balag

File:Standing Male Worshiper.jpg.]]

{{Infobox literary genre

| name = Balag

| stylistic_origins =

| cultural_origins = Sumer

| features = Repetition

| popularity =

| formats = Hymns

| authors = Priests

| subgenrelist =

| sub-genres =

| relatedgenres =

| regional_scenes =

| local_scenes =

| Related topics =

}}

In Mesopotamia, a balag (or balaĝ) refers both to a Sumerian religious literary genre and also to a closely associated musical instrument. In Mesopotamian religion, Balag prayers were sung by a Gala priest as ritual acts were performed around the instrument. Sometimes the instrument itself was regarded as a minor deity,{{sfn|Bowen|2020|p=70}}{{sfn|Sachs|2012|loc=Chapter 3, section on drums, paragraph 18}} and every balag had a proper name.{{sfn|Sachs|2012|loc=Chapter 3, section on drums, paragraph 11}} Despite the importance of the instrument in the rituals, its identity is disputed,{{sfn| Gabbay |2014|loc=§1}} but is generally thought to be either a drum or a string instrument such as a lyre. The purpose of the ritual involving this prayer and instrument was to soothe the local deity with pleasings sounds,{{sfn| Gabbay |2014|loc=§11}} while lamenting what may happen to the city should the god decide to abandon it.{{sfn|Bowen|2020|p=70-72}} Balags were used from the Old Babylonian period to the Seleucid Empire.{{sfn| Sperling |1980|page=371}}

Characteristics

As a literary genre, the balag was written in the cuneiform script and sung by the Gala priest in a dialect of Sumerian called Emesal ({{cuneiform|sux|𒅴𒊩}} eme-sal).{{sfn|Bowen|2020|p=68}}{{sfn| Sperling |1980|page=372}} Each balag is composed for a particular god.{{sfn| Sperling |1980|page=371}}

The precursor to the balag was the City Lament, a type of prayer that was recited when temples were destroyed and rebuilt.{{sfn| Sperling |1980|page=371}} The balag instrument was known to accompany the city lament.{{sfn| Sperling |1980|page=371}} Over time, as city laments became associated with scribal schools, the balag was adapted for many different ritual uses.{{sfn| Sperling |1980|page=371}} As the city lament became more distant from ritual activity, the balag emerged as a distinct literary genre.{{sfn| Sperling |1980|page=371}}

Despite its importance in the rituals, the balag instrument's exact nature is debated.{{sfn| Gabbay |2014|loc=§1}}{{sfn| Gabbay |2018|loc=§2 pp. 2}} Some scholars regard it as a drum, others a stringed instrument such as a lyre. Others have claimed it is both of these at once, and another theory suggests the word balag started out referring to a lyre, but over the period of several millennia, it came to mean a drum.{{sfn| Gabbay |2014|loc=§8}} There were earlier suggestions that it was a bell.{{sfn| Sayce |1924|page=106}}

Every balag had a proper name.{{sfn|Sachs|2012|loc=Chapter 3, section on drums, paragraph 11}} For example, the names of two balags commissioned by Gudea included ‘Great Dragon of the Land' and 'Lady as Exalted as Heaven'.{{sfn|Kilmer|2001|loc=Section 2, pp. 1-2}}

The word was loaned into Syriac as p(ə)laggā ({{Langx|syr|ܦܠܓܐ}}), referring to a type of drum.

References

=Citations=

=Sources=

{{Cite book|title=Learning to Pray in a Dead Language: Education and Invocation in Ancient Sumerian |last=Bowen|first=Joshua|date=2020|language=en|publisher=Digital Hammurabi Press|isbn=978-1-7343586-6-7}}
{{cite journal|last= Cooper |first= Jerrold S. |year=2006 |title=Genre, Gender, and the Sumerian Lamentation |journal=Journal of Cuneiform Studies |volume=58|pages=39-47 | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40025222}}
{{cite journal|last= Gabbay |first= Uri |year= 2014 |title=The Balaĝ Instrument and its Role in the Cult of Ancient Mesopotamia |journal=Yuval|volume= 8 |publisher= The Hebrew University of Jerusalem |url=https://jewish-music.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/04%20The%20Bala%20Instrument%20and%20Its%20Role%20in%20the%20Cult%20of%20Ancient%20Mesopotamia%20pp%20129-147%20Uri%20Gabbay%20incl%20title%20pages.pdf }}
{{cite journal|last= Gabbay |first= Uri |year= 2018 |title=Drums, Hearts, Bulls, and Dead Gods: The Theology of the Ancient Mesopotamian Kettledrum |journal=Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions|volume=18 |publisher=Brill}}
{{cite book |last=Kilmer |first=Anne |date=2001 |title=The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell |location=London |publisher= Macmillan |page=§8 Mesopotamia}}
{{Cite book|title=The History of Musical Instruments |last=Sachs|first=Curt|date=2012|language=en|publisher=Dover Publications}}
{{cite journal|last=Sayce |first=A. H. |year=1924 |title=Hittite katral, Sumerian balag |journal=Archiv für Keilschriftforschung |volume=2|page=106 | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41552177}}
{{cite journal|last= Sperling |first= S. David |year=1980 |title=Reviewed Work(s): Balag-Compositions: Sumerian Lamentation Liturgies of the Second and First Millennium B. C. by Mark E. Cohen |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=100|pages=371-372 | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/601833}}

balag

Characteristics

See also

References

=Citations=

=Sources=

Further reading