BM 33879 (Bab. 1)

Up. Ed.

1 By the command of DN and [DN] may it be w[ell…]

Obv.

1 Ceremony, ceremony of Zarpanitu; the pla[y of Mar]duk.

2 The play of Marduk; the jealousy rites of [Zarpani]tu.

3 “In the ceremony of Zarpanitu, at night, there is <no> prudent woman”.

4 “At night, there is no prudent woman; at night, the man’s wife does not get in the way”.

5 “[Her(?)] support – am I! For Zarpanitu, my hair is loose and my hand is risen(?)”.

6 “In my hostility to Ištar of Babylon, <in> the shade or sunlight, I covered my side (lit. rib)”.

7 These (women say:) “As long as they act wrongly against him, she is with loose hair and she is thick as to (her) hands”.

8 These (women say:) “As long as he is degraded, <in> shade or sunlight, she keeps covering her side”.

9 [She who is sea]ted next to(?) the statue will efface the doll(s), all that are damaged.

10 “You, prudent woman – make a household! You, imprudent woman – prepare wool!”

11 Instead of your winding my lord’s threads, instead of gloating – prepare wool!

12 [Instead of… make a household for] your spouse”.

13 …

Le. Ed.

1 Prudent woman – make a household . . .

Rev.

1 “For you, my(?) mother … ]I will have you [dip your garments in urine]”.

2 “From my bowl, […], [I will have you dip] your garments in urine”.

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3 “Where shall they see you? My two eyes are she-wolves”.

Up. Ed.: A similar header of blessing are found in other ritual tablets.

1–2: This phrase is puzzling. We take šin-na-ti for šīnātu “urine” (not for šinnātu “teeth”), having in mind different passages from other love-and-sex related compositions, as āḫuz ūrki ša šīnāti “I have seized your urinating vulva” (OAkk. love incantation, Wasserman 2016, 242: 15–16).

2: Note the chiastic construction in this couplet, with mēlultu as a hinge, revealing that the riksu = qinnātu.

3: Lambert )1975, 108, variant d 6( reads: tum+la. On the photo of the tablet, no LA is seen.

4: The temporal acc. in mūša hints at an early origin of the text.

5: et-bat in et-bat qa-ti, here and in all duplicates, is analyzed a 3 sg. f. stat. form of ebû-Gt, “she is thick as to her hands”, in parallel to pērtu muššurat.

6: CAD Š/1, 388 s.v. šanītu “hostile, inimical word or matter”, connects this lemma to šanû “strange, inimical, evil”, but in the present context, that of two female protagonists competing for the sexual favors of one male (Marduk), it is not impossible that šanītu is to be connected to šanû A “second, other”, namely “in her stage of being second-in-rank…”. The meaning of the woman covering her side remains obscure.

7: agannêti “these f. pl.” is understood as referring to a group of female participants who repeat the female protagonist’s words (“I have covered…” – These (women say:) “she has covered…”). – Loose hair is characteristic of mourning women. The meaning of “thick hands” remains unclear.

8: The merism ṣilli u ṣēti (also l. 6) is not known elsewhere. The alliteration between the quasi-homonymous ṣilli vs. ṣēlī  may not be accidental.

9: The beginning of the line remains questionable. The verbal form tumāq (< muqqu) is in the 3 f. (āšibtum), another indication for an old original. The seated participant is erasing, or destroying all the puppets that are not fitting any more.

10: The foolish woman is characterized by weaving wool, a repetitive activity which is typically feminine, with no contact with the male master of the house (so also in Le. Ed.).

11: Condescending the foolish woman continues: instead of winding the master’s threads (a euphemism for sexual caresses?), she is sent to weave wool. For ta-⌈ṭu⌉-⌈up⌉-pu see CAD Ṭ 49 s.v. ṭâpu (and CAD Ṭ 102, where ṭêpu describes the thick of vegetation of the marshland). – CAD Š/1, 297b s.v. šamāru B, reads tal-te-⌈mi^?-ia⌉, but the last sign, hardly visible, may just as well be ri.

12: In l. 4 we find alti amēli, here mutu clearly define the husband-wife relations.

r. 1: “My mother” is probably an appellation of Ištar.

r. 2: The meaning of grabbing one’s garments by the teeth is unclear.

r. 3: As in 1883-01-18, 464, this incipit comes after a separation line, starting a new section.