ia-a-nu
jānu

Akkadian noun

Last edited: 2023-06-26
Primary meaning nothing
Literal translation nothing
Variants
ia-a-nu jānu
Edited by
nothing mathematical quantity

representation of the number zero in some early Seleucid texts

(8) 5 TAB ša₂ zib (9) 5 TAB ša₂ ḪUN bi-rit TAB ana TAB ia-a-nu

‘(8) The addition for Pisces is 5, (9) the addition for Aries is 5, the difference from addition to addition is nothing.’

— BM 36722 (BMAPT No. 52) rev. ii 8-9

Genre: mathematical astronomy: procedure text
Provenance: Babylon
Date: Seleucid

Ossendrijver, M. 2012. Babylonian Mathematical Astronomy: Procedure Texts. New York: Springer 348-349

Cite this entry
APA (7th)
Ossendrijver, M. (2023). ia-a-nu (Lemma #702). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/702/
Chicago (Author-Date)
Ossendrijver, M. (2023). ia-a-nu (Lemma #702). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/702/
MLA (9th)
Ossendrijver, M. (2023). ia-a-nu (Lemma #702). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/702/
Harvard
Ossendrijver, M. (2023) ia-a-nu (Lemma #702), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/702/ (Accessed: February 2, 2026).
BibTeX 
@misc{zodiac702,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-02-02]},
	author = {Ossendrijver, Mathieu},
	year = {2023},
	title = {ia-a-nu ({Lemma} #702)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/702/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/702/},
}