Jewish Aramaic curse texts from late-antique Mesopotamia
Subtitle: "may these curses go out and flee"
By: by Dan Levene
Series: Magical and religious literature of late antiquity -- volume 2
Publisher: Brill
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Leiden
Language: eng
Number of pages: 164
ISBN-13: 9789004250925; 9789004257269
Subjects: Aramaic Incantations; Incantation bowls; Jewish magic; History; Archaeological collections; Pergamonmuseum (Berlin, Germany); British Museum
Description: "The corpus of Aramaic incantation bowls from Sasanian Mesopotamia is perhaps the most important source we have for studying the everyday beliefs and practices of the Jewish, Christian, Mandaean, Manichaean, Zoroastrian and Pagan communities on the eve of the Islamic conquests. In Jewish Aramaic Curse Texts from Late-Antique Mesopotamia, Dan Levene collects and analyses a selection of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls. While such texts are usually apotropaic or healing in purpose, those collected here are distinctive in that their purpose was to curse or return curses against human adversaries. This book presents new editions of thirty texts, of which fourteen are edited here for the first time, with an introduction, commentary, analysis and glossaries, as well as photographs"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.