Incantations and Remedies for a Woman in Difficult Labor
K.2413 is a Neo-Assyrian compendium of birth incantations and medical prescriptions from the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (668–627 BCE), now in the British Museum. The upper fragment preserves two columns: the first contains the mythological narrative known as the "Cow of Sîn" — one of the oldest obstetric incantations in world literature, in which a cow sacred to the moon god Sîn struggles in labor and her cries reach heaven — and the second provides fifteen practical remedies for women in difficult childbirth, culminating in a remarkable plant-pulling ritual.
The "Cow of Sîn" narrative operates through magical analogy: just as the divine cow was helped to give birth through celestial intervention, so shall the mortal woman be helped. This technique — the mythological exemplum as healing spell — is fundamental to Mesopotamian medicine, where therapy required both pharmaceutical treatment and divine precedent. The narrative and the prescriptions were not separate categories of knowledge but two aspects of a single therapeutic act.
The remedies preserve a pharmacopoeia of obstetric medicine: fox-vine, dog's-tongue plant, roasted barley flour, partridge feather, red stone, the flesh of white pig and female fox — each ground and administered in beer or oil on an empty stomach. The final prescription is a complete ritual: pluck a date palm shoot from beneath a thornbush on a wall, speak the incantation asking for the plant of life, tear out the root, and walk away without looking behind you or speaking to anyone.
Translated from the Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Source: Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) corpus, CC BY 4.0.
The Incantation of the Cow of Sîn
[...] beautiful ones [...]
The creature is charming [...]
the bright one of Sîn [...]
He made her flourish [...]
She goes to pasture [...]
In the lush meadow she grazes [...]
At the abundant watering place [...]
In the shelter of the fold, unseen [...]
Upon the cow the young bull leapt [...]
Her days are at their completion [...]
The cow is frightened — she trembles.
Her herdsman's face is downcast [...]
At her groaning, at the cry of her labor [...]
Sîn in heaven heard her cry [...]
A second one brought down the waters [...]
The waters of labor she loosened [...]
A second time she touched her — with oil she anointed her body.
The waters of labor she released [...]
Its afterbirth, when handled —
the calf, as it slipped free, fell.
She gave the first milk. She claimed the calf.
Just as the Handmaid of Sîn gave birth rightly [...]
may the young woman in difficult labor give birth!
May the angry one not hold her back [...]
The Second Incantation
Incantation. Narundu, nahundu, and [...]
One cow of Sîn, the Handmaid of Sîn [...]
At her groaning, at the cry of her labor —
Nanna, Sîn, heard [...]
Who [...]
The Ritual
Its ritual: a staff of ēru-wood from the hand of a herdsman.
The Birth Spell
Zalah! Izzalah! Zalah! She lives!
The conjuration is spoken.
Rubric: This incantation is for a woman who cannot give birth.
Remedies for Difficult Labor
Innush plant and roasted barley flour: in oil and beer she drinks, and the birth is made straight.
If a woman has difficulty in childbirth: fox-vine, dog's-tongue plant, and tuhlamu plant — grind. In a vessel of brewer's beer, pour. Drop these plants into the liquid. On an empty stomach she drinks, and quickly she gives birth.
Another: droppings of a wall-lizard — grind, in beer, on an empty stomach she drinks. She gives birth.
Another: root of namtar plant, male, from the north side — grind, in oil, mix.
Another: fox-vine — grind, in beer, on an empty stomach she drinks. Dog's-tongue plant: the same.
Another: dog's-tongue plant and mountain plant — grind, in beer, on an empty stomach she drinks. She gives birth.
Another: wing of a partridge — grind. She gives birth.
Another: dog's-tongue plant and innush plant — grind. She gives birth.
Another: flesh of a puffer fish — she eats. She gives birth.
Another: flesh of a white pig — she eats. She gives birth.
Another: flesh of a female fox — she eats. She gives birth.
Another: mountain plant — grind, in beer she drinks. She gives birth.
Another: red stone — grind, in beer she drinks. She gives birth.
Another: allankaniš — she chews it with her teeth. She gives birth.
The Plant of Life
Another: a date palm shoot — you pluck it from beneath a thornbush that grows upon a mud-brick wall. You pour out the decoction.
You speak thus, saying:
Your offering is before you. Grant the plant of life — that of so-and-so woman, daughter of so-and-so — may her womb be made straight!
You speak this. Then you tear out its root and its base. You do not look behind you. You do not speak with anyone.
If for a child with the hand-of-god disease [...]
The rest of the tablet is broken.
Colophon
K.2413 is a Neo-Assyrian tablet from the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh, now held by the British Museum. The eBL corpus catalogues it as "Babylonian Medical Incantations" — a compendium of incantations and rites for women during pregnancy and childbirth. Described by N. Veldhuis (1989).
The "Cow of Sîn" incantation belongs to a widely attested tradition of Mesopotamian birth magic in which a divine cow struggling to calve serves as the mythological analogy for a human woman in difficult labor. The god Sîn (Nanna), the moon, is the patron of cattle in Mesopotamian religion; his concern for his cow's labor extends, through the incantation, to the human patient. The technique of mythological exemplum as therapeutic spell is fundamental to Mesopotamian medicine — the narrative does not merely accompany the pharmaceutical remedy but is itself part of the cure.
The fifteen prescriptions in Column 2 constitute a complete obstetric pharmacopoeia, moving from herbal compounds (fox-vine, dog's-tongue, innush, tuhlamu, namtar root, mountain plant) to animal-based remedies (wall-lizard droppings, partridge feather, puffer fish, white pig, female fox) to mineral treatments (red stone) to a complete ritual involving a date palm shoot, an incantation to the "plant of life," and the instruction to walk away without looking back or speaking — a universal magical prohibition attested across ancient Near Eastern, classical, and folk traditions.
The "plant of life" (Akkadian shammu sha balati) resonates across Mesopotamian literature — it is the plant Gilgamesh sought at the bottom of the sea and lost to the serpent. Here it appears in its original therapeutic context: a real plant, plucked in ritual silence, asked to heal a real woman in labor.
The Sumerian birth spell Zalah! Izzalah! Zalah! Altila! ("Flow! It flows away! Flow! She lives!") is one of the oldest surviving obstetric incantations — a direct command for the obstruction to flow away and the mother to live.
Translated from the Akkadian transliteration by the New Tianmu Anglican Church (NTAC + Claude), 2026. The English is independently derived from reading the Akkadian. N. Veldhuis, "The Heart of Reed: A Study of Assyro-Babylonian Therapeutics" (Groningen, 1989) is known as a scholarly reference for this text but was not used as a source for the English translation. The eBL corpus contained no embedded English translations (#tr.en lines) for this fragment.
Formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: K.2413
Akkadian transliteration from the Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) corpus. Neo-Assyrian period, from the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh. British Museum. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
@column 1
1'. ti#-[iq-na-a-te x x x x]
2'. bi-nu-tu₂ kaz#-[bat x x x x x x x x x x]
3'. nam-ru ša₂ {d}30 [x x x x x x x]
4'. uš-te-eṣ-bi-is-si-[ma x x x x]
5'. re-e₂-a-u₂-tu il#-[la-ka x x]
6'. ina nu-ru-ub šam-mi i-[re-ʾi x x]
7'. ina šub-be₂-e maš-qi₂-i [x x x x x x]
8'. ina pu-zur ka-par₂-ri la a-[mar x x x]
9'. ana UGU AB₂ iš-ta-hi-iṭ mi-ru# [x x x x x x x x x x]
10'. U₄.MEŠ-ša₂ i-na qu-ut-ti-i# [x x x x x x]
11'. AB₂ ig-da-lit i-ga-[al-lu-ut]
12'. re-e₂-a-ša₂ ap-pa-šu qa₂-di-[is-su x x x x x x x x x x x]
13'. ana ik-kil-li-ša₂ ana ri-gim ha-[li-ša₂ x x x x x x x]
14'. {d}30 ina AN-e iš-tam-me ri-[gim-ša₂ x x x x x x x x]
16'. ša₂-ni-tu₄ u₂-šap-pa-la me-[e x x x x x x x x x]
17'. me-e ha-li u₂-sap-pi-[ha x x x x x x]
18'. ša₂-na-a il-pu-ut I₃.GIŠ! BUR pu-[us-sa]
19'. me-e ha-li u₂-sap-pi-ha [x x x x]
20'. šal-la-ti-iš-šu ina la-[pa-ti]
21'. bu-ru GIM u₂-za-li im-ta#-[qut x x x]
22'. AMAR.GA iš-ta-kan šu-um bu-u₂#-[ri]
23'. ki-ma GEME₂.SUEN.NA i-ša₂-riš# [x x x]
24'. li-li-id ar₂-da-tu₄ mu-[šap-šiq-tu₄]
25'. šab-su-tu₄ a-a ik-ka-li# [x x x x x x]
$ single ruling
26'. EN₂ na-ru-un-di na-hu-un-di u# [x x x x x]
27'. 1-et AB₂ ša₂ {d}30 GEME₂.{d}30 [x x]
28'. ana ik-kil-li-ša₂ ana ri-gim ha-[li-ša₂]
29'. {d}NANNA-ru {d}30 iš-te#-[mi x x x]
30'. man#-[nu-um-ma x x x x x x x x x x x x]
@column 2
- [DU₃.DU₃].BI {giš}GIDRU {giš}MA.NU ša₂ ŠU# re-ʾi-[i]
$ single ruling - [EN₂] ZA#.LA.AH IZ.ZA.LA.AH ZA.LA.AH AL.TI.LA TU₆ EN₂
$ single ruling - [KA].INIM#.MA MUNUS LA.RA.AH.A.KAM
$ single ruling - {u₂}IN.NU.UŠ ZI₃ ŠE.SA.A ina I₃.GIŠ u KAŠ NAG-ši-ma# uš-te-šir
$ single ruling - DIŠ MUNUS ina U₃.TU uš-tap-šiq {giš}GEŠTIN KA₅.A {u₂}EME UR.GI₇
- {u₂}tuh-lam SUD₂ {dug}LA.HA.AN KAŠ {lu₂}KURUN₂.NA DIRI-ma
- U₂.HI.A an-nu-ti ana ŠA₃ SIG₃-aṣ la pa-tan NAG-ma ar₂-hiš U₃.TU
$ single ruling - DIŠ KIMIN ŠE₁₀ EME.ŠID ša₂ IZ.ZI SUD₂ ina KAŠ la pa-tan NAG-ma KIMIN
$ single ruling
$ single ruling
$ single ruling - DIŠ KIMIN SUHUŠ NAM.TAR NITA₂ ša₂ {im}SI.SA₂ SUD₂ ina I₃.GIŠ HI.HI
$ single ruling - DIŠ KIMIN {giš}GEŠTIN KA₅.A SUD₂ [ina] KAŠ NU pa-tan NAG-ma : {u₂!}EME UR.GI₇ KIMIN
$ single ruling - DIŠ KIMIN {u₂}EME UR.GI₇ {u₂}KUR.RA{sar} SUD₂ ina KAŠ NU pa-tan NAG-ma KIMIN
$ single ruling - DIŠ KIMIN U₅ ARGAB{mušen} SUD₂ KIMIN
$ single ruling - DIŠ KIMIN {u₂}EME! UR.GI₇ {u₂}IN.NU.UŠ SUD₂ KIMIN
- DIŠ KIMIN UZU# NIG₂.BUN₂.NA{ku₆} GU₇-ma KIMIN
- DIŠ KIMIN UZU ŠAH BABBAR GU₇-ma KIMIN
- DIŠ KIMIN UZU {munus}KA₅.A GU₇-ma KIMIN
- DIŠ KIMIN {u₂}KUR.KUR SUD₂ ina KAŠ NAG-ma KIMIN
- DIŠ KIMIN {im}KAL.GUG SUD₂ ina KAŠ NAG-ma KIMIN
- DIŠ KIMIN al#-la-an-ka-niš ina ZU₂-ša₂ u₂-mar-raq-ma KIMIN
- DIŠ KIMIN HENBUR₂# ta-šab-bu-uš ina KI.TA {giš}KIŠI₁₆
- ša₂ UGU pi-ti-iq-ti E₃ ta-tab-bak
- ki-a-am DU₁₁.GA-ma um-ma at-ta-ma
- NIG₂.BA-ka mah-ra-ta U₂ ša₂ TI id-nam-ma
- ša₂ MUNUS NENNI DUMU.MUNUS NENNI ša₂ ŠA₃-ša₂ liš-te-šir
- an-nam DU₁₁.GA-ma SUHUŠ-su u SUHUR-su ZI-ma
- ana EGIR-ka NU IGI.BAR KI LU₂ NA.ME NU DU₁₁.DU₁₁-ub
$ single ruling - [DIŠ a-na {lu₂}]TUR# ŠU.DINGIR#.RA# [x x x x x x x x x]
$ rest of side broken
Source Colophon
Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) corpus, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Accessed via Zenodo (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10018951). Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Fragment K.2413, British Museum. Neo-Assyrian period. Genre: Canonical > Technical > Medicine > Babylonian Medical Incantations. Reference: N. Veldhuis, "The Heart of Reed" (Groningen, 1989).
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