DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.57036#0057
44
Bannlösung (nam-erim-bür-ru-da)
food and drink in order to ensure their benevolence.281 The
blood sacrifice not infrequently offered should certainly not be
understood as merely the preparation of a meat dinner; rather.
it reflected the wish of the donor of the offering to give the god
life for life and thereby to secure his own existence.282 In retum.
the gods should display mercy. In interminably long sequences
of petitions to be intoned by either the patient or. indeed. the
healer in his stead. the so-called lipsur litanies. the gods were
invoked by name and implored to "dispel the ban”.283 In such a
männer, it should be rendered certain that the plea also reached
the deity grownvexedby misdemeanours. In the more exacting
procedures for the dispelling of a ban. it was sought in these
litanies not only to encompass the potentially still obscure
circumstances for peijury and false witness; the time and place
in which the transgression once must have played out should
also be named. and resolution implored. Accordingly. the
petitions were also directed to landscapes and mountains. to
rivers and bodies of water, and even to every single month and
its individual days. In one case. they should even be repeated
incessantly for every single human body part. Düring the
recitation of these litanies. the invalid was to bum a mixture
of sacrificial flour and various aromatics upon a coal brazier.284
The sacrifice explicitly termed “means of dispelling" (pisertu)
should cause the gods and also the entities of time and place
regarded as ensouled beings to “approach” and “pronounce
life'' for the Petitionen285 An impurity remaining in time and
space through peijury and false testimony should thus be rent
from the very world.
A final Strand of action within the therapy is bom of the
notion that the pathogenic force emanated by the ban must
be broken and its material basis eliminated. According to
the healers of the ancient Near East, this adhered to the body
of one languishing beneath a ban like a robe or a second skin
and was attained through the body of the afflicted experiencing
contact with the taboo. dirt. or similar.286 The exacting therapy
described in the ‘guide’ prescribed the removal of the subtle
matter of the ban’s nucleus from the skin of the invalid by means
of a männer of peeling. This massage-like treatment. which
certainly was not only cleansing. but also stimulating for blood
flow. and revitalising. was repeated several times. performed
by means of two lumps of dough formed of various types of
grist and flour. The invalid could thus be rubbed down on both
sides of the body simultaneously. Employed in the treatment
was dough of presumably increasingly fine consistency and. to
conclude. clumps of clay likely carefully sifted beforehand.287
A corresponding treatment named mussuu also belonged to
the therapeutic repertoire of the healers beyond the procedures
281 See Text no. 1-2. 10’—11’; Text no. 3. 18-20; Text no. 4-10. l”-2”;
Text no. 12. 3-4; cf. Text no. 14-15. 12; Text no. 16-26. l”-3” and Text
no. 38-39. 19”-22”.
282 See the commentary on Text no. 1-2. 11'.
283 See Text no. 16-26; Text no. 27-33; Text no. 34-37; Text no. 38-39 and.
furthermore. Text no. 4-10. 12-33. Very close parallels may be found
in the curative treatment termed Surpu, namely in Tablets 2 and 3 (see
E. Reiner. Surpu. 13-24).
284 Fürther information on this may be found in the commentary on Text
no. 1-2. 17-18'.
285 Text no. 27-33. 106-107.
286 See. on this. above. p. 35 and p. 38.
287 Text no. 1-2. 21'—8"; Text no. 40—14. and Text no. 48-51. 71. See.
furthermore. the commentary onText no. 1-2. 21'.
for dispelling a ban.288 The lumps of dough employed for the
abrasion were considered so contaminated that it was feared
that reinfection might ensue from them; their disposal was thus
afforded great care and attention.
In Therapy Description 2 (Texts nos. 4-10). the procedures
to finally disperse and dispose of the pathogenic force of the ban
bound to the dough are described more precisely. Conscious
that the ill could never be completely rid from the world. the
doughballs should at least be completely dissolved. reduced to
nothing, as it were. and strewn to the ends of the earth. far from
one’s own lifeworld. Three animals representing the sky. earth.
and water - the three great cosmic regions of the ancient Near
Eastem worldview - should transport the ill of the ban into the
far distance. A bird. a calf. and a fish were fed the clumps of
dough before being released into their allotted spheres of life.289
By means of this food, the material source of the evil should
be absorbed and properly digested.290 Before setting them
loose. the healer was to address words to each individual beast.
For example. he was to speak the following to the bird on his
patient’s behalf:
“Thon, bird of the heavens. creature of Anum. I am humanity.
creature of Ninmenanna! My bürden of guilt. my ban. that
counterposed (against me) by the gods. my plaints. sorceries.
witchcrafts. enchantments. (and) ill machinations of mankind.
thou. take (all this) from me forthwith! Thou. spare me! Do
take the illness prepared (for me) from me forthwith. that I
might live!”291
This rite, highly reminiscent of the Jewish ritual of ‘chicken
swinging’ termed kapparot performed in very traditional contexts
on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), should finally remove
the material basis of the unfolding ban from the individual and
his sphere of life.
Some of the contaminated dough was nonetheless saved.
Close parallels observable between the procedure for dispelling
a ban and the therapy which (following Mesopotamian tradition)
is termed Surpu ("Buming”) demonstrate that something of the
dough used in the rubbing down of a patient found its way into
the mix of sacrificial flour and aromatics bumt on a coal brazier
during the recitation of the so-called lipsur litanies.292 The evil
of the ban should thus “lift up into the heavens” and "like a
scudding cloud” rain down upon "another field” or "fly like a
soaring spark” and "extinguish like ashes’ embers.”293
Fürther to this. yet another piece of the dough contaminated
by means of the abrasion was set before the ban figurine as a
meal offering before it was ritually killed. Through the healer’s
command. the ban was compelled to accept the offering.294 In
such a männer, the ill emitted by the ban was retumed to its
place of origin. In a certain sense. the course of the ban illness
288 See. on this. B. Böck. Das Handbuch Mussu u and ead.. JNES 62. 1-16.
In Text no. 48-51. 68. the instmction may be found that the healer should
undertake a “thorough abrasion of his hands." The intention behind this is
evidently the prevention of a Situation in which the healer might transfer
impurity to his patient from his own part.
289 See Text no. 4-10.65-80 and 91-104; Text no. 40—44. 34-74. Furthermore.
cf. A. Cavigneaux. OrNS 76. 326. 8'—13'.
290 On this notion. see Text no. 4-10. 75-77 and Text no. 55-62. a+19-25.
291 Text no. 4-10. 98-103.
292 See. on this. the commentary' on Text no. 1-2. 17'—18'.
293 Text no. 16-26. 18. 20. 22. and 21. and the parallel passages ibid.. 37. 39.
41. and 40.
294 See. on this. Text no. 3. 66-71 and the commentary' on Text no. 1-2. 8'.
Bannlösung (nam-erim-bür-ru-da)
food and drink in order to ensure their benevolence.281 The
blood sacrifice not infrequently offered should certainly not be
understood as merely the preparation of a meat dinner; rather.
it reflected the wish of the donor of the offering to give the god
life for life and thereby to secure his own existence.282 In retum.
the gods should display mercy. In interminably long sequences
of petitions to be intoned by either the patient or. indeed. the
healer in his stead. the so-called lipsur litanies. the gods were
invoked by name and implored to "dispel the ban”.283 In such a
männer, it should be rendered certain that the plea also reached
the deity grownvexedby misdemeanours. In the more exacting
procedures for the dispelling of a ban. it was sought in these
litanies not only to encompass the potentially still obscure
circumstances for peijury and false witness; the time and place
in which the transgression once must have played out should
also be named. and resolution implored. Accordingly. the
petitions were also directed to landscapes and mountains. to
rivers and bodies of water, and even to every single month and
its individual days. In one case. they should even be repeated
incessantly for every single human body part. Düring the
recitation of these litanies. the invalid was to bum a mixture
of sacrificial flour and various aromatics upon a coal brazier.284
The sacrifice explicitly termed “means of dispelling" (pisertu)
should cause the gods and also the entities of time and place
regarded as ensouled beings to “approach” and “pronounce
life'' for the Petitionen285 An impurity remaining in time and
space through peijury and false testimony should thus be rent
from the very world.
A final Strand of action within the therapy is bom of the
notion that the pathogenic force emanated by the ban must
be broken and its material basis eliminated. According to
the healers of the ancient Near East, this adhered to the body
of one languishing beneath a ban like a robe or a second skin
and was attained through the body of the afflicted experiencing
contact with the taboo. dirt. or similar.286 The exacting therapy
described in the ‘guide’ prescribed the removal of the subtle
matter of the ban’s nucleus from the skin of the invalid by means
of a männer of peeling. This massage-like treatment. which
certainly was not only cleansing. but also stimulating for blood
flow. and revitalising. was repeated several times. performed
by means of two lumps of dough formed of various types of
grist and flour. The invalid could thus be rubbed down on both
sides of the body simultaneously. Employed in the treatment
was dough of presumably increasingly fine consistency and. to
conclude. clumps of clay likely carefully sifted beforehand.287
A corresponding treatment named mussuu also belonged to
the therapeutic repertoire of the healers beyond the procedures
281 See Text no. 1-2. 10’—11’; Text no. 3. 18-20; Text no. 4-10. l”-2”;
Text no. 12. 3-4; cf. Text no. 14-15. 12; Text no. 16-26. l”-3” and Text
no. 38-39. 19”-22”.
282 See the commentary on Text no. 1-2. 11'.
283 See Text no. 16-26; Text no. 27-33; Text no. 34-37; Text no. 38-39 and.
furthermore. Text no. 4-10. 12-33. Very close parallels may be found
in the curative treatment termed Surpu, namely in Tablets 2 and 3 (see
E. Reiner. Surpu. 13-24).
284 Fürther information on this may be found in the commentary on Text
no. 1-2. 17-18'.
285 Text no. 27-33. 106-107.
286 See. on this. above. p. 35 and p. 38.
287 Text no. 1-2. 21'—8"; Text no. 40—14. and Text no. 48-51. 71. See.
furthermore. the commentary onText no. 1-2. 21'.
for dispelling a ban.288 The lumps of dough employed for the
abrasion were considered so contaminated that it was feared
that reinfection might ensue from them; their disposal was thus
afforded great care and attention.
In Therapy Description 2 (Texts nos. 4-10). the procedures
to finally disperse and dispose of the pathogenic force of the ban
bound to the dough are described more precisely. Conscious
that the ill could never be completely rid from the world. the
doughballs should at least be completely dissolved. reduced to
nothing, as it were. and strewn to the ends of the earth. far from
one’s own lifeworld. Three animals representing the sky. earth.
and water - the three great cosmic regions of the ancient Near
Eastem worldview - should transport the ill of the ban into the
far distance. A bird. a calf. and a fish were fed the clumps of
dough before being released into their allotted spheres of life.289
By means of this food, the material source of the evil should
be absorbed and properly digested.290 Before setting them
loose. the healer was to address words to each individual beast.
For example. he was to speak the following to the bird on his
patient’s behalf:
“Thon, bird of the heavens. creature of Anum. I am humanity.
creature of Ninmenanna! My bürden of guilt. my ban. that
counterposed (against me) by the gods. my plaints. sorceries.
witchcrafts. enchantments. (and) ill machinations of mankind.
thou. take (all this) from me forthwith! Thou. spare me! Do
take the illness prepared (for me) from me forthwith. that I
might live!”291
This rite, highly reminiscent of the Jewish ritual of ‘chicken
swinging’ termed kapparot performed in very traditional contexts
on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), should finally remove
the material basis of the unfolding ban from the individual and
his sphere of life.
Some of the contaminated dough was nonetheless saved.
Close parallels observable between the procedure for dispelling
a ban and the therapy which (following Mesopotamian tradition)
is termed Surpu ("Buming”) demonstrate that something of the
dough used in the rubbing down of a patient found its way into
the mix of sacrificial flour and aromatics bumt on a coal brazier
during the recitation of the so-called lipsur litanies.292 The evil
of the ban should thus “lift up into the heavens” and "like a
scudding cloud” rain down upon "another field” or "fly like a
soaring spark” and "extinguish like ashes’ embers.”293
Fürther to this. yet another piece of the dough contaminated
by means of the abrasion was set before the ban figurine as a
meal offering before it was ritually killed. Through the healer’s
command. the ban was compelled to accept the offering.294 In
such a männer, the ill emitted by the ban was retumed to its
place of origin. In a certain sense. the course of the ban illness
288 See. on this. B. Böck. Das Handbuch Mussu u and ead.. JNES 62. 1-16.
In Text no. 48-51. 68. the instmction may be found that the healer should
undertake a “thorough abrasion of his hands." The intention behind this is
evidently the prevention of a Situation in which the healer might transfer
impurity to his patient from his own part.
289 See Text no. 4-10.65-80 and 91-104; Text no. 40—44. 34-74. Furthermore.
cf. A. Cavigneaux. OrNS 76. 326. 8'—13'.
290 On this notion. see Text no. 4-10. 75-77 and Text no. 55-62. a+19-25.
291 Text no. 4-10. 98-103.
292 See. on this. the commentary' on Text no. 1-2. 17'—18'.
293 Text no. 16-26. 18. 20. 22. and 21. and the parallel passages ibid.. 37. 39.
41. and 40.
294 See. on this. Text no. 3. 66-71 and the commentary' on Text no. 1-2. 8'.