SIPA (shepherd)

According to the Sumerian king list, there are only two kings called "shepherds" after the flood: Etana "shepherd" and ^dLugal-banda "shepherd" (Su₁ omits the determinative of Lugal-banda).

Sumerian: sipa(d)    = shepherd

Proto-cuneiform SI

Gebelein painted linen, Gebelein, ca. 3600 BC

Proto-cuneiform PAP~b

A man harpooning a hippopotamus in the muzzle on C-Ware bowl, Naqada IA-IIB period

A man standing with a leashed young hippopotamus on Gebelein painted linen

This hippo was highly likely misinterpreted as a polled sheep.

HK6 (the elite cemetery) Tomb 54 at Hierakonpolis contained at least 6 large, castrated male sheep. One individual was polled, while four others were of the corkscrew-horn type.

HK6 Tomb 58 contained a sheep buried with the tasseled textiles and fragments of delicately woven leather.

Cylinder seal impression, Uruk, End of the 4th millennium BC

The antediluvian section is not an original part of the Sumerian king list but was added later.

According to the Sumerian king list, there is only one king called "shepherd" before the flood: ^dDumu-zi "shepherd."

Buried beneath the back-dirt in the elite cemetery (HK6):

Tomb 79, although thoroughly plundered, contained the bones of a 25–35 year old male, as well as the skull of a large adult sheep with intentionally modified horns.

Tomb 78 yielded the remains of two sub-adult tomb owners, aged 8 and 11–14 years respectively, whose bones were scattered throughout the fill.

Tomb 80 contained the remains of two women(?), 20–25 years of age, who had been laid upon the mat-lined floor.

Tomb 81 was heavily disturbed, its upper levels full of dog and goat bones that can be attributed to the adjacent Tombs 70 and 71. Below this, three adult females had been laid to rest on a layer of matting, but only their feet remained in partial articulation.

A total of eight persons were buried beneath the back-dirt in the elite cemetery (HK6).

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December 28, 2024   Takahiko Nakagawa