek — the word x"^'f«<>''>
and that in the XXIst dynasty. Does it refer to the money called
" Caique "1 at a later period? or to certain vases having the same
name? What is certain is that the robbers took outens of silver,
and that they deposited with a man, who was not one of the
accused, outens of silver coins which the treasure also contained.
cm
^ The ^th part of the classic *' Drachma." It is true that at Bysance, etc.,
much more important " Caiques " were minted.
17S
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Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch., fune^ 1906.
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o
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June 13] THE BURGH PAPYRUS. [^906.
C3
* The signs of the fractions are here similar to those of the demotic. 3 i y i*
Many of the forms also need a transition of epoch, as in the XXIst dynasty.
179
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June 13] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY. [1906.
n^' — i^i' — 'T^^-r.i
**Year 2, 4th month of Imu, day 23rd. On this day was made the
examination of the gold and silver stolen from the sanctuary of
Ra-user-ma-meri-Amen, money concerning which the divine
Father Amen-mes, of the district of this sanctuary, has made a
Report to the Pharaoh. The affair was placed in the hands of
the prefect of the town JDja Ra-neb-nextu, of the steward of the
treasure of the Pharaoh, steward of the granaries the Royal
officer Ra-men-ma-nextu, and of the steward of the palace the
Royal Officer Inua, to make their examination in the Royal
dwelling of the " millions of years " of this sanctuary. They
made their Report of 86 silver xa^«^ta being ascertained* to
< (l ^ « ^.^ , " to draw," " to bring into the light."
1 8c
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June 13] THE BURGH PAPYRUS. [1906,
be missing,^ which have been stolen, and with regard to which
the divine Father of the Fraternity* of the sanctuary made his
Report (or his claim) to the Pharaoh, He (the Djd) said :
' The man who caused them to be stolen has not been seen/
He (the divine Father) said : * It is the steward of the Treasury,
Sutexmes, who had the place of steward of the lands, who has
taken them. He has stolen 26 x^^'^'^*) ^^ steward of the
Royal palace of the sanctuary. He cut off (took away) in
silver i outen \ \, He stole them with the divine Father Ima,
the priests and chief guardians of the sanctuary, Roanina,
Emtexuu, Rames. They took (his accomplices) 60 xoKkicl.
They cut off (took away) 3 outen \ of silver. Total 5 outen.
There remains in silver 36 outen. They entrusted that to the
guardian Uraa. They got the x«^«<« as profit.
"He (the divine Father) was made to entreat (invoke) the
name of the king. He was made to deposit the tenth part of
an outen (one kati) in his dwelling. Then the Pharaoh made
them apprehend the five criminals together, forthwith, in the
sanctuary. He went to the sanctuary, the divine Father (the
accuser) with the man (the accused) to say what had been
stolen."
The accuser referred to was roused by this first result ; for the
rest of the papyrus, which I will give soon, relates that later on
he made other analogous revelations.
'^^•I^^^-
• The word ** fraternity" is interesting. We find it again in the treaty between
Rameses H and the Khetas, concluded with the object of establishing the peace
{kotep) and brotherhood between the two empires. In the Babylonian contracts
relating to a commercial society, the word corresponding to akhutu has the same
meaning. That reminds one of a sort of corporation or syndicate of the servants
of the sanctuary. But this would perhaps be a very rash conclusion. In the
Ethiopian epoch the word '*my brother" is addressed by the priest in the
marriage ceremony. (See my Corpus papyrorum Aigyptu)
:8i
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June 13]
SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY.
[1906.
A HEBREW AMULET AGAINST DISEASE.
By W. L. Nash, F.S.A.
The words of this amulet or charm (see Plate), which
belongs to Dr. Gaster, are written in the form of two interlaced
triangles, the ("shield of David,") enclosed within a circle, with
six other incomplete circles abutting on the sides of the triangles.
The inscription takes so devious a path as it forms the various parts
of the figure, that it is difficult to follow ; I have therefore given a
sort of key-plan to assist the reader.
The amulet is written on vellum, and intended to be carried on
the person. Dr. Caster tells me that it is of the end of the i8th
century, but is clearly a copy of a much older one- It was evidently
written in the East by a Sephardic Rabbi or Kabbalist.
In the following translation of the text of the amulet the
numbers in the margin refer to the corresponding numbers in the
key-plan.
-May it please Thee, IHVH, my God and the God of my
fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the
God of Jacob, the great God, the mighty and fearful
one, the God
(2) Elyon, father of
(3) mercies,
(4) dwelling
(5) between the Cherubim,
(6) tabernacling
(7) between the Living Creatures^
(8) and the Cherubim,
(9) ruling over
(10) those above
(11) and having power
(12) over those below,
(13) that Thou shouldest command
1 See Eiek. i, 5.
X82
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June 13] A HEBREW AMULET AGAINST DISEASE. .[i9o6,-
(14) Thy angels
(15) the holy ones,
(16) and the pure,
(17) who are set over
(18) the affairs of
(19) the sons of men,
rthat they shall keep and deliver and protect the girl
1.20; ^ Kresia, who was born of Esther,
r bearer of this cameo (j^'^Cp) upon her, from every evil
thing, and from all evil diseases, from pestilence,
rand from plague, and from sword and hunger, from
(22) < strange death and from croup, and from epileptic
L fits — far be it
{from us — and falling sickness, and from ghosts, and
male and female destroyers (]'^T'tt^), male and female
Lilin — far be they
'from us — and frotn evil. eye; like Joseph the righteous,
as it is written, ^' Joseph is a fruitful bough,
reven a fruitful bough by a fountain," Frpm all may
(25) < deliver her the Lord God of Israel, from now and for
L ever. Amen. Selah.
<"){'
(.4){'
Outer Square.
(Commencing at the bottom right hand.)
Behold, I send the angel SHAMRIEL before thee to keep thee
in the way and to bring thee to the place which I have prepared
for thee there. The angel of IHVH encampeth round about those
that fear him, and delivereth them. Hear, O Israel : The Lord
our God is one Lord. Blessed be the name of the glory of
His kingdom for ever and ever.
Inner Square.
IHVH, El Shaddai of Hosts, help ; the king shall answer us
when we call (upon him).
And all the nations of the earth shall see that the name of the
Lord is called upon thee ; and they shall be afraid of thee.
IHVH, El Shaddai of Hosts is with us. The God of Jacob
is our refuge, Selah.
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June 13] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGV. [1906.
IHVH, £1 Shaddai of Hosts — blessed is the man that trusteth in
Thee.
In the centre of the double triangle is the sacred name rTirP ;
and between the angles is the word ^Tif Shaddai, repeated six
times with the letters interchanged. Within the circles are words
containing forty-eight letters, of which forty-two are the letters of
one of the Names substituted for the " Ineffable Name " which
might never be uttered.* They are the acrostics of a number of
verses,* and the last six are the acrostic of a doxology already
once fully written out in this charm. — See the last sentence of
the translation of the Outer Square, above. — The figure containing
the charm is surrounded by a double square of inscription, and
across the corners of the inner square are written the names of
the archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel. Below these
four names are the letters Aleph, Gimel, Lamed, and Aleph, which
form the tetragrammaton AGLA.*
I am indebted to the Rev. A. E. Suffrin, Dr. Caster, and
Mr. E. J. Pilcher, for much assistance in preparing this account of
the Amulet.
' See Caster, " The Sword 0/ Moses,^^ London, 1896, page 10.
' See Caster, The Book of Prayer according to the Custotn of the Spanish
and Portuguese Jews, London, 1901. Vol. I, p. 11.
* This word is really an acrpstic, as follows : —
nn«
Thou art
Mighty
for ever
^3n«
OLord.
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June 13] POSITION OF TAUSERT IN XIXth DYNASTY. [1906.
THE POSITION OF TAUSERT IN THE XIXth DYNASTY.
By E. R. Ayrton.
Hitherto the supposition that Tausert was a daughter of Sety II
and wife of Si-ptah has been generally accepted, a supposition which
principally rests on the fact that in the tomb of Tausert the
cartouches of Si-ptah have been cut over those of Sety II.
It has therefore been thought that the tomb was commenced
during the reign of Sety II and that Si-ptah, on his marriage with
Tausert, placed his own cartouches there, and was buried in the same
tomb as his wife.
The tomb of Si-ptah has however been discovered in the valley
of the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes.
It is obvious that the tomb of Tausert was begun during the
reign of Sety II, since on both walls of the first corridor we see this
king making offerings to a deity, the queen standing behind him.
These scenes belong to the first work of the tomb. Tausert is in all
parts of the tomb given the titles of " Heiress, great royal wife, lady
of the two lands, princess of the North and South." These titles
show no signs of having been reworked, and as they occur on the
entrance and in the very first scenes, they must belong to the first
executed sculptures in the tomb ; that is to say, they were cut during
the reign of Sety II.
Tausert must therefore be the wife of Sety II ; had she been his
daughter, the title of " great royal wife " would have been inserted
later over the title of " royal daughter," &c., and this could not have
been done in every case without some traces of the original work
showing beneath.
The names of Tausert and Si-ptah appear together on a scarab.^
This does not necessarily mean that she was his wife. As queen-
mother she would probably have considerable influence at court. She
may even have reigned alone for a short time before Si-ptah came
* Fraser, Scarabs, 315.
18s
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June 13] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1905,
to the throne, since on an ostrakon found in her temple at Thebes
she is called " monarch of Upper and Lower Egypt.*
In the (funerary) temple of Tausert there is no evidence of
Si-ptah, and the objects found cannot have been contemporaneous
since they are dissimilar. Prof. Petrie remarks (loc. cit^ p. 16),
"the glazing of Si-ptah is poorer than that of Tausert, being dull
pea-green instead of indigo-blue, . . the workmanship is rougher
and more careless." A, scarab of Tausert was found in one of the
foundation deposits of Si-ptah.
The mother of Amenmeses was Takhat* On a statue of Sety II
a queen Takhat is mentioned, and since there is no reason to the
contrary., we may consider her to be the same person.
This Takhat has no titles except those of " royal daughter, great
royal wife," whereas Tausert has the full titles of the heiress of the
kingdom ; and therefore Si-ptah would naturally have a prior right
to the throne before Amenmeses.
The illustration here given is from a photograph taken in the
tomb of Tausert, and shows the substitution of cartouches very
clearly.*
All of this agrees very well with my view of the relationship
between Tausert and Sety II.
The history now seems to read as follows : —
Sety II marries Tausert, who begins her tomb and temple at
Thebes. On the death of Sety II Tausert reigns independently for
•a short time. The throne is then usurped by Amenmeses. Later
Bai heads an insurrection, and dethroning Amenmeses, puts Si-ptah,
whom we must suppose to be the son of Tausert, on the throne.
' Petrie, Six Temples^ xix, 2.
• ^ Lepsius, Denk,^ iii, 202 f.
* Lepsius {Dcnk,, iii, 201 B) published a copy of this scene.
186
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Proc, Soc, BibL Arch,y June^ 1906.
Wall-carving in the tomb of Tausert, at Thebes.
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June 13]
NOTE ON THE BOSS OF TARKUTIMME.
[1906.
NOTE ON THE BOSS OF TARKUTIMME.
By E. SiBREE, M.A.
The apparent order of the symbols in this inscription is as
follows : —
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
5
6
6
Nos. I, 2 on the right are to be read first, as indicated by the
direction of the animal's head ; Nos. 3, 4, on the other hand, are
to be taken next, as shown by the oblique stroke in 3, which
in other inscriptions stands behind the symbol to which it is
attached. The fact that Nos. 3, 4 face the opposite way to
Nos. I, 2, shows us that 3, 4 is a word distinct from i, 2, the
latter being held to represent the name " Tarkutimme." No. 5
is the symbol for "country." All the symbols behind the king
face the same way. No. 3 is identical with the same symbol in
J. ii, where it occurs in the name " Carchemish," and is thought
to represent a sound containing the consonant " m." Now 3, 4
occupy the position held by the sheep or lamb's head in J. ii, and
the latter symbol we have assumed to have the value of mun or u-mun
(Proceedings, XXVIII, 27, 1906). No. 3 therefore may represent the
initial sound of mun, 4 representing a sound containing an **n." We
might then read 3, 4 provisionally as mu-un = mun " king." The
187
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June 13] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
oblique stroke in 3 may perhaps be identical with the short perpendicu-
lar stroke in Egyptian, cf, J 1 (pw) by the side of J {b\ hence 3 may
be read mu by the side of || || which may perhaps be read m or me.
No. 6 would represent the sound er or eri^ for the following reasons.
Taking the cuneiform symbols from break to break, we may read
them : —
Me-e Tar-ku-u-tim-me SAR MAT Er or Eri
/ {ani) Tar^utimme^ king of the land of Er
if, as is probable, the cuneiform inscription and the hieroglyphic
symbols are both in the Hittite language. Again, the cuneiform
symbol ^^ff compared with J^fJ (^w), linear ^k would seem to
imply a linear form ^ "tiara" by the side of |^ "city," both
having a common phonetic value er^ cf. ^IJTEy tnir " tiara."
x88
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JuNB 13] LE NOM DU PSCHENT. [1906.
LE NOM DU PSCHENT.
Par Prof. Paul Pierret.
L'orthographe normale du nom du Pschent est )u que
rinscription de Rosette interprbte yjrx^vr en restituant Tarticle
(J>, skhent), Dans la stfele de Tombos nous le voyons ^rit
i ® ^S/ au lieu de ^ ® ^ (cf. Zeitschr, fur dgypt Sprache,
1868, p. 103). Remarquons que le signe initial est le sistre, ce qui
nous sollicite k examiner de pr^s la formation du nom du sistre en
m^me temps que celle du nom du pschent.^ J'avais pens^ (ainsi
que M. J. Baillet, dans son int^ressant m^moire public dans le
Journal Asiatique de Septembre-Octobre, 1904, p. 316), que Ton
devait rapprocher le mot skkent du thfeme verbal 1 O " embrasser,
r^unir," puisque le pschent est la rSunion de la couronne blanche et
de la couronne rouge, mais Torthographe sekhH ci-dessus repousse
cette hypoth^se. Sekhti qui sert ici k dcrire le nom du pschent sert
quelquefois aussi k ^crire le nom du sistre y % (Q^'il faut
peut-^tre lire sekh-sekh en admettant que soit une notation de
reduplication) ; sekhti^ dis-je, suppose un thfeme simple sek?i^ durcisse-
^ Constatons en passant que y == o ^ ^^ avoir la valeur bilit^re lo en
m^me temps que la valeur trilit^re I ® ^\ sans quoi 11 faudrait (ce que font
certains savants) lire Sekhemit le nom y ^ de la d^esse l^ontoc^phale SekheU
Or ^ la page 1 107 du Supplement de son Dictionnaire Brugsch enseigne qu'il faut
JL ®
lire sekh et non sekkemekk le groupe y «. . .
189 Q
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Junk 13] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCH/EOLOGY. [1906.
ment du th^me s que pr^sente la Stfele du Songe. De meme
sekhti pschent serait un redoublement d'un thbme sekh durcissement
de ^ , ic3E=iJ5> "chevelure, coiffure," le pschent ^tant la
coiffure par excel lence.^
^ Le nom du Pschent sekhen k Denderah et dans Rosette ne serait qu'un
d^veloppement par n du th^me sekh^ de meme que /^ est devenu
7^
etc.
The next Meeting of the Society will be held on
Wednesday, November 14th, 1906, at 4.30 p.m., when the
following Paper will be read : —
F. Legge, Esq.: "The Tablets of the First Egyptian
Dynasty "
190
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The Bronze Ornaments of the Palace Gates from
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A few complete copies of the book remain unsold and can be
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HARRISON AND SONS, PRINTBRS IN ORDINARY TO HIS MAJESTY, ST. MARTIN'S LAKB.
V
VOL. XXVIII. ; .
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=xr=T
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PROCEEDINGS
OF
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OP
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY.
VOL. XXVIII. THIRTY-SIXTH SESSION.
Sixth Meetings November yth, 1906.
-<o*-
CONTENTS.
FAOB
Prof. A. H. Saycb, Z>.Z>.— The Chedor-laomer Tablets 193-200
Dr. Valdbmar Schmidt. — ^Two Statuettes of the Goddess Buto.
(Plate) ^ 201, 202
Thbophilus G. Pinchbs, LL.D, — The Babylonian Gods of War
and their Legends 203-218
R. Campbell Thompson, M,A. — ^An Assyrian Incantation
against Ghosts..., 219-227
H. S. COWPBR, F.S.A.^A Bronze Figure from Rakka {Plate) 228
E. O. WiNSTsm*.— Some Munich Coptic Fragments. II 229-237
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PROCEEDINGS
OF
THE SOCIETY
OF
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY.
THIRTY-SIXTH SESSION, 1906.
Sixth Meetings November Jth, 1906.
Prof. A. H. SAYCE, D.D. {President),
IN THE CHAIR.
[No. ccxiii.] 191 R
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Nov. 7] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
The following gifts to the Library were announced, and
thanks ordered to be returned to the Donors : —
From the Author, TAbb^ Leroy. — "Les Israelites en 6gypte —
TExode."
From the Author, J. J. Grinyer. — "Bible Chronology" and
'* A Chronological Introduction to the New Testament."
From the Author, Dr. M. Caster. — " Massoretisches im
Samaritanischen."
From W. L. Nash. — "Operations and Travels in Egypt and
Nubia." By G. Belzoni.
From Mrs. Honyman Gillespie's Trustees. — "The Arguments a
priori for the Being and the Attributes of the Lord God." By
the Late W. H. Gillespie.
From the Author, the Rev. John Wright, Z>.Z>.— " Historic Bibles
in America."
From the Author, Prof. A. Wiedemann. — " Altagyptische Sagen
und Marchen."
„ „ „ „ „ " Die Zeichenkunst im
alten Agypten."
From the Publishers. — "Lectures on Babylonia and Palestine."
By Dr. Stephen Langdon.
Mr. E. R. Ayrton was elected a Member of the Society.
The following Paper was read : —
F. Legge, Esq. : "The Tablets of the First Egyptian Dynasty."
Thanks were returned for this communication.
192
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Nov. 7] THE CHEDOR-LAOMER TABLETS. [1906.
^^0 COLLEGf
(^' NOV £4 1906 ':.
THE CHEDOR-LAOMER TABLETS.
By Prof. A. H. Sayce, D.D.
Eleven years ago Dr. Pinches made an important discovery.
He copied and deciphered certain tablets in the British Museum
which referred to a destruction of Babylon and its temple in the
early days of Babylonian history. He further pointed out that the
destruction was said to have been brought about by an Elamite
king, whose name could be read Kudur-laghgumar, and since two
other princes, Tudghula and Eri-Aku, are associated with him in
the story, we must see in the three princes, the Chedor-laomer,
Tid*al and Arioch of the 14th chapter of Genesis. Unfortunately
the reading of the name of the Elamite king proposed by Dr. Pinches
could not be demonstrated, and still more unfortunately Dr. Scheil,
about the same time, misread some letters of Khammurabi, in which
he fancied he had found the name of Chedor-laomer. The result
was that the non-Assyriological public confounded the discovery of
Dr. Pinches with the error of Dr. Scheil, and was led to suppose
that both stood on the same precarious footing. It is time that this
mistake should be rectified, and since I can now show that the
reading of the name of the Elamite king proposed by Dr. Pinches
is really correct, while the progress of Assyriology has made it
possible to give a better and more complete translation of the texts
than was in his power in 1894, I purpose to lay before you a revised
rendering of the latter, adding to it the necessary notes and historical
inferences. The cuneiform texts will be found attached to
Dr. Pinches' Paper: "Certain Inscriptions and Records referring
to Babylonia and Elam" in the Transactions of the Victoria
Institute, 1895-6, pp. 43-90.
193 R 2
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Nov. 7] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
The texts, which come from the Spartali collection, are all of late
date. This is clear from their language and style,^ and more
especially from the rebus-like fashion in which the proper names
are written. But at the back of them lies the old history of
Babylonia. The Babylonians seem never to have adopted the
historical novel which was such a favourite among the Egyptians ;
in the place of it we find poems of a semi-religious character. It is
some of these poems which are presented to us by the texts.
Before translating the texts, however, it is necessary to deal with
the royal names. These are three in number, to which perhaps a
fourth, that of Khammu-rabi, should be added. Chief among
them is the name of the king of Elam, "the wicked enemy,"
who wrought such havoc in Babylon. The name is written
T J& © © ^T and T jgy jfey jfey jfey 5ifT, ku-ku-ku-mar
and KU-KU-KU-KU-MAR. About the reading of the first two
characters there is little question ; we find them used in proper
names to express the Elamite word Ku-dur. What, however, is the
value of the third ku, which is found also in a reduplicated form?
Of one thing we may be sure; in a late neo-Babylonian text the
thrice-repeated sign will be employed with three different values,
and as the first is the most common one, ku^ while the second is
the less common dur^ the value of the third will be one which is
comparatively rare. It will be a value, moreover, which belongs to
the character in both its single and its double form.
Now Dr. Pinches has already pointed out a passage in which
JEJ is stated to have had the value of lakh-kha. This is in a gloss
attached by the Assyrian scribe to an official memorandum of
Sennacherib's defeat of Merodach-baladan, where "the country of
EME-Ku" or Sumer is said to have had the pronunciation of
Eme-lakh-kha. That is to say, ku had among its other values that
of lakh-kha. The memorandum is published in IF. A,/,, III, 4, 4,
but ^yyy< lakh has been misprinted ^ffy^ ga, which has naturally
prevented scholars who had not seen the original from understanding
the gloss.
The gloss is an important one, since eme-lakhkha was the name
given by the native grammarians to the standard dialect of Sumer,
in contradistinction to erne-sal^ the name of another dialect which
^ Thus, Northern Babylonia is called Kar-Duniyas, a name which did not
come into existence until after the rise of the Kassite dynasty.
194
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Nov. 7] THE CHEDOR-LAOMER TABLETS. [1906.
was in a much more advanced stage of phonetic decay.^ As has
long been recognised, erne-sal means "the woman's language," a
name best explained by "the woman's dialects" which are met
with in several parts of the linguistic world, as, for example, among
the Eskimaux. But the meaning of eme-lakhkha has hitherto
remained obscure.
I can now, however, ^give an explanation of it. In 80, 7-19, 129
we have E3» '^'W (^ET -^--TTT) Wf I ^ >■% D.P. zir- (or
mus^ lakh = ziriakhkhu^ or muslakhkhu, "a snake-charmer," as
was first observed by Dr. Bezold in 1889. Zir{u) was "snake" in
Assyrian, but it may have been mus in Sumerian, since Dr. Pinches
tells me that in W.A.I. II, 32, 1 3, where the Assyrian word for " snake-
charmer" is again given under the form of ^Hfflf< Ef *"ET -^""""TTT *"TI»
the second character is probably su.^ In this case we should have
to read mus-su-la-akh-khu. If the printed text is right ]^ will be
lakh^ with the reading zir-lakhlakkkhu (unless la-akh is to be
regarded as merely indicating the pronunciation of Jg[).
It follows that JEJ with the pronunciation of lakhkha had the
signification of "enchanter" or "charmer." It was thus an ap-
propriate title for a language which was mainly employed in the
literary days of Babylonia for charms and incantations, and which
was, in fact, quite specially the language of the magician. Parallel
dialects, according to 81, 7-27, 130, were eme-sib eme-ses (?) | //-
sa-an ni-iak-ki li'Sa-an \pa-si-si\^ "the language of the sacrificer
(and) the language of the anointer.*' These would have been forms
of Sumerian monotoned in particular keys, perhaps with a peculiar
pronunciation of certain sounds and words.
If the third ku in the name of Kudur-lakhkhamar had the value
of lakh or lakhkha^ an explanation is afforded of the fact that in two
instances it is duplicated in our texts. The ordinary representative
of the syllable lakh was a duplicated du ; ku with the \'alue lakh
was accordingly assimilated to du when the latter had the same
value. That ku could be used with the value of du (from d7/r)
may have assisted the process of assimilation. It should be added
• That erne-sal was the dialect of Akkad, or northern Babylonia, where the
Semites gained a footing at a much earlier date than in Sumer, follows from
81. 7-27, 130. 6, 7: EME-KU NIN SUG-GA eme-[sal] : U-sa-an Su-me-ri
iain-sil Ak-ka-[dt\ ** the language of Sumer is like that of Akkad."
* Cf. Meissner, Assyriologhche Studien III, p. 2.
^95
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Nov. 7] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY. [1906.
that KU-GiG is rendered "a maleficent charm" (fnuiarH maruts)
in W.A.I. II, 27, 53, and that ku with the pronunciation us is
given as the Sumerian equivalent oi dhtmu "decision" (Briinnow,
10557)-^
The gradation in the rarity of use of the values ku^ dur and
iakhkka, and the interchange of the duplicated with the single form
of the character ku, make it clear that the name of the Elamite
king is intended to be read Ku-dur-lakhkha-mar. This is an exact
equivalent of the Hebrew Chedor-la*omer, the Elamite Kudur-
Lagamer. What makes the equivalence the more striking is that
the spelling of the name of the goddess Lagamar is incorrect, and
represents a pronunciation which is neither Elamite nor Babylonian.
Initial ga could become kha (i.e. gha) in Sumerian, but I do not
remember any example in the older Babylonian inscriptions in
which the guttural of Lagamar has undergone this change. The
fact suggests a close connection between the Biblical texts and the
Spartali tablets. It is significant that in A, Obv. 9, where Kudur-
lakhkhamar is compared with Gurra la-gamil " the Plague-god, the
pitiless," with a play on the similarity in sound between the two,
the Assyrian correspondent of lakhkhamar is given as la-gamiL As
is well known, the name of the Elamite deity Lagamar is derived
from the Assyrian La-gamal.
By the side of Kudur-lakhkhamar we have Eri-Aku and Tudkhula.
Tudkhula (i.e. Tudghula, the exact equivalent of Tid*al) is written
with the character khul{-a) which means "wicked": a similar
graphic play is attempted in the name of Eri-Aku, which in one
instance is written Eri-e-ku-a "the servant of fe-kua," the sanctuary
of Bel-Merodach, and in another instance Eri-Ea-ku " the servant of
Ea-ku." •' The identification of Eri-Aku with the Arioch of Genesis
goes back to Rawlinson, George Smith, and Lenormant ; the name
is of Elamite origin, like other Sumerian names found on the
monuments of Susa, and the king was known to his Semitic
subjects as Rim-Sin *'the wild-bull of Sin," in which the Sumerian
eriy contracted into ri, has been assimilated to the first element
•* Us seems to be a dialectal form of nwus which is stated to be the Sumerian
pronunciation of ku when signifying "a (magical?) writing" (W.A.I. II, 48, 17).
* E-kua also forms part of the name of the first postdiluvian king of Babylonia,
according to Berossus. The name is Euekhoos, which must be Ewe(EN-ME)-
E-kua **the priest of E-kua." Babylonian patriotism thus made the first
postdiluvian king as well as the first antediluvian king a king of Babylon.
196
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Nov. 7] THE CHEDOR-LAOMER TABLETS. [1906.
in the name of Rim-Anum, an earlier ruler of the principality of
Emutbal.«
Eri-Aku was king of Larsa, as the Biblical Arioch was of Ellasar^
and as he was the son of Kudur-Mabug the Elamite prince of
Emutbal, and his overthrow at the hands of Khammu-rabi meant
the overthrow of Elamite supremacy in Babylonia, he was probably
closely related to the royal house of Elam. Tid*al is called " king
of Goyyim" or "Nations" in Genesis, and since Kudur-lakhkhamar
is stated to have " mustered the Umman-Manda " or " Nations " —
of which the Hebrew Goyyim would be a natural rendering — we
may infer that Tudkhula, the second vassal-ally of the Elamite
monarch, was their king. In the cylinder inscription of Cyrus (1. 13)
Quti or Kurdistan, the Gutium of the early Babylonian texts, is
made equivalent to "the Manda hordes" who constituted the
kingdom of Astyages. In the geography of the Babylonians they
were the mountaineers immediately to the north of Elam.
It is possible that the name of Khammu-[rabi] occurs in the
mutihted commencement of Sp. III. 2. The passage is concerned
with Babylon and its god Merodach, and Khammu . . . might
naturally be completed as Khammu-rabi. Against this is the fact
that the word is not preceded by the determinative of an individuaL
I now proceed to a translation of the texts.
A. Sp. 158 + Sp. II. 962.
Obverse.
I. [D.P. Elamu D.P. tsi-e-nu yu-nab-bil e-]gal-[l]a-su
[The Elamite^ the wicked one^ destroyed] its [pa/]aee ;
^ Unless Rim-Anum is another attempt of his Semitic subjects and scribes to
naturalise the foreign name of the king. In W.A.I., v, 19, 43, sag-sal "slave"
with the pronunciation of e-ru attached to it is given as the equivalent of the
West-Semitic addu "slave." This is followed by the Akkadian la-dar (Sumcrian
ia^ar) with its Semitic Babylonian equivalent ardu. Eri is the Akkadian repre-
sentative oiardu in W.A.I., iv, 10, 356 and other passages; see Briinnow, 5858.
The Hebrew spelling "|inK implies a form Erim-Aku, — m being pronounced w as
in Evil-Merodach, Sivan, Kisleu, Marchesvan, etc., — and Erim would naturally
become Rim. In t^^T 1^^ erim^ £^ ru had the value of rim, Aku or
Agu seems to have been an Elamite deity.
197
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SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCH/fiOLOGY.
[1906.
2. [ina Babili
[in Babylon
.3- [il-qi
\he took
3.
10.
is-lul sal-lat
he carried away the spoil'\
bu-su-su
6-]kur-ra
of the temple;
its goodSy
4. [I-nu-um D.P. nakru
[ When the enemy ^
yu-tab-ba-la-ma]
and conveyed them]
D.P. Elamu
ei'en the Elamite^
£-lam-mat
to Elam,
is-lu-ul]
spoiled]
[Bel a-sib
\Bel who sat
[ki-makh-khi
the tombs
yu-kal-lam
exposes
[kal (?) yu-]me
{Ain^day
eli-su
enthroned there
sarrani (?)
of the kings (?)
D.P. Sam-si
to the Sim,
i^-ni-qa
he pressed on
yun-ni-is (?)]
made pale]
bu-su-su
its goods J
zi-mi-su-nu
their faces ;
D.P. nakru
the enemy]
a-na
towards
yu-na (?)]-ain-ma
ruins and
babi tsiri
the Grand Gate ;
dalat Istari i^-^ik
the door of Is tar he tore down^
A-li-es
like a storm demon^
kima D.P. Gur-ra la-ga-mil
like Gurra the pitiless
is-^ukh-ma it-ta-di
he carried away and laid low
i-ru-um-ma DCi-makh-is
he entered also the Du-makh ;
iz-ziz-ma ina Dd-makh i-na-adh- dhal
he halted also in the Du-makh^ he beheld
pi-su ipus-am-ma itti
his mouth he opened and with
ana
to
kal-la
all
qu-ra-di-e-su
his warriors
AMIL-TUR-MES
the young men
yu-sakh-midh
he sent in haste
13-
14.
su-ul-la-ah
* Carry off
sukh-kha-ah
destroy
sal-lat
the spoil
e-kur
of the temple^
li-qa-a-ma
lake
u-tsur-ta-su
its walls^
15. a-na iki su-[pa-lij is-ni-qa
To the lo7v\er] canal pressed on
198
sup-ri-^a-a
break thro^
D.P. [nakru
the [enemy.
e-kur
the temple ;
i-dib-bu-ub
he spake ;
ma-ag-ri-tum
the message :
bu-su-su
its goods y
sak-ki-e-su
its shrine I '
D.P. Elamu]
the Elamite\
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THE CHEDOR-LAOMER TABLETS.
[1906.
16. i-bu-ut mal-ki [sa Babili] ma-khar-su
he destroyed . the princes \of Babylon\ before him,
17. [I-nu-um D.P.Bel izkur sakh-lu-uq-tu sa?] E-sar-ra
[ When Bel decreed the destruction of\ E-sarra
18. [u istu €-kur?] yur-rid se-du-us-su
[and from the temple f] departed its guardian bull^
19. yu-^akh-khi [D.P. nakru u-tsur-ta-su] it-bal par-tsi-su
destroyed [the enemy its wa//s], he abolished its laws^
20. i-ru-um-ma ana bit ad-gi-gi
he entered into the house of the (divine) judge,
ka-tim-tum
the veil,
21. a-na D.P. En-nun-dagal-la
towards Merodach
lim-ni-is
wickedly ;
22. ina pani-su
before him
ilani
the god {Elohim)
D.P. nakru
the enemy
il-la-bis
was clothed
is-sukh
he removed
is-ni-qa
pressed on
nu-u-ri
with light,
2^, kima bir-qa ib-riq-ma i-nu-us as-ru-ti
like lightning he (the god) lightened and shook the shrine,
24. Ip-lukh-ma D.P. nakru
The enemy trembled
25. yur-rid-ma
while there enters
i-qab-bi-su
speaks unto him :
26. [e-li?] man-di-[ma ki-]i
[^ Go forward f\ at once since
nOri
with light,
21, [kima bir-qa ib-riq-]ma
[like lightning he has lightened^ and
199
uk-kis ra-man-su
and halted.
D.P. ni-sak-ka-su
a-mat
the priest of the god (and)
the word
ilani
the god
il-la-bis
is clothed
i-nu-us as-ru-ti
shaken the shrines.
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Nov. 7] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906,
28. [la tip-lukh sa] D.P. En-nun-dagal-la ^ukh-khi age-su
[J^ear noH of] Merodach^ to remove the crown;
29. [te-ru-um-ma ana] biti-su ti-iz-bat qat-^u
\thou shalt enter] his temple thou shalt take his hand.^
30. [D.P. nakru D.P. Elamu] ul i-du-ur-ma ul ikh-^u-^u
\The enemy ^ the Elamite^ feared not and cared not for
na-pis-tum
life;
31. [ul iz-bat qata ? sa] D.P. En-nun-dagal-la ul yu-^akh-khi
\he took not the hand? of] Merodach^ he rem&i^cd not
age-su
his crowfi.
32. [su-u] D.P. Elamu D.P. tsi-e-nu iz-kur nis
\_He,] the Elamite^ the wicked one^ proclaimed {it) ....
33. [a-na] sa-na kat-te-e yu-sa-an-na-a na-pa-al-tum
[to] other(s) the crier repeated {it) far and wide r
34 ina DQ-makh lu a-sib a-h-il
[since the god {?)] in the Du-makh still dwells y {still) abides
ni-sak-ku
the priest.
{To be continued,)
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Nov. 7] TWO STATUETTES OF THE GODDESS BUTO.
[1906.
TWO STATUETTES OF THE GODDESS BUTO.
By Dr. Valdemar Schmidt.
In the Museo Civico at Mantua, which is very rich in interesting
statues of Roman times, there is a fragment of an Egyptian statue in
black stone. Only the two feet and the lower part of a long dress
remain with the plinth on which the figure stood. It must have
been more than life size. One foot is placed very much in front of
the other, as if moving forward quickly.
This might indicate that the statue represented some warrior god,
as Onuris (Anhur) who always wears the same long garment as the
Egyptian goddesses and ladies, whereas in the case of female figures
the feet are generally much nearer each other.
However, it seems that the Mantua statue is not Anhur (Onuris),
but most likely the goddess Buto, for on the plinth, near the feet,
is the following hieroglyphic inscription : —
, ^111
/WN/V>A
A
Ml
the well-known names of Rameses II "The Lord of the two
Lands, Usr-ma-ra setp-n-ra^ the Lord of the Crowns, Ra-messu Mer-
Amon^ (he), who gives Life " j and on the other side of the figure we
read: "Buto, the Lady of the two Lands, loves (him, the king
Rameses)." The statue therefore represented Buto.
The exact pronunciation of the Egyptian name of the goddess
called Buto by the Greeks is not known ; most likely it was something
like Utit, Vutity Vuto^ etc. Some Egyptologists have proposed to
read Vadjit^ but that is not a probable reading.
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Nov. 7] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
On Egyptian monuments this goddess is frequently mentioned as
**the Lady of the North" or "the Goddess of the Northern part of
the world," that is of Lower Egypt, another goddess, called Eileithyia
by the Greeks and Lucina by the Romans, being " the Goddess of
the South."
Both goddesses are called "the two serpents," being indeed often
represented as serpents, sometimes with wings. They often wear
crowns, Buto the red crown of the North and Nekheb or Nekhabit^ as
the Egyptian name of this other goddess is generally read (formerly
called Suban^ Neben^ etc.), the white crown of the South.
Buto was also figured as an Egyptian Lady in the usual long dress
and with the red crown of the North on her head. She then
resembles the goddess Neith at Sais, and indeed both are local, but
very ancient, forms or varieties of the goddess Isis. Buto, like Isis,
has a son Horus. Lanzone, in his Dhionario di Mitologia Egizia^
gives figures of Buto, but he gives no references to the monuments
from which he copied them. Buto, like several other Egyptian
goddesses, such as Sekhet (Sekhemt), Pasht, Tefnut, etc., is figured
with the head of a Lioness. Lanzone gives no instance of Buto in
this form, but in the recently opened Egyptian section of the
Glyptothek at Copenhagen (formerly the private collection of
Dr. Carl Jacobsen, of Valby, near Copenhagen), is an excellent
bronze statuette of Buto. This statuette (A 281 and pp. 306-7 of
the Danish Catalogue of 1899) is a splendid specimen of Saitic Art.
It is 245 millimetres (9^ inches) high, and has never been published
(see Plate). The right arm hangs straight down by the side ;
the left arm is slightly curved and the hand holds an object, the
nature of which it is not easy to determine. The Lioness'-head is
ornamented with the round sun-disk and the uraeus, like the head of
the goddess Sekhet (Sekhemt).
A hieroglyphic inscription on the front of the plinth proves that
the statuette represents Buto and not another goddess. We read on
the base of the statuette : " So says Buto : give life and health to
Hata^ who is in alliance with the goddess Buto, and who is son of
Ooh and of the lady of the house Te-iikk-a-ma?, and also to
Pen-ta-nekht}'" The last part of the inscription is very indistinct
and difficult to read. The statuette was acquired in Cairo in 1892.
It is probable that it was found in the ruins of Sais, where several
thousand statuettes were discovered by the natives about twenty years
ago.
202
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Proi'. Soc, BtbL Arch,^ Nov,^ i9o6.
BRONZE FIGURE OF BUTO
In the Copenhagen Glyptothek.
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Nov. 7] THE BABYLONIAN GODS OF WAR. [1906.
THE BABYLONIAN GODS OF WAR
AND THEIR LEGENDS.
By Theophilus G. Pinches, LL,D.
For the sake of brevity I have adopted as the title of this Paper
one which, though correct, would probably have been regarded
by an ancient Babylonian as somewhat of a generalization. The
text which supplied me with the data for this title — the now well-
known tablet which furnished material for a definite statement with
r^ard to the nature of Babylonian monotheism, such as it was —
uses two different words to express the attributes of the two divinities
of whom it is my intention to speak. As the inscriptions tell us, the
god of war as such was Nergal, or Nerigal, ' the lord of the great
region,' by which is probably meant * the land of the dead,' and he is
described in the text to which I have referred as Marduk Sa qabli^
* Merodach of war,' apparently in the sense of the meeting of hostile
forces {qabdlu), from which root muqtablu^ one of the Assyro-
Babylonian words for * soldier,' comes.
The other god of battle referred to in the list in which the gods
are identified with Merodach is Zagaga, or, in the * dialect' of
Sumerian, Zamama. He is not called, however, Marduk Sa qabli^
hut Marduk Sa tahazi^ with much the same meaning — for the sake
of making a difference we may say * Merodach of battle.' What the
precise distinction between these two words is, is uncertain, but may
be found, perhaps, in the Sumero -Akkadian ideographs often used to
express them. That by which tahazu was indicated was regarded,
to all appearance, as being composed of »-]9f and ^J, * to make '
{ipeSu\ and * men ' or * soldiers ' (in the singular ^abu or ummanu).
These, united, may possibly have been used for the expression 'to
lead men,' like ep^su ia Sarruti, *to rule,' literally *to make royalty.^
203
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Nov. 7] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
In this case Zagaga would seem to have been conceived as the god
of strategy.
The original meaning of the character for qablu^ E2Lr» ^^'^ich
is used in connection with Nergal, was possibly that expressed by
the non-Semitic nisag^ meaning * that which is at the head,' hence
the signification of aSaridu^ * chieftain/ which it has. The meeting-
point of two opposing armies being their foremost ranks, it is there
that the battle rages, hence, perhaps, the words applied to it by both
Semites and non-Semites. As one cannot dogmatize in such a
matter as this, I give the above merely as suggestions — for the
present, however, they will suffice to indicate what, from the nature
of the deities in question, would be expected, Nergal being god of
death, and therefore of slaughter in the forefront of the battle, and
Zagaga, god of all the accessories which belong to the carrying on of
a military expedition or conducting operations in the field.
It is somewhat strange that, in the inscription to which I have
referred, the god *->{- tl^ET IdOf* whose name is generally read
Ninip, which immediately precedes these two, is not described as a
god of war or battle — a title which we meet with in other inscriptions
— but as Marduk Sa dlli, * Merodach of strength,' as I provisionally
translated it. But before discussing these deities' names at greater
length, it would be well, perhaps, in order to avoid ambiguity, to say
a few words upon the readings of the name hitherto commonly
transcribed as Ninip (or Ninib) which will be used in this Paper,
concerning which there has been much difference of opinion.^
The true reading would seem to have been suggested about two
years ago by Dr. Fried. Hrozn;^, in his work, Sumerisch-Babylonische
Mythen von dem Gotte Ninrag {Ninib), This he bases on the fact
that the Arabic name of the planet Mars is ^J^, Mirrih (? for
Mirrig = Nirrig\ in Mandaic a*»'^*»3, Nerigh, «^v->rJ or h^^'Is
(Hrozn;^) in Syriac. That this name should have become confused
with that of Nergal was only to be expected, and Hrozny points out
that once, in fact, S^^'^'^^j Nergel^ i.e., Nergal, is found. It is need-
less to say, that these statements are of considerable importance,
especially when we bear in mind that *->{- t^ff JHff in one
' The most common alternative reading is Adar, adopted on account of a
termination added to it which suggested that the name ended in ;- — an assumption
recognized by most Assyriologists as unsafe.
204
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Nov. 7] THE BABYLONIAN GODS OF WAR. [1906.
instance is followed by the lengthening gi^ written with tfyy, and
making the full form to be Ntrigi or Neregi, Certain dialectic
forms occur, namely, Ulua and Ulaba^ which latter may also be
read Uriha or Ureba, As u is known to be one of the late Sumerian
words for * lord,' and to correspond in meaning with «/, * lord,' taking
its place in the dialectic forms of divine names, Ureba, with the usual
replacing of g by b, may be regarded as an excellent confirmation of
the theory which Hrozny has advanced. I am, therefore, inclined to
accept his reading, simply changing the vowels and dropping the
second n, thus changing Ninrag to Nirig {Nerigh\ in accordance
vAih the indications of the Arabic, Syriac, and Mandaic.
Doubt still exists as to the Semitic pronunciation of the name of
this god, but it is indicated within certain limits by some of the
Aramaic dockets on trade documents found by the American
explorers at NifTer. Naturally, in a method of writing in which the
vowels are omitted — and all the Aramaic dockets are written thus —
there is considerable doubt as to the way in which a word should be
read, and this is mainly the reason of any uncertainty which may
continue to exist.
But besides this, there is doubt as to the reading of some of the
letters, mainly the second and third, and scholars waver between 3
and 1 in the first case, and T and "^ in the second. Prof. Johns
has suggested UraStu as the reading, and later, AraStu and AraSiL
Prof. Clay proposed provisionally HttMiW, Anuieth, Prof. Sayce
has read In-ariSti.
This last is based upon Prof. Hilprecht's reading, ntZ^liW,
En-reseth, a reading with which I fully agree, but which I am
inclined to vocalize as Anu-riSiu, * the primaeval lord,' or something
similar. This I suggested in January, 1905,2 and the same thought
independently struck Prof. Dynelly Prince, of New York. This
being the case, Anu-riSiu would seem to be the most probable
reading, and may be adopted until disproved by further research.
We now return to the consideration of the nature of Nirig or
6nu-re§tu as a deity of the Assyro-Babylonian pantheon. Jensen
renders the word dllu, generally translated * strength,' as 'arable
land,' which would make the deity the Babylonian god of agriculture
— an exceedingly possible rendering. Another a//«, meaning * yoke,'
* chain,' or * collar ' as badge of servitude, suggests the possibility that
^ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, p. 206, footnote.
205
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Nov. 7] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY. [1906.
Nirig was the god of slavery. Another word, allufyippUy which has
dllu as its first component, is generally regarded as meaning 'net,'
such as the Roman gladiators of old used, and in this case, Nirig
would be the god of the net with which the Babylonians of the
earliest period captured their enemies, as is illustrated by the sculp-
tures on the well-known stele of fe-anna-du, called by the French,
who possess the greater part of the monument, the stHe des vautours^
or vulture-stele. The roots MdlUy * to be feeble, weak,' and itldlu^
* to rejoice,' are probably not those from which dllu can be derived
The principal inscriptions referring to the attributes of Nirig are
those published in the second volume of the Cuneiform Inscriptions
of Western Asia^ plate 57, and the third volume of the same work,
pkte 67, lines 63-68. These texts are too long to quote in full, but
a few of the more important statements they contain may be of value
in deciding the view which the Babylonians took of his nature.
The text in the second volume of the Inscriptions^ plate 57, is a
longish list of gods, unfortunately imperfect. In this the names of
Nirig are the most numerous, occupying, as they do, the greater part
of the second, third, and fourth columns. He is first described as
the god of oracles, and, apparently in consequence of that, was
identified with Nebo, the god of writing and literature. When named
En-banda, which probably means *the lord of youthful strength,' he
was the deity who accepted the command of the gods ; as Halhala
he was the guardian of the decisions of father Bel, and as Me-mah^
*the sublime word,' he was the god who controlled the sublime
commands, apparently of the gods. A different idea is contained in
the name Kalumma^ />., * (the god of) the date,' which he bore, and
to which the explanation (as yet a puzzle to Assyriologists) aniku
anihu is appended. I conjecture that these words express his nature
as nourisher and strengthener, or something of the kind.
At this point in the list his attributes coincide largely .with those
given on plate 67 of the third volume of the inscriptions. As
A-kala-mah, * sublime strength,' he was Nirig, lord of might (emuki^
not dlli\ The text then proceeds : —
UraS is Nirig of uddanc.
Uru is Nirig of alii {Uru probably means 'farmer,' 'husband-
man,' or something of the kind, which would justify Jensen's
explanation).
SarSarri is Nirig of naSpanti^ or overthrowing.
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Nov. 7] THE BABYLONIAN GODS OF WAR. [1906,
Nunnir is Nirig of qabli^ or battle.
TiSpak is Nirig of ramkutiy or lustration.
SuSanabi is Nirig of qarradi^ or the heroes.
The above is followed by the statement, that AStupinu or AStu-
wanu is the name of Zagaga and Nirig in the language designated by
the character Mar^ z.^., Amurru, * Amorite.'
Besides the above, about fifty other names of Nirig are recorded
by this important list. He was called Zizanu in the language
designated by the character 5«, supposed to stand for Shuite ; liabi-
maguza, apparently meaning * chief magian,' possibly in another
dialect, and if this be correct, the second word would seem to be of
Persian origin. In another language — ^perhaps Shuite again — he is
called Laliu-rabe, in which the only thing certain is, that the second
element is the common Semitic word for * great,' in a seemingly non-
Babylonian form. Five names of Nirig in Elamite are then given :
SimeSy Adaent, SuSinakj Dagbak^ and Assia, Of greater interest are
the purely Sumero- Akkadian names which follow : Zi-Zida^ apparently
meaning * everlasting life;' GiS-ku-pi^ *the ear;' Nin-uru^ probably
* lord of agriculture ' (see the remarks upon dllu^ above) ; and Nin-
GirsUy * lord of Girsu,' the well-known city of Gudea's dominion, in
connection with which his title of Uru = Semitic dllu^ would seem
to have been more especially used. In this part of the text he is
again identified with Zagaga, the god of war in the tablet giving the
deities identified with Merodach; but more interesting still is the
statement in the final column of the tablet, that the star called
Ti'Zagagaj *Zagaga's Eagle,' was also the god Nirig.
In at least one way he seems to have been identified with Rimmon
or Hadad, for, as I pointed out as long ago as 1883,* the group
^ which is a representation of the wind-god coming
■^ from the four cardinal points, has the pronimcia-
*->{' -^>flf- -JJ^V tion of Mermer, and is explained as Utu-giSgallu^
^ perhaps *the southern sun' — in any case, this
^ deity was identified with the god Nirig. Another
of his names was indicated by the group >->^ rffi t^^T ^TT5¥=>
Pa-pil'Sag^ which is the usual designation of the constellation of the
Archer, perhaps as the deity (in this connection) which flashed like
lightning — suggesting the possibility that a meteoric shower may have
' Replaced by me^riy " opposition," in W.A.I, III, 67.
* Proceedings for February 6th of that year, p. 73.
207 S
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Nov. 7] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY, [1906.
come from the portion of the sky occupied by that constellation at
the time when the name had its birth. It is noteworthy that the
group »->f- >f- stands both for Nirig and for *iron/ supposed to
have been known originally only in its meteoric form.
It was not, however, my intention to enter at such length into
the question of Nirig's names, but only to bring forward evidence
that, in spite of the list identifying the gods with Merodach
treating Nirig and Zagaga as if they were two manifestations of
Merodach, and therefore originally two distinct gods, they had in
reality been identified with each other by the scribes who compiled
the originals of the lists of gods in AS§ur-bani-apli's library at some
early date not at present ascertainable, but possibly going back to
the dynasty of Hammurabi, or even earlier.
Among the personal names of that period are Ubar-Nirigy * friend
of Nirig,' and Ubar-Zagaga^ * friend of Zagaga;' Nirig-ellat-zUy * Nirig
is his defence ; ' Nirig-uballit^ * Nirig has given life ; ' whilst Zagaga,
the god' of war, is also mentioned in such compositions as Zagaga-
manSum^ * Zagaga has given,' and Idin-Zagaga^ *Give, O Zagaga.'
The god of agriculture (if we may so regard him) is, as defender of
his worshipper, also god of war, and Zagaga, the god of war, is like
the god of agriculture, the god who gives, hence their identity in
Babylonian mythology. Nergal and Zagaga were both gods of war
when that term could be applied to the defence of the land — Nergal
was the god of war when the country was subject to its ravages.
Concerning the name of Nergal, that is based upon well-known
readings, and is probably to be analysed Ne-uru (or eri)-gal^ * prince
of the great region,' that is, of the grave — we shall see later how this
came about. At present, it may merely be noted, the most renowned
place of his worship was Cuthah, as recorded in 2 Kings, xvii, 24
3.nd 30. This site, as is now recognized, is the ruin which bears the
name of Tel Ibrahim, not far from Babylon. In Cuthah there was
a celebrated temple dedicated to him, known as A-meS-lam^ the god
himself being called, similarly, MeS-lam-ta-ia, *he who came forth
from the meS-lam^' possibly meaning *the fruit of the misu-tree.'
Naturally, I can only put forward this interpretation as the expression
of an opinion, but it may, by chance, turn out to be correct, and in
that case, another interesting legend, at present unknown, may reward
the diligent explorer in years to come.
Like most other deities, Nergal had many names. In the great
list of gods in the British Museum his names immediately follow
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those of Nirig or Anu-rSStu. In the first line of the paragraph
devoted to him,^ we recognize that he was probably not called * lord
of the great region' because he was king of Hades, but as god
Sa qabriy * of the grave,' and therefore of the great army of the dead,
who, as the Babylonians realized at a sufficiently early date, much
exceed the living in number. In the second line of the paragraph,
the ordinary ideograph expressing the name of this god is apparentiy
analysed by the component parts being divided from each other
{^>^ ^ ^TT)» and it is therefore probable that one of its readings
was Ugur. When thus called he was god Sa hdaft\ *of the sword,'
according to Jensen — the thing which throws down, destroys. But
if we take another meaning of the root hdtu^ * to weigh ' (Meissner),
he would be the god of weighing or inspecting — the judge as well as
the keeper of the dead. His next name is »->f- -^^^ <J^ y][,
HuS'ki-a^ as god Sa Sipti^ or Sibti^ * of the (chastening) staff,' in all
probability. In the next line he appears as some kind of bird,
»->^ >^ »-y<y ^^, MaS-muSenna, as Nergal Sa uxxt\ *of violent
anger.' His next name is again defective, but may be Dunga simply
("'Hh Klf^WII ^nT^)» apparently so called in the non-Semitic
column as Nergal Sa riSaiiy * of joyful triumph (?),' or something of
the kind. In the next three lines he appears as the god Nergal
Sa dVi (tV%)y *of disease.' In the first of these the Sumero- Akkadian
ideograph is lost, with the exception of the last character, the
syllable -a. In the second of the three the first two characters,
Su-ki' . . , are clear, and in the third he has the seemingly Semitic
name of Laqubu or Laqupu, It is difficult to guess what this may
mean, but perhaps the Arabic u-ftii5 , * to snatch away,' may contain a
shadow of the meaning, in which case Nergal may have been called
Laqupu^ as he who, by disease, carried off the inhabitants of the
earth. His last name is written »->f- sifi, an ideograph which is
employed for the god Nebo, but in what way he could be identified
with him is not clear. In this case he is said to be Nergal as god
Sa sHqi^ * of the street,' though the middle character is damaged, and
the reading and rendering therefore doubtful. Perhaps the Babylonian
streets had their dangers as ours have, but probably more from
assassins than from the vehicles passing every moment.
^ The lower part is unfortunately damaged by a crack which crosses four of
the lines, either destroying the names, or rendering them defective. See fV,A.I,
III, pi. 67, lines 69-71'.''.
209 S 2
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Nov, 7] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY. [1906.
K. 5268 + K. 5373.
THE CUTHEAN HYMN TO NERGAL.
Transcription.
I a. Ur-sag dingirrene im-tuk $a kalagga dumu Enlilla
lb, LuMid qarradu ildni gaSru Sup^ mdr BH
2a. D.P. Urra ur-sag dingirrene im-tuk ea kalagga dumu Enlilla
2d. £>,F. NergcU luttaUd qarrad tldni gaSru $upi^ mdr BU
3a. kiaggd, Enlilla sag-kalaga mal} ad&ni §u-garraga
3^. naram BU aSaredu ftru mutir gimillu dbi-Su
411. [mu]I}-tudda D.P. Nin-mal) nun gala dumu lugalani ^ tu-ni hu§
gidia
4^. \ilit]iiD,P. Bilit tldni iarrat rabiti mdr Sarrt^ ia ana imuki-Su
taklu
5a. ^-gala [dingirjrene maSsu mab ur-sag gala dur-ma^ Enlilli
5^. igi-galla tldni massu stru qarradu rabU tukulti Bel
6a. D.P. Urra dingir ni-hu§ aria §u-nep-[sisi ?]
6b. D.P. Nergal tlu izzi Sa^ pulufiii u raSubbaiu ....
7a. dingir azagga D.P. Utu-qime me-lam*(?) [kala]g(?)-ga ne-gar ....
lb. ilu illu Sa zimu-Su kima nUr D.P. SamaS
Za. D.P. Urra gala en fia tim-naio(?) gala(?)
Zb. D.P. Nergalbilu Itupii Sakin taJ^ii^
9a. dingir kalagga mu-bi galla l)ula dingir namtara . . .
9^. \tlu ]'bu Sa ana zikri Sumi-Su galli u namiare ^^ . . .
loa. [D.P. Ur]ra erim kalagga bul-gala
10^. \D.P. N\ergal Sa aabi limnUtu dannu unab-
• aearly S^> >^ T? jfS-. ' C^.
' y , judging from the traces.
* So also Macmillan, who has published this text in the Beitrage zur Assyriologie^
V, p. 582 seq. The inscription having now been issued, I withhold my copy*
which I originally intended to give here.
" Or ^H, en.
. " mi^f^m^ apparently = ^Tij|:S^Hff<T.
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iia, . . . k]i-gala dagalla a-didi {)ul-gala dingirre[ne] ....
11^ irsiti rapaSli kaStd Udnili[mnuli ....
12a. [D.P. Me§-la]m-ta-^a en D.P. Anunnaki na Sid-du^^ ....
12b, [D.P. Do. Be]/^^{r) D.P, Anunnaki Ml petH
13a dingir azagga gana-bi igi-taba
13^. [ tlti\ Hlu Sa ina kakkabi Ha-tna (?)-
14^ na
14^
Reverse,
lb // . .
aa. D.P. Urra H-gala tila zi ki-aga-
2b, D.P, Nergal tlu munialku ia bulta irammu
3a. uru-zu Amarada D.S. ig-giga dua §alai*-[su]
3^. dlu-ka dl Marad Sa maruiti imf^U'
4a. dingir Amarada D.S. dur4 uru-zu gini igi-
4^. D,P Nergal ana dli'ka dl Marad kiniS nap'li^^{j!)' . . .
sa. a mae namtila ig-gig-ga (?)
'^b, a^ idSi drdu palih'ka^^ lu-
6a, D.Pp. B^l-r^manni(?)i7 nam . . ^a §u(?) . . . .
6b. D.Pp. [BSl-rSmannt{?) mtilu tagmila napi\Sti^^ ,
7 rab{?yi^^ D.P. Nergal dannu kalagga tldni
8. Ki pt duppi gab-ri Gudua (Kutl) D.S. §atir-ma biri
Here follows a blank space, which would accommodate three or
four lines.
"^Iiij^-il. "•''-'*'
^' The character here is J^f , suggesting the completion »->f- fj *^TIJ J^f.
" ^ty'^Y- " Traces only, which are possibly those of ^^^,
^« The traces following this are "OgsSA^^^'"
» -4 'mm-
» '^^tT^ ^. perhaps T "S^TH ^wT If- ^. -^ m rait.
Cf, obv., 12^.
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K. 5268.
Translation.
1. Let me glorify the hero of the gods, the powerful^ the brilliant one^
the son of Bel ;
2. Nergal^ let me glorify^ the hero of the gods, the powerful, the
brilliant one, the son of Bel ;
3. The beloved of Bely the supreme leader, the avenger of his father ;
4. 27u offspring of the Lady of the gods^^ the great queen ^ ; the son of
the king, who trusts in his might ;
5. The clever one of the gods, the sublime oracle-priest, the great hero^
the trust of Bel
6. Nergal,^ the powerful god, fear and terror \}fill his hand],
7. Glorious god, whose figure [shineth with mighty splendour] like
the light of the sun god,
8. Nergal^ brilliant lord, causing the overthrow ^
9. \The mighty (?) god], who, for the renown of his name, the evU
devils andfat\es overcometh],
10. Nergal, who the evil and powerful foe overthro[weth] ;
u. [JVergal], who the wide earth captureth, the [evil] gods [subdueth]
12. \MeS-la]m'ta'ia, lord of the Anunnaki, who openeth **
13 the glorious god who among the stars of heav\en\
(Broken.)
Reverse.
I
2. Nergal, powerful god, who loveth the saving of life ....
3. Thy city Marad, which hath misfortune, [grant to her] thy favour,
4. JVergal, tdpon thy city Marad look with favour . . .
5. And as for me, the servant worshipping thee, [save thou] (my) life^
which by evil \is attacked}]
6. Bel-rimanni death, preserve my li[fe]
7. . . [to] the great [? lord] JVergal, the powerful one of the gods . . •
8. Written and made clear according to the tablet, the copy of Cuthah.
* Urra in the Sumerian line. ^ In Sumerian : Nin-ma^,
^ Sum. : "princess." ** Sum. : "a great(?) overthrow."
** This is from the Sumerian line, which is slightly more perfect. The
Babylonian rendering differs, and has at the end " the lord opening ..."
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This is, naturally, only a kind of address to Nergal by. one of his
special worshippers, and ends in the usual way, that is, with a prayer
for mercy and favour both for himself and for the city of Marad,
Nergal's abode. In the obverse of the inscription, however, we have
the information that Nergal was regarded as the son of Bel and of
the Lady of the gods. In this we may perhaps see the older Bel and
his consort, but if so, the parentage of Nergal was in later days
transferred from him to Bel-Merodach, whose consort was Zer-panitu"*,
* the seed-creatress,* identified, in one of the lists, with Arum, who
made the seed of mankind with Merodach, and was also identified
with the Lady of the Gods. The third line, which calls Nergal the
avenger of his father, seems to point to some legend concerning him
which has still to be discovered.
Another interesting question is presented by the reverse. As is
well known, Cuthah was the principal city of NergaFs worship, the
city which is mentioned in the colophon. In the body of the text,
however, his city is referred to as Marad, suggesting that that city
and Cuthah were one and the same place. As most of the cities of
Babylonia bore more than one name, this would seem to be very
probable, and may be settled by further research. The worshipper's
name seems to have been B^l-rfimanni, either a priest of Nergal, or a
little-known Babylonian king.
One of the most interesting of the bilingual inscriptions concerning
this god, however, is that published on plate 24 of the Cuneiform
Inscriptions of Western Asia, Vol. IV. This is in the form of
eulogistic phrases in which each line, it may be supposed, was first
uttered by the priest, and then repeated by the people. Unfortu-
nately, the ends of the lines are wanting in every case, so that a
satisfactory rendering of the text is at present impossible : —
12. Priest: Leader, whose face is bright, the shining mouth of the
powerful fire-god \illuminateth him],
14. People : Nergal, leader, whose face is bright, etc,
1 5. Priest : The lusty son beloved of the heart of Bel, the great director
\ofthe world],
17. People : Nergal, lusty son, etc,
18. Priest : Prince of the great gods, who \spreadetK\fear and awe,
20. People : Nergal, prince, etc,
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21. Priest: Giant of the Anunnaki^ who \spreadeiK\ terrible awe
\over all the lands].
23. People : Nergal is the giant, etc.
24. Priest: Lord, supreme being, beloved of A-kura, the record of
whose name [overcometh evil],
26. People : Nergal is the supreme being, etc.
27. Priest : High one among the great gods, who sceptre and decision
[over the land holdetK\.
29. People : Nergal is the high one, etc.
30. Priest : Dragon supreme, pouring out venom over them [the hostile
lands].
32. People : Nergal, dragon supreme, etc.
33. Priest : His bright image (?) overshadoweth the powerful demons
right and left.
35. People : Nergal, his bright image, etc.
36. Priest : Tlie long arm whose blow {disease) is invisible, the evil
one with his arm [he smiteth],
38. People : Nergal, the long arm, etc.
39. Priest : Great god . . at tlie noise of whose feet the house of a
man [is not disturbed}]
41. People : Nergal, great god, etc.
42. Priest : The lord who goeth about in the night, who . ... the
women (?) who are by themselves Q) he
44. People : Nergal, the lord who goeth about by night.
45. Priest : The hero whose whip (?)..•. speaketh, the voice of
allQ). . .
47. People : Nergal, the hero whose whip, etc.
48. Priest : Tlie single-hearted one (?) whose strength is mighty, like a
dream by barriers he is not [restrained].
50. People : Nergal, the single-hearted one (?), etc.
51. Priest: Hero, the foe of A-kura, the enemy of Dur-an-ki, thou
[entrappest].
53. People : Nergal, hero, the foe, etc.
54. Priest : The great furnace, the fierce fire-god^ whose attack [is
irresistible],
56. People : Nergal, the great lumace^ etc.
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•Nov. 7] THE BABYLONIAN GODS OF WAR. [1906.
57. Priest: The storm-flood destroying the land of the disobedient^
[capturing"] the opponents (?) of the great gods.
59. People : Nergal^ the stormflood destroying^ etc.
Here this noteworthy but exceedingly unsatisfactory text breaks
off, but we have in it a further view of the nature of this deity
worshipped by the Babylonians and Assyrians. He was not only
god of war, but also of disease and death, and in connection with
this it is noteworthy that his arm was long {^a drrakdtu*") to strike the
blow of disease, and his power invisible, as Mr. Campbell Thompson
translates. If this rendering be correct, it would be a very good
description of the insidious action of the god of disease and death,
whose ways, for the ancient Babylonians, must have been past finding
out It was in consequence of this that it could be truly said, that
the fear and awe of him was spread over all the lands, and it is note-
worthy that, as a god wishing the Babylonians well, he could not do
them any injury — indeed, his name overcame evil, and opposed the
powerful demons, who might do harm to their land, right and left.
As, moreover, no just man could be injured by him, the implication
in these lines seems to be, that any person smitten by disease must of
necessity be evil, or must have committed some sin, as was the
common belief in ancient times.
Most entertaining of all, however, is the account of the way in
which Nergal became the spouse of Ere§-ki-gal, and at the same time
lord of the underworld, where that goddess from of old had her
domain. This legend is contained on fragments from Tel-el-Amama,
now in the British and Berlin Museums. An excellent translation
has been published by Jensen, of which I have made use.
First Fragment.
' I. IVhen the gods made a feast,
2. to their sister EreS-ki-gal
3. they sent a messenger :
4. * We can indeed descend to thee^
5. but thou canst not ascend to us —
6. Send then, and someone shall receive thy food.'
7. So EreS-ki'gal sent Namtaru, her messenger,
' 8. and Namtaru mounted to the heavens sublime,
9. entering t?u place where sat the gods.
10. They then Namtar,
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1 1. /Atf messenger of their eldest sister ;
12. they assembled to his land,
13. The supreme god
14 his lady,
15 they wept and lamented,
(Illegible ends of three lines.)
Second Fragment.
(Remains of three lines.)
4. (say) thus : * The god who stood not up before my messenger,
5. bring him to my presence, that I may kill himJ
6. Namtaru then went^ he talked with the gods —
7. the gods answered him^ and talked with him of death :
8. * Behold, the god who stood not up before thee,
9. take him to the presence of thy mistress,*
10. Namtaru then counted them, and a god behind was hiding,
11. * Who is he, the god, who has not stood up before me f '
12 Namtar went, he had mercy (?) upon him,
13 them and
14 the god behind
15. * where is he ?
16
17 her messenger,
(Here the tablet is broken.)
Uti'erse.
1. * Take to Erei'ki'gal
2. to the presence of Ea, his father
3. and may she give me life (?).' * Fear not
4. will I give thee — 7 and 7 \companions\
5. to go with thee — the god , , , , the god , , , the god , , , -ba^
the god Mutabriqu,
6. the gods SarabdH, Rabisu, Tirid, Hutu,
7. Benna, Sidana, Mikit, BH-katri,
8. Umma, Liba
9. shall go with thee,* Nergal then approached the gate
10. of Ere$-ki-gal, He said to the watchman * Open thy gate
1 1. loose the fastening; that I may enter — to the presence of thy mistress^
12. EreS'ki'gal, am I sent.' The watchman then went ;
i^. he said to Namtaru, ^ A god stands at the entrance of the gate,
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14* copu^ look at kimy and let him enter.* Namtdru went out^
15. {and) saw him, and . . . said
16. to his mistress, ^ My lady, {it is) the god who, in the former
17. months went, and would not stand up before me,*
18. ^ Bring him in, let him come, let me kill him*
19. Namtdru went out, he said to the god, ''Enter, my lord,
20. into the house of thy sister, and thy going forth
21 Nergal, may thy heart reioice.
Reverse of the B.M, Fragment,
1. [the god , , , , in the first, the god , , , , in the second],
2. , . ,-bu in the third, Mutabrigu in the fourth,
3. Sarabda in the fifth, Rabi^ in the sixth, Tirid
4. in the seventh, Hutu in the eighth, Binnu
5. in the ninthy Sidanu in the tenth, Mikit
6. in the eleventh, BU-kabri in the twelfth,
7. Ummu in the thirteenth, Ltbu in the fourteenth ♦
8. gate he plcued. He cut off her buduba (?) in the court,
9. giving a command to Namtdru, his warrior : * The gates
10. shall be opened — now will I rush upon you*
11. Within the house he seized EriS-ki-gal,
12. by her hair he dragged her dawn then from the throne
13. to the ground, her head to cut off,
14. * Slay me not, my brother, let me speak to thee,*
15. When Nergal heard ?ier, loosing his hands, weeping she sobbed :
16. * Be thou my husband and I thy wife, I will cause thee to take
17. the kingdom in the wide earth. I will place the tablet
18. of wisdom in thy hand, thou shall be lord,
19. I will be lady.* Nergal heard this, her speech —
20. he took her, kissing her, and wiping away her tears :
21. * Whatever thou hast asked me for months bast
22. now receives consent*
Conjecturally the lacunae may be easily filled up. When
Namtaru, Ere§-ki-gal's messenger, arrived on high to fetch his
mistress's share of the feast, all the gods stood up before him, except
one, and on his return he informed the Queen of Hades of the want
of respect on the part of one of her brothers on high. The result
was, that the messenger was sent back with the demand that the
delinquent should be delivered up to her, that she might punish him
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with death. The gods consented, but did not like parting with their
companion, though they recognized the justice, from their point of
view, of Ere§-ki-gal*s demand. Namtaru seems, therefore, to have
been sent back with words of consent, and a statement that Nergal
would follow afterwards. Appeal was apparently made to the god
Ea (Ae) for counsel, the result being, that Nergal was promised
twice seven companions, whose names are given, some of them being
recognizable as personifications of the ills which sometimes afflict
mankind : Mutabriqu, the thrower of lightning ; Rabisu, the lier in
wait; Tirid, the driver; Benna, some kind of sickness; Umma,
fever, etc. With these he goes down to the gate of Hades, and
commands the watchman to op)en. Namtaru announces him, and
Ere§-ki-gal directs that Nergal should be brought in, that she might
kill him. The god of death, however, had other ideas, and posts his
companions at the fourteen gates of Hades, so as to make sure,
apparently, of a free passage to the interior. What it was that
Nergal cut off in the courtyard of Hades is unknown — the word is
doubtful, and research is at present powerless to reveal its correct
form, or to enable one to judge what the object may be. An
alternative translation would be, * He cut the (? two) which
were in the court,' perhaps something which kept the gates closed, or
which communicated with the interior, giving notice of the approach
of an enemy.
Nergal is then represented as giving a command to his warrior —
probably in prospective — the spirit of fate, Namtaru, saying, * Let the
gates be opened,' and having rushed in, instead of being himself
killed by Ere§-ki-gal, he seized her by the hair, with the intention of
serving her as she would have served him. Her proposal that they
should wed, instead of his cutting her head off, is made in the same
words as I§tar used to the hero Gilgame§ with different result
Nergal, however, at once accepts, and the words which he uses after
kissing her and wiping away her tears, suggest that all this comedy
was part of the courtship, and that she had already sent to him in
the realms above, asking for various things, which Nergal had not
felt inclined to grant, hence her demand for him to be delivered to
her for immediate execution as a punishment for not standing up in
the presence of her messenger. If the words be righdy understood,
he at the end grants her all her desires.
(To de contintted,)
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Nov. 7] ASSYRIAN INCANTATION AGAINST GHOSTS.. [1906.
AN ASSYRIAN INCANTATION AGAINST GHOSTS.
By R. Campbell Thompson, M.A,
The following is a transliteration and translation of my copy
of the Assyrian Tablet K. 2175, published in Part XXIII of
Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets,^ ^/r., plates 15,^ The
contents are new, and describe the methods of laying a ghost which
has appeared. As usual, long formulae containing the descriptions
of all possible apparitions are prescribed, in order that the wizard
may show that he knows the name of the haunting spirit. **A
brother's ghost, or a twin, or one unnamed, or with none to pay it
rites, or one slain by the sword, or one that hath died by fault of
god, or sin of king " (Col. I, //. 6-8), or " the ghost of one unburied,
or of a brother, or anything evil"^ (//. 22-23). The most interesting
part is the actual charm. Two different kinds of thread or hair are
to be spun together and knotted seven times, and the ends are to be
sprinkled with a mixture of cedar oil, the man's spittle, leavened
dough, earth from an old grave, earth (or dust) from the roots
of some thorny plant, dust from an ant-hole, and one or two
other ingredients of which the translation is doubtful. The man's
temples are to be bound with this, after the due incantation has
been repeated, and it is apparently to be twisted tighter until a
change of colour in his face occurs, but this last, however, is a little
doubtful. It is not curious to find the same materials for spells
foimd in Semitic charms of a later date, many of these, notably dust
from old graves, and earth from an ant-heap , occurring in quite
modem Oriental grimoires.
To complete the charm, two little figures, probably of clay or
some plastic material, are to be made, one to represent the living
man, and the other the dead man whose ghost is now roaming
^ For this phrase, compare Meissner, RUtuiUafeln^ p. 152, No. 45, /. 9, but it
is also possible to translate it here *' or of an evil brother or sister."
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on earth.2 The magician is then to dig a grave and bury the latter
in it, while the former he is to wash in pure water and lay in the sun ;
the head of the man himself, together with his whole body, is to be
washed in oil, and a spell repeated three times.
There is another incantation to be used when the ghost of the
dead man has been recognized, and his name is known. A small
clay figure of the dead man is to be made, and inscribed on the
left side with his name ; this is to be placed in a gazelle's horn (as
a coffin), a hole is to be dug in the shadow of a caper or thorn bush,
and it is then to be buried there.
OBVERSE.
COL. I.
. . di §a ki ba(?) imiammaru (ru)
lu ekimmu §a ina a-ra-an ili u Se-rit §arri [imdit]
*?»dalat bibi-ia li-tir irat-ka ina ka-
ZI AN.NA KAN.PA ZI KI.A KAN.[PA]
AN.ZA.GAR IGI.LA Sl.NE.IN.DU.RU GABA-ZU
KAN.NI.LA
Siptu . Ekimmu GAR.SAG.NAM.MA U§.U§-an-ni ur-ra u
mu§i(?) . . pu(?)-lu{)(?)-tu . . . lu ekimmu a-^u-u
lu-u ekimmu ma-§u-u lu-u ekimmu §a §u-ma la na-bu-u lu-u
ekimmu §a pa-ki-da la i-§u-u
lu-u ekimmu §a . . . . lu-u ekimmu §a ina '^^kakki di-ki lu-u
ekimmu §a ina a-ra-an ili u §e-rit §arri imiit
su an-na-a lim-bur-ma ia-a-Si li-maS-gi-ra-an-ni
10. [INIM . INIM . MA BAD . ME§] IGI . ME§
tippuS §uiti VII GAR.DU.DU GAR.KU.§E.[SA.A]
ri-te supur alpi simi
KU.§E.SA.A GAR.§E.§I§ ana pani tanadi §iptu an-ni-tu III-Su
tamanu (nu) .... tanaVy (ki)
Siptu,. NiSeP^ mi-ta-tum am-me-ni tannammaru itti-ia §a aliniP*-
§i-na tilinipi . . . -§i-na iz-me-e-tum
ana-ku ul al-lak ana K^iti*^* bu-^ur ekimmi at-tu-nu am-me-ni
. , P*-ka ar-ki-ia tum-me-tu-nu
' The figure of the dead man is then, as far as can be made out from a broken
line in the text, to have a dirty libation poured on it, while that of the living
receives one of pure water ; but this is doubtful.
220
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Nov. 7] ASSYRIAN INCANTATION AGAINST GHOSTS. [1906.
15. H°A-ba-tu a§§at Sarri ""AUatu aSSat §am »«NIN.KURUN.AN.NA
^dup§arratu §a iliniP* §a l^a-an dup-pa-§a *^°"ukn(l ^^""samtu
' INIM . INIM . MA BAD . ME§ IGI . ME§
tippuS Suiti .... ana erib »^"§ain§i bat-te ana lib karan alpi a-^ji
tibut(ut)(?) KU.SE.SA. A GAR.§E.§I§ tanadi (di)
KAB KUR m^-§u-nu-ti tainaljas(as) §iptu III-§u
tamanu (nu) m^-Su-nu-ti ana bdiri
taballal GAR.NA GI.BIL.LA tu§-ba-'-§u
ao. [5iptu . "«§am§u] muS-te-Sir el(ita(ta)pi ^ §apmta(ta)[pi] pa-tir
ka-si-e at-ta-ma
[ekimmu GAR.SAG] . NAM.MA U§.U§-an-ni pa-
. . . pu-lulj-tu ar-ta-na-a§-§u-u
[lu-u] utukku lim-nu lu-[u]alii lim-nu lu-u ekimmu
lim-nu
[lu-u ekimmu] la kib-ru [lu-u] ekimmu Sa afei u mimma
lim-nu
lu-u ekimmu §a ina seri na-du-ma
25 a-§u pi-kid-su
[INIM . INIM . MA BAD . ME§] IGI . ME§
-rat A. BAR in-na-a§-§u-u
MAH IM.RI.A-§u tu§-ta-na-al-§u-nu-ti
DIM.MAGE E.NE
30 [HE].EN.§I.IN.GIN.NA
[UTUG.HUL A.LA.HUL] BAR.KU HE.IM.TA.GUB
[INIM . INIM .MA BAD . ME§] IGI . ME§
[§iptu . "»«i«C?)]SA(?)GAZ.ZA lj:ata"-§u limsi u HAR.GIM*
takabbi *^"§am§u ekimmu limnu §a at-ta tidi-ma
ana-ku la idi u la itihhi la i-lj:ar-ri-ba la inakar(?) . . a-lak-ta-Su
purus (us) takabbi-ma
35. supur alpi simi KU.§E.§I§ ana libbi tanadi (di) ina ^"™«»elpiti
di§-§i-ni§(?)tamabas(as) tanakki(ki)-ma mitiitiP^ ipparrasuP^
giptu . DINGIR.BABBAR LUGAL GIDIM.GIDIM.E.NE.
GE : GIDIM IM.§U TU.UL.RU.A
' " Like a . . . " The phrase seems to mean " clearly," and occurs elsewhere
with kada (see C. T., Part XXIII, pi. 1, 1. 12).
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Nov. 7] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY. [1906.
GU.§I.NE.IN.GAB.RU IGI.LA.E : GU.§I.NE.IN.GAB.RU
ME.EN
DINGIR.BABBAR DINGIR.ZA.GAR DINGIR.MA.HIR.-
DA LA.E GI.A NU.IGI.E ME.EN DINGIR.ZA.GAR
DINGIR.MA.HIR.DA
GAR.ZAG §U BAL.BAL.E.NE ME.EN : TU DINGIR.EN.
KI DAR ZU.AB DAR ZU.AB.GE
40. EN.GAL DINGIR.BABBAR KI.BI HE.EN.BAL.E : MU.
PAD.DA DINGIR.RLE.NE
DINGIR.ZA.GAR DINGIR.MA.HIR.DA.RLA : DINGIR.
NIN.KLGAL DINGIR.NIN.A.ZU.GE
NAM.MU.UN.DA.AN.BUR.RI DINGIR.NE.URUGAL
DUR.GU.BI HE.NE.IN.SAR.SAR
INIM.INIM.MA enuma amelu mitu itti ameli balti ana limutti
innaromar ana parasi-im(?)-ma la innammar . .
tippuS §uiti sipA'^pusikki ^ipatuKAN.MKDA e§teni§(niS) titimmi
VII kisri takasar
45. Saman erini ru*uti (?) ameli KU.§E.§I§ epir kimafebi labiri p!
pu-lu-uk-ki ""aSagi (?)
epir i§di balti epir zir-ba-bi e§teni§(ni§) taballal ki-is-ri tasalla^
e-ma taksur §ipti tamani ina SAG.KI [ameli takasar]
ki-a-am tu-kin-nu-§u* a-di simi pa-an pi-si-e pi-zu-u pa-an si-rip
simi i§-§ak-[kan]
ekimmu §a itti-ia innammar a-a i-tu-ram-ma ina ma-sa-rat
iimi (?)
Sum-ma tidi-§u §uma-§u takasar(ar)-§um-ma ina mu§i lu ina kal
<ime
Col. II.
salam ameli mtci ana
ana pani-§u taSakkan (an) salam ameli bal^i
salam ameli balti ina karpat m^ (?) . . tanakki (ki) salam ame
miti ina karpat la
Read thus with Col. II, I. 23.
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Nov. 7] ASSYRIAN INCANTATION AGAINST GHOSTS. [1906.
5. salam ameli mtti kimatb^ tanakar-ma te-[kib]-bir-§u : ZI PAD.
DE E TU UT MA'SU ." ". . .
salam ameli balfi ina mt elKidpi timissi [ina] pani *i*>§am§i tar-sa
ili ameli marsi zumri-§u kakka(li-[§u] §amni
tu-ra-|}u-su III-§u[takabbi]ur-ru-u ka-si sil-lu sal-lu ana biti-Su
SuteSur
Siptu. 'i^'SamSu §ar Sam^ u irsiti daian elilta(ta)pi u §apliita(ta)
bel ameli mtti mur-te-du-u ameli bal^i
^i"§am§u mitiitipi §a i§-Sak-nu-nim-ma innammaru (ru) lu ekim
abi-ia u ummi-ia lu ekim ahi-ia
10. u al)aii-ia an-nam lim-feu-ru-ma ia-a-Si li-ma§-§i-ru-nin-ni
■ — ■ 1
tippu§ §iiiti ina §e-rim ina Simetan . . ki-sir m^ elKiti tasallal) pani
y»§am§i GAR.NA RIG.LI taSakkan (an) bi-ri§ tanakki (ki)
§inat imiri ina supur alpi . . . [ekimmu] §a itti ameli innammar
III-§u tanakki(ki)-ma ameli mitiltiP^ ipparrasuP^
Enmna amelu mttu itti ameli bal^i innammaru [salmi]
§a titti tippuS (u§) §uma-§u ina naglabi Sumeli-§u taSafar
ana lib l^ran sabiti ta§akkan-§u-ma pani-§u
[ina]silli »?"balti lu ina silli ^§"a§agi
15. biiri tanal^r-ma te-kib-bir-Su takabbi
(Remainder too mutilated for insertion.)
Obverse.
Col. I.
[ WJiether thou art a ghost thai\
Or a ghost that [hath died] by fault of god^ or sin of king ....
May the door of my portal turn thee back
By Heaven be thou exorcised! By Earth be thou exordsed / ....
5. May Zagar, that appearethQ\ go in front (and) [turn] thee
back
Incantation. The ghost that hath .... and hath attacked
me^ by day and nightij) [casteth ?] fear(^) [upon me];
whether it be the ghost of a brother,
Or a twin-ghost, or a ghost without a name, or a ghost with none
to care for it,
223 T
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Nov. 7] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
Or a ghost which , , , , ^ or a ghost slain by the sword^ or a
ghost that hath died by fault of god or sin of king^
may it accept thisy and leave me free 1
10. \Prayerfor the dead] appearing.
Thou shall do this: Put before (thee) seven small loaves of bread
ofroast^ corn^ ^the hoof of a dark-coloured ox
Flour of roast corn^ a lump of leaven^ Thou shall repeat this
incantation three times and pour libation.
Incantation, O ye dead folk^ whose cities are heaps of earthy
whose .... are sorrowful^ why have ye appeared unto me f
I will not come to Kuthdl Ye are the first-bom of ghosts ; why
do ye cast your enchantments upon me ?
15. O Abatu,^ hinges wife! O Allatu^ king's wife! O Nin-kurun-
anna, scribe of the gods, whose pen is of lapis and samtu-
stone !
Prayer for the dead appearing
Thou shall do this : — About the hour of sunset thou sJialt put a
mixture{?) of the flour of roast corn {and) the lump of leaven
into the horn of another ox,
.... Thou shall beat up the liquid tliereof; thou shall repeat
this incantation three times ; the liquid thereof into a hole
.... thou shall pour ; then, bring a torch {and) censer to him^,
20. [Incantation. O Sun-god] that ruleth what is above and below^
that releaseth those in bondage^
\t}u ghost] that hath . . . and attacked me, I am over-
whelmed with fear,
wluther it be an evil spirit, or an evil demon, or an evil
ghost,
or a gliost of one unburied, or the ghost of a
brother, or anything eviP
or a ghost 07 one that lieth {unburied) in the
desert,
5 On KU.SE.SA.A and GAR.SE.SiS, see Meissner, RtiuaUqfeln.
GAR. SE.SiS is there translated *" bitter" meal,' but it evidently is meant in
this text to be used as leaven, the words suggesting bread that has gone sour.
• Anatu?
' Or perhaps read afei u afeati lim-nu ^^ of an evil brother or sister."
224
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Nov. 7] ASSYRIAN INCANTATION AGAINST GHOSTS. [1906.
25 [/«A? the kindly hands f] of his [god'\ commend him I
[Prayer for the dead] appearing
of lead are brought
his fear lay them
go forth
30 may they go
[May the evil Spirit, the evil Demon\ stand aside I
[Prayer for the dead] appearing
[Incantation^ Let the slaughtererif) cleanse his hands ; clearlyQ)
shall thou^ say : — " O Sun-god^ the evil ghost which thou
knowest
I know not; let it not approach nor draw nigh nor attack (f)
me ; do thou block its way " shall thou say.
Place the leavened dough in the hoof of the dark-coloured ox, and
beat up thicklyQ) with a reed^. Pour out the libation, and
the dead will be stayed.
Incantation : O Sun-god, king of spirits
(LL 37-39 uncertain).
40. O great lord Sun, break forth upon the land I Invoke the gods I
Zagar with Ma^ir . . , Allqtu, Ninazu I
The , , . of Nergal, let it not be loosed, but let it be bound!
Prayer for when a dead man appeareth unto a living man for
evil, to turn him back that he appear not,
Thau shall do this : Spin a pusikku-/>^r^a^ (?) and a kanmeda-
thread (?) together, and tie seven knots in it,
45. Thou shall mix together oil of cedar ^ spittle^^ of the man, the
leavened dough, earth from an old grave, a tortoise^ s^^Q)
mouth (?), a thorn (?),
B Or perhaps the third person all through this section.
» Elpitu, cf. Late Hebrew MByPT.
1® RtCutu, The characters are US.GU " blood [or similar) of the mouth," but
they also form in conjunction the character ^^2^, ue,, US in GU, which has
the value ru^utu,
^ Pulukku is the equivalent of Cancer in the Assyrian Zodiac (see Jensen,
Kosmologie, p. 311) but there is no crab represented in the zodiacal signs on the
Babylonian boundary stones, as Jensen {Kosmologie, p. 65) points out The
equivalent is probably, according to the same authority, the tortoise, which appears
to take the place of Cancer in these representations, but the translation here
seems to be untrustworthy.
225 T 2
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Nov. 7] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY. [1906.
Earth from the roots of the caper^^ earth of ants^^ : thou shali
sprinkle the knots with this where thou hast tied them. Hum
shalt repeat this incantation^ [(^^^) ^^^ '^] ^« ^^ temples^^
[of the man].
Thus shalt thou tighten it^ until the darkening of the white part of
the face and the whitening of the dark-coloured part of the
face takes place.
' O ghost that hath appeared unto me^ return not again^ and in
the watch
If thou knowest its name^ thou canst bind it^ and by night or
every day (?) '
Col. II.
a figure (image) of the dead man
Thou shalt lay it before him: a figure of the living man
Over a figure of the living man with a cup of [pure] water {?)
thou shalt pour a libation ; on the figure of the dead man
with a cup of [impure (?) water {J) thou shalt pour a libation]
5. {For) the figure of the dead man thou shalt dig a grave and bury
it; . . .
Hum shalt wash the figure of the living man in pure water (and)
lay it out before the sun^ the god of the sick man ; his body^
[his] head . . . in oil
^ On hctltu^ see my Devils and Evil Spirits^ I, p. 137. It is possibly the
equivalent of the Syriac \ <^ , radix capparis spinosa.
" Zirbabu. The most probable rendering is " ant." It is the name of a small
animal or insect, with a synonym lamattu. '*20 Landmeilen Schlangen mid
Skorpionen (GIR.TAB) ia ki-nia zir-ba-bi main ugaru welche gleich z. das Feld
erfullten " (Delitzsch, HandwSrterbuchy p. 264). Lamattu ( = lamantu) is to be
compared with the Hebrew i^/^^ 9 the Arabic JlL«J 9 by metathesis of th«
/, m, It-letters, sufficiently frequent in the Semitic languages [cf. H^t^T'^'
A , y C ^
K'klMtit') XJw«.U* Compare also the use of '*the dust of an ant'shole'*
in the Hebrew charm No. 5 in the " Folklore of Mossoul," P.S.B.A.^ March 14,
1906.
" For SAG.KI cf. Devils and EvU Spirits, II, 81, 83.
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Nov. 7] ASSYRIAN INCANTATION AGAINST GHOSTS. [1906.
Thou shalt wash all over ; three times thou shalt say ^^ Light . .
direct to his house^^^^
Incantation : O Sun-god^ king of heaven and earth. Judge of what
is above and below, lord of the dead, ruler of the living,
O Sun-god, the dead who httve arisen and appeared, whether the
ghost of my father, or of my mother, or the ghost of my
brother
10. Or of my sister, let them accept this and leave me free /
Thou shalt do this: in the morning in the twilight thou shalt
. sprinkle the knots with pure water ; thou shalt lay a censer
{burning) buraSu {-wood or gum) before the Sun-god, and
make plentiful libation
Thou shalt pour as libation three times ctsses' urine in the hoof of
the ox [for (?)] the ghost that hath appeared unto the man,
and the dead will be stayed.
When a dead man appeareth unto a living man . . . thou shalt
make \a figure^ of clay, and write his name on the left side
with a stylus.
Thou shalt put it in a gazelle^ s horn and its face
and in the shade of a caper-bush or in the shade of a thorn-
bush,
15. Thou shalt dig a hole and thou shalt bury it,
thou shalt say,
(Remainder too mutilated for publication.)
"* The sense and reading of this are obscure.
227
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Nov. 7] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY. [1906.
A BRONZE FIGURE FROM RAKKA.
By H. S. Cowper, KS,A,
This little bronze figure I purchased last winter from K}^cas, the
Cairo dealer, who told me it came from, and was probably found at,
Rakka on the Euphrates.
The figure stands 4y^ inches high, and is of crude design and
unusual style. The head bears a high cap, encircled with horns,
indicating Babylonian influence, although the figure is evidently not
Babylonian. The face is long, the nose prominent and pointed ; and
the eyes, nostrils, and ear-holes are formed by circular holes,
apparently bored, the eye-holes being in one, and passing behind the
nose. The cheeks bulge out, the artist's intention probably being to
represent high cheek bones, while the mouth is a mere lipless line.
The hair falls on the shoulders, where it has a projecting outward
twist, which suggests a w^ig, and rather resembles the treatment of
the hair in the stela of a Hittite king from Birejik now in the
British Museum.
The rest of the figure is even ruder than the face. From the
neck downwards it is nearly flat, though there is a little modelling
about the neck and chest, with nothing to indicate that a female is
represented. The arms are raised from the elbow, but the hands are
broken off". The hips are represented by a slight lateral projection
and a transverse groove on front and back, and from here downwards
the legs are undivided and shapeless. The feet, however, are
indicated separately.
The bronze seems to represent a man in a long robe — perhaps
a priest with offerings. When I bought it I thought it a barbarous
figure, shewing influence of Babylonian art, but Professor Sayce has
called my attention to the so-called Hittite Bronzes, figured by
Perrot and Chipiez and others. The locality it comes from (Rakka
is 150 English miles N.E. of Hamah, and 100 miles S.E. of Jerabis),
the peculiar treatment of the eyes, the prominent features, and clean
shaved face, combine to give it some title to be classed among those
bronzes, and to be considered a remarkable example.
228
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Proc, Soc, Bihh Archly Nov.y 1906.
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Nov. 7]
SOME MUNICH COPTIC FRAGMENTS.
[1906.
SOME MUNICH COPTIC FRAGMENTS.
11.
By E. O. Winstedt.
{For Part I see page 137.)
IGNATIUS.
Copt. 2, 113 = Copt. 3, LXV. The handwriting seems the same
as that of the Dioscorus MS.
Recto.
[tct A]ei HT[oTn]eTeia
[:yerAp]neeT[peij]ncoTM
[ijcAne]TCOTn[ATCDneT]TcrAi
HTA[MOTAe]uiJAAAT[co]fn
eTLiijTerceBHC :
n6XAqMcriTpAiAiJOC2C6ecD
coKGUTeqxice • mtotm
2COOCUJiq2^6CCOTUUCA
nATTOKpATCOp • ATUJlTr
ereKATAnAoruAMTCTr
KAHTOC • nexAqilcri
IPMATIOCXeAMOK+peOTe
eHTqunAoruAunMorre
eT2ctDuuocxeilijeT^a>
Verso.
e2CMMe[q^A^ • ne2CAq]
TjcriiriJA[Tio]cxee[iceijiu]
eT[MAi!i]a3neuu[oieTBe]
[oouo]AoriAeeoT[ijenxc]
ic • ceccooTeiiA[iee]oTijiki
2eMBeKHTeeTO[T]AAB • il
eicePApuneioToei^Te
MOTceuniaAAMuneo
oTeTMAcrcoATiepoiJiJoe
excHe : nexAqiJcri
TpAiAMocxenpcDue • +co
epOKAOinOMUATAAKMT
eipeiJijeTOToreecAeMe
uuooTMAK • e^cuneu
1. 2 r., the M of ncOTM can hardly be the beginning of MCA, and seems
to be a slip of the copyist. 1 4 r., I am not sure if there is room for oTAe.
229
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Nov. 7]
"R.Y.CTO-^ccntinued,
neMAKiJo*ieeuKeMOTTe
MBAAAI • ATCUXeneTMJ^A]
OrCD^UeeiJUOTT[6M]
:£iuuo • ceMAeoT[q]
M+M ACCDTU A[m MCATCrrJ
KAHTOcuTinp[poeqoTe2]
CAeM6UAI6nApAU[0U0C]
[nMo]uocrApLiniJo[VTeJ
[2CCO]lJUOC • 2CeiJM[eKXI20]
[ijJOTATMACTHC • [aYCDOM]
[M]MeKCLmTOO[TKUM]
[OTU]HHiaee2CIJOTK[AKIA]
[n6xjAqucriTpAi[AMOc]
SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCH/EOLOGY. [1906.
Verso — continued.
UOU • tlJAXP<BMAKMee^
[K]eBACAMO[c]eTeOOTeMAI .
[nexjAqMO-iirMATiocxeMiu]
[neTijJi]nop2CMeTJirAnH
[uniJOT]Te • oTOAi+icre
[HOTACDXe] • iHOY^KOHOTC^^
[atm]oc • HOTCH<|)e • +nei
[eeiAe]ouxeoTAeuM[cuMe]
[OTAeu]MUOTIJA:yTe[u
Tc]ijTiiTjTeTce[BHcl
[eiTA3cpH]TexiJTO'ouu[nxc]
n62CAqiJCriT[pAIAIJOC]
e2ceeij
The last line of verso I give from Des Rivieres' copy, in which
all the letters are marked as uncertain. The traces of the tops of
letters which are still visible seem from my copy to fit just as well
with Kueer, which would agree with the Bohairic version 2ce
OKueri ecrpo epoi.
1. 21 r., riApAMOUOC, Des Rivieres probably from conjecture as it should
be the verb.
230
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Nov. 7] SOME MUNICH COPTIC FRAGMENTS. [1906.
Copt 2, No. 89 = Copt. 3, No. LXVI :—
Recto. Verso.
[HKOjpATq • UTo[qno6iK]
[MTU]MTATUOTne • ATIO
[oTcJcbneuncoiJe^Aeuee •
[ATjcOAMOKJlMrnCOqTHpT
[AT]ci>Ainp^nAMeeTeTH
[pqebJoAMUAepAq • otbg
[nAlt]KATA(t>pOIJeiMMeK
[BACAUlJCTHpiGM • ATCOt
[TecToeBjoAiJueKTAeio
[euweKUTCTH]
pioM . 2ceKAceiMA[i!icone]
ijOTOeiKeqTBBHT[ • mai]
AeMTepeqccofijep[oq]
McriTpAiAMoc • Aqp[iynH]
peeuATe • Arconex[Aq3:e]
oTMOorTeeTno[uoiJHij]
MeTnicTe'reen[xc • miu]
euileeAAHUHe[lJBApBApOG]
LXV (cf, Lightfoot, Ap. Faik., II, 2,876 foil.)— «* (they are) con-
demned. For we ought to pursue (?) what is good, (and) not what
is damnable. Nothing is better than godliness. Lacerate his back,
saying to him, obey the emperor and sacrifice according to the
decree of the senate.' Ignatius said : * I fear the decree of God
which saith, "thou shalt have none other gods but me," and "he
that worshippeth strange gods shall be put to death." I will not
obey the senate and the king when he bids me transgress : for the
law of God saith, "thou shalt not accept the person of a ruler," and
(again) "thou shalt not consort with numbers for evil." Trajan
said : * (Pour vinegar mixed with salt)
( Verso) upon his (wounds).' Ignatius said : * (All the) sufferings
(which shall) happen to me (for) the confession of Jesus (Christ)
gather for me holy rewards: "for the sufferings of the present
season are not worthy of the honour which shall be revealed to us "
Recto, 1. I, HKO, Des Rivieres probably wrongly ; the letters are now lost.
0T02 eieHA, Boh. L 5, ueOTe = ueere, probably a mistake in my copy.
L 8, UTCTHpiOM, Des Rivieres.
Verso, 1. I, I could not read the slight traces of letters that remain, and
so give Des Rivieres' reading though it cannot be right; ^ITeUMeUMA^C^I
MMAieHpiOM, Boh. I. 4, Opoq, Des R. ; probably opOOT.
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Nov. 7] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
even as it is written.' Trajan said: 'Spare thyself, fellow, hence-
forth, and do that which is bidden thee ; if not, I will employ
worse tortures than these.' Ignatius said : * Who (shall) separate us
from the love of God ? Shall tribulation, (or distress,) or famine, or
peril, or the sword ? I am persuaded that neither (life) nor death
shall be able to (part me) from godliness, (being) confident in the
power of Christ.' Trajan said : * . . .
LXVL — * I go my way to him : he is the bread of immortality
and the draught of eternal life. And I am wholly his, and I yearn
for him in my mind. Therefore I despise thy tortures (?), and I
reject thy honours.
( Verso) thy beasts (?) that I may become pure bread.' But
Trajan, when he heard these things, was greatly astonished, and
said : * Great is the endurance of those who believe on (Christ,
What) Greek or '"
PETER AND PAUL.
These fragments appear to be from a different MS. to the
Dioscorus fragments. Des Rivieres copies the four columns of
CL and again of CLII abreast ; and this, coupled with the narrow-
ness of the columns, makes it probable that each page had two
columns, not one, as the Dioscorus fragments. If so, CLI was only
a fragment of a page. The fourth column of CLII corresponds
clearly enough with the Greek Martyrium Petri et Pauli, § 50
(Lipsius Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, Vol. I, p. 162), and the
preceding three columns to ^47-49, though not so exactly. CL
refers to an attempt to bribe Nero and the baptism of one Dionysius,
neither of which events are recorded in the Greek martyrium.
Whether CL belongs to the same text at all it is difficult to say, as
it is so mutilated as to defy translation. It appears to be dealing
with a sinner and a gate, neither of which can I find mentioned
in the Greek version. However, as the Coptic version seems not
to correspond exactly with the Greek, and Des Rivieres states that
this fragment is in the same handwriting, it is better to add it.
Nothing similar occurs in the fragments published by Von Lemm,
Guidi, and Jacoby.
232
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Nov. 7] SOME MUNICH COPTIC FRAGMENTS,
Copt. 3, CLII :—
Col. I.
[1906.
01 .
.... ouAee
epenwoTTe
MJipOTM . . .
UUAIT . . . U
neuTA . . CAT
coin62CAq
ucriMHpcou
trOA • 2COBUIU
eOOOTMOTK
ue • xezuoT
TeXUHPAp
eceooTeK
eipeMMAi
ATCD6AKAA
pAt^eunAAG
ncuoceiTM
eAeuecoB •
ecocTeeTLi
TpAepAHIC
TOCeUGK
eBHTG • ne
2CAqijaineT
poc2C6nppo
.... BHT . .
Col. II.
CO
CA
MG
oe
Mil
e
P
e
MO
o
uu
nu • [ncco]
THp[icii3cc]
uu[nnuA]
eXOTAAB
ne2CAqiJAq
RATAOCXe
AIJOKeCOt
eoLioAorei
uTiuAqu
iJAi • xetlii
oTXAiiaoon
eiJO-OAAATei
Aco . . . ne . .
M
ne
Col, I, I. 7, tO-or 01, Des R. 11. 16-17, undoubtedly GAKneipAt^e.
Col. II, 1. I, CO or Ce, Des R. 1. 4, MO or MO, Des R. 1. 6, MH or MM,
Des R. 11. 24-5, ATCO GIACDAOM (?).
233
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Nov. 7] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCH/EOLOGY.
Copt. 3, CLII :—
[1906.
Col. L
ncco
[THpuMjpuiue
[THpOT • ] • CI
uciiMAone
2CAq2i:eAMOK
[ne • TjTeJfijco
[0TIJU]U0l
[neTpoc]uiJ
[nATAOcne]ij
[TAC|IJT]eTII
[enioT]uie
[poqJiJAiacD
ne[Aij]MH'm
neaLAquo*!
nexpocxe
TeiJOTAq
^coneiJAi
Mcrine+eni
BTLieiepoq •
neaLAqiTcri
RATAOGXeA
MOKeconet
npOCTOKBI
[epoqlAiAiTq
[nexAqJucn
[ciuion]x6
Col, II.
TMMOOTT
eBOAeuTn
pA . . . Te+MA
BCDKeepAl
neuAepM
flAeiCOT •
MHpCDMAe
n62CAqace
MA^IieeOTM
croueTpe
MAi^cone •
neaLAquo*!
ClUCDUnUA
roc2ceKe
AereerpeY
TAUIOMOT
nrprocM
^eeiJnKAu
nocuuAp
TIOC • AYCil
tuAAAeee
pAieaLioqiJ
cexiTMcri
MAArreAoc
eepAi
Col. II, 1. 4-5. The sense requires 6epAI GTne, though Des R. docs not
mark any lost letters here.
234
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Nov, 7]
SOME MUNICH COPTIC FRAGMENTS.
[1906.
Copt. 3, CLI :—
Col. I.
Col. XL
. . A
2AA
Cl>^
TeU . . . RAT
enee . . e • hu
AocenA
erepeuH
PAKAA6LI
pCDMMKAAei
iJoqeTpeq
MATeTBH
BxnrirjB
Hfqeane
uuoquq
XC • ATCO
AAqMX
eunrper
piCTIAMOC
tueuA
ATCOMTepe
^HMXPH
nAYAOCBAFl
UAMMBTU
Tll^eiJAlO
nKcoTeil
MTCIOCMq
MHpCDMnp
. . . n^corq
po • AqKA
ATeBOAU
Col. 1, 1. 3, Des R. gives an
alternative Rie . . eAICD.
Copt. 3, CL:—
Col. I.
Col. II.
MUUJIMU
AM
T . . MUAO
ecu
.. .e...^CD
AT2
ne2a>a)q
COK
orpeqpwo
ernAp . . .
eene
UHTG ....
^AunuieeT
XOMTA . . .
Col. I, L 4, ZiO or ZU, Des R. U. 5-6, doubtless poqpMOBO.
23s
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Nov. 7] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY.
Col. II— continued.
XOMTA . . .
AMOK ....
XTZ
ptu
M
[1906.
Col. I — continued,
^sfopneunr
AH:^Ap6
nec+crco
cuMijeq
IJOB6TAe6M6
TOTAAB • MCe
e
Col. 1, 1. 10, Des R. ^ves as variants for C and CT, O and 6.
Col. III.
. OK
pn
. A
. MTA
. nec
. IJTO
. . HA
. . tu
. . KU
. AAT
luuiq
. IIKA
. BOT
.Liq
. 6M
Col. IV.
MM
MOT
6M6M . . AK .
MIUM. . OOT
MT . . 262 . .
2CCUCUKAe . . .
MApATHp . .
AIKAIOGTMH
BCUKOeOTM
TGMOTeATM
n . . AH . . T
OTHTM . . GA
ncuq
MT
. . U
Col. Ill, 1. 3, A or M, Des. R. 1. 12, M or U, Des R.
Col. IV, I. II, n or T, Des R. ; probably OTAH
236
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Nov. 7] SOME MUNICH COPTIC FRAGMENTS. [1906.
CLII.— " Nero said : * Do not lie. Everything that
is evil is thine. By evil art you do these things, and you tempt
my judgment through many things, that I may not disbelieve in
your works.' Peter said : * King the Saviour (Jesus
Christ ?) and the Holy (Spirit ?).' Paul said to him : * I, too, agree
^th him in this, that there is no salvation in lies
" . . the Saviour of (?) (all?) men. But Simon said : * I (am he?).
Ye know (?) me, (Peter) and (Paul. That which ?) ye desire does
not happen to you.' Said Peter : ' Now what I desire has happened
to me.' Paul said: *I, too, have done(?) that which I expect'
Said Simon : * Take me away from the . . and I will go up to heaven
to my father.* Nero said : * How is it possible for these things to
happen ? ' Said Simon Magus : ' Bid them build a wooden tower in
the Campus Martius ; and I will ascend into it, and my angels will
take me up ... .' "
CLI. — " .... that with which Nero charges them for (?) Christ.
And when much money had been given to those round Nero, he let
them go
" . . Paul to exhort him to baptize him and make him a Christian.
And when Paul baptized Dionysius "
237
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Nov. 7] SOCIETV OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY. [1906,
}
The next Meeting of the Society will be held on
Wednesday, December 12th, 1906, at 4.30 p.m., when the
following Paper will be read : —
The Rev. C. J. Ball, il/:^.—" Assyrian Notes."
238
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Part V (the final part), with Introduction and descriptive letter-press,
has now been issued to the Subscribers.
A few complete copies of the book remain unsold and can be
obtained on application to the Secretary.
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%
Society of Biblical ARCHiEOLOGv.
37, Grbat Russell Street, London, W.C
COUNCIL, 1906.
President,
Prof. A. H. Saycx, D.D., &&, &c.
Vic$'Fi^isidefas.
Thb Most Rev. His Gracb The Lord Archbishop of York.
The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Salisbury.
The Most Hon. the Marquess of Northampton.
The Right Hon. the Earl of Halsbury.
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Council,
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Sir H. H. Howorth, K.C.LE.,
F.R.S., &C.
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Honorary TVmxiirtfr— Bernard T. Bosanqubt. ^
5«f»rfl>y— Walter L. Nash, M.R.C.S. (Eng,)^ F.S.A.
Honorary SecrHary for Foreign Correspondence — F. Lbgge.
Honorary LUfrarian^Y^Kum L. Nash, M.R.CS. (Bng,)^ F.S.A.
MASKISOM AMD SONS, PRXNTBRS IN ORDINARY TO HIS MAJESTY, ST. MARTIN'S LANIL
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VOL. XXVIII. f Part 7.
PROCEEDINGS
OF
THE SOCIETY
OP
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY.
VOL. XXVIII. THIRTY-SIXTH SESSION.
Seventh Meetings December i2tk, 1906.
<Q»
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Prof. A. H. Sayce, Z>.i?.— The Chedor-laomcr Tablets (contd.) 241-251
F. Legge.— The Tablets of Negadah and Abydos. (2 PUUes) ... 252-263
The Rev. F. A. Jones.— Pre-Sargonic Times. A Study in
Chronology. {Plate) 264-267
Prof. Dr. Valdemar Schmidt.— Note on a peculiar Pendant
shown on Three Statues of Usertsen III. {Plate) 268, 269
Theophilus G. Pinches, ZZ.Z>.— The Babylonian Gods of War
and their Legends 270-283
£• J. Pilcher. — A Leaden Charm made under the influence of
Saturn. {Plate) 284, 285
Contents.
Index.
PUBLISHED AT
THE OFFICES OF THE SOCIETY,
37, Great Russell Street, London^ W.C.
19 06.
No. ccxiv.
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PROCEEDINGS
OF
THE SOCIETY
OF
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY.
THIRTY-SIXTH SESSION, 1906.
Seventh Meetings December 12/A, 1906.
Sir H. H. HOWORTH, K.C.LE.^
IN THE CHAIR.
[No. ccxiv.] 239 IT
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Dec. 12] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
The following gifts to the Library were announced, and
thanks ordered to be returned to the Donors : —
From the Author, Prof. E. Naville. — "La Religion des Anciens
6gyptiens."
From the Author, Prof. Dr. A. Wiedemann. — "Agyptische
Religion."
Mr. E. J. Williams, Fort North, Texas,
Mr. G. Haller, 18, Park Village West,
were elected Members of the Society.
The following Paper was read : —
Rev. C. J. Ball, M.A.\ "Assyrian Notes."
Thanks were returned for this communication.
240
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Dec. 12]
THE CHEDOR-LAOMER TABLETS.
[1906.
THE CHEDOR-LAOMER TABLETS.
By Prof. A. H. Sayce, D.D.
{Continued from p. 200.)
Translation of the texts — continued.
A. Sp. 158 -I- Sp. II. 962.
Reverse.
I. I-nu-um
When
ra-bi-tsu
the Accuser
su-lum i-dib-[bu-ub
welcomed
ana D.P. nakra]
\the enemy]
yur-rid se-du-us-su sa d-sar-ra [bit kissat
there departed the guardian-buU of E'Sarra\the temple of the host
ilani
of the gods],
3. D.P. nakru
the enemy,
D.P. Elam-u
the Elamite,
yur-ri-ikh
hurried on
lim-ni-e-tum
mischief.
4. u Bel ana e-ki7 yu-sak-pi-du li-mun-tum
and Bel against Babylon planned exnl.
5. I-nu-um
Whtn
la sa-ma
there was no
mi-sa-ri
righteousness.
iz-ziz-zu-ma
there came
a-khi-tum
the foreign foeman ;
' We may perhaps infer from Cuneiform Texts, XII, 47, 24, that E-KI vras
pronounced agii,
241 U 2
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Dec, 12] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY. [1906.
6. sa ^-sar-ra bit kis-sat ilani yur-rid
of E'Sarra^ the temple of the host ofthegods^ there departed
se-du-us-su
the guardian-bull;
7. D.P. nakru D.P. Elam-u il-te-ki bu-su-su
the enemy ^ the Elamite^ seized its goods ;
8. Bel a-sib e-li-su ir-ta-si [ki-]mil-ti
Bel who sat enthroned upon it had displeasure.
9. I-nu-um sa-bu-ru-u is-ta-nu lim-nam-su-nu
When the mages repeated their enchantments^
10. D.P. Gul-lum u im-khul-lum yu-pa-a^-si-dhi (?) [lim ?]-nj-su-iin
Gullu and the evil wind {worked f) their evil {f) ;
11. yur-ri-du-ma ilani-su-nu yu-ri-du-ma na-qab-bi-is
there departed their gods, they departed like a torrent ;
12. me-khi-e saru lim-nu il-ma-a sa-ma-mi-is
the stormy even the evil wind^ encircled the heavens ;
13. D.P. A-num pa-ti-iq-su-nu ir-ta-si ki-mil-tum
Anu their creator hcul displeasure ;
14. yun-ni-is zi-mi-su-nu yu-na-a-ma man-za^ai^u
he made pale their faceSy he made desolate his abode^
15. [sa] ni-ib-khi ^-an-na yu-^akh-khi utsurta-su
\of^ the sanctuary of E-anna he destroyed the walls^
16. [sa is-da-]a ^-sar-ra i-nu-us ki-gal-la
[of the foundation's of E-sarra he shook the platform.
17. [I-nu-um Bel] iz-kur sakh-lu-uq-tum
[When Bel' decreed destruction
18. [u abu sa ilani] ir-ta-si ki-mil-tum
[and the father of the gods' had displeasure^
19. ikh-pu-un mat Bel) [D.P. umman] Man-da kharran
there ravaged the land of Bel the Manda^hordes' on the road
Su-me-ri-is
to Sumer.
242
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DBC. 12]
THE CHEDOR-LAOMER TABLETS.
[1906.
20. k'U D.P. Ku-dur-lakhkha-mar [e-]pis lim-ni-e-tum
lVAo{ts) Chedor-laamer who has wrought the mischief 1
21. id-kam-ma D.P. umman Ma-an-[da ikh-pu-]un
He has gathered together the hordes of the Man\da ; he has ravag^ed
mat Bel
the land of Bel;
22. yu-na-am-ma-am-ma X
he has laid in ruin 10
a-khi-su-nu
their side.
[alini is-kun pa-Jna ina
[cities; he has tahen the] lead at
23. I-nu-um sa ^-zi-da [iz-ziz-zu sakh-lu-uq-]ta-su
When of E-zida \was determined the destruct^ion^
m
24. u D.P. Nabu pa-qid kis-sat yur-ri-[id ana ma-khar-]su
and NebOy the marshal of armies^ depart\ed to meet] him^
25. sap-lis ana Ti-amti-Ki is-ku-[un pa-ni-su]
down towards the Coastland he {Nebo)^ set [his face,]
26. ana I-bi-D.P. Tu-tu sa ki-rib Ti-amti ikh-mudh
To Ibi-Tutu who (was) in the Coastland he hastened
D.P. Utu^iitu
southward;
27,
i-bir-ma
he passed through
la-su-bat-^u
a seat which was not hiSy
Ti-amti-Ki
the Coastlandy
28.
sa ^-zi-da
{while) of E-ziday
^k-ki-e-su
its shrine.
bit ki-nim
his own true temple.
ir-ma-a
he set up {there)
su-khur-ru-ur
was brohen dawn
^ Or perhaps, Chedor-Uomer. In this case in 1. 26 we should translate
"against Ibi-Tutu," and in 1. 28 kinini will be merely the standing epithet *'the
well-built " temple. But the next paragraph is against this interpretation.
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Dec. 12] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY. [1906.
29. [D.P. nakni D.P.]Elam-u yu-se-sir tsi-in-di-su,
[2^ enemy,] even the Elamite, setforu>ard his steeds^
30. sap-lis ana Bad-i^i-a-ab-ba is-ku-nu pa-ni-su
down towards Borsippa • he had set his face,
31. yur-ri-[da-am-]ma kharran da-um-mat-tu kharran
he marched by the road of the western sunset, the road
me-es-ki-is
to Mas ;
32. D.P. tsi-e-nu D.P. Elamu yu-nab-bil e-ma-akh-su
the wicked one, the Eiamite^ destroyed its palace ;
33. D.P. rubuti [sa Akkadi u Su-me-]ri i-na-ri ina kak-ki
the princes \of Akkad and Sume^ he subdued with the sword ;
34. sa ^-kuriti ka-la-su-nu [is-]lul sal-lat-^u-un
of the temples ^ all of them, he carried away the spoil,
35. [bu-]su-su-nu [il-]qi-e-ma yu-tab-ba-la E-lam-mat
their goods h^to]ok and conveyed to Elam ;
36 mal-ku i-bu-ut mal-ki-su
(he) a prince destroyed its princes ;
37. [qab-la u ta-kha-za ?] im-lu-u-ma ma-a-tum
\with war and battle f\ he filled also the land.
B. Sp. IL 987.
I. [ ? Babylon, the city of Merodach, was troubled •]
2 D.P. Marduk sar] ilani [i- gu-ug ?]
[Merodach king] of the gods [was wroth f],
3. [rabu u tsikhru] ina ali ikh-ta-at ur-ra [u musi]
[Old and young] in the city feared day [and night].
4. [bit UT-]uNU-Ki mar-ka^ sam-e sa ana
[The temple of L]aria, the bond of heaven which (looks) to
ir-bit SA-ru ik-[su-du]
the four winds, they captured.
244
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Dec. 12] THE CHEDOR-LAOMER TABLETS. [1906.
5. [i]-sim-su-nu-tum ^ar-tam
He {MerodacH) assigned to them (the foe) the judgment-halli^)
sa ina din-tir-ki al ta-na-[at-ti-su]
which {is) in Babylon^ the city of \his\ majesty^
6. i-sim-su-nu-tum nam-kur su-ut e-ki tsa-khar u
he assigned to them the possessions of Babylon small and
ra-[ba. ab-bi-um]
great [The elders'\
7. ina niil-ki-su-nu ki-nim ana D.P. Ku-dur-lakhkha-mar
in their trusty counsel to Chedor-laomer
sar mat £-la-[mat]
king of the land of Elam
8. yu-kan-nu-u rid-di ga-na sa eli-su-nu dha-a-bi
gave trusty advice. So that which unto them seemed good
[e-pus-ma]
\he performed^ and]
9. ina E-Ki al Kar-D.P. Dun-ya-as, sarru-tam
in Babylon, the city of Kar-DuniyaSy the sovereignty
ip-pu-us [eli-su-nu]
he assumed [over them] ;
10. ina DIN-TIR-KI^ al sar ilani D.P. Marduk
in Babylon^ the aty of the hing of the gods, Merodach,
id-du-u gis-[gu-za-su]
he set \his throne],
11. ^u-kul-lum u kalbi bit-khab-ba-a-tam i-ma-ag-ga-[ru]
The herd and the dogs the desecrated temple fregueni
[u ina-su]
\and in it]
' The Semitic rendering of the name, subat baladhi " seat of life," implies
that it was pronounced Tir-din. The name of the later Teredon may have been
taken from it, unless this is Iddar&tu as Professor Hommel suggests.
245
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SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY.
[1906.
12. ikh-tar-ku ki-i-nu a-ri-bi mut-tab-ri-su i-ra-mu
they grind the teeth perpetually. The raven winged builds
[qin-na-su ina-su]
\hi5 nest therein] ;
13. i-naq-qar
croaketh
a-ri-bi tsir-khu tab-bi-ik mar-tum
the raven, shrieking {and) pouring out gall ;
ner-pad-da i-ma-ag-ga-ar
the bone loveth
D.P. NIN-
the Lady
[ina kir-bi-su]
[within it"]
14. kalbu ka-^i-i^
the dog who crunches
[digga-na ina-su]
\of Death ; in //]
15. i-naq-qar tsir-khussu D.P. khab-ba-a-tum ta-bi-ik [im-tamj
hisses the snake, the evil one, who pours out \jpoison\.
16. i-u sar mat £-la-mat
Who (is) the king of E lam
e-^ag-gil yu-[^h-khi]
of E-Saggil has [destroyed],
17. [sa] D.P. mare e-ki
[which] the sons of Babylon
i-[dhib-bi (?)]
\was goodQ)]!
18. [an-na]-a-tum sa tas-dhu-ru,
19.
sa Gis nun-nu
who the carved work (?)
is-ku-nu-ma sip-ni-su-nu
made, and their work
um-ma ana-ku sami
This (is) what thou hast written that : * / (am) a king,
mar sarri ....
the son of a king . . . . '
[i-]u mar marat sarri sa ina gis-gu-za
Who (is) the son of the daughter of a king who on the throne
sarru-tam
of kingship
yu-si-bu . . .
will sit . , . ?
246
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Dec. 12] THE CHEDOR-LAOMER TABLETS. [1906.
20. [su-u D.P.] Dhur-makh-AN-M£ mar sa D.P. Eri-e-ku-a
[He is] Sar-ildni the son of Eri-Aku
sa sal-lat Bar-[sip is-lu-ul]
who the spoil of Bor\sippa has carried away],
21. [ina] D.P. ku^si sarru-tam yu-si-ib-raa ina ma-khar
[on] the throne of kingship he has sat and in front
di-i-ku-[su il-lik]
of [his] warriors [has marched],
22. [i-]nu sarni lil-lik sa ultu yu-nm da-ru-u-tu
Now let the king march who from days everlasting
kun-[nu ana sArru-tam]
has been destined for sovereignty],
23. [sa] in-nam-bi bil e-ki ul i-kan-nu
[who] has been proclaimed lord of Babylon ; shall not endure
ip-se-[it D.P. nakri]
the work [of the enemy].
24. [ina] arakh Ki^ilimi u arakh su-kul-na ina e-ki
[/«] the months Kisleu and Tammuz in Babylon
in-ni-ip-pu-[us . . . ]
were performed [the ceremonies] :
25. [ip-]se-e abil kali ^-pi-in-nu mata
witchcraft the son of the mage who destroys the land,
kala-[sa ip-pu-us]
even the whole [of it, practised] ;
26. [ui^ ab-]bi-um ina mil-ki-su-nu ki-nu-um [ana
[and the] elders in their trusty counsel [to
Ku-dur-lakkha-mar (?) rid-di]
Chedor-laomer (J) advice]
27. [yu-kan]-nu abil kali ku-um a-bu-su
[give]: the son of the mage in the place of his father
[kun-nu-u ?]
[was appointed}]:
^^ Or perhaps D.P.
247
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Dec. 12] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCH/EOLOGY. [1906.
28. [D.P. AKH-]siB-MES I amta yu-se-its-bi-[tu]
[the ano]iniers one maid caused to be taken
C. Sp. Ill, 2.
Obverse.
I ip-se-tu-su la . . .
his work does not [continue (?)]
2 tsu Kha-am-mu-[ra-bi (?)]
Khammu'[rabi Q)]
3 ilani nab-nit [a-bi-su(?)]
of the godSy the creation [of his father (^y]
4 yu-mu ina [tsi-it] D.P. Samsi mu-nam-mir
during the day at the rising of the sun who illumities
ad-[na-a-ti]
man[kin(I\
5 bil bil6 D.P. Marduk ina kun-nu
the lord of lords ^ Merodach^ in the faithfulness
lib-bi-su
of his heart
6 ma-al-ku la za-nin
the prince who nourishes not
7. [es-re-e-ta-su] D.P. pa yu-sam-kit D.P. Dhur-makh-AN-ME
[his sanctuary\ Nebo causes to be slain, Sar-ilani
ablu sa D.P. Eri-D.P. fe-a-ku
son^ of Eri-Aku
8. [Bar-si-ip dan-]na-a-tam is-lul me eli e-ki
[Borsippa^ the strong\hold spoiled^ the waters over Babylon
u e-sag-gil
and E-Saggil
248
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Dec. 12] THE CHEDOR-LAOMER TABLETS. [1906.
9. [yus-te-bil D.P. Dhur-makh-AN-M£ mari-su ina kakki
[/le ktflow. As for Sar-ilani'\ his son with the weapon
qat^-su kima as-lu yu-la-bi-ikh-su
of his hands like a lamb slaughtered hiniy
10. [ina eli-sa (?)] ana isati ik-bu(?)-si D.P. s^ba u
\because that'\ to the fire he cast Q) the old and
mara ina kakki
youn^ ; with the sword
11. [D.P. mard E-K[ ra]b u tsikhra ik-ki-i^
[the sons of Babylon^ gr\eat and smally he cut ofi
D.P. Tu-ud-khul-a mar D.P. Gazza . . .
Tid^al the son of Gazza . . ,
12. [Sip-par (?) dan-na-]a-tam is-lul me eli e-ki
[Sippara (?)^^ the stronghold spoiled^ the waters over Babylon
u ^-^ag-gil
and E-Saggil
13. [yus-te-bil D.P. Tu-ud-khul-a] mari-su ina kakki
[he let flow. As for Tid^at\ his son with the weapon
qati-su mukh-kha-su im-qut
of his hands upon him fell^
14. [ina eli-sa ? ku^^a] be-lu-u-ti-su a-na pa-an bit
[because that the seai\ of his dominion before the temple
An-nu-nit [is-kun]
of Anunit [he set up].
Reverse.
I. [sarru sa] E-lam-mat al Akh-kha(?) e-lis
[The king of] Elam the city ofAkhkhaQ) above
mat Rab-ba-a-tum is-lul
the district 0/ the capital spoiled;
" OrAgade, Akkad(?).
249
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Dbc. 12] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
2. [mat Me-es ?-] ku a-bu-ba-nis is-kun ma-kha-zu
[the land of Mas f] in ruins he laid ; the cities
mat Akkadi gab-bi Bar-si-[ip]
of Akkady the whoU of Borsippa^
3. [ka-lis] ik-lu D.P. Ku-dur-lakhkha-mar mari-su ina
\uiterly\ he destroyed. As for Chedor-laomer^ his son with
padhri parzilli sibbi-su lib-ba-su il-ta-[qib]
the dirk of iron of his girdle his heart pierced
4. [ina sep]i D.P. nakri-su il-ki-ma ab-ah
. \atthefeet'\ of his foe, Wcls brought low thus the thought
sarrani a-nu-tu bil6 ar-[ni]
of the kings y these wicked ones^
5. [&r]-ru-tu ka-mu-tu sa sar ilani D.P. Marduk
evil-doers^ prisoners of the king of the gods^ Merodach.
i-gu-ug-su-nu
He WCLS wroth with them ;
6. [ma-la-at] mar-tsa-a-tum i- rat-^u-nu ar-rat u-tsur-ta
\was filled] with affliction their breast ; the curse of a ban
ina [eli-su-nu]
(pas) up [on them],
7. [ga-na(?) i-]tur-ru ana na-me-« gis-te (?)-ME-ni zir
[So Q)] will return to the desert the plants ^ the seed
mat-^u-nu ana sarra bel i-ni[-si]
of their land. To the king^ the lord of the weak^
8. [ir-su(?) mu-]di-e lib-bi ilani
[the wise one Q), wh6\ knows the hearts of the gods ^
rim-nu-u D.P. Marduk ana zi-kir sumi-su
the merciful one^ Merodach^ for the renown of his name
9. [ina ki-rib e-]ki u ^-^ag-gil ni-bu
[in Baby\lon and E-Saggil it is proclaimed :
ana as-ri-su li-tur
* May (his heart) be turned again (to us) /
250
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Dec. 12] THE CHEDOR-LAOMER TABLETS. [1906.
10. [na-khu sa lib-]bi-ka liskun an-na-a sami
[J^esf to] thy heart may he establish I ' This may the king,
bel i-nis(i) lik-[bi]
the lord oftheweak^ pronounce I
11. [li-i^-^u-ukh] limutti-su lib-ba-su ilani
\May he remove] his plague I His heart may the gods
ab[^-su]
[his] fathers
12. [lu-sap-si-khu] btl khi-dhu la i-[su]
\j>acijy] I The sinner shall not exist,
{To be continued,)
251
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Dec. 12] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
THE TABLETS OF NEGADAH AND ABYDOS.
By F. Legge.
The tablets which I propose to describe here are the small
inscribed pieces of ivory or wood found in the course of M. de
Morgan's excavations at Negadah and those of M. Am^lineau
and (later) of Prof. Petrie at Abydos. They are mostly indsed,
with the exception of one or two. which bear an inscription in ink,
and can be referred with great certainty' to the earliest, dynasties of
Manetho. All have been published before and the original memoirs
from which the reproductions in* tlje>i>lates are copied will be found
imder each figure. They are all of very small size, riev^ exceeding
2 or 3 inches square, and their one common feature is the round
hole appearing in the right-hand top comer of each. From this I
draw the conclusion that they were intended to be stmng on a string
or pin or otherwise filed for reference, and that they were thus, in
the strictest sense of the words, records. As will be seen later, it is
contended by me that the events which they were meant to record
were the royal gifts to temples or other religious foundations on the
occasion of certain festivals. The tablets have already been
discussed and different theories have been put forth concerning them
by M. Maspero, Dr. Naville, Mr. Griffith, M. Georges Foucart,
M. Moret and Prof. Petrie,^ and I wish to acknowledge here my
indebtedness to the works of all these writers in case I should
fail firom lack of space to give due acknowledgment to each in the
course of the discussion.
^ See Maspero, Revue CrUique^ 1898- 1 906, passim; Naville, Recueil de
TrcnmuXy t. XXI, XXIV, and XXV, and Za Religion des Ancietts ^gyptiens^
Paris, 1906 ; Griffith, Royal Tombs of the First Dynasty, Vols. I and II ; Foucart,
Comptes Rendus de VAcadimie des Inscriptions ^ 190 1 and 1905, and Sphinx^
Vols. IV and V ; Moret, Le Rituel du Culte Divin Jourftalier, and Le Caractlre
Religieux de la Royauti Pharaonique^ Paris, 1902 ; Petrie, Royal Totnbs^ Vols,
quoted, &c.
252
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PLATE I.
Prac. Soc. Bibl. Arch., Dec, 1906.
Fig. I.
From AVr. ,ie Trccv,, XXI, 105, 1899.
Fig. 2.
From a photograph by Mr. Garsiang.
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Dec. 12] THE TABLETS OF NEGADAH AND ABYDOS. [1906,
The Tablet of Negadah, Plates I and II.
Description of the Tablet,
This, which is the most important of the series, inasmuch as it
gives us, if I am right in my conclusions, the clue to the interpretation
of all the rest, was found in several fragments of which the largest have
been joined together and form the part shown in PI. I, Fig. i. These
were discovered by M. de Morgan at Negadah in 1897 in the great
building which is often, although erroneously, called from this
fragment, the "tomb of Menes." In 1894, Mr. John Garstang
working on the same site was fortunate enough to discover the
missing fragment shown on PI. I, Fig. 2, together with the fragment of
a somewhat smaller tablet bearing, as he thinks, the same inscription.
With the help of this, he has been able to reconstruct the tablet
as he thinks it must have appeared when whole, and this reconstruc-
tion appears in PL II, Fig. i.^ Only the extreme right-hand bottom
comer in this has had to be drawn from the imagination, and I
think an examination of the different figures will convince most
persons that this addition is justified. Mr. Garstang has, however,
omitted the figures in the opposite corner to this, which appear
in the drawing of M. de Morgan's find made by M. J^quier and
published in the 2nd volume of M. de Morgan's Recherches sur
ies Origines de PJ^gypie {Paris, 1897), where it appears as Fig. 549
(p. 167). I have therefore found it necessary to make a second
restoration which will be found in PI. II, Fig. 2. It is this last which
will be referred to in the following remarks.
The tablet appears to have been originally divided horizontally into
three registers, * which I will take in their order. The upper register
^ I have to thank Mr. Garstang for having most kindly sent me the photo-
graphs and drawing from which Fig. 2 of PI. I and Figs, i and 2 of PI. II were
made.
' This appears quite plainly in Mr. Garstang's smaller tablet. But it should
be noted that the line between the top and middle register does not appear
to have been continued to the left-hand or dexter side of the tablet in Fig. i.
This may possibly be due to the weathering of the ivory, which was evidently in a
worse condition when photographed for Dr. Naville's paper in the Recueil (t. XXI,
p. 105) than when copied by M. J^uier at its first discovery. The point will be
referred to when we come to discuss the figures in the left-hand top comer or
dexter canton.
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Dec. 12] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
represents, immediately under the hole bored for the purpose of
placing the tablet on the file, an arched construction enclosed in a
border composed of three parallel lines and containing within it the
well-known vulture and uraeus or nebti group ^^ , which in later
times always formed part of the royal protocol. Below this appears
a sign which has been read by Dr. Borchardt and Dr. Sethe as the
draught-board or nun sign diiiitb, and which forms the sole ground for
their assumption that the king whose hawk name follows was
Manetho's Menes. It will be remembered, however, by everybody
that Dr. Naville has given many cogent reasons against this reading
which gather additional weight from the fact that no confirmation
has been given to Dr. Borchardt's theory by the many other tablets and
jar-sealings of the same reign that have since come to light I prefer
then for the present to read, as does Dr. Naville,* the whole of this
group of signs as nunnebti or " the funerary pavilion of the king,*' while
awaiting the publication in which Mr. Garstang proposes to show
that the sign under the nebti is not Ciiiii, but some other hieroglyph.^
Immediately after this pavilion comes a sr^kh or hawk-crowned
rectangle containing above the usual fa9ade or false door the sign
QA , " Aha " or " the fighter " which appears on the hundred or so of
other monuments belonging to this king. This is followed by the
sacred bark containing the usual cabin or deck-house, and from its
high prow is suspended the most usual sign of the Sed festival.*
Above this soars the hawk riding a harpoon which we have seen on
the great carved slate of Hieraconpolis {F,S,B,A, XXII, PI. I).^
Behind this again come two seated or couchant figures of animals
which Mr. J^quier seems to have thought hawk-headed sphinxes, but
which appear more like the crouching or bound calf portrayed in the
hieroglyph (S^ of which we have many instances in these tablets.
Underneath these are two ^ ^ which here seem to be used as
numerals. In the event of my view that the dividing-line is not
* Recueil de Travatix^ t. XXI, p. 112.
* XZ. Bd. 42 (190S), p. 64. .
* For this, which I would suggest is the ordinary palm-leaf sign of the year, 1 1
with a great many transverse notches added, and a cartouche and atef crown at
the foot, see Naville, Festival Hall of Osarkon, PI. xvii, figs. 1 1, 12. Cf, Lepsius,
Denkm., IV, 57^.
7 As will be seen later, this group appears under one form or another in every
one of these tablets. Cf, also the "Palermo Stone" {Reateil de Travattx,
t. XXV, PI. i).
254
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PLATE II.
Pro<. Sec. Bid/. Arch., Dec., 1 906.
r iMi ir
Tfnn
i^J3EiIlJsi^-^^^'
/'-
f^^JkJi-
D
^^
Mil
I ' ! * * -^
1 7"; .' .
^
Fig. I.
From a drawing by Mr. Garstang.
/= r^ u w\ "^/t>
Fig. 2.
After a drawing by M. Jequier in M. de Morgan's Recherches sur hs Origines
de rtgypte. Vol. II, p. 167, Fig. 549.
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Dec. 12] THE TABLETS OF NEGADAH AND ABYDOS. [1906.
carried to the left edge of the tablet being accepted, it seems likely
that these groups of signs are a kind of overflow from the middle
register, in which there was apparently no room for them.
In the middle register itself appears the principal scene that the
tablet was doubtless made to commemorate. The central group shows
a man dressed in a wig and a singularly abbreviated tunic,® engaged in
stirring with a stick something in a vase or jar supported by a ring stand
about three feet high. On the other side of the vase is the figure of
a man bent over as if to look into its contents with one hand out-
stretched towards it and resting on its rim, while the other is raised
as if in astonishment or adoration. Behind him comes a sort of pro-
cession led by a man dressed in a long kilt and leaning on a stick, and
followed by three personages emerging from an enclosure or hall
surmounted by the cheker sign. Over the three personages of the
procession who remain within the hall are a row of five dots or
circles which, again, are probably intended for numerals. Above the
leader, and in what according to Egyptian ideas of perspective would
be the background, is another man also dressed in a kilt in the attitude
of bowing. Behind him, in the part which is missing from the larger
of the two examples of this tablet, is written a group of three signs
placed vertically which seem to read 1 ^^ <^^ . Above the
head of the figure in the wig are the two signs "^ and <:i>
placed vertically, the lower one being followed by what Mr. Garstang
thinks is a third sign. I should be more inclined to read these signs
as ^mF and §» , but it should be noted that they do not appear
on the larger tablet, the place which they would there occupy to
correspond with the other being broken away. From their distinctness
on the smaller tablet, moreover, there is some possibility of these, as
well as the other group 1 ^^ k^ , having been added by a later
hand. Behind the figure with the wig are ranged, first three seated
figures which should probably be taken as the usual ideogram -J)
for "god," while underneath these three come an ox bound £3^, a
** This very brief tunic or kilt, barely reaching to the knee, and clii^ing to the
figure, is well marked in the representation of Pepi I at the quarries of Wady
Hammamdt. See Lepsius, Defikm,^ II, p. 115, or Moret, Royauti Phai-aonique^
p. 263, Cf, also the very short kilt in the great slate of Hieraconpolis, ubi cit,
255 X
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Dec. 12] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
trussed goose ^^, and a third animal, evidently a dead bird of
some sort. Each of these animals has before it the billet | , which
signifies a numeral. Below these again are a jar with the usual
conical clay seal and another jar without a seal, both bearing lines
which seem to point to an external covering of basket-work, while
behind them is what appears to be the sign for water, not here given
as /vyvwv, but in the chequered form in which it appears under the
sacred bark, and on the top of it a ring or ball, which is probably
the round cake always seen on the table of offerings.*
The lower register contains a group of four men probably all dressed
like their leader in a long kilt, but with their arms bound to the body
and not swinging loose as with the personages in the middle raster.
Facing them is a horizontal line of hieroglyphs which should read
^ jg^ f — * vj^^ X ^^ ^^* Garstang has noticed, there has been
an erasure in both tablets under the sign nct^*-.
TAe Meaning of the Scenes.
This becomes fairly plain when we once picture to ourselves the
ceremonies celebrated at the Sed and other festivals of the kings
of Egypt. As M. Moret shows with great clearness in his most in-
structive book {La Royautt Pharaonique\ the Sed and perhaps most
of the other festivals were periodical contracts in which the god
renewed, for a stated time and in exchange for certain gifts, the
divine power granted to the king on his coronation. That they were
as often celebrated for the dead as for the living seems plain from
thei nstances there given (see especially p. 269 et seq^ where they
are repeated not only for dead kings but for Osiris himself. They
are also peculiarly associated with the foundation of a temple or other
sacred building and would be singularly appropriate to the
foundation of a funerary chapel such as we consider to have be^n the
building at Negadah where the tablet was found.^° That the scene
here depicted belongs to a religious ceremony seems plain from the
occurrence in the upper register of the group g ^. >inS which
• See Naville, Deir el-Bal^ri I, PI. xvi. It should be noted that here, as
elsewhere, the lower shelf (so to speak) of the table is occupied with water-pots.
•^ See Naville, Recucil de Travaux, t. XXIV, p. 109 sqq,
256
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Dec. 12] THE TABLETS OF NEGADAH AND ABYDOS. [1906.
occurs so frequently on the Palermo Stone. This, which Dr. Naville
reads Sches Hor^ is admitted to denote a festival, and if the object
dangling from the beak of the galley is really the Sed symbol, there
can be little doubt that it is some ceremony of the ^d^ festival which is
here depicted.^^ Now at this festival the king is represented as passing
from one chamber to the other where he performs certain symbolical
acts. Thus in one he is represented as seated in a double pavilion, in
one compartment of which he wears the Crown of the North and in
the other that of the South, and is exhibited to the adoration of the
people at the top of a staircase. In another scene he is depicted as
slaking out the ground for the proposed construction in company
with the scribe-goddess Safkhit, digging the foundation lines with a
hoe, and scattering sand in the trench thus formed to make them
more distinct. In yet another he steps out the ground dedicated
either alone or in company with the Apis bull, and in another he
shoots four arrows or releases from a cage four birds which fly
towards the four quarters of the world. But he is also represented as
moulding bricks to be placed at the four angles of the building, and
this is what he is apparently here depicted as doing.^^ In Brugsch's
Worterbuch (Vol. VII, p. 1095), indeed, is given a scene much
resembling that here shown, in which one man is depicted as
pounding something in a mortar placed on the ground while another
stands by with raised pestle ready to take his share in the operation.
This, apparently, has induced Prof. Petrie to suggest that a similas
group shown on another tablet (R.T, I, Pi. xiii, 5) shows "a man
pounding " (pp, city v, p. 21). But the only thing that would be likely
to be pounded in this way is corn, to which Brugsch's scene evidently
refers, and the vessel or clay jar in a ring stand would be singularly
ill-adapted for such a purpose, being at once certain \o break from blows
applied to the inside and liable to tip over. It seems to me therefore
much more likely that the king is here not pounding but mixing the
clay and water necessary for the making of the foundation bricks, while
" Dr. Schafer, Ein Brtuhstuck Altdgyptischer Atmalen, Berlin, 1902, trans-
lates the group the *' Adoration of Horus," which would make little difference
as to the meaning of the scene, although it would introduce some repetition into
the actual reading of the tablet.
1' All the above ceremonies are described at length in Moret's Royauti
Pharcuntique^ where references to the monuments are given. They are also
admirably summarized by Dr. Naville in his ColUge de Frame Lectures now
published under the title La Religion des Atuiefis ^gyptiens (Paris, 1906). See
especially p. 234 et seq,
257 X 2
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Dec. 12] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGV. [1906.
the figure opposite him stands ready to carry them into position as soon
as made. The presence of the jars and the water table behind him
may be connected with this and the man in the back ground who
appears to be bowing is according to M. Moret the figure of a man
modelling in clay (-^.P., 154, note). As for the provisions in the
middle register, we know that at one part of the Sed ceremonies the
king passed through chambers in which tables of offerings were laid
out in presence of the statues of the gods and which were expressly
called fT\ ^ "'"^^^^^ "eating-halls." Perhaps the billet || in
front of each dead animal signifies that one such table was set for
each statue, but this is very doubtful, and it is more probable that
it refers to some numeral as yet unknown to us. On the other side
of the principal group the three men coming from the chamber
surmounted by the cheker ornament y are doubtless the rekhiiou
or peers of the conquering race whose presence was obligatory at
these ceremonies. I should like to see in the , as Mr. Garstang
suggests in his A,Z, article, the spear heads which appear in the
scene on the Hieraconpolis ^* mace as supporting the canopy over
the double pavilion ; but I am not sure that the finials shown on
the mace are really spear heads (the ivory being much eaten away at
this point), and in later times at any rate the symbolism of this seems
to have been completely lost.^^ It seems therefore more likely that
they must be considered as representing flames and that this was the
"chamber of fire," from which the king passed on setting out for the
Sed ceremonies.^^ The circles over the heads of the rekhitou
probably refer, as I have suggested, to their numbers, here denoted
by some system ol* numeration not yet known to us.
Before leaving the middle register, it is necessary to say some-
thing about the two hieroglyphic phrases or groups there found,
which, as I have suggested, may have been added by a later hand,
and on the smaller example of the tablet only. The first of these,
^' Moret, RoyauU Pharaonique^ p. 247.
" Quibell, Hieraconpolis y I, PI. xxvi, 6, and Moret, Royauti Phctrcumiqut^
p. 240.
" See, however, Pepi I at Wady Hammam&t {ubi cit. ) where the supports oi
the pavilion are still spears.
^' See scene from Gayet's LouxoTy given in Moret, Royauti Pharaonique^
p. 338, fig. 68.
258
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Dec. 12] THE TABLETS OF NEGADAH AND ABYDOS. [1906.
which Mr. Garstang would read with some reserve, 1^^ i c^
might well be taken for an archaic and abbreviated form of the
1o^ "the king himself," i7 so often met with in these
ceremonies as a rubric denoting that the particular act must be done
by the king, who was theoretically, and as being himself a god, the
only person who could venture to perform them. As a matter of
practice, however, it was impossible for the king to visit all the
temples in Egypt where such festivals as the Sed were celebrated,
and it was therefore necessary for him to delegate his powers for the
occasion to the high priest of the temple in question who acted in
his name.^8 This would account for the personage in the wig in our
tablet, who seems to represent the king, not wearing either the atef or
the tchesert crown. As Negadah was not even a principal town,
and was quite out of the ordinary track of royal progresses, it is most
probable that the performance of these rites in any temple there
would hok thus delegated. In like manner the legend ^^^
appearing over the head of the priest, which we may perhaps read
^ ^ " chief of the South," would be perfectly appropriate.
The meaning of the two upper registers is then plain, and it will
hardly be disputed that the four figures in the lower register with
bound arms represent prisoners. There only remains, then, to con-
sider the horizontal line of hieroglyphs above-mentioned, which
sufficiently resemble those on all the other tablets yet found at
Negadah or Abydos to convince us that it is some phrase of
common form, or, in other words, a formula. These other tablets
will be reproduced and discussed in later parts of this Paper. In
the meantime, the variants of the formula in the Negadah tablet
which they present appear to work out thus ^' : —
^7 Mariette, Abydos^ I, Pis. 44, 45, 470, 47^, and 53. Cj, Moret, Royaut^
Pharaofiique^ p. 120. If we like to imagine the determinative L. J, it may
mean, as Baron von Bissing suggests in another case {V Anthropologies t. IX,
pp. 351-252 (1898)), the royal storehouse.
i> Compare the ^xwf fi€un\€vs at Athens.
^ The references given in the margin to Royal Tombs ^ I and II, and Abydos^ I«
are to the admirably clear hand copies provided by Prof. Petrie. Reproductions
of the actual objects will be given later.
259
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DfC. 12] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY. [1906.
(^) -^ 2* % Tt ^ "^ ^•^•' "• ^'- '^' ^^ *•
(4 -.S 1 ra O (®'8ns doubtful) J?. 7:, I, PI. xiv, fig. 10.
(</) .^ s.sr^ p -i^ ^ (*« l''^^) ^•^•' I' ^'- ''"'• ^'g- "•
W ] c|i Zl ^ ^ ^ ] I (order doubtful)
* ^ Ji.T., I, PI. XV, fig. 16.
(/) ,1; :^ — ^5 ie.r., i, pi. xv, fig. is.
u
(-i) ^ O ) (order doubtful) H.T., I, Pl. xvii, fig. 28.
U) I -® Igfl ' Qa ^*''"' ■■ PL ri, II.
Amdineau, iV. /^ cPAbydos, t III, i, PL xv, fig. 19.
These are all that can be made out with any certainty, and although
some of these signs can be recognized on other tablets of the period,
they are too fragmentary for any argument to be drawn from them.
Nor can very much be drawn from the order of the signs, which
has evidently been varied by the writers to suit the exigencies of
each particular case; but it is evident that the presence of the
demi-lion ^,,-^ is invariable, in the one instance in which it is miss-
ing, the part being broken away where it would naturally have beert
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Dec. 12] THE TABLETS OF NEGADAH AND ABYDOS. [1906.
found. Next to this comes the group C^j. g==^/^, which appears
in five out of the ten Abydos inscriptions just given in addition to the
Negadah tablet, the three signs composing it being always in close
enough juxtaposition to make it clear that their relative situation is
not accidental. Another group which occurs with equal frequency
is the sign which I have read n-ptt*- (khet\ Which appears in
every case but one in company with one or more <2 (shad), This
last is evidently a numeral denoting probably, as in later times, too,
while the w {tef) sign found in at least three places is probably the
ordinal number meaning " first." The only other sign on which'
I would lay much stress is the vase Q, which occurs in one shape
or another in seven of the above inscriptions, and on three of them
occurs twice.
Th€ Meaning of the Formula.
The reading of this formula presents several difficulties not met
with in later inscriptions. Mr. Griffith admits that there. is here
no evidence of the employment of determinatives,^^ and although
he thinks that the case is different with regard to phonetic comple-
ments, the two instances that he quotes ^i hardly bear out his
contention. It has also been suggested, that in the primitive
writing of such inscriptions as the present, the signs have no
phonetic value, and that each sign represents a word, either by its
pictorial signification or by some convention which we cannot
always trace. Hence we can only guess at their meaning, and until,
some consensus of opinion be obtained, one guess is likely to be as
valuable as another. Hence our best guide must be what we think
from external reasons to be the general sense of the formula, and in
^ Royal Tovibs, I, p. 34.
'^ These are : (i) the employment of the sign O as the phonetic complement
of ^ in the word suten. But if my reading of the phrase J. ^y here given
is correct, this is not the case with this tablet, and the instance on which he relies
is taken from the inscriptions of Qa,, who is certainly not earlier than the end of
the 1st Dynasty, and should probably be assigned to the Ilnd. (2) The use of
the same sign O as part of the IW^ or suten bat title. But this also does not
appear in the earlier inscriptions, while the sign 4 is often found on them
with apparently the meaning of suten and without any complement
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Dec. 12] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. L1906,
this case there is good ground for thinking that this must be a
donation. On the departure of the king (or his representative) from
the "eating-hall," says M. Moret, "le roi fait connaitre aux dieux les
fondations dc bien mcubles et immeubles, les dotations du personnel
sacerdotal .... en reconnaissance des honneurs divins de la fete
Sed et des souhaits dont on Ta combl^." Moreover, since the very
small size of the tablet forbids the belief that it was intended as a
memorial of the ceremony or as a model for future use, the inscription
of the donation was probably its chief raison d'etre. We are con-
firmed in this view by the fact that such things as jars, Q, and
pieces of wood, ^^^^-^^ seem indicated by the signs in each case
accompanied by numerals.
With these hints we seem to be able to make a guess — I do
not pretend to anything more — at the meaning of the signs m
which the formula is expressed. The sign ^. which, I shall
contend, should always be placed first in the different readings
of the formula, seems to be generally used in early times in the
sense of beginning or commencement or the first part of any-
thing. Hence it would be very appropriate to the foundation of
a temple or chapel, and in this sense I propose to read it The
group ^s^t=3y^ which follows, Mr. Griffith would read with
the last as , „j3^ H ^y> which he translates as "who takes the
throne of Horus." But this, besides giving no particular sense in
itself, does not seem to agree with the context, either here or in the
variants, and it is to be noted that, in the variants I have called
(^) (/) te") (^) and (/•), the group ^*==*cd *^ dropped, which
would render Mr. Griffith's reading of the first sign impossible.
I propose therefore, while accepting Horus as the equivalent of
^. to give to the ^ the meaning of "temple," or "sacred
building" which it often takes later, and to read »== as the primi-
tive form of what was afterwards 5^, with the sense of "bringing,"
or even "giving." The sentence would then read, "At the foundation,
the Horus (/>., the king) gave to the temple." What it was he gave
is sufficiently showTi by the khet sign ^o'^^, which we may take in its
more primitive sense of "wood," while the erased sign underneath
it may be restored to accord with (a) as one, or with variants {p) {d)
(e) and (/) as two measures. The amount of the measure cannot, of
262
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Dec. 12] THE TABLETS OF NEGADAH AND ABYDOS. [1906-
•course, be stated with any accuracy, but if the later significance of
the © be considered, it may be held to mean one or two hundred
beams, planks, or other quantities of wood. In like manner the
«ign which follows, if it be really T, may mean, as later, 1000, and as
the bears under it the sign of the plural, it must be taken as
signifyihg a thousand jars of some liquid. Was this bitumen, which
^eems to have been much used in the construction of these edifices,
or clay for bricks, or even water, very likely to be precious on the
edge of the desert? And were the four captives seen before the
inscription included in the donation, slaves given to the temple for
sacrifice or otherwise, or merely the carriers of the king's bounty ?
As they do not appear later, this last question will remain un-
4inswered.
Summary.
On the whole, then, my suggestion is that the tablet should be
read thus : —
First Register. — At the Sed festival of the Horus Aha in his
pavilion of repose (/.tf., after his death).
Second Raster. — [Rudric.] The acts done by the king him-
self (/.^., by the priest who plays his part). The chief of
the South mixes the clay for the bricks of the foundation
before the Rekhiiou and passes through the eating-hall,
where tables of offerings of meat, wine, and the like are
set before three statues of the gods.
Third Register. — At the foundation, the Horns gave to the
temple (or had brought by his slaves) two hundred
measures of wood and a thousand measures of water (and
in the alternative four captives).
I by no means venture to assert that this reading is the only one
possible or even likely, but I hope to be able to show later that it can
be made to accord with the inscriptions on the other tablets of the
:3ame age.
{To be continued,)
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Dec. 12] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHifiOLOGY. [1906-
PRE-SARGONIC TIMES.
A STUDY IN CHRONOLOGY.
By THE Rev. F. A. Jones.
The excavations at Nuffar furnish a very remarkable consecutive
record of a long period of time. The sectional diagram of this on
p. 549 of Prof. HiLPRECHT*s Exploraitofis in Bible Lands is of unique
interest, giving as it does in condensed form so much valuable data
by which to judge the history. The lists of Babylonian and Egyptian
Kings in the Catalogues of the British Museum also furnish very full
information of the same character, and do not exceed the estimate of
at most 5000 R.c. for the earliest archaeological remains.
The points in the sectional diagram referred to above, reproduced
with Prof. Hilprecht's kind permission (see Plate), which may be
said to be identified with unquestioned accuracy are the Parthian
Era, 200 B.C., and Assurbanipal, 650 b.c. The interval shows 4^ feet
deposit, or one foot per century.
It would be absurd to attempt to gauge time with any accuracy
by the depth of deposit of this kind, which must have varied greatly
with the conditions. Times of peace would remain largely without
record ; times of disturbance or of building activity might suddenly
account for several feet. Still, as this argument has been used to
prove the earliest remains at Nuffer 8000 b.c., it may be examined.
From Assurbanipal, 650 b.c., to Nardm Sin, 3750 b.c. (according
to the received reckoning), we have 14^ feet to represent 3100 years.
And if the date given by Prof. Hilprecht (p. 417) for Kadashman
Turgu, 1400 B.C., and that of 2500 b.c. for Ur Ninib are right, we
have 2 feet deposit for 750 years, 2^ feet for 11 00 years, and then
10 feet for 1250 years, without appropriating a date for Ur Gur. This
sufficiently proves the irregularity. The interval of 8 feet between
Ur Gur and Narim Sin stands in the British Museum List for 1250
years, but is not bridged over by a single known name. If Eri Arku,
2300 B.C., and Khammurabi, 2200 b.c, were, as we now have good
264
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Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch,, Dec, 1906.
RuiTHiAn BuikOincs
rc»;rift<»T>ori «r Bmithiam fpRTWCaa
Dtg>yy A -6 PL •» P*g toi fica_
Waqashmah • Tuwcu
P f IM-
P *' ^ <fV^
Two /«yer9 qf
^v«i - ^A«»j_ VsyeL.
PRC - dAncOHIC
LowtsT unn rourtp vHOLg J
nucnchT „ SCAL tnPRfsaiQN ^
Vmcw 3oiL
WATtR L^VCL-
Section of the Stage-Tower and the Adjoining Southeast Court
Restored and designed by Hilprecht, diaivn hy Fisher
A'B-P-L. Ashurbanaf>al. N-S. Naram-Sin. U-G. Ur-Cur. P Pave-
ment . ■§. Baked Buck. = . Paiement of two lay en of bncks. Measure
ments given in feet.
From Prof. Hilprecht's Explorations in Bible Lands, 1903.
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Dec. 12] PRE-SARGONIC TIMES. [1906.
reason to believe, contemporary with Abraham, 2000 b.c. is about as
early as they can reasonably be placed.
The Elamite invasion, according to Berossus, was quite' 200 years
before the Babylonian dynasty to which Khammurabi is appropriated,
and Rawlinson in Herodotus (I. 423) argues by four lines of proof
that this took place about 2231 b.c. If so, the invasion after
Ur Gur, so graphically depicted by Prof. Hilprecht (pp. 379-81
and 513), was probably a later one, in support of which view further
evidence might be adduced.
In my short pamphlet on " The Inscription of Nabonidus " I have
stated reasons for a different understanding of the 3200 years to
Narim Sin, which would bring that king say 2300 B.C., and make
him the immediate predecessor of Ur Gur.
Professor Sayce in his paper on " The Astronomy and Astrology
of the Babylonians" {S,B,A. Trans., Ill, p. 237), before the discovery
of this inscription, referring to the record of the equinox being then
in Aries, gave 2540 B.C. as the "extreme limit of the antiquity of the
ancient Babylonian Calendar " of Sargon I by the precession of the
equinoxes.
The view I have contended for has the merit, at all events, of
agreeing with the Chronology of Berossus, so explained, with the
Hebrew, Hindu, and Chinese classics, and, as shown above, with the
date of Sargon I as calculated by the precession of the equinoxes.
If it is even approximately correct, it involves that the deluge
testified to by these authorities took place within 100 years of
Sargon I, which raises points of considerable interest, as in that
case a great deal at least of the pre-Sargonic remains must be
antediluvian. Is that possible ?
All the authorities agree in describing that 100 years, or there-
abouts, following the deluge, as being a time of petty kings, and
Prof. Hilprecht seems to confirm this by the testimony of the
monuments (pp. 254 and 383). But what of the Flood?
Professor Sayce, to whom the suggestion was made, very kindly
replied, and pointed out the grave difficulty involved in the supposi-
tion that the crude bricks of the pre-Sargonic period could have
survived a deluge which lasted, according to the Hebrew account, for
twelve months. But the crude bricks referred to in this connexion
are said by Prof. Hilprecht to be made of clay, not of mud as
in Egypt. Such bricks would speedily be re-converted into clay.
It must be, however, remembered that clay is not exactly mud.
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Dec. 12] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. Ci9c^-
Puddled clay will resist the flow of water very effectually, and it
seems not impossible that the first few layers of bricks permeated
with water might serve this purpose, even if the 4 feet difference of
the two plain levels indicated in the diagram did not also indicate
an alluvial deposit brought up by the first rush of water, which mi^ht
serve the same purpose and protect the buildings which it covered.
In this connection it is interesting to note the quantity of worked
clay found at Nuffar, that is, clay that had been abready made into
bricks but had disintegrated — Why not by the Deluge? XJr Gur
found this material so abundant that he covered Naram Sin's pave-
ment with it 8 feet in depth. As there are two layers of it with
articles imbedded, it was evidently laid in the position in which it
is found (p. 387). Prof Hilprecht further tells us where such
material could be found, and it is specially interesting to read of
an ancient wall which thus formed a source of supply (pp. 493 and
499), and especially because when the pit was examined from which
such clay had been taken, a pre-Sargonic gateway was found imme-
diately beneath, pro\ing that the cause of the destruction of that
wall at all events was subsequent to the pre-Sargonic period, though
the earlier remains survived it.
It must not be imagined, however, that the pre-Sargonic buildings
were constructed necessarily of unprotected crude bricks. On p, 373
Prof. Hilprecht argues specially against any such assumption con-
cerning later structures. Besides which, there is testimony to baked
brick and sometimes bitumen having been used for the protection or
construction of at least some of the pre-Sargonic work. It was so at
Nuffar (p. 398), where well-baked bricks are described as forming
the arch of the most ancient drain. Also at Telloh (p. 240-1) the
earlier structure is imbedded in baked bricks laid in bitumen, though,
as this is ascribed to Ur Nina, it may possibly be too late to apply.
The description given on pp. 173-4 of the oldest work at Muqayyar,
"sun-dried bricks in the centre, with a thick coating of massive^
partially burnt bricks of a red colour with layers of reeds between
them, the whole, to the thickness of 10 feet, being cased with a wall
of inscribed kiln-burnt bricks," suggests at least a structure that
might even survive the flood, especially as it is said (p. 176) that this
dates to the pre-Saigonic period.
Another possible confirmation is found in Prof. Hilprecht*s
explanation of the peculiar L-shaped structure and the reason for
building it (p. 45 1) ; while the evident care taken in Nar4m Sin*s
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Dec. 12]
PRE-SARGONIC TIMES.
[1906.
day of relics of the pre-Sargonic age, the civilization of which was
so highly advanced, is at least consistent with the view suggested.
At all events, so much attention is just now being given to
remains of this period, that it will soon probably be easy either to
prove or to disprove the possibility of a deluge having occurred
since the earliest buildings on this very probable site for antediluvian
remains.
Accepted Dates.
B.C.
y Parthian
V
V Assurbanipal
V
V Kadashman Turgu
200
650
1400
< Ur Ninib
2500
V Ur Gur
V
Naram Sin
2500
3750
a is known lor certain, the rest estimated.
Calculation on the Accepted
Dates.
c
d
feet.
4i
2
2i
4i
8
10
d
d + c + d I4i
years.
450
750
HOC
or,
IIOO
1250
or,
1250
per century,
1 2*0 inches.
3100
32 »
272 „
4*9 ..
769 „
96 „
5 *6inches.
Suggested Revision of Naram
Sin's Date.
feet
4i
years.
450
per century*
12 inches*
d + c + d I4i 1600 10*87 inches*
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Dec. 12] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [1906.
NOTE ON A PECULIAR PENDANT SHOWN ON THREE
STATUES OF USERTSEN IH.
By Prof. Dr. Valdemar Schmidt.
The British Museum received last year from the Egypt Explora-
tion Fund, three excellent statues found at Der el Bahari by Prof.
Naville and Mr. H. R. Hall during the excavations made by them
on behalf of the Fund. The statues, Nos. 684, 685, 686, represent
the XHth dynasty king, usually called Usertesen^ or Userisen\ and
lately, by some Egyptologists, Senusert^ and Sesostris III,
All three statues, which are partly mutilated, the lower part of
the arms and legs being missing, have on the breast as a pendant,
an ornament which, though not hitherto quite unknown, is seldom
met with.
The pendant in question was recognised, some years ago, by Dr.
H. Schafer, of the Berlin Museum, as a knot tied with a linen band.
It was considered in Old Egypt an amulet of magic power, and
therefore often worn. This pendant is not the only form of magic
knot used by the Ancient Egyptians. There are many other forms
which have been studied quite recently by Baron Dr. Fr. W. von
BissiNG in a very interesting article, " Aegyptische Knotenamulette,"
printed in a volume dedicated to the late Dr. Hermann Usener on
the occasion of his 70th birthday. This volume was published in
1905 as an Appendix to Vol. VIII of Archiv fiir Religiotiswissen-
schaft.
The pendant in question is seen on the breast of a bronze bust
in the Eg>'ptian museum of the "Palais du Cinquantenaire " at
Brussels, and also on the breast of the upper part of a granite
statuette of an Egyptian king in the Glyptothek Ny Carlsberg at
Copenhagen (marked A. 1, see Plate). This figure seems to have
been seated, but the lower part has disappeared ; what remains of it
is 12^ inches high. As it bears no inscription it is difficult to assign
a date to it. It was bought in Cairo in 1892, and, according to the
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Proc. Soc. Bibl, Anh.y Dec, 1906.
GRANITE STATUE
IN THE COPENHAGEN GLYPTOTHEK.
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Dec. 12] NOTE ON A PECULIAR PENDANT. [1906.
dealer, it was found at Memphis near the spot where the well-
known statuettes of old kings in the Cairo Museum were found (at
Mitrahinne). It might possibly, therefore, date from the Old Empire.
A comparison of this statue with those from D^r el Bahari clearly shows
that the former represents Usertesen III. In the Berlin Museum is
the upper part of a granite statuette of a king (No. 11 348), which is
similar in character, but without the pendant on the breast. This
statuette is also uninscribed, but is, in the Catalogue, attributed to
the Middle Empire.
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THE BABYLONIAN GODS OF WAR
AND THEIR LEGENDS.
By Theophilus G. Pinches, LL,D.
{Continued from f, 218.)
The legends of the god Nirig or fenu-reStu are two in number^
both bilingual, and of the nature of hymns in his praise. The first is
entitled Ana-gim gima^ 'Formed like Ami,* and the second, Lugcde
ud melama-bi nirgaly * The king, when his princely splendour.' Both
these have been excellently published and translated by Dr. Fried,
Hrozn^, who, as has already been remarked, makes some excellent
suggestions as to the true reading of the name of this god.
The shorter legend is inscribed on four tablets, very neatly written^
and provided with ruled borders to give them a finish. None of them
are complete.
The first is of the nature of a hymn in praise of the god,
describing him as being in the form of Anu and Bel, as the giant of
the Anunnaki, who is clothed with awesome fearfulness, and as the
son of Bel. In his anger he destroys the gods of the hostile
lands, etc.
The second tablet is in a better condition, though still incomplete,
being the lower part of the obverse and the upper part of the reverse.
It began by describing the god as riding in a chariot of lapis-lazuli —
that stone whose beauty had early captivated the Babylonians, so that
they regarded it as being the most suitable material for the things
needed by a god or hero. After a gap, we learn that Anu gave to
Nirig, as a gift, terrible magnificence in the midst of heaven, whereof
the dreadful news was received by the namru (translated * whale ' by
Hrozny) in the ocean, and it was said that the Anunnaki, the great
gods, did not on that account attack him.
* The (royal) lord like a stormflood rushed past —
Nirig^ destroyer of the defence of the hostile land^ rushed like a storm-
flood past.
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Dec. 12] THE BABYLONIAN GODS OF WAR. [1906.
Like a storm he thundered in the foundation of heaven^
Setting his course^ by the command of Bel ^ to A-kur —
A hero of the gods^ overthrowing the land —
To the city Nippur^ unapproachable from afar,
Nusku^ the sublime messenger of Bel ^ went to meet him in Jk-kur^
Greeting lord Nirig with ''peace * .• 25
* Lord?^ thou art hero^ thou art perfect^ thine intention is thine otvn —
Nirigy thou art Juro^ thou art perfect^ thine intention is thine own^
The fear of thy splendour has covered BeVs house like a garment.
As to thy chariot^ at the sound of its thundering^
In thy course tremble heaven and earth —
At the raising of thine arm a shadow extends.
The Anunnakij the great gods^ tremble even to the horizon.
Terrify not thy father in his dwelling-place —
Terrify not Bel in his dwelling-place.
Make not the Anunnaki tremble in the seat of UbSukenaku,
Let thy father give thee a gift for thine heroic arm.
Let Bel give thee a gift for thine heroic arm,*
Mighty king Anu, chief of the gods,
Befs prince ; ^ the living creatures of A-kur,
O hero of the mountains, who slay est.
Send then not one single god \? to destroy them] —
[Hero of the mountains], who slay est,
Send them [not one single '
I
The third tablet is a similar fragment, containing the middle
portion of the text — the lower part of the obverse and the upper part
of the reverse. It seems to begin by referring to some beings,
divine or human, who, like birds, would retire behind their defences,
» Lit. : " He speaks to Lord Nirig * Peace.'"
* In the Sumero- Akkadian version " My king."
" In Sumero- Akkadian ^JTT J*", translated, in the Semitic line (according
to Hrozn/) by EJpJ ^f ^l^^ which he transcribes *»*•*' ia iutari, **sceptre-
be^er," here as a title of Bel, whose name follows. Instead of £2fj^ ^T ^>
I thought I saw, on the original, ^Iff^ ^ ^9 u-ma-as, construct of umaiu,
"prince," "hero," or something similar— a synonym oUdtu, one of the meanings
of ^TT when pronounced mes, I regard the second character as being part of
^y, but all three are doubtful. The Babylonians called Ochos (Artaxerzes III.)
Umasu (see the Proceeding, Vol. VI, 202 ff) — is this a variant of the word ?
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seemingly at Nirig's approach. 'Who can make head,' he says,
* against my fearful magnificence, which is mighty like Anu ? '
* lam iordf the pointed mountains have taken refuge at the horizon —
The mountain of limestone^ chalcedony^ and lapis-lazuli fills my hand.
The Anunnc^i have rushed like wild swine into the clefts ;
In the mountains I wreaked vengeance for my heroic arm.
In my right hand I bear aloft §ar-ur ;
In my left I bear aloft Sar-gaza.
I bear aloft Udkaninnu, the weapon of my Anuship ;
I bear aloft the hero^ the destroyer of the mountains, my Udbanuila ;
/ bear aloft the weapon which eateth the corpses like a dragon —
the mir-siliga
I bear aloft the destroyer of the mountains, the heavy weapon of Anu,
I bear aloft the subduer of the mountains ^ the fish whose fins are seven.
I bear aloft the wild cow of battle, a snare for the hostile land.
I bear aloft the cutter of necks, the sword, the dagger of my Anuship .
I bear aloft that from which no mountain hath escaped, the battle-net,
I bear aloft the helper of heroes, the long bow, as arm of battle,
I bear aloft the girdle which fitteth a man, the bow of the stormflood,
I bear aloft the conqueror of the house of a hostile land, the bow and
the shield,
I bear aloft the stormflood of battle, GI§-KU-sag-ninn<i (i.e., the
weapon with fifty heads).
I bear aloft that ivhich, like the great serpent, hath seven heads,
dealing death, Gi§-ga-sag-imina.
I bear aloft that whose face, like the serpent-dragon of the sea,putteih
to flight the enemy, the over thrower of the fierce battle, the strong
one in heaven and earth, GI§-KU-sag-ia (i.e., the weapon with
five heads).
I bear aloft him who, like the day, sendeth forth light, Kura-§u-ur-ur.^
I bear aloft the consolidator of fuaven and earth, Erim-a-bi-nu-tuga.
/ bear aloft the weapon whose fearful splendour [overthroweth] the
land, in my right hand greatly used, standing forth for admira-
tion in gold and lapis-lazuli, Igi-kim-tila.
/ bear aloft the weapon which, like the Fire-god, consumeth the hostile
land, GI§-KU-sag-ninn<i (i.e., the weapon with fifty heads).
Here the text breaks off, but in all probability it continued, with
references to other wonderful weapons and devices for overthrowing
* " He who maketh the mountain to tremble.*'
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the enemies of the gods, of himself, and of Babylonia, especially the
city where the seat of his worship was. I have translated it in full in
order to show how fertile was the fancy of the Babylonians in such
things. It is worthy of note, that in the Sumero-Akkadian lines there
is a slight variation from the Semitic text, namely, the addition of
the word mu, *my,' after the names of the emblems and weapons
enumerated : Gii-ku-sag-ninnti-mu, ^my weapon with fifty heads,' etc.
The fiftal tablet of this series is contained on three pieces, all
more or less fragmentary. The text is fairly well preserved, and
though the pieces do not join, two of them are duplicates, so that
a portion of the inscription receives completions which we should not
otherwise possess.
Where the tablet opens, Nirig is to all appearance still describing
his own glories: he is the king who, like Anu, has the day in his
power ; the mighty one, Bel's stormflood, who is not met with in the
mountains.
^ Lord Nirig am I^at the invocation of my name shall how dawn
The supreme powers^ the hrilliance of the labu, w?unn Bel in his
strength hath begotten.
Since Anu, the mightiest of the gods —
King Anu in his great strength I saw, even /,
Have I been the weapon destroying the lofty mountains which is used
for royal dignity,^
The mighty power of battle, the living creature oflStar, am I;
The hero, wlio by the decision of £a {or Aa\ goeth to the fierce fight,
am L —
Let my dominion to the boundary of heaven and earth shine forth.
The mighty one of the gods am I, with splendour let me be clothed.
Beloved city, house of Nippur, may thine hecul^ [be high] like heaven,
O my city. In the city of my brothers let [me be] chiefs
O my temple. In the temple of my brothers [let me be chiefs
. , . my city is the well of water
^ Nam-lugal-la dHm-me»eH, The ma after dum, which Hrocn/ gives in
Italics, has been erased by the scribe.
^ The word for head was J^^^y traces of which, and not of t ^^^Y ^ are
clear on the broken edge.
" Not g ^^T , but quite clearly ^^Q^, followed by another character.
The group may have been »^Q^ £T*"» i^'g^^ = oi^ridu and gugallu, '< eldest,*'
"chief."
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Here comes a gap, followed by some imperfect lines, and then
the text continues : —
The hero's brilliant [words],
JVirig's gracious [speech],
Nin-kar-nunna heard.
To lord Nirig stepped she then and spoke to him a prayer : —
* Lord, in thy city, which thou lovest, may thine heart take rest^
Lord Nirig, in thy city, which thou lot^est, may thine heart take rest.
In the temple of Nippur, thy city which thou lovest, may thine heart
take rest.
When ^'Su-me-du, the seat of thine hearfs delight, with joy t/um
enterest.
To thy consort, the handmaid Nin-Nibri^
What is in thine heart tell her, what is in thy mind tell her^
Tell her the gracious words of the king for remote days^
(She) who {as) the offspring of the prince was brought forth,
Nin-kar-nunna,
Then from the mouth of a victim ^^
Amidst offerings^ sprinkled water of healing.
When he had spoken in fullness ....
His command for future days [? he set firm, and]
Went (?) to A'Su-me-du in glory (?).**
The heart of Nirig was pleased —
* Lord Nirig looked upon her with favour —
Upon his consort, the handmaid Nin-Nibri.
He told her what was in his hearty he told her what was in his tnind^
He told her the gracious words of the king for remote (days).
The hero, whose heroism shineth forth,
Nirig, the son of Bel —
His supremacy from the house of Belfilleth the earth.
The lord, destroyer of the mountains, who hath no rivcU,
^ Hroni^ : *' aus dem Munde des Ausgiessens.*' Niqtl means not only
"libation," but also " sacrifice," "victim."
» ^yyy ^ H-IUL >flf-<T t^yj, lH^^i kat-n-e. The Sumero- Akkadian,
however, has '^f ^TTrT» '^"A** "that which is pregnant," as the equivalent of
kairCf hence Hrozn^Ts suggestion that the meaning is vuiva. Perhaps the idea
of " bringing forth " has developed into that of " offering as a gift."
^ The traces seem to be those of ^J &]f]f^» iu-pii, an adverbial foim from
SupA, " to beam forth.^^ Hrozn^ suggests a form of this root, and my revision
confirms his restoration of the non-Semitic version.
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Hath fiercely let loose his sublime battle —
The hero in his strength rusheth past,
O Nirigj sublime son of A-kur^
Prince 0/ the father thy begetter^ thy glory is supreme.
Here comes the colophon :
Tablet IV of ^Formed like Anu^ to its conclusion.
Palace of AHur-bani-apli^ king of the worlds king of Assyria,
To all appearance this text is merely for the purpose of showing
how Nirig became one of the gods of £-kur in Nippur, along with
his father Bel. The part in which he is requested not to disturb his
father Bel in fe-kur with the noise of his chariot is curious, not to say
amusing. Was it because of the noise he made that he was admitted
as one of the gods of Nippur ? In any case, it is not to be wondered
at that a deity with so many dreadful weapons and terrifying things
was looked upon as one of the gods of war, and honoured accordingly^
As will have been noticed, Nin-Nibri or BUit Nippuri was regarded
as his consort, from whom, if the text be understood aright, Nirig had
apparently become estranged, and was reconciled to her by the
intervention of his attendant, Nin-kar-nunna.
One point in the enumeration of Nirig's many weapons and divine
emblems is noteworthy, namely, the reference to the bow of the
stormflood, giS-ban a-ma-gur, Semitic qaStu (dbubi). This suggests
some connection with the rainbow, symbolized, in the story of the
flood, by means of Istar's sacred necklace. The reference to the
stormflood of battle points to another symbolical use of the term, in
which an invading army is likened to a destroying inundation. The
description of Nirig as the mighty one, BeFs stormflood, who is not
met with in the mountains, calls to mind the explanation of their
defeat given by the Syrians, on the ground that the Israelites' god
was a god of the hills, on which accQunt the latter was the stronger
of the two.3° Nirig was a god of this kind ; he could not be met
(/>., resisted) in the mountains, and it may be that, as he was, before
the entry of the Israelites, the god of one of the districts near
Jerusalem, if not of Jerusalem itself, the Syrians identified the God
of the Hebrews with him. The result of the encounter in the plaiA
was disastrous to the Syrians, who, it will be remembered, were
" I Kings, XX, 23.
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defeated by the Israelites at Aphek. As Babylonia itself consisted of
an immense plain, the inhabitants would, in all probability, if asked,
have denied that Nirig, their war-god of the hills, could not have
aided them in the defence of their fatherland, in one of the chief of
whose cities he had his seat.
We now come to the kst of the interesting legends, or texts of
that nature, on my list This is the legend entitled * The king, when
his glorious splendour (streamed over the land' — or something
similar). The first fragment in order, according to Hroznj's publi-
cation, speaks of the Tigris, and mentions the time when the Idiglat
(= Hiddekel, its early Semitic name) 'was troubled, dammed up,
disturbed, and weakened,' a statement which recalls the fact that the
sister-stream, the Euphrates, was treated in the same way by Cyrus
when he captured Babylon (according to the Greek historians).
Both Herodotus and the Babylonian inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar
testify that the Babylonians had for a long time been nervous on that
score, and the inhabitants of cities on the Tigris would seem to have
had the same feeling with regard to the stream which then, as now,
was the life of the city through which it flowed. The next tablet
is apparently wanting, but the colophon of this fragment, which gives
the first line, refers to some deity who * came forth from fl-gir (the
temple of the sword) and went to battle.'
What the gap may be between this and the next is not known,
but as the tablet which follows is given as the eleventh of the series,
the amount wanting must be considerable.
This section refers to Nirig and the stones used in making statues,
bas-reliefs, and seals, whose fates he decided. The first referred to is
the dolerite, and this portion contains a distinct reference to the
statues in that material in £-ninnu, the temple of Laga^ the unnamed
king referred to being either Gudea or one of his dynasty. Notwith-
standing that this passage is exceedingly mutilated, I give such a
translation as is at present possible, on account of its historical
interest : —
• Tlhe lord stood by the dolerite —
Like a reed in the mountain [? alone he stood] —
Nirig^ the lord^ the son of Bel^ decided its fate:
* Dolerite^ who in my battle [? remainedst inactive]^
Like heavy smoke [which doth not move],
Thou raisedst not thine arm [to help me] —
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In the rebellions the lord alone [thou leftest\
^Nirig^ lordy son of Bel^ who is like unto [thee?] . . .
J^rom the lofty mountain may it . , .
From the mountain of Makkan may it [he drought}].
Thou [cuttestf] the copper^ which is strong^ like skin J
*I am lordyfor my heroic arm [art thou] greatly [suited,]
The king who setteth his name that it may live to remote days^
Who carveth his image for future times^
In £-ninntiy the temple which is full of delight^
May he ^et] thee at the place of water-drinking i)^ , . , as an
adornment,^
The lord [assumed the form] of the stone^
[He entered] the body of the stone tablet Q).
Nirigy the lord^ the son of Bel^ pronounced a curse :
* As it were a stone (am) I
Stone^ which in my battle [refusedst] to take part^
ThoUy in thine acts^ mayest thou lie dawn like a swine.
Be thrown down^ and be not used for work — end in becoming small:
May he who knoweth thee return thee to the waterJ
The (kingly) lord stood by the dXzJUvL'Stone^
Nirigy the lordy the son of Bely decided its fate:
* [^] ^^^ ^^^ ^^ enemy of the understanding man, mayest thou for
fear of me fall down.
/Reverse.
In hostile land as in (this) land mayest thou proclaim my name.
In thy well-being thou shall not be reduced —
May thy greatness hinder belittling.
May my command work good in thy body.
In the clash if weapons, hero, whom thou killest, gloriously end ;
In the great court, the plain (of burial) mayest thou found;
May the land favourably regard thee and cause thee to be an honour^
The lord stood by the * mountain-stone^
For its power he speaketh,
Nirig, the son of Bel, decideth its fate :
* Glorious hero, the beaming of the light of whose eye is directed on
(alt) sides —
^Mountain-stone,^ who in the hostile land a mighty cry hast caused^
Victoriously my hand did not seize it —
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IVith the unworthy have I not thrown it.
At the feet of thy people thou shalt not be poured out.
Let the command of the sun-god be thy command —
Guide thou the lands like a judge.
The wise one, he who knoweth e^jery thing.
Let him treasure thee like gold,
O hero, whom I have grasped, I lay not dotvn to rest until I gave thee
life.
Now, by the fates of Nirig,
It is said: ^ There are days in the land, the mountain-ston^ lives J
Let it be thus.
Naturally, if my supposition that the portion referring to dolerite
was written as it here stands in consequence of the statues of that
material which were set up at LagaS (the stone is expressly stated by
Gudea, as here, to have come from Makkan) be correct, that circum-
stance has a certain amount of importance, as it would fix the date of
the composition of the legend as being not earlier than 2700 years
RC, or thereabouts. More material is required before this can be
stated as a fact — ^at present it can only be given as a note-worthy
probability.
From the brilliance of the * mountain-stone,' it is not improbable
that it was the name, or one of the names, of the diamond. Like
the diamond, * the light of its eye ' is said to have been directed on
all sides. The stone in question was apparently regarded as similar
to the sun-god in the possession of a command, and it imitated him
also in its guidance of the lands like a judge, apparently because its
rays, like those of the great orb of day, penetrated everywhere. How
precious it was in the eyes of Nirig, who conceived it, may be judged
from the fact that he is said not to have rested until he had brought
it into existence. By Nirig's fates, according to the inscription, it
was said that there were days in the land because the * mountain-
stone ' lived, implying that its brightness imitated that of the sun, the
orb of day. The word * mountain-stone ' reminds us that the greatest
diamond of modern times is known by the Persian name of Koh-i-NQr,
* the mountain of Light,' but the Babylonian name may have origi-
nated in a different way. The Sumero-Akkadian name is za ka (or,
enimaYgina, *the stone of the faithful sa>'ing.' This may have a
bearing upon the name of one of the earliest viceroys of LagaS,«
Urti'ka (or, enimaYgina, whose name might then mean, instead of
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Dec, 12] THE BABYLONIAN GODS OF WAR. [1906.
*City of the faithful saying,' * Diamond-city,* or, *(He of the)
Diamond-city.'
The twelfth tablet is preserved only in a small fragment, belonging
to the Royal Museum of Berlin, which originally formed a part of the
library of tablets kept at Borsippa, the modern Birs-Nimroud. It
is published by Abel and Winckler in their Keilschrifttexte^ p. 50 f.
See also Hommel's Sutnerische LesestUcke^ pp. 122-125. It has the
beginning and the end of the section with which it was inscribed : —
* The hero stood by the alabaster^
JVirigy the lord^ the son of Bely decided for it the fate :
* Alabaster^ whose body is brilliant like the day —
Purified silver, O hero, which for the palace is culorned.
Thy hand alone hath not held.
In thy mountain mayest thou lie on the ground.
With the weapon have I not smitten thee — let my potver enter —
* The gracious place ^^ let thy name be called,
Mayest thou be the adviser of the Anunnaki, the great gods.
Alabaster, be thou placed as a decoration in the temple of the great
gods:
The hero stood by the algamiSu^" stone, and looked at it in displeasure.
Tlie lord speaketh angrily a word in the land —
Nirig, the son of Bel, cur set h it:
* As thou wast a hindrance to my course^
Going in front among the shieldbearers,^
For whatever may be thy working, raise the head.
Let its name be called * AlgamiSu, the offering of the storm, in its
rising: ^^
The lord^^ stood by the Ayx^^-stone,
Speaking to the bulalu, the grey stone, and the lapis-lazuli.
(The remainder of the obverse is lost, as well as the upper part of
the reverse.)
" Probably a play upon the granting of grace by Nirig to the stone, as
su^^ested by Hrocn:f.
^ Hebrew B^^JJ^K* "crystal." {^omm^. Proceedings, 1893, p. 293.)
J* Kiikattt, a doubtffll word.
" This would seem to point to a meteoric stone — meteoric haematite or iron-
stone.
^ The Sumero- Akkadian version has ** My king."
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Ra)erse.
The lands in • . . •
The lord^ stood by the surru-stone, and \looked at it in displeasure"].
The lord speaketh angrily a word to the land —
Nirig, the lord^ the son of Bel ^ curseth it :
* Woe^ sumi*^ 0/ the sun-god . •
To him who seeketh thee the horn may he win from thee^ and be thou
added to the precious things ;
For thy being ignoble thou settest thyself (^),
As a helmet {or a garment) is cut to shape^ may a man make thee
diminish ;
May the coppersmith be set upon thee^ and crush (?) thee with a pestle.
The hero who brought thy body Qit,,, flesh) from an opponent —
The smithy whose work one calleth beautiful —
May he kill thee like death, and grind thee like a mill^ {?): "
Here this tablet comes to an end. The first line of the next
tablet, given in the catchline, is :
* The hero stood by the immsinsi-stone.'
In the above, I have rendered giS-nu-gal by 'alabaster,' following
Hrozn^. Formerly I thought I had evidence that giS-nu-gal was
* white limestone,' which the Babylonians may have regarded as being
quite as good as alabaster for decorative purposes. With regard to
the gir-gU'gal = Semitic Babylonian surru, as it was a stone which was
to be destroyed and crushed, corundum, or something similar, would
probably be nearer the mark, especially as na gir-gu-gal may be
translated " the stone of the great etching point."
Three more fragments remain, and are exceedingly imperfect
The pronouncement of the fates of the stones by the god Nirig
continues, however, throughout them all. It is needless to say, that
this series is of considerable value, not only for the legend of the
blessing and cursing of the stones which it contains, but also for the
^ Compare Hebrew y^, "flint" (Hommel, Sumer, LesesUy 123, footnote),
and "rt^, "rock." Hrozn:^ translates "chalcedony."
^ The original has the Babylonian form of J^^ Jk^ , which, it may be
noted, seems to have nothing to do with "Sj^^?- (compare W.A.I. II, 30, *jo-^Ze
with <^3lT ""-H »-^T ^"^ i° 1™ 78^).
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Dec. 12] THE BABYLONIAN GODS OF WAR. [1906.
descriptions of those stones, and the references to their fates, implying
their uses, and sometimes the method of their working. The com-
pletion of the series will be of the utmost importance, not only
philologically, but also from an antiquarian point of view.
As an appendix to the texts already described and translated, I
give here a rendering of one which Hrozny does not regard as be-
longing to the series entitled *The king, when his sublime glory
(? enlightened the land),' but which, nevertheless, may have been
added to it. Nothwithstanding its larger form, I used to regard this
tablet as belonging to the first legend, in consequence of the elegant
style in which it was written — the beauty of the series referring to
Nirig found at Nineveh being noteworthy.
Obverse,
1. ^ Towering high
2. The might of the labbu, the great serpent^ becoming greats ^ in-
creasing in the mountains.
3. Nirig^ the royal son^ whom Bel caused to be greater than lie
himself is ^ —
4. Hero^ whose net overthroweth the enemy —
5. Nirig^ thy fearful shadow is stretched out over the country,
6. Angrily^ to spoil the land of the enemy ^ he collecteth his army.
7. Nirigy the roycd son, whose father he had caused to bow down the
face to him from afar,
8. When he sat upon the throne in the royal chamber^^^ when he
raised on high his splendour,
9. When he sat joyfully and widely in the festival instituted for him,
10. When he contended with Anu and Bel, when he made the wine^
11. When Bau offered a prayer for him to the king^
12. When Nirig, the lord, the son of Bel, decided the fate,
13. Then the lord's weapon — his ear \set\ in the mountain —
14. &ur-ur, to lord Nirig spoke :
15. ^ Lord, high resting-place in all the land,
16. Nirig, thy command is not changed
« I read here >-^ JfcJ V ^ i,> mukiaUaiiu.
^ Or, < Whom Bel himself caused to be great.'
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Reverse,
1. Lord Ann made the earth
2. To Nirig^ the fearless hero^ the asakku (demon of fever ?) \fame not
near],
3. The child who sat not to the nurse^ \escheiving\ the strength of
milk^
4. The lord not knowing the progeny of the father^ he who shattereth
the mountains^
5. The mighty hero^ in whose face there is no shanUy
6. Nirig^ the manly one, exalted^ who rejoiceth in his appearance^
7. The warrior who is like a steer ^ I will stand by hi^ side.
8. The lord who is gracious to his city^ complaisant to his mother^
9. Rode upon a mountain, scattered seed,
10. Unanimously proclaimed the plants his name to their kingdom^
1 1. Raising his horns among them like a great wild ox,
12. The sd'Stone, the a§aridu-j/<?«^, the dolerite, the uz-stone^ the
* mountain-Stone,^ ^^
13. The hero — alabaster their hero— plundered the cities for them,
14. In the mountain the poison-tooth cometh forth, and it trembleth,
15. His arm bo7ve/h down its city on high to the ground,
(The remainder is wanting.)
We have much to learn ere we shall understand this strange
inscription, with its reference to Nirig's infancy, to his graciousness,
and to his being regarded as a king among the plants, whose originator
he seems to have been. Here, too, he is again mentioned in con-
nection with various stones, one of them being described as the
poison-tooth {Simii kuVi) coming forth on the mountain. I'his, of
course, is only thus designated on account of its shape — it was
possibly more or less like a serpent's fang, as is the inscribed stone
found by Sir Edward Durand in the island of Bahrein, which was
evidently a sacred object. In this connection it is possible that
Nirig was regarded as the god of meteors and shooting stars, as
is suggested on p. 208. That he was one of the gods of storms>
especially when accompanied by thunder, is suggested not only by
the ideograph practically identifying him with Rimmon quoted on
p. 207, but also by the reference to the thundering of his chariot, and
^ See page 278.
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the terror caused to the earth and to the gods — even to his father
Bel — by the raising of his arm, as is stated in the translation on p. 271.
Equally important and interesting, also, are the parallels which
may be made between this last text and the story of Merodach, as
related in the Babylonian account of the Creation. Like Nirig, Bel
may be said to have caused Merodach to be greater than he himself
was (p. 281, line 3) ; it was the net of Merodach which overthrew the
Dragon of Chaos (cp. line 4) ; and after the victory Merodach, like
Nirig, was made king of the gods m the royal chamber (line 8), took
part in the festival instituted for him (compare line 9), competed
successfully with Anu and Ea (or Aa) in the matter of the overthrow
of the Dragon of Chaos (line 10); though it would seem that
Merodach, at the festival instituted for him, did not himself make
the drink which was used, as is here related of Nirig. Merodach,
too, was appointed the decider of fate for all the world (as it is
apparently to be understood), and not, as the wording here (in
line 12) presupposes, on one occasion, or for a limited time. The
parallelisms in this portion of the legends of Nirig seem to be
sufficiently in accord with those in the story of Merodach to make it
probable that the two deities were in some way related and identified
— and, in fact, we know that all the principal deities were identified
with Merodach during at least a portion of the Semitic period,
perhaps reaching as far back as the time of Hammurabi.
There are many imperfections in the above remarks upon the
Babylonian gods of War, but defective though this paper may be, it
will doubtless prove to be of interest, and may even contain some-
thing new. In any case, I have fulfilled the task which I had set
myself, namely, that of placing before the learned world of this
country some account of what is being done with our tablets by the
Assyriologists of the continent and of America. For the legends con-
cerning Nirig, I am much indebted to Dr. Fried. Hrozny's Sumerische-
babylonische Mytfien von dem Gotfe Ninrag {Ntnib\ whose excellent
edition I have frequently quoted in this paper. Whether my de-
partures from his renderings are always for the best or not, time alone
can decide.
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Dec, 12] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. [1906.
A LEADEN CHARM
MADE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF SATURN.
By E. J. PiLCHER,
This Charm, which belongs to Mr. Nash, is a leaden disk, 2| ins.
in diameter, and about j- in. thick. It was dug up in a Cornish
garden some years ago, having apparently been deposited there for
magical purposes- When found it still bore traces of a red pigment
with which it had been coated before burial; but this had not
prevented extensive oxidation.
The disk bears on both sides various symbols connected with the
planet Saturn. According to the Kabbalists, the emblems of Saturn,
engraved on a leaden plate under a fortunate aspect of the planet
would render the owner confident and powerful, and ensure him
worldly success. But in an unlucky aspect it would have the
opposite effect : it would cause the ruin of buildings, blight crops, and
cause dissensions. The ancient astrologers looked upon the
influence of Saturn as uniformly bad. Kabbalism, in accordance
with its fundamental principles, attributed good, as well as bad,
influences to the planet ; but even then the bad aspects were vastly-
more frequent than the good ones ; so that a talisman of Saturn is
more likely to be unlucky than otherwise. In the present instance
the inference is that the amulet was intended to be malevolent ; and
the leaden disk was secretly buried for the purpose of bringing ill-
luck to a neighbour.
Obverse.
As the planet Saturn dominates the third sphere of the Universe,^
the names, symbols, &c., upon this disk are arranged in groups of
three ; and the Magical Square is placed in a triangle.
» P.S,B,A., vol. XXVIII, p. no.
284
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Proc. Soc, BibL ArcA., Dec, 1906.
h
c ' /Hn j4. \
A ,1 f
OBVERSE.
\
bi'^m
uin^VDlTn fi^iu; '
REVERSE.
LEADEN CHARM
In Mr. W. L. Nash's Collection.
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Dec. 12] A LEADEN CHARM. [1906.
In the angles of the triangle are the words Sb^ ITT and TV
{Ab Hod and JcJC). The letters of these, taken in their numerical
values, add up to 3, 9 and 15 respectively. That is to say, the
characteristic numbers of the Square, which is composed of three
columns, involving nine ciphers, and containing the sum of fifteen in
every direction.
On the sides of the triangle are the names of three of the
principal Angels of the planet, viz., Uriel, Maimon, and Abumalith.
Beneath all is the astronomical symbol of the planet \ .
Reverse.
The reverse of the medal presents three "Signatures." The first
is that of Saturn, accompanied by his Hebrew name Shabbathai.
The second is the Signature of the planetary Demon, Zazel. The
third is that of the Indwelling Spirit, Agiel.
Below the Signatures are three words from Exod. xvi, 25, rQtt^
mn*''? DVn " Sabbath is the day of the Lord " ; thus introducing
Saturn's Day, and also the Word of Power rtirp.
At the base of all we have *' Adonai f? Agla" ; or the planetary
symbol between two Words of Power.
This talisman, therefore, was intended to contain within itself all
the most powerful influences of the planet Saturn, as registered by the
characteristic words and symbols ; and, consequently, it was made of
lead — the Saturnine metal.
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Dec. 12] SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. Ei9<^-
The Anniversary Meeting of the Society will be held
on Wednesday, January 9th, 1907, at 4.30 p.m,, whea the
following Paper will be read : —
Miss M. A. Murray.— "St. Menas of Alexandria.'*
JVifA Lantern-slide Illustrations,
286
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INDEX.
" Abab," the mystic name of the cipher 4 ...
Abydos, the people of.
Amulet, a Hebrew, against disease
Ardistama Inscriptions, the
Assyrian incantation against Ghosts, an
Vol. Pagb.
... XXVIII. 113
... XXVIII. 29
... XXVIII. 182
... XXVIII. 134
... XXVIII. 219
B.
Babylonian gods of war, the ; and their legends XXVIII. 203, 270
Baghdad boil, the, mentioned in an Assyrian Astrological Report XXVIII. 78
Bilingual inscription relating to Nergal
** Bow of the storm-flood," one of the god Nirig*s weapons *
Burgh Papyrus, the
Buto, goddess, two statuettes of
„ fragment of a statue of, in the Museo Civico at Mantua
„ sometimes figured wearing the red Crown of the North
,, an ancient, local, form of Isis
, , sometimes with head of a Lioness
,, figure of, in the Copenhagen Glyptothek
„ frequently called ** Lady of the North "
,, and Nekheb called ** the two serpents "
XXVIII.
213
XXVIII.
275
XXVIII.
178
XXVIII.
201
XXVIII.
201
XXVIII.
202
XXVIII.
202
XXVIII.
202
XXVIII.
202
XXVIII.
202
XXVIII.
202
c.
Charm, a leaden, made under the influence of Saturn XXVIII. 284
Chedor-laomer Tablets, the XXVIII. 193,241
„ ,, „ translation of the text XXVIII. 197,241
Chedor-laomer of the Tablets is the king of Elam mentioned in
Genesis xiv, I XXVIII.
Child born after the mother's death and burial XXVIIL
Coptic fragments, at Munich, I XXVIII.
„ 11 XXVIIL
Z
193
82
229
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288 SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY. ^
Vol. Pagb. *
Crossed arrows, /C > an emblem of Neith from the Ist to the
IVth dynasty XXVIII. 71
Cutha, city, seat of worship of Nergal XXVIII. 213
Cuthean Hymn to Nergal XXVIII. 210
D.
Delta, the inhabitants of, different from those of Upper Egypt ... XXVIII. 68
,, the people of, conquered by Narmer, king of Upper Egypt XXVIII. 69
„ pre-Menite kings of, worshippers of Neith XXVIII. 70
Demons, marriage of, with human beings XXVIII. 82
Den, Ist dynasty king of Upper Egypt, marries Mer-Neith ... XXVIII. 70
Diseases always due to Demons, in Assyrian belief XXVIII. 81
Egypt, Lower, originally divided into a number of petty king-
doms under chieftains XXVIII. 68
Egyptian Ancient History, observations on XXVIII. 29
Egyptian Civilization, prehistoric origin of XXVIII. 29
„ ,, originated in district between Heliopolis
and Abydos XXVIII. 29
Egyptian magic wands. Astrological character of XXVIII. 33
El-Hammam, inscription of S-aiikh-ka-Ra from XXVIII. 171
El-H6sh, Inscriptions in the quarries of XXVIII. 17
„ ,, (ireek letters among the signs of XXVIII. 18
,, ,, probably of the time of Antoninus XXVIII. 19
,, ,, the signs, characters not arbitrary marks ... XXVIII. 20
,, ,, division of, into groups XXVIII. 20
„ ,, note on, by Prof. Sayce XXVIII. 20
Eraelakhkha, the name given to the standard dialect of Sumer ... XXVIII. 194
Emc-sal, the name of a dialect of Sumer XXVIII. 194
„ means *' the woman's dialect" XXVIII. 195
Epilepsy, an Arab cure for XXVIII . 77
EreS-ki-gal, goddess of the Babylonian underworld ... XXVIII. 215
,, her espousal with Nergal ... XXVIII. 215
Eri-Aku, of the Chedor-laomer Tablets, is the Arioch, king of
Ellasar, mentioned in Genesis, xiv, i ... ... XXVIII. 193
ErzerCim, Hittite inscription from XXVIII. 91
Eye diseases, Arab remedies for ... ... ... XXVIII. 83
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INDEX.
F.
Fever, an Arab cure for
Figures found near the South Temple at VVidJ Haifa
Fire, ordeal by, in Arabia
Folk-lore, the, of Mossoul, I
Ghosts, an Assyrian incantation against
Greyhound, a form of, sacred to the god
depicted on objects from Abydos
i
H.
Haau, or ** Fen-men," inhabitants of the Delta in very early times XXVIII.
Ha-nebu, the same as the Haau?
Headache, Assyrian incantations against
Heliopolitan people, the
Hetep, a Saite princess, marries Narmer
,, ,, perhaps mother of Aha (Menes)
,, her name on tablets found at Naqada
„ ,, accompanied by the sign j^7 "Princess of Sais,"
289
Vol.
Pack.
XXVIII. 79, 80
... xxvin.
118
... XXVIII.
81
xxvin. 76,97
... XXVIII.
219
»
... XXVHI.
131
les XXVIII.
73
... XXVIII.
73
... XXVIII.
80
... XXVIII.
29
... XXVIII.
69
... XXVIII.
69
... XXVIII.
69
and by the sign
' Consort of the Double Dominion " XXVIII. 70
Himyaritic inscription, the, from Jabal Jehaf
Hittite inscription (J. 1 1 ), note on
„ inscriptions in the Constantinople Museum
„ seals in the Ashmolean Museum
Hyksos and Hittites, the, their national deity the god
Ivriz texts, the...
J-
Jaundice attributed to the ' * a^^azu *' demon
Jonah believed to be buried in the mosque on Nebi-Vonus
K.
Kabbalistic planetary charms
Karian and other inscriptions.,
... XXVIII.
143
... XXVIII.
27
... XXVIII.
91
... XXVIII.
136
g ^ XXVIII.
131
... XXVIII.
133
... XXVIII.
77
... XXVIII.
83
... XXVIII.
no
... XXVIII.
172
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290 SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY.
Vol. Paok-
M.
Magic ivories, the, of the Middle Empire, III XXVIII. 159
„ date of XXVIII. 165
„ „ meaning of the figures on XXVIII. 166
Magicsquares XXVIII. iii
Marriage of demons with human beings XXVIII. 82
Mcr-Neith, marries Den, king of Upper Egypt XXVIII- 70
Mesnawo, name found in Karian inscriptions XXVIII. 172
'* Mistress of the Mediterranean," Neith so called in an inscription
of the time of Nectanebo XXVIII. 7Z
Monarchy, the early, of Egypt (Note by Mr. Legge) XXVIII. 14
N.
Narmer, king of Upper Egypt, conquers the Delta XXVIII. 69
„ marries Hetep, a Saite princess XXVIII. 69
Negadah, Tablet of XXVIII. 253
„ discovered by M. de Morgan in 1897 XXVIII. 253
,, missing fragment of, found by Mr. Garstang ... XXVIII. 253
,, description of XXVIII. 254
,, meaning of the scenes on XXVIII. 256
,, variants of the formula on XXVIII. 260
,, meaning of the formula on XXVIII. 261
,, summary of the reading of XXVIII. 263
Neith, the chief deity of Sais XXVIII. 68
,, represented wearing the same crown as that worn by the
pre-Menite kings of the Delta . . .' XXVIII. 68
„ a Delta goddess XXVIIL 70
,, usually described as of Libyan origin XXVI II, 71
„ her name on monuments of the earliest period XXVIII. 71
„ her emblem from 1st to IVth dynasty was yC* ^^ ^'^
8-shaped shield -XXVIII. 71
,, her emblems in the IVth, Vth and Vlth dynasties ... XXVIII. 71
,, her name, from the XlXth dynasty, written with two
forms of shuttle, :CZ>: or x=:x XXVIII. 72
,, foundress of Sais, a Greek tradition XXVIII. 74
„ identified with Pallas Athene XXVIII. 74
Nekheb, the Egyptian goddess, called by the Greeks Eileithyia . . . XXVIII. 202
„ „ called by the Romans Lucina ... XXVIII. 202
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INDEX.
291
Nergal, Babylonian God of War ...
t, bilingual inscription relating to
Nimrod, throne of, Syriac inscription on
,, „ ,, translation of
}> >» » palaeography of
n „ >, grammar of
„ „ V9 interpretation of
Nirig or Enu-refitu, an Assy ro- Babylonian deity
„ . ,, hymn in praise of
„ „ four tablets relating to
** Northern enemies," mentioned on a figure of Khasekhem, are
probably the Semites of the Delta
O.
Ophthalmia, an Assyrian receipt for cure of
Osiris, the great god of Abydos
„ at first the principal deity of the Egyptian Empire
Osiris and Horus, relative position of ... -
Palanga, H ittite Inscription from
Pendant, a peculiar, on a statue of Usertsen III
Planetary Charms in the B.M., list of
Planets, " Signatures " of the
** Priestess of Neith," a title borne by women of high rank
•Pre-Sargonic Times
Pschent, the name of the
Rakka, a bronze figure from
Ra, the principal deity of Heliopolis
R.
S.
Vol.
Page.
XXVIII.
203
XXVIIL
213
XXVIII.
151
XXVIII.
151
XXVIII.
152
XXVIII.
152
XXVIII.
153
XXVIII.
205
XXVIII.
270
XXVIII.
270
XXVIII. 32
S-ankh-ka-Ra, inscription of
Sahidic Exodus fragment, thf*, in the Zouche collection
Sais, to what race did the people of, belong ?
„ Neith the chief deity of
„ a chieftain of, becomes king of Lower Egypt
„ princesses of, worshippers of Neith
,, founded by Neith, a Greek tradition
XXVIII.
77
XXVIII.
30
XXVIII.
30
XXVIII.
31
XXVIII.
93
XXVIII.
268
XXVIII.
"5
XXVIII.
no
XXVIII.
70
XXVIII.
264
XXVIII.
189
XXVIII.
228
XXVIII.
29
XXVIII.
171
XXVIII.
54
XXVIII.
68
XXVIII.
68
XXVIII.
68
XXVIII.
70
XXVIII.
74
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292 SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY.
Vol. Page.
Saite nome, emblem of, after Xllth dynasty, is the round-top
shield with crossed arrows XXVIII. 71
Sebek-em-heb ^^^ ^y fTj , "a scribe of the soldiers,"
figure of, found at Wid^ Haifa XXVIII. 118
Semitic immigrants in the Delta of Egypt XXVIII. 29
Sephiroth, the ten, or " Emanations of the Absolute " XXVIII. no
Set, the god, his name written ^ .grj on the sarcophagus ol
Mentuhotep XXVIII. 124
i
on the sarcophagus of
Sebek-aa XXVIII. 123
Saqqarah pyramids XXVIII. 125
Papyrus of Ani XXVIII. 1 25
,♦ ,, „ in some Ptolemaic texts... XXVIII. 127
ckDnni
„ not a god of the land or desert XXVIII. 127
„ from the XVIIIth dynasty often written 1 ^ "^ J) - XXVIIL 128
„ regarded as a native of the town of Sout XXVIII. 128
Sell, should be read Soutekhi, or Setoukhi XXVIII. 123
Seth, le Dieu, et le Roi Sethosis XXVIIL 123
2^^, the Greek transcription of 1 >K ^ ^ XXVIIL 129
Set-Typhon, the god of the Asiatic immigrants in the Delta ... XXVIIL 29
Shield, the 8-form of, not found after the IVth dynasty XXVIIL 72
,, ,, the characteristic form used by the earliest
historical inhabitants of the Eastern
Mediterranean XXVIIL 72
,, ,, carried by a Hittite warrior, carved on the
castle gateway at Zenjirli XXVIIL 72
^and I
Signs, the "jfci and T found in connection with the name
of Hetep, wife of Narmer XXVIIL 70
Si-ptah, discovery of the tomb of XXVIIL 96
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INDEX.
293
Slate, a new carved
Soutekhi, or Setoukhi, the correct reading of Seti.
" Star of Stars " the, and " Dilgan "
Vol. Page.
... XXVIII. 87
... XXVIII. 123
... XXVIII. 6, 47
Tablets, the, of Negadah and A bydos
Takbat, mother of Amenmeses
„ a queen mentioned on a statue of Sety II
Talismanic medal, a, of pewter
Tarkutimme, note on the " boss "of
Tausert, the position of in the XlXth dynasty
„ in her lomb described as " Heiress, Royal "Wife," etc.
„ wife of Sety II
,, the tomb of, begun during the reign of Sety II ...
Tausert and Si-ptah, their names on a scarab
Tetragrammaton, the Kabbalistic expression of the four letters
the ineffable name niiT
** Throne of Nimrod"
Toothache, in the East attributed to a worm in the tooth
Tudghula, of the Chedorlaomer Tablets is the " Tidal King
Nations" mentioned in Genesis xiv, i
Tyana, Hittite Inscription from
... XXVIII.
252
... XXVIII.
186
... XXVIII.
186
... XXVIII.
"7
... XXVIII.
187
... XXVIII.
185
... XXVIII.
185
... XXVIII.
185
... XXVIII.
185
... XXVIII.
185
of
... XXVIII.
"3
... XXVIII.
149
... XXVIII.
78
of
... XXVIII.
193
... XXVIII.
94
w.
WSd^ Ilalfa, figures found at
.. XXVIII. 118
^gaga> Babylonian War God
... XXVIII. 203
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294
SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHiEOLOGY.
LIST OF AUTHORS.
Ayrton, E. K
Burkitt, Prof. F. C, M,A,
Campbell Thompson, R., Af,A,
Colin-Campbell, Rev. Dr.
Cowper, H. S., F,S,A
Jones, Rev, F. A.
Legge, F
Legrain, G.
Lieblein, Prof, J
Loret, Victor
MuUer, Dr. D. H
Murray, Miss M. A
Nash, W. L., RS.A
Newberry, Percy E
Pierret, Prof. Paul
Pilcher, E. J
Pinches, T. G., L.L.D.
Plunket, Hon. Miss E
Revillout, Prof. Dr. E ,
Ricci, S. de
Sayce, Prof. A. H., D.D,
Schmidt, Dr. Valdemar
Scott-Moncrieff, P., B.A.
Sibree, E., M.A.
Winstedt, E. O
PAGE
96, 185
149
76, 97, 219
156
228
264
14, 87, i59» 252
17
29
«23
143
33
182
68
189
no, 284
203, 270
6, 47
178
54
91, 133. I7i» 193, 241
201, 268
118
27, 1S7
137, 229
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SOCIETY OF BIBUGAL ARGHmOGT PUBLICATIONS.
A
GENERAL INDEX
TO THE
"PROCEEDINGS."
VOLS. XI— XX.
,^,^^ (MEMBERS, 5s.
PRICE -I
I, NON-MEMBERS, 6s.
NOW READY-PRICE 30s.
(Postage, 4^)
A
GENERAL INDEX
TO THE NINE VOLUMES
OF
"TRANSACTIONS/'
Tbe Bronze Ornaments of the Palace Gates from
Balawat
[Shalmaneser II, B.C. 85C>:-82S.]
Part V (the final l)art), with Introduction and descriptive letter-press,
has now been issued to the Subscribers.
A few complete copies of the book remain unsold and can be
obtained on application to the Secretary.
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Society of Biblical ARCHiEOLOGY.
37, Great Russell Street, London, W.C-
COUNCIL, 1906.
President,
Prof. A. H. Sayce, D.D., &c., &c
Vue^PresidenSs,
The Most Rev. His Grace The Lord Archbishop of York.
The Right Rev., the Lord Bishop op Salisbury.
The Most Hon. the Marquess of Northampton.
The Right Hon. the Earl of Halsbury.
The Right Hon. Lord Amherst of Hackney.
Walter Morrison.
Alexander Peckover, LL.D., F.S.A.
F. G. Hilton Price, Dir. S.A.
W. Harry Rylands, F.S.A.
The Right Hon. General Ix>rd Grbnfell, K.C.B., &c., &c.
The Right Rev. S. W. Allen, D.D. (R.C. Bishop of Shrewsbury).
Rev. J. Marshall, M.A.
Joseph Pollard.
Coutuil.
Rev. Charles Jambs Ball, M.A.
Dr. M. Gaster.
F. Ll. Griffith, F.S.A.
H. R. Hall, M.A.
Sir H. H. Howorth, K.C.LE.,
F.R.S., &c.
L. W. Kino, M.A.
Rev. Albkkt Lowy, LL.D., &c.
Prof. G. Maspbro.
Clauds G. Montefiorb.
Prof. £. Navillb.
Edward S. M. Pbrownb, F.S.A.
Rev, W. T. Filter.
P. SCOTT-MONCRIEFF, B.A.
R. Campbell Thompson, M.A.
Edward B. Tylor, LL.D.»
F.R.S., &c.
Honorary Ireasurer — Bernard T. Bosanqubt.
5^tr«/tfrr— Walter L. Nash, M.R.C.S. {Eng,), F.S.A.
Honora$y Stcretary for Foreign Correspondence — F. Lbggb,
Honorary Lidrarian^VfALTJLVi L. Nash, M.R.C.S. {Bhig'.)^ F.S.A.
HARRISON AND SONS, PRINTERS IN OROINART TO HIS MAJBSTV, ST. M Affix's XJUTB.
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