By Daniel Schwemer
September 2014 Vol. II, No. 9
Source: ASOR
Photo Source: Unsplash, Max Harlynking
Belief in witches was as widespread in Mesopotamia as it was in Europe. Incantation and ritual texts preserved on cuneiform tablets provide a vivid image of witchcraft in second and first millennium Mesopotamia. But a closer look reveals fundamental differences between Babylonian witches and their European counterparts. Court records of witch trials and theological treatises are key sources for studying witchcraft beliefs in Medieval and early modern Europe. In contrast, very few texts of this kind have survived among the ever-increasing number of cuneiform texts from ancient Mesopotamia. In both places witchcraft was a well-known cause of illness and harm. But the Mesopotamian texts that provide insight into fear of witches and the workings of witchcraft do not come from courts of law, but from the ‘book shelves’ of healing experts.
A large body of cuneiform texts provides firsthand information on the remedies and rituals used by Babylonian and Assyrian experts to cure illnesses, avert calamities, and protect people from harm. These magical and medical texts are usually written in Akkadian, the main Semitic language of ancient Mesopotamia, though incantations in Sumerian and other languages are also used.
Mesopotamian magical and medical texts are concerned with a wide array of ailments. As today, a correct diagnosis was regarded as the first step toward a successful therapy, and identifying the ultimate cause of a person’s suffering was an important part of diagnosing any complex illness. ‘Witchcraft’ is one of these causes. But the descriptions of symptoms included in many texts show that ‘witchcraft’ was not regarded as one specific illness. Rather, witchcraft was a possible cause of variousailments, including life-threatening physical diseases, debilitating mental disorders and impotency, but also failure more generally.
Who were the victims of witchcraft? The preserved texts are mainly concerned with people as victims (although buildings such as stables and houses could also be ridded of evil by certain rituals). While there were rituals to protect pregnant women and infants, it appears that the typical victim of witchcraft was an adult male. This is confirmed by the stereotype of the witch in incantation texts: The witch is primarily a female, with special knowledge and power, who performs her evil, harmful rituals in secret. This female stereotype of witchcraft is complemented by a male version, the ‘opponent in court,’ who employs illegal black magic in order to subdue a victim who competes for the favour of a judge or other authority. In the rhetoric of the incantations, these clearly gendered stereotypes are often complemented with a colourless partner of the other sex (‘warlock and witch’; ‘male and female litigant’).
But did the stereotypical evildoers described in the incantations of antiwitchcraft rituals really exist? And, if so, had they actually done what the incantations ascribe to them? Probably not. Antiwitchcraft incantations emphasize that the identity of the evildoers is unknown to their innocent victim. Even if the patient diagnosed as bewitched entertained a specific suspicion who was to blame for his suffering, the name of the alleged witch would only rarely be used during the ritual. Within the ritual, it was much better to take on the role of the guileless victim unaware of any enemies. This is not to say that Mesopotamian ritual lore did not employ aggressive magic. There were rituals for forcing back runaway slaves, for triumphing over one’s enemy, for charming the king, or making someone fall in love. These were regarded as a sort of grey area and sometimes included in lists enumerating various methods of witchcraft. But if you used them yourself, you would certainly avoid calling them ‘witchcraft’, i.e., illegal black magic.
The basic goal of most Mesopotamian antiwitchcraft rituals is a reversal of the patient’s and the witch’s fate. The witchcraft employed against the victim is removed and returned to its originators, and the evildoers are destroyed by having their witchcraft sent back to them. Cleared by the gods (often the sun god Shamash), the patient regains his former position in life, while those who wished him ill are brought down by their own evil schemes. A regular feature of antiwitchcraft rituals is the use of substitute figurines representing the warlock and witch. A number of prayers explicitly justify the use of figurines with the fact that the warlock and witch themselves were not present during the performance of the ritual. Usually the rituals – in line with the rhetoric of the incantations – use pairs consisting of a male and a female figurine. Often the rituals prescribe employing a whole series of such pairs of palm-sized, anthropomorphic figurines, with each pair made of a different material, such as clay, tallow, or wax. Since the identity of the witches represented by the figurines was unknown, there was no need to confirm the efficacy of the ritual by seeing fellow humans suffer. This is greatly superior to European witch trials, where actual human suffering was abundant.
Burning and burying were the most common ways of destroying the figurines and ritually killing the sorcerers represented by them. The final destruction of the figurines was often preceded by other actions, such as twisting their arms behind them to symbolize their imprisonment. Figurines were also abused in other ways, such as smeared with malodorous fish oil or pierced with thorns. The patient washed himself over the figurines, transferring the impure witchcraft back to the warlock and witch, or he would crush them under his foot, symbolizing the victory over his enemies.
As in all societies, in Mesopotamia witchcraft belief became virulent only in situations of crisis, illness, and conflict. The evidence suggests that, in contrast to early modern Europe, it never took hold of whole segments of society, even though the hothouse atmosphere of the royal courts probably formed especially fertile ground for witchcraft suspicions. The apparent absence of large-scale witch crazes from Mesopotamian history – and with it the virtual absence of legal documents referring to witch trials – may be explained by two factors. First, according to ancient Mesopotamian legal standards, someone who made a public witchcraft accusation ran a high risk of severe punishment. In the absence of direct proof, the accused was required to undergo an ordeal. If he was cleared by the ordeal, the accuser was treated as if he had brought a false charge and was executed, thereby suffering the punishment that would have been imposed on someone found guilty of practicing witchcraft.
A second factor that limited the public impact of witchcraft suspicions is that antiwitchcraft rituals themselves were never delegitimized and labeled as illegal magic during Mesopotamian history. They continued to act as an important way of coping with social tensions and adversities. For all their violent imagery and drastic gestures, antiwitchcraft rituals had a stabilizing function in society; they offered a vent for fears, suspicions, and aggressions that could otherwise have threatened the social equilibrium. In this way, too, ancient Mesopotamia seems far more advanced than early modern Europe.
Daniel Schwemer is Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Würzburg University.
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