Bibliography of Mesopotamian Magic


The below bibliography is a list of Assyriological works which apply themselves to the narrow study of the Mesopotamian ritual and incantation lore. While some have gone to impressive lengths to list huge numbers of relevant materials (see for example the following link http://www.orientalisti.net/na_magic.htm), we hope to list below only some of the most essential books and articles and some that would prove most effective for newcomer and expert alike. It can be difficult especially for the former to come across these titles, and while the below resoure may help here, unfortunatly acquireing these rare books afterwards would likely remain a troublesome prospect in some cases.

Books on Mesopotamian Magic


Deliever me from Evil: Mesopotamian Incantations 2500-1500
by Graham Cunningham, 1997
Eisenbrauns
ISBN: 8876536086

Religion and Magic: Approaches and Theories
Graham Cunningham, 1999
Eisenbrauns
ISBN: 0-8147-1588-5

Forerunners to Udug-Hul: Sumerian Exorcistic Incantations
by M.J. Geller, 1985
Eisenbrauns
ISBN: 3-515-04403-5

Evil Demons: Canonical Utukku- Lemnu-tu Incantations
M.J. Geller, 2007
Eisenbrauns
ISBN: 9521013311

Ur III Incantations from the Frau Professor Hilprecht Collection-Jena
by Jan Van Dijk, M. J. Geller, and Joachim Oelsner, 2003
Eisenbrauns
ISBN: 3-447-04707-0

Early Mesopotamian Incantations and Rituals
by Jan Van Dijk, Albrecht Goetze, and Mary I. Hussey; 1985
Eisenbrauns
ISBN: 0-300-03147-5

Mesopotamian Protective Spirits
by F.A.M. Wiggermann
Eisenbrauns
ISBN: 90-72371-52-6

Mesopotamian Witchcraft
by Tzvi Abusch, 2002
Eisenbrauns
ISBN: 90-04-12387-3

Magico-Medical Means of Treating Ghost-Induced Illness in Ancient Mesopotamia
by Jo Ann Scurlock, 2006
Eisenbrauns
ISBN: 90-04-12397-0

Mesopotamian Magic: Textual, Historical, and Interpretive Perspectives
by Tzvi Abusch and Karel van der Toorn
Eisenbrauns
ISBN: 90-5693-033-8

Die Beschwörungen aus Fara und Ebla: Untersuchungen zur ältesten keilschriftlichen Beschwörungsliteratur
By Manfred Krebernik, 1984
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ISBN: 3487074796

Articles on Mesopotamian Magic

- "A brief examination of HI-la2 in incantations"
by N. Veldhuis
CDLI

- "Another Early Dynastic Incantation"
by N. Veldhuis
CDLI

- "When you perform the ritual of "rubbing" on medicine and magic in Ancient Mesopotamia"
by Barbara Bock
Journal of Near Eastern studies 62

- "A Neo-Sumerian ritual tablet in Philadelphia"
By Michael Dick
Journal of Near Eastern studies 64

- "Aetiology of illness in ancient Mesopotamia: On Supernatural causes"
by Erica Couto-Ferreira
link

- A Sumerian Incantation Against Gall.
B. Alster
Orientalia n.s. 41 (1972) 349-358.

- Incantation to Utu
B. Alster
Acta Sumerologica 13 (1991) 27-96.

- Necromancy in Ancient Mesopotamia
I. Finkel
AfO 29-30 (1983-1984) 1-17

- "Very Different Utu Incantations"
M. Geller
ASJ 17 (1995), 101-126

- 'Another Old Babylonian Childbirth Incantation.'
Gertrud Farber
JNES 43, p311ff

- 'Mannum Luspur ana Enkidu: some new thoughts about an old motif'
Walter Farber 1990b
JNES 49, p299ff

- 'Gula'
R. Frankena 1957-71:
Reallexikon der Assyriologue 3, p695ff

- 'Ur-Nanshe's Diorite Plaque'
Thorkild Jacobsen 1985

- 'Dingir.šà.dib.ba Incantations,
Lambert W.G 1974:
JNES 33, p57ff

- 'An Old Babylonian Charm again Merhu'
Benno Landsberger and Thorkild Jacobsen 1955,
JNES 14m p14ff

-Piotr Michalowski:

a) 'On some Early Magical Texts', Orientalia 52 p216ff
b) 1993: 'Torch and the Censor', Cohen et al 1993m p152ff.
c) 1991 "Incantation Incipits," N.A.B.U. 48.
d) Also note Michalowski has a 'work in progress' entitled "Ur III Incantations from Nippur"

-'šurpu: A Collection of Sumerian and Akkadian Incantations'
Erica Reiner 1958:
(AfO Beih 11), Graz

- 'Une conjuration sumerienne et ses rapports avec le culte',
Herbert Sauren 1968
Geneva NS 16, p109ff.

- 'On the Bite of a Dog'
Marcel Sigrist 1987:
Marks and Good 1987 p85ff.

- Niek Veldhuis::
a) 'The Fly, the Worm, and the Chain: Old Babylonian Chain Incantations' Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica 24, p41ff.
b) Review of "G. Cunningham, "Deliver Me from Evil" Mesopotamian Incantations 2500-1500 BC (Studia Pohl Series Maior 17). Rome 1997", in Bibliotheca Orientalis 55, 850-852.
c) Review of "G. Cunningham, Religion and Magic. Approaches and Theories. Edinburgh 1999" in Archiv für Orientforschung 48/49 (2001/2002), 226-228

-W . von Soden 1954:

a) 'Eine albabylonische Beschworungen gegen die Damonin Lamastum', Orientalia 23, p337ff.
b) 1956: 'Eine altassyrische Beschworungen gegen die Damonin Lamastum', Orientalia 25, p141ff.

- 'Liebesbeschworungen aus Isin'
Claus Wilke 1985:
Zeitschift fur Assyiorlogie 75, p188ff.

- “Topoi and stock-strophes in Sumerian Literary tradition: Some Observations, part I”
A. J. Ferrara 1995:
JNES 54, 81-117

-M.J Geller (link):
a) More Magic Spells and Formulae, BSOAS 60.2 (1997), pp. 327-35 (with 4 plates)
b) Freud, Magic and Mesopotamia: How the Magic Works, Folklore 108 (1997), pp. 1-7.
c) 'Mesopotamian Love Magic: Discourse or Intercourse?', CRAAI 47/1 (2003), ed. S. Parpola and R. Whiting (Helsinki, 2002), 129-139
d) A New piece of Witchcraft, in Dumu Edubba, Studies in Honor of A Sjöberg, (Philadlephia, 1989), 193-205.

-"Magical Uses of Ancient Mesopotamian Festivals of the Dead." Scurlock, J. A.
In Ancient Magic and Ritual Power. M. Meyer and P. Mirecki, 93-107
Religions in the Graeco-Roman World, 129. Leiden: Brill, 1995

- "Rituals at Ebla."
Viganò Lorenzo
Journal of Near Eastern Studies 54 (1995) 215-22.

 

 
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