PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY

• Although both instances of the omen include a sign of repetition, KI.MIN and MIN, VAT 10167 r. 34’ also includes remnants of the signs EME.DIR ‘lizard’. It is for this reason that the beginning of the omen has been reconstructed using EME.DIR MIN and not KI.MIN as in VAT 09793 17’. 
  1. The signs of repetition in the above omen refer to the previous omen, 32.A.103’, which appears on two varying manuscripts. As we interpret in 32.A.103’ VAT 10167 r. 33’s ḪI.A for a transposition of a­ḫi ‘(be)side’, we use VAT 09793 16’, which preserves a-ḫi, to reconstruct the above omen. KAL 1 (16-17, 74 Rs. 34’), however, bases its translation on 32.A.103’s VAT 10167 r. 34’ and interprets ḪI.A as a stative of mâdu.

Wenn [Eidech]sen dito (= umeinander gewunden sind und zahlreich auf einen Mann) fallen und sich dann trennen: Dieser Mann … [ … ], seinen Prozeßgegner wird er besiegen.

See the commentary at 32.A.103’ for the problems with such a translation.

1. 2. If a City 2 (176, *32.32’) replaces the signs of repetition with the protasis of 32.A.97’.

DIŠ EME.DIR kit-pu-lu-ma ana UGU NA ŠUB.MEŠ-ma DU₈.MEŠ N[A BI EN] KA­-šu KUR-­ad

This reconstruction is unlikely however as the above omen (32.A.104’) is a pair for 32.A.103’ and many of the omens between 32.A.97’ and 32.A.104’ do not use ana UGU in their protases. The omen 32.A.105’ has ana UGU in the protasis and writes it explicitly. The reconstruction further leads to a different translation in If a City 2 (177, *32.32’):

If entwined lizards repeatedly fall onto a man and separate a[nd …, that man] will prevail over his [adver]sary.

• The photograph of VAT 10167 shows traces of signs between the signs NA and INIM-­š[u]. These are omitted in If a City 2 (196, *32.32’ C34’).