The most arresting feature of this otherwise nondescript fragment is a quotation of a verse from the Epic of Creation (l. 2′, [ina simti šutakṣib]am-ma bini ark[āniš], “‘Diminish in the proper stages and shine backwards!’,” Enūma eliš V 20). The line in question is part of a speech by Marduk to the moon god Sîn, which instructs the latter on how to wax and wane. The next line of the present fragment refers to a “Boat God” (dmá), a name that is known from the god list An = Anu as a sobriquet of the moon god.1 The previous word of line 3′, “to renew” (edēšu), probably also refers to the moon, which is said in Akkadian literature to renew itself every month. Little of the remaining lines of the fragment is understandable: they mention “Marduk like a father” and a “pure food offering” (both are phrases known elsewhere in Akkadian poetry).

The question is thus whether the present fragment belongs to a commentary on Enūma eliš, or rather to a commentary on a different text that happens to quote the Creation Epic, perhaps as part of a discussion on the character and functions of the moon god. Since the line of Enūma eliš quoted in the present passage does not feature in any of the known commentaries on the Epic, the latter possibility seems more likely.

• 1. The sobriquet is due to the traditional representation of the moon as lying flat with the horns upwards, which looks like the cross-section of a boat. See W. G. Lambert, “Ma, Magula(-anna), Magur, Makurru”, Reallexikon der Assyriologie, vol. 7, p. 192, 1987.