S Magie, Beschwörungen und Rituale in akkadischen Keilschrifttexten (Blockveranstaltung 14-tägl., mit Exkursion)

Instructors: Dr. Ulrike Steinert
Shortname: S AOPhil
Course No.: 07.848.24_510
Course Type: Seminar
Format: online

Recommended reading list

Wim van Bimsbergen and Frans Wiggermann. 1999. “Magic in History. A Theoretical Perspective, and Its Application to Ancient Mesopotamia,” in: T. Abusch and K. van der Toorn (eds.), Mesopotamian Magic: Textual, Historical, and Interpretative Perspectives. Ancient Magic and Divination 1. Groningen: Styx, 1-34.
 
Volkert Haas. 2003. Materia Magica et Medica Hethitica. Ein Beitrag zur Heilkunde im Alten Orient. 2 Bde. Berlin: de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110925258
 
Walter Sallaberger. 2006-2008. “Ritual. A. In Mesopotamien“, in: M.P. Streck et al. (ed.), Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie 11. Berlin: de Gruyter, 421-430. https://publikationen.badw.de/de/021783244.
 
Daniel Schwemer. 2019. „Mesopotamia (Cultural Construction of Ambiguous, Unsanctioned, or Illegitimate Ritual)”, in: D. Frankfurter (ed.), Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic. Boston/Leiden: Brill, 36-64.
 
Michael P. Streck, Nathan Wasserman, Sources of Early Akkadian Literature (SEAL). A Text Corpus of Babylonian and Assyrian Literary Texts from the 3rd and 2nd Millennia BCE. http://seal.huji.ac.il (Unterkorpus: Incantations)
 
Marie-Louise Thomsen. 2001. “Witchcraft and Magic in Ancient Mesopotamia,” in: M.-L. Thomsen, F.H. Cryer (eds.), The Athlone History of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, Vol. 1: Biblical and Pagan Societies. London: Athlone Press, 1-95.

Contents

Incantations and ritual texts constitute one of the most important, diverse, and enduring genres of ancient Near Eastern literature—both in terms of the scope and content of the material and from a diachronic perspective. However, classifying these texts using Western-centric concepts—such as "religion," "magic," and "medicine"—which are often treated as mutually exclusive categories, frequently proves problematic. This course provides an overview of the major groups of ancient Mesopotamian magical-ritual texts and their associated practices, drawing upon the reading and discussion of selected textual examples (presented in generally accessible editions) as well as lectures delivered by invited specialists in the field.
A one-day excursion to visit the exhibition of the MagEIA project ("Magic between Entanglement, Interaction, and Analogy") at the University of Würzburg is scheduled as the concluding session of the course.

Dates

Date (Day of the week) Time Location
10/21/2026 (Wednesday) 14:15 - 17:45 Digital
11/04/2026 (Wednesday) 14:15 - 17:45 Digital
11/18/2026 (Wednesday) 14:15 - 17:45 Digital
12/02/2026 (Wednesday) 14:15 - 17:45 Digital
12/16/2026 (Wednesday) 14:15 - 17:45 Digital
01/06/2027 (Wednesday) 14:15 - 17:45 Digital
01/20/2027 (Wednesday) 14:15 - 17:45 Digital
02/03/2027 (Wednesday) 14:15 - 17:45 Digital