Cult inventory

(CTH 527.52)

Textual tradition

Basis of the edition

The present edition is based on the photographs available at the Mainzer Photoarchiv of the Hethitologie Portal Mainz, as well as the available hand-copies and relevant secondary literature up to 2019. When the original manuscripts have been collated, this is noted in the commentary. The unpublished fragment Bo 9419 is not included in the transliteration; it will be published by Burhan Balcıoğlu.

Commentary

Previous editions: Rost 1961: 165-66, 190-92 (KUB 38.8, KUB 38.9).

Collated (KUB 38.8 and KUB 38.9, March 2020). The relative position of the fragments is unclear. The fact that ms. A3 has a clear Randleiste at the end of face B but only a normal paragraph line at the top of face A suggests that the latter may represent the obverse. The curvature of ms. A2 shows that the fragment belongs to the middle of the tablet and preserves a portion of the obverse. The positioning of ms. A1 is uncertain. The fragment KBo 51.104 may constitute an indirect join of this tablet, based on the peculiar, feebly impressed double rulings, the handwriting (compatible as for size, appearance and sign variants, note especially the wedges configuration of the ḪI-pattern), and the expression SIḪI.A KÙ.SI22 (KUB 38.9 i 6′, KBo 51.104 5′). For the sake of caution, however, KBo 51.104 has been considered a separate fragment in the present edition.

The tablet contains a rare inventory of theriomorphic votive statuettes with royal names engraved on them. Its character is therefore more that of a palace inventory than a cult inventory, a fact which fits well with the findspot of KUB 38.8, namely the royal citadel of Ḫattuša at Büyükkale (building D). For the proposal of an indirect join between KUB 38.8 and KUB 38.9 see Rost 1961: 165. The statuettes listed therein would have been housed in one or more chapels within a royal residence or a temple (see Alaura 2001 for a study on the storage of Hittite votive bulls). The descriptions of the statuettes are fragmentary, yet most of them appear to be bulls (see especially ms. A3 face B r. col. 3′). A “(male) calf’s (head and) neck,” gift of Bentešina, king of Amurru, is treated in ms. A3 face B r. col. 5′; in the same line a “(head and) neck” shaped as a wild sheep (UDU.KUR.RA) is listed as well. The components of the statuettes and their material are listed as well. The attested materials are gold, silver, bronze, lapislazuli, and KIBŠI-stone (according to Košak 1982: 37, possibly a “stone with variegated or marbled effect,” see Polvani 1988: 125-27 for attestations and literature).

The royal names which are “written” (ŠAṬRU) on the statuettes are those of Muršili (II), Ḫattušili (III), and Tudḫaliya (IV), who apparently dedicated them to the gods; one of the statuettes is described as a “gift” (ŠULMAN) of king Bentešina of Amurru.

Palaeography and orthography: A peculiar, elaborate variant of RA is used in this tablet (HZL no. 233/27).

A1 4′, 7′; A2 obv.? l. col. 5′; A3 rev.? r. col. 2′, 4′: The text uses the expression “4 GÌR … KI.GUB” “standing on four feet” (as opposed to “with the front quarters kneeling”) to describe the position of the animal’s legs, for an overview of variant formulations see CHD P 233; note the inversion in the position of KÙ.SI22 and KI.GUB in the last of these occurrences.

A1 9′: In the text both ŠAṬRU SUM “written (on it is) the name (of … )” and simple ŠUM are used.

A3 rev.? r. col. 5′: For GÚ AMAR cf. GÚ GU4 “bull’s (head and) neck” in other texts (e.g. KUB 38.2, KUB 42.100+). For UDU.KUR.RA see Cammarosano 2018: 206, commentary on KBo 2.1 iv 4 (misspelled as i 4).

CC BY-SA 4.0 Michele Cammarosano | Produced as part of the research project Critical edition, digital publication, and systematic analysis of the Hittite cult-inventories (CTH 501-530), funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) – project number 298302760, 2016–2020.