"An Esoteric Babylonian Commentary" Revisited.

• Author: Bock, Barbara

This paper aims at interpreting a previously published Babylonian commentary. It is suggested that the tablet provides a further example of a later corpus of texts that reveal the predominance of astrology over other divinatory techniques.

"An Esoteric Babylonian Commentary" was published by R. D. Biggs in RA 62 (1968): 51-57. The tablet belongs to a group of late astrological texts that still await proper interpretation due to their rather enigmatic contents. In his article Biggs offered a copy of the tablet, a transliteration, a translation, and a detailed commentary. On the basis of LBAT 1601, which he identified as a partial duplicate, he pointed out that at least parts of the "esoteric commentary" were excerpted from a longer text. He also stated that some sections must have formed part of a single traditional text. [1] The tablet possibly dates to the Persian Period and was found at ancient Kutha. The text is divided into three sections and ends with a colophon. For clarity's sake I shall first reproduce the text in transliteration and translation (with only slight variations from Biggs' version).

Obv.

1 BE-ma iz-bu SA.GIG alam-dim-mu-u

2 [LU.HUN.GA.sup.mul] [GU.sub.4].[AN.NA.sup.mul][SIPA.ZI.AN.NA.sup.mul]

3 ana E la-nu ki-i ik-su-du alam-dim-mu-u

4 iq-ta-bi ni-sir-tu AN u KI u-sur

5 BE-ma iz-bu ana IGI-ka lu-ma-su sa ITI-su DIB-iq-ma

6 MAS-su ma ITI: MIN-i IGI-mar iz-bu GAL-ma

7 [TUR.sup.lu] sa im-mal-la-du LA-ti

8 BE-ma ina SAG [MAS.sup.mul] DIS-en ma SA [UDU.TIL.MES.sup.d] IGI.LA

9 lu-u in-ni-mi-du lu-a NIM MAN ina SA iz-ziz

10 Mf.MES MAS.TAB-BA U.TU.MES

11 [UZ.sup.mul] a-na bu-lum

12 iz-bu sa TA UGU UR.A a-sar-ru-u

13 ina SA sa UR.A ina IGI [A.EDIN.sup.mul d] Rev.

14 BE-ma SER sa sa-a-tum ana IGI-ka tu : ta : ti

15 u : a : ia: e sa-nis AN-e a KI-tim

16 KUR-u tam-tim u sa-a-ri ub-te-e

17 [GIS-BAR.sup.d] : [DIS.sup.d] : IZI : ul-la-nu : [40.sup.d] mu-u

18 [IM.sup.tu].HUR.SAG : [en-lil.sup.d] : sa-a-ri: su-ut KA sa sa-a-tu e-du-tu

19 su-ut KA mas-a-al-tum [um-ma-nu.sup.lu]

20 IM gi-ti [AG.MU.SI.SA.sup.md] A sa [(d)40.sup.m]- DIN-su A [LU.EN.BAR.sup.m] [EN-sar-bu.sup.d]

21 [GALA.sup.lu] [LUGAL.GIS.ASAL.sup.d] ana [IGI.DU.sub.8].A-su IN.SAR ib-ri-im

22 lu kur nig abzu pi.el. la. am A.MES : sa ABZU MU NE

23 E i-sa-tum i-ta-kal [GIN.sub.7] tu-u-ru it-tas-pak

1 (The series) "If a Malformation," (the series) "Symptoms," (and the series) "Physical Characteristics" (are correlated with)

2 Aries, Taurus, (and) Orion-

3 serving to predict the appearance. [2] When they (i.e., the star constellations) culminate, physical characterisics [3]

4 are meant. Keep the secret of heaven and earth!

5 If you want to find the izbu: (if) the constellation of the month passed by and

6 you see half of it in the second month, there will be an izbu (such that)

7 the child who will be born will be defective.

8 If at the beginning of Capricorn one of the planets reaches first visibility

9 or reaches a stationary point or is high(?) (and?) another (planet) remains visible,

10 women will bear twins.

11 Capricorn (will be relevant) for cattle.

12 The izbu which began with Leo

13 inside the constellation Leo in front of the star Erua.

14 If you want to find proof (for it) in the collection of commentaries, (then) tu:ta:ti (which is)

15 u:a:ia:e or heaven-earth,

16 mountain, deep sea, and wind has to be looked up.

17 Girra: Anu: Fire. Primeval Ea: water;

18 East Wind : Enlil : wind. According to learned?/isolated? commentaries. [4]

19 With reference to the explanation of a scholar.

20 One-column tablet (belonging to) Nabu-sum-lisir, son of Ea-uballissu, descendant of the sangu-priest of the god Bel-sarbi.

21 The lamentation singer of Bel-sarbi wrote (and) checked (this tablet) for his perusal.

22 The enemy has desecrated... apsu; water is apsu...

23 Fire has consumed the house; it has been made into a heap of ashes.

Out of the wide range of cuneiform omen treatises only summa izbu, sakikku, and alamdimmu deal with the human body and the appearance of man. The arrangement of three omen series in 1.1 and three star constellations in 1.2 suggests a possible correspondence between them. However, none of these constellations is referred to in the following paragraphs of the text, except for Capricorn and Leo. The sequence could thus stand for an abbreviation of the full zodiacal circle, meaning: "summa izbu, sakikku, and alamdimma (are correlated with the zodiac, i.e.,) Aries, Taurus, Orion (etc.)".

The following is an attempt to elucidate some aspects of the "esoteric commentary" and puts forward some suggestions on the interdependence of astrology and other divinatory techniques.

SUMMA IZBU

The first text category in 1. 1 is the treatise on malformations and birth omens, summa izbu. The series consisting of twenty-four tablets falls into two parts: [5] summa izbu, which concerns animal malformations, and summa sinnistu aratma "if a woman is pregnant and (the foetus cries)," which deals with anomalies of as yet unborn children.

It is this kind of omen that is treated in the second section of the text, 11. 5-13. Two predictions, 11. 5-7 and 11. 8-10, refer to human births occurring at exactly the moment when astrological constellations are observed. The first statement is concerned with a partially visible zodiacal constellation--an occurrence which possibly stands for incompleteness, if MAS-su ("its half") indeed refers to lumasu, the zodiacal constellation. This, in turn, affects the child born at the time of this occurrence, indicating that it will be defective. The second sentence predicts the birth of twins, probably because two planets are visible.

These astrological and teratological phenomena could be explained...