254 OLD BABYLONIAN" INSCRIPTIONS 



86, 3 Var. (ra), 4 Yar. (It), 5 Yar. (no) ; No. 87, col. I, 4 (Uaug), 14 and 20 Var. 

 (dingir), 19 Yar., col. 31, 37 Yar., 45, III, 34 Yar. (da), 40 Yar. (Jccdama) ; col. II, 

 31 Yar. (cjim) ; col. IIT, 2 (urn), 23, 41 Var. («), 29 (win), 37 Yar. (nam)j etc. Out- 

 side of the Nippur texts this peculiarity is almost confined 1 to the inscriptions of Ur- 

 Nina. Cf., e. g., De Sarzec, I c, PI. 2 bis , No. 2, upper section (da in the name of Ab- 

 da), ibid. ( Ur in the name of Ur-Nina), lievue d'Assyriologie II, p. 147, col. Y, 4. 



II. The palseographic evidence brought forth is conclusive. Nos. 86, 87 and the 

 other texts referred to above, show all the characteristic features of the inscriptions of 

 Urukag'ma, Ur-Nina and Edingiranagin. But besides they exhibit a number of palseo- 

 graphic peculiarities which are altogether absent from the inscriptions of Tello, and 

 must be regarded as characteristic features of an earlier stage of writing. They will 

 be treated in full at another place. 2 I confine myself here to a brief statement of the 

 following fact. A number of signs have a form representing almost the original pic- 

 ture, others have at least a more original form than the inscriptions from Tello, even 

 those of Urukagina not excepted. Cf. sum (No. 87, col. I, 17, the ear of a corn, cf. 

 also 1. 45), gi (Hid., col. I, 3, a reed, bulrush) 3 , a (Hid, col. I, 31 in egi-a, a tattooed 

 forearm with hand), 4 bar (ibid., col. II, 21; No. 98, 4 (the skin of an animal or) a 

 coarse rug), 5 lah (ibid., col. 1, 21, water poured out, therefore, "to wash"),' 1 ra (ibid., 



' One example is lound in a text of Entemena (ne, cf. Bevve d'Assyriologie II, p. 149, col. IV, 2). The way in 

 ■which Ur is written in the name of Urukagina (De Sarzec, 1. c, PI. 32, col. 1, 1), furnishes the key to the origin of this 

 peculiarly. For details en this subject I rtfer to my Geschiclite Und System der KHUcUrift, which has been in prepa- 

 ration for the last nine years. 



2 In advance I warn Assyriologists not to regard a fourth palasographic peculiarity (so far confined to these Nippur 

 texts) as a mistake of the scribes : (4) If two linear signs which are to be connected grammatically stand close 

 logether in writing, yet without touching each other, frequently one liDe of the second running parallel to a line in 

 the first is omitted entirely and has to be supplemented from the first sign. Cf. No. 87, col. Ill, 37 : ta-ni (sic!), 39 : 

 ogani (.sic!), 40 Var. : mu-na, (sic!) ; No. 103, 3 : mana, (sic!). 



8 In order to obtain a clear conception of the original picture, this sign must not be turned to the left (as Hough- 

 ton, 1. c, p. 473, and others did). For it is a law in cuneiform writing "that the characters are all and always 

 reversed in the same way ; what (originally) was the right hand side became (later) the top" (Bertin, I. c, p. 6). 

 The triangle on the left of our picture does not represent the lower end of the stem of a reed, but rather ils top 

 or cob. Cf. the corresponding pictures on the Assyiian monuments published in Layard, The Monuments of Mneveli, 

 Second Series, e. g., PI. 12, No. 1 (reproduced by Maspero in The Dawn of Civilization, p. 5G1). 



*The crossed lines do not represent "an ornamented sleeve" (Berlin, I. c, p. 9), but marks of tattooing (cf. 

 Berger, "Rapport sur les tatouages TunisienF," in Hetue d'Assyriologie III, pp. 33-41). The cuneiform sign without 

 these marks means "side" {da); with them, it denotes him who is at somebody's side for assistance ; he who has 

 the same marks of tattooing upon his arm, therefore has become his "brother." The sign for shesh, "brother," 

 denotes a person as the second child of the same family, while the former expresses tribal relations represented by a 

 common symbol. 



6 According to Oppert (Expedition en Hesopotamie, Tome II, p. 64) and Bertin (I. c, p. 8) an altar. Impossible ! 

 It represents the skin of an aniaal or better a coarse rug spread upon the ground for persons of rank (and images 

 of deities) to sit upon ; in other words, it denotes the place of honor, in exact harmony with the custom prevailing 

 in the tents of Arabia and Mesopotamia to-day. Lehmann (Shamashshumulin, p. 122) is therefore correct in giving 



