CCP 3.5.6 - Ālu 6-7

Catalogue information
British Museum
BM 48344
81-11-3,1054
BabylonBabylon (Rassam)
joins: 
BM 48344+ BM 48536
CDLI: 
P470043
Commentary
DivinationTerrestrial omens (Šumma Ālu)

ṣâtu

Base text: 
Ālu 6-7
Tablet information
Babylonian
Fragment
Lines: 
o 12, r 10
Size: 
5,9 × 5,1 cm
Neo/Late Babylonian, specifics unknown
Bibliography

Gabbay, 2016U. Gabbay, The Exegetical Terminology of Akkadian Commentaries. Brill, 2016.
[On line 3′]
: 75

Record
Jiménez, 06/2015 (Identification)
Jiménez, 06/2015 (Transliteration)
Jiménez, 06/2015 (Translation)
Jiménez, 06/2015 (Introduction)
Jiménez, 08/2016 (Commentary markup)
By Enrique Jiménez | Make a correction or suggestion
How to cite
Jiménez, E., 2015, “Commentary on Ālu 6-7 (CCP 3.5.6),” Cuneiform Commentaries Project (E. Frahm, E. Jiménez, M. Frazer, and K. Wagensonner), 2013–2024; accessed November 12, 2024, at https://ccp.yale.edu/P470043. DOI: 10079/wpzgn5b
© Cuneiform Commentaries Project (Citation Guidelines)
Introduction

This previously unpublished fragment has been identified as a commentary on the divination series Šumma Ālu from a list of commentary fragments kindly made available by Christopher B. F. Walker. The tablet is formed by two joining fragments, BM 48344+ BM 48536. The preserved portion contains glosses on selected entries from Šumma Ālu 6 and 7. It is uncertain whether the commentary originally covered more tablets from Šumma Ālu, although it seems likely in view of the distribution of lines between obverse and reverse. A rubric is preserved at the end of the section dealing with Šumma Ālu VI, which presumably classifies the text as a ṣâtu commentary and offers the incipit of the tablet.

The glosses appear to be mostly philological. Thus in line o 9ʹ the logogram gar-meš is rendered syllabically as [it-t]a-na-aš-kan. In one case the commentary may contain a fanciful explanation of a difficult plant name: o 5ʹ seems to render kuzublatû as ūru ša sinništi, “female pudenda,” perhaps by association with kuzbu, “allure.” Lines from the base text appear to be quoted in full (see o 9ʹ and r 8ʹ-9ʹ). The commentary uses the technical terms šanîš (o 3ʹ) and aššu (o 9ʹ).

 

Two other Šumma Ālu commentaries from the 81-11-3 collection have been identified in the course of the Cuneiform Commentaries Project: CCP 3.5.1.B (on Šumma Ālu 1) and CCP 3.5.u7 (on Šumma Ālu Sleep Omens). The present fragment, which is written in an elegant and clear script, may belong to the same tablet as the latter text. Moreover, the fragment BM 48575 (CCP 3.5.6.B) was identified by the present editor in 2016 as probably part of the same tablet as the present fragment.

Edition

Powered by Oracc
(Base textCommentaryQuotations from other texts)

ccpo

BM 048344[via ccpo]

Obverse
o 1'o 1'

[...]-ni-ku [...]

...

o 2'2'

[...]-x-ṭu : NU i-bar : ul [i-ba-ar ...]1

[...] nu i-bar means [“he will not revolt” ...]

o 3'3'

[... x]-ab-tu- : šá-niš šá la [...]

[...] means ... Alternatively, it means [...]

o 4'4'

[... e]-ri- : i-ri-šu [...]2

[...] erīš (= Šumma Ālu VI 98-121) means “fragance” [...]

o 5'5'

[...] ú-ru šá sin-niš-tu₄ : na?-[...]3

[... kuzublatû (= Šumma Ālu VI 115) (?)] means “female pudenda.” [...]

o 6'6'

[... a]-ma-ru : a-tu-u : a-mar [...]

[...] “to see” (= Šumma Ālu VI unknown) means “to find,” “to see” [...].

o 7'7'

[...] x-ru DAGAL- : a-ga-[...]

[...] “will expand” (= Šumma Ālu VI unknown) ... [...]


o 8'8'

[ṣa-a- ù šu-ut KA šá * É ši-kin]-šú a-na ki-da-nu šu-pu?-[ú? ...]4

[Lemmata and oral explanations relating to (the tablet) “If a house’s appearanc]e is resplendent [...] (= Šumma Ālu VI 1).


o 9'9'

[... GAR-MEŠ : it]-ta-na--kan : áš-šú [...]5

[... gar-meš (= Šumma Ālu VII 1) means] “there is constantly,” because [...]

o 10'10'

[...] ḫi-da-a-ti u [qu-la-a-ti GAR-MEŠ ...]

[...] “there is joy and silence” (= Šumma Ālu VII 2).

o 11'11'

[...] x x i-sa-an-x [...]

...

o 12'12'

[...] -ul-ti? [...]

[...] “silence” (= Šumma Ālu VII 5) means [...]

Reverse
r 1'r 1'

[...]-id [...]

...

r 2'2'

[...]-šú? šá É-su [...]

[...] (it refers to the man) who [...] his house [...],

r 3'3'

[...] É BI be-el šá-nu-um-[ma ...]

[...] “that house will have another owner” (= Šumma Ālu unknown) [...]

r 4'4'

[...] : ṭe-ma : ṭe-e-mu : mu-šap-[...]

[...] ṭēma (= Šumma Ālu unknown) means “forethought.” ... [...].

r 5'5'

[...]-am-ma a-na a-ka-lu i-na-piku-[...]6

[...] ... and to eat ... [...].

r 6'6'

[...] : ḫa-ru-bu : gišGÍR : a-šá-[gu ...]

[...] (= Šumma Ālu unknown) means “carob tree.” giš.gír (= Šumma Ālu unknown) means “camel[thorn” ...]

r 7'7'

[... ni-bi]-ʾi KI ku-mu-u : id-ra x [...]

[...] “a wild growth” (= Šumma Ālu VII 52') means kumû. “A saltpeter” (= Šumma Ālu VII 53') means [...].

r 8'8'

[... *] É ú-na-ti-šú ú-[na-kar ...]

[...] “If a house's furnishing is cha[nged” (= Šumma Ālu VII 60') ...].

r 9'9'

[... *] É NÍG.GA NA [ŠÀ-šú ...]

[...] “If a house, the property of a man, inside of it [... (= Šumma Ālu VII 62') ...] .

r 10'10'

[...] x x [...]

...

1NU i-bar is attested in K.45+ l. 45 (CT 40 pl. 2).

2eriš bīti, "smell of a house," appears in the protases of Šumma Ālu VI 98-121.

3The explanation may refer to the rare plant name kuzublatû in Šumma Ālu VI 115, a name that would then be explained as "female pudenda." Compare also CCP 4.2.A.a l. 40 ḫurdatu = ūru ša sinništi.

4Note the important variant reading of the incipit of Šumma Ālu VI. Previously all known manuscripts read ša-pu. See Freedman If a City is Set on a Height (OPKF 17, 1998) p. 110 fn. ad 1.

5The restoration is uncertain; it is based on SAA 8 78 o 2.

6The reading of the last word is uncertain.

Photos by Enrique Jiménez

Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum