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These prayers, the text and translation of which are given below, are but a few of those I copied some time ago from tablets in the British Museum. Owing to various reasons I have been unable to publish them before.
I have revised the copies and have given full notes and mentioned all other sources dealing with the subject and I hope that my work may be of some use to those interested in that branch of study.
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- Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1929
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page 767 note 1 A large four-column tablet, K. 2411, published by Craig, RT. 76–8, of which the Obverse is destroyed, has in Col. 1 of the Reverse a copy of a dedication of the same objects to Aššur by Senecherib, who probably plundered it from the temple of Marduk in Babylon. K. 2411 contains the copy of Senecherib's dedication by the scribe of Asurbanipal, who ordered it to be erased from the bed, after which a dedication by Asurbanipal was engraved. K. 9664 probably contained the original dedication of the plundered relics by Senecherib. For an edition of K. 2411, see Streck, , Asurbanipal, ii, 292–303Google Scholar.
page 767 note 2 ŠI or ME. The root ṣapû “to cover, overlay” exists in Assyrian + ṣa-pu (var. zu-pu zumur-šu “his body is clothed”, Epic, Gilgamish, xi, 257Google Scholar; cf. ṣa-pi (?), Küchler, , Med. 30, 42Google Scholar, dup = ṣipû, Syn. lamû, Syl. C. 40 ṣuppû, Syn. lubbû, VR. 30, 65; cf. Maḳlu, vii, 65.
page 768 note 1 Uncertain. Also šag, ka or la pa possible. Read ḳarradu la pa-du.
page 769 note 1 For this title of Nergal, see CT. 25, 49, 8, of Marduk, , Streck, , Asurb. 276, 2Google Scholar.
page 769 note 2 Probably from natû on the analogy of ṣaltu, bartu. Cf. the same word employed in the sense of house breaker, RA. 11, 70.
page 770 note 1 A title of Nergal as god of flocks, but here a general title of the pest god.
page 770 note 2 KI-BAD = ḳabru “grave, hence death (?)”. Uncertain, cf. the KI-BAD of Tammuz and Nergal, CT. 28, 44, R. 4 and 9.
page 770 note 3 šabû; “to capture”, in Hebrew and Aramaic. In Arabic saba'a “to purchase”. The original sense of this root is “to raise, bring in”.
page 770 note 4 emēdu, Arabic 'amada “to support”. ḫ for ayin.
page 770 note 5 un is omitted on the tablet.
page 770 note 6 Cf. BA. v, 652, 8.
page 770 note 7 Arabic waṭan “dwelling”. See Landsberger, , ZA. 25, 384Google Scholar.
page 770 note 8 dêpu, Hebrew 
, Arabic daḥaba “repel, thrust back”. For this sense see Langdon, , PBS. x, 195, 16Google Scholar, irti id-i-pu “my breast they have repelled”.
page 771 note 1 This line = Craig, , RT. 78, 29Google Scholar.
page 771 note 2 A var. of ID(á) = idu, pl. idāti.
page 771 note 3 So read áš not pap, Craig, , RT. 78, 32Google Scholar.
page 771 note 4 mûlû “height”. The Sumerian technical term for “height” is sukud, gúd, usually rendered by mělû, see Sumerian Grammar, 218.
page 771 note 5 Or ub ?
page 771 note 6 Prow ? In any case mušruššu is here the name of a part of the ship
page 772 note 1 Bezold read DIŠ, Pinches, ḲA (?).
page 772 note 2 gišŠA, probably an error for gišDA = le'u?
page 772 note 3 A permansive on the analogy of a lamedh guttural root.
page 772 note 4 The text of this line is very uncertain.
page 773 note 1 Cf. ḫammutu “rulership (?)”, Ebeling, , RT. 122, 10Google Scholar; Streck, , Asurb. ii, 302, 28Google Scholar. For durku, cf. BA. 3, 232, 49; Winckler, , For. ii, 23, 5Google Scholar.
page 773 note 2 The name of Asurbanipal's mother is not found in the inscriptions, but he, of course, knew his father, Asarhaddon, who for some reason passed over his elder brothers and appointed Asurbanipal crown prince at the end of his reign. The above reference to his childhood is explained by the fact that he was not at first educated and intended for the kingship.
page 773 note 2 Hebrew 
page 775 note 1 The ordinary preterite of erēbu, “to increase,” is erib, Streck, , Babyloniaca ii, 231Google Scholar. erub is probably a case of analogy with erub, “he entered.” immu is here taken conjecturally from namu, Arabic namai, “to grow, augment.”
page 776 note 1 Or read bab(ka-)ma.
page 776 note 2 The verb from which pidnu (not pitnu !) “music, song”, is derived.
page 777 note 1 Probably identical with su-li-lu-u, Syn. ṣaḫḫiru, Poebel, , PBS. v, 106Google Scholar; i, 15.
page 777 note 2 darû, “remove, annul”. Cf. tu-tar-ra zal-pa “thou seizest away the wicked man”, ZA. 4, 33, 3; cf. Delitzsch, , HW. 228bGoogle Scholar.
page 779 note 1 A quadriliteral on a Šaphal formation. It is due to the palatal r that ušrababu becomes ušrabibu.
page 782 note 1 cf. Zimmern, , in ZA. 30, 208, 24Google Scholar.
page 783 note 1 The gods of the night or the constellations are the giants of chaos who were bound by Marduk and chained to the stars. The similar prayer to them in Ebeling, , BT. 38Google Scholar, Obv. 35, states that “god and goddess ordered their being captured”.
page 783 note 2 The gods of the night are the subjects of a prayer in Ebeling, ibid. No. 38, 9–23, where they include all the constellations I(Anu-Enlil-Ea-u kal ilāni rabûti). Here Anu-Enlil-Ea refer to all the stars which were divided into three parallel bands assigned to these three deities. In the prayer referred to, the stars Dilbat, MUL-MUL (i.e. Taurus), BIR, and Mû;šitu the bride of Anu are mentioned. Dilbat, here, is probably the constellation Medusa, (Tammuz and Ishtar, p. 102Google Scholar, or Pisces, , Weidner, , Handbuch. 115)Google Scholar. The constellation BIR or kalitu “Kidney”, rise, in the first deccan of EM before Corvus, Astrolab Pinches, Kugler, , Sternkunde, i, 229Google Scholar. and Berlin, Astrolab, Weidner, , Handbuch 66Google Scholar, which has ka-li-tu. Rm. 103, 12 = Virolleaud, Ishtar, No. 26, explains mulBIR by ilu ni-ru iluE-a. The Babylonians, therefore, saw a star near Corvus and Virgo which resembled a kidney or a yoke. Weidner identifies BIR with the sail and keel of Argo, ibid., p. 69. It was one of the many stars identified with Nergal, , CT. 26, 42Google Scholar; II, 15, BIR is mentioned also in K. 3507, 14.
page 783 note 3 Musir = nîru “yoke”, and kešda = raksu, agê Šarrûti, VR. 45, 47, and II R. 47, 22. Identified by Kugler, , Sternkunde (Ergänzungen) 57Google Scholar with the head of Boötes, but it included Corona as the commentary in II R. 47, 16–22 indicates. Corona or the Crown was identified with Anu and hence mulMusirkešda is iluAnim rabû šamŝ, CT. 31, 1, 19; VR. 46, 12. This constellation belonged to the zone of Enlil.
page 784 note 4 The ordinary name of Jupiter in heliacal ascension, but here Sulpaed is a constellation.
page 784 note 5 Orion. As a constellation Sibzianna was identified with Papsukkal, messenger of Anu, and Ishtar, , CT. 33, 2Google Scholar; II, 2, Weidner, , Handbuch 85, 45Google Scholar, and Ninsubur, a form of Tammuz, is Capsukkal. Orion is then identified with one of the types of Tammuz, who was bound in the month of Tammuz, Weidner, ibid. i, 50, and SBH. 1456, 13, the kimitum of Tammuz. Tammuz as a god who was confined in hell figures among the “bound gods”.
page 784 note 1 The Ursa Major of classical astronomy, but known also to the Greeks as Wagon Star. The Great Bear or Wagon Star was identified with the earth mother Ninlil of Nippur.
page 784 note 2 Nibiru is originally a constellation which in the Aries period rose in the seventh month, i.e. Tešrit. and marked the sun's passage of the equator at the Autumn equinox. The most probable constellation is Libra.
page 784 note 3 See note on line 11.
page 784 note 4 Entenamaslum (or maš-šig), the Boar Star, was identified with Ningursu. For its identity with the Centaurus of classical astronomy see RA. 14, 22, n. 8.
page 784 note 5 mulDilgan = ikû, Weidner, , HW. 85Google Scholar, identified with Cetus + Aries by Kugler, , Sternlcunde (Erganzungen), 14Google Scholar.
page 784 note 6 The ordinary name of Ishtar as the planet Venus, but also of Ishtar as Algol or Medusa, , Tammuz and Ishtar, 102Google Scholar.
page 785 note 1 The Assyrian cognate of Hebrew 
“eternity” occurs here for the first time, ultu ullama is a variant of the more common ultu, ullanumma, ullama, and ullānu, are both locatives derived from ullû, demonstrative pronoun, see Langdon, , PSBA. 1913, 194Google Scholar. For the locative ending am for aim, cf. Brockelman, , Vergleichende Grammatik, p. 393Google Scholar.
page 785 note 2 amāṣu, probably the cognate of Hebrew 
page 785 note 3 Read ak-lu (?).
page 785 note 4 The contents of this remarkable prayer to Marduk (?) and Sarpanit (?) as the keepers of the bound gods is important for its bearing upon the epic of Creation and the mysteries of the pantomime of the New Year festival m which the tragedy of the gods bound by Marduk and detained in hell by Nergal was represented. This myth is referred to in the poem translated in BE. 31, 35, from a text published by Pinches. It is discussed byZimmern, , Zum Babylomschen Neuyahrfest2, 49Google Scholar. In view of its importance, the fragmentary state of the text is regrettable. The bound gods of the constellations are here represented as intercessors with their captors on behalf of the suppliant. In 1. 20 the unnamed redeemer is probably Nergal. But for Nergal as kamû limnûti “binder of the evil ones”, see IV R. 21*, III, 27, and it is possible that in line 29 the names of the deities should be Nergal and Ereškigal.
page 788 note 1 Cf. CT. 23, 16, 14.
page 788 note 2 Cf. RA. 17, 70, 8, has šaman ḫal-sa; Zim. Rt. 176, 14; Kuchler, , Medizin, 83Google Scholar, hence Jensen renders BARA-GA here by (šaman) ḫalsa, “filtered oil”, KB. VI2, 48, n. 3. For šaman BARA-ga, see also RA. 17, 86, 9. AJSL. 36, 80, 28, and variants BARA-GE, RA. 17, 68, 24, and BARA-GÁ, Ebeling, , RT. 101, 17Google Scholar.
page 789 note 1 Var. King, , Magic, No. 46, 11Google Scholar, read ŠID-KAK = pāḳidu.
page 789 note 2 I.e. House of iluNu(n)-ur-ra, Nurra, as title of Ea. For the explanation of this title see Langdon, , JSOR., vol. v 2Google Scholar. The series É-nu-ru is probably identical with the namburbi series, or the “Atonement”, K. 3464 = Craig, , RT. 67Google Scholar, a ritual and prayers for the prosperity of a wine house (Zimmern, , ZA. 32, 164)Google Scholar, is the 135th tablet of Namburbi and IV R. 60, is a tablet of Namburbi to prevent evil results from the eclipses. This Namburbi series contains a prayer with the title én é-nu-ru. But Bezold, , Catalogue, 540Google Scholar, read šu-ila for é-nu-ru.