CUSAS 32, 20d

SEAL no. 7200 · MS 3086 · Incantations · bitumen · Unknown · 5 lines · 28 words · 56 signs · 2 Sumerograms

George 2016, 150f. takes this incantation as an Akk. version of the Sum. CUSAS 32, 43 (George 2016, 150f.). Although some phrases are parallel, equating these two incs. is questionable, as the Akkadian inc. is destined "for bitumen" while the topic of the Sum. inc. is different.  

Transliteration

14' [...] x a-na Urim^ki i-te-⌈li⌉ [x x x] ⌈x⌉-⌈KI?⌉

15' [...]-⌈ur?⌉ a-ba-ra-ka-tim iṭ-ṭù-um iš-nu kar-r[a?-(am?)]

16' [.. .]-x-am a-na pi-šu šu-uk-na-ma le-sú ma-aḫ-ṣa-m[a]

17' [...] x li-it-ta-ra-ad ka-inim-ma iṭ-ṭù-[um]

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Translation

14' [When(?) (s)he] went up to Ur... ...,

15' [(s)he ...]. the stewardesses. Bitumen. They have soaked the qu[ay(?)] with water.

16' “Place(pl.) the ... into his mouth and slap (pl.) his cheek,

17' so that [...] he goes down again and again!”. Incantation formula for bitumen.

Commentary

15': Syntax obscure. Because of iṭṭum "bitumen", we derive iš-nu from šanû "to soak with water, to rinse" (AHw 1167: "abspülen"). – The final word, opening with kar- could be karṣum, but karrum, a form of kārum "quay" suit perhaps better.

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. 7200; view on seal.huji.ac.il.