Orality, Direct Speech and the Kumarbi Cycle

Abstract

The so-called Kumarbi Cycle was not a closed system. To it belonged compositions of different periods and places. The Song of Kumarbi, and perhaps that of Ea and the Beast, were composed in Eastern Syria, under the influence of the Babylonian epic. All the other songs are later, and composed in Western Syria; the Song of KAL/LAMMA had its origin probably in Karkamiš. They had not educational purposes, in the sense that they were not used to train younger scribe. It is argued that they were recited in some religious occasions and fulfilled the common need of narrating and listening. The extensive use of direct speech in such songs responded to the requirements of an oral performance, but does not necessarily reflect techniques of oral composition. manuscripts kept in Hattusa, but rather radical re-workings (M. Giorgieri (2001) and M. Salvini (1988), 160-170 respectively). Transmission from the Hurrian to the Hittite versions can, therefore, have been achieved only orally. Therefore, the Hittite singers received these poems either directly from Hurrian singers, and then translated them into their own language or, more frequently, re-worked the available written versions whilst respecting the literary form (as indicated by various factors). In my opinion, the "oral dictated text hypothesis" formulated by Albert Lord for the Homeric poems (A. B. Lord (1960), 135-138) can largely serve as a model in clarifying the manner in which these Hurrian poems were received by the Hittites.That also the Hurrians did not necessarily stick to a written text when transmitting an epos, is indirectly shown by the Hittite versions of Gilgameš and Atra-hasīs. These Hittite versions do not use Akkadian recensions (even though these were available at Hattusa), but versions which the Hurrians extensively re-worked, also introducing well-known personal and geographical names in order to make them more familiar. If the Hurrian bards did not feel themselves obliged to follow the Babylonian version faithfully, this means that the passage to a Hurrian version did not occur within the context of a scribal school. A rule common to the scriptoria (at all times and in all places) was respect for the text to be reproduced, involving the fewest possible changes necessary to render the works comprehensible. As far as the Hittite versions of these two epics is concerned, it is unfortunately not possible to establish precisely how faithful these are to the Hurrian text since the Hurrian manuscripts are very poorly preserved. 1 We may deduce that, in considering the reception of texts of foreign origin, we must distinguish between: a) school texts aimed at developing competence in writing, such as the Sumerian-Akkadian vocabularies (which at Hattusa were provided with a Hittite translation); b) documents that were appreciated (and possibly also used) for the reasons for which they had been created, even though these were foreign to Hittite cultural tradition (astrological and birth omens, with Hittite translations; Sumero-Akkadian rituals)

The Near Eastern Chaoskampf in the River Battle of Iliad 21

“…**' Hence, in Iliad 21 we see nearly identical accounts of gods and mortals coming together in strife, portrayed with onomatopoetic, whole line verses (21:9-l 0;''" 21:387-388).^' Indeed, onomatopoeia seems to be relished in all of these Chaoakampfmd'iúons. Alas, there cannot be proof, but it is possible to hear in the sound effects-clatters, crashes, roars, clanging, screaming and the ''" See Archi (2009) on the oral traditional indicators and bilingual implications in the texts for the Hittite Kumarbi cycle.…”