Ulla Susanne    AOAT 326
Koch
   ISBN 3-934628-67-2
Secrets of Extispicy
The Chapter Multabiltu of the Babylonian Extispicy    viii + 630 pp.
Series and Nisirti barūti Texts mainly from    + 54 plates
Assurbanipal's Library    119,- EUR

"The Multabiltu and the Nisirti barūti text collected in this edition," according to U.S. Koch, "represent an intellectual effort to grapple with the more esoteric aspects of the art of the diviner, and they illuminate the workings of some of the more obscure elements of this ancient method of inquiry. (...) These texts can be viewed as a step towards more abstract thinking, though still couched in traditional list form. (...) Multabiltu is the name of the 10th and final chapter of the first millennium extispicy series. Nisirti barūti, 'secrets of extispicy', is a catch-all for texts concerned with various, more esoteric, aspects of extispicy, but which were not part of the extispicy series itself or of the commentaries associated with it." --- U.S. Koch presents complete editions of all published and hitherto unpublished texts of these groups, supplemented by an introduction that outlines the structure, logic and terminology of the texts. The volume contains many copies of hitherto unpublished cuneiform tablets.

Foreword    ix
Introduction     1
Introduction to Multabiltu     5
Introduction to the Nisirti Barūti Texts   34
Terminology   73
Multabiltu Text Editions (Texts 1-24)   85
Mukallimtu Commentaries to Multabiltu (Texts 25-31) 233
Nisirti barūti Text Editions (Texts 32-110) 273
Risiduum (Texts 111-134) 545
Index of Texts by Registration Nos. 563
Index of Texts by Publication 570
Index of Words 573
Bibliography 624
Plates (1-54)

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