Elamite month-names (1)

Text
Babylonian influences on the Elamite month-names can be traced from the third to first millennium BCE.
Old Elamite period: Some month-names that also feature in the standard Babylonian calendar have been found on tablets dealing with judicial matters found in Susa and written in Babylonian. Once, the logogram for the 8th standard Babylonian month, APIN, is used, probably as an abbreviated form of a longer name.
Middle Elamite period: A stele found in a royal Elamite tomb near Susa with an inscription in contemporary Babylonian reports a list of ritual provisions with Babylonian month-names, beginning with the twelfth Babylonian month and ending with the eleventh (while the sixth month-name is missing). A growing aversion from Babylonia in Elam later on in this period caused texts to be written increasingly in Elamite, but at the same time, more Babylonian logograms for standard Babylonian month-names were being used, both in abbreviated and in full form. Now, these usually signify Elamite month-names, with the exception of only a few Babylonian loanwords.
Neo-Elamite period: Except for the name of the seventh month, abbreviated logograms for standard Babylonian month-names are still in use.

Bibliography

Erik van Dongen

URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0001402.php