Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur

In 1888 the University of Pennsylvania sponsored the first ever American archaeological expedition to Mesopotamia, to Nippur, about 160 km south of Baghdad.

Among the artefacts discovered were the remains of over 100 inscribed bowls from the early centuries CE.

Some contain unidentifiable writing, but most carry spiral inscriptions of exorcism texts in one of three Aramaic dialects and scripts: that of the Babylonian Talmud, a Syriac dialect, and Mandaic.

This book, first published in 1913, contains transcriptions and annotated translations of texts from forty of the bowls, together with an inscription found on a human skull, and 41 illustrations. A substantial introduction sets the material in the broader context of Hellenistic magic.

The author traces the bowl magic back to ancient Babylonian sorcery, and explores its relations with cuneiform religious texts and Greek magical papyri, emphasising its culturally eclectic character and the diversity of its users.