KUB 4, 13b
Parallels can be found in: OA CCT 5, 50e: 1’-14’; Fs. Larsen, 397, 399: 1-23; OB VS 17, 34: 1-20; NA KAR 196; BAM 248: i 36’-50’
Transliteration
15’ ÉN.É.NU.RU ar-ḫi-mi i-da-[...]
16’ sú-ú-pu!(MU)-ur dŠAKKAN ar-ḫi-m[i ...]
17’ i-na ⌈KUN⌉-ša ú-še-iš-še-r[a …]
18’ i-il-⌈la⌉-a-me-e il-la-k[a …]
19’ i-il-la-a-[me]-e il-l[a-ka …]
20’ aš-šúm ú-ni-⌈i⌉-[qí…]
21’ li-i-šìr ár-d[a-tum …]
22’ TU6.ÉN.É.NU.[RU …]
----
23’ ⌈x⌉ ⌈x⌉ […]
Translation
15’ INCANTATION: (O) cow […]
16’ The sheep-fold of Šakkan, (O) cow […]
17’ With her tail she sweeps […]
18’ The pure-of-rites [his tears] are flowing,
19’ [(but) why are the tears] flowing of the pure-of-the-rites?
20’ Because of (my) she-goat […]
21’ May the young woman give birth normally […]
22’ INCANTATION: […]
---
23’ […]
Commentary
15’-16’ Here we find an opening line of an incantation, which begins with a noun with suffixed -mi, for more examples, cf. Farber 1996, 71. In the parallel OB incantation VS 17, 34 the particle -mi is found as well and is discussed by Wasserman 2012, 188-189.
17’ Veldhuis 1991, 65 offers the reading i-na ⌈EGIR?⌉-ša. It should be assumed that after the address to the cow, the pregnant situation of the cow is depicted. VS 17, 34 simply states in its address that the cow is pregnant, but our text seems to follow a more poetic tradition. If we compare this line with the NA compendium BAM 248 iii 56-57: ina SI.GU10 qaq-qa-ru ṭe-ra-ku / ina KUN.GU10 uš-te-eš-še-ra tur-bu-ʾ-i “With my horns I uproot the soil, with my tail I sweep the dust” and we check the sign traces within the copy and the photograph we clearly see the traces of the sign ⌈KUN⌉ (HZL 35).
18’ On ellamû denoting the full moon, cf. Civil 1974, 334.
18’-19’ Note that in the OB parallel VS 17, 34 it is not Sîn, but Šamaš helping the pregnant cow. In our text it is unclear for which deity the epithet ellamê is used, but assumed is Sîn. For the ‘weeping’ of the moon-god and the epithet ellamê in relation with a possible lunar eclipse, cf. Civil 1974, 334 and Stol 1992, 257ff.
20’ Veldhuis 1991, 65 offers the reading ú-ni-q[í …]. However, the sign traces clearly suggest to reconstruct ú-ni-⌈i⌉-[qí…].
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. 7234; view on seal.huji.ac.il.