The Balaĝ Instrument and its Role in the Cult of Ancient Mesopotamia

The balaĝ instrument played an important part in ancient Mesopotamian religion, but its identification has been disputed for many years. There is some evidence that the balaĝ was a stringed instrument and other evidence that it was a drum. Anne Kilmer tried to integrate the evidence by hypothesizing that originally it was a stringed instrument whose sound box could have been used as a drummable resonator as well, and that eventually its name became associated with the percussion instrument alone (Kilmer 1995: 465). Other scholars understood the term balaĝ as a general word for musical instruments (Hartmann 1960: 57) or for stringed instruments (Krispijn 1990: 6–7; 2002: 468). Similarly to Kilmer, my understanding is that the textual and iconographical evidence demonstrate that originally the balaĝ was a stringed instrument, and that with time the term began to include a drum as well. However, I believe that this process did not occur because of the use of the resonator also as a drum, but rather due to the cultic environment and circumstances in which the balaĝ instrument was played.