Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, Volume 1: Biblical and Pagan Societies PDF
Preview Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, Volume 1: Biblical and Pagan Societies
Witchcraft and Magic in Europe Volume 1. Biblical and Pagan Societies THE ATHLONE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC IN EUROPE Series Editors Bengt Ankarloo (University of Lund) Stuart Clark (University of Swansea) The roots of European witchcraft and magic lie in Hebrew and other ancient Near Eastern cultures and in the Celtic, Nordic, and Germanic traditions of the continent. For two millennia, European folklore and ritual have been imbued with the belief in the supernatural, yielding a rich trove of histories and images. Witchcraft and Magic in Europe combines traditional approaches of political, legal, and social historians with a critical synthesis of cultural anthropology, historical psychology, and gender studies. The series provides a modern, scholarly survey of the supernatural beliefs of Europeans from ancient times to the present day. Each volume of this ambitious series contains the work of distinguished scholars chosen for their expertise in a particular era or region. Vol. 1 Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Biblical and Pagan Societies Vol. 2 Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Ancient Greece and Rome Vol. 3 Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Middle Ages Vol. 4 Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Period of the Witch Trials Vol. 5 Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Vol. 6 Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Twentieth Century Witchcraft and Magic in Europe Biblical and Pagan Societies FREDERICK H. CRYER MARIE-LOUISE THOMSEN THE ATHLONE PRESS LONDON First published in 2001 by THE ATHLONE PRESS A Continuum imprint The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX © The Contributors 2001 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 485 89001 1 HB 0 485 89101 8 PB All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Typeset by Centraserve, Saffron Walden, Essex Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bookcraft (Bath) Ltd Contents Illustrations ix General Introduction xi Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark PART 1: WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA 1 Marie-Louise Thomsen Introduction 3 Mesopotamia: The Land, its People and History 3 Earliest History and First Settlements 4 The Sumerian City-States 5 The Akkadians: Babylonians and Assyrians 5 The First Millennium: The Neo-Assyrian Empire 7 Mesopotamia under Foreign Rulers: Persians and Greeks 9 Religion 10 The Sumero-Babylonian Pantheon 10 Ethics 11 Purification 13 Magic 13 The Literary Tradition 15 Sumerian Literature 15 Akkadian Literature 15 Canonization 16 Babylonian Tradition in Assyria 17 First Millennium 18 vi Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Biblical and Pagan Societies The Magical Texts 18 Mesopotamian Magic, State of Research 22 Witchcraft 23 A Literary Example of Witchcraft 23 Laws against Witchcraft 25 The Witch 28 How Witchcraft Manifests Itself 30 Diagnosis 32 Characteristic Symptoms 33 Methods 35 Contagious Magic 36 Magic Knots 37 Evil Magic with Images 38 Messages of Witchcraft:zikurudû 41 The Evil Eye 42 Anti-Witchcraft Rituals 43 Medical Treatment of Witchcraft 43 The Exorcist's Rituals against Witchcraft 46 Maqlû 50 Zikurudû 53 Magic 56 Luck and Misfortune 56 The Power of Precious Stones 59 Amulets 61 Amulets for the Protection of Babies 64 Love Charms 65 Potency Incantations 68 Therapy 69 Diseases and Demons 70 Expelling Demons by Offering a Substitute 71 The Ritual for the Substitute King 76 Ghosts 79 Evil Portents and Apotropaic Rituals 82 Contents vii Divination 85 Necromancy 86 Astrology 88 Mesopotamian Magic after the Fall of Babylon 91 Abbreviations for Publications of Cuneiform Texts 91 PART 2: MAGIC IN ANCIENT SYRIA-PALESTINE - AND IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 97 Frederick H. Cryer The Social-Historical Problem 99 Constructing Syrian-Palestinian History 102 Material History 107 Settlement Pattern and Social Structure 109 The Patronage Principle 110 The Common Proprium of Magic and Religion 113 The Problem of Definition 114 The Production of New Magic 116 The Role of Stories 118 Magic and Empiricism 119 The Biblical Understandings of Magic 120 The Evolutionary Picture 122 Pseudo-evolution: The Tradition of 'Priestly' Divination 127 Other Forms of Divination than Prophecy 127 The Role of Women in Israelite and Judaean Magic 134 Active Magic 137 Witchcraft, Sorcery and Cursing 139 viii Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Biblical and Pagan Societies The Evil Eye 140 Witchcraft and Gender 140 Self-cursing: The Oath 141 Another Self-curse: The Ordeal 142 The Status of Magic in Ancient Syria—Palestine 143 The Practitioners 146 Abbreviations 147 Notes 151 Bibliography 153 Index 165 Illustrations Figure 1 Copy of a clay tablet of amulet shape, Assur, 7th century BC (KAR no. 35) Figure 2 The demon Pazuzu. Bronze statuette, Assyrian, first half of the 1st millennium BC (Musée du Louvre) Figure 3 Bronze amulet, Assyrian, 8th-7th century BC (Musée du Louvre)
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