Emar 737
The incantation is found after a lexical text (EMAR 6/4, 542, 543, 544) in the empty space left at the lower left column of the reverse. For the lexical list see: Veldhuis, http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/dcclt/P271301/html . Interpretation of this incantation has been proven difficult. There are three suggestions, here in chronological order: All suggestions refer to the same text, i.e. BAM VI 574 (K. 191 + 201 + 2374 + 2957 + 3230 + 3363 + 5899 + 6869 + 10327 + 10713 + 12909 + 13446 + 17096) (1) Suggestion by Arnaud, Emar VI/4, (1987) 345-346 and Farber, JNES 49, (1990) 310: to be concerned with a heart-disease. They refer to a similar formulation in BAM VI 575 III 59: ŠÀ- bu da-an ŠÀ- bu qar-rad libbu ( m ) is taken here literally as the heart (organ) (2) Suggestion by Fincke, Diss. (2000), 180 n.1347 as forerunner to BAM VI 574 IV 17-19: ÉN da-an ŠÀ- bu qar-rad ŠÀ- bu šá ŠÀ -bi ar-ra-qa IGI.II -šú pur-si-it ÚŠ na-ši-ma er-ru sa-ḫi-ru-ti ul DIB.DIB i na a-ḫi-šú e ta-lak ŠÀ- bu e ta-tu-ra MIN ... Fincke proposes the concept of Ikterus; libbu ( m ) is here taken as the white of the eye, of which is said in BAM VI 574 IV 17-19 is being yellow. For diseases with ( w ) arāqu (SIG7) see Fincke (2000) p. 179-181. (3) Suggestion by Scurlock (2004) 116-117 both incantations are concerned with a gastrointestinal disease. libbu ( m ) is here taken as the name of the entire gastrointestinal tract. Furthermore she suggests for BAM VI 574 that there more words indicating more specific points in the gastroinestinal tract: karšu (stomach), irrû (small intestine), riqītu (colon). The 'eyes' of the libbu(m) are here taken as the greater and lesser omentum and the mesenteries. Type: manna ( m ) lušpur
Transliteration
Rev.
v13' lìb-bu-ú dá-an lìb-bu qar-ra-ad
v14' ša lìb-bi dan-nim gíd-d[a-ga enāšu]
v15' pur-ši-it da-mi i-na-a[š-ši]
v16' da!?-am-qà-an i-na-zí?-⌈qà⌉
v17' lìb-bu-šu i-ka4-sí-š[u]
v18' iš-ši e-na-šu tappûtu (⌈NAM⌉.TAB.BA) […]
v19' ú-ul a-ḫa-⌈ta-šu⌉ ma-an-nu
v20' li-iš-pur a-na mārāti(DUMU.M[Í].MEŠ) d[A-nim]
v21' ša ka-an-nu-šu-nu ḫu[rāṣu](K[Ù?.GI?])
v22' ša ka-ar-pa-tu-šu-nu [uqnû ellu(?)]
L.E.
l.e.1 li-ši-a-ni líl?-ša-ba-ni me-e tiāmti(A.<AB>.BA) ⌈ra?-pa?⌉-[aš?]-ti
l.e.2 šum-ma ša-ru a-na šu-bur-ri šum-ma da-mu a!-na AŠ l[i?-ṣi]
l.e.3 ši-ip-tu ú-ul i-ia-tù ši-pa-at dDa-mu
l.e.4 u dGu-la bēlet(NIN) balāṭi(TI) šipti(ÉN=PA.AN)ti [mā]rat ([DU]MU.MÍ) A-ni TAR A E
l.e.5 tu.e.ne.nu.ra
Translation
Rev.
v13' The heart is strong, the heart is valiant.
v14' Of the strong heart - [its eyes] are perturbing,
v15' [They] carr[y] a bowl of blood.
v16' The two beautiful (eyes) are disturbed.
v17' His heart is binding him.
v18' He raised his eyes. Companionship…
v19' They are not his sisters.
v19'–20' Whom should I(!) send to the Daughters of Anu,
v21' whose stands for vessels are of g[old],
v22' whose vessels [are of pure lapis lazuli(?)]?
L.E.
l.e.1 May they lift (the pots) up, may they draw(?) water from the wide sea.
l.e.2 If it is wind – to the anus, if it is blood – to the boil(?) l[et it come out(?)]
l.e.3 The incantation is not mine: (it is) the incantation of Damu
l.e.4 and Gula, the lady of life, the incantation of the daughter of Anu.
l.e.5 Incantation of Enenura.
Commentary
v13'–14': With Farber 1990b, 310 (3.2). (Farber’s enāša is probably a mistake for enāšu). For the end of the line we follow Veldhuiss (http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/dcclt/P271301) suggestion to take gíd-d[a-ga enāšu] as “pertrubing eyes”. The rare designation of the eye disease giddagiddû is attested also in the Old Babylonian lexical list Lú-Azlág B-C: Seg. 2, 102 LÚ IGI ŠAG4 at-ki-il i-in gíd-da-gi4 (see: http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/dcclt/xis/akk/r00499). The anticipatory genitive construction (ša libbi dannim giddgiddâ enāšu) is rare in OB, and becomes typical in post-OB literary language.
v15': With Veldhuis, ibid) i-na-⌈aš⌉-[ša?], translating “they (the eyes) lift a bowl of blood”.
v16 ', 18': See Farber 1990b, 310 n. 53. Reading i-na-zí?-⌈qà⌉ follows Veldhuis, ibid).
7–11 Reading with Farber 1990b.
v18 ': tappûtu (⌈NAM⌉.TAB.BA) following Veldhuis.
v19': Following Veldhuis, ibid: “his (the heart’s) sisters” are probably the two sick eyes mentioned above.
l.e.1: líl?-ša-ba-ni derived from sâbum?
l.e.2: The end of the line remains unclear. If understood correctly, the formula šumma A… šumma B offers two possible causes of the aching body, with the demand that the cause of the trouble should depart: if it is “wind” (flatus?) than it should depart from the anus; if it has to do with the blood, than it should depart through a boil on the skin (AŠ read ṣer/nnetum, see OB List of Diseases 46).
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. 7265; view on seal.huji.ac.il.