INCANTATION BOWL TO WARD AGAINST DEMONS

MS 2053/198
MS Short Title INCANTATION BOWL TO WARD AGAINST DEMONS
Text

INCANTATIONS: SUPRESSED ARE ALL DEMONS, ALL NO-GOOD-ONES, ALL PEBBLE-SPIRITS, AND LILITHS, AND MEVAKKALTAS, AND IDOLS AND GODDESSES, AND BARREN ONES, AND PREGNANT ONES. THIS IS THE SURPRESSION BY WHICH HEAVEN AND EARTH IS SURPRESSED. YOU ARE ALL SURPRESSED BY YOUR NAMES, WHETHER THEIR NAMES ARE MENTIONED OR ARE NOT MENTIONED. - ALL THOSE WHO DWELL WITHIN HIS HOUSE AND RESIDE OVER THEIR TRESHOLD - AND WHO KILL AND HARM AND APPEAR IN HATEFUL SHAPES WHICH ARE NOT GOOD.

ON SUNDAY, IN THE MONTH OF AB, I SALUK SON OF HORMIZDUKH, PERFORMED A MAGIC ACT BY THE NAME OF ME, MESHALLAH SON OF MESHALLAH. IT IS BURIED IN THE TRESHOLD OF THE HOUSE OF SALUK SON OF HORMIZDUKH, IT IS BURIED BY MY HAND, AND I SEAL IT AGAINST YOU - THIS IS THE SEAL THAT IS NOT BROKEN, WITH WHICH ARE SEALED HEAVEN AND EARTH.

Description MS in Jewish-Aramaic on clay, Near East, 5th-6th c., 1 incantation bowl, 13,0x26,2 cm, 12 lines in Jewish-Aramaic script, drawing of standing demon at center and with 2 snakes eating each others tails along the rim, and 2 pairs of bound demons outside.
Published The partial quote of the text is preliminary and by permission of Prof. Shaul Shaked, who will publish the present incantation bowl in the series Manuscripts in The Schøyen Collection.
Exhibited University College London, Centre for Jewish studies, and the Warburg Institute: Babylonian Aramaic Magic Bowls from the Schøyen Collection, A Special exhibition on the occation of the workshop "Officina Magica", London 15 - 17 1999.
See also MS 2056/12, Persia, 5c-7c AD
Place of origin Near East
Dates 5c - 7c AD