Namerimburrudû or “curse-breaking”

incantation An incantation, spell, charm, enchantment, or bewitchery is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung, or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremonial ri ...

s, inscribed KA-INIM-MA NAM-ÉRIM-BÚR-RU-DA-KAM, are ancient

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

n spells composed to avert the effects of

oath Traditionally, an oath (from Old English, Anglo-Saxon ', also a plight) is a utterance, statement of fact or a promise taken by a Sacred, sacrality as a sign of Truth, verity. A common legal substitute for those who object to making sacred oaths ...

-breaking, namely the

curse A curse (also called an imprecation, malediction, execration, malison, anathema, or commination) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, ...

s which result from them. The genre is listed on the Exorcists Manual with the gloss: 'māmītu''''ana pašāri'', “to dissolve a curse.”''māmītu'' CAD m 1, p. 194. Probably a genre on single

clay tablet In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets (Akkadian language, Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay t ...

s rather than a defined series, exemplars have been found in the

Library of Ashurbanipal The Royal Library of Ashurbanipal, named after Ashurbanipal, the last great king of the Assyrian Empire, is a collection of more than 30,000 clay tablets and fragments containing texts of all kinds from the 7th century BCE, including texts in ...

and late

Babylonia Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...

Sippar Sippar (Sumerian language, Sumerian: , Zimbir) (also Sippir or Sippara) was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its ''Tell (archaeology), tell'' is located at the site of modern Tell ...

The incantation

In many respects, ''Namerimburrudû'' incantations share characteristics with both the Šurpu series and Lipšur litanies. The incantations endeavor to determine whether the subject has intentionally or otherwise sworn falsely and brought upon himself the wrath of his personal god. However, in contrast, the invocation of inanimate objects, such as various boats, road travel, sunrise and sunset, entry and exit of city gates, the street, oven or bellows, may merely be related to their misuse in the delivery of oaths. The accompanying ritual entails the use of figurines of the demons Silakkum and Barīrītum to carry away the subjects sins: ''lû paṭrā lû passā'', “may it be released, may it be wiped out.” Various deities, natural forces (the four winds,

Tigris The Tigris ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian Desert, Syrian and Arabia ...

Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...

, Diyala and Zab rivers) and ritual objects (plants, woods, reeds, altars and vessels) are employed to neutralize the curse. There is a litany of sins the gods are asked to forgive, and finally a ritual is described where flour and dates are scattered, beer is poured, and sulfur burned.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Namerimburrudu Akkadian literature Incantation Sippar