The Gall Bladder (martu)

Martu, the gall bladder, is clearly marked on all extant liver models and is well represented in the omen series and extispicy reports from the OB period onward. Its common logogram is ZÉ, but in the extispicy reports from Mari and in some texts from Boghazköi it is known as SIPA, "shepherd." Among the parts of the gall bladder attested in extispicy texts, "tip" (appu), "top" (rēsu), "middle" (qablu), "bottom" (išdu), "narrow part" (qutnu), and maṣrahu (the cystic duct) are among the most prominent.[[142]] The "top," "middle" and "bottom" frequently occur in these texts as a triad devised for purposes of prediction.[[143]] Both qutnu and maṣrahu can replace the "bottom" in the triad.[[144]]

Anatomically, the gall bladder consists of a fundus (i.e. its expanded end), body, and a neck (i.e. its narrow end leading into the cystic duct). If the latter is to be identified with the qutnu (or qutun marti), and the body with the "middle," then the fundus perhaps corresponds to the "top" of the triad. The difficulty lies in differentiating between the qutnu and the "bottom". As just noted, both qutnu or maṣrahu can replace the "base" as the last member of the triad. Yet the latter is well-attested, independently of this triad, in gall bladder protases, e.g., "if the top and the bottom of the gall bladder are held together," YOS 10 31 iii 13.[[145]] This is the case also in extispicy reports, which commonly refer to the base of the gall bladder. A protasis common in these reports is "the base of the gall bladder is firm on the right, loose on the left."[[146]] Note also YOS 10 31 vi 15ff, "the tip and the base of the gall bladder are firm; its middle is loose."

As the examples just cited show, the gall bladder is commonly associated with the verbs kanû "to be firm" and nasāhu "to pull out," (stat.) "to be loose." In OB and MB reports it is also often described with the statives nanmurat "visible"[[147]] and šubbat "flattened." The latter is also fairly common in the present corpus, e.g. nos. 76 r.6, 104 r.3, 17 5 r.12, 324:4, 313:5, as well as in omen texts of the first millennium in general.[[149]] A standard observation in the Sargonid reports and queries, but one which is rarely attested elsewhere, is "the left of the gall bladder is 'bound.'"[[150]]



142 For appu, the tip of the gall bladder see, e.g., YOS 10 31 ii 16, "the tip of the gall bladder is as sharp as a thorn", and ibid. x 4f, "the tip of the gall bladder is like a lizard."

143 On this and other such devices see Starr Rituals, p. 11.

144 For the former cf. passages such as "there is a cross-shaped marking in the top/middle/neck of the gall bladder" (TCL 6 4 r.7ff), "there is a cyst in the top/middle/neck of the gall bladder and it is soft" (ibid. 2:55ff), and "there is a hole in the top/middle/neck in the right/left of the gall bladder" (CT 30 16 K 3841 r.11ff). For the latter, cf., e.g., YOS 10 46 i 1ff, "there is a 'weapon'-mark at the right of the top/middle/maṣrahu of the gall bladder."

145 Cf. ibid. 27, "The base of the gall bladder is split," and ibid. iv 25, "The base of the gall bladder is covered with flesh."

146 E.g., JCS 11 no. 12:13, 24; RA 41 50:6; JCS 21 219 A:6. Cf. Starr Rituals 32:53 and KAR 423 iii 11, BE ZÉ SUHUŠ.MEŠ-šá 15 GI.NA 150 ZI.MEŠ. See, however, Babyl. 2 plate 6:6, "the gall bladder is firm on the right; the neck of the gall bladder is thick" (cf. CT 20 39:8).

147 JCS 21 222 F:5 and 225 J:8; JCS 37 146 no. 17:7 (IGI.IGI-at); ibid. 148:10.

148 JCS 11 no. 3:5; 7:5 and possibly 21 223 H:4; 37 148:14. For a discussion of the verbal form, see Goetze, JCS 11 (1957) 97,but note Kraus, JCS 37 (1985) 176, n. 109.

149 E.g. CT 30 11 K 6785, K 3839, and numerous other unpublished fragments.

150 Cf. CT 20 i 46. OB omens devoted to the gali bladder are YOS 10 28, 31, 32, 59, 60. Among omen texts of the NA period, numerous texts (mostly fragments) dealing with the gall bladder are to be found in CT 30.

Ivan Starr

Ivan Starr, 'The Gall Bladder (martu)', 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/thegallbladder/]

 
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