BALAG
mulBALAG is a Mesopotamian asterism. With unclear identification, it is not certain what type of asterism (likely a constellation). It occurs only once ca. 1700 BCE, in the lexical list the Old Babylonian Nippur forerunner to Urra XXII (MSL XI 108: 404, Horowitz 2005: 166) between ‘The Snake’ and ‘’The Scorpion.’ ྭ
Dictionary
Kurtik with Hilder, Hoffmann, Horowitz, Kim
= "Lyra (Harp)"; in [G. 3] mulAB2.BIR3(??); this appears to be a constellation, since in the list of star names before and after it come the names of constellations, the identification is unclear
Pronunciation: The final ‘G’ was pronounced in the original Sumerian something akin to English ‘ng’ or Spanish ‘ñ’ as in ‘señor.’ ྭ
Gabbay 2019: 133 n. 7, in his discussion of the ancient Sumerian stringed ྭinstruments, points out that the name of the Sumerian BALAG is onomatopoetic for the sound one makes when plucking a stringed instrument such as a harp or lyre. ྭAn identification with what would later become classical Lyra seems most likely, with support for this identification perhaps being found in its listing immediately before the nearby constellation ‘The Scorpion’ in the list of star-names referred to above.ྭ In later times BALAG came to be a name for a drum (Gabbay 2019) which may explainྭ why the asterism Lyra is known as mulUZ3, 'The She-Goat' in later Sumerian and Akkadian sources.ྭ In fact, the constellation-name mulUZ3 was already in use atྭthe time of the Nippur Forerunner where mulBALAG occurs (Horowitz 2005: 169) which suggests theྭmulBALAG may have been an asterism within a larger 'The She-Goat' constellation, and so that the name mulBALAGྭ was already falling out of use by the early second millennium BCE. Unfortunately, on the basis of the single attested occurance of the star-name, such suppositions cannot be proven, and no progress can be made on identifying which stars might have formed theྭmulBALAGྭ asterism. ྭ ྭ ྭ
| Sources | Identifications |
|---|---|
Lexic. texts.
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II. Deity and symbol.
The sacred lyre as a musical instrument has been known since the Early Dynastic period [Borovskaya 1997; Stauder 1972-75]. Many Mesopotamian gods had lyres. During the Ur III dynastic and later periods, lyres played important roles during temple rituals in Nippur and other cities. The name was recorded often without the determinative d [PSD II, B 75-78; Sallaberger I, 100]. Which lyre served as the basis for this constellation is unknown.
Historical Dictionaries
| Kurtik (2022) | Gössmann (1950) |
|---|---|
| = «Лира (Арфа)»; в [G. 3] mulAB2.BIR3(??); по-видимому, это созвездие, поскольку в списке названий звезд до и после него идут названия созвездий, отождествление неясно.
I. Источники. Лексич. тексты. Одноязычные шумерские списки звезд из Ниппура: mulbalag [MSL XI, 108:404]. II. Божество и символ. Священная лира как музыкальный инструмент известна с раннединастического периода [Боровская 1997; Stauder 1972–75]. Лиры имелись у многих месопотамских богов. В эпоху III династии Ура и позднее они играли важную роль в храмовом ритуале в Ниппуре и других городах. Название фиксировалось часто без детерминатива d [PSD II, B 75–78; Sallaberger I, 100]. Какая именно лира послужила основой для данного созвездия, неизвестно. |
Example |
