While doing some research on the Mesopotamian goddess Belet-Ṣeri, I came across this well-preserved Akkadian incantation for someone who “constantly sees dead people.” Ereškigal is queen of the Netherworld, and Ningeštinanna/Belet-Ṣeri is her (female) scribe. I am not familiar with “Abatu the Queen,” but her name literally means “to destroy,” so presumably she was another goddess associated with death.
…
Incantation:
Dead people, why do you encounter me—you whose cities are ruined mounds, you who are bones? I do not go to Kutha, the assembly of ghosts. Why do you constantly chase me? You are adjured by Abatu the Queen, by Ereškigal the Queen, by Ningeštinanna the Scribe of the Gods, whose stylus is lapis and carnelian.
Recitation (to be used when) one continually sees dead persons.
(The description of the ritual follows, but is somewhat broken. It involves pouring a ritual liquid into a western-facing pit while reciting the incantation.)
More than 2,600 years after their creation, Assyrian reliefs continue to amaze us.
The “Ashurbanipal Lion Hunt” is a group of bas-reliefs, originally located in the “North Palace” of Nineveh and now exhibited in Room 10 of the British Museum, considered a masterpiece of Mesopotamian art.
These magnificent reliefs were carved on large panels of alabaster and limestone between 645-635 BC. and they show hunting scenes of King Ashurbanipal (reign, 668-631 BC) and in a very real way, the pain of the animals.
This is an excerpt from a lengthy Akkadian ritual that we know from multiple tablets, all of them unfortunately broken. The ritual starts by describing the patient: he is constantly depressed and has other physical symptoms, from pain to nausea. Such symptoms are clearly a sign that he has been attacked by witchcraft. To combat the witchcraft, the ritual practitioner relies on a combination of magical actions (such as burning figurines of the magicians who caused the illness) and prayers to Shamash, the Sun-god, who represents an all-seeing force of justice.
This is the first of the incantations recited by the practitioner. Below the cut, I’ve included the transliteration of the incantation (in case anyone wants to try it) and a short comment on the untranslated word “Namraṣit.”
I call to you, Shamash. Listen to me! Accept my sleepless sighing. Learn swiftly of the suffering that seizes me. I am sluggish; I am sleepless; I am exhausted; I am anxious. I focus on Namraṣit, your light, o my lord. Shamash, lord of justice, to you I turn. Pay attention to my lifted hands; listen to my speech. Listen to me; accept my petition; judge my case; decide my verdict.
This is an excerpt from a lengthy Akkadian ritual that we know from multiple tablets, all of them unfortunately broken. The ritual starts by describing the patient: he is constantly depressed and has other physical symptoms, from pain to nausea. Such symptoms are clearly a sign that he has been attacked by witchcraft. To combat the witchcraft, the ritual practitioner relies on a combination of magical actions (such as burning figurines of the magicians who caused the illness) and prayers to Shamash, the Sun-god, who represents an all-seeing force of justice.
This is the first of the incantations recited by the practitioner. Below the cut, I’ve included the transliteration of the incantation (in case anyone wants to try it) and a short comment on the untranslated word “Namraṣit.”
I call to you, Shamash. Listen to me! Accept my sleepless sighing. Learn swiftly of the suffering that seizes me. I am sluggish; I am sleepless; I am exhausted; I am anxious. I focus on Namraṣit, your light, o my lord. Shamash, lord of justice, to you I turn. Pay attention to my lifted hands; listen to my speech. Listen to me; accept my petition; judge my case; decide my verdict.
This week, I’m recreating some Akkadian bread, as seen in some cuneiform inscriptions, as well as visual representations in carved panels in Akkadian palaces.
The original bread has a striking similarity to modern Iraqi samoon - from it’s shape to it’s description in Akkadian!
In any case, let’s now take a look at the world that was! Follow along with my YouTube video, above!
Ingredients 1 cup wholemeal flour 2 cups plain flour salt water active dry yeast (or 1/3 cup sourdough starter) milk sesame seeds
Method
1 - Preparing the Dough and letting it Rest To begin with, we need to make a starter. The easiest way to do this today is to use some dry active yeast, opening a sachet, and placing it in a bowl with a bit of warm water. But if you have some sourdough starter, you can use 1/3rd of a cup of that instead! But keep in mind that the sourdough starter will affect how hydrated your dough is later on.
Pour in 1 cup of wholemeal flour, along with two cups of plain white flour into the yeasty mix, and mix everything together until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl cleanly. If it’s too dry and crumbly, add some water - little by little - until it comes together into a smooth ball.
When it’s ready, place a damp cloth or a bit of clingfilm over the top of your bowl, and let the whole thing prove in a warm area for a few hours - or until it’s doubled in size.
2 - Forming your Bread When your dough has expanded hugely, tip this out onto a lightly floured worksurface, and get to kneading. Fold and twist this around for about 10 minutes, just to help develop a better texture of the loaf down the line. When you’re finished kneading it, roll the whole thing into a long snake of dough. Cut this in half, and these halves in half again, so you wind up with four roughly evenly-sized balls of dough.
Carvings of Akkadian banquets show off lemon-shaped loaves of bread, and modern samoon are formed in a similar way. So roll a ball of dough in your hand, leaving two nubs at either end of it. Flatten the centre of the loaf down, by stretching and pulling at the dough until it smooths down.
3 - Baking When they’re formed, place them onto some baking paper, and cover them with a damp towel for about 20 minutes. After this, brush them with a bit of milk, before sprinkling some sesame seeds over the top of them if you want. Bake these in an oven preheated to 230C / 450F for 15-20 minutes, or until they turn golden brown.
Serve up warm, and dig in!
The bread is delicious and fluffy, with a nice crisp crust. The sesame seeds - if added to the top - become toasted and flavourful when baked.
The original name for this bread would have been “ninda ensu” - which literally translates to “the bread of the king/ruler”. “ninda”being a catch-all word for a variety of breads and cakes in the Akkadian language, so while it’s likely that “ninda ensu” referred to a savoury bread, it’s also likely that this may have been sweetened too!
A letter written from the Neo-Assyrian (circa 911-612 B.C.) priest Nergal-šarrani to his king asking for medical aid for an STD he contracted by having lot’s of sex with women. Original language is Akkadian. From Nineveh in northern Iraq and now in the British Museum. Archival view.
What is interesting is the STD is being called “hand of Venus”, or in the original text “qatu Dilibat(ordil-bat).” In Mesopotamian medical texts the hand could signify a disease label or the ultimate disease cause agent. Transliterated cuneiform and translation of text (link).
Cuneiform terracota tablets, ca. 1400 BC, Qatna, Syria.
63 cuneiform tablets were discovered in 2002, in a subterranean corridor. They were covered by the burned remains of several roofbeams. Maybe they were hidden during the Hittite invasion. The texts probably belong to the archive of King Idanda and contain both intelligence reports on the political situation in northern Syria, the Hittite threat and domestic and administrative texts. The texts are written in a mixture of the Akkadian and Hurrian languages hitherto unknown. - wikipedia.org
TheEuphrates is the longest river in southwest Asia and one of the most historically important rivers in the world. The Euphrates rises in Turkey and flows southeast across Syria and through Iraq. Along with the river Tigris, it provided much of the water that supported the development of ancient Mesopotamianculture.
The Tigris Euphrates valley was the birthplace of the ancient civilisations of Assyria, Babylonia,Sumer and the Akkadian Empire. The ancient Greeks called that region Mesopotamia “the land between two rivers” (Tigris/Euphrates). People had occupied that marginal land for 1.000 years before the first cities appeared. They arrived as pastoralists with their herds; they stayed on as farmers close to the river banks in scattered communities of 1.000 or 2.000 people at most. Around 3.100 BC Southern Mesopotamia experienced a growth in the number and size of settlements, suggesting strong population growth. People left the security of their family compounds and tribal villages and they came together with other strangers to create something far more complex: a city, a society, a civilisation. Many of these city-states were located along canals of the Euphrates and the Tigris. A similar development, although on a smaller scale than in Lower Mesopotamia, took place in Upper Mesopotamia in the second part of the 3rd millennium BC.
All the ancient civilisations of the world have flourished near the river beds The Tigris Euphrates river system is one of the four river civilisations where writing was invented, along with the Nile valleyinEgypt (Nile River), the Indus Valley civilisation in the Indian subcontinent (Indus River), and the Yellow RiverinChina.
One of the earliest images of the development of agriculture.
Fragment of a vessel from the Temple of ShamashatMari, Syria. The staetite relief depicts a man tending to a plant. (Early dynastic period I, c. 2900 BC).
Agriculture, growing crops rather than raising livestock, pre-dates the first cities by thousands of years. But at some point agricultural activity in Mesopotamia became more intensive and on a larger scale than had ever been seen before. The geography of southern Mesopotamia is such that agriculture is possible only with irrigation and good drainage, a fact which had a profound effect on the evolution of early civilisation. The need for irrigation led the Sumerians, and later the Akkadians, to build their cities along the TigrisandEuphrates and the branches of these rivers. The farmers built dams and dug canals to bring the water to the crops, on which all their lives now depended. The social consequences of this cooperation were profound; those farmers were planting the seed from which the tree of civilisation would grow.
The city of Mari, situated on the right bank of the Euphrates river, flourished in the 3rd millennium BC. Excavations discoved an enormous palace, with nearly 300 rooms and two floors and also an archive over 20.000 tablets in Akkadian language written in cuneiform. The temple of Shamash was dedicated to the Sun god, who was regarded among Mari’s most important deities.
This is an excerpt from a lengthy Akkadian ritual that we know from multiple tablets, all of them unfortunately broken. The ritual starts by describing the patient: he is constantly depressed and has other physical symptoms, from pain to nausea. Such symptoms are clearly a sign that he has been attacked by witchcraft. To combat the witchcraft, the ritual practitioner relies on a combination of magical actions (such as burning figurines of the magicians who caused the illness) and prayers to Shamash, the Sun-god, who represents an all-seeing force of justice.
This is the first of the incantations recited by the practitioner. Below the cut, I’ve included the transliteration of the incantation (in case anyone wants to try it) and a short comment on the untranslated word “Namraṣit.”
I call to you, Shamash. Listen to me! Accept my sleepless sighing. Learn swiftly of the suffering that seizes me. I am sluggish; I am sleepless; I am exhausted; I am anxious. I focus on Namraṣit, your light, o my lord. Shamash, lord of justice, to you I turn. Pay attention to my lifted hands; listen to my speech. Listen to me; accept my petition; judge my case; decide my verdict.
Note:In Abusch and Schwemer’s translation, they translate Namraṣit as “who-shines-for-me-at-rising” (namra-ṣit), clearly intended to be an epithet for Shamash. But Namraṣit is a known name, and it’s used elsewhere for Sin, the Moon-god. The question is whether this line (the exact midpoint of the incantation) belongs to the first half, where the symptoms are described, or the second half, where Shamash is invoked. In other words, is the speaker saying that he focuses on Shamash as a source of justice, or is he saying that he focuses on the moon as a sign of sleepless depression? I am unsure.
In this unpublished tablet, held by the British Museum, we find the copper merchant Ea-Naṣir and his associate Ilushu-illassu writing to a couple of men to reassure them. Although the situation is missing some context, there are some real gems in the context of the famous letter to Ea-Naṣir.
One of the men intimidating the recipients is named Mr. Shorty (kurûm).
Ea-Naṣir complains that people don’t believe him.
Ea-Naṣir mentions giving “the ingots that we talked about” to someone.
The repeated encouragements — “don’t be scared!” “don’t be critical!” “don’t worry!” — sound a lot like Ea-Naṣir is trying to reassure someone that a situation hasn’t gone sideways (but it has).
…
Say to Shumun-libshi and the Zabardabbû: [1]
Ea-Naṣir and Ilushu-illassu say:
As for the situation with Mr. “Shorty” and Erissum-matim, who came here, don’t be scared.
I made them enter the temple of the Sun-God and take an oath. They said, “We didn’t come about these matters; we came for our businesses.”
I said, “I will write to them” — but they didn’t believe me!
He said, “I had a quarrel with Mr. Shumun-libshi.” He said, “[…] to his partner. I took, and you did not […] You didn’t give to me.”
Within 3 days, I’ll come to the city of Larsa.
Also, I spoke with Erissum-matim and said, “What is your sign?” [2]
I said to the kettle-maker (?), “Go with Ilum-gamil the Zabardabbû, and take the shortfall for me, and put it in the city of Enimma.”
Also, don’t neglect your […].
Also, I have given the ingots that we talked about to the men.
P.S. Don’t be critical! Get the […] from them! Don’t worry! We’ll come to you. [3]
wait so does “Ea-Naṣ︎ir” mean it’s been pronounced nashir all this time? where is that coming from?! (I’m only basing this on Sanskrit romanisation using ṣ︎ as a soft sh so I’ve no idea of the context here but)
In Akkadian transliteration, “ṣ” means a “ts” sound. So his name is pronounced “E-a-nat-SEAR.” (It comes from the verb naṣāru, “to guard, to watch over,” so it means “The god Ea watches over [him].”)
TheAmarna letters are an archive of cuneiform Akkadian letters between Egypt and various Canaanite city-state rulers in the mid-14th century. They often employ Canaanite linguistic features — for instance, in the first letter below, the author follows the logogram for “linen garments” with the proto-Canaanite for “clothing.”
This pair of letters is written to and from Milkilu, the “mayor” of Gezer, a city in central Canaan. We don’t know if the second letter is a direct response to the first one, but it certainly seems plausible. The difference between tone in the letters is notable. (I should note that the second letter is highly damaged, and I follow the ORACC reconstruction.)
—
To: Milkilu, representative of Gezer From: the king
He hereby sends this tablet to command you.
He hereby dispatches to you Hanya, stablemaster of the ordinary soldiers, along with everything necessary to get tall, good-looking female cupbearers: silver, linen garments (clothes), carnelian, all (kinds of) stones, an ebony chair—in the same way, all of those things are good-looking.
In total: 32 pounds [160 deben]. In total: 40 female cupbearers. 40 silver is the price of the female cupbearers.
So dispatch good-looking, beautiful female cupbearers, without a single bad one among them, so that the king, your lord, may say: “This is good!”, according to the instructions he sent you.
Now, you may know that the king is as well as the sun. His soldiers, his chariots, and his horses: in perfect wellness. Amon has hereby placed the Upper Land and Lower Land, the sun’s rising and its setting, between the two feet of the king.
—
To: The king, my lord, my god, my Sun-god From: Milkilu, your slave, the dust on your feet
I fall at the feet of the king, my lord, my god, my Sun-god, seven and seven times.
The king, my lord, should know that it is well—the city of the king, my lord, which he assigned to my care.
Moreover, I have obeyed the command which the king, my lord, sent to me—and I am fulfilling it for the king, my lord.
So I am hereby dispatching, in Haya’s care, 46 female slaves, 5 slave-boys, and 5 aširūma-personnel to the king, my lord.
Telītum, la[dy of …] — Jubilation is the foundation of the city! […] — Jubilation is the foundation of the city! The pri[estess …] — Jubilation is the foundation of the city! The yo[ung men …] — Jubilation is the foundation of the city! The young wo[men …] — Jubilation is the foundation of the city! One person ca[me to her.] — Jubilation is the foundation of the city! “Come! Submit to m[e!”] — Jubilation is the foundation of the city! Then a second came to her. — Jubilation is the foundation of the city! “Come! Let me stroke your vulva!” — Jubilation is the foundation of the city! “Once I submit to you,” — Jubilation is the foundation of the city! “Assemble the young men of the city for me.” — Jubilation is the foundation of the city! “Let’s go to the shadow of the wall!” — Jubilation is the foundation of the city! Seven at her front, seven at her thighs. — Jubilation is the foundation of the city! Sixty and sixty keep climaxing in her genitals. — Jubilation is the foundation of the city! The young men wearied; Ishtar did not weary. — Jubilation is the foundation of the city! “Put (it) in the lovely vulva, men!” — Jubilation is the foundation of the city! Even as the young woman said it, — Jubilation is the foundation of the city! The young men heard and submitted to her order. — Jubilation is the foundation of the city!
Total: 20 (lines). A pārum of Ishtar. (From) the year that Hammurabi became king. ŠEG₅.ŠEG₅–bēlu–rēṣūšu, son of Šumu-libši, wrote (this).
In this unpublished tablet, held by the British Museum, we find the copper merchant Ea-Naṣir and his associate Ilushu-illassu writing to a couple of men to reassure them. Although the situation is missing some context, there are some real gems in the context of the famous letter to Ea-Naṣir.
One of the men intimidating the recipients is named Mr. Shorty (kurûm).
Ea-Naṣir complains that people don’t believe him.
Ea-Naṣir mentions giving “the ingots that we talked about” to someone.
The repeated encouragements — “don’t be scared!” “don’t be critical!” “don’t worry!” — sound a lot like Ea-Naṣir is trying to reassure someone that a situation hasn’t gone sideways (but it has).
…
Say to Shumun-libshi and the Zabardabbû: [1]
Ea-Naṣir and Ilushu-illassu say:
As for the situation with Mr. “Shorty” and Erissum-matim, who came here, don’t be scared.
I made them enter the temple of the Sun-God and take an oath. They said, “We didn’t come about these matters; we came for our businesses.”
I said, “I will write to them” — but they didn’t believe me!
He said, “I had a quarrel with Mr. Shumun-libshi.” He said, “[…] to his partner. I took, and you did not […] You didn’t give to me.”
Within 3 days, I’ll come to the city of Larsa.
Also, I spoke with Erissum-matim and said, “What is your sign?” [2]
I said to the kettle-maker (?), “Go with Ilum-gamil the Zabardabbû, and take the shortfall for me, and put it in the city of Enimma.”
Also, don’t neglect your […].
Also, I have given the ingots that we talked about to the men.
P.S. Don’t be critical! Get the […] from them! Don’t worry! We’ll come to you. [3]
[1]Zabardabbû is a Sumerian loanword that literally means “bronze-holder” but came to mean some sort of official title in the palace and temple. Given the context, though, it may literally mean “coppersmith” here.
[2] The “sign” could mean an occult omen, a personality type, or even a password.
[3] This “postscript” was written on the sides of the tablet.
These omens come from Šumma Ālu tablet 104, a fascinating set of omens that predict the future for men who engage in various sexual practices. (Another gem is “If a man repeatedly looks at his woman’s vulva, his health will be good; he will grasp anything that he does not have.”) Unfortunately, this tablet has never been published in a full modern edition or translation.
These lines are complicated by the ongoing ambiguity around the identities of the assinnu and the girseqû. Both were AMAB. The former was a type of Ishtar priest who was associated with genderqueerness; the cuneiform for “assinnu” literally means “man-woman.” The latter was a type of palace servant who may have been a eunuch, although some had wives and (adopted?) children. The question of why sex with them is favorable, while sex with one’s own slave is unfavorable, is a subject of debate. (An ethically optimistic view might suggest that the former groups are able to consent freely, while a slave cannot consent … but this is decidedly anachronistic.)
—
32. If a man (sexually) approaches an assinnu, his difficulties will be released.
33. If a man (sexually) approaches a girseqû, for one whole year, the losses that befall him will be blocked.
34. If a man (sexually) approaches a male slave born in his house, difficulties will seize him.
