SAA 10 206. Prayers and Rituals against Retrograding Mars (ABL 1401) [from exorcists]

• MUL.AB.SÍN — Conventionally identified as Virgo; the Babylonian constellation covers roughly the same area. Transliteration shows AB* with asterisk indicating uncertainty in the sign reading.
• ZI-ut BURU₅ — 'Rising of the locust' — a standard omen phrase; ZI-ut can also mean 'disappearance/departure' or 'rising/onset'; BURU₅ = locust, grasshopper. The exact ominous significance in this context is debated.
• šá-ru-ri na-ši — 'It bears radiance/brilliance' — šarūru is the characteristic glow or halo of a planet or deity; na-ši from našû 'to carry, bear.' The phrase describes the visual appearance of Mars.
• SU.BIR₄.KI — Subartu — the land north/northeast of Assyria, used here in an ominous geographical context. The sign ḪUL* preceding is uncertain (asterisked), meaning 'evil/bad.'
• ni-suḫ₄ — From nasāḫu, 'to remove, uproot, extirpate' — referring to ritual removal of evil portended by the omen. The precise form is debated.
• NAM.BÚR.BI — Namburbi — the standard Akkadian/Sumerian term for an apotropaic dissolution ritual performed to avert an evil omen. Retained untranslated as a technical term in some editions; here rendered 'namburbi-ritual.'
• ŠU.ÍL.LÁ.KÁM.MEŠ — Literally 'hand-lifting' prayers — a technical genre of Akkadian lament/petition prayer; rendered 'lament-prayers' following convention, though 'prayers of supplication' is equally valid. Signs carry asterisks in transliteration indicating uncertainty.
• ḫi-iṭ-ṭu la-áš-šú — 'There is no sin' — ḫiṭṭu means 'sin, offense, fault'; la aššu = 'there is not.' The phrase assures the king no ritual fault was committed, but the bracketing makes the restoration partly conjectural.
• ka-a.a-ma-nu — 'Always, regularly, constantly' — kâmanu/kayyamānu, an adverb of habitual or continuous action. Here applied to the ritual performance or the planet's behaviour.

Visual examination of the photograph: The tablet appears in multiple fragments — two joining halves visible across the image panels, plus what may be the top and bottom edges shown separately. The clay is light buff/cream in colour, moderately well fired. Cuneiform wedges are visible on the central face panels, though at this photograph resolution and with significant surface abrasion and breakage, individual signs cannot be read with confidence. The left edge shows a modern museum label (KI. / 1904 / 10 3 [or 10 9] / 274), and the right panel bears accession number 99242, consistent with a British Museum holding. The obverse and reverse both show dense cuneiform inscription in rows, but the wedge detail is too fine to isolate individual signs against the worn surface in this scan. The transliteration is provided by SAA 10 206 (State Archives of Assyria vol. 10, no. 206); cross-check against photo cannot confirm or deny specific sign readings owing to resolution and surface damage — flagged throughout as 'cannot verify from photo.' The text is a letter from an Assyrian scholar (exorcist) to the king reporting on Mars (Ṣalbatānu) transiting Virgo (MUL.AB.SÍN), associated with the omen of the 'Rising of the Locust' (ZI-ut BURU₅), and noting that apotropaic namburbi rituals and lament-prayers have been performed. Reconstructions follow Parpola, SAA 10 (1993), pp. 155–156.