Lev 36 Zincirli Amulet (840 BCE Drought)

For translation methodology see: How to Translate Alphabetic Akkadian Texts

Front Side of Zincirli Amulet

Zincirli Stone Amulet Found In Phoenicia: Front Side

(May 6, 2023) Main image is of a trapped howling Basenji dog. It could represent the feelings of people who are trapped by drought or represent the dog star Sirius which guided the drought causing sun. Below this howling dog is a smaller dog of a different breed laying down. This amulet is now at the Vorderasiatisches (Pergamon) Museum in Berlin. Identification number: S 03604. It is 9.2 x 5 cm in size and 1.4 cm thick.

The amulet was excavated during the fourth season of the German expedition to Zincirli Höyük under the direction of Felix von Luschan (March 20–June 28, 1894). It was first published by Walter Andrae (1943: 146–47, pl. 9c) in the fifth volume of final excavation report. 


Photo in DeGrado, and Madadh. (2017). Letter assignments by Olmsted. Image online at: https://id.smb.museum/object/2075086/amulett-gegen-die-d%C3%A4monin-lamaschtu
The Basenji dog from the Near East and Northern Africa is one of the earliest surviving dog breeds. Notice its curly tail and pointed ears just like that  on the Zincirli Amulet. https://www.nativebreed.org/native-egyptian-dog-breeds/
Map showing find spot of Zincirli Amulet

Back Side: Offerings Should be for the Astrological Powers and Not For the Life Powers

(May 6, 2023, updated February 17, 2025 ) This stone amulet has two texts of differing letter styles, Text 2 is early Etruscan while text 1 is early Israelite (Gezer).  

The upper image shows various powers of the night sky starting with the crescent moon representing the goddess Ayu. Going around clockwise from that are: Pleiades, Southern Cross, an unknown constellation looking like an ax head, Cygus the swan, and another 1 or 2 unknown constellations.

The lower image consists of people bringing offerings (nourishments in the text) to a temple.

In ancient times the Southern Cross (Crux) was part of the Greek constellation Centaurus. It was visible to the ancient Greeks along the horizon only during the summer but the Earth’s axial precession gradually took the stars of Crux to the far southern sky making them invisible from most locations in the northern hemisphere. By the year 400 CE, the Southern Cross had fallen below the horizon for most of Europe. It was rediscovered by European explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Its cross shape was the letter "T" in Druid Akkadian. This represented the word meaning "astrology magic," that is, the magic associated with the dark new moon god and motion source god Su.

The Pleiades dips below the horizon at Mediterranean latitudes at the start of the stormy season in Late October/November so they became associated with the winds (motion powers) which brought the rains. In Greek mythology the Pleiades were associated with the motion source goddess Artemis (Druid Selene). 

Translation in Akkadian (Levant Text 36)

(Read right to left. Capital letters on seal. Small letters are inferred Inner vowels. Verb is italic bold)
  1. (Israelite) Bu  Ru  Lu  Pu.  Bu  Ḫu  EŠu (Lev 36.1)
  2. (Etruscan) Bu  GaPu  ITu  IRu  Ya (Lev 36.2)

(Dual use letters are E/H, I/Y, U/W, and '/A in which vowel appears at beginning of words except for Yahu which is keeping its traditional Hebrew transliteration)

In English

  1. Nourishments for eagle-vultures can cause a lack of openings. Nourishments for Hu can cause confusion.
  2. Nourishments for the winged-ones (Hu and Ayu) do not astrologically-empower the omens (that requires astrology magic).

References

DeGrado, Jessie and Richey, Madadh. (2017) An Aramaic-Inscribed Lamashtu Amulet from Zincirli. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 377: 107-33. Online at: https://www.academia.edu/31676727/DeGrado_Jessie_and_Richey_Madadh._2017._An_Aramaic-Inscribed_Lamashtu_Amulet_from_Zincirli._Bulletin_of_the_American_Schools_of_Oriental_Research_377_107-33?email_work_card=view-paper
An archaeological website for a more recent excavation is hosted by the university of Chicago but all their translations of other texts are wrong because they they were done without following any standards. https://zincirli.uchicago.edu/site-and-setting/ 
Cygnus: https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/cygnus-constellation/
Pleiades: https://www.constellation-guide.com/pleiades-the-seven-sisters-messier-45/
Southern Cross: https://www.constellation-guide.com/the-southern-cross/