TYPOLOGY \ TEXTS \ Seal legends \ 575-26
1: G. Buccellati, November 2002
A Digital Monograph
Seal legends:
courtiers of Tupkish and Uqnitum
| Note 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. |
h1 – Zamena a / nurse a
h2 – Zamena b / nurse b
h3 – Tuli a / kitchen a
h4 – Innin-shadu / animal combat
h5 – Tuli b / kitchen b
h6 – dumu endan / animal combat
h7 – Unap a / animal combat
h8 – Unap b / animal combat
h9 – the throne-bearer / no scene preserved
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. |
| Note. | 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. |
| Note. | 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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