Dedications to Ishtar-Kititum: an Old Babylonian Temple Archive in its Context

在现代的伊拉克，在35年代中期对芝加哥东方学院的考古发掘中，在泰尔·伊什查利发现了一座巨大的古巴比伦寺庙建筑群。伊什塔尔-基蒂图姆女神庙设计均匀，保存完好，拥有大量档案。它的行政文本、信件、法律文件和文学作品可能为了解一座古巴比伦神庙的运作和生活提供了独特的见解。这一有意义的材料之所以没有得到整理和认可，主要是因为在考古调查之前挖掘出来的楔形文字中最重要的部分还没有出版。在凯蒂图姆寺庙广泛的管理范围内，最大的一组文本之一见证了女神宝藏的管理，主要是由珠宝和纺织品制成的。它们大概包括大约100份行政文件，这些文件只被部分公布，因此尚未得到充分调查。本研究项目致力于这些仍然未知的文件，旨在为旧巴比伦社会的现状增添新的历史、宗教和文化方面的内容。利用基提图姆寺庙的文献提供的例子，关于在其物质、历史和文化背景下祭祀神灵的做法的问题将作为调查的中心主题。是谁把这些贵重物品献给女神的？这些献礼是在什么时候和为什么举行的？他们献给女神的是什么样的物品？基蒂姆寺庙的文本现在给了我们回答这些问题的机会，因为原始材料的特殊状态使我们比以往任何时候都更能将书面的行政证据与寺庙宝库中相应的考古发现联系起来。这一方法还应与社会学分析相结合，以实现对文化和历史前景的有益评估。它的结果将是一项具有开创性方法的基础研究，为文本版本提供其考古学背景以及对当前旧巴比伦社会的社会学分析。来自伊什查利的金库的书面证据几乎是调查古巴比伦神庙奉献实践的唯一来源，这也显示了对其物质文化的深刻见解。基提图姆寺庙的发掘已经结束了一百年。学者们必然会抵消泥板作为书写工具的衰落，研究这些文本并将它们带出来。

In modern Irak, during the archaeological excavations of the Oriental Institute of Chicago in the mid-thirties, a huge Old Babylonian temple complex has been uncovered in Tell Ishchali. The temple of the goddess Ishtar-Kititum features homogeneous design, excellent state of preservation, and holds a large archive. Its administrative texts, letters, legal documents and literary compositions offer probably a unique insight into the functioning and the life of an Old Babylonian temple. The reason why this meaningful material is not worked up and recognized is due mainly to the fact that the most significant part of the cuneiform text, which was excavated before the archaeological surveys, has not been published yet. One of the biggest group of texts within the wide administration of the Kititum temple witnesses the management of the treasure of the goddess, chiefly made of jewellery and textiles. They presumably comprehend about 100 administrative documents, which have been only partially published and, as a result, have not been fully investigated yet. The present research project addresses itself to these still unknown documents and therewith aims to add new historical, religious and cultural aspects to the current picture of the Old Babylonian society. Using the example offered by the documents of Kititum temple the question about the practice of dedicating gifts to the gods in its material, historical and cultural context will serve the investigation as a central theme. Who dedicated these expensive objects to the goddess? When and why did these dedications take place? What kind of objects did they dedicate to the goddess? The texts from the Kititum temple give now the chance to answer these questions, since the special state of the source material allows us more than ever to connect the written administrative evidence with the correspondent archaeological findings from the treasury of the temple. This approach should be also combined with a sociological analysis in order to achieve profitable evaluations in cultural and historical prospect. Its outcome will be a basic research with a ground-breaking approach which provides the text edition with its archaeological context as well as with a sociological analysis of the current Old Babylonian society.The written evidence of the treasury from Ishchali represents a almost unique source for the inquiry into the dedication practices in an Old Babylonian temple, that shows incisive insights into its material culture too. It is one hundred years now since the excavations of the Kititum temple has come to an end. Scholars are bound to counteract the decline of the clay tablets as written tools, to study these texts and to bring them out.