Introduction
Following our publication of the Old Babylonian tablet BM 13928,Footnote 1 we present here another Old Babylonian specimen of a collection of Akkadian proverbial sayings.Footnote 2 One of these sayings (ll. 6–8, §3 in our translation, below) has an almost verbatim parallel in a 1st millennium bilingual collection of proverbs: ḫén[bur s]i-nu-sá ab-[sí]n-e na-an-ni-íb-tu-ud še-numun na-an-ni-íb-dím-ma // ḫabbūru lā išar[u] šerʾu ay ū[lid] zēra ay i[bni] “May the furrow not give birth to a non-straight shoot, may it not create seed” (BWL p. 244, 30–33). This indicates that there was a 2nd millennium tradition of collecting monolingual Akkadian proverbial sayings, which led to that of the 1st millennium, and thus adds to the evidence presented by the publication of BM 13928.
The almost intact tablet BM 108868 (=1914–04–07, 34), measuring 6.0 × 8.6 × 2.4 cm, has a landscape format. This format is not common for OB literary texts and may point to a later date in this period. As in BM 13928, no separation lines are found between the different sayings. There is also no colophon, and the tablet's provenance is unknown.
As we understand it, the tablet contains nine consecutive observations, or reflections regarding moral and non-moral human behavior, arranged along a thin associative thread. Unlike other proverb collections (and BM 13928), no animals are found. The tablet, in our opinion, may be an extract of a longer, as yet unknown collection, or an ad-hoc compilation of proverbs. In §1, impious behavior – contrary to the natural sense of justice – does not result in economic losses. In §2, wishes for divine favor are expressed. In §3, we find the hope that an unjust deed would have no profitable consequence. §4 advises that one should absolve one's sin, for this is the choicest of things. In §5 comes a warning against challenging one's own fate. In §6, wrongdoing is cursed, and in §7 it is to be judged by a god or a king. In §8 stands a metaphor of warmth vs. cold. Man acknowledges his gratitude to the generosity of others in times of need. In the last paragraph, §9, the person is worried, unable to rest, because of the steady diminution of his goods.
The tablet shows a cursive OB hand. The lines sometimes flow from obverse to reverse (ll. 1, 3, 5, 7), suggesting the text was copied from another tablet. The text employs several basic logograms, which may indicate a curricular background. The loss of initial w in ašib (l. 11) may hint to a relatively late date in the OB period, but mimation is used everywhere.
The tablet is presented in photos and hand-copy (NW), followed by a transliteration, translation and short commentary.
Fig. 1 Photo of BM 108868 obverse by N. Wasserman and side by M. Weeden, courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum.
Fig. 2 Photo of BM 108868 reverse by N. Wasserman, courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum.
Fig. 3 Hand-copy of BM 108868 by N. Wasserman.
Transliteration
Obv.
1 ṭú-pu-ul-šu ú-ul i-ni Á-⸢sú⸣ ⸢ù⸣ SAG
2 a-nu-um-ma ra-i-du-um a-wi-lum
3 ú-ul i-šu wu-tu-ur-ra-a-am ṣ[i-ib-]tam
4 šum-ma ni-is-sà-tum [l]i-sà-ap-p[í-iḫ]
5 šum-ma ku 6-ru-ú-um ZÁLAG li-ka-al-⸢li⸣-ma-ni
6 ⸢ḫa⸣-ab-bu-ra-am-mi la i-šar-ta[m]
7 še-er-ḫu-um a-ia ú-wa-al-li-id NUMUN ⸢a⸣-i[a] i[b-n]i
8 en 6(IN)-ne-et pa-ṭa-ri-im na-aḫ ri-iš-tim
9 di-in NAM la ta-bi-a-am TI
Rev.
10 ma-mi-tum-mi iz-za-az bi-la-at ar-n[im]
11 mu-ṭa-ap-pí-il ni-iš i-li-im
a-ši-ib ‹i›-na IGI BÁRA
12 ú-ul aš-ḫa-an i+na ḫal-pi-ma ad-di i-ṣi-k[a]
13 i+na ra-ap-ši-im li-ib-bi-(erasure)-ka
14 úr !-ri qá-li-iš ú-ul a-ti-lam
15 i+na a-⸢lu⸣ ša ta-ap-ḫa-ri iš-⸢ta⸣-pí-lu
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Translation
§1
1 His insulting did not change his wage and capital.
2 Now, the trembling man
3 has no profit (and) interest(?).
§2
4 If there is sorrow, let it be dispersed!
5 If there is depression, let (god) show me the light!
§3
6 May the furrow, they say, not give birth to a bent shoot,
7 may it not create a seed.
§4
8 A sin to be absolved is the best of lard.
§5
9 Call (your) fate to judgement! Did you not summon (your own) life?
§6
10 The curse, they say, is standing ready as the burden of wrongdoing.
§7
11 He who insults the oath of god sits before(!) the throne.
§8
12 I did not get warm in the cold, so I threw you[r] wood (into the fire)
13 by your magnanimity.
§9
14 (Throughout) the days, I cannot rest quietly
15 in a city in which my collected possessions are constantly reduced.
Commentary
1: We analyze ṭú-pu-ul- as inf. D ṭuppul-, rather than a constr. form of an unknown substantive *ṭuplum.
2: rāʾidum-awīlum is a new example of the well-known awīlum-formations attested in different literary texts, as, e.g., lullû-amēlu Gilg. SB I 178 and Or. 56, 56: 32, ḫābilu-amēlu Gilg. SB I 113, or māliku-amīlu Or. 56, 56: 33 etc.
3: wuturrûm is the Old Babylonian counterpart of Old Assyrian uturrāʾum, first time attested.
5: The learned syllabic value ku 6 for ḪA is elsewhere attested only in the 1st millennium. The spelling with plene u is unexpected, as the word is kūrum. (One might consider a contamination with kurûm “short”.) – For nūram kullumum, cf. CAD K 524 s.v. kullumu 4c.
6: The fem. adj. išartam shows that ḫabbūrum is fem., unlike in the late parallel at BWL p. 244, 30 (see, Introduction, above).
9: The negation lā, and not ul, as in ll. 1, 3 and 12 indicates a rhetorical question.
12: Note the use of pi, although elsewhere pí is used (ll. 4, 11 and 15). This is the first non-lex. Old Babylonian attestation of ḫalpû.
12–13: Note the end-rhyme iṣīka – libbika. More often than not Akkadian literary texts avoid this literary device.
13: On libbum rapšum, see CAD R 163a s.v. rapšu 1e and 165 s.v. rapšu 3b.
14: This is the first Old Babylonian attestation of qâliš, hitherto found only in literary texts from the 1st millennium.
15: ālu is a locative. Judging by this new context, tapḫarum means “private collected possessions” rather than “goods or payments collected for a temple” as in Old Assyrian and early Old Babylonian documents (CAD T 179f.).
Acknowledgements
We thank Dr. Frank Simons for correcting our English.
