Sumerian Cultic Songs from Old Babylonian Nippur with a Connection to the Temple Hymns

Abstract

Several fragmentary Sumerian cultic songs from Old Babylonian Nippur, including one that seems to be for Ninurta (“Ninurta H”), contain enumerations of major cultic centers in southern Mesopotamia that are unmistakably reminiscent of the Sumerian Temple Hymns, as well as two hymns to King Shulgi. The following communication considers the potential parameters of intertexuality that may be involved with these texts. Such proximity to the corpus of cultic songs qualifies the Sitz im Leben of the Temple Hymns at Old Babylonian Nippur.