“The Weapon of Šamaš Is My Ally” — a Historical-Omen Fragment

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

“The weapon of Šamaš is my ally” — a historical-omen fragment. An “I will slay” refrain, Adad striking above and below, the market rate rising. Copy only (OECT 11 no. 82).

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.

lines of omen text with history inside it: a one-word refrain, "I will slay," running down the obverse; weapons set in place; a lion, a king, Adad striking above and below; the king's reign and the market rate rising; and on the reverse the great gods' own weapons named as the speaker's ally — "the weapon of Enlil is my ally," "the weapon of Šamaš is my ally in the enemy's battle in the steppe — he will crush him." The record files the tablet under both Extispicy and Literature and carries no edition — copy and catalogue discussion only. Built as a fragments-class working reading; its identification stays open on the face, and the claim waits on the door named there.

The tablet was reachable only under eBL's import form Ashm-1924.1804 — see OVERNIGHT-A7-REPORT.md for the form-map.

Credits

• Copy: Gurney, Literary and Miscellaneous Texts in the Ashmolean Museum (OECT 11), no. 82 — a copy only. Catalogue discussion at OECT 11, p. 10.
• Transliteration: as served on the live eBL record (the Ashmolean import, 2025); no transliterator is named on the record, and none is invented here.
• Join on the record: Ashm-1924.2056 joins this tablet. The partner is not one of the Class A net's rows and was not fetched in this wave; its text is a named door below. The reading is built from this record's own served lines.
• Genre filing on the record: CANONICAL Divination, Extispicy — and CANONICAL Literature, both unmarked. The double filing is printed here as it stands; the text's long apodoses (reigns, prices, battles, gods striking) are the historical-omen manner, and the build calls it that with the filing shown, no stronger.
• Doors on the face: the OECT 11, p. 10 discussion eyeball and the Ashm-1924.2056 record stand in the print-check wave and the next eBL crossing respectively.

The witness

One fragment: Ashm-1924.1804, Neo-Babylonian script, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, joined to Ashm-1924.2056. CDLI number on the live record: P348956. No photograph on the record. Thirty-eight lines serve: nineteen on the obverse, nineteen on the reverse.

What it says

The obverse is a column of omen entries whose protases are mostly lost and whose apodoses keep breaking through: the refrain word "I will slay" four times over; "you bring down"; "a dagger before the enemy"; "the king's reign — the market rate will rise well"; "Adad will strike above and below." The reverse opens in a different voice — first person, the gods' weapons at the speaker's side: Enlil's weapon, Šamaš's weapon, "my ally" — then thins into entry-traces and the refrain again at the end: "I will slay … I will slay."

How to read this document

Transliteration exactly as the record serves it. Counts: 38 line-units — 0 whole, 17 part, 21 fragments, 0 invented. The one-word lines ("I will slay") are counted as fragments: the word stands, its clause does not.

The reading

Obverse

1'. [...]-x-šu# (traces only)

2'. [...]-rat ERIN₂-M[U?] "[…] my troops" (traces of a phrase)

3'. [...] a-dak "[…] I will slay" (the word stands; its clause is lost)

4'. [...] x a-dak ša₂ he-pi₂ eš-[šu₂] "[…] I will slay — of the new break" (part; hepi eššu, "new break," is the scribe's own damage note inside the line, printed as the record gives it)

5'. [...] a-dak "[…] I will slay" (the word stands)

6'. [... L]U₂? KUR₂ "[…] the enemy" (traces of a phrase)

7'. [...] a-dak "[…] I will slay" (the word stands)

8'. [...]-MEŠ (traces only)

9'. [...] x x lu [x] (traces only)

10'. [...] na ŠA₃.SE₃.SE₃.KE e x x-MEŠ (traces only; the words do not join)

11'. [...] tu-šam-qat "[…] you bring down" (part)

12'. [...] x 15 GIR₂ IGI KUR₂ ana U₄-MEŠ SUD-MEŠ u₂-ṣa-am-ma-ra "[…] a dagger before the enemy; for distant days it is kept" (part; the last verb is uncertain)

13'. [...] x ta ID₂ NU TE-hi KUR? KI DAGAL#-ka it-ta-bak "[…] from the river do not approach; […] your broad […] is poured out" (part; uncertain in the middle)

14'. [...] KU₄-ib LU₂ GIN-ma "[…] he entered; the man went and […]" (part)

15'. [...] aš₂? UG₅.GA-ut UR.MAH LUGAL SAG.GIŠ BAD-ma {d}IŠKUR RA-iṣ "[…] will die; the lion, the king […] — Adad will strike" (part)

16'. [...] BALA-e LUGAL KI.LAM SIG₅ E₁₁-a "[…] the reign of the king — the market rate will rise well" (part)

17'. [... t]a-šu₂ tu-šat-bak-šu₂ "[…] you will pour it out" (part)

18'. [...] x {giš}TUKUL-MEŠ GAR-MEŠ-ma IGI.IGI-lu₄ DUMU šip-ri GI-u₂ "[…] weapons are set in place and […] the messenger […]" (part)

19'. [...] ka# BAD-ma {d}IŠKUR AN.TA u KI.TA RA-iṣ# "[…] Adad will strike above and below" (part)

Reverse

1. [...] x IGI? {giš}TUKUL {d}en-lil₂ re-ṣu-u₈-[a x (x)] "[…] the weapon of Enlil is my ally […]" (part)

2. [...] lu [x (x)] (traces only)

3. [... r]e-ṣu-u₈-a KUR₂ ME₃ EDIN x [...] "[…] my ally — the enemy, battle, the steppe […]" (part)

4. [...]-ta?-šu₂ tu-šat-bak-[šu₂] "[…] you will pour it out" (part)

5. [... {giš}T]UKUL {d}UTU re-ṣu-u₈-a KUR₂ ME₃ ED[IN] "[… the wea]pon of Šamaš is my ally — the enemy, battle in the steppe" (part)

6. [...] GAZ-š[u₂] "[…] he will crush him" (part)

7. [...] x IGI-šu₂ IGI.IGI (traces only)

8. [...] x {giš}TUKUL NU DU₃-uš "[…] he does not make a weapon" (part)

9. [...] x NAM#.RA E₃#?-a "[…] booty comes forth" (part)

10. [...] TAG (traces only)

11. [...]-šu₂ (traces only)

12. [...]-UG (traces only)

13. [...] hi (traces only)

14. [...]-ta (traces only)

15. [... a]-dak "[… I will] slay" (the word stands)

16. [...] x (traces only)

17. [...] ud (traces only)

18. [... a-d]ak "[… I will sl]ay" (the word stands)

19. [...] x (traces only; the fragment ends)

Doors and flags

• Doors standing: Gurney, OECT 11, p. 10 (the catalogue discussion of no. 82) · the join partner Ashm-1924.2056's own record · the historical-omen editions (if the composition is ever named, its edition status governs).
• Dragon scan: none. No ušum, ušumgal, muš, mušḫuššu, bašmu, Ningišzida, or Nirah stands on this fragment. The lion of line 15' is UR.MAH, a lion, and is printed as one.

Built 2026-10-22 from a fresh live eBL fetch.

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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