nam-nar/nārūtu in the Seleucid Period: revisiting an excerpt of CT 17, pl. 18 [BM 34223+]

Abstract

We find the following textual excerpt in the cuneiform tablet BM 34223+, a manuscript of the exorcistic bilingual (Sumerian-Akkadian) series from the Seleucid Period currently known as “Compendium”:

iv 18. en2 saŋ-gig an-eden-na i3-du7-du7 im-gen7 mu-un-ri-ri iv 19. im-dub 24 EZEN(šer3/kešda) nam-nar eš2-gar3 udug-ḫul-meš nu al-til

iv 18. Incantation: “The (demon of the) headache whirls in the steppe, and it drifts there like the wind” iv 19. 24th Tablet. Song/riksu of the nam-nar. Series “Evil demons”. Not complete.

There have been several interpretations in the past for the “EZEN nam-nar” of this textual excerpt; however, all of them have been based on different readings and meanings of EZEN without a serious analysis of the textual mentions of the Sumerian nam-nar (and its Akkadian equivalent nārūtu) during the Seleucid Period.