Introduction
Signs manifesting in the moon’s appearance formed a significant part of Mesopotamian celestial divination: the rising of the moon, its appearance, and its contact with other celestial bodies were diligently observed and interpreted.Footnote 1 These observations – especially the reappearance of the moon at the beginning of the month and the simultaneous visibility of the moon and the sun during the full moon in the middle of the month – offered the basis for time-keeping in Mesopotamia.Footnote 2 At the same time, they were omens that could express the contentment or the discontentment of the moon god (or other gods).Footnote 3 The most dramatic omen was the lunar eclipse, and the evil it heralded could be staved off by different kinds of rituals, ranging from sacrificing a human substitute for the king to performing namburbi-rituals for undoing the evil of the eclipse or other apotropaic rituals that offered protection against the evil of the eclipse.Footnote 4 Other kinds of unpropitious lunar omens, including, for example, deviations from the ideal lunar phases, different kinds of light phenomena, and movements of planets in relation to the moon, also needed countermeasures.Footnote 5 An astrological report that deals with an observation of full moon on the 16th day (i.e., a deviation from the ideal scheme of full moon on the 15th) includes a closing passage underlining the importance of proper ritual actions: ana muḫḫi tāmarāti agannâti ša sî[n ša]rru lā išâṭ lū namburbû lū [mim]ma dullu ša ana muḫḫi qerbu šarru līpuš “The [ki]ng must not become negligent about these observations of the mo[on]; let the king perform either a namburbi or [so]me ritual which is pertinent to it.” (Hunger 1992: no. 320 r. 6–9). Thus, it seems that a universal namburbi, meant to undo the evil emanating from all possible omens, was a legitimate option in case of all unpropitious lunar observations.Footnote 6
A further ritual text, K.6018+//, is specifically dedicated to undoing the unpropitious effects of lunar observations, as indicated in the rubric it contains for some of the incantation-prayers to Sîn: ka.inim.ma šá igi.du 8.a d30 ḫul sig 5.ga.kam “The wording for making an unpropitious appearance of the moon good”.Footnote 7 The prescribed ritual actions mainly involve the fabrication and knotting of woollen bands and the fabrication of female and male puppets, which are then thrown into the river. Similar actions are well-known not only from namburbi-rituals but also from other procedures that aim at freeing the patient from contamination.Footnote 8 The incantation-prayers recited during the ritual actions thematise the transferral of the evil and sending it to Apsû (“Sîn 5” and “Sîn 6a-b”) as well as the confession of transgressions that may have led to divine disfavour (“Sîn 7”).
In the recent re-edition of K.6018+// (Hätinen Reference Hätinen2021: 497–506), two main manuscripts of the text were identified: MS A = K.6018+ (Loretz and Mayer Reference Loretz and Mayer1978: no. 59), a Neo-Assyrian tablet from Ashurbanipal’s Library, and MS B = CBS 1695 (Hätinen Reference Hätinen2021: pls. 9–10), a Neo-Babylonian tablet of unknown provenance. Manuscripts of other texts (Diⓖiršadaba, anti-witchcraft rituals) that contain the prayers “Sîn 6a”Footnote 9 or “Sîn 6b”Footnote 10 were also included. That edition can now be augmented by a new manuscript, BM 46590, and two newly identified joins to K.6018+ (MS A), K.13919 and 82-3-23, 108.Footnote 11
BM 46590: A duplicate of K.6018+
BM 46590 (81-8-30, 56) is a Neo-Babylonian single-column tablet deriving from H. Rassam’s Babylonian excavations.Footnote 12 It is only partially preserved, but the main damage is found on the mostly uninscribed reverse; the tablet’s dimensions indicate that no lines are entirely missing. The text is divided into sections by single horizontal lines, with no colophon on the reverse.
Compared to K.6018+//, BM 46590, with its total of thirty-three lines, contains a compact version of the ritual meant to dispel the negative influence of unpropitious lunar observations. Importantly, it contains almost in full the prayer that was previously known only from the few fragmentary lines in K.6018, 1′–3′ (“Sîn 5” according to the numbering established by W. R. Mayer).Footnote 13 The incipit of this prayer can now be determined to be Sîn nannār šamê [u ? erṣeti ?] (“O Sîn, luminary of heaven [and? earth?]”), adding a further incipit with the epithet/appellation nannāru “luminary” to the Akkadian incantation-prayers to the moon god. This prayer does not have a rubric in BM 46590, but K.6018+ contains the designation “šu’ila-prayer to Sîn”.Footnote 14 The themes in the prayer include the transferral of harmful influence and the gaining of divine protection; these seem to be required so that the patient will retain his beneficial relationship to his peers (o. 7: “May I be pleasing to my brothers (and) my associates!”) and the divine and human authorities (o. 8: “May I be pleasing to god, king, courtier, and noble!”).
The prayer “Sîn 5” in BM 46590, 1–10 is followed by ritual instructions that are known from K.6018+//, 5′–7′ (see the edition of K.6018+ + K.13919 below). These actions begin with the arrangement of ritual offerings (juniper incense, beer) before Sîn after the moonrise. After this, the text instructs to spin white wool into yarn and to tie seven knots into the yarn. The white, knotted yarn is then placed on the patient’s neck. Whereas the further ritual instructions in K.6018+// include the fashioning of a female puppet from clay,Footnote 15 manipulation of multi-coloured yarn (knotted and covered with the left heel),Footnote 16 and manipulation of combed wool (placed on the patient’s neck),Footnote 17 the instructions in BM 46590 directly proceed to the section in which a male puppet is formed out of clay and then thrown into the river.Footnote 18 Before this last ritual action, the prayer “Sîn 6b” is included in the instructions in BM 46590, 16–24.Footnote 19
Edition of BM 46590
Hand-copy of BM 46590, obverse
Hand-copy of BM 46590, reverse
Transliteration
Hand-copy of (K.6018+ +) K.13919
Hand-copy of 82-3-23, 108
Two joins to K.6018+ (AOAT 34 no. 59): K.13919 and 82-3-23, 108
The fragments K.13919 and 82-3-23, 108 join the tablet K.6018+, published by O. Loretz and W. R. Mayer (Reference Loretz and Mayer1978: no. 59). K.13919 belongs to the obverse of the tablet, preserving the end of the rubric for the prayer “Sîn 5” (K.6018+, o. 4′), part of the ritual instruction in K 6018+, o. 5′–7′, and a part of the prayer “Sîn 6a” in K 6018+//, o. 8′–11′. 82-3-23, 108, which is an indirect join, forms a narrow part of the tablet’s left edge and preserves the beginnings of fifteen lines of text on its reverse. The content of 82-3-23, 108 is similar to BM 46590 (edited above), although šullim[anni] in 82-3-23, 108, r. 6′ does not have an equivalent in BM 46590.
The transliteration given here presents additions and improvements to the edition of K.6018+ in Hätinen Reference Hätinen2021: 498–503. In the case of K.6018+, o. 1′–3′, these are based on BM 46590. The first line after the gap in the composite text (x+22′ in Hätinen Reference Hätinen2021: 498) corresponds to 82-3-23, 108, r. 9′ here.
Duplicates
K.6018+ + K.13919, o. 1′–11′ (= K.6018+//, 1′–11′)
Sketch of the joining pieces K.6018+ + K.13919 (+) 82-3-23, 108, obverse
Sketch of the joining pieces K.6018+ + K.13919 (+) 82-3-23, 108, reverse
Open access
