san COMME hi chiption VOLUME TWO. * a (Ta aac é SS re od re torte a Eels Ee Cl LL PTUREee This book is printed on acid-free paper. Cover The rad Sua of Memepiah (Text 2.6). Cours af the Cairo Museum, Fora photograph of the entre sla, wit highlighting of “Israel” sce H. Shanks, ‘ed, Ancient Irael 2nd od.; Washington, Biblical Archaeology Sociery, 1999), p. 78. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data ‘The context of Scriptufe / edicor, William W. Hallo ; associate ‘editor, K. Lavon Younger p. cm. th it I references and index. Contents: v. 1. Canonical compositions from the biblical world. ISBN 9004106189 (ak. papen 1. Bible. O,T.—Exta-canonical parallels. 2, Middle Eastern liceratuceRelation to the Old Testament, "3. Bible, OT —History of contempory events—Sources,, 4. Middle Eastern literature ~ ZHfanlations oto English Hallo, Wilham Well Younger K. Bsn80.C66 1996 220.9°3—de21 ace 96.48987 cP een Deutsche Bibliothek ~ CIP-Einheitsaufnahme The context of sripture ; canonical omposiions, monumental inscriptions, and archival documents from the biblical world / Hallo, - Leiden ; New York ; Kéln : Brill fim th biblical worl. = 1997 ISBN’ 90 04 10619 7 (Vel. 1) ISBN 90 04 09629 9 (Ser) (© Copyright 2000 by Koninklijke Brill NY, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced, ransated, stored in «4 retrieval sytem, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, ‘mechanical. phtocopying recording or otherwise, without prior written ipermision from the publisher Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal heap ed Bel rel tebe Cote, 85 feeaved Drge Suik 0 Danvers MA 01923, USA “Fees are subject change. PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS‘THE CYLINDERS OF GUDEA @.155) Richard E, Averbeck ~~ » ‘The composition known as the Cylinders of Gudea is inscribed on tw6 large cylinders (i.e., hollow clay barrels), referred to as Cylinders A and B. The rims of the two cylinders are ca, 2.9 and 2.5 em thick, respectively. Cylsider ‘Ais 61 cm long and 32.cm in diameter, and has 30 columns of writing parallel to the long axis. Cylinder B is 56.5 ‘em Jong and 33 cm in diathetér, and has 24 columns’of writing. Most columns have between 20-30 lines of writing ctwally separate Iined-off “cases” containing multiple lines), depending on how long the individual lines are in the particular column, Since Cylinder B is shorter it tends to have fewer lines per column than Cylinder A (Edzard 1997.69, 88). ‘The Cylinders: were recovered in broken condition during the eleven campiigns of the’French excavations at Tello (ancient Girsu, the administrative center of Gudea’s Lagash) between 1877 and 1900 under the direction of Emest de Sarzec (published in de Sarzec 1884-1912). The two Cylinders have been pieced back together and the editio rinceps of the cuneiform text itself is a very fine hand copy by the renowned F. Thureau-Dangin (Thureau-Dangi 1925). As it stands now, the text is in relatively good condition except for the later part of Cylinder B and a few small broken sections in Cylinders A and B. ‘There are a number of leftover unplaced fragments, some of which scholars have attempted to use in restoring the broken sections of Cylinder B with limited success and a lack of consensus (Thureau-Dangin 1925:plates lii-liv; Baer 1971; Jacobsen 1987b:441 444; and now esp. Edzard 1997:88-89, 101-106, 232-233). Some scholars insist that there was a lost third Cylinder, which was the first part of a trilogy, and to which a number of the fragments belong. It ‘may have consisted of hymns praising the temple, a recounting of events leading to the building of the temple, and perhaps Gudea’s election as ruler of Lagash Gacobsen 1987-386). Others argue that, in light ofthe overall structural Coherence and seeming completeness of the composition as we have it on Cylinders A and B, the original existence of a non-extant third Cylinder is unlikely (see the full discussion in Averbeck 1997:40-49), The Cylinders were apparently written to celebrate or perhaps commemorate Gudea’s biilding and dedication of a new Eninnu temple for the god Ningirsu, the patron deity of Lagash., The’sequence of temple, building projects recounted in Gudea Statue I (see Edzard 1997:52) suggests that he undertook this project early in his reign. Unfortunately, the dates of Gudea’s reign in Lagash are not certain (cf. Steinkeller 1988 with Jacobsen 1987b:386 and Klein 1989b:289 n. 3). He ruled Lagash either just before Ur-Nammu established the Third Dynasty of Ur, or pethaps his reign overlapped with the early part of the Third Dynasty of Ur, which is dated to ca. 2112-2004 ner (Ur-Namrmu reigned ca. 2112-2095 Bce and Shulgi 2094-2047 ace). The Gudea Cylinders constitute one of the longest and most impressive, complex, and unique cOinpositions in the Sumerign literary repertoire. Because this text is so unique, it has been difficult to assign it to a particular genre. In general, there is no evidence of it belonging 1 he ei zon sie no ae copes nay form have Been found, and it is certainly not archival (i, economic or administrative). The Cylinders are not really “monumental” either, since they are not inscribed on a monument, unless the Cylinders themselves are viewed as monuments. The com- position has affinities with the Sumerian Temple Hyman Collection (Sjoberg and Bergmann 1969:6), but as a royal femple building text it also has some features of royal inscriptions (Averbéck 1997:49-59). ‘The overall structural similarity between the Gudea Cylinders and other ANE building texts, including the various biblical accounts, has been the subject of much research in recent years (sce esp. Hurowitz 1992:25-26, 32-67, 129- 337). There are basically five stages: (1) the decision to build with an expression of divine sanction (Cyl. A i-xii aid 1'Kgs 5:17-19 [Eng. 3-5)), (2) preparations for the building, including materials, workers, and laying foundations (Cyl. A xiit-xx and 1 Kgs 5:20-32 (Eng. 6-18)), G) description of the construction process. the buildings, and their furnishings (Cyl. A xxi-xax and 1 Kgs 6-7) (4) dedication prayers and festivities (Cyl. B i-xviii and 1 Kgs 8), and ©) divine promises and blessings for the king (Cyl. B xix-xxiv and 1 Kgs 9:1-9). See Hurowitz 1992:56, 109-110. Regarding comparisons with the tabernacle account (Exod 25-40) and Ezekiel’s temple (Ezek 40-48), see Hurowitz 1985:21-26 and Sharon 1996:103-108, respectively. With regard to the Gudea Cylinders as a Sumerian literary composition, it has been cogently argued that there is a subgenre of Sumerian royal hymns known as “building and dedication hymns,” which includes the Gudea Cylinders ‘and three other compositions (Klein 1989a), Based on this form critical investigation, once again a modified five-fold