A Šuila-Prayer to Marduk (“Šuila Marduk 8”)

A reading, published with its checks still open. A Vigslist translation.

A Šuila-Prayer to Marduk (“Šuila Marduk 8”). Built from the Nineveh witness of the KAR 290 pair: Marduk 9 stands in English (CMAwR 2 §8.27) and was not built; Marduk 8 stands edited in German (Ebeling 1956); no English translation of it was located, and it was built on its own.

Published as a reading. No first-translation claim is made for this piece. The checks that would settle such a claim are named in the notes below and are still open; the wording on this page claims nothing they have not settled.

Status: published reading, claim withheld. Built 2026-10-22 from the live eBL record; the checks named on this page are still open.

What this is

The Akkadian šuila-prayer catalogued as šuila Marduk 8 (the numbering is Mayer's, 1976 catalogue, p. 396; Corpus of Akkadian Shuila Prayers Online Q006107), read from its lead witness K.2793 (Kuyunjik; copy: King, Babylonian Magic and Sorcery (1896), no. 14), obverse lines 1′–32′ as served by the eBL record (fetched live this wave; zero #tr.en lines on the record). The tablet continues with a second prayer, šuila Marduk 9 (obv. 33′ onward), which is not built here: Marduk 9 stands edited in English in Abusch & Schwemer, Corpus of Mesopotamian Anti-Witchcraft Rituals II, § 8.27 (witness IM.67622), and is excluded on that evidence (see DOSSIERS-D10.md, Dossier 6 and Addenda).

The Berlin fragment VAT.11307 (KAR 290) — the D10 group whose dossier led here — carries the same pair in compressed arrangement (its note: Marduk 8 at l. 1′, ritual instructions ll. 2′–4′, Marduk 9 ll. 5′–8′); its own eight served lines are traces and add no units to this reading.

Edition history and the doors (claim withheld behind them)

• Edition history (per the Corpus of Akkadian Shuila Prayers Online, entries Q006107/Q006108, retrieved in this wave's catalogue research): the numbering is W. Mayer's (Untersuchungen zur Formensprache der babylonischen "Gebetsbeschwörungen", Studia Pohl SM 5, 1976, catalogue p. 396). Copies: King, Babylonian Magic and Sorcery (1896), p. 69. Edition: Ebeling 1956, pp. 86–87 (German, the Handerhebung edition tradition); Van Buylaere 2010b is also listed for Marduk 8. Discussion: Mayer 1976, p. 396 · Frechette 2012, p. 261 · Oshima 2011, pp. 114–115. German editions are verification eyeballs under program law, not bars — but no first-English claim is framed until the Ebeling/Mayer texts are eyeballed against this reading.
• Oshima 2011 (Babylonian Prayers to Marduk, ORA 7 — in English) catalogues both prayers (pp. 114–115) but does not edit or translate them (31 of his 79 catalogued prayers are edited; these are not among them), and the šuila corpus lists no translation reference for either prayer. No English translation of Marduk 8 was found (a search result, not a proof). For Marduk 9 the one English door found anywhere is the CMAwR 2 §8.27 locus on IM.67622's record (above) — the šuila corpus does not list it; the collation eyeball decides its coverage.
• Loretz & Mayer, Šu-ila-Gebete (AOAT 261, 1978), no. 48 is the catalogue number of the join partner K.3310 ("Transliterated under K.2793" — it serves no text of its own).
• This reading is built from K.2793 alone; no other witness was collated.
• Correction (same night): an earlier draft of this section called Marduk 8 "Mayer's no. 6", listed three BM witnesses for Mayer's edition, and cited a supplement at OrNS 54 (1985), pp. 507–508. None of that is in the research delivery — withdrawn; the history above is what the delivery supports.

Counting

32 line-units (obv. 1′–32′): 0 whole / 27 part / 5 fragment / 0 invented. Every line of this witness is broken at the left edge; "whole" (nothing bracketed, no gap) is honestly zero. Restorations follow the record's brackets; where the record restores from the prayer tradition, the English wears the brackets too.

The reading — šuila Marduk 8 (K.2793, obverse)

1′. [… traces …] (fragment) 2′. [… u]pon the god […] (fragment) 3′. [… he g]ives […] (fragment) 4′. [… he] gives the meat […] (fragment) 5′. [… you wat]ch over all [the people …] 6′. [You] are the lord, […] (at-ta-ma bēlu) 7′. [… ob]server of the quarters, who keeps […] straight, 8′. [He]ro of the Igigi, foremost of Ešarra […] 9′. You are a warrior, my lord […] 10′. "Aḫulap!" I call on you, king Tutu […] 11′. […] whose name they pronounce as sweet, 12′. […] they ever speak the praise of your might; they trust […] 13′. [Yo]u are Marduk, lord of mercy and reconciliation, 14′. [wh]o reckons heaven and earth's sins […] 15′. […] you examine with your eyes, lord […] 16′. [In the mor]ning and at sunrise you show [the light], 17′. […] and the hardened woman you bring out […] 18′. […] Marduk, you prolong […] 19′. […] the sick man, all […] (fragment) 20′. […] the confinement of my sickness over me, 21′. [Drive it] far away! I called on you — hear me from within! 22′. [Look at me stea]dfastly, hear my supplication! 23′. […] in distress and hardship spare my life! 24′. [May the one who does not rev]ere Marduk [and Ṣarpānītu] see (them) through me! 25′. […] loosen my sin! 26′. […] be reconciled with me! 27′. [May Babylon rejoice in you, may Esagil ex]ult in you! 28′. [… may they make gre]at your lordship! 29′. [May Ṣarpānītu, your beloved spouse,] walk before you!

Rubric (30′): [Incantation: it is a šuila-prayer to] Marduk.

Ritual (31′–32′): [Its ritual procedure: … you set (it) down before] Marduk. [You pour a libation of fine beer]; recite [this recitation]; his prayer is acceptable (to the god).

Notes

• Line 10′: Tutu is Marduk's name as judge/intercessor; the prayer's cry aḫulap ("mercy!") is the šuila register's signature word (compare VAT.10302 = KAR 339, Dossier-adjacent, the aḫulap fragment of Wave D6).
• Line 16′: namraṣi here is the common noun "sunrise" (the record's gloss), not the goddess Namraṣīt of LKU 43 — the resemblance is a word, not a link, and is flagged so nobody builds one on it.
• Line 24′: the irreverent man is wished a sight of the god through the speaker — the prayer's boast that its own devotion will be the proof.
• The composition's shape: hymnic address (5′–18′), personal petition (19′–26′), blessing on Babylon and Esagil (27′–29′), rubric and ritual (30′–32′) — the classic šuila arc, complete on one tablet face.

Sources: eBL record K.2793 (live fetch, this wave; text as served) · eBL record VAT.11307 (KAR 290) for the pair's arrangement · edition history (King 1896; Ebeling 1956; Mayer 1976; Van Buylaere 2010b; Oshima 2011) and the CMAwR 2 § 8.27 exclusion for Marduk 9, from this wave's catalogue research (see DOSSIERS-D10.md, Dossier 6 + Addenda).

Nuvira Technologies conducts this research with AI assistance, cross-verified against the primary sources to scholarly integrity standards. Uncertain readings are marked; broken lines are left broken.

— Richard Vigslist, Founder, Nuvira Technologies

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