“Traditional Claims of an Illustrious Ancestor in Craftsmanship and in Wisdom,” in A. Archi (ed.), Tradition and Innovation in the Ancient Near East (57th RAI, Rome, 4-8 July 2011: Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2015), pp. 311-20.BODI2015RAI57p311p320Rome Traditional Claims of an Illustrious Ancestor (original) (raw)

The article first examines a Neo-Babylonian tablet (YBC 3499), the so-called “Craftsmen Charter” in which the corporation of various artisans, jewelers, wood and metal workers swears a loyalty oath to the Persian administration in 535 BCE to obtain authorization to repair a sanctuary in Uruk/Warka. They list their names in a stereotypical manner, claiming a traditional ancestor among the craftsmen of the end of the Kassite period who held sway over Babylonia from 1595 to 1163 BCE. This reference to an ancestor who lived 700 years before is probably done to claim descent from the superior craftsmanship in metal which was one of the hallmarks of the Kassites. Second, a tablet found in Uruk (W 200030,7, lines 19-20) lists two names of the sage Aḥiqar: [ana tar-ṣi] mdaš+šur. šeš.sum lugal ma-ba-dninnu-da-ri um-man-nu [šá lú]aḫ-la-mi-mu-ú i-qab-bu-ú ma-ḫu-ʾa-qa-ar-ri “[Under] the King Aššur-aḫ-iddina, A-ba-ninnu-da-ri was the scholar ummānu whom the Aḫlamū (=Arameans) call a-ḫu-ʾa-qa-ri (=Aḥu-ʾaqar).” His second name Abu-Ninnu-da-ri is Sumerian and appears among names of scholars from the Kassite period. The name ma-ba (d)ninnu-da-ri appears as an ancestor in Persian Nippur (BE VIII/1, BE X, PBS II/1), and at the end of a šu.ila tablet (BMS 35) the same person is probably meant nibruki é ma-ba (d)ninnu-da-ri. The second name of Aḥiqar, the Sumerian one, might have belonged to a famous scribe from the end of the 2nd millennium BCE. This reference to the Kassite period is significant in connecting the famous Aramean “Homer” to an ancient wisdom tradition. Finally, some conclusions will be drawn concerning what has been achieved with such traditional claims: Is there a reworking of the cultural meaning? Has a functional re-evaluation of the categories occurred? The manipulation of particular meanings also modifies the relative positions between cultural categories and may serve to enhance someone’s prestige or the prestige of a group of people belonging to a certain trade.