Mikko Luukko

Among the most important sources for understanding the cultures and systems of thought of ancient Mesopotamia is a large body of magical and medical texts written in the Sumerian and Akkadian languages. An especially significant branch of this literature centres upon witchcraft. Mesopotamian anti-witchcraft rituals and incantations attribute ill-health and misfortune to the magic machinations of witches and prescribe ceremonies, devices, and treatments for dispelling witchcraft, destroying the witch, and protecting and curing the patient. The Corpus of Mesopotamian Anti-Witchcraft Rituals aims to present a reconstruction of this body of texts; it provides critical editions of the relevant rituals and prescriptions based on the study of the cuneiform tablets and fragments recovered from the libraries of ancient Mesopotamia.

Among the most important sources for understanding the cultures and systems of thought of ancient Mesopotamia is a large body of magical and medical texts written in the Sumerian and Akkadian languages. An especially significant branch of this literature centers upon witchcraft. Mesopotamian anti-witchcraft rituals and incantations attribute ill-health and misfortune to the magic machinations of witches and prescribe ceremonies, devices, and treatments for dispelling witchcraft, destroying the witch, and protecting and curing the patient. The Corpus of Mesopotamian Anti-Witchcraft Rituals aims to present a reconstruction of this body of texts; it provides critical editions of the relevant rituals and prescriptions based on the study of the cuneiform tablets and fragments recovered from the libraries of ancient Mesopotamia.

by Simonetta Ponchia and Mikko Luukko State Archives of Assyria Cuneiform Texts - SAACT 8Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project - NATCP, 2013 The Myth of Nergal and Ereškigal, preserved in two versions, a Middle-Babylonian one from Tell el-Amarna and a much longer Standard Babylonian one probably composed in Assyria in the early first millennium BCE, tells the story of why and how Nergal, son of Ea, the god of wisdom, descended into the Netherworld by the “ladders of heaven,” fell in love with Ereškigal, queen of the Netherworld, and eventually deposed her and usurped her throne. Like all Mesopotamian myths, the story is replete with enigmatic details, puns and intertextual allusions making it a heavily encoded text with hidden levels of interpretation. In allegorical reading, the myth was a complement to the Descent of Ištar (SAACT 6), and the mission of Nergal could be associated with that of the king as a heavenly savior sent to the rescue of the sinners. This volume provides an in-depth analysis of the myth and the most complete reconstruction of the Standard Babylonian version yet presented. The reconstructed text is given both in cuneiform and in up-to-date transliteration and translation, complete with a critical apparatus, philological commentary, and a full glossary and sign list. The Introduction also contains an edition and discussion of the Amarna version and an extensive study of the god Nergal in Assyrian sources. Ideal both as a textbook for classroom use and as a resource for non-Assyriologists wishing to study the myth first-hand. Publisher: Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project - NATCPPublication date: 2013Bibliographic info: 192 pagesLanguage(s): EnglishCover: PaperISBN: 952-10-1342-7ISBN13: 978-952-10-1342-3

The important corpus of Neo-Assyrian political and administrative letters discovered in ancient Calah (present-day Nimrud) by Sir Max Mallowan in the early 1950s has been partially accessible to Assyriologists in marvellous hand-copies and preliminary transliterations and translations since 1955, thanks to the pioneering efforts of the late H. W. F. Saggs. Nevertheless, his long-awaited edition of the entire corpus, which appeared in 2001, left a great deal of room for improvement. This critical edition, based on careful study of the originals in the British Museum and the historical background of the letters, clarifies a host of problems and details pertinent to the reign of Tiglath-pileser III in particular, and for the first time makes this extraordinary collection of letters completely accessible to the historian.

The important corpus of Neo-Assyrian political and administrative letters discovered in ancient Calah (present-day Nimrud) by Sir Max Mallowan in the early 1950s has been partially accessible to Assyriologists in marvellous hand-copies and preliminary transliterations and translations since 1955, thanks to the pioneering efforts of the late H. W. F. Saggs. Nevertheless, his long-awaited edition of the entire corpus, which appeared in 2001, left a great deal of room for improvement. This critical edition, based on careful study of the originals in the British Museum and the historical background of the letters, clarifies a host of problems and details pertinent to the reign of Tiglath-pileser III in particular, and for the first time makes this extraordinary collection of letters completely accessible to the historian.

Variation is a prerequisite of change ...without synchronic variation, change would not have a launching pad." Thus says Raimo Anttila in his Historical and Comparative Linguistics. The problem with ancient languages is that it is difficult to get enough texts to be able to document variation. In this respect, the Neo-Assyrian period stands apart from most of the other eras of the Ancient Near East. The century after the coming to power of the Sargonid kings in 722 BCE is documented by thousands of preserved letters between bureaucrats of the royal administration written in the Neo-Assyrian dialect/language. The value of this letter corpus for being able to document synchronic variation in Neo-Assyrian is difficult to overstate. And this is in addition to the wide range of other types of texts available from this period. On the basis of this extensive corpus, it is possible to define variation in great detail across the grammatical spectrum: in graphotactics, in phonology, in morphology, in syntax, and in semantics. Thousands of detailed examples make the extent of synchronic variation in Neo-Assyrian explicit in a way that would not be possible without such wide-ranging documentation. Two detailed appendices on the letter corpus itself and on the senders of the letters would make useful handbooks on their own. And the discussed terms and the cited passages are fully indexed.