This short composition gives the impression that it was originally inscribed on an actual axe offered to the god Nergal as a dedicatory gift. However, it is known only from manuscripts written on clay tablets which originate in the context of scribal education. Although it might have functioned as a kind of ‘model’ dedicatory inscription that was learned and copied as part of the curriculum, in fact its structure is completely different from dedications on surviving archaeological artefacts (see the Introduction to this book).
The function of a dedicatory gift was to secure the benevolence of the god to whom it was offered. This composition serves the same purpose by verbal means. It divides into three parts. After naming the donor and the receiving god, the first part calls the deity’s attention to the quality of the dedicated object by detailing its excellence. The second contains an unparalleled promise in case of damage or loss of the axe. The composition concludes with an appeal to Nergal asking him to care for the donor in his life as well as after his death. The request for clean water reflects the fear of the inhabitants of ancient Mesopotamia that the Underworld was a place where the spirits of the dead lived on dust and foul water. The miserable existence of the dead is portrayed in the compositions Gilgames, Enkidu, and the Underworld and The death of Ur-Namma (both Group A).
Nergal, the god of inflicted death, who also had a warrior aspect, was frequently depicted carrying a weapon. It is therefore not accidental that the gift dedicated to Nergal is a weapon. Numerous mace-heads with a dedicatory inscription to Nergal have been found in Mesopotamia as well as a single stone axe-head from the early first millennium BCE.
World History
