šer'u

ABSIN

Akkadian · noun

variants mul.ABSIN : šer'u , mul.AB.SIN₂ : šer'u , ABSIN₀ (KI) : šer'u , mul₂.ABSIN

Edited by: Mathieu Ossendrijver , Marvin Schreiber
Last edited: 2025-05-27

Meanings

1. Virgo

2. Furrow

Literal translation

furrow

1. Virgo

1.a Virgo zodiac sign

mul2.UR.A mul2.ABSIN mul2.GIR2.TAB PA.BIL MAŠ2 u KUN.ME PAP 6 KI.MEŠ ša2 sin ina ŠA3-ši-na TUR3 NIGIN2-ma ana 8-i u4-mu IM ŠAR2-tu u ZI.A

‘The Lion (Leo), the Furrow (Virgo), the Scorpion (Scorpio), Pabilsag (Sagittarius), the Goat-Fish (Capricorn) and the Tails (Pisces): in total 6 areas where Sin, (if) he is surrounded by a halo within them, then for 8 days wind and ...’

— AO 6455 (TU 11) rev. 29

Genre: mathematical astronomy: procedure text Provenance: Uruk Date: ca. 200 BCE

Brack-Bernsen, Lis, and Hunger, Hermann. 2002. TU 11. A Collection of Rules for the Prediction of Lunar Phases and of Month Lengths. SCIAMVS 3: 3–90.

TA 13 ABSIN0 EN 27 zib ITI ana ITI 2.⸢6⸣.15.42 TAB u LA2

‘From 13 Virgo until 27 Pisces month by month 2,6;15,42 add and subtract.’

— BM 55530 (Ossendrijver 2012 No. 60) obv. 8'

Genre: mathematical astronomy: procedure text Provenance: Babylon

Ossendrijver, M. 2012. Babylonian Mathematical Astronomy: Procedure Texts. New York: Springer.

DIS mul.GU4.AN.NA mul.AB.SIN2 u mul.[SUḪUR.MAŠ] 3 KI.MEŠ a-n[a kur].⸢NIM?⸣.[MA.ki]

‘The Bull of Heaven (Taurus), the Furrow (Virgo), and the Goat-Fish (Capricorn): 3 areas for [Elam].’

— BM 47494 rev. 17-18

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.

[...] quanto vehementius pugnant quantumque persuadendi vias quaerunt, tanto fidem astrologiae vehementius fortiusque confirmant

‘But the more aggressively they attack, the more various the ways in which they seek to convince us, the more strongly they bolster our faith in astrology.’

— Firmicus Maternus, Mathesis 1.1.2

Genre: astrological compendium Provenance: Sicily Date: ca. 334 CE

Firmicus Maternus. 1897. Ivlii Firmici Materni Matheseos Libri VIII, ed. W. Kroll, F. Skutsch. Stuttgart: B. G. Teubner. 1.4

1.b Virgo micro sign

[ḪA.LA] SAG-ti mul2.lu2.ḪUN.GA2 šum3-šu2 : ša2-ni-tum ḪA.LA MUL2.MUL2 šum3-šu2 | [3-tu]m ḪA.LA mul2.MAŠ.MAŠ šum3-šu2 : 4-ni!-tum ḪA.LA mul2.ALLA šum3-šu2 | [5-i-t]um ḪA.LA mul2.UR.A šum3-šu2 : 6-i-tum ḪA.LA mul2.ABSIN šum3-šu2 | [7-i]-tum ḪA.LA mul2.GIŠ.RIN2 šum3-šu2 : 8-i-tum ḪA.LA mul2.GIR2.TAB šum3-šu2 | [9]-i-tum ḪA.LA mul2.PA šum3-šu2 : 10-i-tum ḪA.LA mul2.MAŠ2 šum3-šu2 | 11-i-tum ḪA.LA mul2.GU šum3-šu2 : 12-i-tum ḪA.LA mul2.ZIB šum3-šu2 | PAP 12 UZU.MEŠ ḪA.LA ša2 mul2.LU ša2 d.30 u d.UTU ina lib3-bi DIB.MEŠ

‘The name of the first [portion] is Aries. The name of the second portion is Taurus. | The name of the [third] portion is Gemini. The name of the fourth portion is Cancer. |The name of the [fifth] portion is Leo. The name of the sixth portion is Virgo. | The name of the [seventh] portion is Libra. The name of the eighth portion is Scorpio. | The name of the [ninth] portion is Sagittarius. The name of the tenth portion is Capricornus. | The name of the eleventh portion is Aquarius. The name of the twelfth portion is Pisces. | Total: 12 ominous parts, portion(s) of Aries which the Moon and the Sun will pass through.’

— AO 6483 (TCL VI 14 = TU 14) 14-20

Genre: horoscopic astrology Provenance: Uruk Date: 250-150 BCE

Sachs, A., 1952. Babylonian Horoscopes, Journal of Cuneiform Studies 6. 66

2. Furrow

2.a Furrow constellation

συνεργοί εἰσιν οἱ συνοδεύοντες, ὑπουργοὶ δὲ οἱ συμβάλλοντες

‘Collaborators are the (stars) that travel together (are in conjunction?), and assistants are those that meet each other (in adjacent signs?)’

— Sarapion of Alexandria, Various Names for Configurations of the Stars

Genre: astrology Date: 1st cent. BCE/CE?

CCAG VIII.4 226

Cite this entry

APA (7th)

Ossendrijver, M., & Schreiber, M. (2025). ABSIN (Lemma #4). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/4/

Chicago (Author-Date)

Ossendrijver, M., & Schreiber, M. (2025). ABSIN (Lemma #4). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/4/

MLA (9th)

Ossendrijver, M., & Schreiber, M. (2025). ABSIN (Lemma #4). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/4/

Harvard

Ossendrijver, M. and Schreiber, M. (2025) ABSIN (Lemma #4), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/4/ (Accessed: July 4, 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{zodiac4,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-07-04]},
	author = {Ossendrijver, Mathieu and Schreiber, Marvin},
	year = {2025},
	title = {ABSIN ({Lemma} #4)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/4/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/4/},
}