A reading, published with its checks still open. A Vigslist translation.
The Exorcists' Library Catalogue (Assur, Kiṣir-Aššur's house). The ancient catalogue of the Aššur exorcists' house library — Maqlû in eight tablets, the consecration series, the works listed one by one.
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.
WITNESS READING, drawer class — built from the main record's own served transliteration. Claim WITHHELD — see the doors on the face.
What it is. A tablet catalogue from Assur: the inventory of the professional library of the exorcist (āšipu) family of Kiṣir-Aššur, Pedersén's library Aššur N 4 (the eBL record carries the dossier tag "Aššur N 4"; excavation number Ass 13956ak; excavation photograph 4580). Column by column the tablet lists the incantation corpus by incipit, with tablet counts and totals: Maqlû ("8 tablets of Maqlû, including the ritual tablet"), Šurpu(?), the sag-gig (headache) series, Muššuʾu ("total: 8"), the fumigation (qutrinnu) tablets, the āsag-demon series ("total: 7 Āsag-sickness"), mouth-washing (mīs pî), the Udug-ḫul ("evil demon") corpus, the Šamaš prayer cycles of Bīt rimki (the record's notes mark "BR House II Kiutu", "BR House III/V Kiutu", "Kiutu 6", "Šamaš 87"), the House of Sprinkling Water (Bīt salāʾ mê), the priest-consecration series INIM ABZU ("Words of the Abzu" — the catalogue's own note at rev. iii 24 reads "consecration of an Enlil priest"), the House of Confinement (Bīt mēseri), the flour-circle (ZISURRA) rites, the Lamaštu series, and a closing KA.INIM.MA register whose entries run from "A man must not fall sick for one year" (Muššuʾu I — cross-referenced on the record to K.2438, this program's Wave A4 build) to "the descendant of King Hammurabi" and "life — Ziusudra".
The tablet. Five joined fragments (checked joins on both group records): VAT 13723 (main, 10.2 × 7.0 cm) + VAT 14097 (7.0 × 5.8) + VAT 14103 (4.0 × 3.0) + VAT 14096 (1.8 × 2.6) + VAT 14101 (2.0 × 6.0). Neo-Assyrian script. D9's map carried these as two groups (VAT.13723 group and VAT.14096 group); both records list the same five checked joins, so the dossier treats them as the one group they are — the verdict is GENUINE under either shape. The one museum photograph of the main fragment (museum-digital object 142147, 500 px) is not sign-legible and was not used; this reading rests on the served transliteration alone.
Source of the text. eBL record VAT.13723: transliteration by Simons (entered 2025-01-26, revised 2025-01-27/28), made, in the record's own note, "based largely on the excavation photographs". Zero #tr.en lines. The partner fragments serve no text of their own. Line numbering of rev. col. 3 jumps 20 → 23 on the record; the gap stands as served.
Gates (run in full before building).
- EDITION references anywhere in the group: none. References on the records are DISCUSSION/ARCHAEOLOGY/PHOTO only: Walker & Dick, The Induction of the Cult Image (Mīs Pî, SAALT, 2001), p. 9 · Maul, Zukunftsbewältigung (1994), p. 198 fn. 357–358 · Pedersén, Archives and Libraries in the City of Assur II (1986), p. 66 · Koldewey & Andrae excavation photo 4580.
- #note: sigla scan: the note announces "Edition in preparation [TM/FS]". An announced, unpublished edition is a door, not an edition — but it is printed here on the face, and it is one of the two reasons the claim is withheld.
- Uncurated references on VAT.14096 / VAT.14101 cite Abusch, The Magical Ceremony Maqlû. A Critical Edition (2015), pp. 35, 226 — the D9 caution. The served text settles what those loci are: this tablet catalogues Maqlû (obv. i 18–19, the series rubric and its tablet total); it does not carry Maqlû's text. A catalogue entry inside an edited series' manuscript discussion does not edit the catalogue.
- Composition-level check: no edition or translation of this catalogue was located in the record's bibliography or the wave's catalogue research. Claim WITHHELD regardless: (1) the announced edition in preparation; (2) the transliteration is photo-based and uncollated, so every rendering below is one remove further from the clay than a collated build. If the announced edition appears, this reading stands as a witness rendering only.
Counts: 142 line-units — 13 whole / 91 part / 38 fragment / 0 invented. Convention: whole = the line's text stands complete with no bracketed restoration and no gap; part = the incipit is substantially readable with restorations/gaps as bracketed; fragment = traces, isolated words, or a lost line. Brackets, breaks and uncertainty marks (#) are reproduced as the record serves them; leading numerals are the catalogue's own tablet counts; NU before an entry is the catalogue's "not (held)" mark; MIN is its "ditto"; PAP is its "total".
Dragon / serpent scan: none. No ušumgal, muš, mušḫuššu, bašmu or ṣēru stands on the tablet. Named demons, for the record: the gallû-demon (gal₅-la₂, obv. i 4; rev. iv 30), the āsag-demon (the obv. i 34 – ii 6 series), Lamaštu (rev. iv 1–2, "Lamaštu, daughter of Anu" — the series incipit), the udug and alû demons throughout. Demons are not dragons; the scan is printed so no later desk inflates them.
1. (frag) Incantation: "[Girra, sage of the mountain], … lift up(?)…" 2. (frag) Incantation: "[… the oath] … altogether(?)" 3. (frag) Incantation: "[…] torch" 4. (part) Incantation: "Like [an evil curse], a gallû-demon…" 5. (frag) Incantation: "[… tamarisk …] of the steppe" 6. (part) Incantation: "… princely flour, sprinkled" 7. (frag) Incantation: "[…] … the crook(?)" 8. (part) Incantation: "My god did not know…" 9. (frag) "[Total(?): 8 (tablets) of] Šurpu(?)" 10. (part) Incantation: "I call out to you…" 11. (part) Incantation: "Nusku, the exalted one…" 12. (part) Incantation: "The roving she-witch…" 13. (part) Incantation: "Split! Split!" 14. (part) Incantation: "The witch and the female witch…" 15. (part) Incantation: "Enlil of the heads…" 16. (part) Incantation: "Ritti(?) … the station(?)…" 17. (part) Incantation: "Lord, your companion…" 18. (part) "When you perform [the ritual of Maqlû…]" 19. (whole) "8 (tablets of) Maqlû, including the ritual tablet — ditto." 20. (part) "8(?) (tablets): Incantation: 'Headache…'" 21. (part) "Incantation: 'I cast down' — incantation." 22. (whole) Incantation: "Nin-Isinna…" 23. (whole) Incantation: "Dead man, evil one…" 24. (whole) Incantation: "Enki, lord of the incantation of life" — ditto. 25. (whole) Incantation: "Evil udug-demon that goes about in the steppe…" 26. (whole) Incantation: "Paralysis, paralysis…" 27. (whole) Incantation: "Like heaven and earth…" 28. (part) "[Total:] 8 (tablets of) Muššuʾu" 29. (part) Incantation: "Zaḫilû-plant [of] the mountain…" 30. (part) Incantation: "The Enki-gods…" 31. (part) Incantation: "Evil udug-demon, ghost, deep […] of the mountain" 32. (part) Incantation: "Heaven, earth … man … earth…" 33. (part) "Total: 4 (tablets) 'Fumigation […] of the torch'" 34. (frag) Incantation: "Āsag-demon […]" 35. (frag) Incantation: "Āsag-demon, sick-[…]"
1. (part) "3 (tablets): Incantation: 'Āsag-demon, like frost…'" 2. (part) "2 (tablets): Incantation: 'Āsag-demon, [against] the man of the heart(?)…'" 3. (whole) Incantation: "Āsag-demon, like water…" 4. (whole) Incantation: "Āsag-demon, against the man…" 5. (whole) Incantation: "Āsag-demon…" 6. (part) "[Total:] 7 (tablets) 'Āsag-demon sickness'" 7. (frag) "[…] Incantation: '…' (traces only)" 8. (frag) "Not (held): Incantation: '… (unresolved signs) …'" 9. (part) "3 (tablets): Incantation: '[Born] from heaven by itself…'" 10. (frag) "2 (tablets): Incantation: '[…] holy'" 11. (part) "2 (tablets): Incantation: '[Šamaš, the great judge]…'" 12. (frag) "Incantation: '[…] …' (traces only)" 13. (frag) "2 (tablets): Incantation: '[…] great(?)'" 14. (part) "2 (tablets): Incantation: '… from his going-out(?)…'" 15. (frag) "2 (tablets): Incantation: '…(?) […] …'" 16. (part) "2 (tablets): 'When the mouth [of the god] is washed…'" 17. (part) "8 (tablets): 'Washing the mouth of the god' …" 18. (part) Incantation: "I am the man […]" 19. (part) "1 (tablet): Incantation: 'Holy incantation'" 20. (part) "1 (tablet): [Incantation:] 'I am the pure man…'" 21. (part) "2/1 (tablets): [Incantation:] 'Release the evil one!'" 22. (part) "Not (held): [Incantation:] 'Fate-demon …'" 23. (part) "1 (tablet): Incantation: 'The ones born of heaven…'" 24. (part) "1 (tablet): Incantation: 'Azad …'" — Geller's reading of the line's continuation stands in the record's note. 25. (frag) "Not (held): Incantation: 'Demon […] …'" 26. (part) Incantation: "[Evil udug-demon] struck in the street" 27. (part) In[cantation]: "May I be the evil one…" 28. (part) "[Incantation:] 'The house, its front…'" 29. (part) Incantation: "Hero, firstborn…" 30. (part) Incantation: "King of the fate-demon…" 31. (part) Incantation: "Hero, the strong-armed man…" — the record notes a parallel at K.3443 rev. 5′. 32. (part) "[Incantation: 'Evil god], evil [demon]…'" 33. (part) "… Incantation: 'Depart, evil one!'" 34. (part) "Not (held): Incantation: 'Evil demon [in the steppe]'" 35. (part) "Not (held): Incantation: 'Their seven… [allotted in heaven]'" 36. (part) "1 (tablet): Incantation: 'The day […]'" 37. (frag) "Not (held): Incantation: '…' (traces only)"
1. (frag) "Incantation: '…' (traces only)" 2. (frag) (line lost) 3. (frag) (line lost) 4. (frag) "Incantation: 'Earth […] …'" 5. (part) Incantation: "The lord from the pure heaven…" — Bīt rimki, House II (Kiutu), per the record's note. 6. (frag) "Incantation: 'Šamaš […] …'" 7. (frag) "Incantation: '…' (traces only)" 8. (part) Incantation: "Šamaš, from the great mountain … comes out" — Bīt rimki, House III/V (Kiutu). 9. (part) Incantation: "Šamaš, lord of those above and those below" — the record identifies it as Šamaš 87, also used in Bīt rimki. 10. (frag) "'Wood … water … wood …' (traces; perhaps a 'When…' rubric)" 11. (part) "… the House of the Ritual Bath (Bīt rimki) …" 12. (part) Incantation: "Šamaš, [may he stand] at the horizon" — Bīt rimki, Kiutu 6. 13. (part) Incantation: "The plant of the sea, grown in a pure place" — record parallels: K.4906 (in Ambos 2013), BM.38946. 14. (part) Incantation: "The camp of [the warrior gods]" — record parallel: BM.36718. 15. (part) "[When the ritual of] the House of Sprinkling Water (Bīt salāʾ mê) [is performed]…" 16. (frag) (traces only) 17. (frag) "Incantation: '[…]'" 18. (frag) "'Whe[n]…'" 19. (frag) "Incantation: 'Enlil(?)…'" 20. (frag) "Incantation: '…' (traces only)" 21–22. (not on the record — the numbering jumps 20 → 23 as served) 23. (frag) "'… the … of the …' (unresolved)" 24. (part) "[Incantation:] 'The nu-eš₃-priest … the prayer'" — the record's note identifies the series: consecration of an Enlil priest. 25. (part) "[Incantation:] 'The namšub-incantation: the Great Lion of the Abzu…'" 26. (part) "[Total:] 2 (tablets) 'Words of the Abzu' (INIM ABZU)" 27. (whole) "If a man…" 28. (part) Incantation: "The mighty one, the resplendent…" 29. (frag) "Incantation: '…' (traces only)" 30. (frag) "[Incantation: …]" 31. (part) "[4 (tablets) 'House of Confinement' (Bīt mēseri)]" 32. (part) Incantation: "Oath, oath…" 33. (part) Incantation: "Oath — ditto — …" 34. (part) "[2 (tablets)] 'Flour-circle' (ZISURRA) rites"
1. (part) Incantation: "Lamaštu, daughter of Anu…" 2. (part) "When the ritual of Lamaštu [is performed]…" 3. (part) Incantation: "The garden which the lord planted…" 4. (part) "[Incantation of the] Ēnuru (house ritual): 'Lord …'" 5. (part) Incantation: "The lion roared aloud(?)…" 6. (part) "'… the reed … does not approach…'" 7. (part) Incantation: "The stallion, to be purified…" 8. (part) "Incantation of the Ēnuru: 'Šamaš, great lord…'" 9. (whole) Incantation: "Lament of my heart, O Šamaš…" 10. (frag) (line erased on the tablet, per the record's note) 11. (part) "'Black goat — evil, good — rising of the heart'" (the šaziga complex) 12. (part) Incantation: "… passes through the steppe…" 13. (part) "2 (tablets): 'When the Brick is brought out…'" 14. (part) "2 (tablets): 'When the holy mouth is washed…'" 15. (part) "2 (tablets): Incantation: 'Evil udug-demon … the evil alû-demon of …'" 16. (part) "[Incantation:] 'The young man struck in the street'" 17. (part) "Incantation: 'The young-man-lil-demon, the maiden-lil-demon'" 18. (part) "[Incantation:] 'Evil days let loose in the steppe…'" 19. (part) "Incantation: 'The different(?) man of the mountain…'" 20. (part) Incantation: "Fate-demon, … of the marsh(?) …, prince" 21. (part) Incantation: "The evil udug-demon made fitting for the man" 22. (part) "Incantation: 'The statue that lifts the head'" 23. (part) Incantation: "The evil udug-demon battered again and again" 24. (whole) Incantation: "What Enlil bound, I myself opened" 25. (part) "Incantation: 'Ghost and destroyer…'" 26. (part) Incantation: "That day, the strong day — seek it…" 27. (part) "Incantation: 'A man must not fall sick for one year'" — Muššuʾu I; the record cross-references K.2438, the lead witness of this program's Wave A4 Muššuʾu I build. 28. (frag) "'Rubbing… (new break, new break) your brother…'" — the line carries the copyist's "new break" (hepi) marks; fragmentary as served. 29. (part) "Incantation: 'Turminabanda-stone…'" 30. (frag) "'[…] the gallû-demon [evil] of the mountain […]'" 31. (frag) (traces only) 32. (part) "'[…] the descendant of King Hammurabi'" 33. (part) "'… to the mayor (ḫazannu)…'" 34. (part) "'[…] … of Nisaba …'" 35. (part) "'[Long life] — Ziusudra…'" 36. (frag) "'[…] the Wagon constellation (Margidda)…'" 37. (frag) "'[…] Eridu, the decision […]'" 38. (frag) "'[…] Enki […]'"
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