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Mandaic Lead Rolls
Mandaic lead rolls, sometimes also known as Mandaic amulets or sheets, which are related to Palestinian and Syrian metal amulets, are a specific term for a writing medium containing incantations in the Mandaic script incised onto lead sheets with a pin. Some Mandaic incantations are found on gold and silver sheets.Christa Müller-Kessler, Zauberschalen und ihre Umwelt. Ein Überblick über das Schreibmedium Zauberschale, in Jens Kamran, Rolf Schäfer, Markus Witte (eds.), ''Zauber und Magie im antiken Palästina und in seiner Umwelt'' (Abhandlungen des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 46; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2017), p. 68, fig. 5.1 and drawing They are rolled up and then inserted into a metal capsule with loops on it to be worn around the neck on a string or necklace. History These metal objects were produced by the Mandaeans, an ethnoreligious group, as protective talismans. Their inscribed texts are related to inscriptions written in ink on earthen ware bowls, the so-called Aram ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amulet
An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects a person from trouble". Anything can function as an amulet; items commonly so used include statues, coins, drawings, plant parts, animal parts, and written words. Amulets which are said to derive their extraordinary properties and powers from magic or those which impart luck are typically part of folk religion or paganism, whereas amulets or sacred objects of formalised mainstream religion as in Christianity are believed to have no power of their own without faith in Jesus and being blessed by a clergyman, and they supposedly will also not provide any preternatural benefit to the bearer who does not have an appropriate disposition. Talisman and amulets have interchangeable meaning. Amulets refer to any object which has the power to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John George Taylor
John George Taylor (active 1851–1861; also known as J E Taylor and J G Taylor) was a British official of the Foreign Office, and also an important early archaeologist investigating the antiquities of the Middle East. He was one of the first archaeologists to explore the prominent burial mounds in the area of the Persian Gulf, and he made some very important discoveries. He also worked for the British East India Company. Family He was the son of Captain (later Colonel) R.(short for Robert) Taylor, who was the British Assistant Political Agent in Basra from 1818 to 1822. Colonel R. Taylor may have been the one who originally acquired the famous Taylor prism in 1830. It was purchased from Colonel Taylor's widow in 1850 by the British Museum. Career John Taylor was appointed as Agent for the British East India Company, and the British Vice-Consul at Basra from 1851 to 1858. At Basra, he was instructed by the Mandaean ''ganzibra'' (high priest) Adam Yuhana, the father of Yahya Bi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shamash
Utu (dUD " Sun"), also known under the Akkadian name Shamash, ''šmš'', syc, ܫܡܫܐ ''šemša'', he, שֶׁמֶשׁ ''šemeš'', ar, شمس ''šams'', Ashurian Aramaic: 𐣴𐣬𐣴 ''š'meš(ā)'' was the ancient Mesopotamian sun god. He was believed to see everything that happened in the world every day, and was therefore responsible for justice and protection of travelers. As a divine judge, he could be associated with the underworld. Additionally, he could serve as the god of divination, typically alongside the weather god Adad. While he was universally regarded as one of the primary gods, he was particularly venerated in Sippar and Larsa. The moon god Nanna (Sin) and his wife Ningal were regarded as his parents, while his twin sister was Inanna (Ishtar). Occasionally other goddesses, such as Manzat and Pinikir, could be regarded as his sisters too. The dawn goddess Aya (Sherida) was his wife, and multiple texts describe their daily reunions taking place ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nergal
Nergal (Sumerian: d''KIŠ.UNU'' or ; ; Aramaic: ܢܸܪܓܲܠ; la, Nirgal) was a Mesopotamian god worshiped through all periods of Mesopotamian history, from Early Dynastic to Neo-Babylonian times, with a few attestations under indicating his cult survived into the period of Achaemenid domination. He was primarily associated with war, death, and disease and has been described as the "god of inflicted death." He reigned over Kur, the Mesopotamian underworld, depending on the myth either on behalf of his parents Enlil and Ninlil, or in later periods as a result of his marriage with the goddess Ereshkigal. Originally either Mammitum, a goddess possibly connected to frost, or Laṣ, sometimes assumed to be a minor medicine goddess, were regarded as his wife, though other traditions existed, too. His primary cult center was Kutha, located in northern Mesopotamia. His main temple was the E-Meslam and he was also known by the name Meslamtaea, "he who comes out of Meslam." Initial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nabû
Nabu ( akk, cuneiform: 𒀭𒀝 Nabû syr, ܢܵܒܼܘܼ\ܢܒܼܘܿ\ܢܵܒܼܘܿ Nāvū or Nvō or Nāvō) is the ancient Mesopotamian patron god of literacy, the rational arts, scribes, and wisdom. Etymology and meaning The Akkadian "nabû" means 'announcer/authorised person', derived from the Semitic root . It is cognate with the Syriac (), Arabic (), and the Hebrew (), all meaning 'prophet'. History Nabu was worshiped by the Babylonians and the Assyrians. Nabu gained prominence among the Babylonians in the 1st millennium BC when he was identified as the son of the god Marduk. Nabu was worshipped in Babylon's sister city Borsippa, from where his statue was taken to Babylon each New Year so that he could pay his respects to his father. Nabu's symbols included a stylus resting on a tablet as well as a simple wedge shape; King Nabonidus, whose name references Nabu, had a royal sceptre topped with Nabu's wedge. Clay tablets with especial calligraphic skill were used as of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guzana
Tell Halaf ( ar, تل حلف) is an archaeological site in the Al Hasakah governorate of northeastern Syria, a few kilometers from the city of Ra's al-'Ayn near the Turkish border. The site, which dates to the 6th millennium BCE, was the first to be excavated from a Neolithic culture, later called the Halaf culture, characterized by glazed pottery painted with geometric and animal designs. In the Bronze Age it was a Hittite ruling city, and then in the 10th century BCE the location of the Aramaean city-state of Guzana or Gozan. By the end of the 9th century it was a famous Aramean city-state. The many finds of monumental sculpture removed to various museums around the world mostly date from the later periods. Discovery and excavations The site is located near the city of Ra's al-'Ayn in the fertile valley of the Khabur River (Nahr al-Khabur), close to the modern border with Turkey. The name ''Tell Halaf'' is a local Aramaic placename, '' tell'' meaning "hill", and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bēl
Bêl (; from akk, bēlu) is a title signifying "lord" or "master" applied to various gods in the Mesopotamian religion of Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia. The feminine form is ''Bêlit'' ('Lady, Mistress') in Akkadian. ''Bel'' is represented in Greek as Belos and in Latin as Belus. ''Belit'' appears in Greek form as Beltis (Βελτις). Linguistically, ''Bel'' is an East Semitic form cognate with the Northwest Semitic Baal with the same meaning. ''Bel'' was especially used for the Babylonian god Marduk in Assyrian and neo-Babylonian personal names or mentioned in inscriptions in a Mesopotamian context. Similarly, ''Bêlit'' mostly refers to Marduk's spouse Sarpanit. Marduk's mother, the Sumerian goddess often referred to in the Sumerian language as Ninhursag, Damkina, and Ninmah, was often known as ''Belit-ili'' ("Lady of the Gods") in Akkadian. Other gods called "Lord" were sometimes identified totally or in part with Bel Marduk. The god Malak-bel of Palmyra is an example ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Babylonian
Akkadian (, Akkadian: )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages''. Ed. Roger D. Woodard (2004, Cambridge) Pages 218-280 is an extinct East Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia (Akkad, Assyria, Isin, Larsa and Babylonia) from the third millennium BC until its gradual replacement by Akkadian-influenced Old Aramaic among Mesopotamians by the 8th century BC. It is the earliest documented Semitic language. It used the cuneiform script, which was originally used to write the unrelated, and also extinct, Sumerian (which is a language isolate). Akkadian is named after the city of Akkad, a major centre of Mesopotamian civilization during the Akkadian Empire (c. 2334–2154 BC). The mutual influence between Sumerian and Akkadian had led scholars to describe the languages as a ''Sprachbund''. Akkadian proper names were first attested in Sumerian texts from around the mid 3rd-mil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Babylonian Cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo- syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-shaped impressions (Latin: ) which form its signs. Cuneiform was originally developed to write the Sumerian language of southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). Cuneiform is the earliest known writing system. Over the course of its history, cuneiform was adapted to write a number of languages in addition to Sumerian. Akkadian texts are attested from the 24th century BC onward and make up the bulk of the cuneiform record. Akkadian cuneiform was itself adapted to write the Hittite language in the early second millennium BC. The other languages with significant cuneiform corpora are Eblaite, Elamite, Hurrian, Luwian, and Urartian. The Old Persian and Ugaritic alphabets feature cuneiform-style signs; however, they are unrelated to the cuneiform ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aramaic Uruk Incantation
The Aramaic Uruk incantation acquired 1913 by the Louvre, Paris and stored there under AO 6489François Thureau-Dangin, ''Textes cunéiformes VI, Tablettes d’Uruk'' (Paris, 1922), no. 58.Christa Müller-Kessler, "Die aramäische Beschwörung und ihre Rezeption in den mandäisch magischen Texten am Beispiel ausgewählter aramäischer Beschwörungsformulare," in Rika Gyselen (ed.), ''Magie et magiciens, charmes et sortilèges'' (Res Orientales XIV; Louvain: Peeters, 2002), pp. 195–201, pls. 1–2. is a unique Aramaic text written in Late Babylonian cuneiform syllable signs and dates to the Seleucid period ca. 150 BCE. The finding site is the ''reš''-sanctuary in the ancient city of Uruk ( Warka), therefore the label “Uruk”. Particular about this incantation text is that it contains a magical historiola which is divided up into two nearly repetitive successive parts, a text genre that finds its continuation in the Aramaic magical text corpus of Late Antiquity from Iraq and Ir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Historiola
The historiola is a modern term for a kind of incantation incorporating a short mythic story that provides the paradigm for the desired magical action. It can be found in ancient Mesopotamian,Fritz Graf"Historiola" in '' Brill’s New Pauly''. Consulted online on 29 December 2020. Egyptian and Greek mythology, in the Aramaic Uruk incantation, incorporated in Mandaean incantations, as well as in Jewish kabbalah. There are also Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ... examples evoking Christian legends. References Egyptian mythology Greek mythology Incantation {{Mythology-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mandaean
Mandaeans ( ar, المندائيون ), also known as Mandaean Sabians ( ) or simply as Sabians ( ), are an ethnoreligious group who are followers of Mandaeism. They believe that John the Baptist was the final and most important prophet. They may have been among the earliest religious groups to practice baptism, as well as among the earliest adherents of Gnosticism, a belief system of which they are the last surviving representatives today. The Mandaeans were originally native speakers of Mandaic, an Eastern Aramaic language, before they nearly all switched to Iraqi Arabic or Persian as their main language. After the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies in 2003, the Mandaean community of Iraq, which before the war numbered 60,000-70,000 persons, collapsed due to the rise of Islamic extremism and the absence of protection against it; with most of the community relocating to Iran, Syria and Jordan, or forming diaspora communities beyond the Middle East. Man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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