The present text contains what appears to be a commentary on a ritual, which seems to have taken place during the month of Simānu. The tablet consists of two pieces, joined by I.L. Finkel. According to its colophon, the tablet belongs to a Marduk-šar-ilī (?), son of Minû-ana-bēl-dan, of the Ileʾʾi-[Marduk] family. It is dated to the reign of Antigonus “the General,” (i.e., Antigonus Monophthalmus), who ruled Babylonia between 315 and 311 BCE. A badly preserved rubric states that the text contains the “words” (dibbī) of someone or something (l. 29), and a secrecy clause specifies that it cannot be shown to a non-Babylonian. Several explanations are shared verbatim by this tablet and another ritual commentary, BM 47661 // BM 47458 (CCP 7.1.6.A.b). Both tablets are very similar in terms of contents and scope, but they are no duplicates. They are witnesses to the existence of a set of etymologies and interpretations of ritual acts that circulated, perhaps in oral form, in Achaemenid and Hellenistic Babylonia.
Several rituals are mentioned in this tablet. At the beginning two cultic lamentations, E turgin niginam and Abzu pelam, are mentioned by title (ll. 4-5): the former is said to be recited “every month,” the latter “on the first day.” Both indications agree with what is known of the cultic setting of these lamentations (see the textual notes below). Line 9 seems to open a section devoted to the month Simānu (III), which begins with a quotation from the last paragraph of the menological series Iqqur īpuš. According to this entry, the month Simānu (written itisig₄) belongs to Sîn. This line provides the exegete with an obvious equation: the god Sîn is to be identified with the god Kulla (written dsig₄), the divine patron of bricks and foundations. The commentary then proceeds to explore, apparently, the cultic calendar of the month of Simānu: thus the 18th is said to belong to Nabû and Madānu (l. 10). A line is quoted, apparently from the Love Lyrics: this line is first cited, followed by the technical term ša iqbû, “what it said.” The line in question, “they go to the rosewood garden,” is then reinterpreted by means of an etymographic analysis of its words as “they lay the foundations of a house”: a sophisticated hermeneutical operation thus enables an interpretation of the text radically different from its original meaning.
After a series of fragmentary lines at the end of the obverse, the reverse of the tablet opens with a series of numerical equivalences whose purpose is unclear. Then the word for “brick” (sig₄) is equated with the word for month (arḫu), by means of a synonym of the former, “half-brick” (arḫu). These lines thus continue to demonstrate the suitability of the month Simānu (itisig₄) for brick-laying rituals. This suitability is explicitly stated in line 24 (“Simānu is the month for laying the foundations of a house”).
The last three lines of the text contain a quotation from a bilingual šuʾila prayer (“Lord Madānu, the inspector of the Annunaki”), together with an etymographic analysis of the god name Madānu, whereby it means “the god who builds the house,” vel sim.
The most common hermeneutical operation in this text seems to be the notarikon or etymographic analysis. Thus the Akkadian word masukkannu, “rosewood,” is interpreted as having to do with house-building, since in some lexical lists the obscure Sumerian words ma and suk are explained as “to build” and “house,” respectively. This is also one of only two known commentaries that use the technical term kakku sakku šū, “this is sealed and shut.” This expression is used apparently to provide a re-interpretation of a ritual object as something else: in this case, the rare luṭṭu-vessel in the hands of a priest is said to represent a brick.
In sum, the main concern of this text seems to be to demonstrate the appropriateness of the month of Simānu for laying the foundations of a house. The ritual commented upon may thus be one for laying bricks, or else some other temple ritual that takes place during the month of Simānu. In other words, the commentary sets out to prove the validity of the ritual.
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