MUL.APIN 1  
The 33 Stars
on the
Path of Enlil
Within the ellipse of the Milky Way Latvian *enu-lis
MUL.APIN
Tablet Nr. 86378
British Museum

DECIPHERMENT

The MUL.APIN (mul + apin) series of astronomical
cuneiform tablets has been deciphered by
Werner Papke in Die Sterne von Babylon
 (The Stars of Babylon), Gustav Luebbe
Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, 1989.

Papke uses the tablets to interpret the
epic of Gilgamesh. But they are far more
useful than that - thanks to Papke.
English translations of relevant
texts are by LexiLine. LexiLine comments
are prefaced with the initials AK. We make substantial changes to Papke's decipherment, which remains superb for the most part.
The MUL.APIN tablet lists constellations,
stars and planets.

METHODOLOGICAL COMMENTS

We use Baltic to help understand Sumerian and Akkadian
(see links)

Small letter "d." is used as the abbreviation
for the Sumerian determinative DINGIR "god",
which is identical to Lithuanian DANGUS "heaven" Polynesian Ta-TANGA
Latvian DENDERis and Pharaonic DENDERA

Other Sumerian determinatives below are:
Sumerian MUL "constellation, star" = Latvian MIRDZ "sparkle"
and MURG- "fantasy picture, spirit, northern lights" i.e. R//L shift
Sumerian GISH "wood" = Latvian KUOKS
Sumerian LU "man" = Latvian LAU.DIS "folk, people", German LAIE
Sumerian ID "river" = Latvian UDens "water", ID-/IG- "marrow, water"
Sumerian ITI "month" = Latvian IETI "passage (of time)",
Old Indic TITH, Pharaonic THOTH Latvian TAUTA "folk, people"
Sumerian KI "earth, place" = Latvian KUr "where" EKA "hall, place"
Sumerian MUSHEN "bird" = Latvian MUSHINA "fly"

The Sumerian term for a star "rising" is KUR-ma
= Latvian KURMS "hill" and KURMA "on(to) the hill".
The Sumerian term for a star going down, setting is SHU-bi
= Latvian SHUPI "swinging (down), German SCHUB).

MUL.APIN
The 33 Stars on the Path of Enlil
[AK: En.Lil means the stars WITHIN the ellipse of the Milky Way.].
(Column I, Lines 1 through 39)
MUL.APIN text is in LIGHT BLUE  AK: = Comments by Andis Kaulins

Lines are given in sequence according to
Cuneiform Tablet Nr. 86378, British Museum.

1. The Plow (GISH.APIN), d.Enlil, the lead star of the stars of d.Enlil
AK: Perseus. Latvian APIJA/APPIN-ITS is "the part of the ancient plow around which the cords were tied/wound, - the source, as everywhere here on the MUL.APIN pages, is
Muehlenbachs-Endzelins, Latvian-German Historical Dictionary This is what the Arabs later called Risha, the Cord of the Fish, Mesopotamian APIN "channel".

2. The Wolf (UR.BAR.RA) [Perseus], seed-funnel of the plow
AK: The seed are the Pleiades.

3. The Man, Old One (SHU.GI), d.Enmesharra
AK: Auriga, Arabic SAIK al Thurayya.

4. The Crook Staff (GAM), god of the crook staff (d.Gamlum)
AK: Latvian KEMburs, KEMME - palatalized K - "crooked branch", as the KIMAH of Aben Ezra for Taurus. This is the staff in the hand of Orion, Camelopardalis.

5. The Large [correct is "End"] Twins (MASH.TAB.BA.GAL.GAL),
d.Lugalgirra and d.Meslamtaea
AK: These are the BOTTOM stars of Gemini.The TAB.BA is Latvian DIVI "two, DUBUlt, English DOUBle". MASH is incorrectly seen to mean "twin" in Sumerian - but MASH also applies to Ninurta (a single being).  MASH actually = Latvian MAS- "relative, sister, (brother)", so here "the brothers (sisters) two". GAL = Latvian GAL- "end, bottom" of this constellation.
Sumerian symbols doubled mean "dual" or "plural".

6. The Small Twins (MASH.TAB.BA.TUR.TUR),
d.LAL and d.NIN.EZENxGU4
AK: This is Pollux, Arabic al Dhira. Dhira = TUR.

7. The River Crayfish (AL.LUL), domicile (shu-bat d.Anim) of d.Anu
AK: This is Cancer.

8. The Lion (UR.GU.LA), d.Latarak
AK: Ur.Gu.La = Regulus in Leo.

Go to MUL.APIN 1.1 - Continuation 1 of the Path of Enlil