CHRISTIAN INCANTATION BOWL

MS 1928/54
MS Short Title CHRISTIAN INCANTATION BOWL
Text
  1. MAY THE EVIL EYE BE BANISHED AND WIPED OUT ... TO YAWITA DAUGHTER OF RASHNENDUKH, MAY IT BE BEATEN AND SMITTEN. MAY THERE BE HEALING TO THE HOUSE OF YAWITA DAUGHTER OF RASHNENDUKH NOW. ... OF ALL THE HOUSE OF YAWITA DAUGHTER OF RASHNENDUKH, AND ANY ONE WHO STANDS AGAINST HER MAY BE WIPED AWAY AND MAY HIS SALIVA BE ANNULLED, ANY ONE WHO IS BORN OF A WOMAN AND WHO STANDS AGAINST HER, MAY THE POWER OF CHRIST ARISE AND HELP HIM. - ALSO FOR ITAI SON OF RASHNENDUKH
  2. THE INNER ROOM OF THE DINING HALL
  3. THE GATE OF EATING, INSIDE
Description MS in Syriac and Middle Persian (text 3) on clay, Iran /Mesopotamia /Syria /Jordan, 5th-7th c., 1 incantation bowl, 17,5x7,5 cm, 5+4 lines in Proto-Manichaean and Pahlavi (text 3) script, drawing of a demon with a scroll or a dragon above.
Commentary A Christian bowl, which is unusual in the Near East, see also MS 1928/52. Text 2 and 3 contain the same text in Syriac and Middle Persian, which can be significant for deciphering the rare literary Middle Persian language. Incantation or magical bowls are also called demon traps. They were placed with the bottom up under the floors and thresholds of the houses in the Near East. . Texts 2 and 3 give the exact location in the house. The demons were then believed to be trapped inside the bowl with the magical spells written against them.
Published To be published by Prof. Shaul Shaked in the series Manuscripts in The Schøyen Collection.
Exhibited 1. The Warburg Institute: A Special exhibition on the occasion of the workshop "Officina Magica", London 15 - 17 1999.
Place of origin Near East
Dates 5c - 7c AD