Maništūšu Obelisk

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Kudurru of the Maništūšu of Akkad
Dimensions H: 1.40 m; B: 0.6 m; T: 0.6 m
material Diorite
origin Susa , today's Iran
time approx. 2270 BC Chr.
place Louvre Paris inventory number Sb20

In the 23rd century BC The Maništūšu Obelisk from BC is an Akkadian legal document. It reproduces in cuneiform a contract of King Maništūšu for a large land purchase in Babylonia . The monument is now on display in the Mesopotamia department of the Musée du Louvre and bears inventory number Sb20.

Discovery and History

The obelisk was found on April 1, 1898 during excavations in what is today Shush ( Iran ). The head of the excavation at the time was Jacques de Morgan , who published his find for the first time in the 1900 magazine "Délégation en Perse, Mémoires". As part of his excavations, other important finds were made, such as the Narām-Sîn stele or fragments of several steles from the Codex Hammurapi .

The Maništūšu Obelisk was built around 2270 BC. It was commissioned by King Maništūšu of Akkade , a son of Sargon of Akkad . It reached Susa , along with other monuments, probably in the 12th century BC. As booty of the king of Elam , Šutruk-Naḫḫunte I. The original place of installation is unknown. Kathryn Slanski argues for a display in a temple.

description

The obelisk has the shape of a narrow four-sided pyramid and a height of 1.40 m on a square base with a side length of 60 cm. The top of the obelisk has broken off. In addition, some parts of the base are missing. The inscription on the rest of the monument is well preserved. The name obelisk comes from its typical shape. Incidentally, stones with royal land donation deeds are referred to as kudurru in the specialist literature . The material and the content of the text are typical of the 3rd millennium BC in Mesopotamia . The public announcement of the documented acquisition is presumed to be the reason for the erection of the obelisk.

material

The monument was made of the hard rock diorite . This material was used for many works of art of the time. The stone probably comes from the " Land Magan " (today Oman ). This is indicated by an inscription on a statue of Maništūšu made from the same stone:

“[...] He pecked away (from) the mountains beyond the 'Lower Sea' - he broke (their) black stones and loaded (them) onto ships and let (them) anchor on the quay of Agade. He made his statue and dedicated (it) to Enlil. [...] "

- Hans Hirsch: The inscriptions of the kings of Agade . In: Ernst Weidner (Ed.): Archive for Orient Research . tape 20 . Ernst Weidner Verlag, Graz 1963, p. 70 .
The cuneiform inscription

inscription

The inscription is in cuneiform, which covers all four sides of the obelisk. Although the script uses the forms used by the Sumerians , it reproduces the text in Akkadian . The text is divided into a total of 1519 boxes and contains 7600 characters. Side A is divided into 16 columns with 337 boxes, side B in 14 columns with 250 boxes, side C in 24 columns with 601 boxes and side D in 22 columns with 331 boxes. The contents of the inscription say that King Maništušu made large purchases of land in the area of Kiš , where his dynasty originated. It is reported that eight parcels of land totaling 3430 hectares were purchased for 7.5 talents of silver in northern Babylonia . These were combined into four large estates and then divided among four of his officers to ensure their loyalty. Each side of the obelisk gives a summary of the purchases made for one of the four goods.

literature

  • Ignace J. Gelb , Piotr Steinkeller , Robert M. Whiting Jr .: Earliest land tenure systems in the near east: ancient Kudurrus. Text. In: The University of Chicago Oriental Institut Publications, Volume 104. The Oriental Institut of the University of Chicago, Chicago / Illinois 1991, ISBN 0-918986-56-7 , ( PDF, 28 KB ).
  • Hans Hirsch: The inscriptions of the kings of Agade . In: Ernst Weidner (Ed.): Archive for Orient Research, Volume 20. Ernst Weidner Verlag, Graz 1963, ISSN  0066-6440 , pp. 1-83.
  • Friedrich Hrozný : Maništusu’s Obelisk . Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, Volume 21, 1907, ISSN  0084-0076 , pp. 11–43.
  • Jakob Hoschander: The personal names on the Obelisk of Maniṡtusu . In: Journal of Assyriology and Near Eastern Archeology, No. 20 (2), 1907, ISSN  0084-5299 , pp. 246-302.
  • Joachim Krecher: New Sumerian legal documents of the 3rd millennium . In: Journal of Assyriology and Near Eastern Archeology, No. 63 (2), 1973, ISSN  0084-5299 , pp. 145-271.
  • Jaques de Morgan : Obelisque de Manichtou-irba . In: Jaques de Morgan (ed.): Délégation en Perse, Mémoires. Tome I: Recherches archéologiques. Première série, fouilles à Suse en 1897-1898 et 1898-1899. Ernest Leroux, Paris, 1900, pp. 141-142 ( online ).
  • Vincent Scheil : Obélisque de Maništu-irba . In: Jaques de Morgan (ed.): Délégation en Perse, Mémoires. Tome II: Textes Élamites-Sématiques. Première série. Ernest Leroux, Paris 1900, pp. 1-52 ( online ).
  • Kathryn E. Slanski: Classification, Historiography and Monumental Authority: The Babylonian Entitlement “narûs (kudurrus)” . Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 52, 2000, ISSN  0022-0256 , pp. 95-114.

Web links

Background information

For transcription

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jacques de Morgan: Obelisque de Manichtou-irba . In: Memoires: Délégation en Perse. Tome I: Recherches archéologiques. Première série . Ernest Leroux, Paris 1900, p. 141 .
  2. ↑ Hans Hirsch: The inscriptions of the kings of Agade . In: Ernst Weidner (Ed.): Archive for Orient Research . tape 20 . Ernst Weidner Verlag, Graz 1963, p. 14th f .
  3. ↑ Kathryn E. Slanski: Classification, Historiography and Monumental Authority: The Babylonian Entitlement “narûs (kudurrus)” . In: The American Schools of Oriental Research (Ed.): Journal of Cuneiform Studies . No. 52 , 2000, pp. 96 .
  4. ↑ Kathryn E. Slanski: Classification, Historiography and Monumental Authority: The Babylonian Entitlement “narûs (kudurrus)” . In: The American Schools of Oriental Research (Ed.): Journal of Cuneiform Studies . No. 52 , 2000, pp. 95 .
  5. ^ Ignace J. Gelb, Piotr Steinkeller, Robert M. Whitening Jr .: Earliest land tenure systems in the Near East: ancient Kudurrus. Text . In: The University of Chicago Oriental Institut Publications . No. 104 . The Oriental Institut of the University of Chicago, Chicago / Illinois 1991, ISBN 0-918986-56-7 , pp. 2 .
  6. ^ Ignace J. Gelb, Piotr Steinkeller, Robert M. Whitening Jr .: Earliest land tenure systems in the Near East: ancient Kudurrus. Text . In: The University of Chicago Oriental Institut Publications . No. 104 . The Oriental Institut of the University of Chicago, Chicago / Illinois 1991, ISBN 0-918986-56-7 , pp. 3 .
  7. ↑ Jacques de Morgan: Obelisque de Manichtou-irba . In: Délégation en Perse, Mémoires. Tome I: Recherches archéologiques. Première série . Ernest Leroux, Paris 1900, p. 141 .
  8. ↑ Jacques de Morgan: Obelisque de Manichtou-irba . In: Délégation en Perse, Mémoires. Tome I: Recherches archéologiques. Première série . Ernest Leroux, Paris 1900, p. 141 .