Ritual circumambulations in the Syro-Mesopotamian cuneiform texts. An overview
1. The term circumambulation refers to the ritual custom of walking in a circle around a holy place, person, or object. It is known as a universal rite that is still practiced today. In general, it may be performed in a processional step or a dance rhythm or by running. Furthermore, it may be accompanied by prayers, by musical performances, by lustrations with water, by fumigations, the use of fire, and by the transportation of sacred objects and sacrificial animals.
Depending on the motivations behind them, apotropaic and greeting circumambulations can usually be distinguished from each other. Apotropaic circumambulation is carried out by enclosing something in a sacred or magic circle in order to prevent evil powers from entering it or to expel any of those forces that may have already taken hold of it. Instead, greeting circumambulation is performed so that the participants may obtain desirable benefits from the holy object.
In the Hindu tradition, the most extensive clockwise circumambulation is called pradakṣina. It concerns all of India: from the north, to the east, to the south, to the west, and back to the north again. Furthermore, the devout Buddhists circumambulate around tombs and sanctuaries. As for the Near East, the Jericho and Mecca circumambulations are famous. The former is reported in the biblical book of Joshua in which Joshua displays the power of the Lord encircling Jericho six times for 6 days, and seven times on the 7th day, causing the fall of the city walls (Joshua 6:14–20). The latter is the circumambulation called ṭawāf, still practiced today by Muslims around the Kaʿbah.
Is circumambulation attested to in cuneiform sources? The answer looks positive. In fact, in the entry Prozession(sstraße) of the Reallexikon der Assyriologie, Beate Pongratz-Leisten collected several instances of this rite.1 Their common feature is the occurrence of keywords that show encircling and moving in a circular manner, *nigin in Sumerian, lawûm or saḫārum in Akkadian.
In the texts, cases of circumambulation performed within a settlement, around the temples, may be distinguished from those performed outside the city, around the walls, and from those performed in the countryside, around fields or along political borders. These peculiar processions are attested by means of a peculiar lexicon in administrative, ritual and legal texts as well as in letters, from Girsu, Umma, Uruk, Mari, Šehna, Kutalla and perhaps Ebla, from the (half of the) 3rd millennium until the Seleucid period. The typology of the sources indicate that these circulambulations, religious in nature, were real historical events.
A slighly different, but by no means less meaningful kind of circulambulation is that which makes reference to the “year in which Šulgi made a round-trip between Ur and Nippur”.2 As pointed out by Piotr Steinkeller, this dating formula, commemorating the 7th regnal year (2087 BC) of the king of the Ur III dynasty, must be related to the famous passages of the Sumerian hymn Šulgi A which credit this king with having ran from Nippur to Ur and back, around 160 km in 24 hours: “my hearth prompted me to make a round-trip between Nippur and the brick-work of Ur as if it were one double-hour […] (by the time) Utu spread daylight over the habitations (i.e., in the early morning), I entered into the Ekišnugal […] (then) I rose like an owl, like a hawk, and returned to Nippur in my joy […] before Utu set his face toward his (netherworld) house, I covered the distance of 15 double hours back and forth; my top warriors looked at me (with ashtonishement); in Nippur and at Ur, in one day, I indeed celebrated the eššešu festival!”.3
As Steinkeller suggests, the historical “reality behind Šulgi’s ‘run’ was an official inauguration of the completed highway network (particularly, the Nippur-Ur route […]), and a test-run of the courier service)”.
2. Some Mesopotamian texts of the Ur III period from Girsu,4 in the Lagaš state, record the circumambulations (nigin) of the main temple in the city, the Eninnu, of the border district called Antasura and of the Girsu city walls. It is not certain that they were performed during a unique ritual. If this was the case, these three specific circumambulations were part of a more general and longer circumambulation, from the religious core of the state (the temple of the city god Ningirsu) to the periphery (An-ta-sur-ra means “upper border”) and back to the core (the city gates and the temple area are mentioned).
According to the reconstruction of the rituals suggested by Wolfgang Heimpel and Uri Gabbay, their topographical development may be summarised as follows:
a) The first part of the Eninnu rituals took place in its central court. The second part was a procession from there to the main eastern (Šu-ga-lam) and western (É-unuki) gates of the temple, where offerings were presented.
b) Then the procession continued outside the city, toward Antasura, probably northwest of Girsu. Various watercourses are mentioned (the canals Pirig-gin7-DU, Ù-sur, NINA(-šè)-DU and Ka-i7-gír, and the river Tigris), together with buildings (the temple called “House of Antasura”) and with gardens (that of Kisura) and meadows (that between the Pirig-gin7-DU and the Tigris).
c) During the circumambulation of Girsu a rite called ga-gu7-è-a was performed in association with the city gates (it remains unclear if it refers to a full circumambulation of the four gates or to a semi-circular course only including two or three gates). Possibly, the course of the procession also included the areas outside the city called Igi-é-unuki and Girnun, a locality called “Small-vine (orchard?)”, and the Ningirsu canal.
d) The final part of the rituals refers to the Girsu ‘Holy-Cityʼ and to the building called “Bird-house”.
Given the peculiar landscape within and around Girsu, several segments of the circumambulations were probably traveled by boat (a “Magan-boat” is explicitly mentioned). Runners also participated in the circumambulations.5 There was the use of musical instruments, notably the balag and the *áb-ér-ra, most likely the “harp” or “lyre” (called “Divinity harp of the storm (dingir balag u4-da)”) and the “kettle-drum”, for the performance of lament and weeping song, entitled “Tears of the prayer offering (ér sískur-ra-šè)” and performed by a “lamentation priest (gala)”. A further main feature of these rituals is the divine and human kings central importance: the rites begin (and probably end) at Ningirsuʼs temple, while a rite called “Prayer offering of the royal heart-felt wish (sískur šà-ge-guru7 lugal)” and the meal of the king are mentioned.
According to Heimpel, this rite was apotropaic and prophylactic in nature: “the evocation of the destroyed temple and city [implied by the nature of the balaĝ-lament] served to show the gods how much they and their human clients would suffer if they allowed destruction to occur, thus motivating the gods to protect their city”.6 Heimpel explicitly links this Girsu rite to that of Jericho, seeing them as complementary and opposite cases. According to Gabbay, these rituals had a cosmic connotation mirroring the circular motion of the Sun-god.7
3. A ritual from Seleucid Uruk, describes the cerimonies to be performed, during the night vigil, in the Bit-Rēš, the temple of the god Anu.8 They were probably ceremonies for a special occasion and not performed during every vigil.
The ceremonies began inside the Bit-Rēš. The rites were first performed in the Grand Courtyard, then at the top of the Ziqqurat and then once again in the Grand Courtyard, which included several offerings and libations and probably the breaking of a ḫarû-container.
The second part of the ceremonies consisted in the circumambulation of the temple itself. The main temple priest, along with exorcists, lamentation priests and singers, lead the divine Torch from the Ziqqurat to the Grand Courtyard, in a procession passing through the Holy Gate, which was behind the Cella.9 Then, following the divine Torch, the statues of the gods Papsukkal, Nusku and Usmû, the three divine gatekeepers, and the statue of the god Messagunug left the Court-of-the-Assembly, passed through the Grand Gate and reached the street. With Messagunug at the head, the statues were carried in a procession around the temple. After this circumambulation (NIGIN-ú)10 the statues re-entered the temple, each god through his own gate. Lastly, the divine Torch kindled a brushwood pile in front of the divine statues. Furthermore, priests and citizens kindled brushwood piles at the gates of other city temples and near private houses, while city guardians set them alight in the streets and crossroads. The brushwood piles were allowed to burn until dawn and standards were planted to the left and right of the city gates.
According to Pontgraz-Leisten, the use of fire in these rituals “suggests disinfection and decontamination, a procedure for getting rid of bad odors and infecting elements as well as to cleanse the ground for the foundations of a building”.11
Another two texts from 1st millennium Uruk, document ritual circumambulations of statues and buildings. During a festival for Ištar of the Seleucid period,12 after a procession two cultic performers – the kurgarrû-actor and the assinnu-singer – circled around the statues of the gods in the courtyard of the temple of the New Year.13 A few centuries before, Neo Babylonian rituals14 report that the statue of the goddess Nanaya circumambulated the Ziqqurat of Ištar after a procession15 and that a priest circumambulated three times.16 Also, in these two rituals the circumambulation is referred to with forms of lamû.
A further 1st millennium attestation of a circumambulation occurs in a Neo-Assyrian literary text, the Marduk Ordeal. Its Assur version bears in l. 67 the following passage: “Finally, Sakkukutu who goes round the city is his wailing woman. She circumambulates the city”.17
4. In the Mari texts of the 18th century BC, the circumambulations should be indicated by the term siḫirtum, a form of the Akkadian verb saḫārum, “to go around, turn, turn back”.18
Unlike the Girsu and Uruk texts discussed above, the combination of the administrative and epistolary Mari documents permit a precise collocation of these circumambulations in clear religious and political contexts.
Until now, four locations have been attested to where circumambulations were held, Mari, Terqa, Der and in a part of the Ḫabur Triangle. However, they make reference to three different years of the reign of the last king of Mari, Zimri-Lim, that is ZL 0, ZL 1 and ZL 6.19 Even if the texts show that the circumambulations could be made during regular festivals, the impression is that these rituals were not regularly performed, but rather that they were motived by specific occasions, as a consequence of main changes in the political scene.
ZL 0. Some time after Bannumʼs conquest of Mari, Zimri-Lim entered his new capital, in 26/ix/ZL 0. The day after, 27/ix/ZL 0, the new king participated in what almost probably was his first public initiative: “une grande cérémonie religieuse fut organisée: le roi fit le tour de tous les sanctuaires de la ville, sacrifiant à chacune des divinités”.20
This ceremony is reported in the so-called “Panthéon de Mari”, an administrative text in which 87 sheep “of the siḫirtum of the temples of the gods”21 are recorded. In doing so, Zimri-Lim’s intent was likely twofold: on one side, to pay homage to the city and environs gods by visiting all their sanctuaries; on the other side, to show oneself to the local populations, immediately acting as new ruler in a public ceremony.
According to Jean-Marie Durand,22 the 25 divine names mentioned in the list of the “Panthéon de Mari”, where no geographical names are recorded, suggest the following subsequent locations of the rituals: “Palais royal – Zone de la ziqqurat – Nord-est du tell – Dêr – Šehrum – Canal dʼirrigation – Appân – Falaise de lʼalvéole – Haute région de Mišlân (?) – Ṣuprum – Mari-Ouest+divinités inviteés – Chapelles mariotes”. If so, the topography of this siḫirtum23 should refer to a long procession which started and ended at the intrapalatial shrines, with in-between several stops within Mari, then a stop at the main extra-urban sanctuary (Der), after that near Mari (Šeḫrum), then in the northernmost centers (Appan – Mišlan? – Ṣuprum), and once again inside of Mari. Following this interpretation, it results that the new king and his companions traveled for about 50–60 km, touching all the main settlements of the Mari district along the Euphrates, which may be confidently put on a map.24 Since the “Panthéon de Mari” is dated 27/ix, this distance had been covered over the course of just one day, most likely on donkeys and in the last part of the journey, by boat. Alternatively, this siḫirtum touched sanctuaries in Mari taking i-na ma-riki literally.
It is in this initial period of prise du pouvoir, with the same aim in agenda, to which also belongs the successive circumabulation which Zimri-Lim participated in 2 weeks later, in 13/x/ZL 0. This time the siḫirtum was held in a main religious center of the kingdom, Terqa, where he resided for 3 days.25 It has been suggested that “cette visite à Terqa du 12 au 14/x correspond à la cérémonie de ‘couronnement’ du nouveau roi”26. An administrative text27 mentions the sacrifice of sheep “when the Mari king entered the city of Terqa”. The 33 sheep are “those of the siḫirtum of the temples of the gods”.28 As in the previous case, the text only records divine names (11), without accompanying geographical names. According to Durand,29 this ritual took place at least “dans le temple de Dagan ou le complexe qui lʼentoure” at Terqa, but the mention of the divinities of two towns in Terqaʼs environs, Zurubban and Ḫišamta,30 must be noted.
Some time after these ceremonies at Terqa, Zimri-Lim also participated in the traditional festival of Eštar Deritum at Der, from 16 to 18/xi. Regarding the relevance of this festival, for the discussion of the Mari circumambulation rites, see hereafter.
Given that they are attested in laconic administrative texts, the actual modalities of these two circumambulations in ZL 0 are not completely clear. However, it is clear that the two circumambulations were strongly connotated from a political point of view, since this specific way of Zimri-Limʼs rendering devotion toward the main gods of his kingdom at Mari, Der and Terqa marked his access to the throne.
ZL 1. Other ceremonies including a circumambulation were held during the year ZL 1.
An administrative text,31 dated 2/x/ZL 1, mentions the kingʼs meal and the ritual of the anointing of the zurrayâtum pots32 on occasion of the “siḫirtum of the temples of the gods” at Mari. A monthly account of rations of oil, almost probably refers to the same circumstance, with complementary information, since it mentions “4 wailing women of the king”.33 The motivation of this siḫirtum is not apparent.34
Some weeks later, another administrative text, dated 18/xi/ZL 1, mentions dancers and singers of the “siḫirtum of the city”.35 Also for this record, there is complementary information in a monthly account of rations of oil.36 Clearly, the circumambulation was part of Ištarʼs traditional festival which was held for three days at Der. During the first years of his kingdom, frequently Zimri-Lim participated in the Der festival, in ZL 0, ZL 1 and ZL 3.37 In ZL 1 its highlight was “une procession importante autours des murs de la ville de Dêr”,38 and this circumambulation was characterised by its exceptional guests, his mother, Addu-duri, and the king of Sapiratum, Simaḫ-ilane.39
ZL 6. A long journey of a divine image, recorded in a Mari letter, could be dated to this year.40 Zimri-Lim had invited Huziri, king of Hazzikkanum, to come to Mari to participate in a festival. In his response,41 Huziri writes that the Lady-of-Nagar is traveling inside the country of Apum. He adds details regarding the stops along this journey, but he does not say why the goddess is making this journey. Michael Guichard suggests, however, that: “la déesse pouvait sortir de sa ville pour accomplir des missions particulières comme celle de consacrer des frontières pour les rendre inviolables … Il peut aussi bien sʼagir dʼun voyage ponctuel qui marque lʼinstauration de la paix dans lʼIda-Maraṣ”.42
In one of the most interesting letters from Tell Leilan, written about 20 years after Ḫuziriʼs, Ea-malik, most likely a prince of Kaḫat, writes to the king of the country of Apum, Til-abnû: “from this day – fourteen days hence – the goddess (Bēlet-Nagar) will leave her house and the boundary markers will be (re)arranged. And the face of the goddess will be set towards the town Alā”.43 Ea-malikʼs letter shows that a trip of the Lady-of-Nagar could have to do with setting up boundary markers for estates or villages. This is the oldest attestation of the term pulukkum as “boundary marker, boundary stone, boundary”.
Later, in Middle Babylonian, Middle Assyrian, Neo Babylonian and Neo Assyrian texts, pulukkum is said of fields, of countries and lands, of city walls and of temples. In fact, pulukkum is a synonym of kudurru, “boundary stone”.44
As noted by Jesper Eidem and Jack Sasson, the Mari and Šeḫna letters may be compared. In such a case, the circumambulation of the Lady-of-Nagar, implied by the use of the verb saḫārum in the Mari letter, could have the same practical intent of the Šeḫna letter: to consacrate the borders, perhaps with boundary stones.
Three further mentions of circumambulations in Old Babylonian texts deal with different issues.
In a letter written to his king Zimri-Lim,45 the Mari functionary Abimekim gives an account of the investigation into the dissappearance of five oxen, after the sacrifices that were made to the goddess Deritum. The investigation took the form of a religious procession of the symbols of the city god Itur-Mer. The term used to describe this procession was ú-sa-aḫ-ḫi-ru, a derivative form of the verb saḫārum, showing that this procession was a circumambulation. Thanks to the moving of the symbols of the god, the investigation was rendered a success when, on the fourth day of the procession, the meat and hide of two oxen were found in the home of one Sumu-Hadu.
This text is reminiscent of another46 found at Tell-Sifr (ancient Kutalla, a few kilometers east of Larsa), which deal with a dispute over the ownership of a field. The owner of the field takes his case to the judge of Larsa and in the presence of the mayor of Kutalla and the city elders, circles the field carrying a bronze axe symbolising Lugal-kisunna, city god of Kutalla,47 confirming his ownership of the field. According to Charpin,48 “la procédure suivie relève des conduites religieuses traditionnelles: circumambulation avec manipulation du symbole divin représentant la divinité poliade”. A form of the verb saḫārum (kiri6 is-ḫu-ur-ma) is used in this case as well.
Records of circumambulations (nígin) of fields and orchards are already attested at the end of the 3rd millennium in Sumerian administrative texts from Girsu and Umma.49
5. The most ancient textual attestations of ritual activities that include a circumambulation could be present in Ebla administrative texts (24th century BC). The many mentions of the šu-mu-nígin of the god dʾA5-da-bal can not be discussed in detail here,50 but a few remarks about them may be put forward.
The Ebla Sumerogram šu-mu-nígin certainly refers to a verb of motion implying a circular path, but its Eblaite equivalent, attested in the Ebla Bilingual List, is still not completely clear. Possibilities include comparison with Akkadian verbs such as târum, “to return, to come back”, or dâlum, “to wander around something”.51 The latter interpretation seems more likely in my opinion, and for šu-mu-nígin an Eblaite noun dawlum could be suggested.
Of special interest are two Ebla administrative texts52 which at first mention 39 toponyms and then end with the following colophon: 1 u4 mu-DU / 2 u4 i-ti-bù / uruki-uruki / šu-mu-nígin / dʾA5-da-bal!(KUL). The toponyms are small villages (the first one, however, is Lu-ba-anki, one of the main seats of the cult of dʾA5-da-bal, certainly not far from Ebla). Their precise location is uncertain (as it is known, some scholars think that they were in the Orontes River Valley, but this topic cannot be dealt with here). The colophon, on the other hand, remains only partially understood.53
We can say that these two parallel texts add an interesting point to the šu-mu-nígin of dʾA5-da-bal contrapposing mu-DU with i-ti-bù. The structure of the sentence suggests that these two terms are antonyms. It can be proposed that mu-DU does not indicate an “income (mu-túm)”, as in many other Ebla administrative texts, but rather that it represents a form of the Eblaite verb “to enter (mu-DU)”, like in some chancery texts.54 The term i-ti-bù should have a meaning opposite to that of mu-DU and therefore it may be a form yitbû from < *yitbiʿū of the Eblaite verb tabāʿum, corresponding to Akkadian tebû(m)55 “to get up, arise, set out”, contextually in the sense “to leave in procession (said of gods and divine symbols)”. In this way, mu-DU represents the bringing of the divine statue into a settlement while i-ti-bù represents the bringing of the divine statue outside a settlement, both the movements being parts of a unique procession, actually a circumambulation šu-mu-nígin. Accordingly, the colophon of the these two Ebla administrative texts can be translated as: “The first day they enter, the second day they leave the settlements of the circumambulation of the god dʾA5-da-bal”.
An additional indication that the above-mentioned šu-mu-nígin was a circumambulation, should be found in an Eblaite letter published by Pelio Fronzaroli. Reference is made of a lamentation rite called “tears” or “cry” (ér),56 which may actually refer to this journey honoring the statue of the god Hadda-baʿal.
As we have seen, laments (with musical accompaniment) are among the main connotative features of the Syro-Mesopotamian circumambulations, together with their strong connections with the kingship, the use of the spaces inside and outside the temples, the relevance of the perimeters of buildings and city walls, the exploitation of the dichotomy political capital vs. religious center of the countryside, runs and other athletic performances.57
Acknowledgement
This paper has the limited aim of gathering the attestations of circumabulation rites in the cuneiform sources from Mesopotamia and Syria, with no pretention of exhaustivity; a further study is required in order to place them, with possible other attestations of these kinds of rites in the Hattuša materials, into a broader religious and historical perspective. I wish to thank Stefania Mazzoni who invited me to present at the 8th ICAANE in Warsaw a paper, with complementary observations to her “Open spaces around the temples and their ritual use: archaeological evidence from the Bronze and Iron Age Levant”, and Nicola Laneri, organizer of the Workshop “Defining the Sacred: Approaches to the Archaeology of Religion in the Near East”. I also thank Marco Bonechi, who read my manuscript and gave various insights.
1 Pongratz-Leisten 2006–2008, 99, 101.
2 See Steinkeller 2010, 382 (mu Šul-gi lugal-e Úrimki-ta Nibruki-šè šu in-/ì-nígin).
3 For the Sitz im Leben of this Šulgi’s exploit, including its historical concreteness, see the discussion of Šulgi A ll. 40–78 in Steinkeller 2010, 380-382, (Nibruki-ta sig4 Úrimki-ma-šè / danna 1-gim šu-nigin-ta šag4-mu ha-ma-ab-dug4 … dUtu á-dam-ma ud dagal-la / É-kiš-nu-gál-šè ha-ba-ku4-re-en … dNin-ninna2mušen súr-dùmusen-gim ha-ba-zi-ge-en / Nibruki-šè a-la-gá ha-ba-gur-re-en … dUtu é-a-ni-šè igi ì-ĝa-gá-dè / kaskal 15 danna-àm šu hu-mu-nigin / sag-ur-sag-mu-ne igi hu-mu-un-du8-uš-àm / ud 1-a Nibruki Úrimki-ma èš-èš-bi hu-mu-ak).
4 TCTI 1 796, MVN 2 143, HLC 2 23 and possibly also DAS 240. See the discussions in Sallaberger 1993, 297, Heimpel 1998, 13–16, and Gabbay 2013, 235ff.
5 As for the run as an element characterizing other circumambulations see below n. 39 and also above Šulgi A.
6 Heimpel 1998, 16.
7 Gabbay 2013, 238 and 239 (“the daily course of the sun as perceived in ancient Mesopotamian thought, rising in the east and reaching the west in the evening, and then at night making its journey in the netherworld from west to east, rising again at the east on the next morning. If this resemblance is correct and not coincidental, the course of the circumambulation had a cosmic aspect to it, the god leaving and returning to his temple mirroring the setting and rising of the sun”, and “it is possible that the procession westward outside the city took place in the evening and the return to the city eastward occurred at sunrise, as in ritual texts of the first millennium B.C.E. […], thereby mirroring the cosmic journey of the sun not only geographically but temporally as well”). On the daily journey of the Sun-god see Alaura - Bonechi 2012, with literature.
8 TU 41 (AO 6460), see Linssen 2004, 245ff. (“A nocturnal festival in the Rēš-temple”) and 122f.
9 Linssen 2004, 248, obv. 33–34.
10 Linssen 2004, 246 and 248, rev. 10–11: dMES.SAG.UNUGKI ina pa-ni-šú dPAP.SUKKAL dNUSKU / ù dARA it-ti-šú GIN-ak.MEŠ-ma É NIGIN-ú (“Then, with Messagunug at the head, Papsukkal, Nusku and Usmû will go with him circling the temple”).
11 Pongratz-Leisten 2006–2008, 101, adding that “the circumambulation with torches such as described in Gudeaʼs building hymn, can be seen primarly functioning as an exorcism (Sallaberger 1993/I 240f.)”.
12 TU 42 (AO 7439 + AO 8648 + AO 8649), see Linssen 2004, 238ff.
13 Linssen 2004, 240, 242, rev. 24’-26’: DINGIR.MEŠ gab-bi KU4.MEŠ-wa ina KISAL É a-ki-tu4 ina pa-ni-šú GUB-za šid-di GADA NIGIN.MEŠ-šú-[(nu(?))]/[lú]KUR.GAR.RA lúUR. MUNUS šá til-le-e dNa-ru-du rak-su ki-ma mah-ri-i TA 
2,30
/ [a-]na XV NIGIN-šú-nu-tú (“All the (other) gods will enter and stand before her in the courtyard of the akītu-temple. A linen curtain will encircle th[em]. The kurgarrû-actor and the assinnu-singer, who are girt with the tillû-uniform of Narudu, will circle around them (1. 26’), as before, from 1e[ft]/to right)”). See also below n. 39.
14 LKU 51, see Beaulieu 2003, 373–377.
15 Beaulieu 2003, 373 and 376, obv. 22’–23’: dna-na-a i-tib-bi-ma a-na É te-rit ir-ru-ub-ma il-lak-ku [o o o] / É.GE6:PÀR. IMIN.BI i-lam-ma-am-ma a-na MIN.EŠ šá dGAŠAN šá UNUGki (“Nanaya proceeds and enters the temple of omens and goes [o o o]; she circumambulates the Egipariminbi and tak[es a seat] to the left of the Lady-of-Uruk”).
16 Beaulieu 2003, 375 and 377, rev. 29’–30’: [0] šab lúGUB.BA 3-šú it-ti-šú i-lam-ma-a[ʾ A].MEŠ [ŠU.MIN] i-nam-ši i-tib-bi [o o o] / [o o o] 3-šú lúGUB.BA it-ti-šú i-lam-[ma-a]ʾ A.MEŠ ŠU.MIN i-nam-ši i-tib!-[o o o] (“[o] x; the ecstatic circumambulates three times with(?) her, carries the water basin (and) proceeds [o o o], [o o o] three times the ecstatic circumambulates with(?) her, carries the water basin (and) pro[ceeds o o o]”). See also Stökl 2012, 57.
17 See Livingstone 1989, 86, text 34, 67: ù dsak-ku-ku-tú ša TA* URU ta-lab-ba-an-ni ba-ki-su ši-i TA* URU ta-la-bi-a. Other translations are: “Die Sakkukutu, die um die Stadt herumläuft, ist die Klagefrau für ihn, um die Stadt läuft sie herum.” (von Soden 1955, 139); “And the Sakkukutu that surround the outside of the city: that is his mourning promenade that goes around outside the city” (Frymer-Kensky 1983, 136), “And Sakkukutu, who goes round the city. She is his wailing woman an goes round the city” (Livingstone 1986, 242f.). With reference to the Ur III texts discussed by Sallaberger 1993, 282, Livingstone 1996, 310 remarks that “‘Klageumzug’ for Ningiszida around the city (uru nigin.a) is an early forerunner of an episode in the Marduk Ordeal, SAA III p. 66, 1. 86, where Sakkukutu is interpreted as Marduk’s wailing women circumambulating the city”.
18 In Akkadian this noun siḫirtu(m), OAkk saḫartum, corresponding to Sum. nigin, means “Umkreis, Umgebung, Gesamtheit” (AHw, 1040), “circumference, perimeter, (in adverbial use) around; entirety” (CAD S, 235–237); “circumference; surroundings; area, district; entirety” (CDA2, 322). When used in reference to a circumambulation, siḫirtum should have the sense “path made along a perimeter”.
19 The general reconstruction of the history of Mari under its last king is found in Charpin and Ziegler 2003, 169ff.
20 Charpin and Zigler 2003, 178; see also Durand 2008, 255 (“le premier acte religieux de Zimrî-Lîm dans sa nouvelle capitale”).
21 Dossin 1950:43f., ll. 27–31: šunigin 87 udu-ḫá / ša sí-ḫi-ir-ti / é dingir-meš / sískur-re / i-na ma-riki.
22 Durand 2008, 256.
23 The meaning of siḫirtum in this text, debated for a long time, is crucial to the understanding of the Mari circumambulation rites. The editor of the “Pantheon de Mari” translated the term as “totalité des temples de Mari”, adding that “la rédaction du document a suivi un certain ordre topographique” (Dossin 1950, 45f.). Later, the connotation of a round trip is evident in Lambert 1985, 525, “87 sheep of the round/totality (sí-ḫi-ir-ti) of the temples of the gods, offerings (sískur.re = niqûm)” … this may be a list of all the gods … siḫirtum could conceivably mean ‘round’ like the English delivery manʼs ‘round’, the route he takes to deliver his goods to the various places, ending the ‘round’ where he began”. Jean-Marie Durand discussed the Mari siḫirtum in various works: in 1987, 90 and n. 155, he observed that the precise meaning of siḫirtum is “ensemble parcouru” and translated “succession des temples des Dieux”; in Durand-Guichard 1997, 27, he translated “le parcours des temples”; in 2005, 29–30, he speaks of a “tour rituel de tous les lieux saints”, adding: “s’il ne désigne … pas la circumambulation autour dʼune idole [sihirtum] pourrait representer la série des stations … et la course qui emmenait les gens dʼun lieu saint vers un autre” and wondering if the Mari siḫirtum rites have something in common with Mecca ṭawāf, indeed a pre-Islamic rite; in 2008, 255ff., he stated that “Lʼexpression «le tour des temples» est à prendre au pied de la lettre, le roi se présentant devant chaque bâtiment sacré et y faisant ses dévotions aux divinités qui sʼy trouvent. Cela permet de résoudre une autre difficulté du texte, souvent soulignée: il ne sʼagit plus dʼen expliquer lʼordre hiérarchique mais dʼy rechercher un ordre géographique des temples, dans Mari et à ses alentours. … les offrandes qui débutent au palais se poursuivent de temple en temples … le texte énumérant les divinité selon un ordre qui révèle lʼemplacement des principaux temples”. According to Heimpel (1998, 16), this siḫirtum could refer to a procession in which the temples of the gods were circumambulated in succession, while, as we have seen, it refers to “le tour de tous les sanctuaires” for Charpin and Ziegler 2003, 178. On the Mari siḫirtum see also Jacquet 2011, 83 and Pappi 2012, 583f., 587.
24 See Charpin and Zigler 2003, 177.
25 Charpin and Zigler 2003, 178f. Zimri-Lim left Mari in 7/x/ZL 0 to go to Ḫišamta for political talks with the Benjaminite kings Yaggiḫ-Addu and Ḫardum, then he returned to Mari and lastly he left Mari to go to Terqa.
26 Charpin and Zigler 2003, 178f.; see also Durand 2008, 341.
27 M.18390 = ARM XXIII 264 (Lafont 1984, 256f., Lafont 1987, 381 and 384), lines 17–21: šunigin 33 udu-há / ša sí-hi-ir-ti / é dingir-meš sískur-re / i-nu-ma lugal a-na ter-qaki / i-ru-bu.
28 See Durand 1987, 90 n. 156 and Durand 2008, 264f. (“sihirti bîtât ilâni”).
29 Durand 2008, 265.
30 See the map in Charpin - Zigler 2003, 177.
31 M.13158, see Duponchel 1997, 218, text 25: 1/2 qa ì-giš hi-il-ṣú / a-na pí-li-i / nì-gub lugal / 5 su ì-giš / a-na pa-ša-aš / zu-ra-ia-tim / i-nu-ma sí-hi-ir-ti / é dingir-meš, “1/2 qa dʼhuile pressée pour les oeufs du repas du roi; 5 sicles dʼhuile pour lʼonction des zurayâtum lors de la procession des temples”. According to David Duponchel, i-nu-ma sí-hi-ir-ti / é dingir-meš “définit soit une procession, soit lʼensemble des temples”.
32 On the pot zurrāyum see Guichard 2005, 333.
33 M.13183, see Duponchel 1997, 229ff., text 60 2–3: 1/2 <qa> 5 su ì-giš a-na 4 ba-ku-ut lugal / ù pí-li lu-ur-mi-immušen, “1/2 <qa> 5 sicles dʼhuile pour les 4 bakûtum du roi et les oeuf dʼautruche”. As for bakkītum, “wailing woman”, see Douponchel 1997, 233, with literature (“Sʼil sʼagit de la même dépense, il faut établir une connexion entre la tenue des rites-zurayâtum et lʼonction de ces 4 pleureuses. Celles-ci devaient être présentes lors de la procession rituelle”), and CDA2, 36.
34 Among the main political events of the precedent months there are Zimri-Limʼs conquest of the Ḫabur Triangle city of Kaḫat, Bannumʼs death (month ix), a war against the Benjaminites with troubles in the South (at Yablya, in the Suḫum), and Zimri-Limʼs diplomatic contacts with the powerful kings of Ešnunna and Babylon, Ibal-pi-El and Hammu-rabi, see Charpin and Ziegler 2003, 186–190.
35 M.11336, see Duponchel 1997, 238, text 74: 1/3 qa 5 su ì / a-na pa-ša-aš hu-up-pu(-)um!-me-ni / lú-nar-meš ša sí-hi-ir-ti / a-li-im / ù ia-ri-ib-dIM / lúhu-pí-i / i-na di-irki, “1/3 qa 5 sicles dʼhuile pour oindre les maîtres-baladins-ḫuppûm, les musiciens qui (font le) tour de la ville et Yarîb-Addu, le baladin-ḫuppûm; à Dêr”.
36 M.5476+M.13233, see Duponchel 1997, 244f., text 95, 1’–10’: [m]a-a-a-li-im ù ha-ar-ga-lim / [šu-ti-a] íg-mi-lim / [0,0.1 5 su ì-giš a]-na pa-ša-aš gišma-ga-ri ša giš-gigir / [x qa ì-giš] a-na ša-an-nu-ra-tim ša ma-ha-ar dde-ri-tim ša u4! 3-kam / [x qa ì-gi]š a-na pa-ša-aš lú ṣí-id-di / [1/2 qa ì-gi]š a-na ša-ka-an zi-mi ša 4 túg ia-am-ha-di-i! / [i-na] di-irki / [x qa ì-gi]š a-na pa-ša-aš bu-ṣi-ni ša gi-zi-le-e / [ša ma-ha-ar h]u-up-pí-i i-nu-ma sà-ka-nim / [ia-ri-ib-d]IM še-pi-ir-šu i-pu-šu, “… pour une litière et un grand anneau; reçu par Igmilum; 15 sicles dʼhuile pour oindre les roues du char; x qa dʼhuile pour les lampes (qui ont brûlé) devant Dêritum, pendant 3 jours; x qa dʼhuile pour oindre le lutteur; 1/2 qa dʼhuile pour redonner du lustre à 4 étoffes du Yamhad; à Dêr; x qa dʼhuile pour oindre les mèches des torches en roseaux qui (ont brûlé) devant les baladins-huppûm lorsque, dans le sakkannum, Yarîb-Addu a accompli son travail”.
37 See Charpin and Ziegler, 2003, 247, and, as for ZL 3, 195 n. 204.
38 Duponchel 1997, 214f. See also Charpin and Ziegler, 2003, 189f.
39 As for the political relations between Simaḫ-ilane and Zimri-Lim at the end of ZL 1, see Duponchel 1997, 212–215, Guichard 2002, 134ff. and Charpin and Ziegler, 2003, 189f., with literature. Another interesting feature of this circumambulation is the presence of dancers, singers and wrestlers among the members of the ceremonies; the participation of the cultic performers such as the kurgarrû-actor and the assinnu-singer in the Seleucid Uruk circumambulation of the Ištar festival TU 42 has been mentioned above, § 3. It seems that Near Eastern circumambulations were connotated by artistic and athletic performances: in the Mari “Rituel dʼEštar” (A.3165, see Durand and Guichard 1997, 52ff.), the passage in iii 6–10 has been translated in Ziegler 2007, 61, as “Les lamentateurs sortiront pour [accueillir] la course et il chanteront (le chant) «Igittendibana». Lorsque la course aura pénétré dand le temple de la déesse, ils chanteront le chant dʼac[ueil] «An nuwaše»” (a-n[a li]-is-m[i ma-ha-ri-im] / ka-lu-ú uṣ(ŠE.RI)-ṣ[ú-ma (o o)] / i-gi-it-te-en-di-ba-n[a?]/n[u?] / i-za-am-mu-ru / iš-tu li-is-mu a-na é il-[tim] / i-te-er-ba-am / AN-nu-wa-še še-ra-am ša ma-h[a-ri-im] / i-za-am-mu-ru). According to Durand and Guichard 1997, 50, this passage concerns “lʼarrivée dʼune bande qui avait accompli une circumambulation (la sihirtum) non précisée dans le palais, la ville ou la campagne. Les coureurs sont accueillis par un chant sumérien de sens et dʼorigine non déterminables. Lʼarrivée de la course est un moment très fort qui coïncide avec la fin du lamento-balag”. As for li-is-mu da-an-nu-tum-ma in the Old Babylonian literary text “Ištar-Louvre”, i 55, see Groneberg 1997, 44f. (86) and 146-148, Durand and Guichard 1997, 50 and n. 193, Groneberg 2005, 16 and Löhnert 2008, 427f.
40 Charpin – Zigler 2003, 209.
41 A.221 see Guichard 1994, 237, text 122, 5–8: dnin [n]a-ga-ar … i-na lib-bi ma-a-tim ís-sa-aḫ-ḫu-ur, “Mais à présent la Dame de Nagar, … «va accomplir son tour» à lʼintérieur du pays” (Guichard 1994, 239).
42 Guichard 1994, 271.
43 L.87-1317, 17-21: iš-tu u4-mi-im an-ni-im a-na u4-14-kam / dil-tum iš-tu é-ša uṣ-ṣe-em-ma / pu-ul-lu-uk-ka-tum iš-ša-ak-ka-na / ù pa-an dil-tim a-na uru a-la-aki / iš-ša-ak-ka-na (Sasson 1997, 487–488, 476ff.; Eidem 2008, 326; 2011: 32f. and 99f.).
44 See Charpin 2002, 187.
45 A.2926 (= ARM XXVI/2 458), 10-12: ḫa-al-qú i-na li-[ib-bi] a-limki / di-túr-me-er / ú-sa-aḫ-ḫi-ru-ú-ma, see Lackenbacher 1988, 383; Heimpel 2003, 376f. and http://www.archibab.fr.
46 TS 71, 16-19: Ii-din-den-líl pa-aš-ta ša dlugal-ki-sun5-na / in-na-ši-im-ma / kiri6 is-ḫu-ur-ma / ú-bi-ir-ma i-qí, see Charpin 1980, 188, 254, and Charpin 1982, 14f.
47 On Lugal-kisunna see Lambert 1987–1990.
48 Charpin 1982, 15.
49 As for the expressions a-šà a-gàr nígin and giškiri6 nígin see Sallaberger 1993, 269 and 302, and Cavigneaux – al-Rawi 2002, 3 and nn. 4–6 (suggesting that the expression (a-šà/a-gàr) nígin “to go around (fields)”, references an apotropaic circumambulation, possibly a public ritual involving the entire community similar to the Ambarvalia of ancient Rome, during which processions took place around fields to request a good harvest).
50 The materials have been surveyed and discussed in Archi 2002, 26ff. and Archi 2010, 36. See also M. V. Tonietti, L’offerta delle carni e l’itinerario cultuale del dio Hadda-baʿal di Luban, in preparation (Milano and Tonietti 2012, 81).
51 As for LL 509, šu-mu-nígin = da-lum, see the discussions in Conti 1990, 144 (a form of târum, “/tawrum/, ‘ritorno’”), and Sallaberger 2003, 621 and n. 23, with literature (a form of dâlum, “Prozession”, in the sense of “Rundreise”; Sallaberger also takes into account LL 629, á-nígin = da-wa-lum, da-lum). Sallaberger’s interpretation is considered more probable in Milano - Tonietti 2012, 41 and n. 37 (“viaggio cultuale (šu-mu-nígin) […] il termine indica, dunque, un percorso circolare con partenza e ritorno nel medesimo luogo”). According to Archi 2002, 27, “Several passages from administrative documents […] require the meaning ‘return’ for šu-mu-nígin, while the basic meaning of the Semitic verb should be ‘to wander around, to move in circles’, which agrees with Sumerian nígin”. Cf. Pomponio and Xella 1984, 26, n. 8, and 1997, 259; Fronzaroli 1997, 5; Catagnoti and Fronzaroli 2010, 114–115.
52 TM.75.G.2377 and TM.75.G.2379, see Archi 1979.
53 Archi 1979, 107, Archi 1995, 8, n. 5 (“journey, procession (return) of the god I.”) and Archi 2002, 27 (“first day: delivery/ies; second day: … Towns of the god NIdabal’s journey”). See also Ristvet 2011, 11f.
54 See ARET XI, 161f. and ARET XIII, 284.
55 See the attestations in CAD, T, p. 306 ff., particularly § 3., p. 311, d).
56 TM.76.G.86, v. IV 11-V 3: wa / si-in / dʾA5-da-bal!(KUL) / ér (Fronzaroli 1997, 11 and 19). On this text see Milano and Tonietti 2012, 41f.
57 See also Ragavan 2013, 207: “Both the playing of the šem3-instrument and the circumambulation (niĝin) of temples are well attested in connection with the performance of laments (er2)”. It remains to be evaluated whether circumambulations around aniconic religious structures such as betyles did occur in the Ancient Near East (cf. Castel 2011, 85f., as for the Tell Rawda betyl discovered in 2005: “Étant donné l’encastrement de la pierre dans une niche, les rites de circumambulation et de course, particulièrement importants encore aujourd’hui dans les actes rituels autour de la Ka’ba, sont impossibles à al‑Rawda”).
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