Английская Википедия:Balag

Материал из Онлайн справочника
Перейти к навигацииПерейти к поиску

Файл:Standing Male Worshiper.jpg
Standing male worshiper, Early Dynastic I-II ca. 2900–2600 BCE, Mesopotamia. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Шаблон:Infobox literary genre Шаблон:About 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,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn and every balag had a proper name.Шаблон:Sfn Despite the importance of the instrument in the rituals, its identity is disputed,Шаблон:Sfn 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,Шаблон:Sfn while lamenting what may happen to the city should the god decide to abandon it.Шаблон:Sfn Balags were used from the Old Babylonian period to the Seleucid Empire.Шаблон:Sfn

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 (Шаблон:Cuneiform eme-sal).Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Each balag is composed for a particular god.Шаблон:Sfn

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

Despite its importance in the rituals, the balag instrument's exact nature is debated.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn There were earlier suggestions that it was a bell.Шаблон:Sfn

Every balag had a proper name.Шаблон:Sfn For example, the names of two balags commissioned by Gudea included ‘Great Dragon of the Land' and 'Lady as Exalted as Heaven'.Шаблон:Sfn

The word was loaned into Syriac as p(ə)laggā (Шаблон:Lang-syr), referring to a type of drum.

See also

References

Citations

Шаблон:Reflist

Sources

Шаблон:Refbegin

Шаблон:Refend

Further reading