ḫepû

Akkadian adjective

Last edited: 2024-06-17
Primary meaning broken
Literal translation broken
Variants
ḫe-pit₂-tu₂ ḫepītu fem. form
Edited by

broken philological term

broken astronomical term

Rarely attested in connection with eclipse magnitude, meaning unclear

(11') ana tar-ṣa 1 : ŠU.SI ḪAB-rat ḫe-pit₂-tu₂ 1.⸢38⸣.2⸢4⸣ (12') NIM u SIG GAR-an ša₂ al 1 ḪAB-rat ḫe-pit₂-tu₂ LA₂ TA 1 LA₂ ša₂ TA[G₄ A.RA₂ 6 DU] (13') KI 1.38.24 NIM u SIG TAB-ma ana SIG NIM GAR-an

‘(11') Opposite 1 finger, the broken disk, you put 1,3[8];24 (12’) as the height and depth. That which is less than 1, the broken disk, you deduct from 1. What rem[ains you multiply by 6,] (13') add to 1,38;24, the ‘height and depth’, and you put it down as the depth, ascending.’

— BM 32167+ (BMAPT No. 53) rev. ii 11'-13'

Genre: mathematical astronomy: procedure text
Provenance: Babylon
Date: ca. 350-250 BCE

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

The intended meaning of "broken" is unclear.


Cite this entry
APA (7th)
Ossendrijver, M. (2024). ḫepû (Lemma #773). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/773/

Chicago (Author-Date)
Ossendrijver, M. (2024). ḫepû (Lemma #773). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/773/

MLA (9th)
Ossendrijver, M. (2024). ḫepû (Lemma #773). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/773/

Harvard
Ossendrijver, M. (2024) ḫepû (Lemma #773), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/773/ (Accessed: December 1, 2025).

BibTeX
@misc{zodiac773,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2025-12-01]},
	author = {Ossendrijver, Mathieu},
	year = {2024},
	title = {ḫepû ({Lemma} #773)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/773/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/773/},
}