Paper
Signs and Names of the Planet Mars
Published Oct 1, 1910 · M. Jastrow
The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures
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Abstract
The planet Mars is the unlucky planet par excellence in Babylonian-Assyrian astrology. Whereas in the case of the other planets, their brilliant appearance-technically described as "strong" -is a favorable sign, pointing to an increase in their beneficent character, and their dimmed appearance-described as "weak''2-is an unfavorable sign, in the case of Mars it is just the reverse. Mars is associated with Nergal,3 the solar god of midsummer bringing sickness, suffering, and death in his wake. Corresponding to the gloomy association with Nergal-the head of the pantheon of the domain of the dead-we have a large number of designations for Mars emphasizing the "unfavorable" associations with this planet. There are three lists of names of Mars which are particularly suggestive. While two have been noticed by scholars there are some points connected with them that have not yet been cleared up, and the third has only recently been published in full. One of these lists is IIIR, 57, No. 6, 62-644 which furnishes seven names as synonyms for ZAL-BAT (a-nu5)-the most common designation of the planet. These are
ZAL-BAT, a-nu5, a-nu6, a-nu7, a-nu8, a-nu9, and a-nu10, which are all related to the planet's association with Nergal, the solar god of midsummer.
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