Stone vessel · Iouktas
IO Za 2
- Site
- Iouktas
- Object
- Stone vessel
- Period
- MM III – LM I
- Scribe
- —
- Findspot
- —
- Edition
- GORILA V
Text2 lines
TranslationProbable
I make myself a dwelling—O Diqqitu!—in righteousness. So, behold my gathering in the presence of sacred song. May you be favorable toward us.
Word by word8 words
- A-TA-I-*301-WA-JAʾatainawayaI make myself a dwellingConfirmed
- JA-DI-KI-TUyā DiqqituO Diqqitu!Probable
- JA-SA-SA-RA-[ME]yaššaramin righteousnessConfirmed
- [U-NA-KA-NA]-SIwannā kanāsī / winnā kanāsīSo, behold my gathering!Confirmed
- I-PI-NA-MAʾippina=main the presence ofProbable
- SI-RU-TEšīrūtsacred songProbable
- TA-NA-RA-TE-U-TI-NUtan-raṣē-u-tī-n(u)May you be favorable toward usProbable
- I-DA-[?]ʾIda-[…][Ida…] (broken and untranslated)Speculative
Commentary
Context: Peak sanctuary libation formula—fullest attestation.
PRESERVATION: Five groups are fully preserved. Positions 3–4 are partly or largely restored: line 1 breaks after JA-SA-SA-RA- on face c and resumes with final -SI on face d; GORILA restores [ME · U-NA-KA-NA] from the parallel formulae (GORILA V, 19). The composite translation includes those editorial restorations and reads *301 as /na/: Kober triplets across 17 formula variants point to the verbal root n-w-y ‘to dwell’ (Ug. nawû, Heb. nāweh), substitution yields 9 independent NWS readings, and NA outperforms the rival r(V) value 9 to 2.
ANALYSIS: TA-NA-RA-TE-U-TI-NU is provisionally read from √r-ṣ-y, with analogical 2fs marking followed by a 1cp object; an n-extension remains the principal alternative. STRUCTURE: (1) invocation, positions 1–3; (2) presentation, positions 4–6, with wannā as the hinge and the gathering placed before sacred song; (3) petition, position 7. Diqqitu is compared with Astour’s Diqet, the goat-goddess (Ugaritic dqt, √d-q-q; Astour 1966). Position 3 is translated adverbially as yaššaram, ‘in righteousness’; a divine-name layer remains a secondary possibility.
FINAL BREAK: I-DA-[ is untranslated. It is not a standalone I: GORILA V, 18–19 reads I-DA-[, and Younger estimates a word of approximately six signs. Line 2 ends in the break on face c; face d line 2 is vacat. A related sequence follows the closing petition at Iouktas on IO Za 11 (]U-TI-NU · I-NA-I-DA-•[).
Epigraphic note
GORILA V, 18–19: four-sided libation table, two lines around faces a–d. Line 1: JA-SA-SA-RA-[ME · U-NA-KA-NA]-SI ⌊·⌋ I-PI-NA-MA; face c breaks after RA and face d resumes at SI; GORILA restores ME and U-NA-KA-NA from the formula (V 19). Line 2 ends TA-NA-RA-TE-U-TI-NU · I-DA-[: I closes face b and DA opens face c, joined by a hyphen into the break, with no divider between them in the transcription or the facsimile (GORILA V 19, 18). Younger: the last word probably had about six signs.