Chapter 32

born digital

K 03730+ <ul> <li>All three recensions feature omens about lizards being seen and/or dying in water or beer or their respective containers: see <a href="https://tieromina.acdh-dev.oeaw.ac.at/omens/Omen-32-A-44/tei">32.A.44</a>, <a href="https://tieromina.acdh-dev.oeaw.ac.at/omens/Omen-32-A-45/tei">32.A.45</a> and <a href="https://tieromina.acdh-dev.oeaw.ac.at/omens/Omen-32-A-56/tei">32.A.56</a>, the omens on VAT 9906 ii 9 and 10 as well as <a href="http://tieromina.acdh-dev.oeaw.ac.at/omens/Omen-32-S-46/tei">32.S.46</a> through <a href="http://tieromina.acdh-dev.oeaw.ac.at/omens/Omen-32-S-48/tei">32.S.48</a>.</li> <li>The sign ZI is polyvalent. We follow If a City 2 (171, 32.49) and read ZI.BI as tīb&scaron;u ‘its revolt/attack’. The sign ZI, however, can also be read as ṣītu ‘loss’ (see <a href="http://tieromina.acdh-dev.oeaw.ac.at/omens/Omen-32-A-38/tei">32.A.38</a> for an example and commentary on that translation). In fact the similar omen preserved on VAT 9906 ii 9 (Assur recension) speaks for such an interpretation</li> </ul> If ditto (= a lizard) falls into a beer jug and dies — losses will occur. DI&Scaron; MIN (EME.DIR) ana DUG KA&Scaron; &Scaron;UB-ma Ú&Scaron; ZI.GA È  In the Assur omen, the phrase ZI.GA È is to be read unambiguously as ṣītu uṣṣi, or ‘loss(es) will occur’. Nevertheless in the above apodosis, the second ZI must be a form of the verb tebû ‘to rise up, revolt’. Reading the first and the second ZI as tību ‘revolt, attack’ and tebû ‘to rise up, revolt’, respectively, preserves the figura etymologica formed between ZI.BI and ZI-&scaron;ú. For another figura etymologica involving the same signs, see <a href="https://tieromina.acdh-dev.oeaw.ac.at/omens/Omen-32-A-56/tei">32.A.56</a>. Although <a href="https://tieromina.acdh-dev.oeaw.ac.at/omens/Omen-32-A-56/tei">32.A.56</a> and the above preserve almost the same omen, the Assur’s protasis explicitly states that the lizard is dead. No matter the translation, the connotations of ‘loss’ would surely have been on the minds of the scribes. <ul> <li>Collation of K 03730+ 34 reveals the sign ana, before the apodosis’s É, which If a City 2 (193, 32.49’, Ex(1)) omits.</li> </ul>DIŠDIŠEME.ŠIDEME.ŠIDluluinainaAAluluinainaKAŠKAŠIGIIGIanaÉE2BIBIZI.BIZI.BIZI-šúZI-šu2DIŠEME.ŠIDluinaAluinaKAŠIGIanaÉBIZI.BIZI-šúDIŠEME.ŠIDluinaAluinaKAŠIGIE2BIZI.BIZI-šu2šummaṣurārulūinamêlūinašikariinnamiranabītišuātitībšuitebbīšuan uprising against that house will arise.If a lizard is seen in either water or beerIf a lizard is seen in water or beer, an attack will occur in that house.