Extracts from Goff: Amulets in Mesopotamian Ritual

Extracts

From Old Babylonian to First Millennium B.C

"From the Old Babylonian Period a much larger number of ritual tests has been preserved, most of them found in Nippur. This period seems to have been the time when many incantations now embedded in the great series of the first millennium B.C. originated, for there are points of contact between the two. In the Old Babylonian Period, however, the ritual texts probably were in a state of flux. There are several instances where the same text occurs in different series. By the first millennium a normative sequence had been established for many of the incantations. The great series had been canonized. "


Kar 44




Goff next discusses Kar 44, a unique text which lists the incantations that the mashmashu priest [the incantation specialist] was supposed to know. She comments this text further illustrates how incantations were used for both personal concerns and for community rites, as in early periods. Kar 44 dates to the 8th century and has sometimes been referred to as the 'Assyrian magicians Manuel' . For a translation of Kar 44, please refer to our sister ship, The Babylonian Magic Page - (thanks Ross!). Given the great variety of responsibilities the incantation titles suggest, from purifying the temple, to sanctifying the barnyard to protect animals from evil spirits, to preparation of sacred stones and drugs etc, Goff concludes the mashmashu was "a royal official, responsible for great ceremonials; but his concerns embraced all the activities of both the great state and individuals."

see also Cdli P369026





Community rites:


The Akitu festival is delt with at some length by the author, and she focuses on three principal sections of the ritual texts-

The Third day: metalworkers. woodworkers and goldsmiths are assembled and given precise instructions for the fashioning of 2 images, one of cedar , one of tamarisk, 7 fingerlengths tall. They are to hold a snake and the other a scorpian...etc.

The sixth day: Up until this day the figures stand in the temple receiving the same food as is placed before the gods - on this day however, the head is struck off the two images, and they are caste into the fire. Goff observes that this closely mirrors the making and destruction of figurines in the Maqlu ritual - while this occurrence in Akitu is at the community level, however, similar procedures in Maqlu the rites for the benefit of individuals.


Day five: A day of purifications however it is noted" In this text "purifying" certainly does not have the usual significance of our English word. Water is only one of the means of "purifying" the temples. The drum is beaten. A censor and a torch are used. The doors are smeared with resin; and a ram is slaughtered. Also the text specifically says that incantations are recited for exorcising the temple. It seems clear that the incantations serve a purpose very similar to these other rites. The while process of "purification" is actually a process of exorcism."

Goff then goes in to a discussion of the kettle-drum and the ritual for covering this with the hide of a select bull. I have summed this and some correspondences in the incantation literature, at my facebook group here .


Still to come - extracts from pages 10+

I have been wanting for some time to hit on detailed information of the materia magica of Mesopotamia, that is, what object were imbued with special power in magic ritual, what objects of the natural enviroment thus had potency? And if possibly why. Goff does proceed to some extent to confront this subject
Before I review the later part of the article, I've posted below some execellent notes that Ross (Bel Murru) posted on TOD a ways back. Which I dont think Ross minds me posting here (or will email me if he does.)

Ross's reference's for Material Magica:

"There seem to have been tables like this [that refer to Magical objct] at least by the early first millennium. The "Assyrian Magician's Manual", KAR 44, from before 800 b.c.e., lists 5 series of plant and mineral knowledge necessary for the magician. These were no doubt practical medical texts, not simply lexical texts.

See line 26 at -
www.angelfire.com/tx/tintirbabylon/kar44.html

[note - we have refered to KAR 44 in this thread already, reply #2, pg. 6]



Here is a translation of the full annotated version of the lines by
Jean Bottero (I have changed the format slightly and expanded the abbreviations to make the bibliography clearer (note that $=sh)with
his divisions, annotations and comments -

Line 26 (reverse line 3 of KAR 44) - a. "The stone whose presentation
(is such)" (NA4 GAR-$u2 : abnu $ikin-$u2) (and)
b. "The plant whose presentation (is such)" (U2 GAR-$u2 : $ammû $ikin-
$u2)

[These] are the first lines of well-known treatises where stones, in one part, and plants in the other, are found enumerated and presented with their properties, in particular in the domains of pharmacy and exorcism (see the Annuaire 1973-1974 for their use to this end).

[Here Ross explains to us that KAR 44, the 'Assyrial ritual guide', lists by incipit two particular texts "treatises" which enumerate plants and the other stones to do with magic - the materia magica of Mesopotamia. Below, Ross's reading also provides us with a list of modern scholarly works which sample from those treatises and translate some of those lists.]


We have some extracts from them: for the stones, see
C.A.D. (Chicago Assyrian Dictionary), A/1, p. 55a and
S.T.T. (Gurney and Finkelstein, "The Sultantepe Tablets" (1957/1964)),
108s;
B.A.M. (Köcher, "Die babylonisch-assyrische Medizin in Texten und
Untersuchungen" (1963)), IV, 378, and
J.C.S. (Journal of Cuneiform Studies), XXI, 1967, p. 151, no. 64;

for the plants:
K.A.D.P. (Köcher, "Keilschrifttexte zur assyrisch-babylonischen Drogen
un Pflanzenkunde" (1965)), nos. 33s and p. 10, note on number 33;
S.T.T., 93;
B.A.M., IV, 327 and 379.

c. "The stone tablets" (DUB NA4.ME$ : tuppât abnâti?) and
d. "The plant tablets" (DUB.U2.HI.A : tuppât $ammê?)


[I have above highlighted those articles which be more easyily obtainable. Next Ross explains that these works should be associated specially with the job of the exorcist.]



Rather than encyclopedic or philological lists of minerals and
vegetables of the HAR-ra=hubullu XVI and XVII type (in M.S.L.
(Materials for the Sumerian Lexicon), X, p. 1ff and 77ff.), there is
reason to suppose that these two parallel works are catalogues aiming at practical use, and like the precedent, are to be used by the Exorcists in the exercise of their functions, such as those we find for example, for stones, in B.A.M. II, 183 23ff; 185 col. III's;
compare also A.S. 16, p. 329ff; and, for plants, III, 254 (255 brings
both together).


(From Jean Bottéro, "Mythes et rites de Babylone", chapter III, "Le
Manuel de l'Exorciste et son calendrier" (Paris, 1985) pp. 65-112).

I should note that I haven't seen any of these texts, so I don't know if they are translated or not, or the extent of the discussion in them. Köcher's works look particularly relevant.

There are also two older works by R. Campbell Thompson which I don't see referenced much -
"A Dictionary of Assyrian Chemistry and Geology" (Oxford, 1936) and
"A Dictionary of Assyrian Botany" (Oxford, 1949 (posthumous)).

While out-of-date in many ways, there is still surely much to be
gained from them (the first is xlviii-266 pages, the second 422
pages). The entry for carnelian (under "red stones") is three pages long, for instance. Although it is primarily a lexical and historical discussion, he touches on magical uses when they occur in the texts.

Bel Murru"

Goff: " Just as in the series Maqlu, s also in ritual concerned with Lamashtu, "magical" stones were important. We are not yet sure what kind of stones are meant by the different words used, R. Campbell Thompson has moved us forward by his studies^10. An example of the use of such stones and also of "magical" knots is found in an incantation to aid a pregnant woman, translated by Thereau-Dangin, of which I quote in part:

---

10. R. Campbell Thompson, A dictionary of Assyrian Chemistry and Geology, Oxford, 1936. Idem, On the Chemestry of the Ancient Assyrians, London, 1925.

---

Goff nexts provides us with a precription against the hand of a ghost, adding that from passages such as the below, "one gathers that the salt and plants are regarded in the same way as the "magical" shu-stone.

---

---

pg 18

[/color][/center]



I've referenced Robert D. Biggs and his article Medicine, Surgery, and Public Health in Ancient Mesopotamia (CANE 3, pg. 1915). Within is a brief explanation entitled "Identifying Ancient Prescription Plants" (most likely used in both magic and medicinal traditions.) Biggs tells us:

---

---

This journal effort, the Bulletin on Sumerian Agriculture, I believe is hosted by the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Cambridge, England (Formerly the Faculty of Oriental Studies.). Will have to attempt some in roads to the source as it has been over 10 years now since it began..