kakkab Marduk

MUL-ᵈAMAR.UTU

Akkadian · noun

Edited by: Marvin Schreiber
Last edited: 2024-06-04

Meanings

1. Mercury

Literal translation

Star of Marduk

1. Mercury

1.a Mercury planet

'Star of Marduk' is an alternative name for the planet Mercury that is attested e.g. in some of the 'astrological reports as well as in Late Babylonian astrological texts. The name is possibly derived from the similiarity of the two names: GU4.UD "Mercury, could also be read as GU4 UT(U) "bull of the sun", AMAR.UTU translates "calf of the sun". The sings AMAR and GU4 are also very similar.

DIŠ KI mul2.ŠU.GI be-en-nu di-ḫu u ra-pa-du ḫe-pi2 SAG.KI.DAB.BA MUL-d.AMAR.UTU ana be-en-nu A.RI.A d.Šul-pa-e3 be-en-nu

‘If (the moon is) in the region of the Old-Man-star: epilepsy, fever, or joint-disease, (break), migraine. The 'Star of Marduk'(=Mercury) (is) for epilepsy, the ‘sperm of Šulpa’e’ (for) epilepsy.’

— BM 34731 (LBAT 1597) obv. 4

Genre: astrological medicine Provenance: Babylon Date: 4th-2nd century BCE

Geller, M. J., 2014. Melothesia in Babylonia: Medicine, Magic, and Astrology in the Ancient Near East. Boston, Berlin, and Munich: De Gruyter. 80

Cite this entry

APA (7th)

Schreiber, M. (2024). MUL-^dAMAR.UTU (Lemma #1406). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1406/

Chicago (Author-Date)

Schreiber, M. (2024). MUL-^dAMAR.UTU (Lemma #1406). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1406/

MLA (9th)

Schreiber, M. (2024). MUL-^dAMAR.UTU (Lemma #1406). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1406/

Harvard

Schreiber, M. (2024) MUL-^dAMAR.UTU (Lemma #1406), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1406/ (Accessed: July 4, 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{zodiac1406,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-07-04]},
	author = {Schreiber, Marvin},
	year = {2024},
	title = {MUL-ᵈ{AMAR}.{UTU} ({Lemma} #1406)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1406/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1406/},
}