Sumerian Liturgies and Psalms

The liturgical character of this tablet is unique among all the numerous choral compositions of the Isin period. It is a large two column tablet containing six long kišub melodies. Liturgies of such kind, compiled by joining a series of kišubs, or melodies, attended by prostrations, represent an advanced stage in the evolution of these compositions in that the sections are not mechanically joined together by selecting older melodies without much regard for their connection, but as a whole they are apparently original compositions so arranged that they develop a motif from the beginning to the end of the liturgy. Choral services composed of kišubs in the cults of deified kings have been found wherein the deeds and personality of the king are sung, his divine claims are emphasized and his Messianic promises rehearsed. But the liturgy here published resembles in literary style the classical lamentations which always formed the chief temple services of Sumer and Babylonia. It more especially resembles the weeping mother liturgies, but here Ishme-Dagan appears in the lines of the service in a rôle similar to that of the sorrowful mother goddess of the ordinary liturgies, as he weeps for Nippur.