The Filament (qû)

Parts of the exta are often said to be held by "filaments" (qû, logogram GU).[[231]] They may fill the liver, as in TCL 6 1:51, "the (entire) liver is held by filaments," or ibid. 54ff, "the liver is filled with filaments in the neck of the gall bladder."

The presence of filaments is attested in all major parts of the liver, e.g. in the caudate lobe ('finger'),[[232]] in the umbilical fissure ('gate of the palace'),[[233]] in the gall bladder,[[234]] in the 'station,[[235]] and in the 'path.'[[236]] They may link two parts of the liver, as in YOS 10 11 iv 12; a white filament is attested in YOS 10 33 iv 33ff.

Filaments are attested in other parts of the exta too, e.g. in the heart, in the diaphragm (tallu), and in the intestines (qerbū):

"the epigastrium (rēš libbi) is held/constricted by filament(s)," YOS 10 42 ii 33ff;
"there are a filaments above the diaphragm," ibid. iii 23;
"the intestines are held by filaments,'' RA 65 (1971) 70:27f.

231 Qû ṣabit is the common expression. For numerous examples, see CAD s.v. qû A (sub 3) p. 287f.

232 E.g., "the top of the 'finger' is held by a filament which is 'bound' in the top of the 'station'," CT 44 37 r.9f; "there are two 'fıngers' and their tops are held by a filament," YOS 10 11 iii 31f; "there is a white filament in the top of the 'finger'," YOS 10 33 iv 33ff.

233 E.g., "there is a filament inside the 'gate of the palace'," YOS 10 11 iv 12; "two 'gates of the palace' lie side by side and a filament links them," ibid. 23:12; "there are two 'palace gates' riding upon one another, and a filament links them," ibid. 24:3; "a filament lies crosswise in front of the 'gate of the palace'," ibid. r.41.

234 "A filament is stretched out and holds the top of the gall bladder," YOS 10 31 viii 38ff.

235 "3-4 filaments lie crosswise inside the 'station'," 81-2-4,200:11 (unpub.); "a filament lies crosswise in the top of the 'station'," ibid. 13. For this protasis, cf. nos. 281:2 and 313:3.

236 "There are 2 'paths' and filaments lie in the right/left 'path'," CT 20 8:10f, see also ibid. 7:14ff.

Ivan Starr

Ivan Starr, 'The Filament (qû)', Queries to the Sungod: Divination and Politics in Sargonid Assyria, SAA 4. Original publication: Helsinki, Helsinki University Press, 1990; online contents: SAAo/SAA04 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2020 [http://oracc.org/saao/saa04/otherpartsandfeaturesoftheexta/thefilament/]

 
Back to top ^^
 
SAAo/SAA04, 2014-. Since 2015, SAAo is based at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Historisches Seminar (LMU Munich, History Department) - Alexander von Humboldt Chair for Ancient History of the Near and Middle East. Content released under a CC BY-SA 3.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/] license, 2007-20.
Oracc uses cookies only to collect Google Analytics data. Read more here [http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/doc/about/cookies/index.html]; see the stats here [http://www.seethestats.com/site/oracc.museum.upenn.edu]; opt out here.
http://oracc.org/saao/saa04/otherpartsandfeaturesoftheexta/thefilament/