#anti-witchcraft
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.
alsīka Šamaš šimânni
muḫur tānīḫīya šudlupūti
marušti imḫuranni limad arḫiš
anḫāku-ma šudlupāku šūnuḫāku šutaddurāku
ana namraṣīt nūrīka upīq bēlī
Šamaš bēl dīni ana kâša asḫurka
ana nīš qātīya qūlam-ma šime qabâya
šimânni-ma mugur teslītī
dīnī dīn purussâya purus
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.
