CCP 3.5.21 - Ālu 21

Catalogue information
National Museum of Iraq
IM 76985
W 22554/7
Uruk›Uruk, Ue XVIII/1 Wohnhaus ob. Fb.
CDLI: 
P348847
Publication
Copy: 
SpTU 5 260
Editions: 

Besnier, 2009 (GKAB)

von Weiher, 1998E. von Weiher, Spätbabylonische Texte aus dem Planquadrat U 18. Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1998.: 78 no. 260

Commentary
Divination›Terrestrial omens (Šumma Ālu)

ṣâtu 7c

Base text: 
Ālu 21
Tablet information
Babylonian
Fragment
Columns: 
1
Lines: 
obv 14, rev 8
Size: 
6,7 × 4,7 cm
Early Hellenistic (late 4th cent) (Uruk, Iqīšāya)
Colophon
[Ninurta-ušabši] s. Enlil-kēšir (?), brewer of Enlil (?)
Bibliography

Clancier, 2009P. Clancier, Les bibliothèques en Babylonie dans le deuxième moitié du 1er millénaire av. J.-C. Ugarit-Verlag, 2009.
[Descendants d'Ekur-zakir]: 399

Frahm, 2002E. Frahm, “Zwischen Tradition und Neuerung: Babylonische Priestergelehrte im achämenidenzeitlichen Uruk”, in Religion und Religionskontakte im Zeitalter der Achämeniden, R. G. Kratz, Ed. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2002, pp. 74-108.
[Identification of the owner]: 92

Frahm, 2011E. Frahm, Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries. Origins of Interpretation. Ugarit-Verlag, 2011.: 52, 54, 193-96, 198, 236, 294, 300

Gabbay, 2016U. Gabbay, The Exegetical Terminology of Akkadian Commentaries. Brill, 2016.
[On line 3]: 74

Gabbay & Jiménez, forthcomingU. Gabbay and Jiménez, E. , “From Nippur to Uruk: The Tablets of the Gimil-Sîn Family”.
[On the colophon]

Genty, 2010aT. Genty, Les commentaires dans les textes cunéiformes assyro-babyloniens. MA thesis, 2010.
[Catalogue]: 414

von Weiher, 1998E. von Weiher, Spätbabylonische Texte aus dem Planquadrat U 18. Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1998.
[Edition]: 78 no. 260

Record
Besnier, 01/2009 (ATF Transliteration)
Besnier, 01/2009 (Lemmatization)
Jiménez, 05/2015 (Revision)
Jiménez, 05/2015 (Translation)
Jiménez, 05/2015 (Introduction)
Y. Cohen, 02/2016 (Correction [r 4′])
Jiménez, 08/2016 (Commentary markup)
Fadhil & van Ess, 10/2017 (Museum number & Correction excavation number)
By Enrique Jiménez | Make a correction or suggestion
How to cite
Jiménez, E., 2015, “Commentary on Ālu 21 (CCP 3.5.21),” Cuneiform Commentaries Project (E. Frahm, E. Jiménez, M. Frazer, and K. Wagensonner), 2013–2024; accessed April 26, 2024, at https://ccp.yale.edu/P348847. DOI: 10079/70rxws5
© Cuneiform Commentaries Project (Citation Guidelines)
Introduction

This small and badly damaged tablet preserves meager remains of a commentary on the 21st tablet of the divination series Šumma Ālu. Although it was found in Uruk and it probably belonged to the tablet collection of Iqīšāya, the colophon of the tablet contains some distinctly Nippurean names. Thus, the tablet was written or owned by one [Ninurta-ušabš]i, son of Enlil-kēšir (?), brewer of Enlil (?), and perhaps a member of the Gimil-Sîn family.1 This same scribe is known to have written another Šumma Ālu commentary, CCP 3.5.45.A, and his name may be attested in a document from Nippur that dates to 381 BCE.2

 

The colophon of the tablet identifies its contents as a ṣâtu 7c commentary on the 21st “reading” (malsûtu) of Šumma Ālu. However, the poor state of preservation of both the obverse of the present tablet and of the first section of Šumma Ālu 21 prevents us from recognizing the base text of most commentarial entries. At least on one occasion (o 3) the commentary uses the technical term šanîš, used to introduce alternative explanations.

 

The present edition has benefited greatly from an electronic edition prepared by Marie-Françoise Besnier for the GKAB project, kindly made available by Eleanor Robson. Although the tablet could not be collated, several readings proposed here depart from those adopted by von Weiher and Besnier: they are marked with an exclamation sign.

Edition

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(Base text – Commentary – Quotations from other texts)

ccpo

SpTU 5, 260

Obverse
o 1o 1

[* ina É lúUG₇ GIM TI IGIir LÚ BI UG₇] BIR⸢aḫ⸣ É : ⸢lú?UG₇? x⸣ [...]

(o 1) [“If a dead man like a living one is seen in a man’s house, that man will die, dispersal of the] house” (= Šumma Ālu XXI 1), “dead man” means [...].

o 22

[...]-⸢x⸣-in-ni-šú : x [...]

(o 2) [...] his [...]

o 33

[...]-⸢ru?-uš⸣-tu₄ šá-niš ḫa-⸢x⸣-[...]

(o 3) [...] ... alternatively ... [...]

o 44

[...] ba-ri-ru LÚ ⸢ru⸣-[...]

(o 4) [...] radiance, a man ... [...]

o 55

[...] ⸢x-li-ti x ana? É x⸣ [...]

(o 5) [...] ... to the house ... [...]

o 66

[...] ⸢x⸣ ib-lu-ṭu šá ⸢x x⸣ [...]

(o 6) [... while] he lives; that ... [...]

o 77

[... lu ša ú]-⸢ma!-mu!⸣ lu ša! ⸢NAM!⸣.LÚ.U₁₈!.LU [...]

(o 7) [... “If an old bone, whether a]nimal or human [...]” (= Šumma Ālu XXI 19) [...]

o 88

[...] ⸢x-tu₄ ana LÚ⸣ i-te-ru AN.TA ⸢x⸣ x [x x x]

(o 8) [...] will increase for the man; above ... [...]

o 99

[...]-⸢nu :!⸣ ⸢*⸣ ina É NA ⸢ša! um!⸣-ṣa-a-tú ⸢DIRI!?⸣ [x x] x1

(o 9) [...] ... “If there is someone full of moles in a man’s house” (= Šumma Ālu XXI 22 (?)) ... [...]

o 1010

[...] ana ⸢x x-lu⸣ [(x)] ⸢giš⸣KIRI₆ LÚ ⸢x⸣ [x (x)] ⸢x⸣

(o 10) [...] to ... the man’s orchard (= Šumma Ālu XXI 26 (?)) ... [...] ...

o 1111

[...] ⸢iḫ!⸣-ru-⸢x⸣

(o 11) [...] shining

o 1212

[...] ⸢x⸣

(o 12) ...

o 1313

[...] ⸢li⸣ [x] ⸢x⸣

o 1414

[...] ⸢ru⸣ [x (x)]

(rest of obverse missing)
Reverse
rr NaN  (start of reverse missing)
r 1'r 1'

[... :] * DINGIR u dINNIN ⸢ti⸣-[ba]

(r 1') [... “If a god or goddess [estabishes] an attack [for him” (= Šumma Ālu XXI 109a) means ...]. “If it anoints and touches him, he will experience losses” (= Šumma Ālu XXI 109b) [means that ...], “he will touch it and will experience losses” .

r 2'2'

[iš-kun-šú ... TAG].TAG-ma TAG-su I.BÍ.ZA ⸢IGI⸣

r 3'3'

[...] ⸢TAG⸣-ma I.BÍ.ZA IGI

(colophon)
r 4'4'

[ṣa-a-tú u šu-ut KA ma-ša-a-al]-ti šá KA um-man-nu šá lìb-bi

(r 4') [Lemmata, oral explanations, and (materials for) a 'questioning' by a (master-)scholar, relating to “[If a dead man like a living one is se]en [in a man’s house]” (= Šumma Ālu 21). 21st “reading” (of the series) “(If) a city is set on a height". Not finished.

r 5'5'

[* ina É lúUG₇ GIM TI IGI]⸢ir!⸣ 21! mál-sutₓ(BÁN) URU ina SUKUD GARin NU AL.TIL

r 6'6'

[* ina itiBÁRA TA U₄ 1-KAM] ⸢EN⸣ U₄ 30-KAM la-am TA gišNÁ GÌR-šú

(r 6') [“If from the first] until the thirtieth of Nisannu, before a man has put his foot out of bed [onto the ground"] (= Šumma Ālu 22).

r 7'7'

[ana KI GARnu imGÍD.DA mdMAŠ-GÁL]⸢ši⸣ A mdEN!.LÍL-ke-šìr ašKUL

(r 7') [One-column tablet of Ninurta-ušabš]i, son of Enlil-kešir, brewer [of Enlil, descendant of Gimil-S]în. The reverer of Marduk, Ninurta, and Nusku shall not take (the tablet) away!

r 8'8'

[dìl-ìl A mŠU-d]30 pa-liḫ dUMUN dMAŠ u dU!.PA!2

r 9'9'

[NU] ⸢TÙM⸣-šú

1Compare perhaps Šumma Ālu XXI 22 (kiṣṣatu).

2The first three preserved oblique wedges could also be interpreted as UMUN.UMUN.UMUN (i.e., Enlil), rather than Sîn (as suggested by U. Gabbay, 5/2015). For the interpretation of dU.PA as Nusku, see Frahm GMTR 5 (2011) p. 196 and fn. 921.