it.^243 No inter-columnar rulings are preserved but there are parts of a top ruled margin and
lower right ruled margin. The clay has visible impurities in the cross section and, from
the brittle and crumbling nature of the tablet, appears to be unbaked.^244
JJ, VAT9527
The script is Neo-Assyrian, and the tablet was apparently found in a private house in
Ashur. The tablet probably dates to the seventh century B.C.E. and was part of the private
collection of a family of scribes. This family may have had some connected with the
Ashur temple or the palace at Ashur.^245 The tablet originally held six columns and com-
prised the entire text of MUL.APIN.
(^)
Table - Number of SU Preserved in the MUL.APIN Tablets
FragmentA 1617 Total SU
B 14
C 73.5 E 249
F 49.5 G 21
H 341
J 229.5 K 156
L 30.5 M 117.5
N 135.5 O 190.5
(^243) This is certainly not a sign of imperfection in scribal execution. The same effect can be seen in such
skilfully executed texts as the Taylor prism. 244
245 I owe this observation to M. Sigrist, private conversation.
H. Hunger, "Zwei Taflen des Astronomichen Textes MUL.APIN im Vorderasiatischen Museum zu Ber-
lin," Forschungen und Berichte 22 (1982) 127, connects this tablet with the same find-site as discussed for
tablet AA (see note above).