Mesopotamian Magic

The corpus of late antique Babylonian incantation bowls comprises a class of double-bowl sets, consisting of two bowls facing each other, fastened together with bitumen. Occasionally, such bowl sets have been found to contain inscribed egg shells or human bones. The double-bowl configuration is highly reminiscent of the double-jar burial practice attested in Mesopotamia from the second millennium to the sixth century BCE. The double-jar (or double-pot) burial involved placing the deceased between two wide-mouthed jars, occasionally joining them with bitumen at the rims. This article explores the double-bowl configuration and suggests a connection between double-jar burials and the later ritual artifacts of the Sasanian period. The double-bowl sets attached with bitumen may have originated on analogy to the ancient burial practice, intending symbolically to bury evil entities or human adversaries.

The magical transformation contest, a story pattern widespread in many folk traditions, has age-old roots in the ancient world. It comprises two main variations: the competing sorcerers may either metamorphose themselves into various beings or create those beings by magical means; in either case, the winning contestant brings forth stronger creatures surpassing those of his opponent. The second variant (magical creations) was favoured in the ancient Near East: examples are found in a Sumerian epic, a Demotic Egyptian novella, and the Hebrew book of Exodus. The first variant (self-metamorphosis) is traceable in a few Greek myths concerning divinities or heroes with shape-shifting abilities (e.g. the story of Zeus and Nemesis). The tales about competition in magical fabrications may have also influenced an episode of the Alexander Romance (1.36-38), in which King Darius sends a series of symbolic gifts to Alexander and the two enemy monarchs offer contrasting explanations of them. In a way, this Greek story rationalizes the fairytales about magical contests, transferring their fantastic feats of miraculous creations to a secondary but realistic level of linguistic metaphor. Alexander and Darius “transform” the common objects into different entities by means of language, through symbolic interpretation. Alexander’s discourse makes the gifts stand for the stronger notions of power and conquest, thus surpassing Darius’ weaker reading, according to which the same items represent childishness and defeat.

Το κείμενο αυτό είχε γραφτεί για το τέταρτο τεύχος του περιοδικού De Profundis, που προγραμματιζόταν να κυκλοφορήσει τον Ιούλιο του 2015. Δυστυχώς, η οικονομική συμφορά που έπληξε τον τόπο ακριβώς εκείνον τον καιρό ματαίωσε την κυκλοφορία του τεύχους και τερμάτισε οριστικά την έκδοση του De Profundis. Καθώς το κείμενο είχε ήδη μορφοποιηθεί, αναρτώ εδώ τα τυπογραφικά δοκίμια (με ελάχιστες διορθώσεις), εις μνήμην του περιοδικού και της προσπάθειάς μας που κατέληξε τόσο άδοξα.

Το κείμενο γράφτηκε τον Ιούλιο του 2015, όταν όλοι όσοι είχαν στοιχειώδη φρόνηση σε αυτόν τον τόπο περίμεναν με τρόμο την έξοδό μας από το ευρώ και την ολοκληρωτική δυστυχία που θα ακολουθούσε. Το έγκλημα ευτυχώς απετράπη, αν και η θεραπεία του είχε φρικτές παρενέργειες, που θα μας κάνουν να υποφέρουμε για καιρό ακόμη. Αναπόφευκτα, το κείμενο (ιδίως το φινάλε του) είναι επηρεασμένο από την τρέλα που ζήσαμε όλοι εκείνες τις μέρες και απηχεί την ατμόσφαιρα παραφροσύνης που επικρατούσε τότε στη χώρα.

Θα ευχόμουν να μην ξαναζήσουμε τέτοιες εποχές, αλλά με το είδος των ανθρώπων που έχουν ξεμείνει να σταδιοδρομούν στην πολιτική ζωή της Ελλάδας, η ευχή θα είναι χωρίς άλλο μάταιη.

The author’s main focus is on a cryptic spelling of the Akkadian plant name mirišmarû. Although one of its occurrences has been in the public domain for decades, it has hitherto been overlooked in cuneiform scholarship. In the guise of this arcane spelling, the plant appears to feature most prominently in an as yet unpublished cuneiform tablet inscribed with an incantation for the purpose of mobilizing the plant’s healing potential against the effects of curse and witchcraft; its text is edited here in transliteration and translation. Two further unorthodox notations of the name, recently detected in unpublished sources too, are evaluated for their implications; one of these proves crucial in establishing the correct reading of the name once and for all. To help the reader assess the new findings in their proper context, a chart detailing all currently known attestations of the plant name is included.

The aim of this article is to show the influence of witches, demons, ghosts, and gods on human health in Ancient Mesopotamia. Mesopotamian medicine was based on magic and considered illness to be the work of a supernatural power. Ashu and ashipu – doctors of body and soul – worked together to diagnose and help the patient. Sometimes prayers and magical rituals were necessary for a patient to get well; often, only a herbal mixture was needed. Mesopotamian magical and medical texts describe many kinds of diseases: somatic, mental, and others. Among these are: fever, headaches, leprosy, epilepsy, blindness, impotency, paralysis. This article is an effort to analyse Mesopotamian prescriptions, incantations, and medical interventions and to answer questions about the health of ancient mankind.