შუამდინარული რიტუალის ხორბლის უხვი მოსავლის მიღების ინტერპრეტაციისთვის
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Date
2021
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უნივერსიტეტის გამომცემლობა
Abstract
In the article, before discussing the irrigation ritual performed
by Enmerkar, the king of the first dynasty of Uruk (from the Sumerian
epic “Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta), we address the knowledge
and tradition of water management in Mesopotamia. The laying of
the canal, the completion and management of the irrigation system
was traditionally in the hands of the supreme ruler, the king.
We consider the inscription of King Larsa, Rim-sin I (1758-1699
BC) on how he dug a royal canal. We read in Rim-sin’s text that he,
like Enmerkar, performs an irrigation ritual, although the text tells us
nothing about the description of the ritual. In the Enmerkar text, the
irrigation ritual is presented in detail, although it remains obscure
due to the metaphorical language of the text.
The texts discussed in the article are from the later period of
Enmerkar - Lagash, Ur III dynasty and the kings of Larsa City are centuries
away from the reign of Enmerkar, while city-state Uruk and the kings of its first dynasty must have possessed the secret of laying
and managing the canal, as evidenced by the abundance of wheat
of Uruk, which was handed down to posterity, by putting it on the
board.
We will discuss verses 308-329 of the text of the Sumerian epic,
Enmerkar and Lord of Aratta on an unknown irrigation ritual, where
the king performs the most difficult task. Enmerkar should demonstrate
the immense potential of Uruk for growing wheat, which is
related to the perfect management of the irrigation system. The ritual
performed by Enmerkar, like that Rin-sin I of Larsa, must be associated
with the brilliant management of the irrigation system. The
king manages to water (moisten) a fairly large amount of wheat. At
the beginning of the ritual, the king interconnected the Tigris to the
Euphrates, to indicate the possibility of managing a large amount of
water. The king appears as the supreme ruler of the canal, thus fulfilling
the function of a priest. However, due to the metaphorical language
of this ritual, it remains unclear how Enmerkar achieves the
goal. If we follow the mythological aspect of the text, we will see the
knowledge that the deity Nisaba shared only with his chosen ones.
Based on the texts discussed, it can be assumed that Enmerkar
used the water of the “reservoir” of canals - ikum, the Sumerian
equivalent of which is recorded in the epics of the kings of Uruk. Akkadian
ikum corresponds to Sumerian eg, which means a dam, and
as mentioned above, many scholars translate it as a channel. This
word is first recorded in the epic of Enmerkar, the heir to Lugalbanda,
with the same meaning. That is, Enmerkar opened the water from the
canal ikum, which, as we have seen above, was a 60/60 length-width
construction of the same Sumerian texts - eg, he was able to water
the harvest for the whole year, then the text tells us that the wheat
sprouts grew, he filled the nets with wheat and sent to the Lord of
Aratta. In this way he was able to complete the most difficult task.
Enmerkar made the Lord of Aratta see the wealth and superiority of
Uruk.
The term encountered in the texts - nag-ku (d) is of interest. It
is considered to be the construction of an elongated basin. The first
syllable of the word is nag — Sumerian verb, which means “to drink”, is associated with drinking water and quenching thirst. Is it possible
that the semantics of the word may allow us to assume that the
words of verse 310 of the Enmerkar ritual, “The king interconnected
Euphrates and Tigris” means the launching of this reservoir, the
management of which Enmerkar must have been well versed in.
Relying upon the texts discussed in the article, let us summarize
the irrigation terms recorded in cuneiform texts of III-II millennium
BC:
1. ikum (Akk.) (Sum. Eg) = 60/60 meter construction between
dams and canals;
2. nag-ku (d) (Akk.) - construction of an elongated basin near the
canals (90 meters long and 2 metres deep), reservoir;
3. gugallum - canal Supervisor.
Two unfamiliar terms remain in the Enmerkar ritual text: eš- da
— sacred bowl, a vessel meaning of which is unknown, and lidga —
measurement, presumably of land. One thing is clear - both words
are related to irrigation activities, and maybe to the drainage system
as well, which existed in the Mesopotamian city-states, however, the
cuneiform texts keep silence regarding the description of the drainage
system and, consequently, the method of its usage. Presumably
eš- da and lidga were the sacral tools of the king. According to the
text, the king himself placed golden eš-da between the vessels and
attached lidga to the land, the use of which probably remained a
secret with the king.
Description
Keywords
შუმერული, ირიგაცია, სარწყავი არხი, ენმერქარი, შუამდინარეთი, წყალდიდობა, მიწათმოქმედება, Sumerian, Irrigation, Canal, Enmerkar, Mesopotamia, Flood, Agriculture
Citation
აკადემიკოს კონსტანტინე წერეთლის დაბადებიდან მე-100 წლისთავისადმი მიძღვნილი საერთაშორისო კონფერენცია, თეზისები, 2021, გვ.: 219-224/ INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE DEDICATED TO THE CENTENARY OF THE BIRTH OF ACADEMICIAN KONSTANTINE TSERETELI, ABSTRACTS, p.: 219-224