Babylonian Demon Bowls

34. Kelsey Museum 19501

Seleucia-on-Tigris
6th or 7th century A.D.
Clay

Note the repetitive signs, perhaps meant to imitate writing.

Bibl.: Unpublished.

Seleucia-on-Tigris
6th or 7th century A.D.
Clay

The "text" is written in a pseudo-script, in lines emanating from the center. The meaning of the design at the center is unclear, but it might be a drawing of a room with demon-bowls at the four corners.

Bibl.: Unpublished.

36. Kelsey Museum 19503

Seleucia-on-Tigris
6th or 7th century A.D.
Clay

This bowl is "written" in a pseudo-script, clearly meant to imitate Syriac (an Aramaic dialect and alphabet, used on many demon-bowls).

Bibl.: Unpublished.

37. Kelsey Museum 19504

Seleucia-on-Tigris
6th or 7th century A.D.
Clay

Text: (Panel 1) [...] Negray daughter of Denday and from her male sons and [...] I have heard and the voice of the weak [...] of the men who are fighting [...] of raging women who curse and afflict and cause pain they have descended against them [Azdai], Yazdun and Yaqrun, Prael the great and Ruphael and Sahtiel and seized them and by the tufts of hair and the tresses of their heads and broke the horns which were high and tied them by the tufts of hair of their heads and said to them "remove that which you have cursed" and they said to him "from the pain of our heart we cursed and from the bitterness of our palate we resolved to curse" I have made you swear and adjure you in the name of Azdai and Yazdun and Yaqrun and Prael the great and Ruphael and Sahtiel that you release (Panel 2) and free [...] Negray daughter of Denday and [...] male and female from [...] all the curses [...] cursed and from the curses of [...] and the mother and from the curse of the prostitute [...] and the fetus and from the curse of the employee and employer who stole the wage and from the curse of the brothers who did not divide truthfully among themselves and from the curses of all people who curse in the name of idol demons and their surrenderings you are the healer you are the healer who heals sicknesses with words you are the healer who turns away the sicknesses and the curses of those who cursed Negray daughter of Denday in the name of Azdai and Yazdun and Yaqrun and Prael and Ruphael and heal and annul the curses of those who curse Negray daughter of Denday. And upon a stone (Panel 3) which is unsplit I sat [...] and I wrote all of the curses upon a new bowl of clay and I sent back the curses of those who cursed Negray daughter of Denday to their masters until they release and bless in the name of Sariel the angel and Barakiel the angel and in the name of Sariel and Barakiel you release from the curses of those who curse Negray daughter of Denday as a man as a man is freed from the house of bondage and from the house of weapons amen amen selah [...] may there be health and sealing [...] and to the house of Negray daughter of Denday and to the male sons [...]

The text is written in Mandaic, an Eastern Aramaic dialect and script, in three wedge-shaped panels, each panel beginning on the bowl's rim and moving inward. The text itself is a copy of a long spell which appears on several such bowls, and into which the client's name -- in this case Negray daughter of Denday -- was inserted in the proper places. It was meant as a counter-spell, to protect the client against all her enemies' curses, whatever they may have been.

Bibl.: Unpublished. The translation and notes were provided by Timothy La Vallee, who is preparing these bowls for publication.

38. Kelsey Museum 19505

Seleucia-on-Tigris
6th or 7th century A.D.
Clay

Meaningless signs, or badly effaced Aramaic letters.

Bibl.: Unpublished.

39. Kelsey Museum 33756

Seleucia-on-Tigris
6th or 7th century, A.D.
Clay

This bowl was found on top of another bowl (the excavation report does not specify which one), with an "inscribed" egg shell between them; unfortunately, the egg shell never made it to Ann Arbor. The "text" on the bowl is written in a pseudo-script, but the bowl's general appearance -- with the figures surrounded by a "text" (real or imaginary) -- is typical of the genre. Note the bound male demons -- their hands are tied, their feet are chained -- a clear sign of what the bowl itself was meant to achieve.

Go on to Aggressive Magic.