TO THE STAR REGULUS

Origin/Historian/Author: Assyrian
Source: The Sacred Books and Literature of the East, By Prof. Charles F. Horne, Ph.D.
The Sacred Books and Literature of the East Translations conducted by:
Morris Jastrow, Jr., LL.D., Rev. A.H. Sayce, LL.D., Robert W. Rogers, LL.D., George A. Barton, LL.D., Leonard W. King, F.S.A., Stephen Langdon, PH.D., Arno Poebel, PH.D., and other scholars.

Full Text Below (3)

O Sibziana . . .
Thou that changest the . . .
In the heavens . . .
They bow down before thee . . .
5 The great gods beseech thee and . . .
Without thee Anu . . .
Bel the arbiter . . .
Ishkar the prince of heaven and earth . . .
At thy command mankind was named!
10 Give thou the word and with thee let the great gods stand!
Give thou my judgment, make my decision!
I, thy servant, Ashur-banipal, the son of his god,
Whose god is Ashur, whose goddess is Ashuritu,
In the evil of the eclipse of the moon which in the month
on the day has taken place,
15 In the evil of the powers, of the portents, evil and not good,
Which are in my palace and my land,
Because of the evil magic, the disease that is not good, the iniquity,
The transgression, the sin that is in my body . . .,
Because of the evil specter that is bound to me and . . .,
20 Have petitioned thee, I have glorified thee!
The raising of my hand accept! Harken to my prayer!
Free me from my bewitchment! Loosen my sin!
Let there be torn away whatsoever evil may come to cut off my life!
May the favorable sidu be ever at my head!
25 May the god, the goddess of mankind grant me favor!
At thy command let me live!
Let me bow down and extol thy greatness!

Footnotes
(3) The prayer is inscribed to the star Sibziana or Regulus, addressed as a male deity, and invoked in lines 1 to 9 in somewhat extravagant terms. The object of the prayer is to induce Sibziana to remove the evil spells, bewitchments, possession by specters, etc., that have followed in the train of the lunar eclipse.