"Mul-Apin is a composite text that can be thought of as a general compendium dealing with many diverse aspects of celestial divination.The first sections of tablet 1 list all the mainstream Babylonian constellations along with the deities associated with them. Various other sections give the rising dates for the stars and provide further useful information that helps to locate the constellations in relation to each other and as such it is the single most important resource for reconstructing the overall plan of the Babylonian starmap.

Even though the earliest copy so far discovered was only written shortly after 700 BCE, the text was probably composed sometime between 1200 and 1000 BCE. The following lists are derived from Mul.Apin, An Astronomical Compendium in Cuneiform by Hermann Hunger and David Pingree, 1989."

Below I have in 3 tables summarized the information in the first section of tablet 1 of the Mul-Apin text, relying on the site of Gavin White (though I have excluded his comments):

33 Northern stars on the path of Enlil
The Plough	**Enlil, the lead star of the stars of Enlil**	1
The Wolf	at the seed funnel of the Plough	2
The Old Man	*Enmesharra*	3
The Crook	the Crouching god	4
The Great Twins	Lugalirra and Meslamtaea	5-6
The Little Twins	Alammush and Ninezengud	7-8
The Crab	the seat of Anu	9
The Lion	*Latarak*	10

The stars (sic!) that stands in the breast of the Lion	the King Star	11
The dusky stars that stand in the tail of the Lion	the Frond of Erua, Zarpanitu	?

Shupa

Enlil, who decrees the fate of the land

The star before him	the Star of Abundance	the messenger of Ninlil	13
The star behind him	the Star of Dignity	the messenger of Tishpak	14

The Wagon

Ninlil

The star at the shaft of the Wagon	the Fox	Erra, the strong one among the gods	16
The star at the front of the Wagon	the Ewe	*Aya*	17

The Hitched Yoke	Anu, the great one of the heavens	18
The Wagon of Heaven	*Damkianna*	19

The star on its rope

the Heir of the Sublime Temple

the first ranking son of Anu

The Standing Gods

of the E-kur

the Sitting Gods

of the E-kur

21-22

The She-Goat

Gula

The star before the She-Goat

the Sitting Dog

The bright star of the She-Goat

Lamma

the messenger of Baba

Two stars behind her

Ninsar and Erragal

26-27

The Panther

Nergal

The star to his right

the Swine

Damu

The star to his left

the Horse

The star behind him

the Stag

messenger of the Star Cluster

The dusky stars at the breast of the Stag, Harriru	god of the Rainbow	?
The bright red star at the kidney of the Stag	the Destroyer	32

I believe there is information embedded in the structure of the text, and therefore I have tried to make this structure clear. As a result we can for example find how the curious number 33 'stars' can be reduced by the items which refer to 'dusky stars' (where I have put question marks).

The dusky stars that stand in the tail of the Lion and the dusky stars at the breast of the Stag, Harriru, could refer to far away galaxies. For the latter item White has pointed to the spiral galaxy M31 in Andromeda, and in our own Leo constellation my astronomy book has 4 nebulous (dusky) objects which also are galaxies (M65, M66, M95, and M96).

The stars that stands in the breast of the Lion is another of my question marks. Here it says 'stars' (plural) although 'The King Star' is singular and, furthermore, the singular form 'stands' does not agree with the plural 'stars'.

If I count the number of redmarked cells in my table the sum is 31, and I guess this is one of the intended number of 'stars' to be perceived on the path of Enlil. 12 * 30 = 360 and at least some months must have 31 days.

32 is perhaps also meant to be appreciated, and 12 * 32 = 384 (= 13 * 29½ + ½).

By counting 'The King Star' as partially singular and partially plural ('one more'), 32 will increase to 33, and 12 * 33 = 396 which is close to 400. It could indicate a lunar measure for the sky year, a year which needs 4 'sky proppers'.


Gb6-11	Gb6-12	*Gb6-13 (460)**	Gb6-14	Gb6-15	Gb6-16 (399)

The following is copied verbatim from White and includes his comments. I have included this for purposes of verification in case I should have made some mistakes in transforming his list into tables:

33 Northern stars on the path of Enlil
The Plough, (Most of Draco)
The Wolf at the seed funnel of the Plough (Head & middle of Draco)
The Old Man, Enmesharra (Perseus)
The Crook, the Crouching god (Auriga)
The Great Twins, Lugalirra and Meslamtaea (Gemini)
The Little Twins, Alammush and Ninezengud (Canis Minor)
The Crab, the seat of Anu (Cancer)
The Lion, Latarak (Leo)
The stars that stands in the breast of the Lion, the King Star (The star Regulus in Leo)
The dusky stars that stand in the tail of the Lion, the Frond of Erua, Zarpanitu (Coma Berenices & the western part of Virgo)
Shupa, Enlil, who decrees the fate of the land (Bootes)
The star before him, the Star of Abundance, the messenger of Ninlil (A star in the western part part of Bootes)
The star behind him, the Star of Dignity, the messenger of Tishpak (A star in the eastern part of Bootes)
The Wagon, Ninlil (The 7 principle stars of Ursa Major)
The star at the shaft of the Wagon, the Fox, Erra, the strong one among the gods (The star Zeta in Ursa Major)
The star at the front of the Wagon, the Ewe, Aya (Probably the star Epsilon in Ursa Major)
The Hitched Yoke, Anu, the great one of the heavens (the star Eta in Ursa Major)
The Wagon of Heaven, Damkianna (Ursa Minor)
The star on its rope, the Heir of the Sublime Temple, the first ranking son of Anu (The star Polaris in Ursa Minor)
The Standing Gods of the E-kur, the Sitting Gods of the E-kur (The western part of Ophiuchus; Corona Borealis)
The She-Goat, Gula (Lyra)
The star before the She-Goat, the Sitting Dog (Most of Hercules)
The bright star of the She-Goat, Lamma, the messenger of Baba (The star Vega in Lyra)
Two stars behind her, Ninsar and Erragal (The stars Beta & Gamma in Lyra)
The Panther, Nergal (Most of Cygnus & probably part of Cepheus)
The star to his right, the Swine, Damu (Probably Delphinus)
The star to his left, the Horse (front legs of Pegasus & Lacerta)
The star behind him, the Stag, messenger of the Star Cluster (Cassiopeia & part of Andromeda)
The dusky stars at the breast of the Stag, Harriru, god of the Rainbow (The spiral galaxy M31 in Andromeda)
The bright red star at the kidney of the Stag, the Destroyer (The star Gamma in Cassiopeia)