Catalogue information

British Museum

K.3763

Nineveh›Nineveh (Kuyunjik)

CDLI:

P395223

Publication

Copy:

3R 59 15 [colophon]

ACh Šamaš 16

Editions:

van Soldt, 1995W. H. van Soldt, Solar omens of Enūma Anu Enlil: Tablets 23(24)-29(30). Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 1995.: 85, 89-90

Commentary

Divination›Astrological. Enūma Anu Enlil

mukallimtu 2a

Base text:

Enūma Anu Enlil 27(28)

Commentary no:

Tablet information

Assyrian

Fragment

Columns:

1 (or >)?

Lines:

35 (but lines 2-13 are completely lost)

Size:

6,03 × 5,08 × 1,58 cm

7th cent (Assurbanipal libraries and other Assyrian cities)

Colophon

Asb Typ a or k

Bibliography

Fincke, 2014bJ. C. Fincke, “Additions to already edited enūma anu enlil (EAE) tablets, part II: The tablets concerning the appearance of the sun published in PIHANS 73, part I”, Kaskal, vol. 11, pp. 103-139, 2014.
[Recensions]: 122-123

Frahm, 2011E. Frahm, Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries. Origins of Interpretation. Ugarit-Verlag, 2011.: 43, 133, 146

Gehlken, 2000E. Gehlken, “Sonnenaufgang in Sippar: Tafel 27 der Serie Enūma Anu Enlil”, in Studi sul Vicino Oriente Antico dedicati alla memoria di Luigi Cagni, S. Graziani, Ed. Istituto Orientali di Napoli, 2000, pp. 345-353.: 346

Reiner, 1998aE. Reiner, “Celestial Omen Tablets and Fragments in the British Museum”, in tikip santakki mala bašmu.. Festschrift für Rykle Borger zu seinem 65. Geburtstag am 24. Mai 1994, S. M. Maul, Ed. Styx, 1998, pp. 215-302.
[EAE 28]: 230

Streck, 1916M. Streck, Assurbanipal und die letzten assyrischen Könige bis zum Untergange Niniveh's. Hinrichs, 1916.
[Colophon Typ a]: lxxiv

van Soldt, 1995W. H. van Soldt, Solar omens of Enūma Anu Enlil: Tablets 23(24)-29(30). Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 1995.
[Edition]: 85, 89-90

Weidner, 1968E. F. Weidner, “Die astrologische Serie Enûma Anu Enlil”, Archiv für Orientforschung, vol. 22, pp. 65-75, 1968.: 67

Record

Frazer, 10/2017 (Transliteration)

Frazer, 10/2017 (Translation)

Frazer, 10/2017 (Introduction)

By Mary Frazer |

How to cite

Frazer, M., 2017, “Commentary on Enūma Anu Enlil 27(28) (CCP 3.1.27.B),” Cuneiform Commentaries Project (E. Frahm, E. Jiménez, M. Frazer, and K. Wagensonner), 2013–2024; accessed December 22, 2024, at https://ccp.yale.edu/P395223. DOI: 10079/ncjsxzq

BibTex XML RIS

Introduction

In its current state of preservation, this commentary deals with twelve omens derived from the appearance of the sun and drawn from the end of the ‘Babylonian’ recension of Tablet (‘Chapter’) 27 (28) of Enūma Anu Enlil, the divination treatise on omens derived from celestial and meteorological phenomena.1 Tablet 27 (28) is a particularly poorly attested Tablet of this treatise; its preserved omens are for the most part derived from phenomena that occur at sunrise (in the first part of the Tablet) and sunset (in the second part of the Tablet).2

The commentary is written in Neo-Assyrian script and in indentation-format, as is typical of commentaries designated “mukallimtu” from Nineveh (see here). The manuscipt is written in Neo-Assyrian script and has a landscape orientation. After the first line, most of the text on the obverse is lost. On the reverse, the commentary is separated by a single ruling from a) the catchline of Tablet 28 (29), b) a rubric that seems to conform to mukallimtu type 2a (following the categorization by Frahm 2011), and c) the colophon, which states that the manuscript belongs to the palace of Ashurbanipal (probably colophon ‘Assurbanipal Typ a,’ following H. Hunger’s 1968 designation).

As van Soldt notes, ll. 21-30 of the commentary consistently explain the setting of the sun in the base text as meaning a solar eclipse.

1. The parallels between the omens in this commentary and those in a manuscript of the Tablet from Achaemenid Sippar were first noted by E. Gehlken, “Sonnenaufgang in Sippar: Tafel 27 der Serie Enūma Anu Enlil”, in Studi sul Vicino Oriente Antico dedicati alla memoria di Luigi Cagni, S. Graziani, Ed. Istituto Orientali di Napoli, 2000, pp. 345-353. Pp. 26. The proposal that this commentary represents one of two recensions of this Tablet is that of J. C. Fincke, “Additions to already edited enūma anu enlil (EAE) tablets, part II: The tablets concerning the appearance of the sun published in PIHANS 73, part I”, Kaskal, vol. 11, pp. 103-139, 2014. Pp. 122-123.
2. See W. H. van Soldt, Solar omens of Enūma Anu Enlil: Tablets 23(24)-29(30). Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 1995. P. 85 for an introduction to this Tablet, including the edition of the commentary that is re-published here. In addition, for the publication of a further manuscript of the base text (BM 77480+, from early Achaemenid Sippar) that includes the omens commented on in this commentary, see E. Gehlken, “Sonnenaufgang in Sippar: Tafel 27 der Serie Enūma Anu Enlil”, in Studi sul Vicino Oriente Antico dedicati alla memoria di Luigi Cagni, S. Graziani, Ed. Istituto Orientali di Napoli, 2000, pp. 345-353. See also J. C. Fincke, “Additions to already edited enūma anu enlil (EAE) tablets, part II: The tablets concerning the appearance of the sun published in PIHANS 73, part I”, Kaskal, vol. 11, pp. 103-139, 2014. Pp. 122-123, for a new join to one of the Nineveh manuscripts published by van Soldt, and for the publication of a further manuscript (BM 53823).

Edition

ccpo

ACh Shamash 16[via ccpo]


Obverse
x23	obverse
11	* 20 ⸢KUR-ma UD⸣.DA^?-⸢su dan⸣-[nat]	“If the sun rises and its light is str[ong”]
	lines 2 to 13 are broken
1414	* ⸢20⸣ [...]	“If the sun […”]
1515	a-na ⸢x x⸣ [...]	means “To …”
1616	* 20 ina GAL-šú 2-šú^ši-^tin-^šú a-dir 3-šú^šá-^lul-^taš-^šú ZÁLAG^ir LUGAL KUR ⸢ZÁḪ⸣	“If two thirds of the sun are dark when it sets and one third is is clear, the king will destroy the country.”
1717	* 20 ina GAL-šú i-zu-za-šú DARA₄-MEŠ GÁL [...]	“If the sun is half dark when it sets … […”]
1818	BAR : za-a-zu : BAR : meš-lu ⸢mi⸣ [...]	“BAR” means “to divide”, “BAR” means “half” … […]
	reverse
1919	* 20 ina TÙR MUL-MEŠ ŠÚ.ŠÚ LUGAL [...]	“If the sun sets in a halo of stars, a king […”]
2020	20 ina GAL-šú TÙR NÍGIN-ma ^dGU₄.UD u [...]	means “The sun is surrounded by a halo when it sets and Mercury and […”]
2121	* 20 ŠÚ-ma a-šam-šá-a-tu₄ NIGIN-MEŠ^da [...]	“If the sun sets and dust storms whirl [(…)”]
2222	AN.GE₆ ^dUTU GAR-ma a-šam-⸢šá⸣-[tu₄ NIGIN-MEŠ^da]	means “A solar eclipse will occur and dust stor[ms will whirl.”]
2323	* 20 ŠÚ-ma ina GIŠGAL-šú ^d30 GUB KUR [...]1	“If the sun sets and the moon stands at its …, the country […”]
2424	ina AN.GE₆ ^dUTU ^d[30 ...]	means “During a solar eclipse, the [moon …”]
2525	* 20 ŠÚ-ma ina GIŠGAL-šú ^mulMAR.GÍD.DA GUB [...]	“If the sun sets and the Wagon stands at its …, […”]
2626	ina AN.GE₆ ^dUTU ^d[...]	means “During a solar eclipse, […”]
2727	* 20 ŠÚ-ma ina GIŠGAL-šú ^dda-pi-nu ⸢GUB⸣ [...]	“If the sun sets and Jupiter stands at its … […”]
2828	ina AN.GE₆ ^dUTU ^d[da-pi-nu ...]	means “During a solar eclipse, [Jupiter …”]
2929	* 20 ŠÚ-ma ina GIŠGAL-šú ^dḫa-ba-ṣi-⸢ra⸣-[nu GUB (...)]	“If the sun sets and Centaur[us stands] at its …”
3030	ina ^itiDU₆ ^dUTU AN.GE₆ GAR-⸢ma^?⸣ [...]	means “In Month VII, the sun will have a eclipse […”]
3131	* 20 ŠÚ-ma ina GIŠGAL-šú ^dkab-ta GUB IM.⸢GI⸣ [...]	“If the sun sets and Kabta stands at its …, a rebel […”]
3232	* 20 ŠÚ-ma ina GIŠGAL-šú ^mulGÍR.TAB GUB ⸢x⸣ [...]	“If the sun sets and Scorpio stands at its … […”]

3333	* ina ^itiBÁRA KUR 20 MÚD SÙ ⸢x⸣ [...]	“If during Month I, the rising of the sun (appears as though) sprinkled with blood.”
3434	šu-ut KA ša KA UM.ME.A ⸢šá⸣ [ŠÀ ...]	Oral explanations following the sayings of a scholar, (referring to entries) fr[om …]
3535	É.GAL ^mAN.ŠÁR-DÙ-A ⸢MAN⸣ [ŠÚ MAN ^kuraš-šur^ki]	(Property of] the palace of Ashurbanipal, king [of the universe, king of Assyria.]