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Jewish and Christian Voices in English Reformation
Biblical Drama Enacting Family and Monarchy 1st
Edition Chanita Goodblatt Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Chanita Goodblatt
ISBN(s): 9781472479785, 1472479785
Edition: 1
File Details: PDF, 6.27 MB
Year: 2018
Language: english
Jewish and Christian Voices
in English Reformation
Biblical Drama

English Biblical drama of the sixteenth century resounds with a vari-

ety of Jewish and Christian voices. Whether embodied as characters or
manifested as exegetical and performative strategies, these voices par-
ticipate in the central Reformation project of biblical translation. Such
translations and dramatic texts are certainly enriched by studying them
within the wider context of medieval and early modern biblical schol-
arship, which is implemented in biblical translations, commentaries and
sermons. This approach is a significant contribution of the present proj-
ect, as it studies the reciprocal illumination of Bible and Drama. Chanita
Goodblatt explores the way in which the interpretive cruxes in the bib-
lical text generate the dramatic text and performance, as well as how
the drama’s enactment underlines the ethical and theological issues as
the heart of the biblical text. By looking at English Reformation bibli-
cal drama through a double-edged prism of exegetical and performative
perspectives, Goodblatt adds a new dimension to the existing discussion
of the historical resonance of these plays. Jewish and Christian Voices
in English Reformation Biblical Drama integrates Jewish and Christian
exegetical traditions with the study of Reformation biblical drama. In
doing so, this book recovers the interpretive and performative powers of
both biblical and dramatic texts.

Chanita Goodblatt is Professor of English and Comparative Literatures

at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
Routledge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture

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Emilia Wilton-Godberfforde

38 Forms of Hypocrisy in Early Modern England

Edited by Lucia Nigri and Naya Tsentourou

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40 Milton’s Italy
Anglo-Italian Literature, Travel, and Connections in
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Catherine Gimelli Martin

41 Satire in the Elizabethian Era

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42 Jewish and Christian Voices in English Reformation Biblical Drama

Enacting Family and Monarchy
Chanita Goodblatt
Jewish and Christian Voices
in English Reformation
Biblical Drama
Enacting Family and Monarchy

Chanita Goodblatt
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an
informa business
© 2018 Taylor & Francis
The right of Chanita Goodblatt to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections
77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
CIP data has been applied for.

ISBN: 978-1-4724-7978-5 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-59042-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by codeMantra
Dedicated to the Memory of
Rabbi Pinḥas Aryeh Goodblatt
Kitty Frank and Benno Frank
Contents

List of tables and figures ix

Acknowledgments xi
A note on the texts xiii

1 Introduction 1

Part I
Rules of reign: The Enterlude of Godly Queene Hester 21

2 Debate and discourse 23

3 The carnivalesque and wisdom 48

Part II
Birthright and blessing: The Historie of Jacob and Esau 73

4 Revelation and vision 75

5 Embodiment and language 100

Part III
Passions and intrigues: The Love of King David and
Fair Bethsabe 125

6 Parables of judgment and justice 127

7 Epithalamium and elegy 152

Epilogue 179
Appendix: Comedy of Queen Esther and
Haughty Haman 187
Bibliography 225
Index 245
List of tables and figures

Tables
1.1 The Enterlude of Godly Queene Hester: Texts Cited 4
1.2 The Historie of Jacob and Esau: Texts Cited 5
1.3 The Love of King David and Fair Bethsabe: Texts Cited 5

Figures
2.1 A Newe Enterlude drawen oute of the Holy Scripture
of Godly Queene Hester (1561). Source: RB 128965,
The Huntington Library, San Marino, California 27
2.2 Engelische Comedien und Tragedien (1620). Source:
Robarts Library, University of Toronto 35
3.1 Respublica (1553). Source: Robarts Library, University
of Toronto 60
3.2 The Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre
(2009). The puppeteers are: Theresa Linnihan with
Kašpárek, Sarah Lafferty with Kalupinka. Source:
Reproduced with the permission of Vít Hořejš and
Jonathan Slaff 65
4.1 Jacob and Esau (1568). Source: RB 61856, The
Huntington Library, San Marino, California 79
4.2 Institutio Christianæ Religionis (1559). Source:
Princeton Theological Seminary Library 92
5.1 Codex Manesse (1300–1340): 705. Source: CC-BY-SA
3.0, Heidelberg University Library 107
5.2 The Jay & the Pecocke. Fables of Esope (1484): c[r].
Source: (c) British Library Board: C.11.c17; Image
published with the permission of ProQuest; Further
reproduction is prohibited without permission 112
6.1 Ancient Cornish Drama (1859). Source: Robarts
Library, University of Toronto 132
x List of tables and figures
6.2 The Love of King David and Fair Bethsabe (1599).
Source: RB 69046, The Huntington Library,
San Marino, California 135
7.1 Les Tragedies de Ant. De Montchrestien (1601).
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France 166
7.2 La Seconde Semaine (1594). Source: USTC 83310,
Médiathèque d’Orleans 174
Figure Epilogue 1 The Czechoslovak-American Marionette
Theatre (2009). The puppeteers are: Ron Jones with
Mordechai, Vít Hořejš with Haman, Deborah Beshaw
with Ester. Source: Reproduced with the permission of
Vít Hořejš and Jonathan Slaff180
Figure Epilogue 2 Asaf Bracha as Esau (2009). Source:
Reproduced with the Permission of Adva Salomon and
Asaf Bracha 183
Figure Epilogue 3 Read Not Dead (2011). Source:
Reproduced with the permission of Keir Cooper 184
Acknowledgments

I thank Erika Gaffney; her expertise in Early Modern Studies and her
editorial support were inestimable in generating this book. I also thank
Arthur Marotti, for his support of my original essay on the play The
Historie of Jacob and Esau. Michelle Salyga, Commissioning Editor,
and Timothy Swenaton, Editorial Assistant, at Routledge have been in-
strumental in bringing this book to press; I thank them for their gener-
ous and professional assistance.
For the translations of various works, I thank the following: Sophie
­K riegel for her translation of the play Comoedia von der Königin E ­ sther
und Hoffärtigen Haman (passages printed in Chapters 2 and 3, and
printed in full in the Appendix)—this translation is printed with her
permission; Ilaria Stillor-Timor for her translations of passages from the
medieval play Ordo de Ysaac et Rebecca et Filiis Eorum Recitandus
(printed in Chapters 4 and 5), and of passages from Montchrestien’s
play, David ou l’adultère (printed in Chapters 6 and 7)—these transla-
tions are printed with her permission. Publication of this book was sup-
ported by a grant from the Israel Science Foundation (grant no. 338/16).
The research in this book also benefited from presentation and discus-
sion at the international conference, The Bible in Medieval and Early
Modern Drama, which was funded by the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung and
convened at Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany.
Copyright permissions for extended citations from three plays are as
follows: John Wiley & Sons, for The Enterlude of Godly Queene Hes-
ter; Taylor and Francis, for The Historie of Jacob and Esau; and Yale
University Press for The Love of King David and Fair Bethsabe.
A note on the texts

Sixteenth and seventeenth-century spelling and punctuation of texts have

been preserved in all quotations cited in this essay. Exceptions are the
modernization in the use of: “þ” as th; long “s” [“ſ”] as modern “s”; “i”
as “j”; “u” as “v”; replacing the vowel-macron with the succeeding “n”
or “m”; replacing the superscripted “ye” with “the,” “y t” with “that,”
“yu” with “thou”; and replacing the superscribed “wc” with “which.”
Hebrew words and phrases are Romanized according to the rules of the
Library of Congress. In order to clearly set out the relationship between
the English translation of the biblical text and its Romanization, I have
made use of capital letters and punctuation (which are not extant in the
Hebrew Bible).
The names of the biblical characters conform to modern English spell-
ing, while the names of their corresponding dramatic characters con-
form to the spelling used in the respective plays.
1 Introduction

Drama and the Bible

The present study has been conceived as part of the growing scholarly
interest in the encompassing field of Literature and Religion in the early
modern period. As so distinctly put by Baker, “religion as a vitally con-
tested element in early modern culture is now an established topic of
academic interest” (2014.section 1). Concurrently, there is an effort to
highlight the complex interaction of sixteenth- and seventeenth-­century
English plays within their religious contexts. Indeed, Mardock has pro-
posed that “the drama of early modern England…offered them [the
­English audience] at least a privileged perspective on questions of agency
and conscience, grace and salvation” (2014: 18). Within this scholarly
configuration, the present study aligns itself with the specific intersec-
tion of Drama and the Bible, conceiving of biblical drama in this p ­ eriod
as a significant participant—both textually and performatively—in the
Reformation effort to translate and interpret the Bible. In a pivotal essay,
White reinforces such an approach when he writes that “in early Refor-
mation England, Bible reading did not curtail but rather generated new
interest in the production of biblical drama” (2004: 88). This statement is
complemented by the ongoing critical interest in the link between ­English
literary texts and the Bible—as evident in Besserman’s C ­ haucer’s Bibli-
cal Poetics, Fowler’s The Bible in Middle English L ­ iterature, ­Hamlin’s
The Bible in Shakespeare, and Roston’s Biblical Drama in England.
Yet, the interpretive power of biblical drama has only begun to be
explored, particularly in relation to the complex, interrelated Jewish and
Christian biblical exegetical traditions. The intertwining of these tra-
ditions crystallized in English biblical translations and commentaries.
This project has been studied by Daiches in The King James Version
of the English Bible, G. Lloyd Jones in The Discovery of Hebrew in
­Tudor England, and Katz in God’s Last Words. Concomitantly, signif-
icant studies have focused on the dramatic representation of the Jewish
­figure, evident in Shapiro’s Shakespeare and the Jews, Ephraim’s Read-
ing the Jewish Woman on the Elizabethan Stage, and Osherow’s Biblical
­Women’s Voices in Early Modern England. Most appropriately, then,
English Biblical drama of the sixteenth century resounds with a variety
2 Introduction
of Jewish and Christian voices. Whether manifested as exegetical dis-
courses or embodied as characters, these voices distinctly participate in
the central Reformation project of biblical studies.
Set against this backdrop of scholarly and dramatic traditions, it is illumi-
nating to read Tyndale’s 1528 treatise The Obedience of a Christian Man,
in which he devotes an entire section to “The Four Senses of Scripture”:

Thou shalt understand therefore that the scripture hath but one
sense which is the literal sense. And that literal sense is the root
and ground of all, and the anchor that never faileth whereunto [to
which] if thou cleave thou canst never err or go out of the way. And
if thou leave the literal sense thou canst not but go out of the way.
Neverthelater [nevertheless] the scripture useth proverbs, simili-
tudes, riddles or allegories as all other speeches do, but that which
the proverb, similitude, riddle or allegory signifieth is ever the literal
sense which thou must seke out diligently.
Tyndale 2000: 156

In this passage, Tyndale establishes a new balance among the traditional

senses that had been set out in Jewish and Christian medieval hermeneu-
tics,1 one in which the literal sense is “a clear, moral lesson or principle of
faith” while allegory, “along with the related forms of similitude, example,
and figure, are not used to express a dark mystery but rather to heighten the
effect upon the reader” (Greenblatt 1980: 101–2). Tyndale’s declaration, in
both its communicative and effective aspects,2 is therefore integral to defin-
ing the parameters of the relationship between the Bible and Reformation
biblical drama. There is, clearly, a concern with the communicative, literal
sense of the biblical text, evident in Reformation Bibles (both in the trans-
lation itself and in the copious marginal notes) as well as in biblical com-
mentaries and lectures, most specifically in the continual attention paid to
the various textual cruxes—philological, semantic, narrative.
Yet, the full import of Tyndale’s statement is revealed by considering
its own effective, performative force. For it comprises what Austin terms
a “performative utterance…the issuing of the utterance is the perform-
ing of an action” (1975: 6–7); in this instance, it is both an exegetical
manifesto and an authoritative command. This statement demonstrates
as well the complex “citationality” or “iterability,” to adopt Derrida’s
terms (1988: 17), of biblical language within a new context of Reforma-
tion biblical hermeneutics. For Tyndale cites, but also transforms, the
words of his own biblical translation concerning the love and hope given
by Christ: Ephesians 3:17—“that ye being rooted and grounded in love”
(Tyndale 1989: 284); and Hebrews 6:19—“which hope we have as an
anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast” (Tyndale 1989: 352).
Finally, Tyndale’s exegetical manifesto concerning the literal and alle-
gorical senses provides an opportunity for turning to Jewish exegetical
voices3: first, for the way in which they respond to the cruxes in the bib-
lical text, by pointing out the problems and issues to which a continuing
 Introduction 3
succession of readers respond; and second, for their influence on the
Christian exegetical tradition.4 In doing so, attention will accordingly be
focused on the use of these senses within the various biblical plays, espe-
cially in the development from the predominantly allegorical concern of
the medieval plays to the more prevalent concern with the literal, histor-
ical meaning in the early modern plays. What is more, the performative
aspect of Tyndale’s statement introduces a significant aspect of the present
study: the conceptualization of biblical drama as exegetical and perfor-
mative responses to the challenge presented by the cruxes in the biblical
text. In this context, the term “exegetical” refers to the act of critically
interpreting the biblical text, while the term “performative” refers to two
aspects: the physical, literal embodiments of the play (stage directions, the
actors’ bodies, costumes, and properties); as well as to the embodiment
of both the biblical and dramatic texts as speech acts, that is, the way in
which an act of linguistic communication is intended by the speaker, un-
derstood by the addressee, and used by each to construct identity.
This integrated approach of exegesis and performance will, therefore,
comprise an important aspect of the present study of English Reforma-
tion biblical drama. This approach expands upon Zim’s argument

that the prevalence of invitations and opportunities for Protestants

to search the Scriptures in English enabled poets and preachers to
exploit reader’s knowledge of the Bible, as well as their experience of
the ways in which it was read and interpreted.
Zim 1991: 66

In doing so, the present study will focus on the reciprocal illumination
of Bible and Drama. That is, it will allow the exploration of the way in
which the biblical text generates the dramatic text and performance, as
well as how the dramatic enactment underlines the various issues at the
heart of three biblical narratives of family and monarchy.

Family and monarchy

A particularly fruitful way in which to examine the interaction of Bible
and Drama in Reformation England is through the narrative[s] of family
and monarchy found in the Hebrew Bible, for this narrative specifically
reflects the concern of the Tudor monarchy with its own familial and dy-
nastic quandaries. In the extant corpus of English biblical drama of this
period, there are three plays relevant to this topic.5 Organized according to
the chronology of these plays, as determined by dates of performance and
printing, they are the following: The Enterlude of Godly Queene Hester,6
written for performance by a boys’ company in a Royal chapel or a monas-
tic hall during the Christmas season of 1529–1530 and printed in 15617; A
Newe Mery and Wittie Comedie or Enterlude, Newely Imprinted, Treat-
ing Upon the Historie of Jacob and Esau,8 written for performance by
the boy choristers of the Chapel Royal (1552–1553) and printed in 15689;
4 Introduction
and The Love of King David and Fair Bethsabe. With the Tragedie of
­Absalon,10 written by George Peele possibly for the Admiral’s Men at the
Rose Theater (Connolly 2011: 358–9), entered into the Registers of the
Company of Stationers of London on 14 May 1594, and printed in 1599.11
The creation of a more extensive corpus of dramatic texts allows for
the investigation of the ways in which these three plays comprise part
of the Kristeva concept of intertextuality, the textual system (1980: 15),
through which (in Hamlin’s explanation) they connect “in infinitely
complicated ways to other works in ways that will inevitably be unique
for every reader, indeed every reading” (2013: 81). As seen in the accom-
panying tables, the inclusion of medieval plays together with additional
early modern dramatic and poetic texts offers several important advan-
tages: widening the historical scope of the discussion of the main plays;
suggesting a broader cultural concern with biblical drama; and providing
access through English translations of non-English texts. Furthermore,
this conception of the relationships among biblical and ­literary—along
with exegetical and historical—texts highlights three issues of central
importance to the formation of the family and the monarchy: the revela-
tion and implementation of knowledge—divine, human; the legitimacy
of the law—divine, familial, and monarchal; and the issue of identity—
gender, religion, and nation (Tables 1.1–1.3).

Table 1.1 The Enterlude of Godly Queene Hester: Texts Cited

English Biblical Supplementary Jewish and Christian Exegetical/

Play Dramatic Texts Historical Texts

Godly Queene Respublica. 1553 Midrash Genesis Rabbah

Hester. 1529– Comoedia von der Midrash Esther Rabbah
1530. Middle Königen Esther Babylonian Talmud
of Henry VIII’s und Hoffärtigen Ibn Ezra. Commentary on Genesis
reign Haman (Comedy Elizabeth I. 1559. First Speech
Printed 1561. of Queen Esther Before Parliament
Beginning of and Haughty Bacon. 1594. A True Report of the
Elizabeth I’s Haman). 1620 Detestable Treason Intended by
reign Considered to be the Doctor Roderigo Lopez
lost play, Esther
and Ahasuerus. Merlin. 1599. A Most Plaine and
1594 Profitable Exposition of the
Booke of Ester
Barlow. 1601. A Sermon Preached
at Paules Crosse
Camden. 1625. Annales Rerum
Gestarum Angliae et Hiberniae
Regnante Elizabetha
Donne. 1626. [Sermon] Preached
at S. Pauls, May 21.1626
Herbert. 1649. The Life and Raigne
of King Henry the Eight
  he Historie of Jacob and Esau: Texts Cited
Table 1.2 T

English Biblical Supplementary Jewish and Christian Exegetical/

Play Dramatic Texts Historical Texts

Jacob and Esau. Ordo de Ysaac et Targum

1552–1553. Rebecca et Filiis Midrash Genesis Rabbah
End of Edward Eorum Recitandus. Rashi. Commentary on Genesis
VI’s reign Twelfth century Ibn Ezra. Commentary on
Printed 1568. Towneley Cycle. Genesis
Elizabeth I’s Fifteenth century Thorpe. 1407. The Testimony
reign Respublica. 1553 Luther. 1544. Lectures on Genesis
Calvin. 1540. A Commentarie
upon the Epistle of Saint Paul
to the Romanes
Calvin. 1554. A Commentarie
upon the First Book of Moses
called Genesis
Calvin. 1562. Thirteene Sermons
Babington. 1592. Certaine
Plaine, Briefe, and
Comfortable Notes upon
Everie Chapter of Genesis
Preston. 1629. The Saints Daily
Exercise

Table 1.3 The Love of King David and Fair Bethsabe: Texts Cited

English Biblical Supplementary Jewish and Christian Exegetical/

Play Dramatic and Historical Texts
Poetic Texts

Peele. The Love Cornish Ordinalia. Rashi. Commentary on Genesis

of King David Fourthteenth Ḳimḥi. Commentary on Genesis
and Fair century Calvin. 1562–1563. Sermons on 2
Bethsabe, With Du Bartas. 1584 & Samuel
the Tragedie of 1591. La Seconde
Absalon. 1594 Calvin. 1557. The Psalmes of David
Semaine
Printed 1599. Hatton. 1586. Speech to Parliament
Peele. 1584. The
End of Araygnement of Elizabeth I. 1586. A True Copie of
Elizabeth I’s Paris the Proclamation
reign
Kyd. 1587–1592. Jewel. 1587. The Second Tome of
The Spanish Homilies
Tragedy Camden. 1615. Annales Rerum
Montchrestien. Gestarum Angliae et Hiberniae
1601. David ou Regnante Elizabetha
l’adultère Donne. Before 1623. Preached
upon the Penitential Psalms, on
Psalms 51:7
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
 100 Sol Cohen ,17 ffashur (-aromatics) like alfa-seed he
was grinding* The leaf18 of the s/ienu-tree19 like sassatu-grass20
he was picking21 out (for) an herbal chew22, Water of the fast
flowing river he was drinking , Soapwort, the pure herb of the
mountain2 , he was crumbling into pieces." The Ur III version of the
epic, 6N-T63825 (unpublished): obv. II 7ff. = rev. 8ff. reads: Sim-gig
Se-gi[nx . . . ] Sim-(ja-su-tlr-[ra . . . ]-ginx[. . .] se-bappir nun[ . . .
]-ginx i-ar-[ar] . . a-[jal-j)al-ka 8a" igi-sa6[. . .] l-ib-si-fsi] es"x
(LAMxKUR)-lam-kur-ra-ka buluh. mu-si-il-si-il slm-li gis/-u-[sikil-hur]-
sag-ga'-ka ka-[ba i]-ib-[. . .] "Kanaktu (-seed) like barley grain ,
ffasfjur (-aromatics) like , Beer-bread like .... he was grinding, With
the fast flowing water he was liberally26 filling (his) stomach, The
luxuriant es/i27 -(fruit) of the mountain he was crumbling into
pieces, ing are not silent, the sitting are not silent, they set up a
lament". For the series: Huharruru, k&m and niziqtum, see further
M. Held, JCS 15 (1961) 16. Nippur Lament (MS S.N. Kramer,
translation my own) 218: urs-zu a-ginx l-tab tfa-sig-ga a - g i nx i-
ktfX-u-de, "How your melancholy has been dissipated, how the
anxious heart is eased!" For t a b = Xu-ru-d "to untie", see Delitzsch
HWB, p. 689 s.v. SRH I and MSI. 9, p. 133 (Proto-Ea bilingual) 465;
for u r5 tab compare patar niziqti, Dream-book, p. 330: 75f. (cited in
AHw, loc. cit.). 14 For Si m - g i g and kanaktu-aeed (NUMUN-
feanafcfi) see CAD K, p. 135 s.v. kanaktu lexical section. 15 For tukdr
= kasasu "to chew up, gnaw", see CAD K, p. 242 s.v. kasasu A,
lexical section. 16 UUD.SAR is a variant writing for uNUMtJN, see
ISET 2, Ni 9724 (Emesh-Enten) obv III, 5: UUD.SAR k i na'-bi-s'e nu-
ze'and duplicate ibid. Ni 4572 obv. 13: UNUMUN. 17 For the various
readings and meaning of KAxZI-KAxZI, see AHw, p. 913 s.v.
qemu(m) "to grind". 18 For p a = artu "leaves, foliage", see CAD
A/2, p. 310 s.v. artu lexical section. 19 For &h e - n u see MSI. 5, p.
97, note to 55-60, copy of SI.T 128 rev. I, 16 is correct, the reading
is &h e n u on original, not 8 ' "S e -BAD. 20 For this grass see B.
Meissner, BAW, pp, 9ff., 9. 21 For sim see CT 18,35:III-IV 59-61
(Antagal III 225-227): 8 - " - mNAM = h-ha-lum, NAM8 > - ' m 8 ' -
> "-NAM = na-pu-u, 8 u -8 ' " » mNAM = Xu-su-u; MSL 4, p. 124
(OBGT XV) 12: s i - i m = &>-/um. Literally, "to draw out;" for the
nuance "to pick out" compare as well Aramaic SlIL, see Jastrow Diet.
p. 1548, s.v. %ehal. 22 For k a - b a see A. Falkenstein, Gotterlieder,
p. 72 with n. 105. 23 I cannot explain the suffix - d e other than
positing an expanded root n a ga d "to drink". For lines 301302
compare MBI 8 obv. 23, UET 6/1 33: 24. I.ahar and Ashnan 24-25: u
d u -gi nx ka-ba u mu-niib-kd a-md-sar-ra-ka i-im-nag-naga (NAG)-
d i, "they (mankind), like sheep masticating, ate grass, drank water
from the garden bed." 24 For ui-li-in-nu-us/ u-sikil-kur-ra-ka see
Wilcke, I.ugalbandaepos pp. 187ff. It is possible that the plant ui 1 i
n n u s7 ui r i a n a is to be identified with or related to the Hebrew
yar'inan, yir'ana (Hypericuui Crispum I..) which also produces soap,
see E. Hareuveni.Sinai, (1939) 622ff. and Saul I.ieberman, Tosefta
Kifshutah Zeraim 2, p. 187, 1. 1, and ibid. The Tosefta Shebiith, pp.
549ff. 15 I am indebted to Professor John Brinkman, Chairman of
the Baghdad School of the American Schools for Oriental Research
for kindly granting me permission to quote from this tablet. 26
Literally, "with a kind eye"; for the same idiom compare Hebrew
'ayin yafa or 'ayin toba. See Jastrow Diet., p. 1071 s.v. 'ayin. 27 For
gisI.AMxKUR see MSL 5, p. 98: 61-66 with note and MSI. 2, p. 92:
918 with notes. For 1 a m = e-tebu "to grow luxuriantly", see
Nabnitu R 166, cited in CAD E, p. 352 s.v. e&bu, lexical section.
Studies in Sumerian Lexicography 101 Juniper, the tree with pure
vegetation of the highland, [was providing (him)] with a chew". 2.
Proverbs 1.103-1.106 in E. Gordon's Sumerian Proverbs28 deal with
the unrefined eating habits of the rustic, niggard and greedy person.
1.103: in-kri nu-un-ku numun sa6-ga-am "Whether he has eaten or
not seed is pleasurable." The rustic, whether he has eaten or not, is
always found to be chewing upon barley grain - a habit considered
unrefined in ancient Mesopotamia . 1.104: in-pad & an-SI.A su bf-in-
tukure (KAxSE) bu-lu-u|) mu-un-si-il-si-il-e "He broke off (a morsel),
was over-eager, nibbled (it) in (his) hand and crumbled (it) into
pieces." The niggard will break off a morsel, become over-eager,
nibble upon it even in his hand, and then continue to chew upon it.
1.105: kaS-nag-nag-e a ba-nag-nag "He who drinks much beer
drinks much water." The one who out of greed drinks beer heavily
must perforce become a "heavy" drinker of water. Drinking large
quantities of beer will make the throat dry and necessitate the
drinking of equally large amounts of water. 1.106: nig-ma|)-ku-ku-e
u nu-un-Si-ku-ku "He who eats too much will not sleep because of
it." 3. The following proverbs describe the poor man or beggar, cf.
ibid., 2.15-2.19 uku-re ninda-kd-u-da-ni-SS igi an-Si-du-du uku-bu-
lu-uh-si-il-[l]e lu-nfg-tuk-c igi-lur nam-ba-e-gid-i ukd-re se-urx
(APIN)-ru nu-mu-un-zu-a ziz a-na ba-urx-ru ukd nu-kal uku ninda
su-ti-a kiri4 an-|jar "The beggar always looks up to (where) his
bread (is coming from), 28 For proverbs 1.103, 1.105 and 1.106 see
Gordon, Sumerian Proverbs, pp. 94-97; for the other proverbs I have
generally followed Jacobsen apud Gordon, ibid. pp. 478-479. 29
Illustrative of this is the following incident reported in the Babylonian
Talmud (Soncino translation Kethuboth 77a (p. 484)): Rab stated: If
a husband says, 'I will neither maintain nor support [my wife]; he
must divorce her and give her also her kethubah (the wife's
settlement). Rabbi Eleazar went and told this reported statement to
Samuel (who) exclaimed, 'Make Eleazar eat (lit. chew) barley (like an
animal, since he by being so credulous as to accept an absurd
statement, displayed no higher intelligence); rather than compel him
to divorce her let him be compelled to maintain her.' And Rab (why
does he order divorce rather than maintenance)? — No one can live
with a serpent in the same basket (metaphor, divorce is, therefore,
preferable). When Rabbi Zera went up (from Babylon to Palestine)
he found Rabbi Benjamin b. Japeth sitting (at the college) and
reporting this (Rab's ruling) in the name of Rabbi Johanan (i.e. that
Rabbi Johanan also was of the same opinion as Rab). 'For this
statement', he said to him, 'Eleazar was told in Babylon to eat
barley'. 30 See note 28.
 102 Sol Cohen The wretched31 beggar may not look
begrudgingly32 at the rich man, The poor man - who knows not how
to cultivate barley — what wheat will he cultivate? The beggar is not
endeared, The beggar who takes a loaf of bread incurs indignation."
The argument of the third proverb seems to be that a poor man who
cannot gain an income from an available source as the cultivation of
barley — the common grain of Mesopotamia — will not earn a
livelihood from a less likely source such as the cultivation of wheat
— the predominant grain to the west of Mesopota■ 33 mia . The
fifth saying states that the beggar, marked by the morsels of bread3
for which he begs, when found to be in the possession of a whole
loaf — reserved for the breadwinner — will only evoke indignation.
The other sayings are self-explanatory. 4. The following references
are from incantations containing a prescription for the patient, A. B.
Alster, "A Sumerian Incantation against Gall", Or 41 (1972), 350ff.
lines 15-20 (modified translation): lag-mun-na su u-me-ti "After you
have taken a lump of salt in (your) hand, nam-sub u-me-si after you
have cast the spell (upon it), ka-ka-na u-me-gar and after you have
placed it in his mouth, se10-ginx {je'-dur-re Let it be discharged like
a fart! bu-lu-rih,-ginx Jje'-si-il-le Let it burst forth like breaking
(wind)!3s im-ginx gu-du-ni-ta fye'-em-ma-ra-du Let it come out from
his anus like wind!" 31 32 33 34 3S B. CT 4 8a (Bu 88-5-12,51): 35-
40, cf. ibid., p. 354 (modified): lag-mun u jja'-s'e-na u-un-ta|j-|}e u-
bi-i[n- . . .] kirban tabti u ftaJff us-sa-a[b- . . .] se10 ki-ife" be'-si-il-le
kima XUit-[H . . .] bu-lu-u[)-ginx 5^-si-il-le For this epithet see p.
103. For i g i - 1 u r g i d - i, see F. Ali, Sumerian Letters (University
Microfilms, Ann Arbor, 1964), p. 86: 16-17: ku-li du,0-sa zu-a kal-la-
mu lii-as'-kd-ii-gi nx igi-tur m u - u n -g l d (BU)- i - e £, "My
companions, friends, acquaintances (and) dear ones are
contemptuous of (me), like a man who eats by himself". Cf. A.L.
Oppenheim, Ancient Mesopotamia, p. 44. Cf. below, n. 41. Because
b u - 1 u - ii {j is followed by - g i nx, and the whole term, bu-lu-uh,
si-il, stands between two expressions for "breaking wind", it would
be sheer folly to translate this line as, "Let it disintegrate like (any)
particle" On the other hand, since words for "farting" are
semantically related to "snapping", "bursting", the present
translation has been offered. Compare, for example, Arabic faqa'a,
"he emitted wind from the anus with a sound"; fiqi'un "an emission
of wind from the anus with sound"; faqa'un "one who emits wind
from the anus with a sound"; mifqa'un "the anus with which wind is
emitted vehemently with a sound" (From Lane, Arabic-English
Lexicon, pp. 2427-2428 s.v. FQ1). These Arabic forms go back to FQ'
"to split", see Brown, Driver, Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of
the OT, p. 825 s.v. PQ\ [It is possible that Akkadian faratldu "to
break wind" and Hebrew ('esba*) seredS "a snapping (finger)" (with
no satisfactory etymology) may ultimately go back to the root
*SRT/T (another form of the root SLT/§LT/SRT) "to split" for which
see note 9. Assuming that our etymology is correct, the use of d in
Arabic darata "to break wind" would seem to point to a fricative-
lateral nature of the initial sound, for which see Richard Cecil Steiner,
The Case for Fricative-Laterals in Proto-Semitic, Dissertation,
University of Pennsylvania, 1973, especially ch. XII.] Studies in
Sumerian Lexicography 103 kTma g[i-lit-ti . . .] im-ginx gu-du-& e-ib-
ta kima x [ . . . ] Sum.: "After adding a lump of salt and ftafo-spice
and . Akk.: The lump of salt and fraftt -spice which he adds . . Sum.:
Let the evacuation burst forth upon the ground Akk.: Like urine
Sum.: Let it erupt like breaking (wind) V 37 Akk.: Like an
ejaculation- .... Sum.: Come out like wind from38 the anus! Akk.:
Like . . . ," 5. The following lexical text, Izi Boghazkoy B llff., requires
clarification: 11. [m]ud-mud: mu-ud-mu-ud: ki-ta-al-lu-*uP-tum: d-
e-ri-te-[ 12. [bu-luh.: bu-lu-u{j: ki-li-it-tum: d-e-ri-te-im-[ma-alf],
"fright" 13. [bu-l]uh: MIN : ga-la-a-tum: MIN , "fright" 14. [bu-luh,-
bu-lu]|}: fbuUu-ub-bu-lu-uj): ki-ta-al-lu-ut-tum: d-e-ri-te-nu-m[ar • ]
, "to frighten" (inf. causat.) 15. [bu-lub . . .]: bu-lu-uh.-s'i-la': ma-ku-
d: Si-nu-d-ra-alS, hapax (mas. adj.) 16. [...]:[..■]: ma-ku-d-tum:
SAL-za[$i-nu-u-ra-a)(}, "a woman". The compiler of this lexical text
lists from line 1 to 11 mud, "fright" and its variations. By association
he follows that with b u - 1 u [)40 also "fright" with its modified
forms. Thereupon, he lists its homonym b u - 1 u b in combination
with S i 1 a, literally, "the one who splits into little pieces". The
equation given, however, is that of the epithet for the beggar, maku,
"wretched". This epithet developed from the fact that a beggar is
marked by the morsels of bread and tidbits of food for which he
begs; he is literally "the one who splits food into little pieces". 36
The text has Se10 k i - S e. Alster reads Jfe10-dd r(? !)-gi m(? !). 37
The Akkadian translator followed the equation cited in Izi B
Boghazkoy 12, see above. For galatu "to have a premature
emission", cf. CAD G, p. 11 s.v. galatu. 38 B. Alster is bothered by -
& e following the noun and - 1 a in the verbal complex. This
construction may aim at conveying "outside as regards to"; Compare
further, Gesenius, Hebrew Grammar, pp. 377ff. 119c. 39 See MSI.
13, pp. 143ff. 40 From Akkadian palal}u, "to fear", compare mud =
pa-la-^u VAT 9718: IV 24 cited in AHw, p. 812 s.v. palafoufm). 41
Evidence for this are the numerous passages in the Talmud that deal
with the beggar wherein the word pemsa "piece, morsel" is used; for
example: Talmud Pesachim 115b (Soncino translation): "Bread of
('oni): 'ani (poverty) is written: just as a beggar generally has a
piece, so here too a piece (is taken)"; Jerusalem Talmud Megilla 75a:
"Ezra enacted that a housewife rise early to bake bread on Thursday
so that piece(s) (perusa) of bread be available for the poor (on the
Sabbath)"; Parable in Talmud Berachoth 31a (Soncino translation) :
A king made a feast for his servants, and a poor man came and
stood by the door and said to them, "Give me a piece (perusa) of
food, and no one took any notice of him, so he found his way into
the presence of the king and said to him, 'Your Majesty, out of all the
feast which you made is it so hard in your eyes to give me one piece
(of food)? ". For b u - 1 u - u" h, si-il as an epithet for the beggar,
see proverb 2.16 and interpretation of proverb 2.19, on p. 102. „ . ...
maku I, mnku(m) "poor" in AHw, p. 591 is to be related to Hebrew
muk "to grow poor , for which see Brown, Driver, Briggs, Hebrew
and English Lexicon of the OT, p. 557, s.v. muk.
 104 Sol Cohen k a s i - i 1 This term was first studied by
Poebel42 whojroposed the meaning "to force into submission"43.
With the coming to light of more passages in which this expression
is found, it becomes difficult to retain this meaning . From the
context of the known references it seems that k a s i - i 1 is to be
taken basically as "to snap/ burst open the mouth (with sound)"45,
"to roar". The following references are known to me46. 1. Inanna
and Ebih, (MS B. Eichler) 143-144 Sa-be' gu mir-a ba-ni-in-ra ka47-
gal kurku (GU.AN.NE\SI.A)-ginx mu-un-si-il-le "At its (Ebih,) heart,
she (Inanna) shouted furiously, Like the waves48 she roared
loudly49 . 2. Emmerkar and the Lord of Aratta (Cohen, ELA) 413-
415:50 kin-gi4-a dilrur si-gigir ku5-du-ginx ka-si-il-la' mu-un-gin
anse-edin-na pa>-rim4-ma kas^ -di-ginx gin i-tag-tag-e ka-ni im-a
bi-ib-zi-zi-zi udu-sulubu (SIG.SUD) udu W-ba du7-du,-ginx du.n ifs-
aSa1 mu-un-dab Mo "The emissary went roaringly ' like a young
donkey cut off from the chariot tongue, Like a wild ass fleeting
through the barrens,52 (his) feet touched (the ground), With wind
he filled his mouth, He ran in one track like the long-wooled sheep
butting sheep in its fury." 42 Cf. AfO 9 (1933-1934), 281-282. 43
This rendition was later accepted by D.O. Edzard, Zwischenzeit, p.
169, n. 914 and A. Siobenr ZA 54 (1961), 51. J 6' 44 See already
Edzard, loc. cit. for the difficulty with the Enmerkar 414 reference
and for A. Falkenstein's suggestion: KA- s i - i 1 - 1 a m u - u n - DU
"(der Bote) brauste los? ". For subsequent studies, see Heimpel, ^
Tierbilder, p. 265 and H. Limet, Or 40 (1971), 17, line 21 with
commentary. 45 For s i - ij "to split" see above n. 10. k a s i - i 1 "to
split the mouth (with sound) has its analogue in Hebrew pasapg" to
snap/burst open the mouth (with sound), cf. Gesenius17 p. 653 s v
PSH 46 SLTN 131: rev. II, 4: xx i-Agi x BAD Sa-ta-ha-ar k a? mah-bi
s, -n i - si "i l' is epigraphically uncertain. ^ TCL 16, 71: II 50 (= Enki
and Ninmah.) cited by W. Heimpel, Tierbilder, should read ka-tar!
Vim-si-il-le-ne. There is no evidence at the present time for reading
g u as J. Krecher, Kultlyrik, p. 127 and H. Limet, Or 40 (1970), 17
have done. 48 Differing with the diverse interpretations of A.
Sjoberg, AS 16, p. 67; J. Krecher, Kultlyrik, p. 127; and H. Lmet, Or
40 (1971), 20:21, my rendition assumes that GU.AN.NE\SI(.A) is
also a variant writW for kurku, "waves." 6 49 Literally, "she burst
open a large mouth". 50 See as well W. Heimpel, Tierbilder, pp.
265ff. for lines 413-414. k a - 8 i - i 1 - 1 tf refers here to the
labored, rasping sound in breathing. " T°ono/oTrCe °f "8tePP6"
"barren8" for P^r-rim4 see C. Wilcke, Lugalbandaepos, p. 204,
commentary to z9B/do4. Studies in Sumerian Lexicography 105 11:
MSL 8/1, p. 88: 249 (OB Forerunner to Hh XH): ans'e-ka-si-il "a
braying donkey". Cf. EmeS and Enten (MS Civil) 189-19053 min-
kam-ma-s'e en-te-en-e e'-me-es'-ra mu-na-ni-ib-gi4 -gi4 e'-me-es'
dusu2 u ki-burux kii-a ka-si-il-W gil-di "Again Enten replied to
Emesh: 'Emesh, (you are) a dusu-donkey eating grass at the place
of the harvest, braying and roaring';" By the OB period already k a s
i - i 1 seems to have undergone interpretative distortion, see Lugale
OB: zag-pirig-e mus'-e-eS eme-e-de dGU.AN.N£.SI KA si-il-l[e (so a.:
CBS 8243 obv. 5 (collated); b.: SLTNi 7, obv. 11: GU.AN.NE'.SI Se !
si-il-le; c: Ni 4366, obv.4: GU.AN.NE\SI sex (KA x BAL[AG]? s[i-i)-le;
d.: UM 29-16-242 + 29-14-439, obv. 2: ka GtJ.AN.Ntf.SI-s'e si-il-i) "0
one with the strength of a beast!, darting a tongue like54 a serpent,
roaring (like) a wave5 , Post OB zag-pirig-ga' muS-gal eme-e-de kur-
kur-ra si-il-li e-mu-uq la-ab-bi mu$-gal-la muk-ta$-M-&'$-$u, mu-iat-
tir Jadf "With the strength of a beast, a great serpent with darting
tongue cleaving the mountains (Sumerian): With the strength of a
lion, lording it over, cleaving the mountains" (Akkadian). "s The
possible writing of KA x BALAG in text c and the certain reading of ?
ex in texts b and its deviate version in text d are distortions of k a s i
- i 1 since the duplicate texts of the references cited in section I of
this study do not show any evidence of either a compound KA sign
or a phonetic writing in k a s i - i 1. s'e and lfex are interpretative
readings borrowed from the expression Sex (KA x
SID/SU/BALAG/SIG4 /SID) g i4 (g i4)57 "to shout" which at times is
written merely as KA g i4 (g i4).58 HI. The nominalized form k a - s i
- i 1 - 1 rf can also denote "an object at which one hoots in derision"
or "against which one rails"59. BE 6/2, p. 73: mu sa-am-su-i-lu-na
lugal-e dug,, -"cn-lrt-la'-ta ki-sur-ra^1 sa-bu-um-bi-da-ge ka-si-il-la'-
aS bi-in-ku4-ra "The year when King Samsuiluna by the command of
Enlil turned Kisurra and Sabum into objects of derision. 53 Reference
courtesy of Professor M. Civil. 64 For - e - e & "in the manner of "
see Poebel GSG § 389 and §§ 394-95. 55 Literally, "a wave that
roars"; for GU.AN.NE.SI, see above n. 44. 56 There seems to be
confusion in the translation of this line in CAD K, p. 286 s.v. ka$aKu
A, bilingual section. 57 For this expression, see now Farber-Fliigge,
Der Mythos Inanna und Enki (Studia Pohl 10 [Rome, 1973]), p. 250
with previous literature. Prof. M. Civil kindly informs me that the
variant writing KAxLI for KAxBALAG is nonexistent. 58 See, e.g., SEM
21: 45 and SRT 39: obv. 8: KA gi4-gi4- da. for KA x 3lD in Ni 4507
and UET 6/1, 55: 49 (line 48 of Gilgamesh Enkidu and the
Netherworld; Lugalbanda 76, note 3 text I. 59 Compare
Lamentations 2: 15-16 (RSV): "All who pass along the way clap their
hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of
Jerusalem;" Is this the city which was called the perfection of beauty
the joy of all the earth? All your enemies rail against you (Heb. pasii
'alayik pihe'in lit. "they burst open their mouth against you"); they
hiss, they gnash their teeth, they cry: "We have destroyed her! Ah,
this is the day we longed for; now we have it; we see it!" See as well
Lamentations 3: 45-46 and Job 16: 9-10.
 106 reading) : Sol Cohen RA 9 (1912), 122 I 10: 16-19:
lugal . . . du, , -du, j -^nanna dutu-bi ka-zal-lu i-ni-in-dib-ba bad-bi
"i-ni-in-si-ga ka-si-il-la-as' i-ni-in-gar-ra "(Kudurmabuk) the king who
... by the command of Nanna and Utu conquered Kazallu, levelled its
wall, and turned it into an object of derision". A. Sjoberg, "Ein
Selbstpreis des Konigs Hammurabi von Babylon", ZA 54 (1961), p.
51, 1-2 (modified igi-mu-ta siqa (SIG4)60-bi siqa (§EG9)61-am du
u!- u or - a u - > u -. 66 For u" s = hdlu "to tremble, writhe", see BA
10/1 (1913), 100 no. 21: llf [m u - z u] {j u - 1 u b - b a anna mu-
un-pa-da ki-a ba-ab-ifs-sa: Jilm-fci gal-td ina AN-e i-za-kar-ma Kl-tim
i-fyal, "he pronounces your awe-inspiring name in heaven and the
earth shakes" (Sum. "jostles the earth"), reference with translation
from CAD y, p. 55 s.v. \filu, B. For i g i - 1 a d s compare Akkadian h
ti-fyi-lu [ina pa]ni forri beliya "And they tremble before the king my
lord, EA 281:18, cited in CAD H,, p. 55 s.v. hfilu B sub (b), and
Hebrew hal mippen$ "to tremble before someone" which occurs
several times in the Bible, e.g. Jeremiah '5:22. 67 Since the weather
god Ishkur is always described as roaring or thundering, our
interpretation of ka-siil-la makes the comparison with him quite
understandable. 68 Kramer, Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, pp.
30-31. 69 Kindly communicated to me by Professor A. Sjoberg who
participated in Falkenstein's seminar on Enmerkar and the Lord of
Aratta in 1953. 70 F.J. Stephens, "Sumerian KA.TAB", JCS 13 (1959),
13. 71 F.J. Stephens' interpretation is that the lord of Aratta, to
whom this line refers, was prostrated and made speechless by the
demand; when he regained consciousness he could speak only
incoherently. The latter part Studies in Sumerian Lexicography 107
Although S.N. Kramer subsequently in his rendition of "Lamentation
over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur" left this expression in line 306
untranslated,72 he, nevertheless, rendered Sk-ka-tab-ba ba-ann A in
"Curse of Agade", 20873 as "he lay down on (his) katabba." This
expression appeared later in another treatment by Kramer74, "Death
of Ur-Nammu" 12 where it was again left untranslated, but s'a of this
term was taken as "in the midst of". The last attempt at solving this
enigmatic expression was undertaken by Wilcke75 , who futilely
translated s" a KA- tab-ba ba-an-nrfas "liefi den Sinn im liegen". In
proceeding to puzzle out the conundrum of S ^ - k a - 1 a b (- b a)
it must be pointed out at first that neither S'^ka-tab-ba nor ku8ka.
tab-ba exists with certainty in any of the texts or their duplicates
cited above76 . Furthermore, from the context of all the references
known to me it would appear that F.J. Stephens was closest when he
translated s'a ka-tab-ba as "with heart and mouth tightly closed". I
differ with him in his interpretation that it means to render one
"speechless".77 My understanding of s'a' - k a - 1 a b (- b a) is a
"muzzling or covering of the stomach", it connotes "a privation or
abstention from food", "a fast".78 The following are the references
known to me: of his statement is based on a misunderstanding of
the text, see now S. Cohen, Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta,
(Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1973) pp. 81, 131, 11.
390ff, with commentary and Introduction, p. 36. 72 ANET, p. 616. 73
ibid. p. 650. In note 56, Kramer remarks: "The complex ka-tab-ba
used with the determinative for leather means "halter"; when used
with the determinative for "reed" it designates a type of basket; here
it is used with the determinative for wood, and its. meaning is
uncertain". 74 JCS 21 (1967) 104ff. See commentary to 1. 12 on p.
121 where he cites g ' ^k a - 1 a b - b a and kuJkatab-ba as variants
in Curse of Agade 208. Kramer adds, "the ka-tab-ba therefore seems
to be a special type of couch on which a god lay down to sleep when
he wanted to avoid human plaints and pleading." 75 ZA 62 (1972),
52-53: 39' with commentary on pp. 60-61. Regrettably, the note
contains the following errors: (1) i t i m a does exist in a published
text of Curse of Agade 208. Thus his collation of text W(HS 1514) is
questionable, see my treatment of this line on p. . (2) The article in
JCS 13 on ka-tab-ba was written by Ferris J. Stephens and not by M.
Fish. (3) Nowhere in Stephens' article is there to be found the
reading zii-ka-tab-ba or the interpretation "mit zusammengebissenen
Zahnen" attributed to him by Wilcke. 76 Although k u s'k a . t a b (-
b a) = katappu, "bit, bridle (for a donkey)", see CAD K, p. 303, s.v.
katappu, or k a - 1 a b = katammu "a lid", see CAD ibid. p. 297 s.v.
katammu, lexical section (Reference courtesy of Prof. M. Civil), the
kus/gi ^ka-tab-ba reading in Curse of Agade 211 is based either on
an uncertain reading of a poorly preserved duplicate, UM 29-13-92
rev. IV 10 (collated), or on a broken sign in Ni 4487, (Death of Ur-
Nammu) obv. 12, which requires collation. In both cases the sign
may very well have been s'a. S.N. Kramer's translation of Curse of
Agade was based upon Adelc Feigenbaum Berlin's transliteration, see
ANET, p. 647. 77 See above note 71. Besides his misunderstanding
of what follows in the ELA passage, k a - 1 a b (- b a) is a fixed
expression and for "with heart and mouth tightly closed" we might
expect s'a ka tab-tabba. 78 Compare Two Elegies (MS A. Sjoberg,
translation my own) 9-10: tu-ra-u-nu-ku* gaba ba-ri tu-ra ba-an-
dab5 ka h-ba-e-s'ti ninda nu-mu-un-IW-s'ti s'd-sh-ga ba-an-nd "An
illness (with) loss of appetite confronted him, the illness had taken
hold (of him), Having covered (his) mouth he ate no food, he lay in
hunger". For Sri = katamu "to cover" see AHw, p. 464, s.v. katamu.
For s'ri - S ti = l$mu(m) "to eat" see ibid, p. 543 s.v. Wmu(m) and
lemd(m) I.
The text on this page is estimated to be only 29.55%
accurate

108 Sol Cohen 1. The first half of the third kirugu in the
Lamentation over Sumer and Ur79 deals with the severe famine
which was widespread in Ur, lines 304-308 (MS S.N. Kramer) read:
lugal-bi DU dub-W-a u5 -a ninda-kri la-ba-na-gal lugal ninda-sa6-ga-
krf-krf-a kur6-re im-ma-an-dabs u4 im-s'rf-s'u' igi im-la'-e s'a'-ka-tab
1-zu-zu e'-bappir-ra kaS nu-un-gdl gfd-da-bi nu-un-gal ^-gal-la-na
ninda-kd la-ba-na-gal tus'-u-bifla-bja-ab-du, "For its king ... who was
lofty on the dubla™ food was not served, The king who was
accustomed to eat fine food now seized upon the food ration, (As)
the day grew dark81, the eye (the sun) was eclipsing82, fasting was
proclaimed, In his beer-hall, there was no beer, there was no more
reclining in it, He was not served food in his palace, it was made
unsuitable to live in." 2. Lines 170-207 of ^the Curse of Agade8'
describe how the cities of Sumer became desolate; fields and
gardens were abandoned; famine raged, and death stalked the
inhabitants of Sumer; the land was filled with waihng and lamenting,
the suffering of the people was brought to Enlil; line 208 reads:84
79 80 81 82 See Kramer, ANET p. 616, 11. 294ff. For the dublu,
"foundation terrace^ especially the area around the gateway, see
Sjoberg, Temple Hymns, p. 57 and Heimpel, Tierbilder pp. 323ff. It
seems to me that as an act of penitential mourning the king moved
from his comfortable palace, see 1. oUH, to the gateway; compare
perhaps 2 Samuel 19:9,12. For u4 Sri - Su see van Dijk, La Sagesse,
p. 55: 265 •] 88 a m as" "i Tn " Z ^ ?• ^ T^ F°' * g '' "eye" = ^
COmPare the Per80nal ™ s a m ■*-i-in- m a - 1 , m Shamash ,s the
Eye of the Land" (CT 49 6:30 and UET 5, 606, references are from
CAD p 156 s.v. Tnu sub d) and AHw p. 383 s.v. Tnu(m) sub i)
respectively) nd in h^eT ForYa r k:d" Ex°du» °= fl15 with Targum
Onkelos 'en »n* de Va-\„e eye of the sun of the land". For 1 d - 'J - "
" [■ ISETIP.148Ni4559:ll:[...]ba!-an-ku4 Sa - k a - 1 a b - b a b a - a
n - {.! (not b a - a n -Si STVC 135: obv. 8 [...]. 1 (\ . 1 . GA/tixMI . .
. A . rb ai . r i ' ^^ ""d U) TuM NF 3 30: obv. II 28: nam-rbii-Jffe [d]e
„ - 1 .1 - []] itjin, tfa -k a - ta b -ba ba-an-na' Wilcke's collation of
this line (ZA 62 [1972] 60-61): n a m -b i - s"e °e n -1 , 1 - 1 c KA
ba-an-TU sfl KA- 1 a b - b a b a - a n - n i omitting i t i m - is highly
questionable and seems to be prejudiced by his not having available
any texts with i t i m; but see already STVC 135- obv 8 5 J1" re?ding
k a ,i8„C/e;tain 8i,nce the variant in N 2707 has - k u. k a b a - a n -
k u4 means literally "he entered the mouth (Cf. perhaps E. Gordon,
JAOS 77 [1957] 78: 4. 60 (modified): n . m ■ * e K ■ a b e «u' r B f
•" -J V ' " ' k "4 • ,iter»»y. "with a bitt-su] (not bakd) "sand", cf. CAD
B, p. 134 s.v. bassu, lexical section. Although the possibility exists
that SAJjAR may be a scribal error for itima which it resembles, the
sign
 110 Sol Cohen (When) day broke, he discussed the matter
at length »92 5. In the "Eridu Lament" text TuM NF 4, 2793 , it is
related (11. 34-36) that after Damgalnunna had spoken to Enki
about the destruction of Eridu and the main temple, Abzu: "en-ki
lugal-abzu-ke4 & ba-an-sig m[ur-r]a-ni ba-BAD inim-MLtJS.DAM-na-
s'e ni-te-a-ne- i-si-is' mi-ru-ib-laMd ^-ka-tab-ba ba-an-ni "Enki, the
lord of Abzu, Became depressed, his mood became gloomy94 at the
message of his spouse, In his solitude, anguish filled him full9s, and
he lay in a fast." 6. In the epic, Emmerkar and Ensuhkeshdanna, the
lord of Aratta, Ensufokeshdanna, after receiving an insolent message
from Emmerkar, brings to him a maJ-raaS (incantation)-priest who
offers to subdue Uruk through magic. The magician sets out and
comes to Uruk, the city of Nidaba. Using his magic, he talks with the
temple cows and goats and orders them to cease producing their
milk. Lines 198-205 (MS A. Berlin modified) read: u4-bi-a tur-amas'-
a e'-si-ga ba-ab-du,, nig-ha-lam-ma ba-ab-ak akan-6b ka ga nu-un-
gal amar-e u4 bi'-in-su a-|i?] mu-un-ni-dun-duu ?] akan-uz ka ga
mu-un-[gal ma^-e . . .] ma%uz-da-bi &-ka-tab-[ba . . .] zi-bi mi-ni-
[ib-tum-tum-mu] filb-e amar-bi-s'e' gil-gig [hi'-ib-be] uz-de mdS-bi
mu-na-ab'-[. . .] tur-ku--ku-ga si-si-ig-ga [. . .] &-su-ga mu-un-gal &-
ka-[tab- . . .] "Thereat, he ordered the stall and the fold to become a
house of desolation, he made it into an object of calamity.96 The
teat of the cow did not provide the mouth (with) milk, for the calf
the day passed gloomily, Its young calf was hungry, it set up a wail,
The teat of the goat did not provide the mouth (with) milk, for the
kid Its he-goat, privation of food , its life expired, The cow [called]
bitterly to its calf, The goat its kid, In the pure stalls, utter desolation
he let (there) be hunger, privation of food " 7. UET 6/2,143: rev. 7-8
in broken context: [. . .] TUK &a-ka-tab-ba ba-[an-n P' 168 - dMU>
«■»* 8CCti0"') The ^ - a 92 m, »™ ":;£ ; xzaxx , 9°"91; f°r l a " ' a
8ee' a8 wel1' T" JflC0b8en. TIT, P- 331, 96 Cf. MSI. 13, p. 117: 84
for n fg - b a - 1 a m - m a = & k-mu-ut-tim "that of desolation,
calamity". 94 / I V£ New Inscriptions from Moenjo-Daro, Pakistan
George F. Dales, Berkeley Sumerian texts, both literary and
economic, stress the importance of three far distant lands called
Magan, Meluhha and Dilmun. The identification of these rich and
important places has occupied the imaginations of scholars for
decades. Professor Kramer is one who has maintained the belief that
the Harappan civilization, centered in the Indus Valley of Pakistan,
could have represented one of those three distant lands so
important to the Sumerians. It was the exciting prospect of
identifying one of those fabled lands that spurred me from his
classes to the Makran coast of Pakistan in 1960 in search of ancient
seaports.1 Much of my research since then has concentrated on
defining the nature of Mesopotamian-South Asian contacts that are
evidenced in the archaeological record. In the winter of 1964-65 I
had the opportunity of directing excavations for the University of
Pennsylvania Museum at Moenjo-Daro, the most famous of the
Indus cities.2 The publication of this article is a small token of
gratitude to Professor Kramer for the many years during which he
has supported and encouraged my archaeological explorations. This
is not only a happy occasion for me but perhaps an auspicious one.
At the time of writing this article permission was granted to open
excavations at one of the three known Harappan seaports in
Pakistan. In October 1973 I began excavations for the University of
California, Berkeley at Bala-Kot, near Sommiani, some 70 kilometers
north of Karachi (or should we say in Meluhha?). Presented here is a
description and typological analysis of the Harappan inscriptions
discovered during our 1964-65 Moenjo-Daro excavations. No attempt
is made to assign linguistic values to any of the signs. Photographs
of several of these inscriptions have appeared in earlier reports3 but
this is the first time a descriptive analysis of them has been offered.
The objects themselves are presently stored with the collections of
the Pakistan Department of Archaeology. The find-spots of the
inscribed materials are indicated in the Catalogue. The areas
designated III, IV, and VII refer to the brick structures excavated
along the top of the southwestern edge of the Lower Town (the HR
area of Sir John Marshall's excavations). These inscriptions thus
came from the latest architectural level in that part of the site, dated
by radiocarbon to approximately 1900 B.C.. Inscriptions from other
areas of the excavations are, unfortunately, associated with surface
debris or with materials that have washed down the side of the
mound since the abandonment of the city. 1 G. Dales, Antiquity 36
(1962), 86-92 and Expedition 4/2 (1962), 2-10. 2 G. Dales, Scientific
American (May 1966), 93-100; Archaeology 18/2 (1965); 145-150;
Expedition 7/4 (1965), 10-17; Illustrated London News (May 29,
1965), 25-27. 3 References are given in the Catalogue.
 112 George F. Dales In addition to the new inscriptions
from our Moenjo-Daro excavations, I include here a description of a
heretofore unpublished Indus seal that is in the collection of Mr.
Edward Gans of Berkeley, California. This complete and beautiful
example of an inscribed, unicorn seal was purchased from an
Egyptian dealer in Los Angeles in 1965. The only information offered
by the dealer was that the seal was from the collection of a Sir
Lionel Edwards of London. The seal came to Mr. Gans in an elegant
velvet covered box on the lid of which is a silver plate with the
simple inscription "Indus Valley Seal." My study of the seal and its
inscription convince me that it was originally from Moenjo-Daro, but
I have not had an opportunity to trace its subsequent history. I wish
to thank Mr. Gans for his generosity in allowing me to publish this
beautiful example of the finest of the ancient Indus stone cutters art
(PI. VII*). The paper concludes with a brief description of the recent
attempts to decipher the Indus inscriptions. Special attention is
focused on the current work of teams of Finnish and Soviet scholars,
which, with the aid of computors, claim to have identified and
deciphered the language. New Inscriptions from Moenjo-Daro,
Pakistan 113 Stone seals, square, with animal and inscription on
obverse and grooved, pierced knob on reverse Field # Dimensions
(cm.) Animal Area of Published UPMand Condition Find 607 2.6 X
2.6, complete Unicorn in No 624 2.8 X 2.8, complete Unicorn m
Expedition 9/4 (1967), 35, lower 511 1.7 X 1.7, complete Unicorn XI
No 339 2.8 X 2.8, complete Humped bull XV Expedition 9/4 (1967),
34; Scientific American (May 1966), 98. 177 2.3 X 2.3, complete
Unicorn XIX Expedition 9/4 (1967), 34, top 308 2.5 X 2.5, complete
Unicorn XXI No 558 2.2 X 2.2, complete Unicorn XLVII No 523 3.0 X
3.0, complete Unicorn XLVII Expedition 9/4 (1967), 35, middle. 592
? — only upper left corner with animal head & two signs Unicorn
XLVII No 126 2.1 X 2.1, Unfinished Unicorn VI No 9 ? — only ru
animal & 3 mp of signs ? VII No 396a ? — only upper left corner
Unicorn VII No 306 2.9 X 2.9, defaced ? XXI No Gans (Berkeley) 2.8
X 2.8, complete Unicorn Moenjo-Daro No
 114 B. E. F. George F. Dales Field i= Dimensions &
Condition Area Published Stone seal, rectangular, script only, reverse
convex, pierced. 238 3.9 X 1.2, complete VII Expedition 9/4 (1967),
36. Clay "amulet" triangular section, script on one side, boat on
second side, gharial and fish on third side. 602 4.6 long; sides 1.15,
1.15, 1.2 wide; complete in Expedition 9/4 (1967), 39; 11/1 (1968),
39. D. Ivory Rod, deeply incised inscription between incised
geometric patterns at ends of rod 412 Length 7.3 complete, Diam.
0.8 red pigment in incisions. XI Inscribed Pottery. Script scratched
into fired pottery 1426 Body sherd of large storage jar 1427 Jar rim,
part only Pottery with stamp impression 1 2.0 X 2.0, lower right half
missing; script only; probably a pointed-base goblet Marshall type B
138 1.5 X 1.5, on shoulder of goblet VI XI VII vn Pottery with script
molded into base during manufacture. 1430 Script in raised relief on
concave XI lower part of large storage jar. Part of right sign missing.
1226 - ditto - XI Expedition 9/4 (1967), 38. Expedition 9/4 (1967),
37, top right Expedition 9/4 (1967), 37, top left Expedition 9/4
(1967), 36. No Expedition 9/4 (1967), 37, middle No New
Inscriptions from Moenjo-Daro, Pakistan 115 COMPARATIVE
ANALYSIS OF INSCRIPTIONS Signs are in the order they are seen in
impression or on objects other than seals and to be read from right
to left. UPM-607 V A t"0 There are no exact parallels to this seal or
inscription but FEMD-646 (DK section, G area, lower levels) is a
square, unicorn seal with a similar inscription. The first sign is
partially broken away but it appears to be oval or round in outline.
The second sign, the fish, is shown without the inverted V above it.
Neither Marshall or Mackay list an occurence of the sign ^ at
Moenjo-Daro. It's accented form — if that is in fact what is involved
— does occur three times in Marshall's list (Seals 59, 396, and 445),
each time on square, unicorn seals and invariably at the beginning of
the inscriptions. The absence of this sign in FEMD highlights it's
rarity. One is tempted to see " M as a variant of the more common"
[jA that always occurs at the beginning of inscriptions (in all the
twenty-four occurrences at Moenjo-Daro and all the nine
occurrences at Harappa). Harappa has no examples of ' £^but has
three examples of £3 — all on the tiny twosided "seals" common to
the early levels.4 The evidence is very limited but the temporal
distribution of the occurrences of sign bx\ is worth noting for the
future when we may understand more about the question of the
contemporaneity of Moenjo-Daro and Harappa. The Moenjo-Daro
occurrences.— all accented hA — are from the upper levels on
square, unicorn seals whereas at Harappa, unaccented M occurs
only on the tiny early "seals." Other possible variants of the initial
two signs are seen on a clay "sealing" from Harappa5 — an oblong
object with two axial lines of script in raised relief — on which is
seen a similar inscription =\f~Jfc $ ; and in another Harappa
inscription (H.84) in Marshall's list ^f'/k A (j) . From Chanhu-Daro, a
typical square seal with unicorn,6 has an inscription ~\J~ I-yO Aa \j
that, again, may bear ultimately on the question of regional and/or
temporal variants in the script. As for the three terminal signs of the
inscription UPM-607 there are three other square, unicorn seals that
carry only this group, with identical forms of the individual signs.
One is from Moenjo-Daro,7 one from Chanhu-Daro,8 and one from
Lothal.9 UPM-624 ill * * " 0 There are no exact parallels to this seal
and inscription but several inscriptions have suggestive variants and
sign combinations. Closest to the entire seal is MD-326, but it has
instead of a unicorn a short-horned bull. The inscription is identical
except for the fish signs which are shown as A -y>. MD-345, a
square seal with a rhinocerous, has the related isncription A III I I J
£L C) / ^Q . FEMD-208, is a square, unicorn seal Vats, Har., PI.
XCVI, 449, seal 11077; PI. XCVI, 450, seal 3758; PI. XCVIII, 584,
seal 3508. Ibid., PI. CIX, 343, seal 1646. Mackay, Ch, PI. LI, 24.
Marshall, MD, seal 283. Ch, PI. LII, seal 24. IA (1957-58), PI. XIX.B.
 116 George F. Dales with J HI UJ$ "$(?'•'" ; and 251,
another unicorn seal has J ||| \}>) " 0 . Marshall lists thirteen
examples of inscriptions terminating in ^p 1 1 1 HJ . Of these, ten
examples have one or two fish preceding this terminal group. And of
these ten terminal groups with fish signs, six have either $) (twice),
/A r) (J) or (^J as the initial sign. Variants or cognates - orthographic
or linguistic - may be involved (see above, UPM607). There are no
similar inscriptions at other Harappan sites. Harappa and Chanhu-
Daro do, however, have examples of inscriptions beginning with " Q .
Statistically, this is basically an initial combination, as seen in thirty-
five out of thirty-nine examples in Marshall's list and in eighteen of
nineteen examples published by Vats from Harappa. UPM-511 This
sign combination is restricted to Moenjo-Daro. MD-287, from Site C
in the DK area, is an exact parallel in terms of the script and the
animal depicted. Of nine other seals with this terminal sign, all have
in penultimate position a set of vertical lines - six have three lines,
two have four, one has five. Five of the nine seals have only the
terminal sign plus these vertical lines, whereas the other four have
one or more signs preceding the verticals. The unicorn is depicted
on all these seals except one (FEMD-633) which has a shorthorned
bull. UPM-339 I A I * IX I Taking the fish with the four vertical lines
as a composite sign, there are few parallels to be cited. FEMD-226
has the sign but the humped bull on our seal is replaced by a
unicorn. Marshall's list has six inscriptions including this sign but in
no consistent relationship with other signs. Harappa has a single
example = I X I II °n a tiny 8nield-8naPed 8te«tite "seal."10 Other
sites provide no parallels. See below, UPM308, for a variant of this
composite fish sign. UPM-177 I I I I I I There are no exact parallels.
Closest at Moenjo-Daro is FEMD-173 EH EB (=) on a square, unicorn
seal. Marshall's list has twenty-one examples of variants of the
lattice sign, fourteen of which have the sign occurring in pairs. UPM-
308 4! ev^f ^f There are no inscriptions from any Indus sites even
remotely similar. The initial sign, Marshall's CCLXIII, occurs eighteen
times in his list but in no consistent relational pattern. Only three
examples of the sign are reported from Harappa. The second sign,
apparently Marshall's CCLXXXII, is very rare. Marshall lists only one
occurrence of a close variant of the sign in a totally different
inscription on unicorn seal 556. The terminal sign was discussed
above under UPM-339, although note the slight variation in form. 10
Har., PI. XCVII, 556, seal Af 97. New Inscriptions from Moenjo-Daro,
Pakistan 117 UPM-558 t 4 These two signs, including variants of the
fish sign, constitute one of the more common groups in Indus
inscriptions. From Moenjo-Daro come two identical seals and
inscriptions from upper levels of the DK area (MD-254 and 261). A
third unicorn seal, also from the upper levels of DK (FEMD-26) has
the same two signs but a variant form of the fish XX . At least a
dozen other seals from Moenjo-Daro are published with this terminal
group (with variants of the fish) plus from one to three other signs
preceding it. Five of these seals have unicorns, one an elephant, one
a short-horned bull, one a humped bull, and one a "Gilgamesh"
motif (FEMD-75). This is also a common terminal combination at
Harappa. Two tiny seals — or amulets — from the early levels have
only these two signs. One is a small, round steatite object.11 The
other, a round object made of faience.12 Chanhu-Daro has a single
example of this terminal group on a unicorn seal. UPM-523 T There
are no exact parallels. Closest is FEMD-139, a unicorn seal but with
the initial sign ffn instead of [III . The middle sign is enigmatic. It is
not in Marshall's list. In FEMD there seem to be variants in the forms
y^ ][> \ > j >^f> Y" which may or may not be significant. With the
exception of FEMD-139 cited above, this tree or forklike sign is
always preceded by a group of vertical lines (from three to eight)
suggesting that the variations in form may be insignificant. This
same basic type of inscription with the trident or fork preceded by a
number of vertical lines may be what we see stamped into pointed-
base goblets at Moenjo-Daro (see UPM-138 below). The trident j
occurs at Harappa (sign 441) but not in similar inscriptions. UPM-592
9&IJ V) The initial sign (Marshall XXII) is found most frequently at
Moenjo-Daro with thirteen occurrences listed in MD and FEMD. No
examples are published from Harappa and only two from Chanhu-
Daro. Eleven of the thirteen Moenjo-Daro seals are of the square,
unicorn type as are the three Chanhu-Daro seals. Of the two
remaining Moenjo-Daro examples, one is a square seal with a short-
horned bull and one is a rectangular stone seal with inscription only.
In twelve of the thirteen Moenjo-Daro seals, the initial two signs \j
y) are the same as on our UPM-592. The thirteenth seal (FEMD-598)
has an interesting variant in the inscription \J VaV s*J^ / / m wmcn
tne s60011^ 8'gn lB one which is always closely associated with the
\j sign. In fact, it is only rarely that it is found without =\j~ directly
following it. Two of the Chanhu-Daro seals14 have an initial group
^FS/) while the third ls has only J/ J followed by other signs. «gfftV
UPM-126 The seal is unfinished. The two signs have only been
scratched into the surface and the seal has no white coating. This
may represent an example of an artisan's mistake. If the second sign
was really intended to be the 3^. sign then it is backwards. Perhaps
the seal was discarded because of this mistake. 11 Ibid., PI. XCVII,
551, seal 3961. 12 Ibid., PI. XCV, 374, seal 11027. 13 Ch, PI. LII, 17.
14 Ibid., PI. LII, 22 and 31. 15 Ibid., PI. LII, 33.
 118 UPM-9 George F. Dales UPM-396a and UPM-306 ®$$i
are too fragmentary for analysis. Berkeley Seal (Mr. Gans) ¥ ® A! X
There is an exact parallel to this seal and inscription from Mackay's
excavations at Moenjo-Daro (FEMD-26 from DK area, G section,
upper levels). The same area of excavation produced also a
rectangular, inscription-only seal (FEMD-170) with a very similar
inscription ^-E (3) A I :i£'££; • Another close parallel is MD-436, a
rectangular, script-only seal, with -X/^ s~\ Al\lsr\ It was noted above
(UPM-607 and 624) that Qu appears to be an orthographic variant of
several other signs including ^ . It remains to be seen whether or
not there is any linguistic or semantic difference between these
suggested orthographic variants. At Harappa, there are no identical
inscriptions but there are some suggestive orthographic similarities.
It should be noted first, that the Harappa seals with such similar
inscriptions are, with only two exceptions, rectangular, script-only
seals. Also, the rendering of the individual signs appears to indicate
a regional variation that may prove significant when a complete list
of Indus inscriptions — by site — is available. At Harappa, the sign X
appears initially nine times, but none of the inscriptions resemble the
Berkeley seal. A possible orthographic variant of this sign is seen on
two of the Harappa seals in very similar inscriptions - a square,
unicorn seal published by Vats16 zjjfo ^)/^\^\f^\j and a
rectangular, scriptonly seal published by Wheeler17 ^ © /^' \f
 120 George F. Dales identical inscription: one a square,
unicorn seal (FEMD-144) and one a rectangular, script-only seal
(FEMD308), bothfrpm the upper levels of DK area, G section.
Marshall's list gives only five inscriptions containing the sign )rf( and
none of them correspond to UPM-1426. Vats' Harappa has four
inscriptions in which W occurs and each time in the combination \f ^
)ff( . In two of these inscriptions, this group is in terminal position
and in the other two, it is followed by Fj . UPM-1427 V ^ M mm.
This inscription, crudely scratched into the rim of a jar, may not be
complete, although the traces of another sign to the right is so far
removed that it may be the end of another inscription. It seems
reasonably certain that the first two signs are a crude version of the
pair ffl ^ in inscription 334 in Marshall's list. Th(e ™mPlete
in8criPtion on this 8Cluare 8eal with a representation of a humped
bull (Bos indicus) \/= ffl % Qj would then provide the closest parallel
to our UPM-1427. The sign ^ is rare at Moenjo-Daro, occuring only
three other times in Marshall's list, and four times in FEMD. In none
of these inscriptions is it associated with the other signs in the UPM-
1427 inscription. At Harappa there is only one example of ^ " which
is of interest because it is accompanied only by an initial "/9\ which
may be an orthographic variant of the initial sign in MD-334. UPM-1
V 0 0 Pointed-base goblets (Marshall's type B), characteristic of the
latest levels at Indus sites (e.g. Harappa PI. CII, 21, 23, 24) are
often stamped in this manner. Parallels to the inscription can be
found only at MoenjoDaro. It is found exactly on the square, unicorn
seal, FEMD-582 from the lower levels of DK area, G section. The last
two signs are seen alone on the square unicorn seal MD-236,g.
UPM-1 38 ^ «»»»» ffl Pointed-base goblets sometimes have
stamped impressions in their lower bodies near the base. Often
these stamps appear to be numerical or quantitative in nature, such
as the one presented here. MD-558 is a close parallel and MD-560 a
somewhat less close one. See above under UPM-523 for examples of
such inscriptions on other objects. UPM-1430 and 1226 III Both
examples have essentially the same two signs molded into the base
of a large storage jar. There are no exact parallels to this sign group.
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