V19 C:9 UD.4.KAM HV – Difference in cardinal number.^170
D:7 UD.4.KAM
J:20 ]5.KAM
V20 A:22 uḫ-ḫa-ram-ma OV – A, B and C have syllabic spelling,
B:22 uḫ-ḫa-ram-ma against the logogram in J.^
C:9 uḫ-ḫa-ram-ma
J:20 ZAL-ma
V21 A:23 UD.15.KAM HV – Difference in ordinal number.^171
C:10 UD.15.KAM
J:20 UD.16.KAM
(^170) C and D record the period of invisibility during inferior conjunction as nine months and four days, while
J records [break] five days. See J.D. Weir, Venus Tablets, 28, for a discussion of the problems with the
period of invisibility recorded in C and D. An acceptable period of invisibility for Venus during inferior
conjunction at this time, year nine of Ammizaduga, would be around four days. According to Weir the er-
ror could have arisen in one of the texts when a copyist “misread the previous month of rising as the setting
month; and thus wrote the wrong month down” (S. Langdon, J.K. Fotheringham, and C. Schoch, Venus
Tablets, 7; see also K. Oberhuber, Innsbruck Sumerisches Lexikon [1; Innsbruck: Instituts für Sprachwis-
senschaft der Universität Innsbruck, 1990] 418, n. 5, and the references there). It is possible that C and D
share a genetic variation as this error appears in both texts. A break in the text of J preceding the number of
days precludes any comparative information from this source, although it seems clear that the number of
days recorded in J is not the same as C and D. 171
A and C record the eastern rising of Venus (Γ) as occurring on the 15th day of Addari, while J has the
16 th day of Addari.