Nur-Aya
Old Babylonian scribe who copied the Atrahasis epic
- Lived
- Reign of Ammi-saduqa of Babylon
- Title
- Junior scribe
- Copied
- Atrahasis epic, three tablets
- Name readings
- Ku-Aya, Ipiq-Aya, Nur-Aya
The junior scribe whose colophons sign the oldest nearly complete copy of the Babylonian flood epic Atrahasis.
What is Nur-Aya known for?
The oldest nearly complete copy of the Atrahasis epic, the Babylonian account of the creation of humans and the Flood, was written on three tablets in the reign of King Ammi-saduqa, around 1635 BCE. Colophons at the end of the tablets name the copyist as a 'junior scribe'.
His name is written in cuneiform signs that can be read more than one way. Earlier scholars read it as Ellet-Aya or Mulil-Aya; later readings include Ku-Aya, and recent translations such as Stephanie Dalley's give Ipiq-Aya. The site uses the form Nur-Aya. All refer to the same scribe.
Nothing else is known about him. His copy matters because it preserves the Flood story in a form roughly a thousand years older than the Gilgamesh tablets from Ashurbanipal's library.
Wrote out the oldest full copy of the Atrahasis flood epic.
Mentioned on these pages
Sources
- James R. Battenfield, 'Atra-hasis: A Survey', Grace Theological Journal 12.2 (1971)Reference
- World History Encyclopedia, 'The Atrahasis Epic'Reference
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