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| Language: | Akkadian | |
| Medium: | clay tablet | |
| Length: | 10 lines of writing | |
| Genre: | Ritual Instruction | |
| Date: | first millennium BCE | |
| Place of Discovery: | Baghdad, Iraq (ancient Babylon) |
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| Date of Discovery: | 1880? |
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| Discoverer: | unknown | |
| Current Location: | British Museum | |
| Inventory Number: | BM 36703 | |
| Accession Number: | 80-6-17 | |
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(from Finkel 1983:9) |
(adapted from Finkel 1983:9) |
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| x [ . . . . . . . . ] x mi i[Š x x x (x x)] | 1 | [ . . . . . . ] |
| x [ x x x (x)] x x x ga Še SAHAR qá-qá-r[í x x (x x)] | 2 | [ . . . . . . . ] dust of the underworld |
| GIDIM e-tu-ti li-Š[e-l]a-an-ni UZU.SA UG7 l[i-x-x] | 3 | May he raise up a ghost of the darkness for me! May he [revivify] the dead man's limbs! |
| gul-gul gul-gul-la-at a-Ša-as-[si-ka/ki] | 4 | I call [upon you], O skull of skulls: |
| Ša ŠÀ gul-gul-la-ta li-pu-la-an-ni | 5 | May the one who is within the skull answer [me!] |
| dUTU pe-tu-ú ik-le-t[i (EN)] | 6 | O Shamash, who opens the darkness! |
| DU.DU.BI MUŠEN hur-ri NITA u MUNUS SAHAR SILA.LIMMU7.BA SAHAR hal-lul-l[a-a-a] | 7 | Its ritual: you crush(?) a male and female bird(?), dust from a crossroads, 'dust' of a jumping animal(?) of |
| Šá-hi-tì Šá EDIN ŠIKA SILA.LIMMU2.BA za-qip-tú ina Ì BUR LU[M x x] | 8 | the steppe, (and) an upturned potsherd from a crossroads in pûru oil, [ . . . ] |
| I-niŠ tuŠ-te-mid tuŠ-bat ina Še-rim lu GIDIM lu NAM.[x x] | 9 | You mix it all together and leave it to stand overnight. In the morning you anoint either the etemmu (figure), and the [ . . . ] |
| lu gul-gul-la ŠÉŠ-ma ta-Šá-as-si-Šu-ma ip-pa[l-ka] | 10 | and the skull; and when you call upon him he will answer you. |
Notes |
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| Discussion Questions |
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. |
| Select Bibliography |
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Bayliss, Miranda. "The Cult of Dead Kin in Assyria and Babylonia." Iraq 35 (1973) 115-25.
Finkel, Irving L. "Necromancy in Ancient Mesopotamia." Archiv für Orientforschung 29 (1983) 1-17. Kuemmerlin-McLean, Joanne K. "Magic (OT)." In Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman, 4:468-71. New York: Doubleday, 1991. Scurlock, J. A. "Magic (ANE)." In Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman, 4:464-68. New York: Doubleday, 1991. |
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