CUSAS 10, 1 (Bazi)

1       He who dwells in […]

2       ram, son of Enki, […]

3       god who surveys the human race,

4       who knows the wicked and the just mind,

5       in the midst of the subterranean water his name was given,

6       Enki elevated him to the kingship of the gods:

7       “Grow old! You may be king among the gods,

8       lord of the judgement of the land, above and below!”

9       After his arms were filled with manliness,

10     he spoke to his father, Enki:

11     “My father, where shall I set up a cult center?

11a    Where shall I rear ram (and) ewe?

12     The cult-daises are occupied and taken,

12a    [where resid]e the Anunakū, the great gods.”

13     He spoke to him, the counsellor of the gods, his father,

14     who dwells in the subterranean water, the lord of destinies,

15     To Bazi his father Enki said a song with instructions:

16     “I hereby give you the mountain Šaššār and Bašār.

17     Which one might be the one whom you love? Does he know it himself?

18     At Šaššār a cult-dais rose forth, for [abode(?)].

18a    Send messengers up and make it known to the king,

19     (and) the holy queen, the daughter of Anum.”

20     He kept circling the mountain as (if around) babies,

21     he viewed the city, the parts that were not fallow.

22     The city itself, it was not very far away from him.

23     He smote the mountain, opened wide the earth.

24     A house was built. Waters used to flow forth from it.

25     In the midst of its waters was built his house.

26     The bricks were lapis lazuli, the doors of shining materials.

27     The thresholds were of gold, dragons were the door poles.

28     Its (the houses) cone(?) was a palm leaf(?), copper its twin panels,

29     A dead god used to retain the bolt. The door-keepers were death.

29a    In the midst of the house waters used to cross,

         half were life, half were death.

30     The house was full of joy.

31     In the cella was Šamaš, in the house was Šakkan.

32     Slain is/was Šakkan, the one of witchcraft,

33     (whereas) Šamaš, the one of blood, and great Id, the one of sorcery, stand/stood in a row.

34     He (Bazi) rules the sacred people,

35     the ram, monarch of his city.

36     Behold the king, lord of the throne-dais,

37     sharp of horns, gorer of his enemies!

38     With his horns he gored the enemy princes.

38a    They (the people) bow down at his feet.

39     Is his dwelling not large (and) well stocked,

40     are (not) the eunuchs of the sea his eunuchs?

41     Is his brink not high, a rival to the mountain?

42     It pierced the netherworld and abutted the heavens.

43     Observe its fortifications, on high it is exalted(?).

44     The one that knows can ... and go down.

45     Is the interior not deep, the brink abutted?

46     ... he has built his ...

47     To the rear …

48     From the water … the brink recedes.

49     The god … to him.

50     A sea-monster …

51     …

52     To the well-spring of … he brings.

53     The quayside …

54     The god … ninefold(?).

55     For the lord of … [he determined] a destiny,

56     and a destiny … him.

57     Let(?) …

subscript

58     The [song(?) of] Bazi, which is sung when the people

59     go up [on] the day of […]

The translation widely follows George 2009, 7–9. Minor deviations from George's translation are not commented upon.

17: The meaning of the line is not entirely clear. George 2009, 7 translates “Someone(?) whom you love, only he knew”. He interprets the first word of the line as ajjummān as a variant of ajjumma. The translation above assumes 1) That the enclitic -man/-mān has the same function as elsewhere, i. e., denoting the irrealis and potentialis. 2) That the enclitic -ma after taraʾʾamúma indicates a nonverbal sentence whose predicate is the ša-clause. 3) That the plene spelling in i-de-e indicates a question; note that verbs III infirmae are never spelled plene in this text (s. ll. 11a, 23, 24, 25, 30) that elsewhere is careful of plene spellings. As I understand it, the line reflects Enkis thoughts about which mountain is the right choice for Bazi. However, the change from 2nd to 3rd person remains strange.

18: The restoration follows a suggestion of A. Zgoll (lecture Jena 4.7.2013).

20: George 2009, 7 translates “queens”; see ib. 3 for the difficulties of this interpretation. I derive šarrātim from šerrum, pl. šerrētum, which in OA has the form šarrum. Note that saḫārum Ntn is sometimes used in the sense of attention of a beloved person, see CAD S 54 saḫāru 19.

24, 29, 29a: The present tense forms ubāʾūnim, ukāl and ibbalakkatū in the description of the temple denote habituals in the past, i. e., “a situation which is characteristic of an extended period of time” (Comrie 1989, 27f.).

28: Note that according to Wasserman (in press) the possessive suffixes do not refer to daltum “door” but probably to bītum “house”. ḫa-ar is tentatively derived from arum (by-form ḫarum).

29: Cf. commentary on l. 24, above.

29a: Cf. commentary on l. 24, above.

31: An alternative interpretation of the line as two genitive constructs is proposed by Wasserman (in press). If correct, the division in couplets must be changed.

33: sà-da-ru is interpreted as stative without vowel elision before /r/.

39: The interpretation of the line follows Wasserman (in press).