The 'Head Lift/Holder' (nīs/mukīl rēši)

The 'head lift' of the lung (nīs rēš hašî, logogram MU.SAG MUR),^[[185]] already attested in the MB reports,^[[186]] may be identical to mukīl rēši, "head holder," which is clearly shown to be part of the lung by OB and MB reports.^[[187]]

A clue to the identification of the two, although not conclusive, may be found in the unpublished omen text Rm 106+5f, "if ditto (i.e., the MU.SAG) of the right lung is long and perforates the trachea: mukīl rēši damiqti ("supporter of good," a good spirit); if ditto of the left lung is long and perforates the trachea: mukīl rēši lemutti ("supporter of evil", an evil spirit)." If the association of protasis and apodosis here is paronomastic, then MU.SAG of the protases may be identified with mukīl rēši of the apodoses.

FIG. 10. Lung model with annotations (Neo-Babylonian).. ND 4307 (MALLOWAN, Nimrud and Its Remains, Fig 225B).

Other omens in the same text may offer a clue to the location of this part of the lung, at least in relation to the trachea (GÚ.HAR) and the apical(?) lobe (kubuš hašî). In addition to the passage just quoted, cf. ibid. 3f, "the MU.SAG of the right/left lung is long and reaches the trachea," and ibid. 11f, "ditto of the right/left lung surrounds the trachea." This part of the lung, then, when longer than normal, can reach, perforate, or envelop the trachea, the latter dividing at its end into the bronchi of the lungs. A clue to its location relative to the kubuš hašî is provided by the common protasis beginning "between the 'cap' of the lung and the MU.SAG of the lung flesh protrudes like a peg.^[[188]]

It should be noted that a 'head lift' can also occur elsewhere in the sheep.^[[189]]

185 See Starr, JNES 42 (1983) 121 and n. 44.

186 i-na ni-iš re-eš hašî ša šumēli kakku šakin AN.TA iṭṭul, JCS 37 148:24 and 149:44; ni-iš rēši ul-lu-uṣ, ibid. 148:11.

187 Cf. JCS 21 225 K:6, "a mukīl rēši is present in the lung"; JCS 11 no.3:9f, "the lung is split at the place of the mukīl rēši" ; ibid. 93 no. 9:10, "the mukīl rēši has slipped in the lung." The mukīl rēši is also attested in omen texts, e.g. CT 31 38 K 1999 i 2, "[in] the place of the mukīl rēši [there is a hole]" (restored from unpublished duplicates); see also ibid. i 11, ii 4 and Boissier DA 229:60.

188 E.g. CT 31 38 K 1999 i 15; cf. no. 289:10. See also the fragment KAR 461 (all protases beginning MU.SAG [MUR]).

189 Cf. nīs rēš immerim, Starr Rituals, p. 31:23 and 33:78. See also ibid. 32:42, "let there be a fırm nīs rēši in the 'station' (naplastu)."

Ivan Starr

Ivan Starr, 'The 'Head Lift/Holder' (nīs/mukīl rēši)', 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/thelungsandtheirparts/theheadliftholder/]