New Year (Sumerian period)

Written by Vladimir V. Emelianov.

At present, the existence of the New Year and the New Year's festivities in Sumer is a big problem for researchers. Until recently, in Assyriology it was customary to project the data known from the Babylonian-Assyrian texts onto the events of earlier history. So, if in Nippur 2nd-1st millennia BCE the year was started in the month bara₂-za₃-gar and the Sumerian word za₃-mu “end of the year” is unequivocally interpreted for this epoch as Akkad. rēš šatti “beginning of the year” (Pongratz-Leisten, 1998, 294), then for the texts of the 3rd millennium such interpretation of the New Year was considered identical a priori. Meanwhile, Sumerologists studying economic texts are aware of the fact that the za₃-mu (i.e. New Year's) sacrifices could be made during several months of one and the same year. Moreover, they could be the months of various seasons of the year ^[1]. That remarkable fact allowed W. Sallaberger to conclude that the term za₃-mu “end of the year” in Sumerian texts should be understood not as the “New Year”, but as “'Höhepunkt des Jahres' im Kult eines Gottheit” (Sallaberger, 1993 , 142-143, 310). That is, Sallaberger understands za₃-mu as the culmination of the cult activity that fell in different cities on various months and seasons. This interpretation, shaped on the basis of economic texts, is proposed by its author to be extended to all uses of the word za₃-mu in religious texts (Sallaberger, 1993, 143, fn 669). Later, W. Sallaberger offered to distinguish between the calendar, administrative, and cult New Year (Sallaberger, 1998, 291). If one accepts Sallaberger's point of view, then the New Year disappears altogether from the Sumerian religion as a single event. Did the year, then, have a fixed beginning, and was it not wandering, like the Egyptian one? It is necessary to understand this issue.

In economic texts, the New Year (za₃-mu(k) “end of the year”) is nowhere marked as a separate holiday (*ezen-za₃-mu(k)). In Sumer the first month of the calendar falls at the time of the barley harvesting and coincides with the “akitu of harvest”. In most Sumerian urban calendars, the year begins with the month še-gur₁₀-ku₅ “barley harvesting”. However, in Nippur, this month was the twelfth one. The first place was taken by bara₂-za₃-ar, which is nowhere else to be found (it is discussed below). In Lagash, at different times, there were three first months: one was called buru_x-maš “half (or a share) of the crop” and denoted the share of the harvest that was sacrificed; the second was called ezen-še-ku₂-^dNanše “the month of eating barley (by the goddess) Nanše”; the third one is še-gur₁₀-ku₅. In Adab, the first month was the time for field measurements (Cohen, 1993). Thus, everywhere, except Nippur, the beginning of the year was associated with a specific event of the agricultural year. The economic texts do not provide us with any details regarding the rites.

Table 16

Names of the Old Sumerian first months
(according Cohen, 1993, 37—201)

There was a fact important to the Sumerian bureaucrats: the first month of the calendar coincided with the “akitu of harvest” festival. Therefore, following their own scale of values, this festival should be the first at our attention.

The festival a₂-ki-ti ^[2] (Akkad. akitu) was dedicated to the change of half-years and was celebrated twice: in spring and autumn. The word, from which the name of the festival came, still does not have an adequate translation; it denoted a construction outside the city, where the deity resided for some time before his solemn return to the city. At the end of the previous half-year, he left his city, then settled into an akitu and, finally, returned back, testifying with his appearance the beginning of a new half-year.

When and where did that noteworthy ritual appear? The first mention of it is in a text from Fara (26^th century BCE), where in a poorly preserved line one can read “akitu Ekura”. It refers to the festival of the temple of Enlil in Nippur. Another mention of the akitu is repeatedly found in a text of the same time from Ur (from the local temple of Nanna), and, moreover, there one of the oldest months of Ur is designated by the name of the festival. From the documents of the III Dynasty of Ur we know, firstly, that there were two types of akitu: “akitu of harvest” (a₂-ki-ti-še-gur₁₀-ku₅) and “akitu of sowing” (a₂-ki-ti-šu-numun). It was the name of the first and seventh months of the New Ur calendar, associated respectively with the spring and autumn equinoxes. Secondly, a festival with the same name was celebrated at that time in Ur, and in Nippur, and in Umma, and in Adab. That is, each city had its own akitu, in which local deities took part. Thirdly, we know that akitu was a large economic and religious complex: it was also a warehouse where cane bundles, bitumen, copper tools were stored; it was also a field from which a decent crop of barley was harvested; it was also a yard for cult activities. Fourthly, in the Nippur text, the festival of akitu is called that one of Ur. Fifth, from the economic and administrative texts of the III Dynasty of Ur, one can get an idea of an approximate scenario for the akitu festival of Ur.

The festival of the first month lasted in Ur from the first five to seven days, and six months later — during the first eleven days. On the first evening, Nanna of Ur, the god of the Moon and the time, stayed in the sacred place of Du-ur (du₆-ur₂) of his Ekišnugal temple. That place was, apparently, identical to the Dukugu in Nippur, the place where destinies were determined. On the morning of the second day, Nanna set off on his barge to the akitu house located in the town of Gaesh, a suburb of Ur. On the third and fourth days, large food sacrifices were made to the temple of Ekišnugal and its owners (Nanna and his wife Ningal), as well as to the house in Gaesh. On the fifth day, Nanna solemnly returned to his city and ascended the throne of his temple, which meant the beginning of a new half of the year. In general, it becomes clear that the whole ritual could be structured into three parts: a) determining the fate of the god; b) his departure from the city to the akitu and staying there; c) making great sacrifices to the god and his return to the city. In Bad Tibir, Dumuzi became the hero of the festival; in Drehem, it was, perhaps, Ninazu. It is known about these gods that they often acted as victims of the Underworld, that absorbed them for a while. In the Old Babylonian period, the rite of great lamentation associated with Nanna was added to the great sacrifices on the fourth day. Probably, Nanna was mourned as a missing owner; and they prayed to the gods to return him as soon as possible. Later, the akitu became the god's house of confinement, i.e., simply a prison where he was put and interrogated (text of the Ordalia of Marduk) (PSD, A2, 75-78; Pongratz-Leisten, 1994; Cohen, 1993, 400-453).

In a monograph on the calendar holidays of the Ancient Near East, M. Cohen offers his own version of the origin of the akitu. On his point of view, that holiday originated in Ur on the eve of the autumnal equinox, when the Moon (Nanna) defeated the Sun (Utu). Nanna's journey on the barge was nothing more than the image of a Moon floating across the sky. The temporary disappearance of Nanna was the disappearance of the lunar disk before the new moon. Return of the god to the city meant a new moon and a few days after it. Later, the Ur festival migrated to other cities, including the sacred Nippur. Lamentation for Nanna, appeared in the Old Babylonian era, was associated with the commemoration of the citizens of Ur, who died during its capture by the Elamites at the end of the 3rd millennium BCE. (Cohen, 1993, 401-403).

We dare to offer our own version of the akitu, that in many respects contradicts the views and arguments of Cohen. If the akitu ritual was associated with the lunar cult and the change of phases only, it would be held every new moon, that is, it would be monthly. The oldest document mentioning the festival, a text from Fara, speaks of the “akitu of Ekur”, that is the ritual existed in the main temple of Nippur. Consequently, the Nippur akitu and the Ur akitu have been held since ancient epoch, and in parallel. Both holidays — spring and autumn ones — were associated with agricultural work, namely with sowing and harvesting. Seed grain for sowing and harvested ears could be stored in the akitu. Therefore, it is permissible to assume, that initially the festival was entirely connected with the life period of barley grain, with the cycle of its death and resurrection; and when the connection between the life cycle of grain and the movements of celestial bodies during a half year became obvious, the holiday got its astral orientation. In Ur, the main object of worship was the Moon god, but in other cities other gods were worshiped. It can be observed that Dumuzi and Ninazu were weak deities dying and resurrecting, and Dumuzi was associated precisely with grain sowing. It means that we need to ignore certain names and to understand the function of the rite — the temporary disappearance and reappearance of the deity (and the appearance only after abundant sacrifices that increased his vitality). According to such logic, the akitu house was a place where discontinuity in the life of the grain god was implemented before the start of the next life cycle; and the place was an analogue of the Underworld. Any deity during his stay in the akitu was to be considered temporarily dead. Hence, his mourning was performed — possibly it had existed earlier, but got into writing after the III Dynasty of Ur. Our assumptions are confirmed with a fragment of the Astrolabe B saying about the “akitu of harvest” that came in late autumn, i.e., when the plough was removed from the field to the warehouse until the next spring. The moment of time between the departure of the plough from the field and its next appearance was figuratively called akitu in the text (Emelianov, 1999, 108-110). It is easy to guess that such period of time took exactly a half year ^[3].

In the Sumerian hymns, there are no traces of akitu, and za₃-mu is firmly associated here with the rite of sacred marriage. The known contexts start only from the era of Gudea (the second half of the 22^nd century BCE).

Gudea, St. E, V 1 — VI 4

V ¹u₄-za₃-mu ²ezen-^dBa-U₂ ³ni₃-mi₂-us₂-sa₂ aka-da ⁴1 gu₄-niga ⁵<1> udu-i₃ ⁶3 udu-niga ⁷6 udu-nita ⁸2 sila₄ ⁹7 pad zu₂-lum ¹⁰7 šab i₃-nun ¹¹7 ša₃-gišimmar ¹²7 HU ^gišpeš₃ VI ²ni₃-mi₂-us₂-sa₂ ^dBa-U₂ ³e₂- libir ⁴u₄-bi-ta-kam.

On the day of za₃-mu, the Bau holiday, they brought marriage gifts: 1 fat bull, 1 white sheep, 3 fat sheep, 6 male rams, 2 lambs, 7 bunches of dates, 7 jugs of the best oil, 7 fruits of date palm, 7 measures of figs… Such were the marriage gifts of Bau in the former temple since a long time.

Idin-Dagan A 169—186

169 e₂-gal e₂-na-ri-kalam-ma-ka ^gišrab-kur-kur-ra-kam

170 e₂-^did₂-lu₂-ru-gu₂ sag-gig₂-ga u₃ gu₂ si-a-ba

171 ^dnin-e₂-gal-la-ra bara₂ mu-na-an-ri

172 lugal dingir-am₃ ša₃-bi-a mu-un-da-an-til₃

173 nam-kur-kur-ra tar-re-da-ni

174 ud sag zid-de₃ igi kar₂-kar₂-de₃

175 ud nu₂-a me šu du₇-du₇-de₃

176 za₃-mu u₄-garza-ka

177 nin-gu₁₀-ra ki-nu₂ ba-da-an-gar

178 ^u₂numun₂-bur₂^sar šim-^gišerin-na-da mu-un-sikil-e-ne

179 nin-u₁₀ ki-nu₂-bi-še₃ mu-na-ab-a₂-a₂-ne

180 bar-ba tug₂ ni₃-bara₂-ge si mu-di-ni-ib-sa₂

181 tug₂ ni₃-bara₂ ša₃-hul₂-la ki-nu₂ du₁₀-du₁₀-ge-da

182 nin-gu₁₀ ur₂ ku₃-ge a mi-ni-in-tu₅-tu₅

183 ur₂ lugal-la-še₃ a im-ma-tu₅-tu₅

184 ur₂ ^dI-din-^dDa-gan-še₃ a im-ma-tu₅-tu₅

185 ku₃ ^dInanna-ke₄ naga im-ma-an-su-ub-be₂

186 i₃ –šim-^gišerin-na ki am₃-sud-e

In the palace — the Council House of the Land, Rim ^[4] of alien lands,

In the House of Ordalia — black-headed are gathered,

They set the throne for Ninegalla ^[5],

The God-tsar stays there with her.

To determine destinies for all lands,

To check all the loyal servants in the day (?),

To make ME perfect on the “day of the disappearing Moon” ^[6],

On za₃-mu, the day of rites,

They set the bed for my lady,

The grass of numun is purified with the cedar aroma,

It is put on the bed of my lady,

Put over the blanket.

To get the joy on the bed under a nice blanket,

My lady washed her fair womb,

She washed it for the loins of the tsar,

For the loins of Idin-Dagan she washed it,

Fair Inanna washed herself with sodium,

She rubbed herself with fragrant cedar oil.

Gudea, Cyl. B III 5—12

The year has passed, the month is finished,

za₃-mu arose in the Sky,

The month came into his house,

The third day has passed.

Ningirsu came from Eridu —

The new moon gave his light,

The light shines in the Land, Eninnu gets equal to the newborn Zuen.

Tummal Hymn, 43—44

iti-za₃-mu ezen-gal₂-la-za u₆-di tag-ga

nin-gal-Ki-ur₃-ra ^dEn-lil₂-da za-DU-a

In the month of za₃-mu, when your festival is celebrated, you are decorated

brightly,

the Great Lady Kiura is competing with Enlil.

Inanna D, 66—71

66   za₃-mu ezen-^dDumu-zid-da-ke₄

67   nitalam-zu ^dAma-ušumgal-an-na

68   en-^dDumu-zid ša^!-mu-e-ri-DU

69    ^dInanna šu nu-gi₄-a er₂-ra nesag ša-mu-ra-ab-tum₃

70   a-pa₄ kur-ra-ke₄ al₂ ša-mu-ra-ab-taka₄-X

71   a mu pad₃-da ša-mu-ri-dub

During za₃-mu, at the festival of Dumuzi,

Your spouse Amaušumgalanna,

The lord of Dumuzi, will appear before you!

Inanna… mournings will be brought to you as sacrifices!

Pipes of the Underworld are open for you,

Funeral libations will be done for you.

Hendursaga Hymn, 28—30

28   iti za₃-mu ud sa₂-du₁₁-ga-kam

29    ^dNin-dar-a e₂-za ni₃-mi₂-us₂-sa₂

30   in-nin ama ^dNanše ša-mu-ra-da-ab-ak-e

In the month of za₃-mu, in the day of constant sacrifices,

Nindar makes a marriage gift in your house

For the mother Nanše-Inanna.

Nanše Hymn, 94—118

194 za₃-mu u₄-biluda-ka

195 nin-e bar ku₃-ga a bi₂-in-de₂

196 ud bur šuku-ra₂ igi kar₂-kar₂-de₃

197 ^dNanše-e sag-e kurum₂-ma igi ba-ni-ib-kar₂-kar₂

198 dub-sar mah-a-ni ^dNisaba-ke₄

199 dub-kal-kal du₁₀-ba nam-mi-in-gar

100 gi dub-ba ku₃-sig₁₇ šu ba-ši-in-ti

101 ^dNanše-er sag-e gu AŠ-a si mu-na-ab-sa₂-e

102 kuš-la₂ kuš-ni-ta mu-na-da-an-ku₄-ku₄

103 gada-la₂ gada-ni-ta mu-na-da-an-dib-be₂

104 kuš-la₂ kuš-ni-ta nu-mu-na-da-an-ku₄-ku₄

105 gada-la₂ gada-ni-ta nu-mu-na-da-an-dib-be₂

106 lu₂ dub gub-ba za₃ hug-a₂-bi

107 igi-du₈ lu₂-inim-ma-be₂-e-ne

108 lu₂-inim-ma e₂ zah₃-a-na-ka gu₃ mu-ni-ib-de₂-a

109 sa bala-a₂ ki gub-ba-ni-še₃ muš₃ ba-ši-in-tum₂-mu

110 lugal sa-zid-da en₃ tar-tar ^dHa-ia₃ lu₂ dub-ba-ke₄

111 sa-zid nin-a-na bi₂-in-du₁₁-ga im-ma bi₂-in-gub-be₂

112 eme₂ nin-a-na nu-um-mi-in-du₁₁-ga im-ma bi₂-in-kid₂-kid₂

113 dug-dug a nu-de₂-e iri₃ si nu-sa₂-e

114 ^gišbuni ni₃-sila₁₁-ga₂ nu-luh-ha

115 e₂ i₆-u₃-na-ka izi dib-ba

116 e₂ an-bar₇-ka tu₆-tu₆ ar-ra

117 šita-ab-a bal gub-ba-ni

118 ki-gub-ba-ni-še₃ muš₃ ba-ši-in-tum₂-mu

In za₃-mu, in the day of rites,

The Lady pours water into a sacred vessel (?),

In the day of overseeing the rations of bur,

Nanše oversees the assigned slaves.

Nisaba, the scribe of Nanše,

Is keeping precious tables on his knees,

He squeezes the stylo in his hand.

She gathers slaves for Nanše.

He will enter her without his skin, clothed in leather,

He will pass before her without his linen, clothed in linen things.

He will enter her without his skin, clothed in leather,

He will pass before her without his linen, clothed in linen things.

That one, who is recorded…

On whom observers and witnesses

Will say under an oath, that he had left his house forever,

In the beginning of his period he will be dislodged from his place(?).

The tsar, respectful to his righteous servants, Haya, registrar,

Is writing down to a plate that one, who is called a righteous servant

Of his Lady,

He is erasing that one, who is not named the righteous servant

Of her Lady.

If there is no water in the vessels, if the roads are not in order,

If the water runoff chutes (?) are not cleared,

If the fire is in the houses through all the night,

In the spells are pronounced in the houses through all day, —

The priest šita-aba  losses his place

After the service.

Šulgi P (SLTN 80, obv. 6—8; van Dijk, 1953, 85)

dingir-me-en pi-lu₅-da-nam-lugal-la mu-ga₂-ra-a šu hu-mu-ra-ab-du₇

giš-hur-dingir-re-ne-ke₄ si hu-mu-ra-ab-sa₂-e

ni₃-u₄-sakar-ra ni₃-za₃-mu-ka-ke₄ giš hu-mu-ra-ab-tag-ge.

“You are the goddess! Rites of royalty will be done for you

By me perfectly!

I will settle the orders of gods for you!

Sacrifices for the new moon, sacrifices for the new year will be done for you by me!”

In all the texts cited, za₃-mu and the sacred marriage are essentially the same event. In the cylinders of Gudea, marriage takes place in the first half of the first month of the year; in the rest texts (including those on the statues of Gudea), marriage follows immediately after the new moon of za₃-mu. In a passage from the hymn of Šulgi, the new moon is also associated with the new year. An excerpt from the hymn to the temple of the goddess Ninlil refers to the competition of spouses, which can also mean marriage. In the hymns to Nanše and Idin-Dagan, the za₃-mu festival is accompanied with the testing of servants and the determination of destinies.

Only once, in the context of political life, za₃-mu is mentioned in the inscription on the statue B of Gudea.

Gudea, St. B, VIII 1—25

¹ensi₂ ²Lagaš^ki-ka ³lu₂ E₂-ninnu ^4dNin-gir₂-su-ka ⁵in-du₃-a ⁶lu₂ E₂-ninnu-ta ⁷im-ta-ab-e₃-e₃-a ⁸mu-sar-ra-bi ⁹šu ib₂-ta-ab-ur₃-a ¹⁰lu₂ ib₂-ze-re-a ¹¹za₃-mu-du₁₀-ka ¹²lu₂ dingir-gu₁₀-gim ¹³dingir-ra-ni ^14 dNin-gir₂-su ¹⁵lugal-gu₁₀ ¹⁶ug₃-ga₂ gu₃ u₃-na-de₂-a ¹⁷di-ku₅-a-a₂ ¹⁸šu i₃-ib₂-bal-e-a ¹⁹ni₃-ba-a₂ ²⁰ba-a-gi₄-gi₄-da ²¹en₃-du ka-keš₂-ra₂-gu₁₀ ²²mu-gu₁₀ u₃-ta-ar ²³mu-ni ba-ga₂-ga₂ ²⁴kisal-^dNin-gir₂-su lugal-ga₂-ka ²⁵eš₃-gar-ra-bi bi₂-ib₂-tak₄-tak₄-a

“(If anyone a statue of Gudea), the ensi of Lagash, who built Eninna for Ningirsu, take out of Eninnu, erase the inscription from it, break the statue, in an auspicious za₃-mu declare in the Assembly that his god is like my lord Ningirsu, change anything of my decisions, take something (for himself) from my gifts, remove my name from my collection of laudatory songs (and) insert his name there, cancel the holiday in the courtyard of Ningirsu, my lord...”

Here, of course, they mean the competition of contenders for royal power. Gudea was afraid that some person who was not a citizen of Lagash and a subject of Ningirsu would claim leadership in Sumer (or in his hometown) during za₃-mu. Such a ruler would be worthy of condemnation among people and God's curse.

Known religious texts with the designation za₃-mu allow us to interpret this term as the “New Year”. First of all, it follows from the Gudea inscriptions clearly indicating the onset of za₃-mu after a year and the end of the last lunar month. The hymn to Hendursag speaks of the constant sacrifices made in the month of za₃-mu in the course of the sacred marriage of Nanše and Nindar. This means that here, too, we are talking about the sacred marriage performed at the beginning of the year. From the hymn to Inanna (Inanna D) it is clear that za₃-mu was tied to the holiday in honour of Dumuzi, known in Umma as the name of the last month of the year. The hymn to Idin-Dagan points to the time of the sacred marriage as the period between the complete disappearance and the reappearance of the moon. This fact provokes P. Lapinkivi to assert that the sacred marriage could be celebrated every month just before the new moon (Lapinkivi, 2004, 245). However, we have neither direct nor indirect data from cuneiform sources confirming the monthly rites of the sacred marriage. Thus, on the material of religious texts, W. Sallaberger’s assumption can be completely rejected, since in the most of these text there is an unambiguous understanding of za₃-mu as a “new year” (in the calendar and cult sense), with the New Year attributed to the event of the sacred marriage. It can be assumed that, according to economic texts, the sacrifices of such category could not be brought to the festival of a certain month, but they were accumulated from month to month in order to be used at the beginning of the next year. A strong argument for this interpretation may be the old Sumerian economic text from Nippur, that says: “210 niga of barley, monthly at 17.2 niga, Nabalul; 90 niga of barley, monthly at 7.2 niga, Lugalgirgal; from the month of ezen-gu₄-si-su to the month of bara₂-za₃-ar those constant offerings for the New Year were received” (ECTJ 138). In other words, we can talk about a reserve fund of sacrifices collected throughout the year to ensure the New Year's rituals, and, first of all, the rite of the sacred marriage of the main city deities.

So, we have seen that the New Year was not marked in the Sumerian texts of the 3rd millennium BCE as a separate celebration. Economically it coincided with the time of the barley harvest, and ritually it marked the time of the sacred marriage. The election of the ruler of a country or a city was also associated with the New Year (it is reported in the only context). In the Sumerian texts known to us, there is no mention of any connection of the New Year with the spring equinox.

Bibliography:

Cohen, 1993 — Cohen M. E. The Cultic Calendars of the Ancient Near East. Bethesda, 1993.

ECTJ — Westenholz A. Early Cuneiform Texts from Jena. København, 1975.

Eliade, 1998 — Eliade M. Mif o vechnov vozvrashchenii (The Myth of the Eternal Return: Cosmos and History). Russ.transl. St. Petersburg, 1998.

Emelianov, 1999 — Emelianov V. V. Nippurskyi kalendar i rannyaya istoriya Zodiaka (The Nippur Calendar and the Early History of the Zodiac). St. Petersburg, Peterburgskoe vostokovedenit, 1999 (Orientalia).

Lapinkivi, 2004 — Lapinkivi P. The Sumerian Sacred Marriage in the Light of Comparative Evidence. Helsinki, 2004 (= SAA XV).

Pongratz-Leisten, 1994 — Pongratz-Leisten B. Ina Šulmi irub. Die kulttopo­graphische und ideologische Programmatik der akitu-Prozessionen in Babylonien und Assyrien im I. Jahrtausend v. Chr. Mainz, 1994.

Pongratz-Leisten, 1998 — Pongratz-Leisten B. Neujahr(sfest). B. Nach ak­ka­dischen Quellen // RlA 9, 1/2 (1998). S. 294—298.

Sallaberger, 1993 — Sallaberger W. Der kultische Kalender der Ur III-Zeit. Bd. I—II. Berlin and New York, 1993.

Sallaberger, 1998 — Sallaberger W. Neujahr(sfest). A. Nach sumerischen Quellen // RlA 9, 1/2 (1998). S. 291—294.

van Dijk, 1953 — van Dijk J. J. A. La Sagesse suméro-accadienne. Leiden, 1953.

^[1] For instance, in the 47the year of the rule of Shulga, sacrifie=ces of the rank of za₃-mu were made in the fifth, ninth, tenth, and twelfth months; and on the 1^st year OF THE RULE OF Amar-Suen, they were made in the sixth, seventh, tenth, and eleventh months (see: Sallaberger, 1993, 143, fn 669).

^[2] We understand these words as the ‘house of dwelling” (where a₂ < e₂ ‛house’ (comare: a₂-mi₂ < e₂-mi₂ ‛female house’), ti = tuš (Akkad. wašābu) ‛to live, to dwell’, ki-ti = ki-tuš (šubtu) ‛dwelling, a place of living’). Compare with the toponym a₂-ki-tuš (PSD, A₂, 78). They mean a house for passive stay (imprisonment) of the god or for storage of an object. A combination of e₂-a₂-ki-ti could be composed only as a result of forgetting the initial etymology of the word by the Sumerian themselves.

^[3] In this context, we could recall one note by M. Eliade from his book ‘The Myth of the Eternal Return’: “In the places, where they grow several kinds of grain or fruits, which ripe in various seasons, we often meet numerous celebration of the New Year. It means, that ‘the dissection of the time’ is done because of the rituals on the base of which the renewal of the food supplies are got; i.e. we speak about the rituals providing the keeping of life of all the community” (Eliade, 1998, 83—84).

^[4] The Sumerian word rab means “neck block”. Here, there was, evidently, a symbol of gathering and subjection of all countries to the will of Inanna.

^[5] Ninegal (Sumerian “Lady of the Big House (or Palace)”) was one of epithets of Inanna, associated with her imprisonment in the Underworld and passing the judgment of that world.

^[6] I.e. the day of disappearing of the lunar disc before the new moon.

Tags: Ancient Mesopotamia, Vladimir V. Emelianov

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