Mesopotamian (Technical Remarks)

Authors: Susanne M Hoffmann

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The Mesopotamian Dictionary of names of stars and constellations is the first one of its type. The first one was published in 1950, handwritten in German by Felix Gössmann and entitled "Planetarium Babylonicum". An updated and enriched edition of it was published by Gennady Kurtik (2007) in Russian. Here we present a revisited English translation of it, for the first time enriched with images and star maps.

• 
  Gössmann (1950)
• 
  Kurtik (2007)

see

• NABU 2026 #02 82
• NABU 2026 #02 83

Technical Remarks on Assyriology

References

The page hyperlinked in the header is a separate page with all references given by Kurtik himself. The list is largely published by him in Kurtik (2007) but as he had been reworking his material in preparation of new (revisited) edition, some references in his list might be incomplete. The material was handed to us by his family after his death in early 2023.

For the time being, as long as we are still working on it, we keep his original page structure in the presentation of his references.

Above the tables of his references, we add others (e.g. newly appeared literature after his publication).

Current Unfinished State

Kurtik’s original text wasn’t entirely consistent (keep in mind: we were working with an unfinished version, he passed away during the process of reworking). So the Russian-English translation team had agreed that we shouldn’t waste time on formatting in the first step, but instead only translate very quickly to allow other experts (Assyriologists, historians, cultural astronomers) continue working on it.

The first team who intensively worked on the project (Horowitz, Hunger, Hoffmann) has corrected quite a few things in the meantime during weekly meetings, but they targeted the bigger content problems first and no one has ever done this systematically.

Furthermore, the cited editions and translations might not be the standard translation (e.g. for MUL.APIN). This will be improved in the future: Currently, it predomininantly consists of Kurtik’s translation from some language (cuneiform, English, German, or whatever) into Russian. It’s quite possible, then, that we now have a translation from English to Russian to English… (in some cases). We aim at successively copying in the standard translation. The same applies, of course, to editions: MUL.APIN 1989 and 2018 sometimes differ, and Kurtik only had the earlier one, since his book was published as early as 2007. For these reasons as well, the decision not to spend much time on formatting when translating Kurtik was the right one.

Please give us time to fix it or offer help and ask the editors for an account. :-)

Format Convention

1. Akkadian transliteration in italics
2. Sumerograms in Akkadian transliteration in caps (not italicized)
3. Sumerian in Sumerian
   1. lower case roman = readings,
   2. upper case Roman = signs (without certainty regarding reading)
4. Always dots in Sumerian, hyphens in Akkadian
   1. Example: a-na LUGAL.MUL LUGAL-ia

Abbreviations

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Month Names

	Sumerian	Sumerian (alternate)	Akkadian	Hebrew
Month I	ITIBARA2.ZAG(.GAR) Month (images) placed by throne	ITI.BAR(.SAG.SAG)	Nisānu	Nisan נִיסָן
Month II	ITI(EZEM.)GU4.SI.SU Month horned oxen marched forth	ITI.GU4(.SI.SÁ)	Ayyāru	Iyar אִייָר‎
Month III	ITISIG4.U5.ŠUB.BA.GÁ.GAR Month the brick is placed in the mold	ITI.SIG4.A	simānu	Sivan סִיוָן
Month IV	ITIŠU.NUMUN Month preparing seed	ITI.ŠU(.NUMUN.A/NA); ITI.ŠU.GAR.NUMUN.NA	Dûzu	Tammuz תַּמּוּז
Month V	ITINE.IZI.GAR Month braziers are lit	ITI.NE(.NE.GAR)	Abu	Av אָב
Month VI	ITIKIN.dINANNA Month of rectification of Inanna	ITI.KIN	Ulūlu / Elūlu	Elul אֱלוּל
Month VII	ITIDU6.KÙ Month of Sacred Mound	ITI.DU6/DUL(.KÙ)	tašrītu	Tishrei תִּשְׁרֵי
Month VIII	ITI(GIŠ)APIN.DU8.A Month the plow is let go	ITI.APIN(.DU8.A)	Arahsamnu	(Mar)Cheshvan מַרְחֶשְׁוָן/חֶשְׁוָן
Month IX	ITIGAN.GAN.(MU.)E3 Month when the clouds(?) come out	ITI.GAN(.GAN.NA)	Kisilīmu	Kislev כִּסְלֵו
Month X	ITIAB.E3 Month of the father	ITI.AB(.BA.È)	ṭebētu	Tevet טֵבֵת
Month XI	ITIZIZ2.A Month for emmer	ITI.ZÍZ(.A.AN)	Šabāṭu	Shevat שְׁבָט
Month XII	ITIŠE.KIN.KU5 Month of the cutting of barley	ITI.ŠE(.KIN.TAR)	Ad(d)aru	Adar אֲדָר
Intercalary Month XIII	ITIDIRI.ŠE.KIN.KU5 Additional harvest month	ITI.DIRIG.ŠE(.KIN.TAR)	Adaru arkû	Adar II אֲדָר שֵׁנִי