Cult inventory

(CTH 529.37)

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.

Commentary

Collated (March 2020). Fragment of a thick, presumably two-columned tablet with a remarkably convex profile of the reverse (max preserved thickness 35 mm). The preserved portion of the reverse, which belongs to the upper half of the column, is uninscribed and displays a paragraph line, probably marking the transition to the colophon (now lost).

The text, which treats several deities and mentions numerous individuals responsible for the supply of cult offerings, is entirely analogous to KUB 56.37: indeed it seems likely that the two tablets belonged to the same series (see commentary on KUB 56.37 for discussion). If this is correct, the geographical setting will be the same, i.e. the basin of the Zuliya river (probably the Çekerek).

i 2′: The reading has been kindly suggested by Detlev Groddek; differently van Gessel 1998: 716.

i 4′-5′: A Kurkalli is known as an official active at the time of Ibiranu (Klengel 1992: 146), but of course he must not be identical with the “Gurgali” mentioned here. This is the only known attestation of a “Palace of Karkamiš” (A. Kryszeń, pers. comm.). The text refers in all likelihood to the official residence of the king of Karkamiš in Ḫattuša (or possibly in a provincial capital), the personnel of which seem to be held responsible for the delivery of cult offerings. Since the viceroys of Karkamiš traveled regularly to Ḫattuša (for Ini-Tešob alone at least four such episodes are known) it is just natural that they had a palace at disposal, and that such a palace was integrated in the cult offering system like all other analogous complexes. There are at least eight tablets which witness the involvement of the king of Karkamiš in ritual activities, some of which apparently taking place outside Karkamiš, but the context is mostly fragmentary (AlT 125, KBo 17.82, KBo 40.53, KUB 11.8+, KUB 16.32, KUB 36.124, KBo 47.127, KUB 48.93, information courtesy A. Pohl, pers. comm.).

i 6′: Cf. KUB 56.37 iv 6′; for the relation expressed here see Hagenbuchner-Dresel 2002: 50 with fn. 162.

i 7′: On spring Munišga see Nakamura 2002: 28 and Kryszeń 2016: 277-78 with further literature; her connection to the basin of the Zuliya river is attested by KBo 47.76 (CTH 663) and by this tablet.

i 8′: Beckman 1983b: 111 with fn. 64 puts forward the hypothesis that Dada-Aššur (NH 1301a), whose son acts here as supplier of cult offerings, may have entered Ḫatti as scribe or expert. No further attestations of this PN are known.

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.