The earliest extant copies are neo-Assyrian, from the library of Ashurbanipal, where, according to its ritual tablet, it was to be conducted regularly in the months of Tašrītu and Araḫsamna,[2] but there is also a late Babylonian (4th or 3rd century BC) rescension recovered from the house of a priest in Uruk[3]: 107 and copied by Anu-ikṣur, kalû, or incantation priest, son of Šamaš-iddin, descendant of Šangû-Ninurta.
"[6] It describes the events (deaths, confusion and unhappiness) which have befallen the house and led to the selection of this ritual and then provides a lengthy list of figures and incantations.
The text describes in detail how figurines should be formed and paintings drawn of the apkallus, "sages," and the invocation to make them incarnate.
They are arranged in the sick person’s room, close to his bed: To the seven figures of purādu-apkallus, painted with gypsum and black paste that are drawn at the side of the bedroom at the wall.
[3]: 131 It concludes with a lengthy prayer to the god Nusku, who is entreated to "expel the Demon, overcome Evil, and Šulak, the nightly wanderer, whose touch is death.
In contrast to the other extant lists, there are eleven of these primordial beings, in two distinct groups, seven antediluvian and four postdiluvian: Incantation: Uanna, "who accomplishes the plans of heaven and earth."