A reading, with the editions credited and the scope question left open. A Vigslist translation.
Like a Bird in a Fowler's Cage — a prayer in the form of a lament psalm (KAR 312). A first-person Klagepsalm of the Esagil/Marduk circle; its monster line — bašmu and mušḫuššu heading Esagil's line, with ugallu, uridimmu, kusarikku, kulullû — stands in the text. Built from Fadhil's openly deposited 2012 dissertation transliteration.
The edition of record is Anmar A. Fadhil’s Heidelberg dissertation (2012), in German — the first edition of this text. Two partial treatments also stand in print: an English discussion of four lines (Lambert, 1959/60) that prints no line of the text, and a partial transliteration of the obverse inside an English edition of deified cult objects — a transliteration, not a translation. Whether those narrow the English claim for this text is a scope question the program has left open on the record. This page prints the reading and the editions, and makes no first-English claim.
Neo-Assyrian copy, from Aššur, of an Akkadian prayer cast as a first-person lament psalm: a sufferer catalogues his misery in animal similes, then turns to his gods. Its edition of record is Anmar A. Fadhil, Eine kleine Tontafelbibliothek aus Assur (Ass. 15426), Heidelberg dissertation (2012; deposited with the Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg 2014), pp. 85–94 no. 2, with his own copy at pp. 193–194 and photograph at p. 195 — a German edition, in scope under the English-first rule, and credited here in full. The transliteration below is Fadhil's, taken from his openly deposited dissertation; the English is rendered from it, with his German translation as control. eBL serves NO transliteration for this tablet (live record re-pulled 2026-10-22: ATF empty, 0 lines), so nothing here rests on eBL.**
Doors on the face, both named by Wave D5, both now eyeballed from this desk in substance (formal print-check eyeballs still stand for the print-check wave): - (a) Fadhil 2012, pp. 85–94 — EYEBALLED. His introduction states the position plainly: the tablet has been known since Ebeling's copy (KAR, 1919/1923) for ninety years, "wurden bis heute weder eine Umschrift noch eine Übersetzung des schwer verständlichen Textes vorgelegt" — until his edition, neither a transliteration nor a translation of the difficult text had ever been presented. His edition prints both, in German. - (b) Lambert, "Two Notes on Šurpu," AfO 19 (1959/60), p. 122 — CHARACTERIZED from Fadhil's quotation of it (pp. 85–86). Lambert prints no line of the text. He argues, from the sentence structure — "a string of subjects is followed by the verbs" — that KAR 312, rev. 5–8 is "probably a prayer," against Ebeling's "mythologisches Fragment," and notes that rev. 5–8 mentions "these two servants of Esagil and the monsters" together; he cross-refers the monster list to Šurpu VIII, 6–9. An English discussion of the reverse's monster lines therefore exists; no English rendering of any line does. Whether that narrows the claim's scope is Richard's call (the Nergal precedent). The claim is withheld behind it either way.
Further partial treatments, printed here so nothing is hidden: P. Gesche, Schulunterricht in Babylonien im ersten Jahrtausend v. Chr. (AOAT 275, 2000), pp. 618ff. prints a score transliteration of obv. 5′–16′ only, inside her edition of the school tablet BM 76026, which quotes those lines; G. Çağirgan & W. G. Lambert, "The Late Babylonian Kislīmu Ritual for Esagil," JCS 43–45 (1991–93), p. 101b, discuss the rev. 5–6 deified cult objects in English, with the parallel VAT 17156; A. R. George, RA 82 (1988), p. 151; B. Pongratz-Leisten, Ina šulmi īrub (BaF 16, 1994), p. 23. Individual obverse lines are quoted in CAD entries (from the copies and the duplicates), which is dictionary citation, not an edition. No published English translation of the prayer, in whole, was located anywhere this desk can reach.
Built 2026-10-22. Sources: Fadhil's
dissertation PDF, openly downloaded from the Deutsche
Nationalbibliothek record (d-nb.info/1180032837/34), saved at
, edition pages rendered at
–ed-094.png; live eBL record saved at
; SMB photographs in
.
One fragment: VAT 10006, Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin — 7.0 × 9.5 cm, Neo-Assyrian script, from Aššur: excavation number Ass. 15426 n, found 1.20 m deep in the western courtyard of a Parthian-period house (sector hC10IV), in the private library catalogued by Pedersén (1986), p. 82, as archive N 6 — Fadhil's "kleine Tontafelbibliothek." Genre on the eBL record: Canonical / Literature / Hymns, Divine. CDLI number, from the eBL record's external numbers: P404876. The old museum book entry counts obverse 26 lines, reverse 15 — the counts Fadhil's edition follows.
The duplicates matter and are stated, not smoothed: BM 123368, an unpublished British Museum duplicate (Borger, HKL II (1975), p. 57: "// BM 123368 (unpub.)"), supplies several of Fadhil's restorations; and a Late Babylonian school tablet, BM 76026, quotes obv. 5′–16′ as a school extract (edited by Gesche, AOAT 275, pp. 618ff.) — proof, as Fadhil notes, that this prayer belonged to the canon of literary texts apprentice scholars were taught. The composition itself, on Fadhil's argument from the reverse, arose in the Esagil circle of Marduk worship at Babylon, in high literary language of the Ludlul bēl nēmeqi kind, though no direct link to Ludlul exists. Fadhil also notes archaising spellings (the old value rí at obv. 12′; possibly mimation in ba-aš-m[u-um] at rev. 7) pointing to an old Vorlage — or to a scribe giving that impression.
The obverse is one man coming apart in similes. He is sick through toil, sunk in dejection and lamentation; he weeps day and night and holds out amid the evils that have befallen him. Then the pictures take over, each line beginning "like": he lies poured out like water on a river-meadow; he is a herdsman who cannot count his flock; he is brought to pasture and to the watering place; he is a foal at his herd's water-ditch; he guards the nest in his own branches; he is held down like a hunter's net on the ground, held fast like a fowler's decoy in the snare; he lies like cattle in the muck; like fish he cannot coil, like cave-birds he cannot fill; like a snake he keeps lunging out and is turned away; like a dove at the window openings he moans night and day; and like a bird in a fowler's cage he spends his life in confinement. The reverse turns: "…lord…" twice in the broken opening; then Babylon and its sanctuary; then the attendants of Esagil stand in service before the gods — Nādin-mê-qātī and Mukīl-mê-balāṭi, deified cult implements of Marduk's temple who "spoke the favourable word," and behind them the monster retinue of Tiamat's creatures: the bašmu-serpent, the mušḫuššu-dragon, the ugallu lion-demon, the uridimmu mad dog, the kusarikku bison-man, the kulullû fish-man. Then the prayer closes in the first person again: "I will call on you and turn to you in supplication. Whoever pronounces your 'life' will see the light. I put my trust in my god… I put my trust in my goddess, and you showed me [the light]."
Transliteration exactly as Fadhil prints it (his ⌈ ⌉ for damaged-but-read signs, [ ] for restorations, ? kept). The English is rendered from that transliteration against his German. Counts: 41 line-units — 0 whole, 27 part, 14 fragments, 0 invented. "Part" grades lines whose wording is substantially recoverable in Fadhil's text, restorations included; the brackets stay visible so restored wording never masquerades as clay. Fadhil declines to translate obv. 1′, 2′ (a trace only), 8′, 23′–26′ and rev. 3, 15; those lines are graded fragments here and rendered as traces at most.
Photo collation — stated plainly: the three SMB photographs were examined. They confirm the physical picture the edition assumes: photo 1 (obverse) shows dense Neo-Assyrian script over the upper portion, a firing hole at the right edge, and the text block ending at a horizontal break above an uninscribed, eroded lower mass; photo 2 (reverse) shows some fifteen lines in a larger hand across a worn face, the last broken off. Photo 3 (2235×3000) could not be rendered by this desk's reader tonight and was not viewed; nothing rests on it. The photographs do not carry a certifiable sign-by-sign collation from this desk — cursive hand, abrasion, display resolution — so no line below is photo-confirmed at sign level; every line rests on Fadhil's transliteration, and the photographs confirm structure only. That flag applies to all 41 units and is not repeated line by line.
Dragon scan (standing order), BY NAME: - Rev. 7 — bašmu (ba-aš-m[u-um]?, the ending restored by Fadhil on spacing grounds, against the parallels Šurpu VIII, 6–7 and VAT 17156 rev. 5, which list the same creatures): the bašmu-serpent stands at the head of the monster line. - Rev. 7 — mušḫuššu (⌈MUŠ⌉.Ḫ[UŠ], first sign damaged but read, second partly restored): the mušḫuššu-dragon stands second in the same line. This is the very line-group — rev. 5–8, the "two servants of Esagil and the monsters" — that Lambert's AfO 19, p. 122 note is about. - Obv. 18′ — ṣerru, "snake": [ki-i ṣ]e-er-ri, "like a snake," the line's opening restored from BM 123368 obv. 17 (Fadhil's commentary ad loc.). - Cleared with reasons: MUŠEN (obv. 19′, 22′) is "bird"; the remaining monster names of rev. 7 (ugallu, uridimmu, kusarikku, kulullû) are lion-demon, mad dog, bison-man and fish-man — Mischwesen, not serpents, and are flagged here as the line's company, not as dragons.
1′. [x] x x [x] x […]
(Fragment — sign traces only. Fadhil: too fragmentary to translate.)
2′. ⌈i⌉-na x ki ⌈li⌉[j]a? ḫu? x […]
"[Th]rough […]" (Fragment — Fadhil renders the first word only.)
3′. ⌈i⌉-⌈na⌉ ⌈ta⌉-né-ḫi ⌈GIG⌉-ku ru-[…]
"Through toil I am sick, […]" (Part — marāṣu with tānēḫu; the same complaint pair stands in SpTU no. 81 obv. 3, per Fadhil's commentary.)
4′. i-na ku-ri ni-is-sa-ti x […]
"Through dejection, lamentation, […]" (Part — kūru u nissati.)
5′. ur-ra mu-šú bi-ki-tu [dannat(?)]
"Day and night the weeping is [strong]." (Part.)
6′. ⌈i⌉-⌈na⌉ Ḫ[UL]?.⌈MEŠ⌉-⌈ia⌉ bit-ru-ú u[š?-ta?-bar?-ri?]
"In the evils [that befell] me I hold out continually." (Part — bitrû, "uninterruptedly," itself partly restored.)
7′. ⌈ša⌉-⌈ak⌉-n[a-ku? ki?]-⌈i⌉? A.MEŠ saḫ-ḫi a-na-⌈qí⌉? ki-⌈i⌉ m[e?-e? nādi(?)]
"I lie there; like water on the river-meadow I was poured out, like the wat[er from a waterskin(?) …]" (Part — the mê saḫḫi line; CAD S 56 cites it, and Fadhil's commentary ad loc. gives ana-qí, "I was poured," from the school-text parallel, against Gesche's nadû reading.)
8′. ⌈na⌉?-saḫ? iḫ?-[x x x] x ḫa? ⌈pi⌉? x […]
(Fragment — Fadhil: too fragmentary to translate; the restorations Gesche prints from the duplicates are, on his commentary, insecure.)
9′. ⌈ḫa⌉? x x [x x x] x ⌈ši⌉ ⌈na⌉ ma ⌈šá⌉ la i-ma-na ⌈U₈⌉?.[UDU.ḪI.A-šú]?
"… who cannot count [his flock of small cattle]." (Part — the herdsman simile; the line's end is restored from BM 76026 line 17′.)
10′. ina ri-[i-t]i ⌈na⌉-⌈aṣ⌉-⌈ṣa⌉-⌈ku⌉ a-na maš-qe-e ša-⌈RU⌉-[…]
"To the pasture I was brought, to the watering place […]" (Part — naṣṣāku, an Assyrian stative form.)
11′. x-x[x]-ku GIM ⌈ANŠE⌉.NÍTA ⌈ina⌉ su!-[u]r? sa?-k[ul?-li?-šú?]
"I am […] like a foal at the water-[ditch] of [its herd]." (Part — the duplicates fix DÙR as mūru, "foal," not imēru, "donkey"; sēru, "water-ditch," is restored and unsure.)
12′. ⌈ina⌉ la-rí-ia a-na-ṣer qí-[in-na]
"In my branches I guard the ne[st]." (Part — larû, "branch," written with the archaic value rí.)
13′. ki-⌈i⌉ šu-uš-kal-li šá ⌈lú⌉⌈ŠU⌉.ḪA ka-lu-u s[aḫ-pan-ni]
"Like the net of a hunter, the holding-back laid on me has felled me [to the ground]." (Part — šuškallu, the hunter's net; saḫpanni is complete in BM 76026 obv. 21′.)
14′. ki-⌈i⌉ ar-ri šá lúMUŠEN-DÙ-⌈e⌉ kál-‹a›-ku ina š[e-e-ti]
"Like the decoy bird of a fowler I am held fast in the n[et]." (Part — arru, the decoy.)
15′. ki-i GU₄.MEŠ na-da-ku ina ⌈ru⌉-šu-un!-tú ⌈ša⌉?-[…]
"Like cattle I lie in the muck […]" (Part — rušuntu, "muck, mire"; cf. ZA 61, 52 line 52, cited by Fadhil.)
16′. ki-i KU₆.MEŠ la-la-ʾe ka-na-nu ra-a[k? …]
"Like fish, unable to coil up […]" (Part — kanānu, "to coil," cited in CAD K 142b and AHw 435 from this line.)
17′. ⌈ki⌉-⌈i⌉ ⌈MUŠEN⌉.MEŠ ḫu-ri la-la-ʾe ma-lu-ú šá š[a? …]
"Like the cave-birds, unable to fill […]" (Part — iṣṣūr ḫurri, "cave-birds.")
18′. [ki-i ṣ]e-er-ri ul-te-né-la-⌈a⌉ suḫ(u)-ra-⌈a⌉-[ku …]
"[Like a sn]ake I keep lunging out — I am turned away […]" (Part — ṣerru, the snake; ultenellâ, "I keep rising/reaching," on which Fadhil's commentary cites AHw 210a and CAD E 134; the serpent flag for this line stands in the scan above, with its restoration status.)
19′. [ki-i TUmušen] a-pa-ti a-ka-ti a-dam-mu-mu(-)[…]
"[Like a do]ve at the window openings, in weakness, I moan […]" (Part — summatu, "dove," restored from the duplicates and the common idiom kīma summati damāmu; Fadhil reads the close as a sandhi for "I moan night and also day," following CAD D 60b.)
20′. [ki-i …] ⌈šá⌉? ⌈qab⌉? du ⌈a⌉? x i-da-a-tú na-bal-k[u-ta?(-) …]
"[Like …] the signs have come over [me …]" (Part — idātu nabalkutā, "the signs have crossed over," a restoration already proposed in CAD I/J 307b.)
21′. [ki-i …] la si-ka-te iš-ʾe naK-Bu ṣa-bi-tú x x […]
(Part, low — traces with wording partly legible: "… ṣābitū, 'the seizers' …" Fadhil prints no translation of the line's sense; rendered here as traces only, and the uncertainty is the record's, not smoothed.)
22′. [ki-i MUŠEN? ina? q]up-pu šá lúMUŠEN-DÙ-e ina me-se-ri ZI-tu x […]
"[Like a bird in the c]age of a fowler, in confinement [I spend] my life […]" (Part — iṣṣūr quppi, "cage-bird," with the parallels Fadhil cites: Rost, Keilschrifttexte Tiglat-Pilesers III, pl. 22 line 9, and OIP 2, 33 iii 27; ZI = napištu, "life.")
23′. […] x ⌈ru⌉? (leer) a-na-di li?-[…]
(Fragment — a blank stretch, then traces; Fadhil's commentary takes a-na-di, "I throw," as likely on spacing grounds. Not translated.)
24′. [...] -bi? ú-pa-⌈qa⌉ ZI?-[…]
(Fragment — traces; Fadhil's commentary suggests puqqu, "to pay heed," may stand here. Not translated.)
25′. [...] gal? a-a-e-ma a-a i-da-ga-x-x x x x
(Fragment — traces at the edge; ajjēma, "whichever," is legible in Fadhil's commentary reading (SAAS XIII, 52; SAAS XVI, 37). Not translated.)
26′. [...] x ⌈zi⌉? ⌈li⌉? […]
(Fragment — traces; the obverse ends at the edge (Rand). Not translated.)
1. [...] be-lum ik kur da m[a? …]
"[…] lord […]" (Fragment — bēlum, "lord," read in italics by Fadhil as a certain word in a broken line; his commentary leaves ik-kur / ek-lat / iq-qúr unresolved.)
2. x [...] be-lum ia lu sag [...]
"[…] lord […]" (Fragment — bēlum again; ia-lu perhaps ajjalu, "stag," per Fadhil's commentary (AHw 24; CAD A 225f) — noted, not built on.)
3. lu? x [...] x x x lu na ʾa x [...]
(Fragment — Fadhil: too fragmentary to translate.)
4. x x x ⌈ina⌉? ⌈KÁ⌉.⌈DINGIR⌉.⌈RA⌉?ki!? pa-pa-[ḫu? …]
"… in Babylon(?), the sanctu[ary …]" (Part — KÁ.DINGIR.RA = Babylon; papaḫu, "cella/sanctuary," restored.)
5. na-din-⌈A⌉.⌈MEŠ⌉-⌈ŠUII⌉ šu-⌈uz⌉?-zu-zu a-na [DINGIR?.MEŠ?]
"Nādin-mê-qātī — they were made to stand in service before the [gods(?)]." (Part — the first of Esagil's two deified cult implements, "He-who-gives-the-water-of-the-hands"; šuzuzzū, "made to stand," is the Š-stative. One of Lambert's rev. 5–8 lines.)
6. mu-kil-[A].⌈MEŠ⌉-⌈TI⌉.LA iq-bu-ú da-[mi?-iq?-ti?]
"Mukīl-mê-balāṭi — they spoke the fav[ourable word for me]." (Part — "He-who-holds-the-water-of-life"; damiqti is restored from the parallel VAT 17156 rev. 4.)
7. ba-aš-m[u-um]? ⌈MUŠ⌉.Ḫ[UŠ] ⌈u₄⌉-⌈gal⌉-lu UR.IDIM dGU₄.ALIM-kám ⌈KU₆⌉.⌈LÚ⌉.U₁₉.L[U]
"The bašmu-serpent, the mušḫuššu-dragon, the ugallu lion-demon, the uridimmu mad dog, the kusarikku bison-man, the kulullû fish-ma[n] —" (Part — the monster line, flagged by name in the scan above. Fadhil's commentary: the spacing forces ba-aš-m[u-um]; compare Šurpu VIII, 6–7 and VAT 17156 (VS 24 no. 97) rev. 5, where the same creatures of Tiamat are listed in different order; on the beings, RlA 8, 222ff. and Wiggermann, Mesopotamian Protective Spirits (CM 1, 1992). The sentence completes at line 8.)
8. áš-šu-u[m? x x x] ⌈lu⌉ x ⌈šu⌉-⌈uz⌉-zu-zu a-na DINGIR.[MEŠ?]
"… they were made to stand in service before the god[s(?)]." (Part — the refrain of line 5 repeated over the monster company.)
9. lu-sa-li-⌈ka⌉-a-ma ⌈lu⌉?-ú-sa-pi-ka a-na ⌈ka⌉-⌈a⌉-[ša]
"I will call on you and turn to you in supplication." (Part — sullû and supû, "to pray, to supplicate.")
10. ZI-ka i-zak-ka-ru e-ma-ra nu-⌈ú⌉-[ra]
"Whoever pronounces your 'life' will see the li[ght]." (Part — ZI = napištu.)
11. at-kil a-na DINGIR-ia-a-ma lu-ú dÉ-a x […]
"I put my trust in my god, and then indeed […] Ea […]." (Part — takālu, "to trust.")
12. at-ta-kil a-na diš-tar-ia-a-ma tu-kal-lim-⌈an⌉-n[i-ma? nūra?]
"I put my trust in my goddess, and you showed [me the light(?)]." (Part — tukallimanni, "you showed me"; nūra, "light," restored.)
13. ki-ma DINGIR-ú-a (leer) at-⌈ta⌉ [...]
(Fragment — "like my gods(?) … you …" around a blank space; traces only.)
14. [s]u-up-pi-iḫ kar-pa-ti x [...]
"[Sc]atter my 'vessel' […]" (Fragment — suppiḫ karpati, on Fadhil's reading; the line breaks off.)
15. [...] x [...]
(Fragment — traces; the reverse breaks off here (abgebrochen). Fadhil: too fragmentary to translate.)
Doors on the face as stated in the header: Fadhil 2012 credited as edition of record (German; eyeballed from this desk in its openly deposited form); Lambert, AfO 19, p. 122 stands as the open English-discussion door for rev. 5–8, its content characterized above from Fadhil's quotation, with the formal eyeball of the AfO page itself still owed to the print-check wave; the claim is withheld behind it. Gesche AOAT 275 (obv. 5′–16′ score) and Çağirgan & Lambert, JCS 43–45, p. 101b (rev. 5–6 discussion) are printed on the face as partial treatments. Release holds behind the triple-check and Richard's read. Branding on any future publication: a Vigslist translation.
Nuvira Technologies conducts this research with AI assistance, cross-verified against the primary sources to scholarly integrity standards. Uncertain readings are marked; broken lines are left broken.
— Richard Vigslist, Founder, Nuvira Technologies
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