simply because of casual contact, such as eating and drinking together. Incantations
to rid victims of such ghosts often involved ritual weddings, as well as incantations
(Farber 2004 : 128 – 131 ).
Witchcraft forms another level of magic, although usually caused by human rather
than divine agents. Evil eye (envy) and evil tongue (gossip and slander) would qualify
under this category, as well as love incantations which compel someone to fall in
love. The nature of the incantations is generally more focused on earthly rather than
cosmic themes, enumerating the dangers and potential harm of witchcraft and spells
(Abusch 2002 and this volume). The moral stature of the victim may not be relevant
to the fact that he is the one being attacked by black magic, for which various counter-
incantations and rituals are prescribed. A similar category of incantations is known
under the rubric of Egalkurra, in which the victim faces slander and rivalry at court.
Finally, incantations against dogbite, snakebite, and scorpion bite, as well as
incantations to deal with crying babies (Farber 1989 ), are probably on a similar level
to Namburbi incantations and rituals, which are intended to ward off evil portents
and omens (Maul 1994 ). Namburbi incantations, although seeking divine help, are
essentially concerned with the nature of the evil portent and how to avoid it, with
incantations appealing for help combined with rituals to rid the victim of the danger.
There is a pattern which emerges from these data which is relevant to medical
incantations. The higher the level within the hierarchy of incantations, the more
cosmic are the incantation themes and the less reliance is placed upon rituals and
ritual acts. The incantations themselves are sufficiently powerful to move the gods
to action, without much in the way of elaborate ritual to help things along. The
lower orders of the incantation hierarchy depend increasingly upon sympathetic rituals
and rituals to avoid or counteract evil.
Medical incantations form part of this same hierarchy, despite the fact that these
other incantations formally belong to the art of ‘exorcism’ (a ̄sˇipu ̄tu). Once incorporated
into medical texts, medical incantations were no longer independent compositions
but part of the elaborate system of healing which could include rituals, such as
fumigation, but also comprised prescriptions of drugs to be applied internally and
externally, as potions, suppositories, and bandages. The focus of medical incantations,
therefore, was not ‘cosmic’ in the sense of being concerned with the ultimate causes
of disease; little mention is made of the patient’s guild, angry gods, or even demons.
The themes expressed by medical incantations were more immediate, and hence
‘natural’, causes of disease, such as the ergot or tooth-worm, for which prescriptions
were to be employed. In the same way that classical incantations focused on the
ultimate causes (guilt, negligence, sin), medical texts focused on symptoms (pain,
fever, swelling), and the incantations associated with medicine were aimed at
elucidating the causes of symptoms, through various kinds of analogies.
Examples of medical incantations will illustrate how this works. Marten Stol has
translated a number of Sumerian and Akkadian incantations dealing with all aspects
of childbirth (Stol 2000 : 59 – 70 , 129 – 131 ). On one hand, these incantations appear
to be high on the scale of hierarchy, since they include the dialogue between Enki
(Ea) and Asalluhi (Marduk), discussing the woman’s plight and condition, and the
woman is said to have been impregnated by the Moon God himself. However, the
subject matters expressed in these incantations do not refer to demons or ghosts, but
— M. J. Geller —