Akkadian Gift

A while back I blogged about a coffee mug Eisenbrauns was offering around the time of last Fall's AAR/SBL Annual Meeting. My Akkadian professor was kind enough to acquire enough of these mugs for my whole class! A very cool surprise (well, for an Akkadian nerd anyway!)The text is the first two lines of Enuma Eliš, the traditional Babylonian creation story.

e-nu-ma e-liš la na-bu-ú šá-ma-mu
šap-liš am-ma-tum šu-ma la zak-rat

"When on high no name was given to heaven,
nor below was the netherworld called by name..."

The smaller insription, which is just above "eisenbrauns.com" reads:

LÚ.DAM.GÀR kib-rat erbe-tim

"Merchants of the four corners [of the Earth]"

The--extremely esoteric--joke being that "of the four corners" was a common epithet of the Neo-Assyrian kings!