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Was touching your nose a greeting in second millenium Mesopotamia?
How often did city-destroying floods happen in Mesopotamia?What is the historical name(s) for area between Syria and Mesopotamia?What was the purpose of a tally stick?Did Mesopotamia have coins to represent Gerahs & Minas?Mesopotamia laws 196, 197 and 198What was a cistern to the Babylonians?Women collaborators within China during the Second Sino-Japanese War?Primary annalistic sources for ancient Mesopotamia and EgyptWhen was Sura in the Roman Empire?Was early Mari Sumerian or multicultural?
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I ran across a curious sentence today, in a Mesopotamian prayer to a personal god (the grammar looked better in verse format):
"Daily worship your god with offerings, prayers and appropriate
incense. Bend your heart to your god; That befits the office of a
personal god, prayers supplication, pressing (the hand to) the nose
(as greeting) shall you offer up every morning, then your power will
be great, and you will, through your god have enormous success.”
The above translation, taken from Treasures in the Darkness (and according to Google also given in Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia) makes casual reference to greeting by pressing the hand to the nose. Was this a custom in ancient Babylonia? And if so, do we know if it was common practice, or only recorded in formal or religious contexts?
cultural-history social-history bronze-age mesopotamia ancient-babylon
asked 9 hours ago
FluxFlux
1456 bronze badges
add a comment |
I ran across a curious sentence today, in a Mesopotamian prayer to a personal god (the grammar looked better in verse format):
"Daily worship your god with offerings, prayers and appropriate
incense. Bend your heart to your god; That befits the office of a
personal god, prayers supplication, pressing (the hand to) the nose
(as greeting) shall you offer up every morning, then your power will
be great, and you will, through your god have enormous success.”
The above translation, taken from Treasures in the Darkness (and according to Google also given in Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia) makes casual reference to greeting by pressing the hand to the nose. Was this a custom in ancient Babylonia? And if so, do we know if it was common practice, or only recorded in formal or religious contexts?
cultural-history social-history bronze-age mesopotamia ancient-babylon
asked 9 hours ago
FluxFlux
1456 bronze badges
No. My nose has never been there
– Ne Mo
34 mins ago
add a comment |
I ran across a curious sentence today, in a Mesopotamian prayer to a personal god (the grammar looked better in verse format):
"Daily worship your god with offerings, prayers and appropriate
incense. Bend your heart to your god; That befits the office of a
personal god, prayers supplication, pressing (the hand to) the nose
(as greeting) shall you offer up every morning, then your power will
be great, and you will, through your god have enormous success.”
The above translation, taken from Treasures in the Darkness (and according to Google also given in Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia) makes casual reference to greeting by pressing the hand to the nose. Was this a custom in ancient Babylonia? And if so, do we know if it was common practice, or only recorded in formal or religious contexts?
cultural-history social-history bronze-age mesopotamia ancient-babylon
asked 9 hours ago
FluxFlux
1456 bronze badges
I ran across a curious sentence today, in a Mesopotamian prayer to a personal god (the grammar looked better in verse format):
"Daily worship your god with offerings, prayers and appropriate
incense. Bend your heart to your god; That befits the office of a
personal god, prayers supplication, pressing (the hand to) the nose
(as greeting) shall you offer up every morning, then your power will
be great, and you will, through your god have enormous success.”
The above translation, taken from Treasures in the Darkness (and according to Google also given in Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia) makes casual reference to greeting by pressing the hand to the nose. Was this a custom in ancient Babylonia? And if so, do we know if it was common practice, or only recorded in formal or religious contexts?
cultural-history social-history bronze-age mesopotamia ancient-babylon
cultural-history social-history bronze-age mesopotamia ancient-babylon
asked 9 hours ago
FluxFlux
1456 bronze badges
asked 9 hours ago
FluxFlux
1456 bronze badges
asked 9 hours ago
FluxFlux
1456 bronze badges
asked 9 hours ago
FluxFlux
1456 bronze badges
asked 9 hours ago
FluxFlux
1456 bronze badges
1456 bronze badges
No. My nose has never been there
– Ne Mo
34 mins ago
add a comment |
No. My nose has never been there
– Ne Mo
34 mins ago
No. My nose has never been there
– Ne Mo
34 mins ago
No. My nose has never been there
– Ne Mo
34 mins ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
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It seems like this was the 'polite' gesture of greeting in ancient Sumeria, and is actually the meaning of a Sumerian phrase for greeting:
She faces in the direction of the cultic activity, her right arm bent
at the elbow, hand raised before the face, in a well-known gesture of
pious greeting, comparable to those depicted in presentation scenes,
from Ur III seals to the Code of Hammurabi, and dinding its literary
referent in the Sumerian verb “to greet”—kiri šu-gal—literally, “to
let the hand be at the nose.”
The above from On Art in the Ancient Near East Volume II: From the Third Millennium BCE By Irene Winter (emphasis mine)
I'm not sure, but this image may represent the above described gesture:
From Code of Hammurabi
Another cylinder seal, this one linked to Ur-Nammu, (probably a little earlier then your preferred time), seems to show the same gesture:
Concerning the exact position of the hand (and the number of hands used), a reference here suggests some ambiguity:
Kiri Suga, literally 'to place the hand(s) (on) the nose', it is
evident that the gesture involves both nose and hand, yet their exact
positions have not yet been established.
answered 5 hours ago
justCaljustCal
20.6k2 gold badges54 silver badges92 bronze badges
Thanks for tracking that down, the context is still religious but the linguistic evidence seems telling. Do you know of any indications whether that custom persisted into the Old Babylonian period? The second millennium is my period of primary interest.
– Flux
5 hours ago
… and then a second later you posted the Hammurabi relief. That seems like a suggestive link to the 2nd mil to me, and if so it also makes the gesture seem much more natural than how I had pictured it. Much appreciated.
– Flux
5 hours ago
Is it actually to touch the nose, or just to put the hand near it?
– Aaron Brick
3 hours ago
add a comment |
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1 Answer
1
active
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votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
It seems like this was the 'polite' gesture of greeting in ancient Sumeria, and is actually the meaning of a Sumerian phrase for greeting:
She faces in the direction of the cultic activity, her right arm bent
at the elbow, hand raised before the face, in a well-known gesture of
pious greeting, comparable to those depicted in presentation scenes,
from Ur III seals to the Code of Hammurabi, and dinding its literary
referent in the Sumerian verb “to greet”—kiri šu-gal—literally, “to
let the hand be at the nose.”
The above from On Art in the Ancient Near East Volume II: From the Third Millennium BCE By Irene Winter (emphasis mine)
I'm not sure, but this image may represent the above described gesture:
From Code of Hammurabi
Another cylinder seal, this one linked to Ur-Nammu, (probably a little earlier then your preferred time), seems to show the same gesture:
Concerning the exact position of the hand (and the number of hands used), a reference here suggests some ambiguity:
Kiri Suga, literally 'to place the hand(s) (on) the nose', it is
evident that the gesture involves both nose and hand, yet their exact
positions have not yet been established.
answered 5 hours ago
justCaljustCal
20.6k2 gold badges54 silver badges92 bronze badges
Thanks for tracking that down, the context is still religious but the linguistic evidence seems telling. Do you know of any indications whether that custom persisted into the Old Babylonian period? The second millennium is my period of primary interest.
– Flux
5 hours ago
… and then a second later you posted the Hammurabi relief. That seems like a suggestive link to the 2nd mil to me, and if so it also makes the gesture seem much more natural than how I had pictured it. Much appreciated.
– Flux
5 hours ago
Is it actually to touch the nose, or just to put the hand near it?
– Aaron Brick
3 hours ago
add a comment |
It seems like this was the 'polite' gesture of greeting in ancient Sumeria, and is actually the meaning of a Sumerian phrase for greeting:
She faces in the direction of the cultic activity, her right arm bent
at the elbow, hand raised before the face, in a well-known gesture of
pious greeting, comparable to those depicted in presentation scenes,
from Ur III seals to the Code of Hammurabi, and dinding its literary
referent in the Sumerian verb “to greet”—kiri šu-gal—literally, “to
let the hand be at the nose.”
The above from On Art in the Ancient Near East Volume II: From the Third Millennium BCE By Irene Winter (emphasis mine)
I'm not sure, but this image may represent the above described gesture:
From Code of Hammurabi
Another cylinder seal, this one linked to Ur-Nammu, (probably a little earlier then your preferred time), seems to show the same gesture:
Concerning the exact position of the hand (and the number of hands used), a reference here suggests some ambiguity:
Kiri Suga, literally 'to place the hand(s) (on) the nose', it is
evident that the gesture involves both nose and hand, yet their exact
positions have not yet been established.
answered 5 hours ago
justCaljustCal
20.6k2 gold badges54 silver badges92 bronze badges
Thanks for tracking that down, the context is still religious but the linguistic evidence seems telling. Do you know of any indications whether that custom persisted into the Old Babylonian period? The second millennium is my period of primary interest.
– Flux
5 hours ago
… and then a second later you posted the Hammurabi relief. That seems like a suggestive link to the 2nd mil to me, and if so it also makes the gesture seem much more natural than how I had pictured it. Much appreciated.
– Flux
5 hours ago
Is it actually to touch the nose, or just to put the hand near it?
– Aaron Brick
3 hours ago
add a comment |
It seems like this was the 'polite' gesture of greeting in ancient Sumeria, and is actually the meaning of a Sumerian phrase for greeting:
She faces in the direction of the cultic activity, her right arm bent
at the elbow, hand raised before the face, in a well-known gesture of
pious greeting, comparable to those depicted in presentation scenes,
from Ur III seals to the Code of Hammurabi, and dinding its literary
referent in the Sumerian verb “to greet”—kiri šu-gal—literally, “to
let the hand be at the nose.”
The above from On Art in the Ancient Near East Volume II: From the Third Millennium BCE By Irene Winter (emphasis mine)
I'm not sure, but this image may represent the above described gesture:
From Code of Hammurabi
Another cylinder seal, this one linked to Ur-Nammu, (probably a little earlier then your preferred time), seems to show the same gesture:
Concerning the exact position of the hand (and the number of hands used), a reference here suggests some ambiguity:
Kiri Suga, literally 'to place the hand(s) (on) the nose', it is
evident that the gesture involves both nose and hand, yet their exact
positions have not yet been established.
answered 5 hours ago
justCaljustCal
20.6k2 gold badges54 silver badges92 bronze badges
It seems like this was the 'polite' gesture of greeting in ancient Sumeria, and is actually the meaning of a Sumerian phrase for greeting:
She faces in the direction of the cultic activity, her right arm bent
at the elbow, hand raised before the face, in a well-known gesture of
pious greeting, comparable to those depicted in presentation scenes,
from Ur III seals to the Code of Hammurabi, and dinding its literary
referent in the Sumerian verb “to greet”—kiri šu-gal—literally, “to
let the hand be at the nose.”
The above from On Art in the Ancient Near East Volume II: From the Third Millennium BCE By Irene Winter (emphasis mine)
I'm not sure, but this image may represent the above described gesture:
From Code of Hammurabi
Another cylinder seal, this one linked to Ur-Nammu, (probably a little earlier then your preferred time), seems to show the same gesture:
Concerning the exact position of the hand (and the number of hands used), a reference here suggests some ambiguity:
Kiri Suga, literally 'to place the hand(s) (on) the nose', it is
evident that the gesture involves both nose and hand, yet their exact
positions have not yet been established.
answered 5 hours ago
justCaljustCal
20.6k2 gold badges54 silver badges92 bronze badges
edited 2 hours ago
answered 5 hours ago
justCaljustCal
20.6k2 gold badges54 silver badges92 bronze badges
answered 5 hours ago
justCaljustCal
20.6k2 gold badges54 silver badges92 bronze badges
answered 5 hours ago
justCaljustCal
20.6k2 gold badges54 silver badges92 bronze badges
20.6k2 gold badges54 silver badges92 bronze badges
Thanks for tracking that down, the context is still religious but the linguistic evidence seems telling. Do you know of any indications whether that custom persisted into the Old Babylonian period? The second millennium is my period of primary interest.
– Flux
5 hours ago
… and then a second later you posted the Hammurabi relief. That seems like a suggestive link to the 2nd mil to me, and if so it also makes the gesture seem much more natural than how I had pictured it. Much appreciated.
– Flux
5 hours ago
Is it actually to touch the nose, or just to put the hand near it?
– Aaron Brick
3 hours ago
add a comment |
Thanks for tracking that down, the context is still religious but the linguistic evidence seems telling. Do you know of any indications whether that custom persisted into the Old Babylonian period? The second millennium is my period of primary interest.
– Flux
5 hours ago
… and then a second later you posted the Hammurabi relief. That seems like a suggestive link to the 2nd mil to me, and if so it also makes the gesture seem much more natural than how I had pictured it. Much appreciated.
– Flux
5 hours ago
Is it actually to touch the nose, or just to put the hand near it?
– Aaron Brick
3 hours ago
Thanks for tracking that down, the context is still religious but the linguistic evidence seems telling. Do you know of any indications whether that custom persisted into the Old Babylonian period? The second millennium is my period of primary interest.
– Flux
5 hours ago
Thanks for tracking that down, the context is still religious but the linguistic evidence seems telling. Do you know of any indications whether that custom persisted into the Old Babylonian period? The second millennium is my period of primary interest.
– Flux
5 hours ago
… and then a second later you posted the Hammurabi relief. That seems like a suggestive link to the 2nd mil to me, and if so it also makes the gesture seem much more natural than how I had pictured it. Much appreciated.
– Flux
5 hours ago
… and then a second later you posted the Hammurabi relief. That seems like a suggestive link to the 2nd mil to me, and if so it also makes the gesture seem much more natural than how I had pictured it. Much appreciated.
– Flux
5 hours ago
Is it actually to touch the nose, or just to put the hand near it?
– Aaron Brick
3 hours ago
Is it actually to touch the nose, or just to put the hand near it?
– Aaron Brick
3 hours ago
add a comment |
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No. My nose has never been there
– Ne Mo
34 mins ago