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This text was catalogued in KBo 18 as a letter with oracles, although its tablet format (two-columned?) would exclude the epistulary nature of the text. The oracular content appears limited to a reference to oracle inquiries – if ḫandazi (obv. 5´) is indeed to be interpreted in this sense. In the introduction to KBo 18, Güterbock H.G. 1971a, VI, stated: “Unsicher, ob hierher gehörig. (...) Die überschwengliche Aufforderung zu Genuß und Freude könnte sich auf günstige Orakel gründen”, but this seems quite uncertain. Otherwise, the surviving material consists primarily of a long recitation containing several blessing formulae for “our Lord,” presumably the king.
On the obverse, a well-preserved section refers to the celebration of a festival (possibly the Festival of the Year? k. 8), during which tribute is brought from “all the countries” (k. 9). The reverse contains a sequence of one-line paragraphs mentioning other seasonal festivals, such as the “Festival of the Month” (k. 17), again with blessing formulae for the “Lord.” One formula wishes that the king would “(continue to) rejoice like the Moon god” (k. 14). Subsequent blessings likely also refer to the Moon god, although in lines k. 15–17 the deity’s name is broken off. These lines additionally mention different months (“sixth,” “seventh,” and “eleventh”), and the monthly cadence of these formulations supports the idea that the Moon god is the central figure in this section.
The precise genre of this unusual text remains uncertain, but it is likely a composition closely tied to the celebration of the festivals it describes.
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Fragment of the right column of a two columned tablet (according to KBo 18: Güterbock H.G. 1971a, VI: “Nach der Krümmung wohl rechte Hälfte einer zweikolumnigen Tafel”), with rounded edges, preserving some 15 almost complete lines of the bottom of the obverse and the top of the reverse. The text is also written continuously over the lower edge.
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