Early Mesopotamian Incantations and Rituals (Babylonian Texts Vol. XI) by Van Dijk, J.; Goetze, A.; Hussey, M. I - 1985

New Haven : Yale University Press, 1985. First Edition. Hardcover, issued without dust jacket. Large quarto. vii + 74 pp. plus83 plates at end of volume. A near fine copy. This is volume 11 in the Yale Oriental Series and is complete in itself. In this volume the term "early incantations" includes all the incantations that can be dated to a time before the texts used in magic rituals were organized in a fixed canonical order. Magical texts belonged to the oldest literary tradition, and there is evidence that earlyt incantations were often transmitted orally, so that a written text is frequently an abbreviated version, an extract, or a paragraph of an incantation which must have been known by heart by the magicians. The texts are translated here and there are illustrations of the cuneiform tablets which contain them. Includes ommentary on each text as well.