シュメール語の嘆願の文学書簡とその意義について
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概要
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The Old Babylonian Sumerian letters have been divided into three types, archival letter-orders, literary letters, and a particular group of literary letters referred to as “Gottesbriefe” or “letter-prayers.” As these terms imply, this third group includes letters addressed to various deities, that is, prayers in letter-form.The “Gottesbriefe” usually have a lengthy opening salutation, continue with a brief self-introduction of the letter-writer, and proceed to the body of the letter, which includes a complaint describing either the causes or the consequences of the letter-writers suffering, together with a petition for protection or relief from the suffering. It should be strongly pointed out, however, that this formal character of “Gottesbriefe” is also shared by letters addressed to kings and others.The present writer particularly pays attention to the relationship between the opening salutation and the contents of the body of the letter. He proves that, both in the letters addressed to gods and those to kings, an elongated salutation apparently goes along with the inclusion of a “petition” in the body of the letter. If such relationship is true, there is no good reason to exclude the letters addressed to the kings and others from the group. However if the letters addressed to the kings and others are included in the same group, as those addressed to gods, that is the “letter-prayer” category, the term “letter prayers” is no longer an appropriate label. The present writer proposes that, if a label for this group is necessary, “letter of petition” should be adequate.The present writer also describes the probable course of the gradual transformation that the Old Babylonian Sumerian archival and literary letters experienced.