BM 91452 is a piece of an inscribed lapis lazuli mace head. It is about 7 cm high; approximately two-thirds of the circumference is missing so that the beginnings and ends of the seven inscribed lines are not preserved. The inscription has never been copied or fully edited and I am grateful to the Trustees of the British Museum for permission to do so. The object comes from Nimrud and the inscription is probably to be assigned to Aššurnaṣirpal II.

The mace head is of special interest because its ancient name actually appears in the inscription. This is the word NA4ḫal-tap-pa in line 6. An instrument called ḫaltappû/ḫultuppû, associated with the god Ea, is known in connection with the exorcist (āšipu) and the casting out of evil demons. The present inscription now identifies the instrument, which had previously been called a “whipping rod0, as a mace head. The fact that ḫaltappaû/ḫultuppû is commonly preceded by the determinative for wood (GIŠ) whereas in this text it is preceded by the determinative for stone (NA4) presents no difficulty, GIŠ could refer to the wooden shaft while NA4 could refer to the stone head; or, under varying circumstances of time and place, there may have been completely wooden ḫaltappû/ḫulluppû. In any event, this lapis lazuli mace head is part of a cult object connected with exorcism and associated with Ea; the association with Ea being supported by the divine epithets preserved at the beginning of the text (the divine name is missing in the lacuna).