V8 A:14 UD.20 ḫi-pi eš-šú HV – Difference in ordinal number.^164
B:14 UD.18.KAM
V9 A:14 uḫ-ḫa-ram-ma OV – A and B syllabic spelling, against the
B:14 uḫ-ḫa-ram-ma logogram in J.
J:13 ZAL[
V10 A:15 IN.NU OV – A and B have composite logogram =
tibni, “straw, chaff.” D has [composite
gram] + ŠU. The meaning of D is uncer-
tain.^165
B:15 IN.NU
D:1 ].ŠU
(^164) A has the western setting of Venus ( (^) Ω) occurring on 20th day of Araḫsamna, B has the 18th day. E.
Reiner, BPO 1, 32, reads A as “20 [+8]”, and therefore sees the reading “18” in B as an error for the correct
number “28.” S. Langdon, J.K. Fotheringham, and C. Schoch, Venus Tablets, 15, n. 2 prefers the reading
“20” in A without restoring an extra number. Reiner’s reading, being the most recent review of the tablets,
is preferred throughout this study. S. Langdon, J.K. Fotheringham, and C. Schoch, Venus Tablets, 15, n. 2
interprets “ḫi-pi eš-šú” as “ ‘a recent defacement of the text’. The units of this figure were lost on the origi-
nal from which Ašurbanipal’s scribe made his copy”. R. Borger, Mesopotamisches Zeichenlexikon (Mün-
ster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2004) 387, notes “ḫe-pu-ú, sind angebrochen. Auch + eš-šú, neu, rezent.” CAD Ḫ 196
defines the term as meaning “new break.” The form is therefore not counted as a textual variant. 165
In understanding ŠU as a pronominal suffix, the reading in D would constitute a stylistic variant. How-
ever, as this is uncertain, Rule 4 requires reading D as an orthographic variant which has the same meaning
as both A and B. In an Old Babylonian text from Nippur we find “in-nu-uš” as a variant spelling of
“IN.NU” in The Instructions of Šuruppag, line 27 (see R. Borger, Mesopotamisches Zeichenlexikon, 411).
The form in D could therefore be “in-nu-u-šu”, or something similar, but this is unlikely. Alternatively, the
text could be restored to read IN.NU.UŠ, maštakal, which is a type of plant. This form would then have to
be counted as a lexical interchange. However, as it is impossible to determine what may have preceded the
sign ŠU in this context, the most conservative variant category must be assumed in the light of Rule 4.