The Adad-guppi Stele from Harran

Jump to Nabonidus 2001

2001 [/ribo/babylon7/Q005471/]

Two rounded-top steles bearing an identical Akkadian inscription of Nabonidus' mother Adad-guppi (Hadad-ḥappī) were discovered in and near Ḫarrān, one of the primary cult centers of the moon-god Sîn. The first (= ex. 2) was found in 1906 being used as a doorstep in a house in the village Eski Ḫarrān, which is 10 km from ancient Ḫarrān, while the second (= ex. 1) was found in 1956 in the north entrance of the Great Mosque at Ḫarrān, where it was used as a paving stone. The first two-thirds of the inscription give an autobiographical account of Adad-guppi's 104-year life, from the twentieth regnal year of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (649) to the ninth regnal year (547) of her son Nabonidus, which she claims was entirely devoted to serving the gods of her birth city, Ḫarrān; Adad-guppi reiterates that she never abandoned her love of the god Sîn, even though his temple, Eḫulḫul ("House which Gives Joy"), had been destroyed by a barbarian horde (the Medes) and was in ruins to the time of her death. The last third of the text records the pomp-filled, seven-day-long funeral that Nabonidus held for his beloved mother during his ninth year as king. This text, which is generally referred to as the "Adad-guppi Stele [Inscription]" in scholarly literature, also states that Nabonidus had Eḫulḫul rebuilt and its tutelary deities (Sîn, Ningal, Nusku, and Sadarnunna) returned to their new sanctuaries. This "pseudo-autobiographical" text was composed after the fifth day of Nisannu (I) in Nabonidus' ninth regnal year (April 6th 547), perhaps at the same time as text no. 47 (Ḫarrān Stele), which may have been engraved on steles during his fourteenth (542) or fifteenth (541) year as king, when he was reconstructing Eḫulḫul; for this opinion, see Beaulieu, Nabonidus p. 68 n. 1 and Schaudig, Inschriften Nabonids p. 501.

Access the composite text [/ribo/babylon7/Q005471/] of Nabonidus 2001.

Sources

(1) Şanlıurfa Archaeology and Mosaic Museum — [/ribo/sources/P519110/]

(2) Anakara Archaeological Museum — [/ribo/sources/P519111/]

Commentary

Although the name of Nabonidus' mother is traditionally read as Adad-guppi in scholarly literature, her name should be better understood as West-Semitic Hadad-ḥappī ("The god Adad has saved/preserved"), as already argued fifty years ago by W. von Soden (Orientalia NS 37 [1968] p. 271) since the centenarian mother of Nabonidus was born at Ḫarrān (during the reign of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal). Nevertheless, Adad-guppi is still used here, following Assyriological convention.

The arrangement of text, as well as the number of lines in each column, varies between the two known exemplars. Neither exemplar of this inscription is complete and, therefore, the master text is a conflation of exs. 1 and 2. A complete score is presented on Oracc and a list of minor (orthographic) variants is provided at the back of the book. Major (textual) variants are noted in the on-page notes.

Bibliography

1907 Pognon, Inscriptions sémitiques pp. 1–14 and pls. 12–13 no. 1 (ex. 2, copy, edition)

1908 Dhorme, RB 5 pp. 130–135 (ex. 2, edition)

1912 Langdon, NBK pp. 57–58 and 288–295 Nbd. no. 9 (ex. 2, edition)

1912 Thureau-Dangin, RA 9 p. 84 (ex. 2, study)

1923 Boutflower, Book of Daniel pp. 107 and 113 (study)

1945–46 Lewy, HUCA 19 pp. 405–426 (ex. 2 i 15–21, ii 11–21, 23–29, 49–51, iii 9, translation, study)

1947 Dhorme, RA 41 pp. 1–21 (ex. 2, translation, study)

1947 Landsberger, Studies Edhem pp. 115–151 and pls. I–III (ex. 2, photo, edition)

1955 Oppenheim, ANET² pp. 560–562 (ex. 2, translation)

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1999 Mofidi-Nasrabadi, Bestattungssitten pp. 31–33 (iii 5–43, edition; study)

2000 Bonatz, Grabdenkmal pp. 70–71, 139–140 and 160 (ii 21–32, 48–iii 19, translation, study)

2001 Schaudig, Inschriften Nabonids pp. 500–513 no. 3.2 (exs. 1–2, edition)

2007 Beaulieu, Representations of Political Power pp. 145–146 (i 1–13, edition; study)

2007 Ehring, Rückkehr JHWHs pp. 99–101 and 112–116 (ii 17–21, edition; study)

2008 André-Salvini, Babylone p. 237 (partial translation)

2010 Heller, Spätzeit pp. 150, 172, 175, 186–187, 193 and 228 (study)

Frauke Weiershäuser & Jamie Novotny

Frauke Weiershäuser & Jamie Novotny, 'The Adad-guppi Stele from Harran', RIBo, Babylon 7: The Inscriptions of the Neo-Babylonian Dynasty, The RIBo Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2022 [/ribo/babylon7/Rulers/Nabonidus/Adad-guppi/Text2001Adad-guppistele/]