edge of M. This suggests an uneven heating process, in which more heat was applied to
the upper right part of the tablet.^140 It is possible therefore that this tablet was unfired in
antiquity, and was subsequently burnt in a fire, possibly in the conflagration at Nineveh
in 612 B.C.E. However, the difference in coloration could also be the result of a con-
trolled firing process in which heat was accidentally applied unevenly.
B, W1924.802
In all probability the most ancient of any of the examined Venus tablets, this document
was excavated at Kish in 1924 by Langdon, and now forms part of the Herbert Weld Col-
lection in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford University. It is dated by its colophon to the
reign of Sargon II (721-705 B.C.E.).^141 The script is Neo-Babylonian, and the reference
to both Babylon and Sargon in the colophon suggests that it was written after the Assyr-
ian king regained control of Babylon from Merodach-baladan II in 710 B.C.E. This
would demand the view that this tablet was written between 710-705 B.C.E. From the
preserved text B appears to have contained sections I-III.
C, K160
This tablet is the most fully preserved copy of the Venus tablet examined here and, in the
sections that concern this study, contains more than five times as much text as the next
(^140) According to W.G. Lambert (private conversation) the coloration of fired clay changes depending on the
temperature applied, ranging from terracotta, through red, pale brown and grey-white. A pale green colour
immediately precedes vitrification, at which point the clay becomes blackened and can exhibit bubbling in
areas of extreme heat. To some degree the coloration of fired clay depends on the presence of iron oxides in
the raw material, however the changes in colour between various tablets is typically a sign of the firing
temperature. To add confusion to the issue, it is also true that some unbaked tablets were fired by the exca-
vators in the 19 141 th century to prevent them from further damage during shipping.
The colophon is found on the reverse in lines 15-19. Following the incipit for the next tablet in line 15,
lines 16-19 read: “DUB 1 UŠ 2 ÀM.KAM.MA [DIŠ UD An] dEn-líl 37 ÀM MU.B[I.IM] (17) [G]ABA.RI
Ba-bi-i-liki [G]IM la-bi-ri-šú ša-ṭir-ma [È] (18) [Š]U dUGUR-DU-uš DUMU LÚ.DUMU.DÙ AN [x] (19)
[x] Eki MU.AN.NA [x] KAM LÚGAL.GI.NA LUGAL [remaining broken]”. E. Reiner, BPO 1, 61, trans-
lates: “Tablet 62 of Enūma Anu Enlil, it has 37 lines, copy from Babylon, written according to its original
and collated. Written by Nergal-ēpuš, son of a ‘free man’ ... at Babylon, [x]th year of Sargon, king [of As-
syria].” See also H. Hunger, Kolophone, 58, no. 150, and J.D. Weir, Venus Tablets, 24.