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Urkesh

TEXTS / Seal legends

Courtiers of Tupkish and Uqnitum

Giorgio Buccellati – November 2002

A Digital Monograph


Notes:

  • on provenance: the rollings from which the composites shown below are made come from the service wing AK of the Palace. More precise information will be found in the publications.
  • see also the dedicated topical book.

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h1 – Zamena a / nurse a



Identification number h1
Publications 1995-96 G. Buccellati and M. Kelly-Buccellati, "Storehouse": pp. 21-23
1998 G. Buccellati and M. Kelly-Buccellati, "Courtiers": pp. 197-200
Language Hurrian (?)
Date Early Naram-Sin
Entry author and date G. Buccellati, November 2002


l. graphemic
transliteration
phonemic
transcription
morpho-lexical
translation
1
2
3
4
GIN3.ZA-ni-tum
UM.ME.DA
Z[a]-me-na
KIŠIB
Uqnitum
UM.ME.DA
Zamena
KIŠIB
Of Uqnitum's
nurse,
Zamena,
the seal.



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h2 – Zamena b / nurse b

     mirror image:

Identification number h2
Publications 1995-96 G. Buccellati and M. Kelly-Buccellati, "Storehouse": pp. 15-17
1997 G. Buccellati and M. Kelly-Buccellati, "First Capital": p. 88
1998 G. Buccellati and M. Kelly-Buccellati, "Courtiers": pp. 197-200
Language Hurrian / Akkadian (?)
Date Early Naram-Sin
Entry author and date G. Buccellati, November 2002

l. graphemic
transliteration
phonemic
transcription
morpho-lexical
translation
specular
phonemic
transcription
specular
morpho-lexical
translation
1
2
3
4
GIN3.ZA-¡ni-tum
UM.ME.¡DA
Z[a]-¡me-na
¡KIŠIB
Uqnitum
UM.ME.DA
Zamena
KIŠIB
Of Uqnitum's
nurse,
Zamena,
the seal.
KIŠIB
Zamena
UM.ME.DA
Uqnitum
The seal
of Zamena,
the nurse
of Uqnitum.


The fact that several of the signs are written upside down suggests that the legend may have to be read specularly (shown above in the image to the right). If so, the text on tis particular seal may be read in Akkadian (or Sumerian).

Legends with KIŠIB in the first position are otherwise unknown in the third millennium, and are found from the Old Assyrian and Old Babylonian period on.


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h3 – Tuli a / kitchen a

     

Identification number h3
Publications 1995-96 G. Buccellati and M. Kelly-Buccellati, "Storehouse": pp. 22-24
1998 G. Buccellati and M. Kelly-Buccellati, "Courtiers": pp. 200-201
Language Hurrian (?)
Date Early Naram-Sin
Entry author and date G. Buccellati, November 2002


l. graphemic
transliteration
phonemic
transcription
morpho-lexical
translation
1
2
3
4
[KIŠIB]
[Tu-li]
SAL.MU
ZA.GIN3-ni-tum
Paššari
Tuli
isxarinni
Uqnitum
The seal
of Tuli
the female cook
of Uqnitum.


Note: the restoration in lines 1-2 comes from h5, see below.

The title that is here translated as “cook” refers really to the chief stewardess of the kitchen, i.e., the person who was in charge of the all the operations of the kitchen, from food acquisition to food preparation and to the formal arrangements for official court banquets.

The seal is also shown horizontally (with double presentation of the full frame case with the name of the queen) to bring out the compositional peculiarity whereby the two individuals shown working on food preparation (a butcher and a woman churning butter) look at the vertical cases that contain the name of the queen. This seems a deliberate blending of iconography and cuneiform writing, as is the case elsewhere in Urkesh.


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h4 – Innin-shadu / animal combat



Identification number h4
Publications 1995-96 G. Buccellati and M. Kelly-Buccellati, "Storehouse": pp. 22, 24
1998 G. Buccellati and M. Kelly-Buccellati, "Courtiers": pp. 201f.
Language Akkadian
Date Early Naram-Sin
Entry author and date G. Buccellati, November 2002


l. graphemic
transliteration
phonemic
transcription
morpho-lexical
translation
1
I-nin-
SA.TU
Innin-
šadû.
Innin-shadu.


The word is split in two within the case, and the sign TU is split in half.


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h5 – Tuli b / kitchen b



Identification number h5
Publications 2001 G. Buccellati and M. Kelly-Buccellati, "Überlegungen": pp. 76-77
Language Hurrian (?)
Date Early Naram-Sin
Entry author and date G. Buccellati, November 2002


l. graphemic
transliteration
phonemic
transcription
morpho-lexical
translation
1
2
3
4
KIŠIB
Tu-li
[SAL.MU]
[ZA.GIN3-ni-tum]
Paššari
Tuli
isxarinni
Uqnitum
The seal
of Tuli
the female cook
of Uqnitum.



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h6 – dumu endan / animal combat



Identification numbers h6; A7q853.2
Publications unpublished
Language Hurrian
Date Early Naram-Sin
Entry author and date G. Buccellati, November 2002


l. graphemic
transliteration
phonemic
transcription
morpho-lexical
translation
1
2
x [ x x ]
DUMU en-d[a-an]
?,
DUMU endan.
?,
the son of the king.



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h7 – Unap a / animal combat



Identification number h7
Publications 2001 G. Buccellati and M. Kelly-Buccellati, "Überlegungen": pp. 71-74
2002 G. Buccellati and M. Kelly-Buccellati, "Tar'am-Agade": pp. 25-27
Language Hurrian (?)
Date Early Naram-Sin
Entry author and date G. Buccellati, November 2002


l. graphemic
transliteration
phonemic
transcription
morpho-lexical
translation
1
2
3
4
5
Tup-ki-iš
^[e]^n-da-[an]
[U]^[r]^-keš3-=^[KI]^
U2-na-a[p-x?]
x -x
Tupkish,
endan
Urkesh,
Unap[-?]
?
Of Tupkish,
the king
of Urkesh,
Unap[-?]
?



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h8 – Unap b / animal combat



Identification number h8
Publications 2001 G. Buccellati and M. Kelly-Buccellati, "Überlegungen": pp. 71-74
2002 G. Buccellati and M. Kelly-Buccellati, "Tar'am-Agade": pp. 25-27
Language Hurrian (?)
Date Early Naram-Sin, recut in late Naram-Sin
Entry author and date G. Buccellati, November 2002


l. graphemic
transliteration
phonemic
transcription
morpho-lexical
translation
1
2
3
4
5
[Tup-ki-i]š
[en-da-an]
[Ur-keš3]-=KI
U2-^[na-ap]^-x?]
x -x
Tupkish,
endan
Urkesh,
Unap[-?]
?
Of Tupkish,
the king
of Urkesh,
Unap[-?]
?



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h9 – the throne-bearer / no scene preserved



Identification numbers h9; A7.341
Publications unpublished
Language Sumerian (?)
Date Early Naram-Sin
Entry author and date G. Buccellati, November 2002


l. graphemic
transliteration
transcription
morpho-lexical
translation
1
2
3
gu-za-l[a3]
[T]up-ki-iš
[LU]GAL
guzala
Tupkish
lugal.
The throne-bearer
of Tupkish
the king.

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