著者

高井 啓介

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.47, no.2, pp.64-79, 2004 (Released:2010-03-12)

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“Petitionary letters to god (Gottesbriefe, letter-prayers) ” written in Sumerian are products of the Old Babylonian scribal schools. They are prayers in letter-style, addressed and dedicated to gods by “pious sufferers”, urging the gods to release them from suffering. Six similar letters in Akkadian have also been identified. It is indisputable that there are similarities between the Sumerian and Akkadian genres in their presentation of the plight and petition.There are differences as well. Unlike the Sumerian genre, mostly attested in multiple copies, most Akkadian letters are written by the archival hand and attested in just a single example. The Akkadian letters are addressed to the personal deity of the letter-writer, but in the Sumerian examples such is not necessarily the case. Scholars have considered that since the Akkadian letters are thus essentially archival and personal, the Sumerian and the Akkadian petitionary letters have no historical or genetic relationship. In this article, I conduct a more comprehensive study, focusing on the structural features of the Akkadian petitionary letters in comparison with Sumerian generic features, and suggest a slight modification in the previous understanding about the relationship between the two genres.I describe several features that three of the Akkadian petitionary letters have that the other three do not-lengthy opening salutations, descriptions of past benefits received and services rendered, and vows and expressions of praise and thanksgiving. These features are also shared by some of the Sumerian petitionary letters, particularly those from the Larsa period, which are relatively late examples of the genre. Since I found it difficult to determine the historical sequence of all the Akkadian petitionary letters, I cannot make any definite claim about development or influences. However, I think it likely that the genre experienced stylistic development and the Akkadian letters with those features were influenced by the Larsa period letters as it seems that some important similarities in style and content that I describe cannot be explained without considering that one genre knew the other.