http://www.ancientworldcities.com/article-392
BABYLONIAN EXORCISMS
By daniel on Mon 27th August 2007
Section: babylonia > Topic: Babylonian and Assyrian Literature
TRANSLATED BY REV. A.H. SAYCE, M.A.
The charms translated below will illustrate the superstition of the
Assyrians and Babylonians. Like the Jews of the Talmud, they believed that
the world was swarming with noxious spirits who produced the various
diseases to which man is liable, and might be swallowed with the food and
the drink that support life. They counted no less than 300 spirits of
heaven and 600 spirits of earth. All this, with the rest of their
mythology, was borrowed by the Assyrians from the primitive population of
Babylonia, who spoke an agglutinative language akin to the dialects of the
Finnic or Tatar tribes. The charms are written in this ancient language,
but Assyrian translations are appended in a column to the right of the
tablet. The legends are lithographed in the "Cuneiform Inscriptions of
Western Asia," Vol. II, plates 17 and 18. They have been translated by M.
Oppert in the "_Journal Asiatique_" of January, 1873, and an analytical
rendering of them is given by M. Fr. Lenormant in his "_Etudes
Accadiennes_" II, I (1874).
TRANSLATION OF THE EXORCISMS
TABLET I
The noxious god, the noxious spirit of the neck, the neck-spirit of the
desert, the neck-spirit of the mountains, the neck-spirit of the sea, the
neck-spirit of the morass, the noxious cherub of the city, this noxious
wind which seizes the body (and) the health of the body. Spirit of heaven
remember, spirit of earth remember.
TABLET II
The burning spirit of the neck which seizes the man, the burning spirit of
the neck which seizes the man, the spirit of the neck which works evil,
the creation of an evil spirit. Spirit of heaven remember, spirit of earth
remember.
TABLET III
Wasting, want of health, the evil spirit of the ulcer, spreading quinsy of
the gullet, the violent ulcer, the noxious ulcer. Spirit of heaven
remember, spirit of earth remember.
TABLET IV
Sickness of the entrails, sickness of the heart, the palpitation of a sick
heart, sickness of bile, sickness of the head, noxious colic, the
_agitation_ of terror, flatulency[1] of the entrails, noxious illness,
lingering sickness, nightmare. Spirit of heaven remember, spirit of earth
remember.
[Footnote 1: Literally, "opposition."]
TABLET V
He who makes an image (which) injures the man,[1] an evil face, an evil
eye, an evil mouth, an evil tongue, evil lips, an evil poison. Spirit of
heaven remember, spirit of earth remember.
[Footnote 1: Here we have a reference to a custom well known in the Middle
Ages. A waxen figure was made, and as it melted before the fire the person
represented by it was supposed, similarly to waste away. It will be
remembered that Horace ("Sat." i, 8, 30 sq.) speaks of the waxen figure
made by the witch Canidia in order that the lover might consume away in
the fires of love. Roman and mediæval sorcery had its origin in that of
ancient Accad.]
TABLET VI
The cruel spirit, the strong spirit of the head, the head-spirit that
departs not, the head-spirit that goes not forth, the head-spirit that
will not go, the noxious head-spirit. Spirit of heaven remember, spirit of
earth remember.
TABLET VII
The poisonous spittle of the mouth[1] which is noxious to the voice, the
phlegm which is destructive to the ..., the pustules of the _lungs_, the
pustule of the body, the loss of the nails, the removal (and) dissolving
of old _excrement_, the _skin_ which is _stripped off_, the recurrent ague
of the body, the food which hardens in a man's body, the food which
returns after being eaten, the drink which distends after drinking, death
by poison, from the swallowing of the mouth which distends, the
unreturning wind from the desert. Spirit of heaven remember, spirit of
earth remember.
[Footnote 1: That would be consumption.]
TABLET VIII
May Nin-cigal,[1] the wife of Nin-a'su, turn her face toward another place;
may the noxious spirit go forth and seize another; may the propitious
cherub and the propitious genie settle upon his body. Spirit of heaven
remember, spirit of earth remember.
[Footnote 1: "Nin-cigal" ("The Lady of the Mighty Earth") was Queen of
Hades and a form of "Allat" or "Istar." She is also identified with Gula
or Bahu (the Bohu or "Chaos" of Gen. i. 2), "The Lady of the House of
Death," and wife of Hea or Nin-a'su.]
TABLET IX
May Nebo, the great steward, the recliner (or _incubus_) supreme among the
gods, like the god who has begotten him, seize upon his head; against his
life may he not break forth. Spirit of heaven remember, spirit of earth
remember.
TABLET X
(On) the sick man by the sacrifice of mercy may perfect health shine like
bronze; may the Sun-god give this man life; may Merodach, the eldest son
of the deep (give him) strength, prosperity, (and) health. Spirit of
heaven remember, spirit of earth remember.