ies. One expansive plus is found at M226, where the title “the Shepherd” in tablet W, re-
ferring to the constellation Orion, is written as “the True Shepherd of Anu” in tablet K.
Stylistic Variants (Type 3)
There is a single instance where a different arrangement of words is detected between the
sources. Tablet Q has a different word order to tablets A and J at M263, where the adver-
bial form GI 6 , mūša, “nightly,” appears phrase-finally as opposed to phrase-initially. Due
to the broken context of Q at this point it is impossible to tell if the rest of the phrase was
the same as in the other sources or if a more significant variant underlies this change in
sequence.
Hermeneutic Variants
Most of the hermeneutic variants recorded between the sources involve a difference in
cardinal numbers. The difference is regularly by a factor or 10, the reason for which can
be understood in terms of damage or haplography of the single wedge sign that represents
the number 10 in the cuneiform writing system.^334
At M147 tablet M fails to account for the visibility of Aquarius, termed mulGU.LA, “the
Great One,” during the month of Šabaṭu. Given the precise nature of the taxonomy this
omission is read as a difference in content rather than a change in sequence or a stylistic
expansion.
(^334) See the comments in note 157.