Corpus of Mesopotamian Anti-Witchcraft Rituals. Volume One [only]
Leiden: Brill, 2011. First edition. Hardcover. Quarto (11-1/2" x 8-3/4"). xvi, 618pp. Double column text in English with some parallel transliterations of Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform writing. This pagination includes 133 plates of cuneiform tablets at rear. Brown boards lettered in white with yellow band at top. Hint of shelf wear at bottom edge, otherwise a fine copy.
"Even in its incomplete form, Mesopotamian Anti-Witchcraft Rituals is a major contribution to the study of witchcraft, supernatural belief, folk medicine (both supernatural and non-supernatural), theories of magic, incantations, and ritual. This edition is required reading for any scholar with an interest in these topics."
David Elton Gay, Indiana University
Among the most important sources for understanding the cultures and systems of thought of ancient Mesopotamia is a large body of magical and medical texts written in the Sumerian and Akkadian languages. An especially significant branch of this literature centres upon witchcraft. Mesopotamian anti-witchcraft rituals and incantations attribute ill-health and misfortune to the magic machinations of witches and prescribe ceremonies, devices, and treatments for dispelling witchcraft, destroying the witch, and protecting and curing the patient. The Corpus of Mesopotamian Anti-witchcraft Rituals aims to present a reconstruction of this body of texts; it provides critical editions of the relevant rituals and prescriptions based on the study of the cuneiform tablets and fragments recovered from the libraries of ancient Mesopotamia. (Publisher)
Contents: Preliminary Material -- The Corpus of Mesopotamian Anti-Witchcraft Rituals Ancient Mesopotamian Witchcraft Beliefs -- Texts of Group One Prescriptions for Undoing Witchcraft (Ana Pišerti Kišpī) -- Texts of Group Two Prescriptions to be Used for Bewitched Persons (Šumma Amēlu Kašip) -- Texts of Group Seven Ušburruda Texts -- Texts of Group Eight Ceremonial Rituals for Undoing Witchcraft -- Texts of Group Nine Anti-Witchcraft Incantations Within Bīt Rimki and Related Texts -- Texts of Group Ten Rituals Against Zikurudû and Other Special Types of Witchcraft -- Texts of Group Eleven Rituals in Case of Evil Omens Indicating Witchcraft -- Texts of Group Twelve Diagnostic Texts -- Bibliography -- Concordances -- Registers -- Copies of Cuneiform Texts -- Collations.
Volume 8/1 of the Brill series, "Ancient Magic and Divination." (AMD).
Note: this volume was announced by Brill as a 2010 publication, but our copy, still the first edition, has an imprint date of 2011. near fine. Item #52281
ISBN: 9789004189133
Price: $225.00