Hoofdartikelen Aspects of Mesopotamian Witchcraft

259 ASPECTS OF MESOPOTAMIAN WITCHCRAFT 260 HOOFDARTIKELEN Rather, it means “to bewitch (harmfully)”.’ is not to be found under epesu in the index of words discussed. Thirdly, had a book of this size on this topic been written as a single ASPECTS OF MESOPOTAMIAN WITCHCRAFT: work, it would have been likely to mention several impor- REMARKS ON A BOOK BY TZVI ABUSCH1) tant works which the volume under review does not (though the author is doubtless familiar with them); for example: Martin WORTHINGTON*) ‘An Introduction to Babylonian Psychiatry’ by Kinnier Wil- son in the Fs. Landsberger (=AS 16, 1965); Thomsen’s Zau- 1. This work, the fifth volume in Styx/Brill’s valuable berdiagnose; Walters’s ‘The sorceress and her apprentice’ series Studies in Ancient Magic and Divination, is a collec- (JCS 23/2, 1970); Geller’s discussion of the nomenclature tion of fourteen essays by the same author on various aspects of witchcraft (Bi. Or. 45, 1988, 629 ff); Stol’s Birth in of Mesopotamian perceptions of witchcraft, and techniques Babylonia and the Bible (=CM 16, 2000), for its discussion for combating it. Ten of the essays are re-issues, having been of midwives; Thomsen’s ‘The Evil Eye in Mesopotamia’ published previously between 1974 and 1999, while four (JNES 51/1, 1992) (cf. now Geller ‘Paranoia, the Evil Eye, appear here for the first time. Reissuing the older articles in and the Face of Evil’ in Fs. Wilcke, 2003); Maul’s Zukunfts- the same two covers as new ones was a good idea, both bewältigung (=BaF 18, 1994) and others, some of which are because the essays frequently cite each other, and because mentioned below. synergies make the whole greater than the sum of its parts. While the author cannot, of course, be blamed for these A leading authority on Mesopotamian witchcraft studies, the inevitable features of his florilegium opusculorum, they do author is the foremost exegete of Maqlû (the longest and most need noting. The book’s ease of use and consultation is important of the anti-witchcraft texts). What he has written increased by the excellent index of texts cited (which is over decades has acquired a reputation for being thoughtful, more comprehensive than that of words or themes discus- erudite, and stimulating, and has often been influential. The sed),2) but an index of topics would have been very wel- book can be warmly recommended to all those interested in come. the history of magic and religion. 3. We here summarise the contents of the four essays 2. The essays are grouped thematically into three sections which are not reprints and appeared in Mesopotamian Wit- (‘Mesopotamian Witchcraft’, ‘The Nature and History of chcraft for the first time. Some comments appear below in Maqlû’, and ‘The Religious and Intellectual Setting of section 8. Maqlû’), in an explicitly stated attempt to maximise their ‘Considerations When Killing a Witch: Developments in continuities and make the book as organic as possible. The Exorcistic Attitudes to Witchcraft’ (Ch. 3) argues that the attempt is praiseworthy and not unsuccessful. At the same ways in which witches were killed (in incantations, curses time, the resulting effect is not to produce a systematic one- and rituals) changed over time; in particular, that the idea of volume introduction to Mesopotamian witchcraft (the sending the witch to the netherworld is a later development, author’s preface is innocent of the claim, but the first part of and that a wholly new anti-witchcraft ritual emerged from it. the title may be deemed slightly misleading). The Chapter’s thesis is summarised in Ch. 11 (p. 224) The fact that the book was not conceived as a unit has ‘Witchcraft, Impotence, and Indigestion’ (Ch. 4) explores several important consequences. For a start, though it is pac- ‘the relationship between witchcraft and disease’, the two ked with ideas and information, it is not a comprehensive ‘most significant medical manifestations of witchcraft’ reference work, so many themes are left unexplored. For being impotence and indigestion. The discussion involves example, zikurrudû ‘breath/throat/life-cutting magic’ is not the social psychology of witchcraft and the possible deriva- treated (though a future study is expected). What is perhaps tion of the witch from a female healer (via demonisation, for more important for readers who are not specialists, it lacks a which see Ch. 1). connected introductory survey of anti-witchcraft literature ‘Water into Fire: the Formation of Some Witchcraft outside Maqlû. For this, one must still turn to Thomsen’s Incantations’ (Ch. 10) identifies ‘incongruities’ in some Zauberdiagnose und schwarze Magie in Mesopotamien incantations in Maqlû and endeavours to account for them: (=CNIANES 2, 1987) and RlA ‘Literatur §4.8’. A second, both in terms of the mixing of disparate topoi in the course related, point is that discussions of a given theme may have of textual development, and in terms of the adaptation of to be sought in various places in the book, or even be hard non-witchcraft incantations to serve against witchcraft. to find. For instance, the interesting observation that Sume- ‘The Socio-Religious Framework of the Babylonian Wit- rian incantations are spoken by the exorcist, while Akkadian chcraft Ceremony Maqlû: Some Observations on the Intro- ones are placed in the mouth of the ‘patient’, is carefully ductory Section of the Text, Part I’ (Ch. 11) is a close rea- hidden in a footnote (p. 8 n. 12); while the suggestion on ding and interpretation of the opening portion of Maqlû (I page 189 f. that, ‘When epesu, meaning “to practice 1-72, esp. 37-72). It suggests that witches in the passage magic”, governs only a nominal or pronominal personal seem to possess both human and non-human (i.e. demonic object, it does not mean “to protect” or “to aid magically”. and spectral) qualities, and explains this in terms of Maqlû’s calendrical setting in the month of Abu, a time when ‘the living and the dead interact’ (p. 235). It further considers the legal setting of the fight against witches, and argues *) Faculty of Oriental Studies, Cambridge. This is a review essay of: Tzvi Abusch, Mesopotamian Witchcraft: Toward a History and Under- standing of Babylonian Witchcraft Beliefs and Literature (=Ancient Magic and Divination 5), Leiden: Styx/Brill, 2002, pp. xvi + 314, ISBN: 2) The reviewer happened to identify two slips in the list of references 9004123873, $ 87. to Maqlû: on page 310, it is said (sub II 76-102) that an edition of line 87 1) It is a pleasure to express thanks to Professor Nicholas Postgate for appears on page 142; this is, however, an edition of I 87 not II 87. At the support and encouragement. bottom of the same page, V 66-184 105 f. should read V 166-184 105 f. 261 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXI N° 3-4, mei-augustus 2004 262 convincingly for an interpretation of mamitu (a pregnant 6. As to text editions, the book does contain not few edi- word which occurs in the incantations in question) as a tions of unpublished texts, often in the footnotes, sometimes ‘social compact or contract directed against hostile and des- without translation. An impressive number of joins and tructive behaviour’ encompassing the living and the dead (p. duplicates are identified. It is widely known that Professor 239). Parallels are drawn from royal documents (Esarhad- Abusch is preparing a new edition of Maqlû and all other don’s treaties), and it is suggested more generally that Maqlû anti-witchcraft texts. He must be encouraged to publish his and the Neo Assyrian texts ‘are the result of common literary editions, as the scholarly world awaits them eagerly—not activity and share a world of social thought’ (p. 245). just because of new published and unpublished Textvertreter 4. Many of the essays are animated by the text-critical (such as CTN 4: 90, edited by Lambert in AfO 46-7, method of exegesis, which—to highlight one of its aims— 1999/2000: 151), but also because of the necessity of philo- endeavours to distil the original version of a text from ver- logical discussion and, occasionally, reinterpretation. For sions to be found on manuscripts which incorporate addi- example, we suspect that at I 27-8 (tûsa sa kassapti lemutte tions, changes, and misunderstandings which crept in over / turrat amassa ana pîsa lisansa ka≥rat), currently translated time. The intention is that textual history be used to track ‘her spell is that of an evil witch / her word is returned to her changes in the history of culture, ideas, magic, and religion. mouth, her tongue is bound’, the possibility should be enter- Abusch is a master of this art, and cannot be faulted on tech- tained that tûsa is the subject of the statives turrat and nique. Some readers, however, will be suspicious of the ka≥rat, while amassa and lisansa are their objects.4) This theoretical validity of the method itself, which runs the risk would yield ‘her spell, that of an evil witch, has returned her of circularity: since the additions, changes, and misunders- word to her mouth and bound her tongue’, adding irony to tandings are identified as such by filtering the text through the picture, with the witch’s spell backfiring against her—an the analyst’s own assumptions, the picture of cultural history understandably popular motif (e.g. Maqlû I 126). More which emerges is heavily conditioned by the analyst’s own generally, the text should be re-examined in view of the new assumptions. Potential problems of this nature have recently suggestion that -u can be a ventive morpheme (George, Gil- been highlighted by Scurlock (Bi.

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