A Prayer to the Star Venus
An astral prayer to Dilbat — the Babylonian name for the planet Venus — from Babylon, dating to the Neo-Babylonian period (626–539 BCE). The text is preserved on a single clay tablet (BM.38315) in the British Museum, originally from the city of Babylon.
The prayer opens with a hymnic invocation praising Venus in her aspects as Ishtar: radiance spanning from sunrise to sunset, lady of battle who strikes down warriors, fierce one whose counsel none may learn, mother of the great gods. The poet names her Gušea — "she of the cold cloak" — an ancient Sumerian epithet that captures the star's visible appearance: beautiful, brilliant, and cold in the predawn sky.
The prayer then narrows from the cosmic to the personal. A petitioner lays out a property dispute — silver, gold, grain, and dates deposited for safekeeping — and summons Venus as judge: "Come now, Lady! Inflict your great punishment!" The celestial radiance that encompasses all the land is invoked to adjudicate over stored grain and borrowed silver. The cosmic becomes forensic. The star becomes a courtroom.
A scribal note confirms this is a copy of an older original, checked against its source. The text uses NENNI ("So-and-so") as a placeholder for the parties involved, indicating it served as a ritual template — a reusable formula for anyone with a grievance and the courage to call on Venus.
To Dilbat, exalted lady, [...]
Lady of brides, capable one, giver of [...]
She who strikes warriors, lady of battle,
who ordains slaughter, who takes the rites of the god [...]
Radiance — from the rising of the sun to the setting of the sun!
Whatever the sun sees [...], the whole land praises your divinity.
Who takes the en-priesthood [...] woman [...] and [...]
Gušea, she of the cold cloak —
clad in destruction, fierce one whose counsel none may learn.
Exalted lady, lady of the gods, radiance!
Weighty one, mother of the great gods!
Who annihilates the wicked and the villain,
who is clad in terrifying splendor,
[...] before whom the gods [...] not [...].
[...] from the woman So-and-so, you stand [...]
[...] like whatever belongs to So-and-so, the child [...]
[...] that exists — whether entrusted goods
or that which for safekeeping in my house you placed —
they know, they have heard — all his property that exists:
whether silver, whether gold, whether grain, whether dates, or
all that for deposit [...] and safekeeping is established —
before me, [...] you, Dilbat!
Exalted lady, who [...], peaceful one, before [...]
You turned and came swiftly — come now, Lady!
Your great punishment — inflict it!
And to the far-flung peoples let me praise your divinity!
From the seat of his reed-shelter, let them strip him!
And [...] his bond [...] — the oath you guard.
Written according to its original. Checked.
Colophon
Good Works Translation from Akkadian cuneiform by Tanken (探検), Expeditionary Tulku of the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Forty-fourth Mesopotamian genre from expeditionary tulkus: astral prayer / stellar judicial petition.
BM.38315 is a Neo-Babylonian clay tablet from Babylon, now in the British Museum (accession 1880,1112.197). The text is described in the Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) corpus as "Prayer to the star Dilbat (Venus)." Transliteration by Enrique Jiménez (2019), revised by Henk Stadhouders (2019). Read from photographs; the eBL notes the tablet needs collation.
Translation method: English derived independently from the ATF (Assyriological Transliteration Format) sign readings in the eBL corpus. No existing English translation of BM.38315 was consulted — none is known to be freely available. The Akkadian is clear on the obverse (the hymnic section); the reverse (the petition) presents several difficulties.
Uncertain readings: (1) Obverse 6: talī... is broken — the word following "whatever the sun sees" is partially illegible; the overall sense (that Venus's radiance encompasses all the land) is secure from context. (2) Obverse 7: Heavily damaged — the references to the en-priesthood and a woman are visible but the complete sense is lost. (3) Obverse 14: The break obscures a statement about the gods' relationship to Venus's power. (4) Reverse 1–2: The opening of the petition is broken; the NENNI ("So-and-so") placeholders and the general sense of a legal dispute are clear. (5) Reverse 12: lihīsūma — rendered "let them strip him" from a possible connection to hesû ("to strip, husk"); the reading is provisional. rik/req šu₂ is ambiguous — could be riksu (bond, agreement) or another form.
Gušea (line 8): A Sumerian divine epithet ({d}gu-ú-še-e-a) applied to Ishtar, literally "bull of the cosmic waters." In the context of Venus-worship, the "cold cloak" (tuquttu ḫalpattu) may evoke the star's visible aura in the predawn sky — beautiful, brilliant, cold.
Genre note: This text combines a hymnic invocation to an astral deity with a personal petition in a legal/property context. The use of NENNI ("So-and-so") as a placeholder indicates it functioned as a ritual template. The genre — astral judicial prayer — bridges the divine hymn tradition and the practical magical/legal tradition of Mesopotamia.
First freely available English translation.
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Source Text: BM.38315 (Akkadian Cuneiform — ATF)
Akkadian source text from the Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) corpus, University of Munich (LMU). Transliteration by Enrique Jiménez (2019), revised by Henk Stadhouders (2019). ATF (Assyriological Transliteration Format). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
Obverse
1. a-na {mul}dil-bat be-el-tu₄ ṣi-ir-t[u₄ x x x]
2. be-let ḫi-re-e-tu₄ le-ʾ-i-ti na-di-na-at [x (x)]
3. muš-ta-am-ḫi-ṣa-at eṭ-lu-ti be-let ta-ḫa-[zi (x)]
4. ša₂-ki-na-at da-ab-de-e le-qa-a-ta par-ṣi {d} [x (x)]
5. na-mir-tu₄ ša₂ ul-tu ṣi-it {d}UTU-ši a-di e-r[eb {d}UTU-ši]
6. mim-ma {d}UTU IGI ta-li-[x] nap-ḫar KUR i-na-ad D[INGIR-ut-ki]
7. le-qa-a-ta e-nu-ut x x x-a-at sal [(x)] x ia₂-ma
8. {d}gu-u₂-še-e-a ša₂ tu-qut-tu₄ ḫal-pa-tu
9. la-bi-ša₂-at ša₂-aḫ-lu-uq-ti ek-du-tu ša₂ la i-lam-ma-[du] mi-lik-šu₂ man-ma
10. be-el-tu₄ ṣi-ir-tu₄ be-let DINGIR-MEŠ na-mir-[tu₄]
11. [k]a-bit-tu₄ AMA DINGIR-MEŠ GAL-[MEŠ]
12. [mu]-ḫal-li-qa-at rag-gu u₃ za-am-nu-[u₂]
13. [la-b]i-ša₂-at ḫur-ba-[ša₂]
14. [...] x-ti ša₂ a-na maḫ-ri-šu₂ la im-[x] DINGIR-MEŠ u x x
Reverse
1. [x x x] x {munus}NENNI-ta ta-az-za-az-[x (x)]
2. [x x (x)] x x bi ki-i mim-ma ša₂ NENNI-ti DUMU x [x x]
3. [x x] x i-ba-aš₂-šu-u₂ lu-u₂ pu-qu-du-[u₂]
4. lu-u₂ a-na taš-ku-ut-ti ina E₂-ia₂ taš-ku-nu
5. i-du-u₂ aš₂-mu-u₂ mim-mu-šu₂ ma-la ba-šu-u₂
6. lu-u₂ KÙ.BABBAR lu-u₂ K[Ù.GI lu]-u₂ ŠE.BAR lu-u₂ ZÚ.LUM.MA lu-u₂
7. ma-la a-na pu-qu[d-du-u₂ x] x u taš-ku-ut-tu₄ šak-na
8. i-na pa-ni-ia₂ i-[x (x x)] x at-ta {mul}dil-bat
9. [b]e-let ṣi-ir-tu₄ ša₂-[x (x)-a]t ša₂-li-im-tu₄ a-na maḫ-ri-[x]
10. te-ʾ-er-am-ma tal-li-ku ḫa-an-ṭiš a-ga-na GA[ŠAN]
11. še-ret-ka GAL-ti šu-uš-ši-ši-ma a-na UN-MEŠ DA[GAL-MEŠ] DINGIR-ut-[ki lut-ta-id]
12. ul-tu šu-bat ki-iṣ-ṣi-šu₂ li-ḫi-su-ma ša₂ rik/req šu₂ g[i-x x (x)] ma-mit ta-aṣ-ṣ[u-ru]
13. ki-ma SUMUN-šu₂ ša₂-ṭir-ma IGI.TAB (x) [(x)]
Source Colophon
ATF transliteration from the Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) corpus, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10018951). Licensed CC BY 4.0. Fragment ID: BM.38315. Accession: 1880,1112.197. Collection: Babylon. Museum: The British Museum. Script: Neo-Babylonian. Transliterated by Enrique Jiménez (2 May 2019), revised by Henk Stadhouders (6 May 2019, 24 May 2019). Note: "Read from photos, needs collation."
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