The normal location of the 'crucible' (naṣraptu, logogram NÍG.TAB)[[122]] is on the ventral lobe of the liver. It evidently has some association with the 'path,' because the latter is sometimes said to be present, at other times absent from the naṣraptu. Cf., for example, YOS 10 11 iv 16ff, "if the 'path' is within the 'crucible,' the country will obey its king."[[123]] The presence of the 'path' in the 'crucible' was evidently a good omen. From the protases it is further evident that the location of the 'path' is such that it could easily lie within the "territory' of the 'crucible' or in close proximity to it.[[124]]
The 'crucible' is not as well-represented in extispicy reports as it is in omen texts, such as CT 20 31-37, 38. For its occurrence in the Sargonid queries and reports, see no. 63 r.12 and 64 r.11.[[125]] From these reports and from the omen texts it appears that the place of the 'crucible' in the canonical order is between the 'path' and the 'gate of the palace,'[[126]] in the general area where the MB reports place the KA.DÙG.GA. In fact, the tablet dealing with the 'crucible' in the pān takālti series (chapter 5 of the bārûtu) precedes the one dealing with the KA.DÙG.GA.[[127]] The evidence for the location of the 'crucible' on the liver is therefore quite clear and unambiguous. Its identification, however, is another matter. An identification with one of the impressions which the stomachs of the sheep make on the liver, e.g. the abomasal impression, is possible, but uncertain.[[128]] Note also a SUR naṣraptim (Akkadian reading unknown), to be identified, perhaps, with the lesser omentum.[[129]]
The naṣraptim is commonly associated with the verbs kapāṣu "to be curled" and naparqudu "to lie flat," and its normal configuration, in fact, can be said to be curled.[[130]]
122 Attested from the OB period (including Mari) on. For OB texts, see YOS 10 20:14ff (ruggi naṣraptim), 22ff (warqat naṣraptim), and passim in YOS 10. For warkat naṣraptim, see also Nougayrol, RA 63 (1969) 153ff (in this text the naṣraptu is in some unusual locations); for the naṣraptu and ruggi naṣraptim, see also Starr Rituals, p. 79ff.
123 See also CT 20 31:1ff (cf. no. 64 r.10) and KAR 423 ii 17ff.
124 The 'path' evidently has also some association with ruqqi/warkat naṣraptim (SAL.LA/EGIR NÍG.TAB GÍR), see, for example, CT 20 31:27ff, but never with NÍG.TAB GÍR by itself.
125 For an occurrence in OB extispicy reports, see JCS 21 219 *A:2ff (ruqqi naṣraptim).
126 The inspection of the naṣraptu precedes that of the umbilical fissure (bāb ekallim). Cf Starr Rituals 32:45f and 34:102f.
127 See CT 20 33 r.115, catch-line. See also KAR 423 ii 17ff (in the section which deals with those parts of the liver known as pān takālti), dealing with the NÍG.TAB, followed by KA.DÙG.GA *lines 22ff.)
128 See Starr, Rituals, p. 81; see also Biggs, RA 63 (1969) 165.
129 So Biggs, ibid.
130 See Goetze, JCS 11 (1957) 102.
Ivan Starr
Ivan Starr, 'The 'Crucible' (naṣraptu)', 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/theliveranditsparts/thecrucible/]