The present tablet, copied by [Iqīšāya son of Ištar-šumu-ēreš], of the Ekurzakir family, is according to its rubric a ṣâtu-commentary on a tablet whose incipit is šumma amēlu ana sinništīšu libbašu inaššīšū-ma, “If a man has desire for his wife.” This incipit was previously identified as belonging to a potency incantation (Šaziga),1 since the prognosis is in fact attested in some of these texts.2 However, E. Schmidtchen (private communication, 6/2016) has ingeniously noted that this is also the incipit of the 34th chapter of the diagnostic series Sagig. Besides its incipit, which is preserved in a catalogue of the series Sagig,3 little is known of the 34th chapter; however, as Schmidtchen further observes, the only known manuscript of Sagig 34, BM 33357, preserves in fact as the last entry of the tablet a line containing the word kišpu, “sorcery,” which appears in l. r 6′ of the present commentary. Schmidtchen’s identification of this tablet as a commentary on Sagig is thus certain.

The first three lines of the commentary contain a quotation from two lines of the exorcistic series Udugḫul (V 1 and 3). It is uncertain whether these lines should be considered part of the explanandum (i.e., whether the present text is a commentary on both Sagig and Udugḫul), or rather they are quoted while commenting on a line from Sagig. The latter possibility seems more likely: although the lines from Udugḫul seem to also receive comments (see line o 2), other commentaries also contain glosses on quotations to demonstrate some independent point related to a word or phrase from the base text (see e.g. the commentary CCP 3.8.2.B ll. 21-22).

The transliteration below makes use of an ATF transliteration prepared by Philippe Clancier for the GKAB project, which has been revised for the present edition. Thanks are expressed to Philippe Clancier and Eleanor Robson.

• 1. Thus e.g. E. von Weiher, Spätbabylonische Texte aus Uruk. Teil II. Gebr. Mann Verlag, 1983. Pp. 166-167 and E. Frahm, Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries. Origins of Interpretation. Ugarit-Verlag, 2011. Pp. 55, 67, 127-28, 293
• 2. See e.g. R. D. Biggs, ŠÀ.ZI.GA. Ancient Mesopotamia Potency Incantations. Augustin, 1967. P. 50 a 6.
• 3. See I. L. Finkel, “Adad-apla-iddina, Esagil-kin-apli, and the series SA.GIG”, in A scientific humanist: studies in memory of Abraham Sachs, E. Liechty, Ellis, MdeJ. , Gerardi, P. , and Gingerich, O. , Eds. University Museum, 1988, pp. 143-159. P. 147 A 41 B 8′.