Two New Neo-Elamite inscriptions on Silver Rhytons ∗

Alexander Uchitel

A large number of silver objects (rhytons, bowls, plates, figurines etc.) were found in

1934 in a cave near Khorramabad in Southern Luristan (Mahboubian, 1995), and a

similar hoard was found 1989 in Kalmakarra cave, near Pol-e Dokhtar, also in the

Luristan province (Khosravi, Kouhpar, Neyestani, Nobari, 2010). The objects belong to

the so-called 'Median style,' with both hoards to be dated to the late 7th – early 6th

centuries BCE. Many objects bear Neo-Assyrian, Aramaic and Neo-Elamite inscriptions

(Lambert at Mahboubian, 1995; Khosravi, Kouhpar, Neyestani, Nobari, 2010). Only

three of these Neo-Elamite inscriptions have so far been fully published (Donbaz, 1996;

Vallat, 2000). The two inscriptions published by Donbaz are identical: one on a silver

rhyton and a second on a silver vase, both written in the name of Ampirish son of Dabala,

king of Samati. The third inscription, published by Vallat, is an inscription of Lalintash

son of Ayaunukash (for this reading see Cifuentes, 2006) on a silver rhyton.

Two more silver rhytons with golden lion heads from this group, are now to be

found in the private collection of David Sofer, one of which is on display at The Bible

Lands Museum Jerusalem. Both vessels bear identical Neo-Elamite inscriptions written

on the inner upper edge of the rhytons, this also bearing the same text as that published

by Donbaz. The language of the inscriptions is Royal Achaemenid Elamite.

*The author would like to thank Laura Peri of The Israel Museum and the editors of Bible

Lands E-Review for their assistance in the preparation of this article.

Below transliterations of the the rython inscriptions of Donbaz (Inscriptions A and B,

with the David Sofer rhytons as C and D, inscription C being the rhyton now at The Bible

Lands Museum, photos pls. 1-2, drawings by Leah Uchitel pl. 3):

A. mam-pi-ri-iš SUNKI sa-ma-tur-ra [DUMU] da-ba-[la-na]

B. mam-pi-ri-iš SUNKI sa-ma-tur-ra DUMU da-ba-la-na

C. mam-pi-ri-iš SUNKI sa-ma-tur-ra DUMU da-ba-la-na

D. mam-pi-ri-iš SUNKI sa-<ma>-tur-ra DUMU da-ba-la-na

A composite edition in normalized Elamite transcription with English translation reads as

follows:

Ampiriš sunki Samatu-r(a) šak Dabala-na

Ampirish, king of Samatu, son of Dabala.

The Bible Lands inscription (C) is executed with neat cuneiform characters of the Royal

Achaemenid Elamite form, but the inscription D was made by an illiterate artist: most of

its signs are very distorted and some of them are hardly recognizable, and the sign ma in

Samaturra is omitted.

Commentary

The name Ampirish is Iranian, and can be analyzed as Old Persian *hamfriya- - "love

exchanger" (Hinz, 1975).

The sign SUNKI is the Sumerian numeral 200, realized in cuneiform according to the

sexagesimal system (60x3+10x2), which for some unknown reason was used in the

Elamite as a logogram sunki – "king".

The ending -rra in Samaturra is the Elamite animate singular delocutive -r, which was

regularly used in Middle Elamite for the formation of the possessive construction. In

Royal Achaemenid Elamite it was usually replaced by the genitive, but occasionally was

still used with place-names, for example in an expression sunki Parsinikka – "king of

Persia" in the Behistun Inscription (I.1), where the locutive –k appears, since the sentence

is in the 1st person singular.

The place-name Samatu- is identified by Vallat as the Neo-Elamite kingdom of Samati

otherwise attested in two Elamite inscriptions (Vallat, 1996a).

Sumerian logogram DUMU – "son" has an Elamite phonetic reading šak.

The name Dabala is also probably Iranian, but its derivation is uncertain, and its ending –

na is the Neo-Elamite genitive. Vallat dated the reign of Dabala and his descendants to

585-539 BCE (Vallat, 1996b). Their Iranian names testify the pre-Achaemenid

penetration of Iranians into North-Western Elam (see Henkelman, 2003).

Bibliography:

Donbaz, 1996: V. Donbaz, "A Median(?) Votive Inscription on Silver Vessel", NABU 31,

1996, pp. 37-39

Cifuentes, 2006: E. Q. Cifuentes, Textos elamitas; Murcia, 2006,

http://www.um.es/cepoat/cuneiforme/elamita (objetos: rhyton de plata).

Henkelman, 2003: W. Henkelman, "Persians, Medes and Elamites: acculturation in the

Neo-Elamite period", in Contitnuity of Empire(?), Assyria, Media Persia (History of the

Ancient Near East, Monographs 5), eds. G. B. Lanfranchi, M. Roaf and R. Rollinger,

Padova, 2003, pp. 181-231, 407-448.

Hinz, 1975: W. Hinz, Altiranisches Sprachgut den Nebenüberlieferungen, Wiesbaden,

1975, p. 113.

Khosravi, Kouhpar, Neyestani, Nobari, 2010: L. Khosravi, S. M. M. Kouhpar, J.

Neyestani, A. H. Nobari, "Unknown Rulers of Neo-Elamite in Loristan During 1st

Millennium B.C., International Journal of Humanities 17, 2010, pp. 39-54.

Lambert at Mahboubian, 1995: W. G. Lambert, "The Inscriptions", in H. Mahboubian,

Treasures of the Mountains. The Art of the Medes, London, 1995, pp. 31-32.

Mahboubian, 1995: H. Mahboubian, Treasures of the Mountains. The Art of the Medes,

London, 1995.

Vallat, 1996a: F. Vallat, "Le royaume élamite de SAMATI", NABU 31, 1996, pp. 21-22.

Vallat, 1996b: F. Vallat, "Nouvelle analyse des inscriptiones néo-élamites", in

Collectanea Orientalia. Histoire, arts de l'espace et industrie de la terre: études offertes

en hommage à Agnès Spycket (Civilizations du Paroche-Orient, série 1: Archéologie et

environnement 1), Neuchâtel, 1996, pp. 385-395.

Vallat, 2000: F. Vallat, "Une inscription élamite sur rhyton en argent à tête de bélier",

Akkadica 116, 2000, pp. 29-31.

Photographs

1. Rhyton C, The David Sofer Collection, The Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem ©

2. Rhyton D, The David Sofer Collection

Hand copies of Sofer Rhytons C and D