Hungarian Assyriological Review

Volume 4 Issue 1 contents:

• „Die Sorge um eine gute Zukunft“: Handeln und Hoffen im hethitischen Kleinasien 9
• Hittite warā(i)-: ‘(bird) mate, companion’ 25
• Attā ammīni tašappara, „Du, warum schreibst Du mir?“ Verfasserinnen kassitenzeitlicher Briefe – 1. Teil 37

People have always been eager to know about their future, so they have developed techniques how to learn about the future in many ways. Since no one can directly see his or her future, mantic practices help to give answers as to how to behave in a particular future situation – but never to know the future in a general way. But because people want to lead a good life in the future, cultic practices are used in an exchange pattern: people make offerings or promises to their deities in order to receive goods, material or immaterial, from the divine beings.

The Hittite term warā(i)- is only found in Hittite bird oracle reports of early date (Middle Script). The first convincing interpretation of this term, as ‘pair’, was provided by Y. Sakuma in his doctoral dissertation on Hittite bird oracles (2009). An amendment to this interpretation can be proposed based on the consistent usage both in the plural (primarily) and in the singular (rarely), which shows that this term refers, rather, to one member of a pair at a time, thus a ‘mate, companion’ – namely of a pair of birds. The article thus proposes, moving from the semantics of ‘pair’, an improved translation ‘mate, companion’ for Hittite warā(i)- and discusses the attestations and passages of interest in the oracle reports. It is also suggested that the term is to be understood as an adaptation from Luwian, and possible connected forms are discussed. An appendix discusses a Hittite verb which may also be connected to the same root (although less securely), warasḫ-.

Currently, about 1,2% of the Kassite period letters can be attributed to female senders. In this article, the language and style of three out of four preserved Kassite period letters sent by women are analysed based on the “Speech Act Theory”. The sender’s name is Inbi-Ajjāri. The application of the “Speech Act Theory” revealed that Inbi-Ajjāri had an influential position in a household in Nippur. She was in a position to give orders to the official Innannu and reprimand his behaviour. Secondly, this article evaluates the social context of Inbi-Ajjāri through a prosopographical analysis. Inbi-Ajjāri was involved in governance processes. Her letters imply that she belonged to a different household than Innannu. I suggest that she had a high-ranking managerial position, supervising agricultural workers and animals, and, possibly, also the textile production, perhaps, in the provincial or temple administration of Kassite period Nippur.