Case Study #1: Identical text on multiple objects

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Case-studies - This article is part of a series.

Part 1: This Article

Part 2: Case Study #2: What is an Epigraph?

The scope of this case study is that of envisioning a realistic scenario where different objects bear the same inscription. The six objects listed here were selected for the present case study among a group of sixty-six items bearing the same standardized royal dedication celebrating the name of the Akkadian king Rīmuš. It has been found on a wide variety of objects, including stone vases, mace heads, stone disks, and even a murex shell. The inscription appears identically on all objects, with the total number of known examples potentially increasing as new items with the same inscription are identified. It reads: ri₂-mu-uš / LUGAL / KIŠ (“Rīmuš, king of the world”). The six selected objects are:

Alabaster (?) vase, from Girsu (AO 3282, P216505), housed at the Musée du Louvre, Paris. The Louvre’s online record states that it was acquired in 1901 through Ernest De Sarzec’s excavation at Girsu (Tello) with permission of the Ottoman Empire. Transliteration and translation were provided by Gelb and Kienast (FAOS 7, Rimuš 6 - Text B) and Frayne (RIME 2.01.02.20, ex. 2).
Fragment of a bowl (?), white stone (?), from Nippur (CBS 8839, P216537), housed at the Penn Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A cuneiform copy was published by Hilprecht in BE 1.1, No. 8. Transliteration and translation were provided by Hirsch (AfO, 11), Gelb and Kienast (FAOS 7, Rimuš 6 - Text F) and Frayne (RIME 2.1.2.20, ex. 5). Note that both the Penn Museum and CDLI records describe the object as made of clay, which is unlikely. Hilprecht (BE 1.1, 48), Gelb and Kienast (FAOS 7, 71), and Frayne (RIME 2.1, 70) identify the material as “white marble.”
Fragmentary vase, marble (?), from Nippur (CBS 8870a, P263685), housed at the Penn Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A cuneiform copy was published by Hilprecht in BE 1.1, No. 7. Transliteration and translation were provided by Hirsch (AfO, 11), Gelb and Kienast (FAOS 7, Rimuš 6 - Text E) and Frayne (RIME 2.1.2.20, ex. 6).
Fragmentary limestone (?) vase (YBC 2333, P216533), housed at the Yale Babylonian Collection, New Haven. No details are provided on the object’s findspot. Stephens (YOS 9, vii) notes that the vase is among the many antiquities acquired over an unspecified period by Albert Clay, Ettalene Grice, Raymond Dougherty, and himself in their roles as curators of the Yale Babylonian Collection. Details and picture can be found in Stephens (YOS 9, 98, Plate XLIII). Transliteration and translation were provided by Hirsch (AfO, 11), Gelb and Kienast (FAOS 7, Rimuš 6 - Text T) and Frayne (RIME 2.1.2.20, ex. 46).

AO 21404, fragmentary murex shell, Musée du Louvre, Paris. — AO 21404, fragmentary murex shell with votive inscription of Rīmuš, Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Fragmentary murex shell (?) (AO 21404, P216535), housed at the Musée du Louvre, Paris. The Louvre’s online record states that the details of the piece’s acquisition are unclear, though it indicates that it was obtained in 1962. Transliteration and translation were provided by Frayne (RIME 2.01.02.20, ex. 48).
Fragmentary limestone (?) vase (YBC 2189, P216532), housed at the Yale Babylonian Collection, New Haven. No details are provided regarding the object’s findspot. Like the fragmentary vase YBC 2333 above, it is among the many antiquities acquired by the Yale Babylonian Collection. Details and picture can be found in Stephens (YOS 9, 97). Transliteration and translation were provided by Hirsch (AfO, 11), Gelb and Kienast (FAOS 7, Rimuš 6 - Text T) and Frayne (RIME 2.1.2.20, ex. 45).

This scenario highlights the challenge of modeling not only the objects that support the inscription but also the inscription itself. It raises the question of how to address the fact that multiple objects present the same text. If each inscription is considered unique, a modeling strategy that maintains the connection between multiple instances of the same text could be an interesting approach.

Bibliography
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Frayne, Douglas R. 1993. Sargonic and Gutian Periods (2234-2113 BC). Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia 2. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442658578.

Gelb, Ignace Jay, and Burkhart Kienast. 1990. Die altakkadischen Königsinschriften des dritten Jahrtausends v. Chr. Freiburger Altorientalische Studien 7. Stuttgart: Steiner.

Hilprecht, Hermann V. 1893. Old Babylonian Inscriptions Chiefly from Nippur. 1. The Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania. Series A, Cuneiform Texts, 1.1. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1005411.

Hirsch, Hans. 1963. “Die Inschriften Der Könige von Agade.” Archiv Für Orientforschung 20:1–82. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23802849.

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