mul.SIPA.ZI.AN.NA
šitadallu

Akkadian noun

Last edited: 2024-06-02
Primary meaning Gemini / The-True-Shepherd-of-Heaven-star
Literal translation The-True-Shepherd-of-Heaven-star
Variants
mul.SIPA.ZI.AN.NA šitadallu
SIPA šitadallu Thus in Almanacs and Normal Star Almanacs
mul.SIPA šitadallu
mul2.SIPA.ZI.NA šitadallu
mul.SIPA.AN.NA šitadallu
šitaddaru
šidallu
Edited by
Gemini zodiac sign

Alternative name for the third zodiacal sign Gemini.

ana SIG3.ḫi.a ina ŠA3 mul.lu2.ḪUN.GA2 mul.giš.RIN2 u [mu]l.SIPA.ZI.AN.NA

‘For wool: within Aries, Libra, and Gemini.’

— BM 47494 obv. 27

Genre: astrological compendium
Provenance: Babylon
Date: 464-337 BCE

Hunger, H. 2004. Stars, Cities, and Predictions. Pp. 16–32 in Studies in the History of the Exact Sciences in Honour of David Pingree, eds. Charles Burnett, Jan Hogendijk, Kim Plofker and Michio Yano. Leiden: Brill. 18

The-True-Shepherd-of-Heaven-star constellation, constellation: 3 x 12 constellations

Approx. corresponding to Orion.

DIŠ mul.SIPA.ZI.AN.NA d.Pap-sukal SUK[AL d.A-nim u INNIN]

‘¶ The True Shepherd of Heaven, Papsukal, the minis[ter of Anu and Ištar].’

— BM 86378 ii 2

Genre: schematic astronomy: mulapin
Provenance: ?
Date: ca. 626-539 BCE

Hunger, H. and Steele, J., 2019. The Babylonian Astronomical Compendium MUL.APIN. London and New York: Routledge. 39

[iti.S]IG4 4 mul2.SIPA.ZI.NA

‘[Mon]th III, 4, 'The True Shepherd of Heaven'.’

— BM 34713 (LBAT 1499) obv. ii 3

Genre: schematic astronomy: 'three stars each' + rising times
Provenance: Babylon
Date: 4th-2nd cent BCE

Horowitz, W., 2014. The Three Stars Each: The Astrolabes and Related Texts (Archiv für Orientforschung, Beiheft 33). Horn/Wien: Berger & Söhne/Institut für Orientalistik der Universität Wien. 126

[mu]l.SIPA.ZI.AN.NA : ŠITA2 .DAR : ša2 ina kak-ki maḫ-ṣu

‘The True-Shepherd-of Heaven-star : ŠITA2 .DAR (=šitaddaru) : the one who is smiten with the weapon.’

— K 260+ obv. 20

Genre: star list
Provenance: Nineveh
Date: 7th century BCE

Reiner, E., Civil, M. 1974. The Series HAR-ra = hubullu: Tablets XX-XXIV (Materials for the Sumerian Lexicon XI). Pontificium Institutum Biblicum: Rome. 41: 44

15 SIPA ina ŠU₂ ŠU₂

‘(Day) 15, the Shepherd sets (= last appearance) in the west.’

— BM 35149 (ADRT VII No. 187) obv. 1'

Genre: astronomical diaries and related texts: almanac
Provenance: Babylon
Date: 92 BCE

Hunger, H. 2014. Astronomical Diaries and Related Texts from Babylonia, Vol. VII: Almanacs and Normal Star Almanacs. Vienna, Austria: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. 359

Gemini micro sign

mul.MAŠ.MAŠ mul.SIPA

‘'The Twins', 'The True Shepherd of Heaven' (=Mirco-Gemini)’

— VAT 7847+AO 6448 Micro-zodiac row: Gemini

Genre: microzodiac text
Provenance: Uruk
Date: early 2nd cent BCE

Weidner, E., 1967. Gestirn-Darstellungen auf babylonischen Tontafeln. Wien: Hermann Böhlaus Nachf. 29

Cite this entry
APA (7th)
Schreiber, M. (2024). mul.SIPA.ZI.AN.NA (Lemma #1078). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1078/
Chicago (Author-Date)
Schreiber, M. (2024). mul.SIPA.ZI.AN.NA (Lemma #1078). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1078/
MLA (9th)
Schreiber, M. (2024). mul.SIPA.ZI.AN.NA (Lemma #1078). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1078/
Harvard
Schreiber, M. (2024) mul.SIPA.ZI.AN.NA (Lemma #1078), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1078/ (Accessed: December 1, 2025).
BibTeX 
@misc{zodiac1078,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2025-12-01]},
	author = {Schreiber, Marvin},
	year = {2024},
	title = {mul.{SIPA}.{ZI}.{AN}.{NA} ({Lemma} #1078)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1078/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1078/},
}