The Perfumes of Seven Tamarisks

Studies in Honour of Wilfred G. E. Watson

Edited by
Gregorio del Olmo Lete,
Jordi Vidal and
Nicolas Wyatt
 Alter Orient und Altes Testament
Veröffentlichungen zur Kultur und Geschichte des Alten Orients
und des Alten Testaments

Band 394

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Manfried Dietrich • Oswald Loretz • Hans Neumann

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Rainer Albertz • Joachim Bretschneider
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2012
Ugarit-Verlag
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The Perfumes of Seven Tamarisks
Studies in Honour of Wilfred G. E. Watson

Edited by
Gregorio del Olmo Lete,
Jordi Vidal and
Nicolas Wyatt

2012
Ugarit-Verlag
Münster
The Perfumes of Seven Tamarisks.
Studies in Honour of Wilfred G. E. Watson
Edited by Gregorio del Olmo Lete, Jordi Vidal and Nicolas Wyatt
Alter Orient und Altes Testament, Band 394

© 2012 Ugarit-Verlag, Münster

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 From the mountain or from the kiln?
Lapis lazuli in the Amarna Letters

Jana Mynářová

Lapis lazuli―an Introduction

The numerous discoveries of lapis lazuli throughout the Ancient Near East document
very well that already from the earliest historical periods this semi-precious stone
represented a very important and highly valued mercantile commodity. 1 It is gene-
rally accepted that the region of Badakhshan in north-eastern Afghanistan in the
valley of the Kokcha River formed the main find-spot of lapis lazuli.2 From the
mines of Badakhshan3 the mineral reached Mesopotamia by means of different trade
channels, including the so-called “northern route” which led along the northern parts
of Iran, passed through the site of Tepe Hissar and traveled further alongside the
Diyala River to the heart of Mesopotamia. The other main route, the “southern
route”, first followed the Helmand River towards Shahr-e Sokhta and then moved
over Kerman and Fars to the area of Susa and from there to Mesopotamia itself. 4
A notable role in the lapis lazuli trade was also played out at sea―already during
the first half of the third millennium BCE a sea trade was carried out between the
political and economic centres along the Indus River and sites located in southern
Mesopotamia.5 The earliest attestations of the use of lapis lazuli in the region of
northern Mesopotamia (at the site of Yarim Tepe)6 date already from the later sixth


Lexicography has been one of the long-lasting interests of Wilfred G.E. Watson. It is there-
fore a great honour for me to dedicate this short lexicographical study on lapis lazuli in the
Amarna letters to him. The study is the result of a research activity that is part of the grant
project of the Czech Science Foundation no. 404/09/0162 “Centre or Periphery?―History and
Culture of Syropalestine (3000–300 B.C.)”. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Zsolt
Simon for discussing some philological details with me. However, needless to say all errors
and omissions are of course mine.
1
For general information on lapis lazuli in the Ancient Near East consult especially Herrmann
1968; Oppenheim 1970, 10ff.; Herrmann / Moorey 1980–1983; Röllig 1980–1983; Brown
1991; Potts 1993, 389–390; Moorey 1999 (with references to further literature), 85–92; in
general see also Rosen 1990; Rapp 2002, 104–105, 215.
2
Cf. recently Potts 1993, 390; Bowersox / Chamberlin 1995, 37–63; Moorey 1999, 85–87.
3
For Sar-e Sang see Wyart / Bariand / Filippi 1981.
4
Consult Tosi 1974.
5
Herrmann / Moorey 1980–1983, 490.
6
Merpert / Munchaev / Bader 1976, 40; Moorey 1999, 88.
64 Jana Mynářová

millennium BCE.7 In southern Mesopotamia lapis lazuli is attested only in later peri-
ods and its usage is not attested archaeologically prior to the Uruk III period. At that
time a significant decrease of its attestations in northern Mesopotamia can be obser-
ved.8 This decrease may be explained as the result of a possible change in the route
employed to deliver the mineral from the mines to the costumers in Mesopotamia. A
new upswing in the trade and the use of lapis lazuli in Mesopotamia is revealed by
material dated to the Early Dynastic II and III periods respectively. During this era
the very first references both to lapis lazuli itself and to its place of origin are found
in narrative texts.9 From then on lapis lazuli retained its position as an important and
precious article of trade. During the second millennium BCE lapis lazuli became a
significant and integral element of diplomatic relations, representing an important
component of royal gifts throughout the Ancient Near East, Egypt and the Eastern
Mediterranean.10
In the Akkadian texts lapis lazuli is usually referred to as uqnū (NA4.ZA.GÌN),
although in the individual documents a more precise description of the mineral’s
quality and its tone are often mentioned. 11 An important feature of the inscriptions is
undoubtedly the distinction made between “genuine” lapis lazuli and its imitations,
usually made of glass. In his study devoted to glass and its manufacture in Mesopo-
tamia, Leo A. Oppenheim voiced the opinion that while genuine lapis lazuli is
identified in the texts as “mountainous lapis lazuli” (uqnū šadî), its imitation is
referred to as “lapis lazuli from a kiln” (uqnū kūri). Nevertheless, as Oppenheim
himself pointed out, in many cases the situation is much more complicated. The
simple term NA4.ZA.GÌN covers both the genuine mineral and its imitation and only
detailed knowledge of the entire context of each individual situation makes a clear-
cut identification possible.

Lapis lazuli and the Amarna corpus

Lapis lazuli appears in the Amarna correspondence as an integral part of the system
of gift-exchange. Some very rare exceptions notwithstanding, the mineral in general
represents a component of the gifts destined for the Pharaoh himself. One of these
exceptions constitutes a letter of the Hittite king Šuppiluliuma I addressed to his
royal partner Ḫuriya (EA 41: 27).

7
For the usage of lapis lazuli in northern Mesopotamia in later periods consult especially the
site of Tepe Gawra (Gawra XIII–XII), cf. Tobler 1950, 192; Rothman / Peasnall 2002, 8;
Charvát 2002, 81. For Gawra XII see Speiser 1937, 9.
8
Herrmann / Moorey 1980–1983, 491; for an overview of Uruk IV–III see Moorey 1999, 88–
89.
9
For an overview consult Potts 1993, 390 and Moorey 1999, 85–87.
10
As attested, for instance, by some of the Aigina treasure objects or a group of cylinder seals
from Thebes; Evans 1892–1893; Higgins 1957; Higgins 1979; Dickinson 1994, 185; for the
cylinder seals consult especially Porada 1981–1982; see also Aruz 1998.
11
See Oppenheim 1970, 10.
 Lapis lazuli in the Amarna Letters 65

EA 41 (CG 4747; SR 4/12207/0; JdÉ 28179)12

23 [mi-im-m]a ša a-na a-bi-ka e-ri-iš-ta

[at-ta Š]EŠ-ia la-a ta-kà-al-la-a-šu
25 [ 2 ṣ]a-al-ma-a-ni ša KÙ.GI 1-en
[ ] 1-en li-ši-ib ù 2 ALAN.MEŠ ša SAL.MEŠ
[ša KÙ.BABB]AR-ma ù NA4.ZA.GÌN ra-bi-ta ù a-na
[ k]à-an-na-šu-nu ra-bu-ú ŠEŠ-ia [šu-bi-la]
_________________________

Translation

23 [Anyt]hing that was requested from your father

do not keep away, my [br]other.
25 [Concerning those 2 s]tatues (made of) gold, one
[shall be standing and] one shall be seated. And (those) 2 statues of women
[(made of) silv]er and a large (piece of) lapis lazuli and
a large stand for [ ….., send me13], my brother.
_________________________

While the majority of the objects listed as gifts sent by Šuppiluliuma to his Egyptian
partner, including silver objects as ceremonial vessels (l. 39–43), are nothing excep-
tional within a Hittite context, on the other hand among the objects desired in return
from the Pharaoh a rather unusual item can be identified. Next to statues made of
gold (l. 25–26) and silver (l. 26–27) and a large stand (l. 28), “a large (piece of) lapis
lazuli” (l. 27) is mentioned. It has been already mentioned that lapis lazuli never fell
within the category of routine Egyptian commodities assigned for export. Should one
thus interpret this reference as that the Hittite king may have thought of Egypt as a
place where the highly valuable lapis lazuli might be obtained?
Though the use of lapis lazuli is well-attested already from the Predynastic period
(Naqada IIc), a situation similar to other regions of the Ancient Near East of those
days, in Egypt lapis lazuli represented a costly and rare import, originally coming
from the Afghan area of Badakhshan. 14 In Egyptian sources lapis lazuli is generally
identified as ḫsbḏ and an artificial imitation of the precious stone is designated as
ḫsbḏ iry.t “man-made lapis lazuli”.15 It must however be stressed that the expression
ḫsbḏ was sometimes employed by the Egyptians to denote faience.
The following overview clearly indicates that in the context of the Amarna letters
the expressions mentioning lapis lazuli are mostly attested among the correspon-

12
It is at present housed in the collections of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The tablet was
photographed and studied by the author on March 6, 2007. See Winckler 1889–1890, no. 18,
pl. 15; Knudtzon 19642, 300–301. For the translation consult especially Moran 1992, 114–
115; Liverani 1999, 409–410.
13
For the reconstruction [šu-bi-la] see Moran 1992, 115, n. 6.
14
Consult especially Harris 1961, 124–129; Lucas 1962, 398–400; Payne 1968; Gundlach
1980; Hussein / El Sharkawi 1990, 564; Aufrère 1991, 463–488; Bavay 1997; Aston / Harrell
/ Shaw 2000, 39–40. See also Giveon 1976; Nibbi 1976 and Tait 1976. There are no sources
of lapis lazuli identified in Egypt although Ibrahim―referred to by Hussein / El Sharkawi
1990, 564―suggested that there might be some sources in the vicinity of the Uweinat Oasis.
15
In contrast with ḫsbḏ m3ʿ(.t) “a true/real lapis lazuli”, cf. Harris 1961, 125, 128.
66 Jana Mynářová

dence of Mittanian provenance (Fig. 1). It is exactly the material from Mittani that
confirms the opinion of A. Oppenheim16 that in the Amarna corpus the contrast
between genuine lapis lazuli and its imitations is expressed by means of two expres-
sions, uqnû šadê (NA4.ZA.GÌN KUR-e; “genuine [= mountainous] lapis lazuli) and
uqnû (NA4.ZA.GÌN).

“lapis lazuli” Attestations

ZA.GÌN EA 22 i 10
NA4.ZA.GÌN EA 25 iii 47, 56, 57, 60, 61, 66, 71; iv 21, 22
ZA.GÌN KUR EA 25 i 38
NA4.ZA.GÌN KUR EA 19: 80, 81, 82
EA 21: 36
EA 22 i 49 (twice), 51, 52, 56
EA 25 i 6–8, 12, 16–18, 20, 22–26, 31, 33, 35–37, 39–45,
49, 51–57, 62–64, 71; ii 3, 5, 10, 11, 13–15, 20, 21, 27,
29, 30, 32, 46, 48, 61, 63; iii 43, 46, 54
EA 26: 39
EA 27: 22
EA 29: 52
Fig. 1 Attestations of “lapis lazuli” in the Mittani correspondence.

The analysis of the distribution of the individual expressions denoting “lapis lazuli”
within the corpus leaves no doubt that in the Amarna Period the mineral was
considered a royal material par excellence, since all attestations appear exclusively
within the royal correspondence (see Figs. 1 and 2).

Provenance “lapis lazuli” Attestations

Babylonia NA4.ZA.GÌN EA 2: rev. 8 (NA4.ZA.[GÌN …])
EA 13: 7, 9, 12, 14, 17
NA4.ZA.GÌN KUR EA 11: rev. 24, 25
EA 13: 16, 19
NA4.ZA.GÌN ba-na-a EA 7: 56
Assyria ZA.GÌN KUR-e EA 15:13; 16: 11
Egypt NA4.ZA.GÌN EA 14 ii 9
Ḫatti NA4.ZA.GÌN EA 43: 2717
NA4.ZA.GÌN GAL SIG5 EA 43: 2818
NA4.ZA.GÌN ra-bi-ta EA 41: 27
Fig. 2 Attestations of “lapis lazuli” in the Amarna correspondence outside the
Mittani corpus.

In the majority of these documents the land of Egypt represents the final destination
of lapis lazuli, although―as follows from the overview―in some sporadic cases it
might also have moved in the opposite direction, i.e. from Egypt to other parts of the

16
Oppenheim 1970, 10.
17
The reading is uncertain. No copy of the reverse has ever been published. For the obverse
see Sayce 1894, pl. XXXI/1 (Ash. 1893.1–41 [408]).
18
See above.
 Lapis lazuli in the Amarna Letters 67

Ancient Near East. This situation is very rare and lapis lazuli was never exported
from Egypt in any considerable quantity. It is obvious that in these cases lapis lazuli
generally formed a tiny component of some larger object, for example as a stopper of
a small golden vessel (cf. EA 14 ii 9). It can be concluded from the Amarna corpus
that in the middle of the fourteenth century BCE the other Great Powers never
considered Egypt to be an important exporter of lapis lazuli or that lapis lazuli might
be identified as a common export article of Egypt.
There are three more mentions of lapis lazuli attested in an “Egyptian context”
recognisable in letters belonging to the subset of the Mittani letters, EA 26: 39, EA
27: 22 and EA 29: 52 (see Fig. 1). While in EA 26: 39 “a (piece of) genuine lapis
lazuli” is enlisted as part of a gift requested by the Mittanian king from the king of
Egypt, in the remaining two cases lapis lazuli represents the material from which
statues promised by the Pharaoh should be made. Leaving aside a reference to
NA4.ZA.GÌN ba-na-a in a letter from Babylonia (EA 7: 56), more detailed or des-
criptive mentions of lapis lazuli can be identified in the otherwise not very numerous
subset of documents dispatched from Ḫatti. Within the Amarna corpus the docu-
ments of Hittite origin represent a relatively limited group comprising only four
letters, i.e. EA 41–EA 44.19 In the Hittite subset references to lapis lazuli can be
recognised only in EA 41 and EA 43.20 It results from both texts―EA 41: 27
(NA4.ZA.GÌN ra-bi-ta) and EA 43: 28 (NA4.ZA.GÌN GAL SIG5)―that it was
“genuine” lapis lazuli which was requested by Šuppiluliuma from Egypt and not its
artificial imitation. His interest consisted in “a large (piece of) lapis lazuli” (EA 41:
27) and “a large good (piece of) lapis lazuli” (EA 43: 28). Both expressions might
very well imply that the desired mineral should be in its unworked state. Such a
state, however, would not be possible to retain in case of commonly used imitations
such as faience (occasionally referred to by means of an identical expression as lapis
lazuli in Egyptian texts, see above) or in the Amarna Age very popular blue-colored
glass.
Unfortunately, a Hittite word for lapis lazuli is so far not known. In the Hittite
texts many occurrences are known of an expression, among others also found in the
Amarna corpus, which is written logographically as NA4.ZA.GÌN21 and sometimes
followed by a phonetic complement NA4.ZA.GÌN-as.22 This expression is similar to
one found in texts written in Akkadian and it may mean lapis lazuli.23 It cannot be
ruled out completely that in the Hittite sources this particular expression may be used
also to identify yet another blue-colored mineral24 or material (just as in Egypt). In
the two following Hittite passages NA4.ZA.GÌN appears in context of an “Egyptian”

19
EA 41 = CG 4747 (SR 4/12207/0; JdÉ 28179); EA 42 = VAT 1655; EA 43 = Ash. 1893.1–
41 (408); EA 44 = VAT 1656.
20
It cannot be ruled out completely that lapis lazuli is mentioned in the fragmentary letter EA
44 as well.
21
For references to individual texts and a detailed discussion on the subject consult Polvani
1988, 163–177. For NA4.NUNUZ as ku(wa)nna(n)- in the Hittite texts see Polvani 1988, 149–
159; for its translation see Puhvel 1997, 308–311, especially 310.
22
KBo 25 82,8; KUB 24.8 i 13; KUB 31.127 i 11.
23
Consult Polvani 1988, 174–175 with references to further literature.
24
Polvani 1988, 174: 2) “l’ esistenza di una montagna chiamata Takniyara, toponimo molto
probabilmente anatolico da cui proviene la pietra ZA.GÌN secondo la testimonianza ittita di
KBo IV 1 Ro 36, può far pensare ad una fonte in Asia Minore, ipotesi tanto più possibile se si
considera che il sumerogramma in ittita può avere indicato altri minerali oltre al lapislazullo”.
68 Jana Mynářová

milieu25―KUB 12.1 iv 20: […]PISAN SA5 1-en GAB URU.mi-iz-ri GUŠKIN

NA4.ZA.GÌN 6 BI-IB-RU GUŠKIN “[…]red chest; 1 Egyptian casket (made of) gold
with ZA.GÌN-stone; 6 rhyta (made of) gold” and KUB 42.11 ii 8’–9’: 2 GIŠ.PISAN
KUR mi-iz-r[i …] ŠÀ-ŠU 28 NA4.ZA.G[ÌN …] “ 2 ‘Egyptian’ chests, inside 28
ZA.GÌN-stones”. At least in the first case we may actually muse upon the possibility
that the golden “Egyptian casket” mentioned in the text may have been decorated
either with genuine lapis lazuli or its imitation. This can hardly be suggested for the
second example.
Given the many problems pertaining to the understanding of NA4.ZA.GÌN in the
Hittite texts, it is thus even more difficult to imagine what might have been the
subject of Šuppiluliuma’s desire in EA 41. Some possibilities are provided by means
of the Amarna material itself. The fact that in the remaining Amarna texts
NA4.ZA.GÌN is routinely employed to identify lapis lazuli leaves however very little
leverage for a different identification in the Hittite subset of documents. The Amarna
material itself does not provide any direct information for the identification of Egypt
as a famous exporter of lapis lazuli in this particular period of time or that it could
have been considered as such by the Hittite king. The context of EA 41 indicates that
it was actually a piece of genuine lapis lazuli and not any of its possible imitations
that the Egyptian king was asked to send to Ḫatti. On the other hand, it is clear from
the Egypto-Mittanian correspondence that the Egyptian king refers to―or even
better speaks boastfully of―the precious blue-colored mineral as a material available
to him in a satisfactorily large enough quantity in order to make statues out of it. Is it
perhaps possible that the Hittite king was misled by the eloquent language of his
Egyptian partner mentioning lapis lazuli as a material available to him in abundance?
It is difficult to decide. It must be also mentioned that the distribution of references
to lapis lazuli in the Amarna letters provides evidence that the mineral was undoub-
tedly considered a royal material. It was definitely not available to all representatives
of power, such as the local Syro-Palestinian kinglets of that time. It appears without
exception only among the correspondence of the Great Kings. In the light of this one
must consider the possibility that the mention of lapis lazuli in Šuppiluliuma’s letter
could be interpreted as a manifestation of the Amarna diplomatic terminology. It has
already been documented that such terminology in the Amarna context understood as
diplomatic language par excellence and that it might not at all times reflect exact
data and information. Šuppiluliuma might have been well aware of the fact that even
for the Egyptian king lapis lazuli represented a precious commodity, which could be
obtained only by means of a diplomatic exchange of goods with other Great Kings of
the Ancient Near East. Both possibilities―either that the Hittite king took the Pha-
raoh’s words literally or that he just followed the diplomatic practice indirectly indi-
cating the social status of both correspondents―only reveal the complexity and
multilayered structure of the Amarna lexicography that must be considered when
interpreting the corpus.

25
See also KUB 42.64 Vs. 11.
 Lapis lazuli in the Amarna Letters 69

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