What is it about?

This article examines two particular usages of the Cuneiform writing system the Acrostic Hymn of Nebuchadnezzar II, a text that praises the Babylonian deity of scribal arts, Nabû, and details the divine appointment of Nabû-kudurrī-uṣur II as king of Babylonia. The paper aims to show that the text makes use of the possibilities of this writing system to create various levels of meaning by looking at two examples from this text. In one case, an examination of structural elements is used to clarify the meaning of a difficult passage of this hymn. In the other case, I maintain that orthography reinforces the message of the text, expressing it in another facet of this text and adding another layer of meaning. These two examples demonstrate how structural elements and micro-features such as orthography were used creatively to enhance the message of the text.

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Why is it important?

This paper deals with two passages in the Acrostic Hymn of Nebuchadnezzar II. It examines structural devices and orthography to better understand the text and to uncover additional layers of meaning. It shows that structural elements and micro-features within a text could be used to express creativity and to embed meaning.

Perspectives

This article shows that structuring devices and orthography, even in a system without a fully fixed orthography such as Babylonian cuneiform, can be used to convey meaning. Understanding such usages can help in translating difficult text passages. Moreover, the paper shows how creativity is expressed through these textual and torthhograhpic elements, and how attention to these details opens up new avenues of understanding ancient texts.

Martina Schmidl
University of Vienna

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This page is a summary of: Ad astra: Graphic Signalling in theAcrostic Hymn of Nebuchadnezzar II(BM 55469), Altorientalische Forschungen, November 2021, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1515/aofo-2021-0021.
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