Further Studies on Mesopotamian Witchcraft Beliefs and Literature

256 Pages·2020·1.29 MB·English

by  Tzvi Abusch

Further Studies on Mesopotamian Witchcraft Beliefs and Literature
Tzvi Abusch - 978-90-04-42191-2
Downloaded from Brill.com04/18/2022 12:40:15PM
via University of Toronto
Ancient Magic
and Divination
Editors
Tzvi Abusch
Ann K. Guinan
Nils P. Heeßel
Francesca Rochberg
Frans A. M. Wiggermann
volume 17
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/amd
Tzvi Abusch - 978-90-04-42191-2
Downloaded from Brill.com04/18/2022 12:40:15PM
via University of Toronto
Further Studies on
Mesopotamian Witchcraft Beliefs
and Literature
By
Tzvi Abusch
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Tzvi Abusch - 978-90-04-42191-2
Downloaded from Brill.com04/18/2022 12:40:15PM
via University of Toronto
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at http://catalog.loc.gov
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2019050988.
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface.
ISSN 1566-7952
ISBN 978-90-04-42190-5 (hardback)
ISBN 978-90-04-42191-2 (e-book)
Copyright 2020 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi,
Brill Sense, Hotei Publishing, mentis Verlag, Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh and Wilhelm Fink Verlag.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without prior written permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided
that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive,
Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change.
This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.
Tzvi Abusch - 978-90-04-42191-2
Downloaded from Brill.com04/18/2022 12:40:15PM
via University of Toronto
For R. C., in gratitude.
Ben Sira, ch. 38, vv. 1–3
∵
Tzvi Abusch - 978-90-04-42191-2
Downloaded from Brill.com04/18/2022 12:40:15PM
via University of Toronto
Tzvi Abusch - 978-90-04-42191-2
Downloaded from Brill.com04/18/2022 12:40:15PM
via University of Toronto
Contents
Dedication v
Preface ix
Sources xi
Abbreviations xiii
Studies of the Text of Maqlû
1 Witches and Demons in Ancient Mesopotamia 3
2 Divine Judges on Earth and in Heaven 19
3 Maqlû Tablet II: Its Literary Frame and Formation 38
4 The Revision of Babylonian Anti-Witchcraft Incantations: The Critical
Analysis of Incantations in the Ceremonial Series Maqlû 51
5 Maqlû III 1–30: Internal Analysis and Manuscript Evidence for the
Revision of an Incantation 81
6 Mother and Child or Sexual Mates? 89
7 Blessing and Praise in Ancient Mesopotamian Incantations 94
8 Notes on the History of Composition of Two Incantations 110
9 A Neo-Babylonian Recension of Maqlû: Some Observations on the
Redaction of Maqlû Tablet VII and on the Development of Two of Its
Incantations 122
10 Vetitive and Prohibitive: An Observation 139
11 Alternative Models for the Development of Some Incantations 146
Tzvi Abusch - 978-90-04-42191-2
Downloaded from Brill.com04/18/2022 12:40:15PM
via University of Toronto
viii Contents
Studies of Mesopotamian Witchcraft
12 Witchcraft Literature in Mesopotamia 159
13 Some Reflections on Mesopotamian Witchcraft 175
14 The Witch’s Messages: Witchcraft, Omens, and Voodoo-Death in
Ancient Mesopotamia 187
15 Illnesses and Other Crises: Mesopotamia 203
16 Lists of Therapeutic Plants: An Observation 209
17 Dismissal by Authorities: šuškunu and Related Matters 212
Bibliography 223
Index of Maqlû and CMAwR Citations 235
Tzvi Abusch - 978-90-04-42191-2
Downloaded from Brill.com04/18/2022 12:40:15PM
via University of Toronto
Preface
In this volume I have collected the studies on Mesopotamian witchcraft that
I have written subsequent to the appearance of my 2002 collection of studies
on witchcraft and Maqlû, namely, Mesopotamian Witchcraft: Toward a History
and Understanding of Babylonian Witchcraft Beliefs and Literature (AMD 5).
Moreover, I have added two earlier articles that were not included in
AMD 5. I have not included material that appeared in the introductions or
commentaries to my editions of Maqlû (WAW 37, 2015; AMD 10, 2016), or
material contained in my earlier Babylonian Witchcraft Literature: Case Studies
(BJS 132, 1987).
This volume differs from AMD 5 in at least one respect. Most of the stud-
ies in the earlier volume were conceptualized as part of a single project. That
was not the case for the studies collected in this volume. While several of
the essays included here were written in response to requests for overviews
of Mesopotamian witchcraft as part of some larger enterprise (such as a
handbook), most of them address problems or issues with which I was strug-
gling while editing or translating portions of Maqlû.
The order of the studies of sections of Maqlû reprinted here generally cor-
responds to the order in which those sections appear in the text. In most of
these studies I take a diachronic approach and attempt to solve a problem
using a literary-critical and/or text-critical approach. This is not surprising
given my own disposition and philosophy of knowledge. The reader will for-
give, I hope, the repetition of methodological principles that are basic to dia-
chronic studies. The problems for which I posit historical development as a
solution appear in incantations where parallels or forerunners are available
for comparison as well as incantations in which internal evidence or tension
is the primary source of evidence for the analyses. Problems of interpreta-
tion that result from the lack of agreement (or fit) between textual segments
are what drive my analysis. Often there is no “hard” evidence for my conclu-
sions. Rather, they are teased out from anomalies and inconsistencies in our
texts. Taken together, such inferences are a valid basis for the solution of many
problems and possibly for the reconstruction of the history of individual in-
cantations and groups of incantations. Thus, I have primarily taken account
of discrepancies in the text, and I acknowledge that I have not dealt with the
interaction of written and oral traditions. For better or for worse, my approach
is not commonly used in Assyriology; however, I believe that its application is
more than justified and will produce historical, literary, or interpretive results
that cannot be achieved by other methods, though I recognize the uncertainty
that adheres to many of my results.
Tzvi Abusch - 978-90-04-42191-2
Downloaded from Brill.com04/18/2022 12:40:15PM
via University of Toronto
x Preface
Some comments on editorial matters are in order. The text of the studies
reissued here replicates, for the most part, the text of the original publications.
Minor errors have been corrected, and the mode of bibliographical citation
has been standardized; a comprehensive bibliography is included at the end of
the volume. I have updated citations of Maqlû to agree with the line number-
ing of my edition in AMD 10. Many of the non-Maqlû witchcraft texts cited in
this volume were subsequently edited and published in volumes of the Corpus
of Mesopotamian Anti-witchcraft Rituals (CMAwR). References to texts cited
prior to their appearance in those volumes are not updated; when such a text
is first cited in a chapter in this volume, I indicate within double brackets the
number assigned to that text in CMAwR. Subsequent references in that chap-
ter are not updated. Articles written subsequent to the publication of a text in
CMAwR cite it by its number and lineation in CMAwR. The reader is advised to
consult the volumes of CMAwR for up-to-date editions of the aforementioned
texts. In addition, texts and translations of selected items in CMAwR are avail-
able online at http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/cmawro/corpus.
This preface would be incomplete without a word of thanks to all those who
have made this volume of collected essays possible. PDFs of original publica-
tions were turned into Microsoft Word versions by Jared Pfost. These versions
were then corrected on the basis of the original publications by Ji Min Bang.
Gene McGarry then unified the mode of bibliographical citation. This version
was proofread by Justin Huguenin. Finally, Eileen Xing read through the vol-
ume in search of errors and infelicities. Requests for permission to republish
were organized by Dan Berman.
I wish to thank the original publishers and editors for permission to pub-
lish my studies here. Again, I thank Gene McGarry for his invaluable help and
Brandeis University (The Norman Fund) and the department of Near Eastern
and Judaic Studies for providing financial support for the enterprise. My sin-
cerest thanks also go to my editor at Brill, Ms. Katelyn Chin, for her efforts.
Tzvi Abusch - 978-90-04-42191-2
Downloaded from Brill.com04/18/2022 12:40:15PM
via University of Toronto