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AMD 1, 245 (fig. 5)

SEAL no. 7176 · CBS 7005 · Incantations · snake · Nippur (mod. Nuffar) · 15 lines · 42 words · 117 signs · 3 Sumerograms

Transliteration and translation follow generally Finkel 1999. CDLI notes: "Babylonian Expedition II, Abu Habba (?)". The provenance Nippur after CDLI (Finkel 1999, 223: "unprovenanced"). CDLI No. P262058

Transliteration

Obv.

1       šu-ut-tu-uh la-nam

2       da-mi-iq zu-um-ra-am

3       su-um-ki-nu-šu su-um-ki-in gišimmarim(gišGIŠIMMAR)

4       i-na šu-ub-tim i-ra-bi-iṣ ṣerrum(MUŠ)

5       i-na šu-up-pa-tim i-ra-bi-iṣ ba-aš-mu

6       ša ba-aš-mi-im ši-it-ta

7       qà-qá-da-tu-šu-ma

 

Rev.

8       7 li-ša-na-šu 7 pa-ar-ul-lu

9       ša ki-ša-di-šu

10     am-ha-aṣ! pa-ar-ku-ul(ras.)-la

11     ù pa-ra-ku-ul-la

12     ša-am-ma-nam ṣerri(MUŠ) qištim(gišTIR)

13     šu-ba-dam ṣerri(MUŠ) la ši-ip-tim

14     ṣerri(MUŠ) karānim(gišGEŠEIN.NA) ša it-ti wa-ši-pí-šu 

 

Lower edge

15     im-ta-ah-ṣú

 

Translation

Obv.

1         Elongated of form, 

2         Beauteous in body.

3         His (rotten) wood shavings are (rotten) shavings of palm-wood. 

4         The snake waits coiled in the dwelling, 

5         The serpent waits coiled among the rushes. 

6–7      As for the serpent, two are his heads, 

 

Rev.

8–9       Seven his forked-tongues, seven the par’ullu’s of his neck. 

10         I smote the parkulla

11         yes even the parakulla, 

12         Šammānu, the forest snake, 

13         Šubādu, the snake that cannot be conjured away, 

14         (Even) the wine-snake, who does battle with the exorcist (summoned against) him!

Commentary

3: The wood shavings of the palm-wood describe probably the snake's overlapping scales.

10–11: The snake name par(a)kullu(m) means literally (with Finkel 1999, 225) "the 'seal-cutter' snake". To this designation cf. TIM 9, 65: 13// TIM 9, 66: 26–27 e-li-ta-šu i-pa-ṣí-id ab-na-am, "his (the snake's) very spittle can split stone". 

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. 7176; view on seal.huji.ac.il.