This fragment contains remains of a commentary on an unknown text. Hunger1 believed that it was a commentary “zu einer medizinischen Text,” and this view is supported by E. Frahm.2. However, since the text comments on a word that is elsewhere found only in a physiognomic text (bilṣu, l. 12), and refers to a “boil” (kurāru, l. 15, equated with [gig].peš), it seems possible that the text commented upon was of physiognomic nature. Note, however, that the findspot of the tablet suggests that it once belonged to the so-called “library of Anu-ikṣur,” a library that has yielded no other physiognomic commentary.

One of the words commented upon, numātu (l. 9), is attested only in the Old Babylonian period. The equation in question, numātu = unūtu, appears in fact also in the commentary on the Code of Hammurapi (CCP 5.1) r 5’. Noteworthy is also the present text’s explanation of an unknown word as “‘shaven,’ said of a kurgarrû-hermaphrodite” (l. 13).

Photographs of the tablet were kindly provided by Hermann Hunger, and they allowed some improved readings. The transliteration below makes use of an ATF transliteration originally prepared by Philippe Clancier for the GKAB project, which has been extensively revised. Thanks are expressed to Philippe Clancier and Eleanor Robson.

• 1. H. Hunger, Spätbabylonische Texte aus Uruk. Teil I. Gebr. Mann Verlag, 1976. P. 63 no. 53
• 2. E. Frahm, Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries. Origins of Interpretation. Ugarit-Verlag, 2011. P. 234