Rear - Line 3

Rear Line 2 | Rear Line 3 | Rear Line 4

Hand drawing below by Ernst F. Weidner (1952)


5UŠUDAB2??U.UNUNLAGARLAGABU9AŠBADPAIBKURAB2MURUB4ŠA2LAGABMÁŠ2MAŠU2GI6


Transliteration:

5 UŠ U4 NIM.┌A┐ šamaš2 TUR3 NIGIN2 19 dil-bat šap-lat MULx MURUB4 ša2 SI MAŠ2 ┌2 1⁄2 KUŠ3 GI6┐ [...]

Translation - by P.V. Neugebauer and E. F. Weidner (1915) edited by Hermann Hunger (1988)

When 5° of daytime had passed, the sun was surrounded by a halo. The 19th, Venus was 2½ cubits below β Capricorni. Night of the [...]

Note

Capricorn

Capricorn is mentioned three times in the translation, twice with Venus and once with [Mars]. On each occasion in 568BC the named planet is near Capricorn but it's position is the opposite to what the tablet describes (i.e. below when it says above).

The translators seem to use the symbol for SI and LAGAB (RI3; NIGIN2; KUR4) interchangeably. The hand drawn symbols by Weidner show no difference.

The image below shows LAGAB on fronlines 2 & 14

FL2 - RI3


FL14 - KUR4


These symbols are clearly made with 2 horizontal wedges and 2 vertical wedges

Below are images of SI on frontlines 6, 10, 12

FL6 - SI


FL10 - SI


FL12 - SI


You will notice that these symbols are made with 3 horizontal wedges and 1 vertical wedge

Below is a picture of the part of the tablet in discussion, with the hand-drawings of the symbols the translators have used above


The red arrow points to the remainder of a horizontal wedge making the symbol LAGAB (RI3; NIGIN2; KUR4) rather than SI

The aim of VAT4956.com was to use the symbols identified by the translators. Below are images of the relevant entries for Capricorn in "Planetarium Babylonicum" (1950) by P. Gössman






These are not similar to the symbols used on the rear of the tablet, on lines 3, 6 & 10




Below is a hand-drawing of "MÚL IGI šá SUḪUR MÁŠ" taken from BM 41462 + BM 41941 (LBAT 380 & 920) which is dated to 164 BC


NOTE: It seems that the tablet VAT4956 is the only source for the use of these symbols to represent the constellation of Capricorn.

Note A

SymbolSyllablesMeanings
5 5
UŠ
nita
unu8
us8		 fish, unit; redû: lead bring
male
stick
emēdu: to touch, lean; side, follow;
UD
šamaš
U4		 when, that, day, at that time, the sun, white, clear, now.
Sun
AB2 arḫu: cow
cattle
kakkabu: a star
?? ??
niš
MAN
šamaš2		 twenty
Mars
Sun
NUN.LAGAR
TUR3		 animal stall
LAGAB
RI3
GUR4
niĝin2
ellag
KUR4
 block; excess

thick
encircle, total
bibbu: Mercury
KUR4 = ba'lu which means either ba'ālu: to be abnormally large, to become bright or shine brightly;
or ba'ūlu: great, important; - The Assyrian Dictionary, Volume 2, B (1965) pg 1, 184
U
bur3
šu4
ge14
 Earth, finger, ten, totality
Unit
Cover
Blow
and
9 9
DILI.BAD
DILI.BAT		 nebû: shining, bright, flaring; denoting the brightest star of a constellation - The Assyrian Dictionary, Volume 11, N Part II (1980) pg 148
Venus
PA.IB
šap		 šapal: under, beneath, underneath
qablu: hips, middle.
šapālu: to be low, deep ; to reach the lowest point; to stay constantly low; - The Assyrian Dictionary, Š Volume 17, Part I (1989) pg 422-423
KUR KUR
AB2 arḫu: cow
cattle
kakkabu: a star
MURUB4 qabaltīu: central
qabaltu: middle; among?
qablītu: middle watch; interior
qablu: hips, waist, middle
qablû: cenral; intermediate; middling
ĝar
niĝ2
ša2
 Place
Thing
of
LAGAB
RI3
GUR4
niĝin2
ellag
KUR4
 block; excess

thick
encircle, total
bibbu: Mercury
KUR4 = ba'lu which means either ba'ālu: to be abnormally large, to become bright or shine brightly;
or ba'ūlu: great, important; - The Assyrian Dictionary, Volume 2, B (1965) pg 1, 184
MÁŠ see rear line 3 note
2 2
MAŠ
BA7
BAR		 ḫuzālu: gazelle kid; ṣerru: snake, possible name for Hydra constellation; Māšu: twin, Gemini; bīru: goat
half
Nissan, first month - on VAT4956 there seems to be no distinction between BAR and MAŠ
U2
kuš3
 load, horn
unit
GI6
ĝi6
ku10
mi
 mūšu: night
ṣalāmu: cause to become dark, darkened, obscured

Rear Line 2 | Rear Line 3 | Rear Line 4