PHILOLOGICAL COMMENTARY

• Despite the above omen’s connection to and similarities with the unambiguously positive 32.S.45 (see below), If a City 2 (181, *32.104’) interprets the above omen as negative and translates as follows: 

If a lizard falls into a wine jug, there will be divine wrath for him.

The usual interpretation of NÍG.BA is qīštu ‘gift’, as above. In fact the above apodosis’s NÍG.BA DINGIR is translated positively in both KAL 1 (16-17, 72 Vs. 43) and already by Nötscher (1929, 185 KAR 382 + 393 Rs. 43) as ‘divine gift’.

There is an ongoing discussion on the mistaken use in ancient times of NÍG.BA DINGIR in the stock phrase kimilti ili paṭrassu ‘divine wrath will be dispelled for him’ (George 1988, 154, n. 2). The confusion occurred in antiquity when scribes incorrectly interpreted qí-­iš-­ti ‘gift’ as ki­-mil-­ti ‘wrath’, which the scribes then carried over to the logogram NÍG.BA. See CAD K, 373 s.v. kimiltu, which states “note the writings NÍG.BA (i.e., erroneous interpretation of ki-IŠ-ti)”; and CAD Q, 280 s.v. qīstu, which states “For ki­-mil-­tu misinterpreted as qí­-iš-­tu and wr. NÍG.BA, see kimiltu […]”.

The CAD K (373 s.v. kimiltu) interprets the above omen as being such an erroneous writing—that is, that the scribe wrote NÍG.BA, but intended kimiltu ‘wrath’. This is presumably where the translation in If a City 2 originates. The inclusion of the above omen under kimiltu by the CAD, however, seems tenuous. The other attestations of NÍG.BA with the meaning kimiltu ‘wrath’ all include the verb paṭāru ‘to dispell’—which fits with the stock phrase mentioned by George (1988, 154 n. 2)—whereas the above apodosis’s verb is GÁL-ši-šu ‘will be available to him’. Note also that the CAD B (p. 153 s.v. bašû 1n 3’b) translates the very same omen’s apodosis as “a present from the gods is in store for him”.

Further as already mentioned, 32.S.45 likely has the same protasis and an only slightly different apodosis. It is unambiguously positive and reads as follows:

[If a lizard] falls [into a jug of vineg]ar — divine goodness will be available.
[DIŠ EME.ŠID ana DUG A.GEŠTIN.N]A ŠUB-ut DÙG.GA DINGIR GÁL-ši

The omen 32.S.45 plays with the etymological connection between ṭābātu ‘vinegar’ and ṭābatu ‘goodness’. See CAD Ṭ, 15 s.v. ṭābtu A for a discussion on the positive associations of ṭābtu ‘salt’ and ṭābatu ‘vinegar’. The same positive associations are likely at work in 32.A.43. We therefore follow KAL 1 and Nötscher in interpreting the above omen as positive and translating NÍG.BA DINGIR as ‘divine gift’.

Both omens are conspicuous for being the only positive omens in a series of negative omens about lizards falling into vessels involved with food preparation and storage. This fact is noted as well by Nötscher (1929, 189 Rs. Z. 43f) who called 32.A.43’s positive apodosis ‘conspicuous’.[1]

• The omens 32.A.43 through 32.A.45 form a sequence about lizards falling into vessels holding various liquids. This sequence is a smaller sequence within a larger sequence about lizards falling into vessels involved with food preparation and storage.
• Another similar protasis, with a different, but still positive apodosis, can be found on the Assur manuscript VAT 9906 ii 8.