Ashurbanipal 084

1The translation assumes that the lacuna contained ki-ma šu-a-tu-ma “like this”; see, for example, text no. 3 (Prism B) v 7b.

2IGI-šú iṣ-ḫi-ir “his eye became small”: The prism inscriptions have IGI.II-šú is-ḫur-ma, “his eyes turned back, and”; see, for example, text no. 3 (Prism B) v 12b. Does the eye becoming small here mean that his pupil closed up or that his eyelid became droopy due to his trauma? It is possible that iṣḫir is a scribal error for the isḫur of the prism inscriptions, or maybe it represents a variant reading that was rejected when the prism accounts were crafted.

3i´ 4´a: Given the spacing on the tablet, it is doubtful that ga-ba-ṣu iš-šá-kin ina lìb-bi-šu “(and) a seizure had taken place inside him” from the prism inscriptions appears in i´ 4´; compare, for example, text no. 3 (Prism B) v 13. If it did, this line would contain twenty-eight signs; the longest line on this tablet is twenty-three signs (i´ 3´), but those signs are written fairly tightly together, while those of i´ 4´ are not. Moreover, the verb iṣ-ḫi-ir “became small” at the end of the previous line does not have -ma “and” affixed to it as the verb in the prism accounts does, possibly indicating that the third physical symptom of the Elamite king from those inscriptions was not mentioned here. i´ 4´b–6´a: The list of gods recorded on the tablet is significantly longer than the lists of the prism accounts. Text no. 3 (Prism B) v 14b has AN.ŠÁR u ^d15 “(the god) Aššur and the goddess Ištar,” while text no. 7 (Prism Kh) v 81a has ^d30 u ^d15 “the god Sîn and the goddess Ištar.” Note that in i´ 4´b of the tablet, the ^d15 has been erased, but the signs are still partially visible since the scribe did not erase them well.