A reading, published with its checks still open. A Vigslist translation.
Theological Text Fragment. The edition transliterates and translates two lines and prints the rest “too fragmentary”; this file inventories the nine never-transliterated lines from Spar's copy. Two of its lines (10′–11′) already stand translated in English in CTMMA II (2005) and are credited there; this page inventories the lines the edition left untransliterated.
Published as a reading. No first-translation claim is made for this piece. The checks that would settle such a claim are named in the notes below and are still open; the wording on this page claims nothing they have not settled.
Label (standing): FROM-VOLUME PROVISIONAL. CTMMA II (Text No. 23, Plate 37) transliterates and translates exactly two lines of this fragment (10′–11′) and prints the rest as "(too fragmentary for transliteration)." Those two lines are reproduced here in repaired form from this desk's OCR extraction, with the editor's own translation credited to the edition — they are not a first translation, and no first-translation claim attaches to this piece. What this file adds is the inventory of the nine never-transliterated lines (1′–9′), taken from Spar's Plate 37 copy.
The object. 76 × 58 × 29 mm — the largest fragment in this wave's ground — Neo-Babylonian period. The editor's remarks: "This fragment has mostly pitiful remains of twelve lines. Only two merit attention, namely ll. 10′–11′. The text reads like a Neo-Babylonian theological text expounding details of a pantheon of gods."
Surfaces examined (this session). The Met photograph: the surface is heavily encrusted and eroded; only the lowest lines carry distinguishable wedges — matching the copy. Spar's Plate 37 copy: the upper two-thirds is stippled damage; lines 1′–6′ survive only as a right-hand stub of short sign-groups (the left and centre are gone), lines 7′–9′ as scattered signs across the middle band, lines 10′–11′ as two full dense lines at the bottom, and a partial twelfth line at the very bottom edge.
10'. …] x GEME₂ dGašan-ia(?) 12-ta NIN.MEŠ-šú DUMU.MUNUS.MEŠ [… ⟦OCR-degraded
throughout the local scan; sign values follow the edition's own translation⟧
11'. …]-ti dNin-líl 12-ta NIN.MEŠ-šú x (x) […
The edition's translation (CTMMA II, quoted, NOT this program's):
10'. … the slave-girl of Bēltiya, his/her/its 12 ladies, daughters […
11'. … Ninlil, his/her/its 12 ladies … […
What the two lines are: entries in a pantheon exposition — a goddess's female household enumerated in a fixed form ("her 12 ladies, daughters…"), Bēltiya's slave-girl in one line, Ninlil in the next. The composition is unidentified.
| Line | What the copy shows |
|---|---|
| 1′ | Right-hand stub only: ~3 short sign-groups (~6–8 tokens); rest of the line lost |
| 2′ | Right-hand stub: ~2 sign-groups (~4–5 tokens) |
| 3′ | Right-hand stub: ~2 sign-groups, incl. a repeated small-sign cluster |
| 4′ | Right-hand stub: ~2 sign-groups (~4 tokens) |
| 5′ | Right-hand stub: ~2 sign-groups (~4–5 tokens) |
| 6′ | ~3 sign-groups scattered centre-right (~6 tokens) |
| 7′ | ~5–6 signs scattered across the middle band |
| 8′ | ~8–10 signs across the line, none connected |
| 9′ | ~8–10 signs across the line, none connected |
| 12′ | Partial line at the bottom edge of the copy, ~6–8 tokens, unnumbered by the edition |
No sign values are offered for any of these. The copy's resolution and the hand — the same cursive Late Babylonian that stopped the editor with the original in hand — do not carry a defensible transliteration from this desk. FROM-COPY PROVISIONAL — inventory only.
None. Divine names legible anywhere in this piece: Bēltiya and Ninlil (editor's readings, ll. 10′–11′). No ušumgal, muš, mušḫuššu, bašmu, or serpent-god name appears in the printed lines or is legible in the copy or photograph. The untransliterated lines are unread, so for them the flag is not raised, not cleared.
CTMMA II No. 23 is the only edition. Lines 10′–11′ stand transliterated and translated in print since 2005 — excluded from any first-translation claim. Lines 1′–9′ (and the partial 12′) have never been transliterated in print; their candidacy as never-transliterated material stands, but from this desk they yield inventory only — the unlock is collation against the original. Post-2005 web re-check this session: no later treatment surfaced. CDLI unreachable (503) — caveat stands. Full statement in OVERNIGHT-D3-REPORT.md.
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
More antiquities research: Antiquities Research