This almost entirely preserved tablet written in Babylonian script was the first tablet accessioned in the Kuyunjik collection (K.1). It contains a commentary on four chapters of the series of terrestrial omens Šumma Ālu. Each chapter of the series is dealt with in a different section of the tablet, each section is separated by a subscript: chapter “27” (which corresponds to Šumma Ālu 30 in other recensions) is commented upon in ll. 1-7, chapter “28” (= Šumma Ālu 30 and 31) in ll. 9-25, chapter “29” (= Šumma Ālu 31) in ll. 27-43, and chapter “30” (= Šumma Ālu 32) in ll. 44-70.
The present tablet is very similar to other ṣâtu commentaries on Šumma Ālu written in Babylonian script and found in Ashurbanipal’s libraries: CCP 3.5.17 (Ālu 17-20), CCP 3.5.41 (Ālu 41-44), CCP 3.5.57 (Ālu 57-58), CCP 3.5.73 (Ālu 72-74), CCP 3.5.94 (on Ālu 94 alt [ṣâtu 2c]), and CCP 3.5.103 (Ālu [...], 103, 104 alt, and [...] [ṣâtu 2c]). All of them are small tablets with no colophon, which contain commentaries on three or more chapters of Šumma Ālu. In all of them each section is followed by a ṣâtu 2b or 2c rubric. It is conceivable that all these tablets originally stemmed from the same library, and were brought to Nineveh at a later point. More information on their provenance may be obtained from the study of the numeration of the chapters of Šumma Ālu reflected in their rubrics, which differs to a large extent from that of the Assyrian copies of Šumma Ālu found in Nineveh.
The commentary is written in the tabular format, and contains occasional phonetic glosses. On one occasion the phonetic gloss aims at indicating the correct reading of a word that was corrupt in the manuscript used to compile the commentary: in ll. 48-51, the commentary indicates that the first sign of the meaningless kul-de-e should be read as mu (the signs kul and mu are similar), thus yielding mu-de-e, which is then said to mean “equipment” (ú-de-e). This respect for the written text, even when the commentators knew that it was corrupt, is reminiscent of the ketiv–qere system of the Masoretic tradition.
The part of the commentary that has attracted most attention is the first section of the reverse (ll. 36-38), which contain explanations of three rare god names: Ninimma (which is explained as “Ea of the scribe”), Ninšar (which is explained as Nergal and, alternatively, as Enninšar), and Niraḫ (explained as Ištāran). The first equation is elsewhere unattested, the second is very rare (see note ad loc. for parallels), whereas the third is elsewhere common.
The tablet uses the logogram kimin (“ditto”) several times (ll. 12, 37, and 46), which no doubt represents the technical term šanîš. The only other technical term used is ša (e.g. ll. 27-28). In addition, the commentary contains a ḫepi-gloss, indicating a textual lacuna in its Vorlage (l. 46). Furthermore, line 66 appears to contain the frequent notation kúr, employed by scribes to indicate that a line was corrupt.
The tablet has been collated on photographs, and an important new reading has been obtained in l. 64. The significance of the last equation in line 19, however, escapes us. Thanks are expressed to H. Stadhouders, who revised the edition carefully and made several corrections and suggestions.
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