YOS 11, 1

SEAL no. 7170 · YBC 5620 · Incantations · scorpion · Larsa area (uncertain) · 6 lines · 13 words · 44 signs · 3 Sumerograms

CDLI P274692. First photo Klaus Wagensonner. Coll. Farber, YOS 11, p. 60. Rev. uninscribed.

Transliteration

1 pa-sa-qú-um!(Text: RU) ga-ba-ra-a[ḫ-ka]

2 sa-du-um zi-ba-ta-k[a]

3 sa-du-um qà-ra-na-k[a]

4 me-e na-di-im ba-a[m?]-ta-ka

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5 [TU₆] én-é-nu-ru

6 [KA].inim.ma gír-tab-tab-ti-la-kam

(Rev. not inscribed)

Translation

1 The panic you cause is choking,

2 Your two tails – smiting,

3 Your two horns – smiting,

4 Your thorax is (shining like) water (from) a water skin.

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5 Enenuru

6 The incantation is for reviving against scorpions

Commentary

1: I suggest pa-sa-qú-um! "to choke(?)" CAD P 218, as parallel to sâdum in ll. 2, 3, eventhough a clear RU, not UM, is written. Reading pa-sa-ku-ru is more difficult: First the word is paskārum “(a headdress)” is attested hitherto only in lexical lists and in Nuzi and EA (CAD P, 221-222). Second, the text keeps mimation, hence pa-sa-ku-ru is less expected.

Instead of ga-ba-ra-a[ḫ-ka], one could consider the word kaparru "(a barbed whip or goad)" CAD K 177f. This would fit well with the next line where the scorpion's tail is described (and cf. "my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions" 1 Kings 12, 11, JPS Tanakh). Yet, the spelling kà is not easy and the last sign before the break does not settle with this reading.

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. 7170; view on seal.huji.ac.il.