Tummal

The city of Tummal (Tum-ma-alki) was an ancient Near East cult site of the goddess Ninlil, as Egi-Tummal (Lady of Tummal), currently unlocated but known to be in the vicinity of Nippur and Drehem. E-Tummal (House of Tummal) (also E-kiur) was the temple to Ninlil located there.[1]

History

Though it is known to have existed in the Akkadian Empire period though most of the records mentioning Tummal come from the Ur III period when it was site of the sacred marriage between Enlil and Ninlil.[2] During the reign of Ur III ruler Shulgi, especially in years 35-37, large amount of construction occurred at Tummal, including of a royal palace and administrative buildings. The palace included funerary chapels for Ur-Nammu (e Tum-ma-al Ur-dNamma) and his wife. Building materials came from as far away as Babylon, Kutha, and Adab.[3] The ki-a-nag, or funerary offerings for Ur III ruler Ur-Nammu were carried out at Tummal. As his grave was not found in Ur this has sparked speculation he was buried in Tummal.[4] In one Ur III text it was reported that workers from Umma performed "24,500 man-days, 67 full time years" of labor at Tummal.[5] During the time of Amar-Sin and Shu-Sin a royal daughter, Seleppütum (A daughter of Amar-Sin or perhaps Shulgi) resided at Tummal.[6]

Location

In the early days of archaeology it was believed that Tummal was merely the name of a sacred quarter in Nippur dedicated to Ninlil, it later became clear that Tummal was a city in its own right, though nothing prevents there from being such a named area in Nippur.[7][8] Current thinking, yet unconfirmed, places it at the site of Dlehim.[9][10]

In Mesopotamia it was typical for gods (their cult statues) to go on "divine journeys" visiting their cult sites and being "greeted" by other gods along the way. It is known from itineraries of the divine journeys of the god Nanna-Suen that Tummal lay between Nippur and Shuruppak, 55 kilometers to the south, both cities on the Euphrates River.[11]

Tummal Inscription

The Tummal Inscription (also known as the History of the Tummal) , one of the Babylonian Chronicles, is a writing of ancient Sumer from the time of the ruler Ishbi-Erra.[12] The writing lists the names of the rulers that built the temples dedicated to Enlil within Nippur[13] and temples of Ninlil in Tummal, [12][14] amongst whom were the king of Kish, Enmebaragesi and his heir Aga of Kish.[15]

"En-me-barage-si,
The king in this very city (that is Nippur),
built the House of Enlil,
Agga the son of En-me-barage-si,
made the Tummal pre-eminent.
Then the Tummal fell into ruins for the first time.
Meš-ane-pada built the Bur-šušua in Enlil's temple.
Meš-ki-aĝ-nuna, son of Meš-ane-pada,
made the Tummal flourish,
and brought Ninlil into the Tummal.
Then the Tummal fell into ruins for a second time.
Bilgames built the Numunbura in Enlil's shrine.
Ur-lugal, son of Bilgames,
made the Tummal flourish,
and brought Ninlil into the Tummal.
Then the Tummal fell into ruins for a third time.
Nanni built the Lofty Garden in Enlil's temple.
Meš-ki-aĝ-Nanna, son of Nanni,
made the Tummal flourish,
and brought Ninlil into the Tummal.
Then the Tummal fell into ruins for a fourth time.
Ur-Namma, built the E-kur.
Šulgi, son of Ur-Namma,
made the Tummal flourish,
and brought Ninlil into the Tummal.
Then the Tummal fell into ruins for a fourth time.
From the years of Amar-Suena
of Shu-Suena,
until King Ibbi-Suen
chose En-am-gal-ana by extispicy as the high priest of inanna of Uruk,
Ninlil came regularly to the Tummal.
Written according to the words of Lu-inanna, the chief leatherworker of Enlil.
Išbi-Erra, who looks after the E-kur,
built the storehouse of Enlil."

— Old Babylonian tablet Tummal Inscription (1900-1600 BCE)[16][17]

The chronicle was written by two persons from Nippur and, most likely, Ur.[18][19][20] A number of religious analyses of the inscriptions find evidence within the text for a claim of divine intervention.[21]

The inscription was useful in the understanding of the archaeology and history of Gilgamesh.[12][16]

See also

References
  1. Helle, Sophus, "Notes", Enheduana: The Complete Poems of the World's First Author, New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 189-226, 2023
  2. Frayne, Douglas R. and Stuckey, Johanna H., "E", A Handbook of Gods and Goddesses of the Ancient Near East: Three Thousand Deities of Anatolia, Syria, Israel, Sumer, Babylonia, Assyria, and Elam, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 80-106, 2021
  3. Steinkeller, Piotr, "Corvée Labor in Ur III Times", From the 21st Century B.C. to the 21st Century A.D.: Proceedings of the International Conference on Neo-Sumerian Studies Held in Madrid, 22–24 July 2010, edited by Steven J. Garfinkle and Manuel Molina, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 347-424, 2013
  4. Sharlach, T. M., "The Death of Shulgi and his Wives", An Ox of One's Own: Royal Wives and Religion at the Court of the Third Dynasty of Ur, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 175-186, 2017
  5. Sharlach, Tonia M., "Provincial taxation and the Ur III state", Leiden & Boston: Brill Styx, 2004
  6. Klein, Jacob, "Šeleppūtum a Hitherto Unknown Ur III Princess", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 80, no. 1-2, pp. 20-39, 1990
  7. King, L. W. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 190–190, 1915
  8. Nesbit, William Marsiglia, "Sumerian records from Drehem", No. 8, Columbia University Press, 1914
  9. Yoshikawa, M., "Looking for Tummal, ASJ 11, pp. 285–291, 1989
  10. Steinkeller, P, "New light on the hydrology and topography of southern Babylonia in the third millennium", ZA 91, pp. 22–84, 2001
  11. Ferrara, A. J., "The Itinerary of Nanna-Suen’s Journey to Nippur", Orientalia, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 1–4, 1972
  12. D. Katz (1993). Gilgamesh and Akka. Brill Publishers. p. 13. ISBN 90-72371-67-4. Retrieved 2011-10-15.
  13. Sears, Edward Seldon (2001). Running Through The Ages. McFarland. p. 15. ISBN 0-7864-0971-1. Retrieved 2011-12-29.
  14. Edmond Sollberger, "The Tummal Inscription", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 16 (1962), pp. 40-47 JSTOR (Retrieved 2011-10-15). See Chavalas, Mark William (2006). The Ancient Near East: Historical Sources in Translation - Blackwell Sourcebooks in Ancient History. John Wiley & Sons. p. 87. ISBN 0-631-23580-9.
  15. Hallo, W. W.; Moyer, J. C.; Perdue, L. G. (1983). Scripture in context II: more essays on the comparative method. Vol. 2. Eisenbrauns. p. 57. ISBN 0-931464-14-5. Retrieved 2011-10-15.
  16. Kramer, S.N. (1963). The Sumerians: their history, culture, and character. University of Chicago Press. p. 46. ISBN 9780226452326. Retrieved 2011-12-29.
  17. "CDLI-Found Texts". cdli.ucla.edu.
  18. Edwards, I. E. S. (1970). The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. p. 201. ISBN 0-521-07051-1. Retrieved 2011-12-29.
  19. Romano, David Gilman (1993). Athletics and Mathematics in Archaic Corinth: The Origins of the Greek Stadion. American Philosophical Society. p. 9. ISBN 0871692066. Retrieved 2011-12-29.
  20. George, A. R. (1992). Babylonian Topographical Texts. Peeters Publishers. p. 445. ISBN 9068314106. Retrieved 2011-12-28.
  21. Saggs, H. W. F. (1991). Greenspahn, F. E. (ed.). The Divine in History:Essential Papers on Israel and the Ancient Near East. NYU Press. p. 30. ISBN 0-8147-3038-8. Retrieved 2011-12-28.; see also Auguste Comte

Further reading
  • Michalowski, Piotr, "The Strange History of Tummal", In Approaches to Sumerian Literature: Studies in Honor of Stip (H. L. J. Vanstiphout), edited by Piotr Michalowski and Niek Veldhuis, pp. 145–65. Leiden: Brill, 2006
  • Oh’e, Setsuko, "An Agricultural Festival in Tummal in the Ur III Period", ASJ 8, pp. 121-132, 1986
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