BM 040978 (unpublished unassigned ?) [commentaries]

1The reading of the first word is courtesy of H. Stadhouders.

2According to Henry Stadhouders (private communication), “the identification of the arrabu as (edible) dormouse (Glis glis), German “Siebenschlafer” (entirely Landsberger’s: Fauna des alten Mesopotamiens, p. 107) should be critically re-evaluated, since the mere two species in the subfamily of Glirinae have their arboreal habitat in the temperate regions of the Paleo-arctic zone, with its cold winters, which is why it hibernates for its eponymous seven months. So if it indeed is a kind of dormice, it might rather have to be sought in another genus of the Gliridae family of rodents. The Asian garden dormouse (Eliomys melanurus) could be a candidate; a species in yet another family of dormice endemic to Anatolia is the Woolley dormouse (Dryomys laniger).” According to Stadhouders, statistically the most likely candidate for the identification of the arrabu would be the Euphrates jerboa (Allactaga euphratica).

3Perhaps ṣa-⸢al-mu^?⸣. H. Stadhouders (private communication) suggests reading ṣa-⸢aḫ-rù⸣.