The Cultic Calendars of the Ancient Near East Mark E. Cohen CDL Press Bethesda, Maryland 1993Library of Congress Catalogingin-Publcation Data (Cohen, ak E. "The eli calendar of the ancient Near Hast / Mark E Cohen, pcm Inches bibliographical references and index ISBN 1-688055.005 1. Calendar, AugroBabylonlan. 2. Calendars—Midle East Hinory, 3: Festivals Middle Et History. 4. Caronology, ‘Asgro Babylonian. 1. Tie (CESS.084" 1903 599.32°021—dea0 ossrs or Copyright © 1968. Allsights reserved. Thisbook may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that copying permed by Sections 107 and 108 of te U.S. Copy right Law and except by reviewers forthe public pres), vite ‘oat writen permision from the publisher, CDL Pres, P.O. Box $4454, Bethesda, MD 20827, SBN 1699058008 To my parents, Albert and Adele CobenAcknowledgments “This work on the cultc calendars has included materia spanning three mil Tenia stretching across the Near East. Because ofthe breadth ofthe mate- rial covered, we have sought advice from scholars with diverse areas of expertise. And in cach instance these individuals displayed an eagerness and interest ypical of the high quality of their scholars “The entire book (or major portions) was reviewed by T. Abusch, J.A- Brinkman, . Greengus,D.. Owen, and P. Stinkelle-—colleagues who freely offered constructive eritcim, fesh perspecves, and addtional references, We are indebted to theve scholars ‘We thank J.A. Brinkinan for permission to quote inpublished tablets in the Tablet Collection of the Oriental Institute and W.W. Hallo for permis- sion to quote unpublished tablets from tablet collections housed at Yale Unk very. ‘Our research has included numerous trips tothe Yale Babylonian Gollec tion, the University Museum, and the Oriental Insitute. We express our ap- preciation for the warm hospitality and kind assistance shown us at the University Muscum by A.W. Sjoberg, E. Leichty, B.Hichler, and H. Behrens; at the Oriental Institute by [A Brinkman and M. Givi; and atthe Yale Baby- lonian Collection by W.W, Hallo, U. Kasten, Beckman, and P-A. Beaulieu ‘We thank many other scholars who were generous in thei advice and as- sistance: A. Cavigneaux, BR. Foster, W.C. Lambert, JN. Postgae, M. Sigrist, S$. Tinney, and Goa, Vincente ‘Thank you. MEC.Table of Contents Acknowledgment Profac Abbreviations ... Introduction ‘Overview and Background .. ‘The Third Millennium B.C. Barly Semitic Calendars. Other Url Stes (Adab,Ishan Mizyad, Kes, Ura). ‘The Barly Second Millennium B.C. ‘The Southern Mesopotamian Sumerian Calendar 295 Asyria 237 ‘The Amorite Calendars .. 248, Sigg Masi ‘The Second and First Millennia 8.0. ‘The Standard Mesopotamian Calendar . 297 Emar. From Elam to Alalakh 362 ‘The Levant 377 Festival Themes Festival Traditions 7 ‘The Atitu Festival. : Festivals forthe Men and Gods of the Netherworld Index. : Selected Bibliography no ABA 483, 501Preface — “The first major study ofthe cultic calendars of ancient Mesopotamia was writ- ten in 1915 by Benno Landsberger, Der hulischeRalender der Balylonier und AS ipver. Landsberger analyzed the annual and monthly rituals, gathered the then extant calendrical auestations, and presented philological analysis of the Sumerian and Akkadian terminology. In 1935 8. Langdon published his lectures on the Mesopotamian calendar in Ballonian Menologiss ond the Semi- tie Calendars. Whereas Landsberger had restricted his study to an analysis of the material from cuneiform sources, Langdon incorporated material from the Levant and the Arabian peninsula, using a cross-cultural approach to an- alyze the festivals in light of biblical, Greek, Roman, and Arabic festival, In 1949 Landxberger published his study of the Mesopotamian seasons, ‘Jahres: zsiten im Sumerisch-Akkadischen,” in the Journal of Near Eastern Languages ‘wherein he discussed the Sumerian and Akkadian terminology as it related to the naming and division of seasons, and analyzed the agricultural activity associated with each season, ‘Since Landsberger’s and Langdon’s pioneering efforts new sites have been ‘unearthed, their tablets yielding previously unknown calendars and festivals. In addition, the material from Known sites has increased through additional excavations of from publication of tablets from collections housed through- tout the world. There have been many excellent sudies of the culticealen~ tars of particular cies or covering certain periods, such a, just to name a few, G, Van Driel, The Cult of Aur, 1969; G. Pettnato,“l Calendario Semi {co del 3. Millennio Ricostruito sulla Base dei Test di Ebls,” OA 16 (1977); R. Whiting, “Some Observations on the Drehem Calendar,” ZA 69 (1979); M. Cooper, “The Drehem Calendars During the Reign of Sulgi,” Acta Sum 3 (1981):J. Sasson, “The Calendar and Festivals of Mari During the Reign of ‘inns Ltn,” Studies Jones, and S. Greengus, “The Akkadian Calendar at Sip- par,” JAOS 107 (2987). “This study presents information from sources which have often been in- accessible to the nomAssyriologit, much of the material residing in tablet copies or in articles unknown fo non-Assjriologists or unavailable at many tnlversity libraries, We have attempted to provide abasic tool fr further re-search by other scholars which will serve asa bass for either the refinement of ideas presented here or the development of entirely new hypotheses. We hope that by bringing the material gether, by enabling the scholar to have ‘access in one location to over two thousand years of calendars and festivals, how insights will be gained in the development of the calendrical systems and the festival practices. ‘Because ofthe wealth of material, we have, in the main, restricted our re search to annual or sembannual festivals, celebrations which were assigned a fixed position within the calendar. Monthly and daily cultic evens, hemer- ‘logien agricultural rituals unassigned to a specific day i the calendar, and nestime festivals of political nature are beyond the scope of this volume. “This work presents the material by millennium, then by ste. If festivals oc- ccur at different sites or in different periods, we have included some repeti= tion of material in order to enable the reader to peruse a chapter without ‘Constantly flipping throughout the book. However, we have assigned the ma- {or discussion to one chapter, whichis referenced in the footnotes, This rep- ‘tition is most evident in the chapters on “Festival Themes,” in which much of the information has been culled fom the previous chapters in our effort to present a coherent analysis ofthe evolution and function of specific ho days. ‘Whenever possible we have used the translations of The Assyrian Dictionary af the Oriental Insite of the University of Chicago. All quoted biblical passages fre according to the three volumes of A New Translation ofthe Holy Seriptres ‘cecording tothe Masortic Text The Torah (1962), The Prophets (1978), and The Writings (1982), published by the Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, “Throughout our discussions we have tried to acknowledge the source of cour ideas and to give eredit to thote whose invaluable works have served asa foundation for our research. Ifwe have inadvertently omitted relevant arti- cles or have misrepresented the views of any scholar, we deeply and sincerely apologize. : Abbreviations —_— a tablets in the collections of the Oriental Insti- ‘tute of the University of Chicago AASE ‘Annales Academiae Sdentianam Fennicat ABAW “ABhandbungen der Bayerschen Akademie der Wisses- schafes ABB. ‘Albabsloniache Broo io Umsch und Ubenetaeng BL RE, Harper, Asyrian and Balylonian Letters ‘ACh Virolleaud, L'Astolgi chaldéenne Ada Sum Ata Sunerologica Aagyptus Rivista italiana di Egitlogia edi Popiologia: AO Archi fir Orienforschung AB Woon Soden, Atkadisches Handuwirerbuch ASL American Journal of Semitic Languages and Litera. tres Madea Abadia: Pérodiquebimestril dela Fondation Assy: ‘rologique Georges Dossin Albert:Romponio Ur ‘A, Alberti and F. Pomponio, PreSargonie and ‘Sargon Tes from Or Edited in UET 2, Supplement (Studia Pohl 13) Alster Dumais Drean B, Alster, Dumusi's Dream AN» Aram odlists edited in A Roconsinition ofthe Asso Babylonian GotLiss, AN: “Amwum and AN:an sh-andh, R.Litke dissertation, Yale University AnOr Analecta Orienalia AnSt Anatolian Studies Ao tabletsin the collections of the Musée du Louvre AOAT ‘Aller Orient wad Altes Testament ‘ArchiPomponio Draken I [Archi and Fomponio, Testi Cunlrmi nar Susnerio ‘deDrohem, NOOOLOA2 ArchiPomponio Tavolete Archi and Pomponio, Tevoltte dellnivenita Pontificia Salesiona, Vicino Oriente 8/1) ARET Archi Reali di Bbla Ts