DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.57036#0040
Introduction
27
Fig 2. The healer's Curriculum: VAT 8275 (KAR 44), obv.
(Photo from the Assur Research Centre, Heidelberg)
It is more than evident that guidance as to the removal of
a grievous evil bringing misfortune was relayed under this
designation. This mention within this healer’s Curriculum leaves
scarce doubt that the ”dispelling of a ban” featured among the
central texts of the ancient Near Eastem healing arts (äsipütu
or masmassütifi). much akin to the procedures for the defence
against malignant magic (nsn-bür-ru-da)8 9 named directly
before it within the index.
It is nevertheless impossible to deduce from this entry in the
index of works of the healing arts as to whether nam-erim-bür-
ru - d a was the name of a precise healing procedure described in a
single cuneiform tractate possibly comprising of an entire series
of clay tablets, or as to whether the Sumerian term served as a
männer of gerne designation, under the heading of which healing
instructions entirely independent from one another or utterly
dissimilar recitations could be grouped, were they but to serve
the same purpose of freeing an individual from a ban weighing
upon him. Many additional entries in the healers’ Curriculum
demonstrate that both possibilities must be considered.10 The
results presented by Heinrich Zimmern in a 1915 edition of the
text11 rendered the latter more likely. Indeed, Zimmern was able
to demonstrate that, besides individual tablets containing the
wordings of Sumerian and Akkadian recitations,12 one particular
Sumerian incantation was also fumished with the subscript
ka-inim-ma nam-erim-bür-ru-da-ke4,13 although it
belonged to a tract composed of multiple tablets dubbed Surpu
("Buming”) by the healers.14 The objective of dispelling the ban
was therein quite evidently subordinate to more wide-reaching
salutary aims. As no reference in the slightest could be found that
the published texts designated ka-inim-ma nam-erim-bür-
ru-da-ke4 together formed the description of a single therapy
when arranged in a certain order, it was appropriate to assume
that there had never been a stand-alone treatment transmitted
8 See fn. 3 above.
9 On this textual group. see T. Abusch, D. Schwemer. CMAwR 1 and
CMAwR 2.
10 See H. Zimmern. ZA 30. 204-205.
11 H. Zimmern. Ein Leitfaden der Beschwönmgskunst. ZA 30. 204-229.
12 In ZA 30. 219. H. Zimmern names the tablets Rm 2. 159 (here Text no. 45)
and K 885 a tablet fragment hailing from Nineveh. which might now
be joined to fragment K 4538 (see T. Abusch. D. Schwemer. CMAwR
2. 92-96. Text 7.22).
13 Surpu, Tablets 5-6. 172: “Wording of an incantation (serving) to dispel a
bari' (see E. Reiner. Surpu. 35).
14 See H. Zimmern. ZA 30. 219 on 1. 12.
under the mantle of nam-erim-bür-ru-da. but rather only
independent texts sharing merely the ascription of therapeutic
significance in dispelling bans.
This assessment quickly became commonplace, being
regarded until the present as an uncontested certainty. and for
good reason to wit.15 inasmuch as the description of a spccific
healing procedure termed nam-erim-bür-ru-da was neither
known from the tablet corpus discovered in Assur, nor could
such a text be evidenced in any other tablet rind. Such a text
might even be sought in vain among the now very well-studied
clay tablets hailing from the extremely comprehensive tablet
library established by the Assyrian king Assurbanipal in the mid-
7th centmy BCE within his palace in Nineveh designed to house
the entire written Output of his own age.
While, in the decades following their unearthing, those
of the healers’ manuscripts in good condition were in tums
published,16 the great number of heavily damaged tablets often
shattered into fragments went unnoticed for a long time. This
only changed when the Swedish Assyriologist Olof Pedersen set
himself the task of determining as to which of diese tablets from
Assur stored in the Vorderasiatisches Museum zu Berlin and the
Istanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri belonged to the corpus discovered
in the healers’ house. With the aid of the excavation diaries of
Walter Andrae and the extensive photographic documentation
of the excavators, Pedersen was able to attribute a total of 631
published and unpublished clay tablets and tablet fragments to
the context of the so-called House of the Incantation Priest.17
2. The newly discovered Texts on the Dispelling
of a Ban
The present research. Stretching back to 1987,18 is built upon
Pedersen’s foundational work. Following a systematic survey
of all tablets from Assur now in Berlin, some 1300 cuneiform
tablets and tablet fragments might presently be ascribed to the
corpus of the Assyrian healers’ collection. Among these may
be encountered many tablet fragments so heavily damaged or
miniscule that they seem worthless on Erst appraisal. Only by
means of a research project free from the pressure of presenting
results withinbriefly allocated timeframes might tablet fragments
belonging together gradually be identiüed, and previously
unknown texts reconstructed into more or less complete States
from small, less than informative fragments. These efforts of
some thirty years in deciphering small tablet fragments have
bome tangible fruit. Even following a centmy of research upon
the writings of the healers from Assur, an entire gerne of tractate
within the healing arts might still be presented here for the Erst
time, the existence of which had long remained concealed.
15 See. e.g. J. Nougayrol. JCS 1. 329; E. Reiner. JNES 15. 130 and ead..
Surpu. 55-56 on Tablet 3. 3; E. E. Knudsen. Iraq 21. 45 and id.. Iraq 27.
160; M. J. Geller, in Fs. Borger. 127 and A. M. Kitz. Cursed are you!.
321-348. The remarks by R. Borger in HKL 3. 86 (under “Lipsur-
Litaneieri ) and 87 (under “nam-erim-bür-ru-da'), and by C. Jean (SAAS
17. 101) are certainly also to be understood in this sense.
16 Most prominently by E. Ebeling and F. Köcher in: E. Ebeling. Keilchrifttexte
aus Assur religiösen Inhalts Bd. I. WVDOG 28. Leipzig (1915—) 1919; id..
Keilschrifttexte aus Assur religiösen Inhalts Bd. II. WVDOG 34. Leipzig
(1920-)1923; E. Ebeling. F. Köcher. Literarische Keilschrifttexte aus
Assur. Berlin 1953; F. Köcher. Die Babylonisch-assyrische Medizin in
Texten und Untersuchungen. Band I-VI. Berlin 1963-1980 (BAM).
17 See O. Pedersen. ALA 2. 41-76: N4. Private house with large library and
archive of a family of exorcists (hC/D7E8I).
18 On this. see S. M. Maul in KAL 1. x-xi.
27
Fig 2. The healer's Curriculum: VAT 8275 (KAR 44), obv.
(Photo from the Assur Research Centre, Heidelberg)
It is more than evident that guidance as to the removal of
a grievous evil bringing misfortune was relayed under this
designation. This mention within this healer’s Curriculum leaves
scarce doubt that the ”dispelling of a ban” featured among the
central texts of the ancient Near Eastem healing arts (äsipütu
or masmassütifi). much akin to the procedures for the defence
against malignant magic (nsn-bür-ru-da)8 9 named directly
before it within the index.
It is nevertheless impossible to deduce from this entry in the
index of works of the healing arts as to whether nam-erim-bür-
ru - d a was the name of a precise healing procedure described in a
single cuneiform tractate possibly comprising of an entire series
of clay tablets, or as to whether the Sumerian term served as a
männer of gerne designation, under the heading of which healing
instructions entirely independent from one another or utterly
dissimilar recitations could be grouped, were they but to serve
the same purpose of freeing an individual from a ban weighing
upon him. Many additional entries in the healers’ Curriculum
demonstrate that both possibilities must be considered.10 The
results presented by Heinrich Zimmern in a 1915 edition of the
text11 rendered the latter more likely. Indeed, Zimmern was able
to demonstrate that, besides individual tablets containing the
wordings of Sumerian and Akkadian recitations,12 one particular
Sumerian incantation was also fumished with the subscript
ka-inim-ma nam-erim-bür-ru-da-ke4,13 although it
belonged to a tract composed of multiple tablets dubbed Surpu
("Buming”) by the healers.14 The objective of dispelling the ban
was therein quite evidently subordinate to more wide-reaching
salutary aims. As no reference in the slightest could be found that
the published texts designated ka-inim-ma nam-erim-bür-
ru-da-ke4 together formed the description of a single therapy
when arranged in a certain order, it was appropriate to assume
that there had never been a stand-alone treatment transmitted
8 See fn. 3 above.
9 On this textual group. see T. Abusch, D. Schwemer. CMAwR 1 and
CMAwR 2.
10 See H. Zimmern. ZA 30. 204-205.
11 H. Zimmern. Ein Leitfaden der Beschwönmgskunst. ZA 30. 204-229.
12 In ZA 30. 219. H. Zimmern names the tablets Rm 2. 159 (here Text no. 45)
and K 885 a tablet fragment hailing from Nineveh. which might now
be joined to fragment K 4538 (see T. Abusch. D. Schwemer. CMAwR
2. 92-96. Text 7.22).
13 Surpu, Tablets 5-6. 172: “Wording of an incantation (serving) to dispel a
bari' (see E. Reiner. Surpu. 35).
14 See H. Zimmern. ZA 30. 219 on 1. 12.
under the mantle of nam-erim-bür-ru-da. but rather only
independent texts sharing merely the ascription of therapeutic
significance in dispelling bans.
This assessment quickly became commonplace, being
regarded until the present as an uncontested certainty. and for
good reason to wit.15 inasmuch as the description of a spccific
healing procedure termed nam-erim-bür-ru-da was neither
known from the tablet corpus discovered in Assur, nor could
such a text be evidenced in any other tablet rind. Such a text
might even be sought in vain among the now very well-studied
clay tablets hailing from the extremely comprehensive tablet
library established by the Assyrian king Assurbanipal in the mid-
7th centmy BCE within his palace in Nineveh designed to house
the entire written Output of his own age.
While, in the decades following their unearthing, those
of the healers’ manuscripts in good condition were in tums
published,16 the great number of heavily damaged tablets often
shattered into fragments went unnoticed for a long time. This
only changed when the Swedish Assyriologist Olof Pedersen set
himself the task of determining as to which of diese tablets from
Assur stored in the Vorderasiatisches Museum zu Berlin and the
Istanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri belonged to the corpus discovered
in the healers’ house. With the aid of the excavation diaries of
Walter Andrae and the extensive photographic documentation
of the excavators, Pedersen was able to attribute a total of 631
published and unpublished clay tablets and tablet fragments to
the context of the so-called House of the Incantation Priest.17
2. The newly discovered Texts on the Dispelling
of a Ban
The present research. Stretching back to 1987,18 is built upon
Pedersen’s foundational work. Following a systematic survey
of all tablets from Assur now in Berlin, some 1300 cuneiform
tablets and tablet fragments might presently be ascribed to the
corpus of the Assyrian healers’ collection. Among these may
be encountered many tablet fragments so heavily damaged or
miniscule that they seem worthless on Erst appraisal. Only by
means of a research project free from the pressure of presenting
results withinbriefly allocated timeframes might tablet fragments
belonging together gradually be identiüed, and previously
unknown texts reconstructed into more or less complete States
from small, less than informative fragments. These efforts of
some thirty years in deciphering small tablet fragments have
bome tangible fruit. Even following a centmy of research upon
the writings of the healers from Assur, an entire gerne of tractate
within the healing arts might still be presented here for the Erst
time, the existence of which had long remained concealed.
15 See. e.g. J. Nougayrol. JCS 1. 329; E. Reiner. JNES 15. 130 and ead..
Surpu. 55-56 on Tablet 3. 3; E. E. Knudsen. Iraq 21. 45 and id.. Iraq 27.
160; M. J. Geller, in Fs. Borger. 127 and A. M. Kitz. Cursed are you!.
321-348. The remarks by R. Borger in HKL 3. 86 (under “Lipsur-
Litaneieri ) and 87 (under “nam-erim-bür-ru-da'), and by C. Jean (SAAS
17. 101) are certainly also to be understood in this sense.
16 Most prominently by E. Ebeling and F. Köcher in: E. Ebeling. Keilchrifttexte
aus Assur religiösen Inhalts Bd. I. WVDOG 28. Leipzig (1915—) 1919; id..
Keilschrifttexte aus Assur religiösen Inhalts Bd. II. WVDOG 34. Leipzig
(1920-)1923; E. Ebeling. F. Köcher. Literarische Keilschrifttexte aus
Assur. Berlin 1953; F. Köcher. Die Babylonisch-assyrische Medizin in
Texten und Untersuchungen. Band I-VI. Berlin 1963-1980 (BAM).
17 See O. Pedersen. ALA 2. 41-76: N4. Private house with large library and
archive of a family of exorcists (hC/D7E8I).
18 On this. see S. M. Maul in KAL 1. x-xi.