The babilili-Ritual from Hattusa (CTH 718)

Hittite culture of the second millennium B.C.E. was strongly influenced by Mesopotamian culture, in part through the mediation of the peripheral cuneiform civilizations of northern Syria, in part through direct contact with Babylonia and Assyria. The text edited here (CTH 718) presents an extreme example of this cultural impact, featuring incantations in the Akkadian language (Hittite babilili) embedded within a ceremony set forth in the Hittite tongue. This ritual program has therefore become known to scholars as the “babilili-ritual.”

With almost 400 preserved lines, this ceremony is one of the longest religious compositions recovered from the Hittite capital, and there are indications that a significant additional portion has been lost. The divine figure to whom the rite is addressed is Pirinkir, a variety of the well-known Ishtar of Mesopotamia. Its purpose seems to be the elimination of the sins of a member of the royal family.

Many of the ritual activities and offering materials employed here are characteristic of the cult practice of the Classical Cilician region known as Kizzuwatna, which was introduced into the central Hittite realm during the final two centuries of the state’s existence. Nonetheless, the Akkadian of the incantations is neither the Akkadian employed in the Hurrian-influenced area of Syria and eastern Anatolia nor that otherwise known from the Hittite royal archives; rather, it is closer to the language of the later Old Babylonian period, even if no precise Mesopotamian forerunners can yet be identified.

“Gary Beckman presents a concise, accurate edition of the babilili ritual, leaving open the possibility of several further studies on the topic. In comparison with many editions of ritual texts, Beckman proceeds on firm ground, producing a publication that recalls the editing style of Heinrich Otten, to whose memory this book is dedicated.”—Giulia Torri, Journal of the American Oriental Society

“Beckman's edition makes a lengthy and complex text accessible for the specialist and non-specialist alike and also provides an excellent entry point for further research on this text as well as on related matters via numerous suggestions for further reading on a variety of topics, whether cultural, religious, linguistic, or historical. While reading his discussions and arguments, one becomes aware, on the one hand, how little evidence there is to fully reconstruct the history of the development of the incantations while, on the other hand, one clearly sees how carefully and faithfully Beckman follows the evidence available to him and says no more than it allows.”—Robert Marineau, Journal of Hebrew Scriptures

Introduction

The Main Texts: Transliterations

The Main Texts: Translation

The Fragments

The Commentary

The Incantations

Bibliography

Indexes