The 'Gate of the Palace' (bāb ekalli)

This part of the liver (Neo-Assyrian logogram: ME.NI; OB and MB: KÁ É.GAL), whose location is indicated on the liver models and whose identification with the umbilical fissure is certain, is well attested in omen texts and extispicy reports of the OB period, where a number of extensive omen collections (e.g., YOS 10 22-27) are devoted to it.[[134]] It is there said to be "closed" or "tight" (YOS 10 23:4, 24:29), "massive" (ibid. 27), or "wide" (ibid. 21); it may leave its normal location to be found elsewhere on the liver.[[135]] In YOS 10 23:11, referring to two 'gates of the palace,' "they lie side by side and are equal in size"; cf. ibid 24:2, "the 'gates of the palace' are two and they 'ride' upon one another," and ibid. 30, "the 'gate of the palace' is empty, so that two of your fingers can enter inside it."

In omen texts and extispicy reports of the first millennium, the 'gate of the palace' is less well represented. One relevant text is K 3878+ (Boissier DA 217-219), whose protases begin with right and left 'doorjambs' (sippu) of the 'palace gate.' These are to be identified, perhaps, with the two areas to the immediate right and left of the umbilical fissure.[[136]]



134 For a comprehensive discussion of the 'gate of the palace' and its parts, see Jeyes, JCS 30 (1978), 209-233. It is attested already in the extispicy reports from Mari, e.g., JCS 21 226ff, L:11; M:12; N:8. For other occurrences in OB extispicy reports, see ibid. 219, A:5.

135 E.g. YOS 10 23:5f, "the 'gate of the palace' left its place and is located in the right/left side." Note also YOS 10 22:5f, "a normal 'gate of the palace' is located normally, a second one is located in the right/left side," cf. ibid. 9 and 24:12ff.

136 See Jeyes, loc. cit. p. 214. On the parts of the umbilical fissure, see ibid. p. 213ff and fig. 1 p. 220. For OB omens concerning 'doorjambs' of the 'palace gate,' see YOS 10 26 iii 19-26. Note also šubat (imitti) bāb ekallim, attested in MB reports (JCS 37 173).

Ivan Starr

Ivan Starr, 'The 'Gate of the Palace' (bāb ekalli)', 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/thegateofthepalace/]

 
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