Catalogue information

British Museum

BM 38375

80-11-12,257

Babylon›(Babylon or Borsippa)

CDLI:

P461169

Publication

Copy:

AOAT 43 465

Editions:

Heeßel, 2000N. P. Heeßel, Babylonisch-assyrische Diagnostik. Ugarit-Verlag, 2000.: 323, 465 [partial transliteration]

Wee, 2012J. Wee, The Practice of Diagnosis in Mesopotamian Medicine: With Editions of Commentaries on the Diagnostic Series Sa-gig. PhD thesis, 2012.: 687-689

Commentary

Medical›Diagnostic and prognostic

ṣâtu

Base text:

Sagig 29

Tablet information

Babylonian

Fragment

Columns:

1 (?)

Lines:

obv 11, rev 5

Size:

3,2 × 3,3 × 1,1 cm

Neo/Late Babylonian, specifics unknown

Bibliography

Finkel, 1988I. 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.: 147 fn. 29

Finkel, 1994I. L. Finkel, “On TDP Tablets XXIX and XXXI, and the Nature of SA.GIG”, Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 46, pp. 87-88, 1994.
[On line 1-2]: 87a

Frahm, 2011E. Frahm, Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries. Origins of Interpretation. Ugarit-Verlag, 2011.: 227, 311

Genty, 2010bT. Genty, “Les commentaires à TDP 3-40. Première partie”, Le Journal des Médecines Cunéiformes, vol. 16, pp. 1-38, 2010.
[Catalogue]: 14

Heeßel, 2000N. P. Heeßel, Babylonisch-assyrische Diagnostik. Ugarit-Verlag, 2000.
[Edition [partial transliteration]]: 323, 465

Kinnier Wilson, 2007J. V. Kinnier Wilson, “Infantile and Childhood Convulsions and SA.GIG XXIX”, in Disease in Babylonia, I. L. Finkel and Geller, M. J. , Eds. Brill, 2007, pp. 62-66.
[On line 1: ki.bi ù.tu]: 65

Wee, 2012J. Wee, The Practice of Diagnosis in Mesopotamian Medicine: With Editions of Commentaries on the Diagnostic Series Sa-gig. PhD thesis, 2012.
[Edition, commentary]: 687-689

Record

Jiménez, 07/2015 (Transliteration)

Jiménez, 07/2015 (Translation)

Jiménez, 07/2015 (Introduction)

Jiménez, 08/2016 (Commentary markup)

By Enrique Jiménez |

How to cite

Jiménez, E., 2015, “Commentary on Sagig 29 (CCP 4.1.29),” Cuneiform Commentaries Project (E. Frahm, E. Jiménez, M. Frazer, and K. Wagensonner), 2013–2024; accessed December 21, 2024, at https://ccp.yale.edu/P461169. DOI: 10079/jsxkt0w

BibTex XML RIS

Introduction

This small tablets contains a commentary on the 23rd chapter of the medical series Sagig. A badly damaged rubric seems to classify it as a ṣâtu commentary.

The first line of the tablet, [dlugal].⸢ùr⸣.ra ki.bi ù.[tu], is explained as “Lugalurra is born with it” (ittīšu alid) (sc., with the baby), in what may be a fanciful explanation of a difficult passage. Some of the other entries explain rather basic logograms, such as úšakir, zi, súd, or gag.gag, all of them ubiquitous in medical texts. This suggests that the commentary was produced for immediate use, which would explain its small size: it may have been a vade-mecum.

The fragment is part of the British Museum 80-11-12 consignment, which has yielded some fifty commentaries on many different texts (see a list here). Note in particular the fragment BM 38867 (CCP 7.2.u110), which may be a commentary on Sagig, but is clearly not part of the same tablet as the present piece.

Edition

ccpo

AOAT 043, 465[via ccpo]


Obverse
o 1o 1	[* ^dLUGAL].⸢ÙR⸣.RA KI.BI Ù.[TU]	(o 1) "If Lugalurra KI.BI Ù.TU" (= Sagig 29 1), KI.BI Ù.TU means "is born with him."
o 22	[KI].⸢BI⸣ Ù.TU it-ti-⸢šú⸣ a-⸢lid⸣
o 33	[x (x)]-ri ^úŠAKIR : šá-ki-ru-ú	(o 3) ŠAKIR (= Sagig 29 5) means "šakirû-plant." ZI (ibid.) means "to tear out." SÚD (ibid.) means "to grind."
o 44	[ZI : na]-⸢sa^?⸣-ḫu : SÚD : sa-a-ku
o 55	[x x] DÈ : ṭi-⸢ik⸣-me-ni	(o 5) DÈ (= Sagig 29 6) means "ashes."
o 66	[GAG].⸢GAG⸣ : šá-pu-ú : ⸢IM⸣.SA₅	(o 6) GAG.GAG (= Sagig 29 12 (?) and 16) means "to seal up." IM.SA₅ (ibid.) means "red paste"
o 77	[šar]-šér-ú : MU₄^?-šú : ⸢x x⸣-šá : ba/ma-ni-⸢x⸣1
o 88	[x x (x)] ⸢NAM⸣.LÚ.U₁₈.LU TUR2	(o 8) [...] men, young.
o 99	[x x x GÍBIL^? :] ta-šar-rap	(o 9) [... GÍBIL (?) (= Sagig 29 unknown)] means "you will burn."
o 1010	[x x x DU₁₀]⸢^{ub^?} ŠÀ^?⸣-šu	(o 10) [...] happiness.
Reverse		(o 10) [...] happiness.
r 1'r 1'	[...] ⸢x⸣	(r 1') ...
r 2'2'	[...] ⸢x⸣ [x x]-šú
r 3'3'	[...] ⸢x⸣ [x x] ⸢x⸣

r 4'4'	[ṣa-a-tú u šu]-ut pi-[i ...]3	(r 4') [Lemmata and or]al exp[lanations ...].
r 5'5'	[x x x x x x] ⸢x x⸣ [...]	(r 5') ...

1The writing šar-šér-ú of šaršerru is mystifying. One wonders whether the line should not be restored [sa-ḫar-šub]-bu-ú (cp. SAḪAR.ŠUB.BA in Sagig 29 16). The damaged signs after the supposititious MU₄-šú are not l[a-b]a-šá. The last signs are read by Heeßel as ba-⸢ni-ú⸣.