src/about/ui/corpus.tsx
import React from 'react'
import { MarkdownParagraph } from 'common/Markdown'
import Markup from 'markup/ui/markup'
import MarkupService from 'markup/application/MarkupService'
import shamash134 from 'about/ui/static/shamash134.jpg'
import ee49 from 'about/ui/static/ee49.png'
import geneva from 'about/ui/static/geneva.jpg'
import muses from 'about/ui/static/muses.jpg'
import snf from 'about/ui/static/snf.jpg'
export default function AboutCorpus(markupService: MarkupService): JSX.Element {
return (
<>
<blockquote>
<p>
<em>
Ohne feste kritische Grundlage wird das philologische Gebäude auf
Sand aufgeführt und die philologische Wissenschaft gestaltet sich
zum bloßen Dilettantismus.
</em>
</p>
<MarkdownParagraph text="W. Freund, [_Triennium philologicum oder Grundzüge der philologischen Wissenschaften_](https://books.google.de/books?id=PFJeAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false). Leipzig, 1874." />
</blockquote>
<MarkdownParagraph
text="The eBL editions aim to present the best text that can be reconstructed at
present. The editions prepared in the course of the project include all
previous scholarship on the texts, and in particular all new manuscripts
identified after the last printed editions. The eBL edition of the [*Cuthaean
Legend of Narām-Sîn*](/corpus/L/1/12), for instance, almost doubles the
manuscript basis of the text available to its last editor; that of the
[*Counsels of Wisdom*](/corpus/L/2/3) includes over twenty new manuscripts that
were absent from the most recent printed edition. Most of the new manuscripts
used have been identified by the eBL team, and are currently being published in
the series of articles *From the Electronic Babylonian Literature Lab* that
appear in the journal *Kaskal*. Moreover, the eBL editions are constantly
updated, and the editors will incorporate new discoveries as they appear."
/>
<h3>I. Corpus</h3>
<Markup
markupService={markupService}
text="The core corpus of literature of the eBL project is divided into three
categories: Narrative Poetry, Monologue and dialogue literature, and Literary
Hymns and Prayers, a tripartite division that has been advocated for other
periods and languages in Mesopotamia (e.g. by @bib{RN754@67–69}). The texts in
each category have been edited by members of the eBL team, who have worked
closely with B. R. Foster and, in the case of @i{Gilgameš}, with A. R. George."
/>
<h3>II. Translations</h3>
<figure className="Introduction__photoRight">
<a href="https://www.eisenbrauns.org/books/titles/978-1-883053-76-5.html">
<img
className="Introduction__200px"
src={muses}
alt="Foster, Before the Muses"
/>
</a>
<figcaption className="Introduction__caption">
Foster, <em>Before the Muses</em>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<Markup
markupService={markupService}
text="The English translations on the eBL platform have been prepared by Benjamin R.
Foster, Laffan Professor of Assyriology and Babylonian Literature (Yale
University). Foster is the author of a much-cited English anthology of
Babylonian literature (@bib{RN164}). Prof. Foster has kindly updated his
translations of texts in the course of 2019–2023 to match the new editions."
/>
<MarkdownParagraph
text="Additional translations have been produced by A. R. George (*Gilgameš*), W. G.
Lambert ([A Syncretistic Hymn to Ištar](/corpus/L/3/3) and [Marduk’s Address to
the Demons](/corpus/L/3/3)), T. Mitto ([Catalogue of Texts and
Authors](/corpus/L/0/0) and [Hymn to Ninurta as Savior](/corpus/L/3/10)) and E.
Jiménez."
/>
<MarkdownParagraph
text="In addition, a series of translations into Arabic are in preparation by A. A.
Fadhil, W. Khatabe, and W. Zerkly (see for now A. A. Fadhil’s Arabic
translation of [*Enūma eliš* I](/corpus/L/1/2/SB/I))"
/>
<h3>III. Ideal Text</h3>
<MarkdownParagraph
text="The main version displayed on the eBL Corpus is a phonetic transcription of the
text, which has been adjusted according to the rules of Standard Babylonian
grammar. This practice somewhat departs from the Assyriological tradition of
editing “eclectic” texts, i.e. transliterations that combine the readings of
various manuscripts. It has been adopted, however, in the conviction that
Mesopotamian texts are also objects of art, and not just objects of scientific
study, and as such convey their message only through the interplay of form and
content."
/>
<figure className="Introduction__photoLeft">
<img
className="Introduction__450px"
src={ee49}
alt="eBL edition of Enūma eliš I 49"
/>
<figcaption className="Introduction__caption">
eBL edition of <em>Enūma eliš</em>{' '}
<a href="/corpus/L/1/2/SB/I#49">I 49</a>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<MarkdownParagraph
text="The practice of using a phonetic transcription as the main text no doubt has
disadvantages: for instance, it obscures the way in which the text is written
in cuneiform, and it affords a sense of grammatical certainty that is absent
from a regular transliteration. However, it also offers considerable
advantages: in particular, it does not require the editor to adopt any
particular spelling when no good criteria exist for preferring one over the
other. In *Enūma eliš* [I 49](/corpus/L/1/2/SB/I#49) (see the adjoining image),
for instance, the editor would have to choose between the accusative
*al-ka-ta*, attested only in Assyrian manuscripts, or the normal Babylonian
spelling *al-ka-tu*₄. In a transcription the editor can convey his
interpretation of the text in a much more satisfactory manner than in a
traditional transliteration."
/>
<MarkdownParagraph
text="The transcription respects the ways in which the manuscripts are written as
much as possible. For instance, *Enūma eliš* [VI 124](/corpus/L/1/2/SB/VI#124)
is transcribed as *muṭaḫḫidu urîšun*, “who enriches their stables,” and thus
assumes a hymno-epic ending -*u* of the *nomen regens*, instead of the normal
bound form *muṭaḫḫid*, since *mu-ṭaḫ-ḫi-du* is the spelling of all manuscripts."
/>
<h3>IV. Score Edition</h3>
<figure className="Introduction__photoRight">
<img
className="Introduction__450px"
src={shamash134}
alt="eBL edition of Šamaš Hymn 134"
/>
<figcaption className="Introduction__caption">
eBL edition of <em>Šamaš Hymn</em>{' '}
<a href="/corpus/L/3/4/SB/-#134">134</a>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<MarkdownParagraph
text="Since the number of manuscripts of each text is constantly growing, cuneiform
studies is reaching the point where it is no longer possible to print text
editions in the score format. Just the eBL edition score of *Enūma eliš*, for
example, would require some 300 pages in font size 10. Despite this technical
limitation, scores are the fastest, most straightforward way of checking
exactly how manuscripts write their texts. The eBL scores are, moreover,
aligned with the ideal line, so that the reader can check the manuscript basis
of the editor’s decisions at any time."
/>
<MarkdownParagraph
text="All transliterations have been checked twice against the published copies and
against photographs and in some cases the originals of the cuneiform tablets."
/>
<h3>V. Paratextual information</h3>
<MarkdownParagraph
text="Each text is furnished with an introduction, which discusses the content and
structure of the text, its origins and transmission, its Sitz im Leben and the
history of research concerning the text."
/>
<MarkdownParagraph
text="The editions are fully lemmatized and annotated. The annotation includes
indications of all parallel lines, so that the text can be studied as part of
the intertextual network in which it belongs. In addition, the notes on
individual lines endeavor to provide the reader with references to all previous
bibliography, with particular emphasis on studies which have appeared in the
last few years. The notes on the score edition discuss mostly philological
issues pertaining to an individual manuscript."
/>
<MarkdownParagraph
text="The colophons of the individual manuscripts are transliterated independently,
and can be accessed on the homepage of any text (e.g. [here](/corpus/L/1/4)).
In some cases, manuscripts include lines that, though clearly part of the
composition in question, cannot yet be placed in it, and thus are
transliterated independently, as Unplaced lines."
/>
<h3>VI. Šumma ālu</h3>
<MarkdownParagraph
text="The editions of *Šumma ālu* presented here were prepared in the context of the
projects “Edition of the Omen Series Šumma Alu” (2017–2021;
[http://p3.snf.ch/project-175970](http://p3.snf.ch/project-175970)) and
“Typology and potential of the excerpt tablets of Šumma alu” (2022–2023;
[http://p3.snf.ch/project-205122](http://p3.snf.ch/project-205122)), both
directed by Prof. Catherine Mittermayer at the University of Geneva and funded
by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The complete score editions can be
downloaded (PDF) at the “Archive ouverte” of the University of Geneva
([https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/](https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/); search
for “Shumma alu”)."
/>
<figure className="Introduction__photoCentered">
<a href="https://www.unige.ch/">
<img src={geneva} alt="Université de Genève" />
</a>
<a href="https://www.snf.ch/fr">
<img
src={snf}
alt="Fonds national suisse de la recherche scientifique"
/>
</a>
</figure>
</>
)
}