47. This is the first known mention of the "horns" of a ziggurat, and the exact meaning of the word is doubtful.
48. From this text it seems clear that Up-shukkinaku was the name of a chamber in the temple of E-Sagila. This name probably means the "chamber of the shakkanaku," i.e., the chamber in which the governor of the city (shakkanaku) went annually to embrace the hands of the god Bel-Marduk, from whom he thereby received the right of sovereignty over the country.
49. This line seems to imply that Marduk was regarded as the instructor of the "old" gods; the allusion is, probably, to the "ways" of Anu, Bel and Ea, which are treated as technical terms in astrology.
50. Here the title "Black-headed" refers to all mankind, but it is sometimes used by the scribes to distinguish the population of the Euphrates Valley from foreign peoples of light complexions.
51. Compare the language of the Kur'ân (Surah II, v. 256), "He (Allah) knoweth what is before them and what is behind them."