289 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXIV N° 3-4, mei-augustus 2007
THE CALENDAR OF THE FUNERARY CULT IN
ANCIENT LAGASH*)
Bram JAGERSMA
1. INTRODUCTION
Pre-Sargonic Lagash has yielded over 1600 administrative
texts, which make up one of the most important text finds
from the period. Almost all these texts come from the admin-
istration of a single organisation, viz. that of the “woman’s
quarters” (é-mí) and the “Ba'u temple” (é dba-ú), which were
both under the control of the queen of Lagash and were run
as a single estate. As a result this particular organisation is
among the best documented and best studied ones. We know
a great deal about how it was organised and in which eco-
nomic activities it was involved. Yet, however rich our
sources may be, they are very limited, too. What we see is
just a glimpse of a much larger picture: we have only a part
of the administration of a single, minor organisation. Not all
documents of that organisation have survived. Nor did it ever
register all its activities. We know hardly anything about the
estates of other temples or of other members of the ruling
family or families. Likewise unknown is what was going on
outside these estates. Nevertheless, limited as our sources
may be, we can still learn a great deal from them.
A part of the queen’s administration records offerings:
dozens of texts list goods that were used up during cultic
events. Since the texts’ purpose is to record the income and
expenditures of the queen’s estate, they give only very gen-
eral information about the events for which expenditures were
made. What exactly happened during them was not deemed
to be relevant management information and was taken for
granted in the administrative records. Accordingly, we know
in great detail which goods were used up during all kinds of
rituals and festivities, but we know almost nothing about what
actually took place during those events themselves.
In 1920 Deimel studied a group of texts from the queen’s
archive that recorded in his view offerings to the dead.1) The
starting point for his analysis was the text VAT 4875 (repub-
lished in 1996 as VS 27:85) which records food offerings on
behalf of several individuals during two festivals. As one of
the listed persons, viz. the former queen Baragnamtarra,
could be proven to have been buried the year before, Deimel
concluded that VAT 4875 recorded food offerings to the
dead. By linking VAT 4875 to other texts mentioning offer-
ings to the same individuals or using certain technical terms
associated with such offerings, Deimel identified a large
group of texts dealing with offerings to the dead and clari-
fied some of the technical terms used in them.
Several scholars built on the foundation laid by Deimel. In
1969 this culminated in a new overview article by Bauer, who
listed all relevant sources known at the time and discussed
their contents in much more detail than Deimel had done.2)
Also, various scholars pointed out the crucial distinction
*
) Review article on: CHIODI, Silvia Maria — Offerte «Funebri» nella
Lagas presargonica, Vol. I, II. (Materiali per il vocabolario Sumerico —
5/I, 5/II). Università degli Studi di Roma, Roma, 1997. (28 cm, Vol. I: XI,
219; Vol. II: VIII, 250).
1
) Anton Deimel, ‘Die Listen über den Ahnenkult aus der Zeit Lugal-
andas und Urukaginas’, Or. SP 2 (1920), pp. 32-51.
2
) Josef Bauer, ‘Zum Totenkult im altsumerischen Lagasch’, in XVII.
Deutscher Orientalistentag (ZDMG Suppl. I, Teil 1) (1969) pp. 107-114.
290
between food offerings to the dead and food offerings to the
statues of living or dead individuals. Sumerians who could
afford it had larger or smaller statues made of themselves and
placed them inside a temple to pray permanently on their
behalf to the god or goddess of that temple. Such statues were
supposed to need food and drink to function properly.3)
Had various scholars thus separated the offerings to stat-
ues from those to the dead, Chiodi went much further in her
monograph from 1997, which occasioned the present article
(with my apologies for the long delay). In her study Chiodi
makes a clean break with her intellectual predecessors. In her
view, most, if not all, of the texts generally taken to be about
funerary offerings do not record offerings to the dead at all,
because many of the supposedly dead recipients can be
shown to be living persons, who must, therefore, have been
active participants in the rites mentioned (p. ix). Hence, the
technical terms which everybody connects with the cult of
the dead must also have different meanings than hitherto
assumed (p. ix, 183f): en-en, e.g., is not “ancestors” (“ante-
nati”) but more something like “overseers” (“sovrinten-
denti”) (p. 22), and so on. In the process, Chiodi also topples
some established views on the history of ancient Lagash: she
finds that at the beginning of the reign of Irikagina, his two
predecessors Enentarzi and Lugalanda are still alive and
active in public live (p. 187f).
Clearly, such radically novel conclusions have to be based
on a solid argumentation. And in this Chiodi, in my view, fails.
In spite of her clearly stated case, I find myself time after time
on the side of the very scholars whose conclusions Chiodi calls
into question. To begin with, her philological treatment of the
primary sources is not always up to standard. This does not
inspire confidence, even though the overwhelming majority of
incorrect readings do not affect the main thrust of her argu-
ment. That largely rests on prosopographical analysis. Time
and again Chiodi tries to prove that so-called recipients of
funerary offerings are in actual fact living persons and, hence,
that the texts in question cannot possibly be about funerary
offerings. She argues, for instance, that texts like DP 155 v 3-
4 (sá-du11 du-du, sagga-kam) prove that Dudu was still alive
during Irikagina’s first year, because he receives sá-du11 (p.
37). But why can the term sá-du11 not apply to dead persons?
Or are we also to assume that MVN 12:147 2 (sá-du11 gù-dé-
a) proves that Gudea was still alive in the year Shulgi 46?
A second example: in texts such as DP 73, a Meniginta
occurs among the recipients of funerary offerings (col. iii 9).
Chiodi equates this Meniginta with a Meniginta, the wife of
the chief scribe, who is found as a living person in a number
of contemporary texts (p. 64). But why would they really be
one and the same person? There are several different women
with that name in the published Lagash texts alone, and those
surely document only a fraction of the total population.
In this way we could continue raising counter-questions
where Chiodi raises questions. But the problem is that the avail-
able Pre-Sargonic evidence is far too limited to know for cer-
tain who died when. In nearly all cases, the only evidence that
the individuals in question are dead is the very fact that they
receive funerary offerings. If one, like Chiodi, does not accept
that these texts are about funerary offerings, there is hardly ever
a decisive answer possible. That is why Deimel based his
3
) Eva Andrea Braun-Holzinger, Mesopotamische Weihgaben der früh-
dynastischen bis altbabylonischen Zeit (Heidelberg: Heidelberger Ori-
entverlag, 1991), pp. 227-230.
291 THE CALENDAR OF THE FUNERARY CULT IN ANCIENT LAGASH
argument on the unique case of Baragnamtarra, whose year of
death is beyond doubt because her burial is documented.
That is not to say that the whole matter of funerary offer-
ings in Pre-Sargonic Lagash is an open question. In my view,
a fatal flaw of Chiodi’s book is that it completely ignores rel-
evant data from later administrative texts, most crucially
those from the Ur III period.4) As soon as we look at the Pre-
Sargonic evidence in the light of the Ur III sources, it
becomes abundantly clear that the main conclusions of schol-
ars such as Deimel and Bauer remain valid, in spite of
Chiodi’s determined effort to prove them wrong.
Let us therefore look again at the Pre-Sargonic sources for
the cult of the dead against the background of evidence from
the Ur III period. As we shall see there are so many similar-
ities between the funerary cults of the two periods, that there
can be no doubt whatsoever as to the general accuracy of
Deimel and Bauer’s views. I will restrict myself to the food
offerings, which are better documented than other types of
offerings to the dead.
The balance of this article discusses the funerary cult in a
primarily chronological order. Section 2 treats the food offer-
ings during the burial ceremonies. Section 3 discusses the
Sumerian word ki-a-nag, which denotes a central location for
the cult of the dead from the time of burial onwards. Section
4 then takes up the chronological order of events again, treat-
ing the calendar of the funerary cult during the Ur III period.
Section 5 does the same for the Pre-Sargonic period. Section
6, finally, sums up the main similarities and differences
between the earlier and later periods.
2. FUNERALS
The Sumerians disposed of their dead through inhumation.
Every burial included grave-goods: at least some pottery and
food offerings, but often various other items too. All this is
clear from archaeological excavations.5) There is even some
textual evidence for food offerings as grave-goods.
In 1987, Maeda published BM 18352, a highly interesting
Ur III text from Lagash.6) A large part of the text (col. i 13-iv
5) records expenditures for the burial of Geme-Lama, the high-
priestess (eres-digir) of Ba'u, whose funeral took place in the
ninth month of Amar-Suena’s first regnal year.7) The recorded
burial expenses contain much that is noteworthy. One section
(col. ii 26-iii 11) lists barley payments, mostly to carpenters.
It is summarised as: á Ìug-gá gisdub eres-digir-ra “hired labour
for the coffin of the high-priestess” (col. iii 11).8)
4 9
) The key data about the cult of the dead in the Ur III period can be
found in: Walther Sallaberger, Der kultische Kalender der Ur III-Zeit
(Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1993).
5
) Cf., e.g., C. Leonard Woolley, The royal cemetery. A report on the
Predynastic and Sargonid graves excavated between 1926 and 1931, Ur
Excavations, II (London/Philadelphia: Trustees of the British Museum and
of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, 1934), pp. 135-146.
6
) ASJ 9 (1987) pp. 325f. Text 1.
7
) Cf. ii 25: ki-maÌ geme2-dlama3 eres-digir dba-ú “the grave of Geme-
Lama, the high-priestess of Ba'u”. The date of the funeral follows from the
subscript in col. iv 5 (iti mu-su-du7) and the fact that the text itself is dated
to the year Amar-Suena 1.
8
) For dub “chest”, see Esther Flückiger-Hawker, Urnamma of Ur in
Sumerian literary tradition, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, 166 (Fribourg,
Switzerland: University Press Fribourg, 1999), p. 174 ad 110 with earlier
literature. In the present context gisdub “chest” can hardly be anything else
but the Sumerian word for “coffin”.
292
The same section contains one line with a somewhat dif-
ferent content: 0.1.1 níg-sám gisumbin me-al-tum-ma 1-a-kam
“70 litres (of barley): it is the price of one wheel of a me-al-
tum” (col. iii 7). In content, this line is connected with a wool
expenditure listed elsewhere in the text: 4 ma-na siki GI, 2
ma-na siki gú-TAR, á su du7-a gisgigir me-al-tum eres-digir-
ra-sè “four pounds of wool of native sheep, two pounds of…
wool: equipping expenses for the me-al-tum carriage of the
high-priestess” (col. iv 1-3).9) The word me-al-tum obviously
is an Akkadian loanword, representing a dialectal form of
majjaltum, a maprast-formation of nialu “to lie down” (GAG
§56c). Apparently, gisgigir me-al-tum(-ma) or me-al-tum is
the Sumerian expression for “hearse”.
More importantly for our present purpose, the text also
contains a large section with expenses for food offerings (col.
i 13-ii 17). It reads as follows:
(i) (13) 2 sila3 ì-nun (14) 1⁄3 sila3 làl (15) 4 sila3 zú-lum sig5
(16) 4 sila3 ga-àr (17) 4 sila3 gisgi6-[par4] Ìád (18) 4 sila3
gis
ÌasÌur Ìád (19) 4 sila3 gisgestin Ìád (20) 4 sila3 gisnu-úr-ma
(21) 2 gispès 6 kùs
(22) suku sag sì-ga-bi 2-àm
(23) a-seser7 sà é ki-tus é ú-sim
(24) 2 sila3 ì-nun (25) 1⁄3 sila3 làl (26) 4 sila3 zú-lum sig5 (27)
4 sila3 ga-àr (28) 4 sila3 gisgi6-par4 Ìád (ii) (1) 4 sila3 gisÌasÌur
Ìád (2) 2+[2] sila3 gisgestin Ìád (3) 4 sila3 gisnu-úr-ma (4) 1+[1]
gis
pès 6 k[ùs]
(5) suku sa[g sì]-ga-b[i 2-àm]
(6) a-seser7 sà [k]i-a-nag
(7) 1 sila3 ì-nun (8) 10! gín làl (9) 2 sila3 zú-lum si[g5] (10) 2
sila3 ga-àr (11) 2 sila3 gisgi6-par4 Ìád (12) 2 sila3 gisÌasÌur Ìád
(13) 2 sila3 gisgestin Ìád (14) 2 sila3 gisnu-úr-ma (15) 3 kùs gis
pès
(16) suku sag sì-ga-bi 1-àm
(17) ki-maÌ eres-digir-ra-ka ba-an-gar
“Two litres of ghee, one-third of a litre of honey, four litres
of good dates, four litres of cheese, four litres of dry pears (?),
four litres of dry apples, four litres of dry grapes, four litres of
pomegranates, two (strings of) figs: six cubits.
Its allocated food portions are two (in number).
Wailing10) in the living room and sleeping room.11)
Two litres of ghee, one-third of a litre of honey, four litres of
good dates, four litres of cheese, four litres of dry pears (?),
four litres of dry apples, four litres of dry grapes, four litres of
pomegranates, two (strings of) figs: six cubits.
Its allocated food portions are two (in number).
Wailing in the mortuary chapel.12)
One litre of ghee, ten13) shekels [i.e. one sixth (of a litre)] of
honey, two litres of good dates, two litres of cheese, two litres
of dry pears (?), two litres of dry apples, two litres of dry grapes,
two litres of pomegranates, (a string of) three cubits of figs.
) This expenditure is also registered in TLB 3:54 obv. 1-3.
10
) The spelling a-seser7 for a-ser7 “lament, wail” was overlooked by
PSD A/I s.v. a-nir and by de Maaijer and Jagersma, AfO 44/45 (1997/1998)
p. 282. That the reading a-ser7 is not only Emesal was already surmised by
Piotr Michalowski, The lamentation over the destruction of Sumer and Ur
(Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1989), pp. 98f.
11
) Sumerian é is both “house” and “room”. Here, a reference to two
rooms makes more sense than one to two buildings. As ki-tus means “sit-
ting, dwelling place”, é ki-tus is probably a phrase for “living room, living
quarters” (cf. E. Prang, ZA 66 [1976] p. 25). The phrase é ú-sim is more
difficult, though. Literally it means something like “grass-and-plants room”.
Since ú is used as bed covering (e.g., Cyl B ix 8), I propose to take é ú-sim
as a phrase for “sleeping room, sleeping quarters”.
12
) For a discussion of the word ki-a-nag, see below section 3.
13
) The copy has a damaged 1 instead of 10, but 1 gín “one sixtieth”
cannot be right: the amounts in this section of the text are half the amounts
of the preceding ones. I did not collate this tablet.
293 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXIV N° 3-4, mei-augustus 2007
Its allocated food portion is one (in number).
It was placed in the grave of the high-priestess.”
The text records five food portions, identical in composition.
The fifth and last portion is buried with Geme-Lama as
grave-goods. Thus, the final part of the quotation confirms
what we already know from the archaeological record. The
preceding part, however, gives us new information, showing
that the dead also received food offerings before their burial:
during each of two different wailing ceremonies, Geme-Lama
was provided with two food portions.
Why, then, exactly two times two and not some other num-
ber of food portions? The explanation lies in the duration of
the ceremonies. As the text clearly states, each double portion
is associated with a specific wailing ceremony: one in the
domestic quarters and the other in the mortuary chapel (ki-a-
nag). Now, food offerings are a matter of providing suste-
nance, of supplying meals. Each food portion serves as one
main meal, so that two portions represent two main meals,
that is, one full day.14) Since each of the two wailing cere-
monies uses up two food portions, it follows that the two cer-
emonies lasted one day each and took place on consecutive
days. In this way, the need for two food portions per cere-
mony is explained from the need for two main meals per day.
Thus, we arrive at the following picture. After her death,
Geme-Lama continues to receive her daily meals as food
offerings: the first day in her own quarters, where a wailing
ceremony takes place; the second day in the mortuary chapel,
where a second wailing ceremony is performed. Then, she is
buried together with one further meal.
As it happens, two Pre-Sargonic administrative texts from
Lagash throw some more light on these events. TSA 9 and
VS 14:137 record expenditures of food for a large number
of persons described as lú ki-Ìulu barag-nam-tar-ra-ka, ír
sig7-me “they are persons who shed tears at the mourning
place15) for Baragnamtarra” (VS 14:137 iv 1-2; cf. TSA 9
iii 6-7). In TSA 9 the recipients are 72 lamentation priests
(gala), 70 “wives of elders” (dam ab-ba), 10… ([S]ES.TU),
and 148 slave women (geme2). In VS 14:137 they are the
chief lamentation-priest of Girsu (gala-maÌ gír-suki), 92
lamentation priests, 48 “wives of elders”, and 177 slave
women. The latter text ends with the clause 2-kam-ma gu7-
a-am6 “this is the second (consignment of food) that was con-
sumed”. It would seem that these two texts record the cater-
ing for persons involved in the two wailing ceremonies: TSA
9 for the first day and VS 14:137 for the second.
Thus, we find two days of wailing ceremonies in Lagash
texts, both in the Pre-Sargonic and in the Ur III period. Does
this mean that we have identified a permanent feature of
Lagashite funerary custom? Not necessarily so, as an exam-
ination of the deceased women will bear out. While the early
burial involves Baragnamtarra, the widow of a former ruler
(ensi2.k) of Lagash, the later documentation is about the bur-
ial of Geme-Lama, the high-priestess of Ba'u and the wife of
14
) Cf., e.g., the Old Babylonian letter AbB 11:105 the lines 13-15: “At
the morning and evening offering (SUKU ka-Òa-tim ù li-li-a-tim) I always
pray before my Lord and my Mistress for your health.” Compare also the
numerous lists recording offerings at two different times during a single
day (e.g., many of the references in PSD A/II s.v. á-u4-te-na).
15
) The translation “mourning place” for the word ki-Ìulu is derived
from the meaning of the Akkadian words kiÌullû and giÌlû, both loans from
Sumerian ki-Ìulu. The present context of ki-Ìulu suggests that the word
actually refers to the place where the deceased lies in state prior to burial.
294
the ruler (ensi2.k) of Lagash.16) In other words, both funerals
involve women with the same social position and with the
highest possible status in Lagash. They will hardly be repre-
sentative of funerals in general and can be expected to show
exceptional features.
One of the exceptional features may very well be the dura-
tion of their funerals. In the Near East it is customary for a
burial to take place within twenty-four hours after death, and
understandably so in view of the climate. Why would the
Sumerians generally have behaved differently? The two
funerals under discussion, however, are in a way state funer-
als and the various ceremonies take place on the most lavish
scale, which prolongs the time needed for their preparation
as well as their execution.
3. WHERE DID THE DEAD RECEIVE THEIR OFFERINGS?
After burial the food offerings continue. They were pro-
vided to the dead at a special location, called ki-a-nag in
Sumerian. That much is clear from the administrative records.
It must be noted, though, that those records only document
the cult of the dead for members of the ruling families, that
is, for the very wealthy. The validity of what we know is
again restricted to individuals of the highest social status.
The ki-a-nag of an individual may appear in administra-
tive texts from his or her death onwards, never earlier. Geme-
Lama provides a good example from Lagash. According to
BM 18352, already discussed in the previous section, she was
buried in the ninth month of Amar-Suena’s first regnal year.
The first text mentioning her ki-a-nag dates from that same
month:
BM 18686 (95-3-29,344); 30x28x16 mm; lineated; not
sealed17)
(1) 0.0.1 zíd-sig15 lugal (2) 0.0.1 zíd-gu sig5
(3) udu da ru-a (4) ki-a-nag geme2-dlama3 eres-digir dba-ú-sè
(rev.) (5) giri3 ur-dlama3 dumu ú-tá (6) (blank line)
(7) zi-ga (8) iti mu-[su-du7 (9) mu damar-dsuen lugal
“Ten litres of crushings flour with the royal measure, ten litres
of good … flour.
As udu-da-ru-a gift for the ki-a-nag of Geme-Lama, high-
priestess of Ba'u.
Via Ur-Lama, son of Uta.
Expended. Month IX. Year Amar-Suena 1.”
Expenditures for her ki-a-nag during the next three months
(Amar-Suena 1 month x-xii) are found in MVN 17:105 (col-
lated):
(1) 2 sila3 zíd-*s[ig15] (2) 1⁄3 sila3 ì-*nun] (3) 1 sila3 zú-lum (4)
1 1⁄2 sila3 gú-gal àr-ra (5) 1 sila3 ar-za-na (6) 1 1⁄2 sila3 zíd-dub-
dub (7) 2⁄3 sila3 níg-àr-ra imgaga3
(8) níg-dab5 u4-sakar
(9) 2 sila3 zíd-sig15 (rev.) (1) 1⁄3 sila3 ì-nun (2) 1 sila3 zú-lum
(3) 1 1⁄2 sila3 gú-gal àr-ra (4) 1 sila3 ar-za-na (5) 1 1⁄2 sila3 zíd-
dub-dub (6) 2⁄3 sila3 níg-àr-ra imgaga3
16
) The high-priestess of Ba'u and the ruler’s wife are one and the same
person: K. Maekawa, ‘The governor’s family and the “temple households”
in Ur III Girsu’, in: Houses and households in ancient Mesopotamia, ed.
by Klaas R. Veenhof (Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Insti-
tuut, 1996), pp. 171-179 (p. 172f., 175).
17
) I wish to thank the Trustees of the British Museum for allowing me
to collate and transliterate a number of texts from their collection and pub-
lish them here. I am also grateful to Mark Geller who kindly collated this
tablet, BM 13748 (= MVN 22:81), and BM 23006.
295 THE CALENDAR OF THE FUNERARY CULT IN ANCIENT LAGASH
(7) níg-dab5 *[u]4 *15
(8) ki-a-*na[g geme2-dlam]a3* / eres-*d[igir dba-ú] (*9)18)
(10) iti *amar-[a-a-si-ta] (11) iti se-íl-*[la-sè]
(12) iti 3-[kam] (left edge:)
(13) mu damar-dsuen lugal
“Two litres of crushings flour, one-third of a litre of ghee, one
litre of dates, one and a half litre of ground big pulses, one litre
of ar-za-na groats, one and a half litre of ‘heaping’ flour, two
thirds of a litre of husked emmer groats.
Transfer for New Moon.
Two litres of crushings flour, one-third of a litre of ghee, one
litre of dates, one and a half litre of ground big pulses, one litre
of ar-za-na groats, one and a half litre of ‘heaping’ flour, two
thirds of a litre of husked emmer groats.
Transfer for Full Moon.
(For) the ki-a-nag of Geme-Lama, high-priestess of Ba'u.
From month X to month XII.
This is three months. Year Amar-Suena 1.”
The latest attestation of Geme-Lama’s ki-a-nag known to
me is BM 23006, which dates from several months later
(Amar-Suena 2 month vi). It will be treated fully later in this
section.
The Ur III kings provide additional evidence from outside
Lagash. No ki-a-nag of any king is attested before his final
regnal year. For Shulgi, e.g., the earliest attestation is dated
to Shulgi 48 month xi day 2: [ki]-a-nag dsul-gi (Or NS 46
[1977] p. 225 rev. 1) and for Amar-Suena to Amar-Suena 9
month xi day 30: ki-a-nag damar-dsuen (PDT 1:384 obv. 4).
What is true for the Ur III period also applies to Pre-Sar-
gonic Lagash: someone’s ki-a-nag is only attested after his
death. The texts mention the ki-a-nag en-èn-tar-zi only dur-
ing the reign of Enentarzi’s successor Lugalanda: in year 2
(VS 14:171 xi 9-10) and in year 3 (Nik 1:195 i 5-ii 1).19)
But what is a ki-a-nag? The word is often translated as
“libation place”, or in German as “Wassertrinkort”. Both
translations clearly are inspired by the literal meaning of the
word, as ki-a-nag is a compound of the noun ki “place”, the
noun a “water”, as well as of the verb nag “to drink”, with
ki “place” being the head of the compound. Hence, its literal
meaning is something like “water-drinking place”, “place
where water can be drunk”. Yet, the literal meaning of the
compound does not have to be its true meaning. That is, in
fact, far more specific, as the actual usage of the word will
make clear.
18
) MVN 17:105 line 9 (“itu á-[ ] / [ ] nin [ ]”) does not exist on the
tablet: line 10 comes immediately after line 8.
19
) Some authors have argued that Enentarzi’s ki-a-nag is already men-
tioned before the reign of his successor Lugalanda (see Chiodi vol. I pp.
49-51 with earlier literature). The crucial text was published by M.W.G.
Schileico, RA 11 (1914) p. 61. Its colophon reads as follows: (col. vi) (1)
níg su taka4-a (2) ensi2-ka-kam (3) en-èn-tar-zi (4) ensi2 (5) lagaski-ra (col.
v) (1) ki-a-nag-sè (2) mu-na-kux(DU) “These are gifts of the ensi2.k. It came
in for Enentarzi, the ensi2.k of Lagash, for the ki-a-nag.” The text is dated
to year one. Because of the phrase “Enentarzi, the ensi2.k of Lagash”,
Schileico and others have dated the text to the first year of Enentarzi. For
a number of reasons, this cannot be correct. To begin with, a ruler can be
referred to with his title even after his death, e.g., ki-a-nag gù-dé-a ensi2
(TuT 128 ix 12). Secondly, Schileico’s text mentions two different ensi2.ks.
(If the first ensi2.k also were Enentarzi, his name would already have been
mentioned the first time.) The first ensi2.k, who remains anonymous, plays
the active role as the provider of the gifts, while the second, Enentarzi, only
has a passive role as the beneficiary. Finally, and most crucially, if the text
really were from Enentarzi’s first year, it would be absolutely unique in
mentioning a ki-a-nag already during someone’s lifetime. All things con-
sidered, the text almost certainly is from the first year of Lugalanda, Enen-
tarzi’s successor, to whose reign all attestations of the ki-a-nag of Enentarzi
are dated that can be dated with certainty.
296
To begin with, a ki-a-nag is an offering-place for all kinds
of foodstuffs: not only for liquid food such as beer, but also
for solid food such as meat, fruits, and flour. Moreover, a ki-
a-nag is a kind of cultic institution, as it can have its own
staff, among them priests, as RTC 401 i 14-ii 9 (Ibbi-Suen
2) shows:
(i) (14) 4 gudu4 en-en-e-ne 1 sila3-ta (15) 2+[x] sila3 gudu4 dgù-
dé-a (16) [x] sila3 ès-sá-ab-du (17) [x] sila3 dnanse-Ìé-gál
sukkal (18) [x] sila3 dsul-gi-Ìa-ma-ti zabar-dab5 (19) [x] sila3
nar dnanse (20) 1 sila3 nar en-na (ii) (1) 1 sila3 gala-maÌ (2)
[x] sila3 ugula kikken2 (3) [x] sila3 santana (4) 1⁄2 sila3 ì-du8 (5)
1
⁄2 sila3 lú gú-ne-sag-gá (6) 1⁄2 sila3 baÌar2 (7) 1⁄2 sila3 ga-íl
(8) 0.0.2 1⁄2 sila3
(9) giri3-sì-ga ki-a-nag en-en-e-ne-ka
“Four priests of the ancestral lords20) with one litre each;
2+ litres (for) the priest of the deified Gudea; x litres (for)
the essabdu-priest; x litres (for) Nanshe-hegal, the mes-
senger; x litres (for) Shulgi-hamati, the cupbearer; x litres
(for) the musician of the goddess Nanshe; one litre (for) the
musician of the high-priest; one litre (for) the chief lamen-
tation-priest; x litres (for) the overseer of the mill-workers;
x litres (for) the overseer of the orchards; half a litre (for)
the doorkeeper; half a litre for the man (in charge) of the
cupboard; half a litre (for) the potter; half a litre (for) the
milk carrier.
(In total:) 20 1⁄2 litres
Personnel of the ki-a-nag of the ancestral lords.”21)
Construction work can be done on a ki-a-nag, as M. Sigrist
MTBM 325 shows:
(1) 10 gú 40 ma-na esir2 a-ba-al si-ga (2) 19 gú 20 ma-na esir2
má-ta zi-la! (3) ki-maÌ ki-a-nag eres-digir-ra du8-a (rev.)
(4) giri3 iz-zi-gu10 dumu ur-ma-ni
(5) zi-ga (6) gá-nun-ta
(7) iti mu-su-du8! (8) mu damar-dsuen lugal
“640 pounds of… bitumen, 1180 pounds of bitumen scraped
from boats, which was used to plaster the grave and ki-a-nag
of the high-priestess.
Via Izzigu, son of Urmani.22)
Expended. From the storage room.
Month ix. Year Amar-Suena 1.”
Line 3 of this text again brings out the close association of
someone’s ki-a-nag with his or her grave (ki-maÌ). In the pre-
ceding section, we saw already that during Geme-Lama’s
funeral first a wailing ceremony took place in her domestic
quarters and then a second ceremony in the ki-a-nag before
the actual burial.
Thus, the ki-a-nag of an individual is a kind of building,
it has a cultic function, it is close to his grave, and it is
where he receives his funerary offerings. In other words, ki-
a-nag is the Sumerian word for “mortuary chapel”. Indeed,
it would seem that we know already some of such mortuary
20
) Following Deimel, Or. SP 2 (1920) p. 49, en-en-e-ne is usually trans-
lated as “ancestors” (“Ahnen”). As en outside the cult of the dead is only
used as a title of very high status, I prefer to translate en-en-e-ne as “ances-
tral lords” when it refers to deceased persons. In my view, “ancestors” does
not sufficiently bring out the status implied by the expression.
21
) The “ancestral lords” whose ki-a-nag is mentioned here may actu-
ally be the former high-priests (en) of the goddess Nanshe, because RTC
401 is a list of expenditures for the household of the high-priest of Nanshe
(é en dnanse). If so, en-en-e-ne should in this particular text perhaps be
translated as “high-priests” instead of “ancestral lords”.
22
) The first four lines of the text recur in BM 18352 rev. i 20-23 (par-
tially broken) (ASJ 9 [1987] p. 326 Text 1) among various expenditures for
the burial of Geme-Lama (see also section 2 above).
297 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXIV N° 3-4, mei-augustus 2007
chapels from the archaeological record. During his excava-
tions of Ur, Woolley discovered buildings which he inter-
preted as tombs combined with a mortuary chapel. They
consisted of underground tombs with buildings above them
with a cultic function.23) I propose to see in these super-
structures above the graves examples of what a ki-a-nag
could look like.
The mortuary chapel (ki-a-nag) at the grave is the focal
point for the cult of the dead. But it was not the only one.
Consider, for instance, MVN 22:81:
(1) 0.1.3 dugdid[a] 0.0.3 lugal (2) 0.0.2 5 sila3 kas 0.0.3 (3) [ki]-
a-nag sabra
(4) 5 sila3 kas 0.0.3 ki-a-nag dam-me (mistake for: eres!-
digir!)24)
(5) sà urubki
(6) 0.0.1 5 sila3 dugdida 0.0.2 (7) 0.1.2 kas 0.0.3 (rev.) (1) ki-
a-nag sabra
(2) 0.0.4 5 sila3 kas 0.0.3 (3) ki-a-nag dam-me (mistake for:
eres!-digir!)
(4) sà gír-suki
(…)
(7) zi-ga ki á-bí-lum-ta
(8) iti ezem ddumu-zi (9) mu bàd ma-da ba-dù
“90 litres of dida beer (with a ratio of) 30 litres25) (measured
with the) royal (measure), 25 litres of beer (with a ratio of) 30
litres: the mortuary chapel of the sabra.
5 litres of beer (with a ratio of) 30 litres: the mortuary chapel
of the high-priestess.
In Urub.
15 litres of dida beer (with a ratio of) 20 litres, 80 litres of beer
(with a ratio of) 30 litres: the mortuary chapel of the sabra.
45 litres of beer (with a ratio of) 30 litres: the mortuary chapel
of the high-priestess.
In Girsu.
… BM 23006 (97-5-12,42); 33x30x18 mm; lineated; not
Expended by Awilum.
Month VI. Year Shulgi 37.”
At first sight this text seems to suggest that the sabra and
the high-priestess had two mortuary chapels each: one in
Urub and one in Girsu. A closer look at the available evi-
dence leads to a different conclusion, though. Crucially, the
text is dated to month VI, the month in which the Dumuzi
festival takes place. And, thanks to an account covering a full
year, we know that only in that particular month funerary
offerings occur in both Urub and Girsu.
The account in question has been published in two parts:
the top half was published as MVN 13:380 in 1984, while
the bottom half came out in 2000 as AAICAB I/2 pl. 161
Ashm. 1974-580. Joined together the two halves make up an
almost complete eight-column text listing expenditures for
various cultic purposes during each of the twelve months of
23
) Leonard Woolley, The buildings of the Third Dynasty, Ur Excava-
tions, VI (London/Philadelphia: Trustees of the British Museum and of the
Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, 1974), pp. 1-35.
24
) MVN 22:81 has here and in rev. 3 dam-me, a reading confirmed
through collation by Mark Geller. However, dam-me is without doubt a
scribal mistake for eres-digir, as is clear from the parallels in the two
accounts of the brewer Awilum published in section 4 below.
25
) That is to say: thirty litres of barley are used up in producing twenty
litres of beer. The common ratios are: kas 0.0.4: 40 litres of barley needed
for 20 litres of beer; kas 0.0.3 (= kas sig5): 30 litres of barley needed for
20 litres of beer; kas 0.0.2 (= kas gen): 20 litres of barley needed for 20
litres of beer. The standard amount of twenty litres of beer which is implic-
itly present in these ratios may have its origin in the size of standard brew-
ing equipment. The ratios can be calculated from texts such as MVN 6:255,
MVN 12:305, and CT 3 pl. 48 BM 21340.
298
the year Shulgi 37. For all twelve months expenditures are
registered for the mortuary chapels of the sabra and the high-
priestess’ mother. Only month VI includes a passage with
expenses in two different locations. That section (Ashm.
1974-580 obv. iii) runs as follows:
(3') 0.0.5 dida 0.0.3 (4') 0.0.2 5 sila3 kas 0.0.3 (5') ki-a-nag
sabra
(6') 0.0.1 dida 0.0.3 (7') 0.0.1 kas 0.0.3 (8') ki-a-nag ama eres-
digir-ra
(9') sà urubki
(10') 0.0.2 kas 0.0.3 (11') k[i]-a-nag sabra
(12') 0.0.4 kas 0.0.3 (13') ki-a-nag am[a] eres-digir-ra
(14') sà gír-suki
(15') níg sì-ga u4 5-kam
“50 litres of dida beer (with a ratio of) 30 litres, 25 litres of
beer (with a ratio of) 30 litres: the mortuary chapel of the
sabra.
10 litres of dida beer (with a ratio of) 30 litres, 10 litres of beer
(with a ratio of) 30 litres: the mortuary chapel of the high-
priestess’ mother.
In Urub.
20 litres of beer (with a ratio of) 30 litres: the mortuary chapel
of the sabra.
40 litres of beer (with a ratio of) 30 litres: the mortuary chapel
of the high-priestess’ mother.
In Girsu.
These are funerary offerings of five days.”
As the more detailed discussion of the entire text and sim-
ilar ones in section 4 below will make clear, this passage lists
expenses for the Dumuzi festival. That is to say, only during
the Dumuzi festival funerary offerings occur at two locations.
Why is that? I think that the following unpublished text pro-
vides us with the answer:
sealed
(1) 1 más (2) 2 sila3 zíd-sig15 (3) 2 sila3 zíd-gu sig5
(4) ki-a-nag geme2-dlama3 eres-digir dba-ú
(rev.) (5) gisdúr-gar urubki-sè È.È-da-bi
(6) giri3 ur-dlama3 lú ki-a-nag
(7) zi-ga [iti] ezem ddumu-zi
(8) mu damar-dsuen lugal-e ur-bí-lumki mu-Ìulu
“One he-goat, two litres of crushings flour, two litres of
good… flour.
(For) the mortuary chapel of Geme-Lama, high-priestess of
Ba'u,
when the throne goes out to Urub.
Via Ur-Lama, the man (in charge) of the mortuary chapel.
Expended. Month VI. Year Amar-Suena 2.”
The crucial phrase is “when the throne goes out to Urub”.
It suggests the following explanation for the funerary offer-
ings in both Girsu and Urub: Geme-Lama, the high-priestess
of Ba'u has only one mortuary chapel, which is in Girsu. And
it is there where one part of the funerary offerings takes place.
But during the Dumuzi festival “the” throne (gisdúr-gar) is
brought to Urub and back, without doubt in a solemn pro-
cession. And it is that procession or its destination that serves
as a second location for funerary offerings, but only during
the Dumuzi festival.26) As a whole, with both locations taken
together, these offerings lasted five days (Ashm. 1974-580
obv. iii 15').
26
) Note also the use of thrones (gisgu-za) as a focal point for the royal
cult of the dead. See Sallaberger, Kultische Kalender, Teil I p. 147f. Unfor-
tunately our text does not specify whose throne (gisdúr-gar) is meant.
299 THE CALENDAR OF THE FUNERARY CULT IN ANCIENT LAGASH
4. THE CALENDAR OF THE FUNERARY CULT IN
LAGASH DURING THE UR III PERIOD
In section 2 we saw what the dead could receive before
and during their burial. To shed some light on what happened
afterwards, we take a look at two accounts of the brewer
Awilum, who, over a number of years, supplied the beer for
the food offerings to Geme-Ba'u, high-priestess of Ba'u and
predecessor of Geme-Lama.27) As these texts cover at least
one full year each, they show us exactly when food offerings
to the dead took place. The first account covers a consecu-
tive period of eighteen months:
BM 18292 (94-12-22,9); 105x46x26 mm; lineated; not
sealed28)
(13) su+nigin2 140.3.429) 5 sila3 gur lugal
(14) sag níg-ga-ra-kam (rev.) (15) sà-bi-ta
(16) 0.0.4 kas 0.0.3-ta sá-du11 eres-digir (17) 5 sila3 ki-a-nag
eres-digir-ra (18) 3 sila3 ki-a-nag sà-ba-<na>-sig
(19) sá-du11 u4 1-kam
(20) iti 1-sè (21) se-bi 7.1.0 gur sá-du11 i[ti] 1-kam
(22) iti 18-sè (23) se-bi 129.3.0 gur
(24) sá-du11 u4-da íl
“In total: 42225 litres (measured with the) royal gur.
These are the initial assets. Out of this:
Forty litres of beer with (a ratio of) 30 litres: provisions for
the high-priestess [i.e. Geme-Lama]. Five litres: the mortuary
chapel of the high-priestess [i.e. Geme-Ba'u].30) Three litres:
the mortuary chapel of Shabanasig.
These are the provisions of one day.
For one month: its barley 2160 litres: these are the provisions
of one month.
For eighteen months: its barley 38880 litres.
Provisions that are a daily burden.”
(25) 0.0.3 kas 0.0.3 níg sì-ga31) (26) iti ezem dli9-si4
(27) 0.2.4 níg sì-ga {kam}32) (28) iti ezem ddumu-zi
(29) 0.4.4 níg sì-ga a-rá 2-kam (30) iti ezem dba-ú
(31) se-bi 2.1.4 5 sila3 níg ezem ki-a-[nag]
(32) 0.1.2 dsul-gi ezem-ma tus-a (33) se-bi 0.2.033) (34) (erased
line)
“30 litres of beer (with a ratio of) 30 litres: funerary offer-
ings34) (during) the month Festival of Lisin (month III).
160 litres: funerary offerings (during) the month Festival of
Dumuzi (month VI).
280 litres: two times funerary offerings (during) the month
Festival of Ba'u (month VIII).
Its barley: 705 litres: things of the festivals, for the mortuary
chapel.
80 litres: the deified Shulgi ‘sitting’ during the festival.35) Its
barley: 120 litres.”
(35) su+nigin2 132.1.4 5 sila3 gur (36) zi-ga-àm
27
) The earliest attestation of Geme-Lama, high-priestess of Ba'u, is on
the seal of SNAT 2, dated to Shulgi 31, so that her predecessor Geme-Ba'u
must have died in that year at the latest.
28
) The first twelve lines contain the entries that add up to the total of
line 13, but they are too damaged for an informative transliteration.
29
) The scribe initially wrote 140.0.4 but then corrected the 0.0.4 by
overwriting it with 0.3.0 and adding 0.0.4 once again after it. As a result
the numbers as written are hard to decipher. Nevertheless, the current read-
ing is confirmed by a calculation based on the amounts of the lines 35 and
37.
30
) Cf. BM 20005 (the second account text, treated below) line 14.
31
) sì-ga is followed by an erased A.
32
) kam is preceded by an erased a-rá 1. The scribe failed to erase kam
too.
33
) The rest of this line was erased by the scribe.
34
) See Sallaberger, Der Kultische Kalender, Teil I p. 282 with n. 1315.
35
) This is an expenditure for the Shulgi Festival: Sallaberger, Der kul-
tische Kalender, Teil I p. 288.
300
(37) lá-NI 8.2.0 se gur
(38) níg-kas7 ak á-bí-lum lú-bappir2 (left edge:)
(i) (1) iti ezem dsul-gi (2) mu an-sa-anki ba-Ìulu-/a-ta
(ii) (1) iti se-íl-la (2) mu ús-sa an-sa-anki ba-Ìulu-a-sè
(iii) (1) iti 18-kam
“In total: 39705 litres. This was expended.
Shortage: 2520 litres of barley.
Settled account of Awilum, the brewer, (over the period) from
month VII year Shulgi 34 to month XII year Shulgi 35.
This is of eighteen months.
Thus, during this period of eighteen months, the high-
priestess’ mortuary chapel was the destination of a daily sup-
ply of food offerings (the lines 17-24) as well as of extra sup-
plies in the months during which the Lisin, Dumuzi, and Ba'u
festivals were celebrated (the lines 25-31).
The second account covers a one-year period and is even
more informative. It was already used by Sallaberger36) on
the basis of a preliminary transliteration by Marcel Sigrist,
who with his usual kindness permitted me to use his mater-
ial and agreed to my publishing the text here:37)
BM 20005 (95-10-17,45); 108x50x29 mm; lineated; not
sealed38)
(9) su+nigin2 150.2.1 5 sila3 se gur
(10) sag níg-ga-ra-kam (11) sà-bi-ta
(12) 0.0.4 kas 0.0.3 lugal (13) sá-du11 eres-digir-ra (14) 5 sila3
kas 0.0.3 ki-a-nag geme2-dba-ú (15) 4 sila3 ki-a-nag sà-ba-na-
sig
(16) sá-du11 u4 1-kam
(17) iti 1-sè se-bi 7.1.4 5 sila3 gur (18) iti 1-kam39)
(19) sá-du11 u4-da íl
“In total: 45135 litres of barley.
These are the initial assets. Out of this:
Forty litres of beer with (a ratio of) 30 litres (measured with
the) royal (measure): provisions for the high-priestess [i.e.
Geme-Lama]. Five litres with (a ratio of) 30 litres: the mortu-
ary chapel of Geme-Ba'u. Four litres: the mortuary chapel of
Shabanasig.
These are the provisions of one day.
For one month: its barley 2205 litres: this is of one month.
Provisions that are a daily burden.”
(20) 0.0.1 kas 0.0.3 níg diri ki-a-nag (rev.) (21) u4-sakar u4 15
(22) iti 1-kam iti 13-sè
(23) 0.0.3 kas 0.0.3 ki-a-nag geme2-dba-ú (24) (erased line)40)
(25) níg sì-ga ezem dli9-si4
(26) 0.2.4 kas 0.0.3 ki-a-nag geme2-dba-ú (27) (erased line)
(28) níg sì-ga ezem ddumu-zi
(29) 0.2.2 kas 0.0.3 ki-a-nag geme2-dba-ú
(30) níg sì-ga ezem dba-ú41)
(31) se-bi 2.1.3 gur
(32) níg ezem-ma ù u4-sakar ki-a-nag
(33) 0.0.4 kas 0.0.3 dsul-gi ezem-ma tus-a (34) se-bi 0.1.0
36
) Sallaberger, Der kultische Kalender, Teil I p. 282.
37
) Since I completed my own transliteration and collation of the text,
it has been independently published by D’Agostino and Pomponio as
Nisaba 7 no. 13. As it happens, there are a few discrepancies between their
and my readings (in my lines 18, 26, 29, 35, 37, 39, and 44 (disregarding
proposed restorations where the text is damaged)). As I am unable to
recollate the tablet before submitting this article, I give my transliteration
unchanged, as it was before their publication.
38
) The first eight lines contain the entries that add up to the total of line
9, but they are too damaged for an informative transliteration.
39
) This line is written over an erased line which, judging from the
remaining traces, may have read: iti 1-kam iti 13-sè. If so, at first the scribe
inadvertently skipped the entries of the lines 19-21.
40
) At the end of this erased line, traces remain of: -[n]a-s[i]g.
41
) At the end of this line, traces remain of two erased signs. The last
seems to be: [si]g.
301 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXIV N° 3-4, mei-augustus 2007
(35) 5.1.2 5 sila3 kas 0.0.3 (36) se-bi 7.4.3 7 1⁄2 sila3 gur
(37) zi-ga níg diri digir-e-ne (38) (blank line)
“Ten litres of beer (with a ratio of) 30 litres: something extra
for the mortuary chapel: New Moon and Full Moon.
This is of one month. For thirteen months.
30 litres of beer (with a ratio of) 30 litres: the mortuary chapel
of Geme-Ba'u.
Funerary offerings of the festival of Lisin.
160 litres of beer (with a ratio of) 30 litres: the mortuary
chapel of Geme-Ba'u. Funerary offerings of the festival of
Dumuzi.
140 litres of beer (with a ratio of) 30 litres: the mortuary
chapel of Geme-Ba'u.
Funerary offerings of the festival of Ba'u.
Its barley: 690 litres.
Things for the festivals and the New Moon for the mortuary
chapel.
40 litres of beer (with a ratio of) 30 litres: the deified Shulgi
‘sitting’ during the festival. Its barley: 60 litres.
1585 litres of beer (with a ratio of) 30 litres. Its barley: 2377
1
⁄2 litres.
Expenditures and extras for the gods.”
(39) su+nigin2 105.4.5 2 1⁄2 [sila3 gu]r lugal (40) zi-ga-[àm]
(41) lá-NI 44.2.2 2 [1⁄2 sila3 se gur]
(42) níg-kas7 ak á-[bí-lum lú-bappir2]
(43) iti gana2-mas iti se-[íl-la-sè] (lower edge:) (44) m[u]
(traces) […]42)
(left edge:) (45) iti-bi 13-àm (46) iti diri 1-àm sà-ba ì-gál
“In total: 31792 1⁄2 litres (measured with) the royal gur. This
was expended.
Shortage: 13342 1⁄2 litres of barley.
Settled account of Awilum, the brewer. Month I to month XII,
year Shulgi 36 (?).
Its (number of) months is thirteen. There is one intercalary
month among them.”
Again, during the entire period of thirteen months, there is
a daily supply of food offerings to Geme-Ba'u’s mortuary
chapel (the lines 14-19). But the present account records addi-
tional food offerings during two moon festivals: New Moon
and Full Moon (the lines 20-22). As MVN 17:105 (treated
in section 3 above) proves, the two moon festivals use up the
same amount of food each: hence half the recorded amount,
five litres, per moon festival. Together with the daily supply
of five litres, this makes a double portion of ten litres during
each of the two moon festivals.43)
Awilum’s second account also proves that the extra food
offerings of the first account during the months III, VI, and
VIII were actually used up during the Lisin, Dumuzi, and
Ba'u festivals celebrated in those months (the lines 23-30).
The results obtained from Awilum’s two accounts are con-
firmed and completed by a third account: MVN
13:380+AAICAB I/2 pl. 161 Ashm. 1974-580. This account
for the year Shulgi 35 lists for each of the twelve months the
extra (i.e. non-daily) beer expenses for which the barley was
provided through Lu-Urub (MVN 13:380 viii):
(72) s[u+nigin2+nigi]n2 se-bi 30.1.2 4 sila3 gur
(blank line)
(73) [z]i-ga kas diri
42
) This line is largely broken away and for the rest badly worn. The
traces look like [d]SE[S].K[I] to me, that is to say, the beginning of the year-
name Shulgi 36, a year which indeed has an intercalary month (cf. ASJ 14
[1992] p. 242 text 91 [BM 20004]). Nevertheless, my reading of the year-
name remains uncertain.
43
) This may be a systematic pattern, as it also attested elsewhere:
Johannes Boese, Walther Sallaberger, ‘Apil-kin von Mari und die Könige
der III. Dynastie von Ur’, AoF 23 (1996) pp. 24-39 (p. 30).
302
(74) [g]iri3 lú-urubki
(75) [it]i gana2-mas (76) [iti] se-íl-la-sè (77) [mu] ús-sa an-sa-
[anki] ba-Ì[ulu]
“Grand-total: its barley 9084 litres.
Expended for extra beer.
Via Lu-Urub.
Month I to month XII. Year Shulgi 35.
All twelve monthly sections of this account list expenses
for mortuary chapels. The section for month III, for instance,
runs as follows (col. i = AAICAB, col. ii = MVN):
(col. i 9') 0.0.2 kas 0.0.3 (10') k[i]-a-nag sabra
(11') 0.0.1 kas 0.0.3 (12') [ki]-a-nag ama eres-digir-ra
(13') níg sì-ga u4 1-kam (col. ii)
(12) 0.0.1 kas 0.0.2 (13) ki-a-nag sabra
(14) 0.0.1 kas 0.0.2 (15) ki-a-nag ama eres-digir-ra
(blank line)
(16) iti ezem dli9-si4
“20 litres of beer (with a ratio of) 30 litres: the mortuary
chapel of the sabra.
10 litres of beer (with a ratio of) 30 litres: the mortuary chapel
of the high-priestess’ mother.
These are funerary offerings of one day.
10 litres of beer (with a ratio of) 20 litres: the mortuary chapel
of the sabra.
10 litres of beer (with a ratio of) 20 litres: the mortuary chapel
of the high-priestess’ mother.
Month III.
The second part (col. ii 12-15) is found in each of the
twelve monthly sections. It obviously lists the expenses for
the two moon festivals.44) Since the supplies for the moon
festivals are absent from Awilum’s account for the year
Shulgi 35 (BM 18292), some other brewer must have been
responsible for them.
The first part (col. i 9'-13') runs parallel to BM 18292 25-
26 and BM 20005 23-25. It lists the expenses for the Lisin
festival, which is shown to include only a single day with
funerary offerings (col. i 9'-13'). Such expenses, called níg
sì-ga, are only found in the sections for the months III, VI,
and VIII. They are clearly destined for the three yearly fes-
tivals of Lisin, Dumuzi, and Ba'u.
Thus, the section for month VI contains a similar subsec-
tion with expenses for the Dumuzi festival, which included five
days with funerary offerings, in two different locations (Urub
and Girsu). See section 3 above for text and discussion.
Expenses for the Ba'u festival are listed in the section for
month VIII (AAICAB col. v):
(9) 0.1.4 kas [0.0.3] (10) ki-a-nag sab[ra]
(11) 0.0.5 kas [0.0.3] (12) ki-a-nag [ama eres-digir-ra]
(13) níg sì-ga [u4 x-kam]
“100 litres of beer (with a ratio of) 30 litres: the mortuary
chapel of the sabra.
50 litres of beer (with a ratio of) 30 litres: the mortuary chapel
of the high-priestess’ mother.
These are funerary offerings of… days.”
Unfortunately the number of days with funerary offerings
is broken away. The relative amounts of beer in the Ur III
accounts suggest a number of four or five days (assuming, of
course, that the amounts are more or less proportional, which
is not at all certain.) As we shall see in section 5.2. below,
the Ba'u festival included at least three days of funerary
offerings in the Pre-Sargonic period (RTC 46).
44
) Compare also BM 20005 20-21, treated in cols. 300 f. above.
303 THE CALENDAR OF THE FUNERARY CULT IN ANCIENT LAGASH
Thus, on the basis of the three accounts discussed, we arrive
at the following cultic calendar for Ur III Lagash: the dead
receive daily food offerings, with extra offerings during cer-
tain festivals: the monthly New Moon and Full Moon festi-
vals, as well as the yearly festivals of Lisin, Dumuzi, and Ba'u.
5. THE CALENDAR OF THE FUNERARY CULT IN
PRE-SARGONIC LAGASH
5.1. Daily food offerings
During the Pre-Sargonic period, the Lagash cultic calen-
dar for food offerings to the dead was similar but certainly
not identical to the Ur III calendar. Similar are, for instance,
the daily food offerings, which are widely attested in the ear-
lier period too. There are about a dozen lists of regular
monthly grain expenses, the so-called gar-lists,45) which
include food expenditures for a mortuary chapel, e.g.:
Nik 1:62 ii 5 — iii 3; month XII; year Lugalanda 1:
(ii) (5) 2.2.0 zíz kás (6) 2.2.0 zíz ninda (7) zíz-bala-bi 0.3.2
(8) 1.1.0 se bappir3 kás sig15 (iii) (1) se-bala-bi 0.1.4
(2) 1.1.0 se munu4
(3) sá-du11 ki-a-nag-kam
“360 litres of emmer wheat for beer, 360 litres of emmer
wheat for bread: its emmer wheat for the conversion (is) 120
litres.
180 litres of barley for ‘beer bread’ for good beer: its conver-
sion barley (is) 60 litres.46)
180 litres of barley for malt.
These are the regular provisions for the mortuary chapel.”
The sá-du11 “regular provisions” are, as usually, “daily
provisions”. The amounts recorded in these texts always
make up the total expenses for a full month. They also are
always multiples of thirty, the number of days per month with
which these texts consistently calculate.
5.2. Food offerings during yearly festivals
As for the Ur III yearly festivals of Lisin, Dumuzi, and
Ba'u as occasions for extra funerary offerings, the earlier
period shows only a partial similarity. It is certain that the
festival of Lisin was then celebrated too, because certain
months were named after it: month VIII of the year Lugal-
anda 5 (iti ezem dli9-si4-na-ka “in the month of the Lisin fes-
tival”, RTC 53 vii 2), month VII of the first year of Irika-
gina as ensi2.k (DP 228 xvi 8), and month VIII of Irikagina
4 (STH 1:34 xii 9). But we have no documentary evidence
whatsoever on what happened during the festival itself. Either
the queen’s estate did not bear any of the expenses for it, or
that part of her administration has not come down to us.
There may very well have been funerary offerings during
Lisin’s festival, but we have as yet no way of knowing that
for certain.
There was no Dumuzi festival in Pre-Sargonic Lagash.
Instead, two other festivals were celebrated in two different
locations: the festival of Lugal-Urub (ezem dlugal-urubki) in
Urub (cf. DP 212 i 5-ii 4; RTC 59 ii 5-iii 6) and the festival
45
) A. Deimel, ‘Getreidelieferungs(gar)-Listen aus der Zeit Urukaginas
und seiner beiden Vorgänger’, Or. SP 32 (1928) pp. 1-83.
46
) That is to say: 180+60=240 litres of barley produce 180 litres of
‘beer bread’.
304
of Lugal-Iribar (ezem dlugal-iri-bar) in the town of Lagash
(cf. DP 42 vii 2-7). In the year Lugalanda 6, the tenth month
was named after the latter festival (RTC 54 xiv 8). For the
first we have no direct evidence, but it was celebrated at
roughly the same time, as the expenditures for both festivals
could be recorded in a single document: VS 27:85 records
two days of funerary offerings during the festival of Lugal-
Urub (the lines i 1-iv 6) and four days of such offerings dur-
ing the festival of Lugal-Iribar (the lines iv 7-ix 11).
There is a further festival that may be related to the later
Dumuzi festival: the Ab'e festival (ezem ab-è). A festival
with this name is known from later Nippur and was there
associated with funerary offerings.47) We lack direct evidence
for such offerings during the Ab'e festival in early Lagash,
but perhaps only seemingly so, for there are good reasons to
think that the Ab'e festival is a different name for the festi-
val of Lugal-Iribar discussed above. The Ab'e festival was
also celebrated in month X (Lugalanda 6: VS 25:11; VS
25:23; VS 25:37; Irikagina 3: STH 1:17) and in the town
of Lagash (DP 164 ii 6-8; STH 1:17 xvii 10). Moreover,
either festival occurs paired with the festival of Lugal-Urub.
Thus, VS 27:85 col. x reads: (3) udu gu7-a (4) ezem dlugal-
urubki-ka (5) ezem dlugal-iri-bar-ka “consumed rams of the
Lugal-Urub festival and of the Lugal-Iribar festival”, while
DP 25 col. i has: (2) nig gis tag-ga (3) mas da ri-a (4) ezem!
d
lugal-urubki-ka (5) ezem ab-è-ka “offerings and ceremonial
gifts of the Lugal-Urub festival and of the Ab'e festival”. But
why different names for a single festival? Perhaps, the festi-
val of Lugaliribar was a part of the Ab'e festival in the same
way as the Courtyard festival (ezem kisal) was a part of the
Ba'u festival (see below). But this, of course, is little more
than a guess.
The Ba'u festival was also in Pre-Sargonic Lagash an
occasion for funerary offerings. It was celebrated late in the
year: in the year Lugalanda 6, month XII was named after it
(TSA 10 xvi 8), in Irikagina lugal 1 month XI (VS 25:73 v
5), in Irikagina 2 also month XI (Nik 1:64 xii 1; DP 112 xx
9; TSA 20 xii 8), and in Irikagina 3 again month XII (STH
1:10 xv 9; STH 1:27 xiii 8). Since almost all the Pre-Sar-
gonic texts come from the administration of the Ba'u temple,
it comes as no surprise that the festival of Ba'u is better doc-
umented than most.48) This festival lasted at least four days.
The first days, before the Courtyard festival, included funer-
ary offerings on various locations. E.g.:
RTC 46 (Lugalanda 2)
(i) (1) 1 udu (2) en-èn-tar-zi (3) ki gú-ka ba-sa6
(4) u4 1-kam
(5) 1 sila4 (6) en-èn-tar-zi (ii) (1) ki-a-nag ba-sa6
(2) 1 udu du-du (3) sagga (4) é ki-sal4-la-ka (5) ba-sa6
(6) u4 2-kam
(7) 1 udu en-èn-tar-zi (iii) (1) gú su nigin2-na ba-sa6
(2) u4 3-kam
(3) 1 sila4 dba-ú
(4) níg gi6-kam
(5) 1 udu dnin-gír-su (6) 1 udu dba-ú (iv) (1) 1 mas eb íd eden-
na (2) 1 mas eb bàd-dab5-ra
(3) mun-du-kam
47
) Sallaberger, Der kultische Kalender, Teil I pp. 146-148.
48
) See for detailed discussions: Benno Landsberger, Der kultische
Kalender der Babylonier und Assyrer, Leipziger Semitistische Studien, Bd.
VI Heft 1-2 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1915) pp. 52-55; Gebhard Selz, Unter-
suchungen zur Götterwelt des altsumerischen Stadtstaates von Lagas
(Philadelphia: The Samuel Noah Kramer Fund, 1995) pp. 32-35.
305 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXIV N° 3-4, mei-augustus 2007
(4) u4 ezem kisal-la-ka (5) gis e-tag
(…)
(vii) (2) barag-nam-tar-ra (3) dam lugal-an-da (4) ensi2 (5)
lagaski-ka-ke4 (vi) (1) ezem dba-ú-ka (2) gis bé-tag
“One ram (to) Enentarzi;49) it was slaughtered on the place of
the riverbank (?).
This is of the first day.
One lamb (to) Enentarzi; it was slaughtered at the mortuary
chapel.
One ram (to) Dudu, the administrator;50) it was slaughtered at
the ‘House of Kisal’.
This is of the second day.
One ram (to) Enentarzi; it was slaughtered on the riverbank …
(?).
This is of the third day.
One lamb (to) the goddess Ba'u.
This is something of the night.
One ram (to) Ningirsu, one ram (to) Ba'u, one he-goat (for)
the shrine of the Steppe Canal, one he-goat (for) the shrine of
Badtibira.
These are morning offerings.
This was sacrificed on the day of the Courtyard festival.
(…)
Baragnamtarra, the wife of Lugalanda, the ruler of Lagash, sac-
rificed this during the festival of Ba'u.”
The first day of the funerary offerings as well as of the fes-
tival as a whole seems to have been a specific day, designated
once as dutu u4 nú-a-ka (DP 218 iii 1) but broken elsewhere:
[dutu u4] nú-a-ka (RTC 58 i 7) and its parallel [dutu u4 nú-a-
ka] (DP 222 i 10). This phrase is commonly associated with
the later term for the last day of the lunar month, when the
moon remains invisible, called in Sumerian u4 nú-a “the day
when it (the moon) lies down”. However attractive this iden-
tification may be, as yet nobody has come up with a convinc-
ing explanation for the first part of the phrase: dutu “the sun-
god Utu”. One could perhaps think of translating the complete
phrase as “during daylight (Utu) of the day of the moon’s dis-
appearance”, but while Akkadian samsu “sun” may be used
in that sense, it is without parallel for Sumerian dutu.
5.3. Food offerings on other occasions
For the Ur III period, there is ample evidence for funerary
offerings during the New Moon and Full Moon festivals. For
the earlier period, the picture is less clear. As we saw in sec-
tion 5.1. above, the lists of regular monthly grain expenses
include expenditures for daily funerary offerings. Yet, at the
same time, they consistently lack expenditures for funerary
offerings during moon festivals, although such offerings, too,
could be seen as fully predictable monthly expenses. There
are two possible explanations for this lack of positive evi-
dence: either no additional funerary offerings took place dur-
ing moon festivals or the expenses for them were covered by
a different estate than the one whose records we have.
Several texts list offerings made during a visit of the queen
to a so-called Crescent House (é u4-sakar). As we can infer
from the name of this structure, the purpose of such a visit
must have been to celebrate a moon festival, more specifically,
the moon festival that signals the beginning of a new month,
as DP 200 explicitly states: (col. i) (4) barag-nam-tar-ra (ii)
49
) Enentarzi is Lugalanda’s predecessor as ruler of Lagash.
50
) Dudu is a former administrator of Ningirsu (cf., e.g., Ent. 16). He
was succeeded by Enentarzi at the end of Enmetena’s reign (cf., e.g., RTC
16).
306
(1) iti ezem dlugal-urubki-ka til-la-ba (2) é u4-sakar iri kù-ga-
sè (iii) (1) e-gen-na-a (2) gis bé-tag “when Baragnamtarra
went to the Crescent House in the Holy City when the month
of the festival of Lugal-Urub had ended, she sacrificed it”.
Only one of these texts provides evidence for additional
funerary offerings during a moon festival. It is a list of offer-
ings made by the queen “when she went to the Crescent
House in Nigin” (DP 47 xiii 7-9). During the first day of the
queen’s three-day visit to this southern town, she brings offer-
ings to a variety of deities as well as to the mortuary chapel
of Nigin (ki-a-nag nigin6ki-na, DP 47 ix 10-x 1). But is this
really comparable to the regular bimonthly offerings of the
Ur III period? I do not think so, because the other texts of
this type consistently lack such offerings. Thus, the two lists
DP 44 and Nik 1:29 are very similar in purpose and size to
DP 47, but they do not contain an entry for a mortuary
chapel. Indeed, the only visit that involves funerary offerings
is the one to the Crescent House of the southern town of
Nigin (DP 47), while the two visits without such offerings
(DP 44 and Nik 1:29) are to the Crescent House of the Holy
City, which is located in Girsu, the ruler’s residence. The
actual occasion for the funerary offerings in Nigin may, there-
fore, have been the very fact of the visit itself and not so
much the moon festival.
That explanation applies to more festivals that are other-
wise not associated with funerary offerings. When the queen
leaves her residence Girsu to perform religious duties in the
towns of Lagash and Nigin, she presents offerings to a large
variety of local gods, shrines, and statues, as well as to the
mortuary chapels of Lagash and Nigin. Thus, the offering
lists for the Malt Eating festival of Nanshe, which is cele-
brated in Nigin, include offerings to the local mortuary
chapel. But, during the Malt Eating festival of Ningirsu, cel-
ebrated in the Holy City of Girsu, no such offerings take
place. In other words, during her religiously motivated visits
to Lagash and Nigin, the queen presents offerings to all kinds
of local religious establishments, including mortuary chapels,
regardless of which festival she is celebrating.
The funerary cult of certain individuals could also receive
extra attention during the burial ceremonies for some other
person. The text Nik 1:153 registers goats and sheep sacri-
ficed by Baragnamtarra during one particular month. The first
section reads:
(col. i) (1) 1 mas lugud2-da (2) en-èn-tar-zi
(3) 1 mas lugud2-da (4) du-du (5) sagga
(6) 1 mas lugud2-da (7) munus-sa6-ga
(col. ii) (1) ad-da-su-sikil (2) sukkal (3) ba-nú-a
(4) e-ne-DU
“One short he-goat (to) Enentarzi.
One short he-goat (to) Dudu, the administrator.
One short he-goat (to) Munussaga.
They were brought to them when Addashusikil was laid
down.”51)
Unfortunately, the exact (family) relationships between the
five individuals involved are unknown. The deeper reason for
these funerary offerings remains therefore obscure.
51
) That is, when he was buried. The form ba-nú-a is used with the same
meaning in UET 3:335 rev. 1'. See Walther Sallaberger, ‘Eine reiche
Bestattung im neusumerischen Ur’, JCS 47 (1995), pp. 15-21. For proso-
pographical evidence for Addashusikil’s death in the year Lugalanda 5,
when Nik 1:153 was written, see Gebhard J. Selz, Die altsumerischen
Wirtschaftsurkunden der Eremitage zu Leningrad (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner
Verlag, 1989), p. 375.
307 THE EGIBIS IN ENGLISH 308

6. CONCLUSION

Clearly, in Pre-Sargonic Lagash the cult of the dead was

in many respects quite similar to that during the Ur III period.
In both periods the dead were provided with daily meals. The
mortuary chapel (ki-a-nag) was an important focal point for
the cult of the dead during either period. Finally, the two peri-
ods have some festivals in common during which the dead
received extra attention: certainly the festival of Ba'u and
possibly the festival of Lisin.
But there are differences too. During the Ur III period, the
festival of Dumuzi is the third festival associated with the
cult of the dead. The ceremonies for it were divided over two
different towns, Urub and Girsu, and included in total five
days with funerary offerings. It has two Pre-Sargonic coun-
terparts: the festival of Lugal-Urub was celebrated in Urub
and included two days with funerary offerings, while the fes-
tival of Lugal-Iribar took place in the town of Lagash with
four days of offerings. It seems likely that the earlier festival
of Lugal-Urub survived in some way as that part of the later
Dumuzi festival that took place in Urub. In principle, the fes-
tival of Lugal-Iribar could in the same way be the predeces-
sor of the second part of the Dumuzi festival, which was cel-
ebrated in Girsu, but only if we assume a shift in the location
of the festival from Lagash to Girsu.
A second difference between the earlier and later periods
lies in the timing of the festivals, at least if we compare the
cultic with the agricultural calendar. In Pre-Sargonic Lagash,
the Lisin festival (month VII or VIII) takes place five or six
months before the harvest (month I), the festival of Lugal-Iribar
(month X) three months, and the Ba'u festival (month XI or
XII) one or two months before. In Ur III Lagash, the Lisin fes-
tival (month III) is celebrated eight months before the harvest
(month XI), the Dumuzi festival (month VI) five months, and
the Ba'u festival (month VIII) three months before. While the
relative distance between the festivals seems to have remained
more or less constant, all three of them seem to have shifted
about two months with respect to the time of the harvest.
A third difference may be the role of the moon festivals.
During the Ur III period, the festivals of the New Moon and
of the Full Moon are days when the dead receive additional
food offerings. There is no clear evidence that these festivals
played such a role already in Pre-Sargonic Lagash. But new
texts can easily change the picture.

Leiden, December 2006