CUSAS 32, 32a
An incantation addressed to a fermentation vat which, with its typical effervescence, stands metaphorically for the blown, flatus-full, intestines. The namzītum , fermenting vat, is the grammatical antecedent of the feminine prefixes in the text. The magic strategy employed here is that of 'problem-remedy analogy': it is the wind which causes the (internal) trouble, hence (external) winds, the four winds of the compass, are called to serve as the solution.
Transliteration
obv.
1 [x x x (x)]ḫi-a ku-un [x]-⌈ú⌉-a
2 [ki-ir-ba-a]n eqlim(A.ŠÀ)lim za-ap-pi ⌈ša⌉-ḫi-im
3 [mu-ṣa]-a-am ú-ul ⌈i-šu⌉
4 [dEn-l]íl ⌈ib-ni⌉-ki dEn-ki ú-⌈ra⌉-bi-ki
5 [iš-k]u-⌈un⌉-ki dNuska a-na ku-⌈ši⌉-ri
6 [a]-⌈na mu-uḫ⌉-ḫi {ḪI} ta-li[m] ša É-a É-a ir-ka!-ab
7 il-qé-e-ki sà-bi-tum ku-ru-⌈pu-ú-ki⌉ ma-aš-ḫu
8 ⌈ša-ak⌉-na-a-at i-na ka-an-nim
9 ša-ak-nu ki-it-tu!? a-pa-ri-ku ù ⌈pu⌉-ru-us-su
10 i-na li-ib-bi-[k]i
11 ú-še-et-bi-ki it-ti ⌈Iš8?-tár?⌉ a-⌈pa⌉-ri-ki ⌈uš!⌉-te-ṣi-a-am / ⌈qé⌉-ri-i-tam
12 pu-ru-us-sà-am aš-lu-um-ma ša-ra-am aš-ku-un
13 ut-te-e-er tu-uḫ-ḫi-ki a-na mi-nu-tim
14 me-e ša ra-as-na-at a-⌈na⌉ ši-ip-tim-ma aš-ku-un
15 i-na qí-bi-tim ša É-a ù dAsal-lú-ḫe
16 i-na pi-i ez-zi-im i-na ru-uḫ-tim le-mu-ut-tim / ša a-wi-lu-tim
17 šu-ú-tum il-ta-nu ša-ad-du-ú-um a-mu-ur-ru
18 it-bu-ú iṣ-ba-tu pi-i na-am-zi-tim
19 tu-en-ni-nu-ri
Translation
1 [In the ...], my [...] is placed.
2–3 Field's lump! pig's bristle! I/He have/has no [out]let!
4–6 [Enl]il created you(f.), Enki raised you, Nuska [ma]de you successful. Ea was riding over Ea’s litter:
7–8 The ale-wife took you; your cases for (soaked) grain are well-measured; you are placed on a stand.
9–10 You are furnished with kittu, a stopper (and) a plug.
11–12 I removed from you – with Ištar's (help) – the stoppers, (thus) made the feast go out; I pulled out the plug, (thus) created wind.
13–14 I turned your draff into a recitation; the water (with) which you have rinsed I made into a spell.
15–16 By the order of Ea and Asaluhi, by the furious mouth and evil sorcery of humankind:
17–18 The South-wind, the North-wind, the East-wind, the West-wind have risen (and) seized the mouth of the brewing-vat.
19 Incantation formula.
Commentary
1: George (2016, 136) presents a restoration (“driven by context”): [i-na eperī(saḫar)?]ḫi-a ku-un [pû(K]A!)-ú-a “My [mouth] is stuck [ in dirt...]”.
1–2: Similar phrases, probably swear words or maledictions, are found in YOS 11, 2: 3–6 and YOS 11, 14: rev. 8–9 (see George 2016, 137).
3: The verbal form can be analyzed as first- or third-person; it is, therefore, impossible to tell whether the speaker recounts his own predicament or describes patient’s troubles.
4: Rather than [ru-bu]-ú (so George 2016, 136), we read [dEn-l]íl, having in mind BIN 2, 72: 1–2: Anum ibnīši Ea urabbīši pānī labbatim išīmši Enlil.
11: Ištar is active with the fermentation vat also in a later magical text: Ištar ummidī qātki in kanni u namzīti “O Ištar, place your hand on the stand and the vat” (ZA 32, 172: 35 dupl. KAR 144: 21, cited in CAD N/1, 257b).
13: George (2016, 136) translates: “I have returned your spent grain to the reckoning”, but the next line shows a clear parallel between minûtum and šiptum, hence minûtum is taken to denote magic recitation.
16: It is not easy to tell whose mouth is furious and whose sorcery is evil. Note that the previous line mentions Ea and Asallḫi.
17: The importance of the South-wind in mythology and magic is made clear in the Adapa myth and in Ištar and the Ḫuluppû-tree (GEN).
Michael P. Streck and Nathan Wasserman, Sources of Early Akkadian Literature (SEAL), seal.huji.ac.il. No commercial use is allowed. Published under CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives). Reproduced unmodified. Cite as SEAL no. 7068; view on seal.huji.ac.il.