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Enrique Jiménez edited this page Mar 31, 2020 · 6 revisions

Conventions for the Use of the Manuscript Editor

eBL

1 Basic Concepts and Terminology

1.1 Fragment

A fragment is an inscribed physical artifact, usually a part of a clay tablet. Fragments are edited in the Fragmentarium, especially if they haven’t been published and assigned yet.

1.2 Composition

tba

1.3 Manuscript

A manuscript is a fragment that has properly been identified as a textual witness of a composition. Classifying a clay tablet as a manuscript says nothing about its state of preservation: manuscripts can be quite fragmentary! Manuscripts are edited in the Corpus.

2 List of Manuscripts

2.2 Information Pertaining to a Composition

2.2.1 Chapter

A chapter is a part of a composition. The division of a composition into chapters should follow ancient conventions (ṭuppu, nisḫu, pirsu &cet.) whereever possible (CLASSIFICATION: „Ancient“). If no ancient division into chapters is known the division into chapters can be used to establish a conventional order among the sections of a composition that can not be fully reconstructed yet (CLASSIFICATION: „Modern“).

2.2.2 Stage

Is a property of a composition, not of a single manuscript. It pertains to a distinct developmental stage of a composition’s literary, redaction or textual history.

2.2.3 Version

A version describes a distinguishable form of a composition within one of its developmental stages. To distinguish between versions is particularly important when dealing with the fluidity of textual traditions in the Old-Babylonian period.

2.2.4 Summary of the Nesting of Categories

composition > stage > version > chapter > manuscript

2.3 Information Pertaining to the mMnuscripts

2.3.1 Provenance

Assyria Assa Aššur Ašš Ḫuzirina Huz Kalḫu Kal Khorsabad Kho Nineveh Nin Tarbiṣu Tar Babylonia Baba Babylon Bab Borsippa Bor Cutha Cut Isin Isn Kiš Kiš Larsa Lar Meturan Met Nērebtum Nēr Nippur Nip Sippar Sip Šaduppûm Šad Ur Ur Uruk Urk Periphery Alalakh Ala Tell el-Amarna Ama Emar Emr Ḫattuša Hat Mari Mar Megiddo Meg Susa Sus Ugarit Uga Unclear Unc

2.3.2 Period

For the dates given cf. Frahm 2013. Ur III (ca. 2100-2002 BC) Ur3 Old Assyrian (ca. 1950-1850 BC) OA Old Babylonian (ca. 2002-1595 BC) OB Middle Babylonian (ca. 1595-1000 BC) MB Middle Assyrian (ca. 1595-1000 BC) MA Hittite (ca. 1500-1100 BC) Hit Neo-Assyrian (ca. 1000-609 BC) NA Neo-Babylonian (ca. 1000-539 BC) NB Late Babylonian (539 BC-ca. 100 CE) LB Persian (539-331 BC) Per Hellenistic (331-141 BC) Hel Parthian (141 BC-ca. 100 CE) Par Uncertain Unc

2.3.2.1 Early or Late?

For some of the periods (OB, MB, MA, NA, LB) there is the option to specify, if a manuscript seemingly stems from the beginning or the end of a given period. This indication is not meant to be definitve, but rather functions as a flag for tablets where further paleographical (&cet.) research could yield interessting results.

2.3.3 Tablet Type Typology

Library ø (Nothing) School Sch Commentary Com Quotation Quo Varia Var

2.3.3.1 Definitions

Library: A library tablet contains a complete composition or chapter. Sch: School tablets contain multiple excerpts form different compositions. Com: A Commentary is a text that is dedicated to a particular composition and cites words, lines or parts in order to explain, clarify, interpret &cet. Quo: Quotations are singular lines of a composition that are cited in a different context, usually in order to elucidate a line or word of a different composition or to refer to a composition via its incipit (e.g. catalogue entries, catchlines). Var: Everything else.

2.3.4 Siglum

  • A siglum has to be unique within a chapter.
  • A siglum is composed of the following information about a manuscript: Provenance+Period+Type+Disambiguator
Example
UrkHelSch1
UrkHelSch2
&cet.
2.3.4.1 And what about the script?

As the script of a given tablet can almost always be deduced form the combination of provenance and period, information about the script (or ductus) is not included in the siglum. For the babylonian tablets from Nineveh the combination of Nin and NB should be used, e.g. NinNB2

2.3.4.2 Disambiguator
  • Arabic numerals should be used to distinguish between multiple manuscripts from the same time and place (cf. example above).
  • Lower case letters should be used to indicate that manuscripts are part of the same physical tablet, if they don’t join directly.
Example

Rm 2, 494 (+) 1882-05-22, 0541: Rm 2, 494 becomes NinNA1a and 1882-05-22, 0541 becomes NinNA1b.

  • Note that indirectly joining parts of a manuscripts are transliterated in seperate lines, each with its specific line count.
  • Join drawings and visualisations of reconstructed multi-part manuscripts will be added in the future.
2.3.4.3 Setting a Siglum in the Manuscript Editor

When setting a siglum in the manuscript editor, only the disambiguator needs to be manually entered into the SIGLUM-field. The rest of the necessary information will be automatically extracted from the manuscript and chapter metadata.

2.3.5 Museum and Accession Numbers

The format of the museum and accession numbers should follow the conventions that also apply to the Fragmentarium. K → K. Rm 2, Rm.2 → Rm-II. R. → Rm. S., SM. → Sm. BM → BM.

  • Don’t use leading zeros.
  • BM accession numbers are given as 1889,0426.165 (without any prefixes).
  • If there is a museum and an accession number the museum number suffices.
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