From Sumerian Grammar to Tilmun's Taxes: Interpreting é GÚ kar-ra kalam-ma-ka in the Enki and Ninsikila Myth

UNIVERSITÀ CA’ FOSCARI VENEZIA KASKAL Rivista di storia, ambienti e culture del Vicino Oriente Antico Volume 11 2014 LoGisma editore Firenze  UNIVERSITÀ CA’ FOSCARI VENEZIA KASKAL Rivista di storia, ambienti e culture del Vicino Oriente Antico Volume 11 _ 2014 Direzione _ Editorial Board Stefano de Martino, Frederick Mario Fales, Giovanni Battista Lanfranchi, Lucio Milano, Simonetta Ponchia Consiglio scientifico _ Scientific Board Yoram Cohen, Stefano de Martino, Frederick Mario Fales, Francis Joannès, Michael Jursa, Giovanni Battista Lanfranchi, Cécile Michel, Lucio Milano, Simonetta Ponchia, Michael Roaf, Jack M. 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ISBN 978-88-97530-53-4 ISSN 1971-8608 Stampato nel febbraio 2015  KASKAL Rivista di storia, ambienti e culture del Vicino Oriente Antico Volume 11 (2014) FROM SUMERIAN GRAMMAR TO TILMUN’S TAXES: INTERPRETING é GÚ kar-ra kalam-ma-ka IN THE ENKI AND NINSIKILA MYTH Gianni Marchesi As has long been recognized, the Sumerian literary composition Enki and Nin~ursaΛa encapsulates (parts of) another, originally independent tale, which is sometimes referred to as Enki and Ninsikila.1 The latter is a sort of foundation myth relating to Tilmun. At one point in the narrative, the god Enki bestows a blessing on the city of Tilmun, the capital of the homonymous country,2 and expresses the wish that it will become the é GÚ kar-ra kalam-ma-ka (Enki and Nin~ursaΛa 50-51):3 ere-zu é GÚ kar-ra kalam-ma-ka ~é-a delmun é <GÚ kar-ra kalam-ma-ka ~é-a> May your (i.e., Ninsikila’s) city be the “é GÚ kar-ra kalam-ma-ka”, may Tilmun be the “é <GÚ kar-ra kalam-ma-ka>”. What é GÚ kar-ra kalam-ma-ka means, however, is far from clear. The various translations that have been proposed for this controversial expression are as follows: 1. See Jacobsen 1987, 181-185; Heimpel 1993/1997, 541-542; Katz 2007; ead. 2008; Postgate 2010. I would like to thank Pascal Attinger, Claus Wilcke, and Carlo Zaccagnini, for discussing with me the topic of the present article, and Glenn Magid, for checking my English. The abbreviations used are those of the Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie. 2. Cf. Marchesi 2014. 3. Line numbers are according to Attinger’s (1984) edition. Previous editions (Langdon 1915; Kramer 1945; Witzel 1946) are to be regarded as outdated. For more recent translations of Enki and Nin~ursaΛa, see Jacobsen 1987, 185-204; Römer 1993, 365-386; Vanstiphout 1998, 151-162; Black et al. 1998/2006; Pettinato 2001, 156-170; Attinger 2007; id. 2013. 48 Gianni Marchesi [1] “home which assembles the Land of Sumer” (Langdon 1915, 72)4 [2] “house in which the land (i.e., people) is gathered” (Albright 1919, 68) [3] “das ‘Haus am Ufer des Kais’ des Landes” (Falkenstein 1939, 188-189)5 [4] “the house of the banks and quays of the land” (Kramer 1944, 55; id. 1945, 13)6 [5] “Stapelplatz der Quais des Landes” (Witzel 1946, 251)7 [6] “grenier du pays” (Lambert – Tournay 1949, 110)8 [7] “house of the bank-quays of the land” / “bank-quay house of the land”* (Kramer 1955, 37, 38*)9 [8] “Haus der Docks und Kais des Landes” (Kramer 1963, 313)10 [9] “‘dock-yard’-house of the (inhabited) land” (Kramer 1964, 48) [10] “‘Speicher’ am Kai des Landes” (Komoróczy 1977, 68)11 [11] “(que ta ville/Dilmun soit,) dans le pays, ‘la maison au bord du quai’” (Attinger 1984, 11)12 [12] “(store)house on the quay for the country’s produce” (Jacobsen 1987, 188)13 [13] “l’entrepôt, le fournisseur de tout Sumer” (Bottéro – Kramer 1989, 153) [14] “floodgate of the land” (Kramer – Maier 1989, 24) [15] “house-neck-of-the-wharf-of-the-land” (Heimpel 1991, 188-189)14 [16] “Haus des Ertrages des Kais des Landes Sumer” (Römer 1993, 368)15 4. Langdon interpreted GÚ k a r as an unorthographic writing of g ú Λ a r = pu~~uru, “to assemble, gather” (ibid., fn. 2). 5. Similarly André-Salvini (2000, 32-33): “the ‘house on the edge of the quay’ (a warehouse) of the land”; and Pettinato (2001, 158): “‘la casa sulla banchina del molo’ del paese”. See also Salonen 1942, 35, who translated é GÚ k a r - r a as “Haus am Ufer des Hafens”. 6. Similarly Rosengarten (1971, 18): “construction des rives (i.e.: sur les) et des quais du pays”; and Alster (1983, 64): “house of the banks and quays of the country”. According to Alster (loc. cit.), “house of the banks and quays of the country” is a nickname that was given to Tilmun because of its harbor. 7. Witzel suggested that é GÚ is a genitive phrase meaning “Ufer-Haus” and denoting a “Stapel- ‘Haus’/Platz” (ibid., 268). 8. According to Lambert and Tournay, é GÚ k a r - r a denotes some sort of storehouse for grain. Cf., however, M.A. Powell apud Attinger 1984, 36. 9. One might wonder what “bank-quay house of the land” means. Kramer did not explain the sense of his rendering, commenting simply that Tilmun “is a city which, by the command of the Sumerian water-god Enki, has become full of sweet water and of crop-bearing fields and farms and has thus become known as ‘the house of the bank-quays of the land’” (ibid., 37). However, the connection between Tilmun as a fertile place rich in water sources and the expression “the house of the bank-quays of the land” escapes me. Nor is it clear precisely what bank-quay is meant to denote. One searches in vain for this compound in the principal dictionaries of the English language. The Oxford English Dictionary, for instance, only lists bank-harbour, i.e., a harbor “protected by banks of mud, sand, etc.” (p. 653). A different explanation was put forward by Howard-Carter (1981, 218-219), who understands bank as having the sense of “river bank” and interprets “bank-quay house of the land” as “house on the river bank of the land”. Howard- Carter cited this argument in support of her hypothesis that the name Tilmun originally refers to a location in the region of Qurna (al Qurnah), in southern Iraq (see also ead. 1987, 59-61, 101-102, 116). In this connection, she noted, among other things, that Qurna lies on a river bank as is also said of Tilmun in Enki and Nin~ursaΛa (ead. 1981, 220). However, Howard-Carter’s myth-based arguments fail to convince (cf. Alster 1983, 51 with fn. 85), and her proposal has not been accepted by scholars. 10. Cf. Kramer 1977, 41. 11. So also Katz (2007, 586): “storehouse on the quay of the Land”. 12. Cf. fn. 16 below. 13. Jacobsen evidently interpreted the logogram GÚ not as g ú = kišādu, “neck, bank, edge”, but as g ú n = biltu, one meaning of which is “yield, produce”. 14. Heimpel interpreted it as a proper name, that is, as the name of Ninsikila’s city on the island of Tilmun (Bahrain).  Interpreting é GÚ kar-ra kalam-ma-ka in the Enki and Ninsikila Myth 49 [17] “das Haus des Landes (d.h. von Sumer) am Rande des Kais” (Wilcke 1993, 47) [18] “pakhuis van de kaai van het Land” (Vanstiphout 1998, 153) [19] “emporium on the quay of the Land” (Black et al. 1998/2006) [20] “‘la maison du bord du quai’ du pays” (Attinger 2007, 59; 2013, 4)16 [21] “Behausung am Kairand des Landes” (Wilcke 2010, 11) [22] “(may Dilmun become) a storehouse on the quay for the land” (Maekawa – Mori 2011, 261) Setting aside those renderings, such as [13] and [14], that are highly conjectural, and those that are based on unlikely phonological interpretations, such as [1] and [2], all but one of the remaining translations are to be regarded as ungrammatical in the light of the present understanding of Sumerian grammar. Grammatical Sumerian renderings of these translations would be as follows: a. *é gú kar-ra-ka(.k) kalam-ma(.k) [3]17 [9] [20] b. *é gú kar kalam-ma-ka(.k) [4] [8] [15] c. *é gú(.k) kar kalam-ma-ka(.k) [5]18 [10]19 [18]20 [19]21 d. *é-gú-kar-ra(.k) kalam-ma(.k) [6] e. *é kar gú(.k) kalam-ma-ka(.k) [7a] f. *é kar gú-ka(.k) kalam-ma(.k) [7b] g. *kalam-ma é gú kar-ra-ka(.k) [11]22 h. *é kar-ra(.k) gún kalam-ma-ka(.k) [12]23 i. *é gún kar kalam-ma-ka(.k) [16]24 j. *é kalam-ma(.k) gú kar-ra-ka Λál-la[17] k. *é gú(.k) kar-ra(.k) kalam-^è [22]25 15. Like Jacobsen before him (see fn. 13 above), Römer understood GÚ as standing for g ú n = biltu. 16. Single quotes are mine. Cf. above sub [11]. According to Attinger, the expression “la maison au/du bord du quai” (as Attinger translates é GÚ k a r - r a ) denotes “un entrêpot, où seront amassées de nombreuses richesses” (Attinger 1984, 11 fn. 25; id. 2007, 59 fn. 32; id. 2013, 4 fn. 18). 17. Note that locative phrases do not occur as noun qualifiers in Sumerian. The Sumerian rendering of a phrase such as “the house on the bank of the quay/harbor” is *é g ú k a r - r a - k a , literally, “the house of the bank of the quay/harbor”. 18. The term é g ú ( . k ) , which has variously been translated as “Stapelplatz” (Witzel) [5], “Speicher” (Komoróczy) [10], “entrepôt” (Bóttero and Kramer) [13], “pakhuis” (Vanstiphout) [18], “emporium” (Black et al.) [19], “storehouse” (Maekawa and Mori) [22], actually means “bank-house”, that is, a building situated on the bank of a river or canal. Cf. (1) é g ú í d i d i [ g n a ] - k a - n é , “his (of the god Enki) bank- house on the (river) Tig[ris]” (a temple of Enki built on one of the banks of the Tigris), in RIME 3/1, 114 Gudea 9: 8; (2) é g ú í d - d a , “bank-house of the Canal” (a storage place for cereals at Umma), in AO 5648 rev. 2 (Thureau-Dangin 1911, 156); SAT 3, 1178: 5; Toronto 2, 138 rev. 5; etc. (cf. Steinkeller 2001, 49-51). The latter building is also referred to as é g ú í d - d a - k e 4 ú s - s a , “the house that is next to the Canal’s bank” (TPTS 2, 368: 14). 19. Cf. fnn. 17 and 18 above. 20. Cf. fn. 18 above. 21. C. fnn. 17 and 18 above. 22. Cf. fn. 17 above. 23. Cf. fn. 17 above. 24. Cf. Römer 1993, 368 ad 50 (sub a, b, and c). 25. Cf. fnn. 17 and 18 above. 50 Gianni Marchesi Yet the phrase in question is grammatically quite simple. As final -ka of kalam-ma-ka, which denotes a double genitive, makes clear, this phrase constitutes a genitive construction involving three elements, x of y of z, in which the y element – GÚ kar-ra – is in turn a genitive phrase.26 As was noted above, only one of the proposed translations matches the grammar of the original phrase: “Behausung am Kairand des Landes” [21]; but what does it mean? According to Wilcke (pers. comm.), “é gú kar-ra kalam-ma-ka” (Wilcke’s reading) could be a metaphorical expression intended to depict Tilmun as a maritime outpost of Sumer. Wilcke explains his translation as follows: “I understand it as the Land’s (i.e., Sumer’s) outpost at the edge of the sea, … and if kar is in the plural, the edge or margin of the quays is the farthest-flung quay (of Sumer). So Tilmun is regarded as a part of Sumer in this myth, which is what is also suggested by the names of the gods”.27 As ingenious as it is, Wilcke’s interpretation is not without difficulties. In particular, the equation gú kar-ra understood as “Kairand, edge of the quay(s)” = “farthest-flung quay” is not that obvious. I even doubt that gú kar-ra can be translated as “Kairand”. In fact, “edge of the quay” in Sumerian is rather gaba kar-ra.28 In my opinion, the term gú kar(-ra*), which does occur in some Pre-Sargonic texts from Lagaš,29 is better translated as “harbor bank”, by analogy with the well established meaning “river (or canal) bank” of gú íd(-da).30 Be that as it may, I would like to propose a different solution, one that fits both the grammar of the phrase and the plot of the tale. Let us return to the narrative. Ninsikila, the goddess of Tilmun, addresses her father Enki complaining that her city lacks certain essential things. In response to Ninsikila’s complaint, Enki blesses Tilmun by saying (Enki and Nin~ursaΛa 42-51): 42-44. […] 45. [ka e 4 ki-a DU.DU-ta e 4 dùg ki-ta ~u-mu-ra-ra-du]31 46. Λìr(i) ma-an-gal-la-za e 4 ~é-em-ta-èd-dè 47. ere-zu e 4 ~é-Λál-la ~u-mu-ra-na 8 -na 8 48. delmun k i e 4 ~é<-Λál-la ~u-mu-ra-na 8 -na 8 > 49. pú e 4 sis-a-zu pú e 4 dùg-ga ~é-em 26. This is an example of what Zólyomi (1996, 36-38; 2003) proposed to term “indefinite (or unreferential) genitive”. Such genitive phrases form semantic units that syntactically behave like single words. See also Jagersma 2010, 126, 150. 27. Claus Wilcke, e-mail November 9, 2011. Cf. also id. 1993, 47. 28. Cf. [g ]e g a Λ x (ÍL)-Λ á g a b a k a r - r a - k a , “reeds transported; (they have been deposited) at the edge of the quay” (MVN 18, 448: 5); ĝ á - n u n d ù - a g a b a k a r - k a , “storehouse constructed; (it is) at the edge of the quay” (MVN 13, 304: 2-3). See also Steinkeller 2001, 33 with fn. 32. 29. AWAS 119 xv 3; Nik 74 v 2* (AWEL p. 289); VS NF 9, 43 rev. iii 5*. Also note g ú - k a r - k a , “in Gukara(k)” (GN), in an Ur III document from Nippur (Banca d’Italia 2, II-20 rev. 7; reference courtesy of Piotr Steinkeller). 30. Also cf. g ú a - a - b a / a b - b a , “the shore of the sea” vs. g a b a a - a b - b a , “the edge of the sea”, according to the editors of The Sumerian Dictionary (see PSD A/2, 137-138 s.v. a b - b a B §§ 2.3-2.4). 31. Restored after line 56: k a e 4 k i - a DU.DU-t a e 4 d ù g k i - t a m u - n a - r a - d u .  Interpreting é GÚ kar-ra kalam-ma-ka in the Enki and Ninsikila Myth 51 49a. <a-šag 4 a-gàr ab-sín-zu še ~u-mu-ra-ab-šúm ? > 32 50. ere-zu é GÚ kar-ra kalam-ma-ka ~é-a 51. delmun k i é <GÚ kar-ra kalam-ma-ka ~é-a> 42-44. […] 45. [from the “mouths” of the waters running underground, may sweet water run out of the ground for you], 46. may the waters rise up from it into your …,33 47. may your city drink abundant water from it, 48. <may> Tilmun <drink> ab<undant> water <from it>, 49. may your wells of bitter water be (turned into) wells of sweet water, 49a. <may your fields, arable tracts, and furrows supply(?) you with grain>, 50. may your city be the “é GÚ kar-ra kalam-ma-ka”, 51. may Tilmun be the “é <GÚ kar-ra kalam-ma-ka>”. The last two lines represent the climax of the blessing pronounced by Enki. One expects these lines to refer to something that is supposed to bring richness and prosperity to Tilmun. Like Jacobsen and Römer (see above), I would here read GÚ kar-ra as gún kar-ra,34 interpreting gún not as “produce” (Jacobsen) or “Ertrag” (Römer), however, but as “tax”.35 If one accepts the existence of the assumed term gún kar-ra meaning “harbor tax”, then the expression é gún kar- ra kalam-ma-ka, to be translated as “the house of the harbor taxes of the Land”,36 could refer to Tilmun as the place where Mesopotamian seafaring merchants had to pay taxes on trade. Not only does this interpretation accord with the grammar of the phrase, it also provides a better sense for it: customs duties were probably the principal source of income for a trans-shipment area like Tilmun, which was one of the most important hubs, if not the most important, in the seafaring trade between Mesopotamia and the seaside countries of the Arabian Gulf and the Indian Ocean.37 32. Restored after line 61: a - š a g 4 a - g à r a b - s í n - a - n é š e m u - n a - a [ b - š ] ú m ? . 33. Cf. Attinger 2008, 100 ad 46 // 57. 34. Although g ú n , “load; tax, tribute; yield”, is more frequently written as GÚ.UN (= g ú n u n ) in the Old Babylonian period, the more archaic spelling GÚ (= g ú n ) is still well attested in Sumerian texts from this epoch: see Aradmu to Šulgi 1 4 (Michalowski 2011, 249-250, 261; note that Michalowski’s “g u n ” is actually GÚ = g ú n ); Lugale 403 (van Dijk 1983a, 102; id. 1983b, 115); SEM 59 rev. 5 (= Edubba’a C 49; cf. Black et al. 1998/2006); UET 6/1, 98: 2 (Siniddinam A – Ur recension; cf. Brisch 2007, 126-127); Gurney – Kramer 1965, 18 U.7739+U.7740 iv 21’ (Codex of Urnamma – Old Babylonian tablet from Ur; cf. Civil 2011, 241 and 248 § 39); RIME 4, 32 Išme-Dagān 5: 8; etc. This fact is recognized by the Old Babylonian syllabary Proto-Ea, which expresses the pronunciation of the sign GÚ, in the sense of Akkadian biltu, syllabically as g u - u n (MSL 14, 59 line 714). 35. Cf. CAD B 232-233; Michalowski 1978; Steinkeller 1987, 30-40; Sigrist 1992, 100; Sharlach 2004, 28-29, 31-32, 47 fn. 104, 56, 85 with fn. 70, 87 with fn. 82, 116-117, 119 with fn. 52, 162-163, 279-280; Ouyang 2013, 68, 71, 73, 93 with fn. 245, 95 with fn. 271. Also note the compound n íĝ - g ú n - n a , “tax item(s)” (Sharlach 2004, 16-17, 96-97, 138; cf. Heimpel 2009, 317-319). 36. The term k a l a m (or k a n a m ) means “the Land” par excellence, that is, Sumer and Akkad (Limet 1978; Steiner 1982). It is only used exceptionally in a more general sense (probably under the influence of Akkadian mātu) in referring to a foreign country (see, e.g., Sjöberg 1961, 62 ad 12). 37. See Marchesi 2014, 51 (with literature). 52 Gianni Marchesi A variant recension of Enki and Nin~ursaΛa from Ur, which is known from a single manuscript dating to the 21st year of Rīm-Sîn I of Larsa,38 contains a longer version of Enki’s blessing that lends support to this translation by explicitly noting the role that Tilmun was destined to play in the long-distance international trade (UET 6/1, 1 ii 1-15): (1-2)May the land of Tukriš transfer to you (= Ninsikila) gold (from the mines) of @aral[i], lapis lazuli, and {fine …}; (3-5) may the land of Melu~~a fi[ll] for you large ships with carnelian – the precio[us] object of desire, the best mes wood, and fin[e] acacia wood; (6-7) may the land of Mar~aši off[er] you precious stones and du[~šia-stone]; (8-9) may the land of Makkan [… (to/for) you] niΛkalagga-copper [with unparalleled] streng[th], diorite, and <šu>’u and šumin stones; (10-11) may the Sea Land [… (to/for)] you ebony wood – that which is appropriate to [ki]ngship; (12-13) may the Land of the Tents [… (to/for)] you wool and beautiful (antimony (?)) powder; (14-15) may the land of Elam tran[sfer] to you choice wool and loads [of …]; (16-18) may the “shrine” Ur, the dais of kingship, the h[oly] city, [fill] for you lar[ge] ships with grain, sesame oil, magnificent robes and fine fabrics; (19) may the abundance of the wide sea […].39 Finally, we should note that é GÚ kar-ra occurs as an entry in the Old Babylonian acrographic list Proto-Kagal.40 In the bilingual version of this lexical composition and in the later derivative series Kagal, é GÚ kar-ra is translated into Akkadian neither as *bīt kišād kāri(m), “house on the harbor bank”, nor as *bīt bilāt kāri(m), “house of the harbor taxes”. Somewhat unexpectedly, it is translated as bīt kāri(m), “house of the quay, trading station’s office”.41 However, this rendering does not invalidate my proposal, namely, that é GÚ kar-ra should be read as é gún kar-ra and interpreted as “house of the harbor taxes”. As Carlo Zaccagnini pointed out, the most famous and best documented bīt kāri(m) – that of the Assyrian merchants at Kaneš in Anatolia42 – “was primarily concerned with the collection of various taxes due from the merchants”.43 Moreover, in later texts the term bīt kāri refers specifically to the customhouses where customs duties were paid.44 38. Cf. Katz 2007, 569-570, 587-588. 39. A new edition and a detailed discussion of this passage will be offered elsewhere. Although this cannot be established with certainty, it is likely that the passage in question represents a continuation of Enki’s blessing (so also Jacobsen 1987, 188-189, Black et al. 1998/2006, and Attinger 2007, 59-60; 2013; cf. Katz 2007, 587). In any case, there can hardly be any doubt that the speech here is addressed to Ninsikila and is focused on Tilmun (note that the city of Tilmun is mentioned in the continuation of the text: “The city – its dwellings are good dwellings; Tilmun – its dwellings are good dwellings; its cereals are small cereals (but) its dates are the biggest dates; its harvests are [indeed] threefold; its trees [are …] trees; […]”). According to Katz (loc. cit.), the list of the lands that traded with Tilmun reflects “the commercial horizons of Babylonia during the reign of Rīm-Sîn”. For the trade between Tilmun and Mesopotamia in the Old Babylonian period, see, among others, Oppenheim 1954; Leemans 1960, 23-56; Heimpel 1987, 47, 82-87; Potts 1990, 219-231; Groneberg 1992; van de Mieroop 1992, 194-197. 40. Line 88 (MSL 13, 69). 41. See Proto-Kagal bilingual sect. A 13: {é } GÚ k a r - r a = {É ka}-[ri(-im)] (MSL 13, 84; cf. http://www.cdli.ucla.edu/P227932); Middle Assyrian Kagal II iii 95: é GÚ k a r - r a = É ka-ri (Civil 2010, 41). 42. For the bīt kārim of Kaneš, see Dercksen 2004, 99-118. Also note the unique reference to a bīt kārim (É ka-ri-im), presumably of Mari, in a Mari text from the time of Sūmu-Yamam (Charpin – Durand 1983, 118 ad 13 [reference courtesy of Marten Stol]; cf. Michel 1996, 413-417). 43. Zaccagnini 1987/1990, 422. This fact may account for the omitted translation of the word g ú n in the lexical equivalence é g ú n (GÚ) k a r - r a = bīt kāri(m) (see fn. 42 above): although the bīt kārim of Kaneš  Interpreting é GÚ kar-ra kalam-ma-ka in the Enki and Ninsikila Myth 53 BIBLIOGRAPHY Albright W.F. 1919, “Some Cruces in the Langdon Epic”, Journal of the American Oriental Society 39, 65-90. Alster B. 1983, “Dilmun, Bahrain, and the Alleged Paradise in Sumerian Myth and Literature”, in D.T. Potts (ed.), Dilmun. New Studies in the Archaeology and Early History of Bahrain (BBVO 2), Berlin, 39-74. André-Salvini B. 2000, “‘The land where the sun rises…’: the Representation of Dilmun in Sumerian Literature”, in H. Crawford – M. Rice (eds.), Traces of Paradise. The Archaeology of Bahrain 2500BC-300AD, London, 28-34. Attinger P. 1984, “Enki et Nin~ursaĝa”, Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie 74, 1-52. ––––– 2007, “Traduction de Enki ό Ninhursag du Pr. Pascal Attinger”, in P. Jovanovic (éd.), Le Mensonge universel, Paris, 55-72. ––––– 2008, “Notes de lecture: Enki et Nin~ursaΛa”, NABU 2008/71. ––––– 2013, “Enki et Nin~ursaΛa (1.1.1)” (unpublished manuscript downloadable at http://www.iaw.unibe.ch/content/ueberτuns/mitarbeitende/abtτva/profτdrτpascalτattin ger/uebersetzungen/indexτger.html). Black J.A. et al. 1998/2006, The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/), Oxford. 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I, Leiden. ––––– 1983b, LUGAL UD ME-LÁM-bi NIR-ĜÁL. Le récit épique et didactique des Travaux de Ninurta, de Déluge et de la Nouvelle Création, vol. II, Leiden. van Driel G. 2002, Elusive Silver. In Search of a Role for a Market in an Agrarian Environment (PIHANS 95), Leiden. “also served as central bureau for settling accounts, storing wares, etc.” (Zaccagnini, loc. cit.; see also Dercksen 2004, 103-104), as the term bīt kāri(m) essentially denoted an office whose main function was to collect taxes and fees, there was no need to translate the word g ú n , “tax”, in the lexical equivalence in question. In this connection also note that Sumerian é k a r - r a , which would be the literal Sumerian translation of Akkadian bīt kāri(m), does not denote the same thing as bīt kāri(m); as a matter of fact, é k a r - r a – or rather é - k a r - r a – is only attested as a temple name (George 1993, 107-108; Wiggermann 1998/2001). 44. See CAD K 238. Cf. 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