In the astronomical tablets (of the 1st and 2nd cent. B.C.) translated by Epping and Strassmaier, the twelve constellations of the Babylonian Zodiac are constantly referred to. Their names appear under very abbreviated forms in the tablets, and are as follows:[22]-- 1. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_ku_(_sarikku_)) = aries. 2. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_te_(_mennu_)) = taurus. 3. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_mašu_) = gemini. 4. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_pulukku_) = cancer. 5. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_arū_) = leo. 6. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_serû_) = virgo. 7. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_zibanîtu_) = libra. 8. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_aqrabu_) = scorpio. 9. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_pa_) = arcitenens. 10. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_enzu_) = caper. 11. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_gu_) = amphora [aquarius]. 12. [Illustration: cuneiform] (_zib_) = pisces. [22] _Zeitschrift für Assyriologie_, v Band, 4 Heft, Oct. 1890, p. 351. Also in Epping and Strassmaier’s work, _Astronomisches aus Babylon_, under the heading _Die Zeichen des Thierkreises_, pp. 170, 171, and _Namen der Sterne_, pp. 174, 175, the twelve abbreviations met with in the tablets are discussed at some length. From a study of the list here given and of the passages referred to, we learn that it has been found possible to suggest for some of the abbreviations suitable terminations, and in the completed words thus obtained, the familiar constellations of the Zodiac, as we know them, are easily to be recognized. As regards other of the abbreviations, and amongst them that of [Illustration] (Gu) for the eleventh sign (Amphora or Aquarius), no termination has been suggested; and of it Strassmaier thus writes:[23] p. 171:--“Gu ist sonst fast ausschliesslich nur als Silbenzeichen gu bekannt”; and Jensen, discussing Epping and Strassmaier’s constellation list, writes thus of the abbreviation Gu for the eleventh constellation:[24] “Ob Gu einen ‘Wassereimer,’ ‘Schöpfeimer,’ bezeichnen kann, weiss ich nicht. Die bisher veröffentlichten Texte geben keinen Aufschluss darüber.” [23] _Astronomisches aus Babylon._ [24] _Kosmologie der Babylonier_, p. 314. As a probable completion for the abbreviation Gu, the following suggestion is here put forward:--