1 Ll.1'-3 ' // BAM 530 + iii 9′-14′.

2 Sherd from a crossroad occurs relatively often in our corpus , but the texts rarely specify its position as standing upright (zaqpu): see , for instance , the head disease text BAM 482 + ii 19 , with the collated reading ŠIKA SILA LIMMU₂ za*-qip-ta after CAD S 83 (cited as CT 23 42 : 19 ). Moreover , in the Diagnostic Handbook Sagig 1 : 2 , an upright-standing potsherd is taken as a sign which , if observed by the incantation priest in the street , means that the sick man is in critical condition (see Labat 1951 : 2–3).

3 For this incantation , see Collins 1999 : 184 . The verb redû in the Š-stem , viz . šurdû, as well as alāku can describe the flow of blood , so we take the infinitive form šurdû here to indicate a more excessive blood flow from the patient’s nose . For a similar rendering of the same form in BAM 580 iii 20′–21′ , see Steinert 2016 : 216 . For the translation “blood flows freely” , see Scurlock and Andersen 2005 : 207.

4 Compare Lamaštu III : 40 with the form su-gin₃ kakki ḫar-bi “a splinter from the handle of a ḫarbu-plough” . The translation of sumkinnu as ‘splinter’ follows Farber 2014 : 189 , in agreement with CAD’s (S 378 ) suggested translation of the word as ‘wood shavings’ . On the other hand , von Soden (1972 : 83 and AHw 1057 ) assigns the meaning ‘Verrottetes (Holz)’ to sumkinnu.

5 Only slight traces of signs have been preserved at this point , and they cannot support any confident restoration . Based on context , the passage is tentatively restored with the form KA MUR = Akk . pî ḫašê as a figurative description or a layman’s term for the nostril . For the occurrence of this form in texts dealing with nosebleed , see BAM 524 ii′ 12′ , BAM 526 : 5′ and 6′ (pî ḫašê of the right - and left-hand side ), as well as the unpublished single-column tablet K 1452 in a collection of incantations , short rituals and prophylactic measures against nosebleed.

6 One may also read the sign sequence AŠ AB BI here as ina ap-pi₂ “in the nose” , but the incantation does not seem to yield a coherent meaning . Other sign sequences that may carry a meaning include en.gal and ti.la in line 10′ below : read as logograms , EN GAL and TI.LA may stand for the Akkadian words bēlu rabû “great lord” and balāṭu “to live” , respectively.