XVI. Gesture in Sumerian and Babylonian Prayer

S. Langdon

doi:10.1017/S0035869X00053296

XVI. Gesture in Sumerian and Babylonian Prayer

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011

S. Langdon

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S. Langdon: Affiliation:
Professor of Assyriology, Oxford

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Religious worship is abundantly illustrated in many of its most important aspects by scenes engraved on Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian seal cylinders. Chronologically the seals of this region illustrate nearly every period of the long history of these peoples and the changing rituals and beliefs of their religion. A very large proportion of the seals represent the owner of the seal approaching a deity in the attitude of prayer. This is especially true of the glyptique of Sumer and Akkad, where the proportion of this type of seal to all others is much greater than in Assyria. In the northern empire the Assyrians are not so much attached to the scenes of worship, but even here this motif is well represented. The engravers of cylinders in all periods probably kept in stock seals engraved with the scene of the private prayer as the custom imposed in their periods. The human who is figured standing before a god, or in Assyria more frequently before a divine symbol, is not a portrait of the owner of the seal. The owner regards himself rather as represented and symbolized by the conventional figure. In those cases in which the engraver produced a seal cylinder at the command of a Sumerian or Babylonian, perhaps, we may regard the praying figure as an approximate portrait.

Type: Articles
Information: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 51 , Issue 4 , October 1919 , pp. 531 - 556

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00053296 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1919

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^{page 532 note 1} Ward, , Seal Cylinders of Western AsiaGoogle Scholar, No. 536, is an example of a portrait. The seal belongs to the woman Menarubtum and the praying figure is a woman. But see Collection de Clercq, 262Google Scholar, seal of Uššurtum with male figure in the scene. See also ibid. 265, seal of Ṭâb-ni -re i.

^{page 534 note 1} Seal of Gimil-ì-lí-su … ti Me-luḫ-ḫa-ki, “(Gimililisu tlie … of Meluhha.”

^{page 535 note 1} For the date of the end of the Ur dynasty, see Thureau-Dangin, , Rev. d'Assyr., xv, 47.Google Scholar

^{page 536 note 1} See the writer's Babylonian Liturgies, xlGoogle Scholar, and especially Tammuz and Ishtar, p. 111.Google Scholar In the Cassite and later period (pre-Neo-Babylonian) the engraved kudurru frequently represent the seated goddess Gula with hands raised in the same way.

^{page 536 note 2} A bas-relief of a processional scene occurs on the stone tablet of Nabuapaliddin, king of Babylon 890–854 b.c., published in V Raw. 60. The relief is apparently modelled after a very ancient one, probably of the age of Ammizaduga, see Vorderasiatische Bibliothek, vol. iv, p. 50, by the writer.Google Scholar

^{page 536 note 3} See Delaporte, , Bibliothèque NationaleGoogle Scholar, Nos. 98–128. Collection de Clereq, 171.Google ScholarMusée Guimet, 42–4.Google Scholar

^{page 537 note 1} Delaporte, , Bibliothèque Nationale, 129–150.Google ScholarCollection de Clercq, 169, 170, 172.Google Scholar

^{page 537 note 2} For example, Ward, , Morgan Collection, No. 98Google Scholar; Delaporte, , Bibliothèque Nationale, 151Google Scholar (left hand raised due to archaic influence; the engraver adopted the old method showing the raised hand farthest from the observer). It is the poise of the hand assumed by Hammurabi on the Susa stéle.

^{page 537 note 3} Note also the position of the hand of Bêlahê-erba, an official of Merodachballadin (end of eighth century), as he stands before his king on the well-known kudurru of Berlin (Hinke, , A New Boundary Stone, p. 72Google Scholar; see also p. 23).

^{page 537 note 4} See IV Raw. 20, 9; ASKT. 127, 57; IV R. 17a, 53.

^{page 537 note 5} IV Raw. 53,.iii, 44–iv, 28, a list of forty prayers of this kind. The list is restored by a text, K. 3276, published in the writer's Babylonian Liturgies, No. 103.

^{page 539 note 1} The following Assyrian seals probably belong in reality to Babylonia, and are to be assigned to the period of Shamash-shum-ukîn, , Collection de Clercq, 373, 372.Google ScholarWard, , Seals of the Morgan Collection, 145Google Scholar, assigns a seal with the old Sumerian processional scene to Assyria; it is difficult to understand why Ward came to this conclusion. If the seal really be early Assyrian we have an example of Sumerian influence in Assyria.

^{page 539 note 2} See also Delaporte, , Bibliothèque Nationale, 327, 330et passim.Google Scholar

^{page 539 note 3} I refer naturally to the figure of the human here and elsewhere. The pose of the deities does not concern this discussion.

^{page 540 note 1} The Stèle of Senecherib represents that king with pointed right hand in praying position. The left hand is in the usual Assyrian position, elbow at left hip, but here it holds a short sword. See R.A. xi, 189.

^{page 540 note 2} See also Collection de Clercq, 326bis.Google Scholar

^{page 540 note 3} No. 109 of Delaporte's Catalogue.

^{page 540 note 4} Cooke, G. A., North Semitic Epigraphy, pl. xi, 2.Google Scholar

^{page 540 note 5} Last two numbers refer to Delaporte's Catalogues.

^{page 542 note 1} A stèle with Aramaic inscription found at Nerab, south-east of Aleppo, in Syria, has the bas-relief figure of a priest of the moon-god. The priest's name, Sin-zēr-ibni, clearly reveals his Assyrian origin. The right hand is raised in the half-turned kissing-hand pose, the left hand being held in Assyrian fashion, elbow at the hip, forearm straight forward, holding a wide double-edged knife. The date is probably post-Assyrian and of the period of Nebuchadnezzar and Astyages. Clearly the figure is under Assyrian and Persian influence, and cannot be used in the discussion of West Semitic religious gesture. For the inscription see Cooke, , North Semitic Inscriptions, 186Google Scholar, and for the figure, Clermont-Ganneau, , Album d'Antiquités Orientales, pl. i.Google Scholar

^{page 545 note 1} See the writer's Babylonian Liturgies, pp. xxxix f.Google Scholar

^{page 545 note 2} Thureau-Dangin, , Rev. d'Assyr., 8, 144Google Scholar, contract sealed by a cylinder dedicated to Ibi-Sin. Note also the Cappadocian seals on plate i which accompanies Th.D.'s article; here the poses in prayer are those of the period of Dungi.

^{page 545 note 3} See, for example, Heuzey, , Antiquitées Chaldéennes, No. 50.Google Scholar

^{page 545 note 4} Ausgrabungen in Sendschirli, Königliche Museen zu Berlin, Mitteilungen aus den Orientalischen Sammlungen, Heft xi, Tafel iii.

^{page 546 note 1} See the Louvre bas-relief of the palace of Sargon, Assyrian Sculptures, Kleinemann & Co., plate vi, grand vizier and eunuch.

^{page 546 note 2} This Assyrian position can best be seen in Assyrian Sculptures, part i, photograph on the cover.

^{page 547 note 1} See Baumeister, 's Denkmäler des Klassischen Altertums, 592.Google Scholar

^{page 547 note 2} This is described by Appuleius in his Metamorphoseon (iv, 28)Google Scholar, as follows: “admoventes oribus suis dexteram primore digito in erectum pollicem residente” (Placing the right hand to their lips, the index finger lying upon the erect thumb). Professor Percy Gardner is inclined to regard this index-finger attitude in Greece as Oriental, and Appuleius is known to have been under Asiatic influence. But see the bas-relief of the Apotheosis of Homer (Tafel iv of Sittl, Carl's Die Gebärden der Griechen und Römer)Google Scholar, a good classical work of Greek art; in the fourth register the figure of Mnene has the position described by Appuleius.

^{page 547 note 3} Baumeister, ibid., 297, fig. 312. Under Oriental influence?

^{page 547 note 4} Baumeister, ibid., 112.

^{page 547 note 5} Overbeck, Gallerie heroischer Bildwerke, xxviii, 7.Google Scholar For the pointed finger see Overbeek, ibid., xi, 8.

^{page 548 note 1} Job xxxii, 26 f.

^{page 548 note 2} For examples in Egyptian religion see the Book of the Dead, Papyrus Ani, 2nd ed., facsimile by Budge, , pi. iiGoogle Scholaret passim. For the pose in Roman religion see the Louvre statue in Bouillon, , ii, 29.Google Scholar

^{page 548 note 3} See ibid. pl. iv, the hawk-headed Horus leads a worshipper to Isis. Egyptologists whom I have consulted unanimously regard the kissing hand as unknown in that religion.

^{page 549 note 1} But note the hieroglyphic determinative for verbs of praying in Egyptian . This hieroglyph is extremely ancient. Since it means “to pray”, the hieroglyph is obviously based upon the orthodox gesture in prayer. (Note by Dr. Blackman.)

^{page 549 note 2} Translated into Semitic by niš ḳati.

^{page 550 note 1} The sign KA + šu will be found in Thureau-Dangin, REC. No. 198, and its early forms and meanings discussed in PSBA. 1911, 50–2.

^{page 550 note 2} In all known texts the verb is written su-ub = našāḳu, IV Raw. 9a, 59; K. 5098, obv. 4; PSBA. 1911, 88, 40.

^{page 550 note 3} sub means both karābu and ikribu.

^{page 550 note 4} 2 alan urudu sub-sub-be ^d Ri-im-^d-Sin, “Two copper statues of Rim-Sin in praying (kissing hand) attitude,” RA. 15, 7, 12.

^{page 550 note 5} PBS. x, 152.

^{page 550 note 6} See Geller, , ATU. i, 306Google Scholar, 11, kia-ǵe-su-ub = lu tuśkîna. Finally, sub-sub came to mean “bow down”.

^{page 550 note 7} IV Raw. 9a, 59.

^{page 550 note 8} Later kišub, ki-šù-bi-im came to mean “strophe” simply. See BL. p. xlv.

^{page 551 note 1} ka šu-ģa-ra-ab-tag-gi-ne = appa-šina lilbinakum, “may they bow their faces to thee,” King, LIH. iii, 174, 16. Of Innini the Ishme-Dagan, king says, ka šu-ģa-ra-ab-tag-giGoogle Scholar, “I will bow the face to thee,” PSBA. 1918, 54, 15.Google Scholar

^{page 551 note 2} The meaning labānu for gál is derived by Semites from their own rendering of ka-śu-gál.

^{page 551 note 3} The variant ma-al occurs, and since ma-al visually stands for gál = šakānu, to institute, cause to be, perhaps the meaning of the phrase is rather “to place the hand to the mouth”. Either of these interpretations is difficult since they violate Sumerian syntax, the object coming after the locative noun. The choice of interpretation given in the note is strengthened by the form ka-šu-mar-ra-mu = labān appi- a, IV R. 20, 9.

^{page 551 note 4} SAK. 42a, v, 4; Gudea, Cyl. A. 18, 9; 8, 14; in B. 8, 19 ka-šu-gál is employed for the intercessory prayer of a god to the great deity Ningirsu on behalf of the patesi Gudea. The term is employed in the same sense in Clay, , Miscel., p. 6, iv, 9.Google Scholar

^{page 551 note 5} IV Raw. 26, 62, and Var. 27, 36.

^{page 552 note 1} kur-ri ka-šu-gál, “he that causes the foreign land to submit,” PBS. x, No. 9, i, 7; ibid. 141, 4.

^{page 552 note 2} Gudea, Cyl. B. 8, 19.

^{page 552 note 3} See Hommel, , Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens, 687.Google Scholar For the inscription see Meissner-Rost, , Bauinschriften Sanheribs 76, 55.Google Scholar Perhaps Seneoherib's inscription at Bavian refers to the scene on the rocks which have fallen into the river, a drawing of which is given in Layard, 's Nineveh and Babylon, p. 72.Google Scholar Here the king stands before Ašur and has the ordinary kiss-throwing hand pose.

^{page 552 note 4} Schrank, W., Babylonische Sühnriten, p. 58Google Scholar, takes the old view and regards prostration as the original liturgical sense of ka-šu-gál and labān appi.

^{page 552 note 5} šukênu.

^{page 552 note 6} labān appi.

^{page 553 note 1} King, , Magic, i, 21Google Scholar, kamsaku azzaz aše'ka kāšu.

^{page 553 note 2} Craig, , RT. 66, 18.Google Scholar

^{page 553 note 3} ḳinṣu.

^{page 553 note 4} kamis ina kinṣê-šu, Craig, RT. 5, 19.

^{page 553 note 5} ikammis-ma kîam iḳabbi, IV Raw. 54b, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 42, 44, 46, 48 (here gam = ikammis).

^{page 553 note 6} akmes šapal-ša, Streck, , Asurbanipal, ii, 112, 28.Google Scholar

^{page 553 note 7} i-dé-zu mu-un-gam-ám = maḫar-ka kansaku, psalm to Nergal or Ninurta, IV Raw. 246, 10.

^{page 554 note 1} Collection de Clercq, 264.Google Scholar

^{page 554 note 2} Ibid. 258. The half-kneeling figure on a seal of the Cassile period, Babylonica, iii, 238, is unique.Google Scholar

^{page 554 note 3} IV B. 60b, 19, asḫur-kunuši aše'-kunuši šapal-kun akmis, “I have turned to you, I have sought you, I have kneeled at your feet.”

^{page 554 note 4} On kneeling, see also Schrank, , Babylonische Sühnriten, 59 ff.Google Scholar, and the writer in Babyloniaca, iii, 236 f.Google Scholar

^{page 554 note 5} I Kings viii, 54; 2 Chron. vi, 13

^{page 555 note 1} I Kings xix, 18.

^{page 555 note 2} That is, at any rate, a safe inference.

^{page 555 note 3} Ezra ix, 5. The Hebrew expression is precisely parallel to the Assyrian, but the words are different, ekr^e'a 'al-birkai, and Assyrian akmis ina kiṇṣê-ā.

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