A reading, published with its checks still open. A Vigslist translation.
Shuila 16 — the šuila to Ningal: “who decrees the fate, who decrees life”. Said to Innina, then to Ningal by name, bilingual throughout; its scribe names his trust “in Sîn and Ningal” — the moon god and the very goddess the tablet prays to.
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.
Museum number: K.4940, joined group K.4940 + K.5118 + K.6020 (Lambert/Borger joins) + K.6915 (Mitto, added on the record). British Museum (Kuyunjik). Bilingual, Neo-Assyrian script. Photograph on the record. Composition: the šuila to Ningal — eISL (Gabbay's Emesal catalogue) Shuila 16, Q009548. The tablet's own first lines address the goddess twice under her two names: Innina ({d}innin) and Ningal ({d}nin-gal) — "the august one, the great one, who decrees the fate, who decrees life." The ancient Kalûtu catalogue (K.2529, rev. iv 16) lists the same incipit; the eBL record's own line-1 note cross-refers to it ("cf. F K.2529 r iv 16"). Source: eBL Fragmentarium's served transliteration of K.4940 (fetched live, Wave C7). eBL serves no translation for the tablet (0 #tr.en lines). Counting rule: a line counts part if a complete verb form or a glossed phrase survives; fragment if only isolated words or sign traces survive; whole only if a complete clause survives intact. Bilingual pairs (Sumerian line + its Akkadian interlinear) count as one unit. Counts: 21 units — 0 whole / 8 part / 13 fragment / 0 invented.
Publication check (C7, Oct 22): the record's references are: Shibata HES 3 (EDITION + COPY, above); Maul, 'Herzberuhigungsklagen' (DISCUSSION, p. 126); Borger, Handbuch der Keilschriftliteratur II (DISCUSSION); CAD P 530a (DISCUSSION); Black, "Sumerian balag Compositions" (DISCUSSION, pp. 77, 79); Borger's Kuyunjik catalogue (DISCUSSION — preserves the older bibliography: "K 5118 Meek BA 10/I n23, Macmillan BA 5/V 668f. nXXVI" — copies/discussions, no English edition); the Ashurbanipal-library project (AsbCol). No EDITION reference in English appears anywhere on the record. #note: sigla grep (D6's lesson): the record's notes carry no hidden edition siglum — they read, in full: "Emesal-prayer to Ningal, probably a Shuila, cf. Shibata, HES 3, Nr. 16" and "+ K.6915 [TM], added here." Doors left on the face: (1) the HES 3 eyeball (no. 16, pp. 243–246) — owed before any public claim; (2) the composition's eISL score page (Q009548) has never served from this desk — ORACC refused all night; (3) the Meek (BA 10/1) and Macmillan (BA 5/5) traces in Borger's catalogue note are copy-era publications (1904–1906) — a desk eyeball of both is owed if the piece ever moves toward publication; (4) CDLI is down (503 at every probe).
The fragment preserves the prayer's opening litany — the goddess addressed name by name, each Sumerian line carrying its Akkadian interlinear gloss — and, on the reverse, only the colophon: an Ashurbanipal palace colophon that names the tablet's owners in the cult: the scribe "who trusted in Sîn and Ningal." The middle of the prayer is gone with the left edge of the tablet; what survives of the Sumerian is mostly line-beginnings, and the reading says so line by line.
o 1. %es [{d}inni]n gur₄-ra mah n[am-tar] nam-ti-la# t[ar]-re#-e-de₃ "[Innina], august one, great one, who decrees the fate, who decrees life —" (the incipit, partly restored; the parallel line 3 below carries the phrase whole in its second half)
o 2. [{d}I]Š.TAR šur-bu-t[u₄ ṣ]ir-tu₄ ša₂ ši-mat ba#-la#-ṭu# i-šim-mu "Ištar, exalted, sublime, who decrees the fate of life." (the tablet's own Akkadian gloss of line 1)
o 3. %es [{d}ni]n-gal gur₄-ra ma[h n]am-tar nam-ti-la tar#-re#-e-de₃ "[Ningal], august one, great one, who decrees the fate, who decrees life —"
o 4. [{d}MIN š]ur-bu-tu₄ ṣ[i]r-tu₄ ša₂ ši-mat ba-la#-ṭu i-šim-mu "The ditto (Ningal), exalted, sublime, who decrees the fate of life."
o 5. %es [x x x-g]a?/b]ur₂ MUNUS.NI[T]A.DAM {d}+suen-na lugal {d}aš-im₂#-babbar# <za>-e-me-en "… wife of Suen, king Ašimbabbar — you are …" (fragment: the goddess as wife of the moon god; "Ašimbabbar" is Suen's cult name)
o 6. [x x x] hi#-rat {d#}+SUEN be-lu₄ {d}nam-ra-ṣi-it at#-ti-ma "… wife of Suen, lord Namraṣīt — you are indeed …" (the gloss of line 5; Namraṣīt, "he is radiant," is the moon god's Akkadian cult name)
o 7–8. %es [...] mu-un-gi-na gišgal-la / [...-t]i₃ mu-kin-at man-za-zu# "… who makes firm […] the station" / gloss: "… who establishes your station." (fragment: only the verb phrase survives in each language)
o 9–10. %es [...] x dim₃-me-er kur-kur-ra si-sa₂ u₃-tu#-ke₄ / [... ka-n]u-tu i-lat ma-ta-a-ti muš-te-še-rat nab#-ni-t[i] "… goddess who sets the lands in order, who gives birth …" / gloss: "… goddess of the lands, who sets creation in order." (part: the Akkadian gloss carries the sense where the Sumerian is clipped)
o 11–12. %es [...] s]u? ug₃ mu-un-na-g[a?] / [...] a? ina zu-mur ni-ši# "… […] upon the people …" / gloss: "… in the body of the people …" (fragment)
o 13–14. %es [...] ama dim₃-me-er gal-gal-e-ne# / [...-t]i um-mi DINGIR-MEŠ ra-bu-[ti] "… mother of the gods …" / gloss: "… mother of the great gods." (part: the stock epithet survives in both languages)
o 15–16. %es [...] ka-aš] bar du₃-a-bi nig₂-nam-ma-ke₄?# / [... p]ur-se-e ka#-la# mim#-ma# šum#-šu₂ "… who decides […] everything …" / gloss: "… the decisions, all of everything." (fragment)
o 17–18. %es [...] x [b]ara₂-ke₄-e-ne / [...] x u {d}iš-tar ka-liš pa-rak-ku "… […] of the daises …" / gloss: "… and Ištar, all the shrines …" (fragment)
o 19–20. %es [...] e]rim₂-ma-ke₄ / [...] x a-a-bi "… of the treasury …" / gloss: "… its father …" (fragment)
o 21–22. %es [... b]a? ni₂-gal-la / [... š]u-kut-tu la-bi-šat na-mur-rat "… […] of fearsomeness …" / gloss: "… jewellery, clothed in radiance." (part on the gloss: the word "radiance" — na-mur-rat — is Ningal's light)
o 23–24. %es [... u₆ d]i la-la x-la / [... x ana tab-ra-a-ti la-la-a ma-la-at "… wonder […] delight …" / gloss: "… full of delight for those who gaze." (fragment)
o 25–26. %es [...]-bi# diri-ga / [...] x x a#-lak#-tu₂ šu-tur₂ "… its […] surpassing …" / gloss: "… the gait diminished …" (fragment; the gloss's sense is uncertain and is not forced)
o 27–28. %es [... dim₃-me-er gal-gal]-e#-ne# šu-zu en₃ tar-bi / [... DINGIR-MEŠ GA]L-MEŠ# qa-tuk-ki šup-qud "… the great gods — inquire into your hand …" / gloss: "… the great gods are entrusted to your hand." (part: en₃ tar, "to inquire, to care for," closes the preserved obverse)
o 29–30. %es [...] x-e-ne / [...] x (fragment: traces only — counted, not rendered)
r 2′–4′. [KUR {m}AN.ŠAR₂]-DU₃-IBILA LUGAL ŠU₂ LUGAL KUR aš-šur{ki} / [DUMU {m}AN.ŠAR₂-AD]-SUM#-na LUGAL# ŠU₂# LUGAL KUR aš-šur{ki} / [ŠA₃.BAL].BAL {m}{d}30-PAP-MEŠ-SU LUGAL# ŠU₂ LUGAL# KUR aš-šur{ki} "[Palace of Ashurbanipal], king of the world, king of Assyria, [son of Esarhaddon], king of the world, king of Assyria, [descendant of Sennacherib], king of the world, king of Assyria —" (the standard Ashurbanipal library colophon, restored from the formula)
r 5′. [ša] a#-na# {d}30 u {d}nin-gal tak-[lu] "… who trusted in Sîn and Ningal …" (the colophon's scribe names his trust in the moon god and in the very goddess this tablet prays to)
r 6′. [NIR.GA]L₂-ZU NU TEŠ₂ {d}UR (fragment: traces of the colophon's closing curse formula — counted, not rendered)
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