#sumerian death

LIVE

mostlydeadlanguages:

image


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.)

loading