Black and Green 2003,pg.129 say about late incantation lore:
"A development can be recognised in this history of Babylonian
and Assyrian magical practices. The gradual grouping of
related incantations, already referred to, into collections (so-called
'series') presupposed more than mere editorial activity on the part
of magician scholars, since the series are oganised into,
and accompanied by directions for, complex rituals in which the
sequence of actions and incantations is crucially important.
The incantations have been gathered from various sources and woven
into a ritual sequence in the belief that proliferation of magic would
make it more effective. A single example may be given: two copies of
the 'same' ritual exist, separated by a thousand years, in which the number
of paraphernalia required, in this case cylinder seals hung arund the
neck of the patient, has been increased from one to nine, evidently in the belief
that the magic would thereby become the more powerful."

Later incantations are best known from these series therefore, among
which are included Šurpu, Maqlû, Muššu'u, Utukku Lemnutu,
Asakku Marsutu (Asag-gig-ga) [1],Lamaatu, Mis pî[2], Namburbi,
Sa-gig-ga-meš, and dingir.šá.dib.ba [3] [4].

[1] Budge in CT 17 states :Asakk? Mar??tu contained at least 12 "tablets"
and at that time, portions of the first, third, ninth, eleventh,
and twelfth tablets were extent.
[2] One can refer here to "The Induction of the Cult Image in Ancient
Mesopotamia: The Mesopotamian Mis Pi Ritual " by C. Walker and M. Dick
[3]See 'Dingir. sà. dib. ba Incantations', by W. G. Lambert, Journal
of Near Eastern Studies, 1974
[4] For late series, refer also to Wolfgang Schramm in "Sumerisch-akkadische Beschworungstexte" [br]

 

We've Included below some comments on the three best known series:

Shurpu:

See Erica Reiner, "Shurpu, a Collection of Sumerian and Akkadian
Incantations, Archiv fuer Orientforschung, ed. Ernst Weidner,
Beiheft 11 " 1958.

Reiner states that at Nineveh, the scirbes of Assurbanipal canonized
the Shurpu series, that is each of the nine tablets were numbers in
sequence and included a catchline (at the bottom of each tablet, the first
line of the following would be written in a subscript (for referrence)).
Although ritual tablets often assist as well in establishing the order of
progression, the auther explains an exception is the extent Shurpu ritual tablet,
as this tablet came from Assur where the scribes did not follow the order
and cannoization established in Nineveh. While the names Shurpu and
Maqlú both translate to burning, Reiner explains that the Maqlu
series is intended to counteract black magic: effigies of the
sorcerer(and more often) the witch are melted or burnt in fire.
However, "contrary to what we may expect from its title, burning
plays a very small roll in the series Shurpu. With the exeption of
tablet V-VI (see above p.1), none of the prayers or incantations have
anything to do with the magical operation the title suggests.
The bulk of the series consists of prayers adressed to a number of
deities of the Assyrio-Babyloinian pantheon, but mainly -Tablets III and IV -
to the patron-god of magic, Marduk. While the person who resorts to
the practices desribed in the series Maqlu know that he has been
bewitched and simply carries out the well-known prescriptions for
averting the spell, Shurpu is performed when the patient does not know
by what act or omission he has offended the gods and the existing
world-order. This is the reason why all possible sins, ranking from infirgements
of religious taboos to offences against the moral or social order
are commerated so exhaustively."




Maqlú:

See T. Abusch "Mesopotamian Witchcraft: Towards a History and Understanding
of Babylonian Witchcraft Beliefs and Literature" 2003


( Quoting T. Abusch 1974:) "Since the appearance of the first edition
of Maqlú in 1895, many of its incantations have been among the most
widely quoted examples of Babylonian magical literature. The frequency
with which these incantations, both individually and in groups, are encountered in
the secondary literature should not obscure the fact that a comprehension of the
overall meaning of the series and an appreciation of the contextual
matrix in which the incantations are found are preconditions (of varying
degrees of necessity) for a full understanding of the meaning and history of
the individual incantation contained in the series."

Abusch has done us the favor of presenting proposals for the overall
contextual matrix for the Maqlú series, which might be summed in this
way: The Maqlú is a series of incantation texts, hundreds, the full
series originally could be found on 9 cuneiform tablets: 8 of which
contained the incantations the 9th was a ritual tablet. The ritual tablet not
"a simple catalogue, [but] is in fact the manual for the complete ceremony."
Abusch propose's that the Maqlú was in fact a complex ceremony,
tablets I-V and VI-VII 57 to be performed in the night, VII 58- VIII
to be performed the following morning "beginning at dawn".
Finally the performance of this complex ceremony is suggested to be
in the month of Abu, during the period of the disappearance of the
moon at the end of the month."

As is stated above, the prinipal aim of this ceremony is counteraction of the effects of black magic and of the witch.


Utukkū Lemnūtu:

As CT XVI states, this is a series consisting of 16 tablets. Some
were originally published with translations by R. Campbell Thomson
in "Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia" (1903), these incantations
have recently been re-examed by M.J. Geller (refer here to
"Evil Demons: Canonical Utukkū Lemnūtu Incantations" SAACT 5, 2008).
The incantations within this series deal with the exorcism of a variety
of demons, often the seven: the evil udug, the evil ala, evil gidim,
evil galla, Lamaštu, and ahhazu (with variation.).
A common feature of this series is the Marduk/ea typ incantation
and it was through the study of these texts that A. Falkenstein formulated
his classic proposal of four basic types of Mesopotamian incantation.
The Neo-Assyrian Utukkū Lemnūtu (Udug hul) is a particularly interesting
series in light of its Old Babylonian equivolents
(See M.J. Geller "Forerunners to Udug-hul" .)