This fifth tablet illustrates also the faintness of the demarcation between witch and demon, to which attention has already been directed, || for almost imperceptibly the incantations pass from denunciations of the witches to imprecations hurled against the demons. The last incantation of the tablet, applicable to the demons, furnishes a characteristic example of a direct formula in- tended to drive the demons out of a man’s body—
‘ Away, away, far away, far away ! For shame, for shame, fly away, fly away ! Round about face, go away, far away | Out of my body, away ! Out of my body, far away ! Out of my body, for shame! Out of my body, fiy away ! Out of my body, round about face | Out of my body, go away! Into my body do not return! To my body draw not nigh ! To my body do not approach ! Into my body do not force your way! My body torture not! By Shamash, the mighty, be forsworn ! By Ea, the lord of everything, be forsworn ! By Marduk, the chief exorcizer of the gods, be forsworn ! From the fire-god, who consumes you, be forsworn ! From my body may you be restrained !’
The sixth tablet of the series is taken up with a series of addresses directed against the witches, and appeals to the fire- god, which furnish some further interesting portrayals of the partly hidden and wholly mischievous workings of the witches, without, however, adding anything of material value to our conception of these beings.
In the seventh tablet we pass from incantations used in connexion with the burning of images and with other treatment accorded to them, to the use of oil and water as means of purification. A refer- ence in one of these incantations to the waters of Eridu, the old city sacred to Ea, at the head of the Persian Gulf, is a valuable indication of the place at which this part of the ‘ Maklu’ ritual origi- nated ; and in general, when waters of purification are referred to in the incantation texts, the two chief streams of Babylonia—the Euphrates and the Tigris—both of which had a sacre character, are introduced or implied, though the conception of purification has, in the course of time, widened so as to include the efficacy of water in general as a symbol of purification. It will be sufficient to re- produce one of these incantations, which may serve as a specimen of their general character—
‘T have washed my hands, cleansed my body, | ; With the pure waters of a source which arises in Eridu ; Whatever is evil, whatever is not good,
That is lodged in my body, in my flesh, in my limbs,—
* i.e. images of me.
t i.e. lose their power. ’ J
j i.e. gathered for the purpose of pouring over the image. § i.e. Nin-makh or Ishtar.
|| See p. 5524,
RELIGION OF BABYLONIA — 555
The evil arising from bad dreams, omens, and unfavourable portents,
The evil of unfavourable omens for city and country,
Which I see by day, Trample on in the street, cast aside,—
The evil shedu, the evil utukku ;
Sickness, Pestilence, Fever,
Distress, Pain, Complaint, Weakness, Groaning, Woe and Ache, severe bodily affliction,
Terror and extreme Misery, etc. etc.’
. . . . .
—all manner of distress, it is hoped, may be effectually removed by the purifying power of the sacred element.
The addition of such incantations, in which water plays the chief part of the ritual, points to the composite character of the ‘Maklu’ series,. which, from dealing exclusively with the burning of images and with appeals to the fire-god, is thus enlarged into a general incantation ritual, to serve as a guide for the exorcizing priest in picking out such portions as are applicable to the case brought before him. Further light is thrown on the prin- ciples underlying the combination of incantations into a fixed and elaborate ritual by the eighth and last tablet of the series, which furnishes a summary of all the incantations contained in the previous seven, by repeating their opening words or lines in uninterrupted succession. One is tempted to con- jecture that this arrangement, which is also found at the close of another incantation series,* was in- tended to serve the purposes of an index or table of contents, to erable the officiating functionary of the temple to obtain a rapid survey of the in- cantations comprised in the ritual, and then to turn to those chosen by him. However this may be, the ‘Maklu’ series, like the various other ones that have been put together from the tablets of Assur- banipal’s library,| clearly points to an elaborate process of composition and editing of the hundreds of formulas produced in the course of time for the purpose of relieving those attacked by the demons, or bewitched by the sorcerers and sorceresses.
Besides the incantation series in the proper sense, the priests also compiled for their own use hand- books to serve as guides in the performance of incantation rites, in which specific directions of all kinds are given, detailing the manner in which the images of protecting spirits are to be grouped around the couch on which the man stricken with disease lies, so as to guard him against further harm from the demons; what sacrifices are to be offered in connexion with the recital of the incantations, where they are to be offered, what prayers or formulas should be spoken in connexion with these sacrifices, and more of the like. In the subdivision of priestly functions which followed with the growth of the temples of Babylonia and Assyria, a special class of priests arose, known as the dshipu,t into whose hands the carrying out of exorcizing rites was entrusted ; just as another class, known as the bard, took charge of the omen rituals. Indeed we are justified in concluding from the elaborate character of the incantation texts and the incanta- tion rituals, that, throughout the duration of the Babylono-Assyrian religion, the beliefs upon which