Administrative Epistolography in the Formative Phase of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (Spatbabylonische Briefe)

Description

The 215 "early Neo-Babylonian" administrative letters discussed and edited in this study stem from the two major Neo-Babylonian temple archives known to researchers today, Eanna and Ebabbar. The term "formative phase" of the Neo-Babylonian Empire refers to the ca. 40 years between Nabopolassar's accession to the Babylonian throne in 626 BCE and the mid-reign of his son and successor, Nebuchadnezzar, ca. 585 BCE. In many ways, these letters are the closest we get to the erratic drama which was day-to-day life in Babylonia at the mid first millennium BCE. The letters were a vital administrative tool, necessary for the ongoing functioning of these institutions. As such, they provide first-hand testimony for the tasks and obstacles that the Neo-Babylonian bureaucrats faced. This, to some extent, is also true for the legal texts from the archives, and to a lesser extent for the administrative notes. Both groups in fact far surpass the letters in terms of numbers of texts. However, the ad hoc and ephemeral nature of letters, as well as their not strongly standardised phrasing, let us tap into their authors' sense of identity and state of mind. Moreover the patterns of communication between these officials are an important source of information on administrative hierarchies, networks of dependencies and patronage, and bureaucratic procedures. The Neo-Babylonian letters are still one of the most underrepresented and underexploited source material in Neo-Babylonian studies. This is due to the lack of up-to-date editions, the "elusive nature" of epistolography (namely the difficulty in accurately dating and contextualising the letters), as well as the unique philological difficulties of the texts. These factors are in fact feeding each other. No systematic attempt has been made to date and contextualise the Neo-Babylonian administrative letters and they have never been studied as a group. Three interdependent goals stand at the base of this study: 1. Establishing new, up-to-date editions of the early Neo-Babylonian letters from Eanna and Ebabbar; 2. studying these letters as a distinct text group; 3. contextualising the letters. - The study is supplemented by extensive indices. Cover Acknowledgments Table of contents Tables and figures Abbreviations and orthographic conventions 1. Introduction 1.1. Periodisation 1.2. Goals and methods 1.3. The sources and the archives 1.3.1. The Eanna archive 1.3.2. The (early) Ebabbar archive 1.3.3. The corpus 1.4. State of the problem 1.4.1. Previous publications of letters in the corpus 1.4.2. Previous literature 1.5. On the translation 2. Methodological aspects 2.1. Definition and function of a letter 2.1.1. Typology 2.1.1.1. Letter proper 2.1.1.2. Letter order 2.1.1.3. “Memorandum” 2.1.1.4. Additional aspects 2.1.1.4.1. Hierarchical relation between the writers and the addressees 2.1.1.4.2. Incoming/Outgoing 2.2. The structure of a letter 2.2.1. Introduction 2.2.1.1. Formal address 2.2.1.1.1. ṭuppi PN address 2.2.1.1.2. Servant (ardu) address 2.2.1.1.3. ana PN umma address 2.2.1.1.4. šulmu šâlu address 2.2.1.1.5. Royal formal address (amāt šarri) 2.2.1.1.6. Variables within the formal address 2.2.1.2. Greeting formula 2.2.1.2.1. May the gods decree (liqbû) 2.2.1.2.2. Daily I pray (ūmussu uṣalla) 2.2.1.2.3. May you be well (lū šulmu) 2.2.1.2.4. May the gods bless … (likrubū) 2.2.1.2.5. Royal (I am well …) 2.2.1.2.6. “Double” greeting formula 2.2.2. The body of the letter 2.2.2.1. Particles structuring the epistolographic discourse 2.2.2.1.1. ana muḫḫi, ina muḫḫi, ša (at the head of a sentence) 2.2.2.1.2. amur 2.2.2.1.3. enna, adû, enna adû, and enna amur 2.2.2.1.4. kapdu and ḫanṭiš 2.2.2.1.5. umma 2.2.2.2. Stock phrase 2.2.2.2.1. DN (lū īdû) kī oath 2.2.2.2.2. DN (lū īdû) kī adī oath 2.2.2.2.3. ḫarrānu ana šēpē šakānu 2.2.2.2.4. kī nakutti šapāru 2.2.2.2.5. kī pāni (bēli) maḫir 2.2.2.2.6. lā šelû 2.2.2.2.7. libbu (ša PN) lū ṭâbu 2.2.2.2.8. lū īdû and (lū) īdû kī 2.2.2.2.9. nubattu lā bâtu 2.2.2.2.10. suddir-ma (take care of …) 2.2.2.2.11. ṭēmu (u šulmu) lū šemû 2.2.3. Closing formulae 2.3. Letters as administrative reports 2.4. Rhetoric and methods of persuasion 2.4.1. Rational argumentation 2.4.2. Emotions 2.4.3. Appeal to personal relationships 2.4.4. Reference to higher authorities – secular and divine 2.4.4.1. Threats 2.5. Methods of dating 2.5.1. “Museum archaeology” and archival context 2.5.2. Physical attributes (of tablet and text) 2.5.3. Lexical and stylistic considerations 2.5.4. Contents 2.5.5. Prosopography 3. The basics of epistolographic communication 3.1. Language 3.2. The tablets 3.2.1. Seals 3.3. Sending a letter 3.4. The messengers (mār šipri) 4. Administrative procedures 4.1. Temples’ high officials 4.1.1. Eanna 4.1.1.1. The royal resident (qīpu) 4.1.1.2. Temple administrator (šatammu) 4.1.1.3. Temple scribe (ṭupšar bīti) 4.1.2. Ebabbar 4.1.2.1. Royal resident (qīpu) 4.1.2.2. Chief priest (šangû) and temple administrator (šatammu) 4.1.2.2.1. Temple administrator (šatammu) of the Ebabbar 4.1.2.2.2. Chief priest (šangû) of the Ebabbar 4.2. Rules of administrative practice referred toin the letters 4.2.1. The concept of ‘service’ (maṣṣartu) 4.2.1.1. maṣṣartu owed by/for x? 4.2.1.2. Institutional maṣṣartu: maṣṣartu of the temple 4.2.1.3. Personal maṣṣartu: maṣṣartu of official/individual(s) 4.2.1.3.1. Between patrimonial and formal relations 4.2.1.3.2. “My maṣṣartu” in the letters of the governor of the Sealand 4.2.1.4. The (absence of) royal maṣṣartu 4.2.1.5. Conclusions (maṣṣartu) 4.2.2. ḫīṭu 4.2.2.1. Sin vs. punishment 4.2.2.2. The administrative context of ḫīṭu 4.2.2.3. Legal aspects of ḫīṭu 4.2.3. Interaction of temple officials with their temple colleagues 4.2.3.1. The “early career” of (the scribe) Nabû-bān-aḫi 4.2.3.1.1. Identification: between Nabû-bān-aḫi1 and Nabû-bān-aḫi2 4.2.3.1.2. The interaction of Nabû-bān-aḫi1 with other temple officials 4.2.3.2. The dossier of Mušēzib-Bēl and Ibni-Ištar 4.2.3.3. Piggyback messages 4.2.3.4. The interaction between the high-ranking Eanna officials 4.2.3.5. The royal resident of Ebabbar and the local Ebabbar officials 4.2.4. Interaction of temple officials with non-temple officials 4.2.4.1. Eanna – Uruk 4.2.4.1.1. The “Urukeans” 4.2.4.2. Eanna and its satellites: Larsa and Udannu 4.2.4.2.1. Larsa 4.2.4.2.2. Udannu 4.2.4.2.3. Conclusions (Larsa and Udannu) 4.2.4.3. Eanna – Sealand 4.2.4.3.1. Identifying the “Sealand letters” 4.2.4.3.2. Sealand officials 4.2.4.3.2.1. The governor of the Sealand 4.2.4.3.2.2. The deputy and the royal resident of the Sealand 4.2.4.3.3. Administrative aspects of Eanna/Sealand interaction 4.2.4.3.4. Personal aspects of Eanna/Sealand interaction 4.2.4.3.4.1. Nabû-ēṭer-napšāti and Nabû-nādin-šumi (aka Nādin) 4.2.4.3.5. Summary Eanna – Sealand 4.2.4.4. Eanna – Babylon 4.2.4.4.1. The royal family 4.2.4.4.1.1. Royal letters 4.2.4.4.1.2. Interaction with the king in letters of others 4.2.5. Interactions in the Ebabbar letters 5. Topics of correspondence 5.1. Building and infrastructure projects 5.1.1. Palace 5.1.2. Temple 5.1.3. The system at work 5.2. Military service 5.3. Agriculture 5.3.1. Legal and administrative aspects 5.3.2. Storage 5.3.3. Transportation 5.4. Cult 5.5. Management of personnel; legal problemsand court procedure 6. Comparison with earlier and later letter corpora 6.1. The Babylonian letters from the “State Archives of Assyria” (SAA) 6.2. Achaemenid (and late Neo-Babylonian)letters from Eanna and Ebabbar 7. Text editions 7.1. Letters from Eanna (Uruk) 7.2. Letters from Ebabbar (Sippar) 7.3. Appendix A: Cavigneaux 1981: 139f. 7.4. Appendix B: CT 22,160 8. Glossary 9. Bibliography Indices Genaral index Month names: in the editions Akkadian words Hebrew words Aramaic words Toponyms and hydronyms: general Toponyms and hydronyms: in the editions Temple names: in the editions Divine names: general Divine names: in the editions Personal names: general Personal names: in the editions Letters according to publication Letters according to museum number Letters in the corpus (+ appendixes A and B) Texts Biblical texts