PHILOLOGICAL PROFILE USING THE ETCSL (http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/)

Choose something you want to know more about: a god, a place, a holy canal, kissing, beer, maces, ovaries, the me-s (cosmic civilizing powers), the magilum boat, silence, shining, bulls, different parts of Enlil’s temple at Nippur, etc. Using the search methods described below, find all relevant passages. Go through the hits and start collecting relevant or interesting information, noting the ETCSL number for any poem you intend to cite, and perhaps its English title if it seems important to mention that in some cases. Some subjects, like “Inanna” or “Dumuzi” will produce an enormous number of hits; in this case you need to choose what aspect to focus on. Others may produce only a few; then you will need to examine related topics (e.g. search for rape, seduction, etc.). The goal is to present a profile of the thing you’re interest in, purely on the basis of primary (i.e. ancient) texts. How did the Sumerians conceive of a given issue or idea? What are the attributes, epithets and other associations of a given god/dess? What was the layout of Enlil’s temple, and what were the characteristics of its holy well and sacred canal? What are the contexts in which ‘silence’ is stressed? What are the physical attributes of beer? What are its cultural associations?

SEARCHING / FINDING WHAT YOU NEED

A. To search for an English word, use ‘simple search’ feature on main page (http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/). Thus if you are interested in examining ‘canals’, you can pull up every translation that the word occurs in, and develop a ‘profile’ of how the Sumerians understood and described canals.

B. To find all occurrences of a proper name (person, place, god), select ‘proper names’ on the pull-down menu at the bottom of the main page (http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/). You can then select the name from this list, and it will produce all texts that the name occurs in. For example, the flood hero Ziusudra occurs in 19 passages. Note that you may need to browse the list visually to find the relevant entry, since its form may vary slightly from that printed in your book (thus here Zi-ud-sura).

C. If you are interested in a specific Sumerian word the process is slightly more involved, but totally do-able. First you need to figure out what Sumerian word is being translated. Go to the ‘transliteration’ page for the poem in question, and use the cursor balloons which appear over each Sumerian word until you locate the right word. Then go to the main page (http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/), and from the lowest menu (“Word lists, sign list
and full catalogue”) select “Glossary”. Here all Sumerian words are listed alphabetically. Locate your word and click on it. This generates a list of all passages in which the word is found. Why would you want to do this? Well, it is possible that a given Sumerian word is being translated differently in different poems. Searching this way lets you be sure you are getting all relevant passages.

CONVERTING JACOBSEN TO ETCSL NUMBERS:

Dumuzi’s Dream = Same (ETCSL 1.4.3)

Inanna’s Descent = Same (ETCSL 1.4.1)

Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta = Same (ETCSL 1.8.2.3)

Lugalbanda and the Thunderbird = Lugalbanda and the Anzud Bird (ETCSL 1.8.2.2)

Gudea Cylinders = The Building of Ninjirsu’s Temple (ETCSL 2.1.7)

Curse of Agade = Cursing of Agade (ETCSL 2.1.5)

Lament for Ur = Lament for Urim (ETCSL 2.2.2)

THE WRITE-UP

Cast your results and interpretation into a maximum 1-page single-spaced paper, using a font no larger than 12 pt., and margins of 1” all around. You may quote passages if they support your argument, but this will not always be necessary: sometimes you can just refer to what the poem said, and give the poem number in parentheses. Avoid overly long quotations: only quote what is really necessary for your point.

Citations: When citing a Sumerian text, use the ETCSL number (for ex. 1.2.1) which will appear next to any hits produced by the search engine, or if you are on the poem’s own page, at the top of that page. You don’t need to give the line number in the poem. You only need to give the poem’s English title if it’s relevant to the argument.

[Secondary literature: You do not need to cite any secondary sources. But it may be that you wish to know more about some cultural / historical point in order to understand some of your data. If so, there is a list of reputable reference works here: http://www.kingmixers.com/CLA196/CLA196Reference.html. Please do not cite any online sources, only print sources in BH. Any secondary literature should be cited fully in footnotes (i.e. to keep paper at 1-page): do not include separate bibliography. [