zappu

MUL.MUL

Akkadian · noun

variants MUL₂.MUL₂ : zappu , MULx(AB₂).MULx(AB₂) : zappu , MUL₂ : zappu

Edited by: Mathieu Ossendrijver , Marvin Schreiber
Last edited: 2026-06-01

Meanings

1. Pleiades

2. Taurus

Literal translation

bristle

1. Pleiades

1.a Pleiades group of stars and constellations, constellation

1.b Pleiades constellation

ana ŠEG3 ILLU ina ŠA3 mul.KU6 mul.GU.LA u MUL.MUL

‘For rain (and) flood: in the Fish, the Great One, and the Bristle’

— BM 47494 obv. 28

Genre: late astrology 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.

2. Taurus

2.a Taurus zodiac sign

d.SAG.ME.GAR ina MUL2.MUL2 UŠ d.ṣal-bat-a-nu ina mul2.GIR2.TAB A.KAL gap-šu2

‘Jupiter is stationary in Taurus, Mars in Scorpio: heavy rain.’

— AO 6449 rev. 3

Genre: astrological weather prediction Provenance: Uruk Date: 226 BCE (12 V Seleucid Era 84)

Hunger, H. 1976. Astrologische Wettervorhersagen. Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie 66: 234–260

[...] 17.30 MUL2 IGI

‘[...] (in) 17;30 Taurus it (Mars) will appear.’

— A 3429 obv. 11

Genre: mathematical astronomy: synodic table Provenance: Uruk Date: ca. 250-170 BCE

Neugebauer ACT No. 502

2.b Taurus 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: 49-75. 66

Cite this entry

APA (7th)

Ossendrijver, M., & Schreiber, M. (2026). MUL.MUL (Lemma #60). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/60/

Chicago (Author-Date)

Ossendrijver, M., & Schreiber, M. (2026). MUL.MUL (Lemma #60). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/60/

MLA (9th)

Ossendrijver, M., & Schreiber, M. (2026). MUL.MUL (Lemma #60). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/60/

Harvard

Ossendrijver, M. and Schreiber, M. (2026) MUL.MUL (Lemma #60), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/60/ (Accessed: July 4, 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{zodiac60,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-07-04]},
	author = {Ossendrijver, Mathieu and Schreiber, Marvin},
	year = {2026},
	title = {MUL.{MUL} ({Lemma} #60)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/60/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/60/},
}