Fs. De Meyer 86
Transliteration
1 īnum(IGI) bu-ur ša-aš-ka-al-lum
2 ⌈ḫu⌉-ḫa-ru-um? mu-sa-aḫ-ḫi-iš?-tum
3 ur x [x x] ta-ab-ba-a-ku-um
4 ša a ab nu [x x] x el?-ni x […] x
5 im-ḫa-aṣ alpam(GU4) iš-te-b[i-ir nīršu]
6 im-ḫa-aṣ šaḫâm(ŠAḪ) iḫ-te-pí ḫu-u[l-šu]
7 it-ru-uṣ ka-ap-pí-i-ša
8 uš-pa-ri-ir i-di-ša
9 i-ši-i-ma i-ni-ka
10 i-na pu-ut ki-nu-ni-im i-na i-še-er-tim
11 ši-na at-ḫa-a wa-aš-ba-a-ma
12 ⌈ú?⌉-[u]l? im-ta-ag-ga-ra
13 ku-si-a-ti-⌈šu?⌉-nu ú-sa-ap-pí-iḫ
14 ṣí-li-⌈šu⌉?-nu ú-ma-al-li ṣēram(⌈EDIN.NA⌉)
15 īnam(IGI) ku-ši-da [ī]nam([I]GI) ṭú-ur-da
16 īnam(IGI) šu-ṣí-⌈a⌉ a-na [x]-x-ka
17 īnam(IGI)! x x […] x
18 […] ⌈ma⌉ [x]
19 šu?-li x li? da x [x x]
20 IGI li-tu-ur a-na be-lí-[ša]
21 tu-e-en-ne-nu-ri
Lo. Ed.
22 ši-pa-at īnim(IGI)
Translation
1 The staring eye is a battle-net,
2 a bird-snare, a constantly netting catcher,
3 ... who pours out,
4 who... ...,
5 She stroke the ox, smashed [its yoke],
6 She stroke the pig, broken [its] neck-[ring].
7–8 She stretched her wings, spread out her arms.
9 Raise your(m.) eyes (and see):
10–11 In front of the brazier, in the chapel, two companions are sitting,
12 not agreeing with each other.
13 She scattered their robes.
14 She filled the steppe with their shadows.
15 Chase away the eye! Drive away the eye!
16 Make the eye go out to your(m.) ...!
17 The eye...
18 ...
19 ...
20 May the eye go back to its own[er!]
21 Incantation formula
22 Incantation against the (evil) eye.
Commentary
1: IGI bu-ur, with Cavigneaux (1996, 38–39) and Ford (1998, 207 n. 15) stands probably for Sum. igi-bar, “regard perçant”. It is not impossible that būrum, “pit, well, pond, pool” (CAD B 342f.) was also meant here as a jeu de mots (so already Cavigneaux/Al-Rawi 1994, 86).
2: mussaḫḫištum, with Ford 1998, 207 n. 15, is a Gtn-prtc. of the so-far only lexically attested verb saḫāšum (CAD S 54b). The form may be connected to īnum (f.), or to ḫuḫārum whose grammatical gender is unknown (pl. ḫuḫārātum).
3: tabbākum, a parrāsum form of tabākum (unattested): “one who pours out, spatters, discharges (terror, blood, etc.)”.
6: If nīrum, “yoke” is in the previous line is correctly restored (so Cavigneaux and Al-Rawi 1994, 85), then ḫullum, “neck-ring”, is a plausible restoration (although this implement is typically used for dogs).
8: The addressee of this remark is masculine (cf. l. 16), hence it cannot be the “eye” – īnum (f.). Probably the client of the incantation.
11–12: The lines describe the foreboding confusion caused in the house chapel by the evil eye. For the reading in l. 12, see Wasserman 1995a.
20: Previously I suggested to take the eye is of the demoness Lamaštu (Wasserman 1995a, followed by Ford 1998 209f. n. 32). Now this suggestion seems less convincing to me, since it is just as possible that the ‘owner’ of the eye is a witch, or a maliciously envious person.
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. 7105; view on seal.huji.ac.il.