Bīt mēseri, inscribed ''bit me-se-ri''^meš and meaning “House of Confinement” or “Detention,” is an ancient

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

n ritual incantation text complete on four

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-sha ...

tablets for the protection of the house against invading evil. The earliest extant copies are neo-

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...

n, from 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 BC, including texts in vari ...

, where, according to its ritual tablet, it was to be conducted regularly in the months of ''Tašrītu'' and ''Araḫsamna'', but there is also a late

Babylonia Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. ...

n (4th or 3rd century BC) rescension recovered from the house of a priest in

Uruk Uruk, also known as Warka or Warkah, was an ancient city of Sumer (and later of Babylonia) situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates River on the dried-up ancient channel of the Euphrates east of modern Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.Harm ...

and copied by Anu-ikṣur, ''kalû'', or incantation priest, son of Šamaš-iddin, descendant of Šangû-Ninurta. It is one of the works cited in the '' Exorcists Manual'' as forming part of the curriculum of the '' āšipu'', or exorcist.

The text

In contrast to the incantation '' šēp lemutti ina bīt amēli parāsu'', “to block the foot of evil into a man’s house,” which provides the ritual to be performed to protect a house from demonic attack, ''bīt mēseri'' prescribes the activities to be performed when someone has already become ill, which was assumed to be under demonic assault. The first tablet is extant in fragmentary form and probably included the incipits to the incantations on the other three tablets. Offerings are made to Ea,

Šamaš 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. ...

and

Marduk Marduk (Cuneiform: dAMAR.UTU; Sumerian: ''amar utu.k'' "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) was a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon. When Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of ...

and there is a purification of “all the statues of wood and

lay Lay may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada *Lay, Loire, a French commune *Lay (river), France *Lay, Iran, a village *Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community People * Lay (surname) * ...

that you have made.” The second tablet includes an instruction for the ''āšipu'' conducting the ritual – to impersonate the god Marduk: ''šiptu šipat Marduk āšipu ṣalam Marduk'', "The incantation is the incantation of Marduk, the ''āšipu'' is the very image of Marduk."''āšipu'' CAD š II, p. 431. It describes the events (deaths, confusion and unhappiness) which have befallen the house and led to the selection of this ritual and then provides a lengthy list of figures and incantations. The text describes in detail how figurines should be formed and paintings drawn of the ''

apkallu Apkallu (Akkadian) and Abgal ( Sumerian: ) are terms found in cuneiform inscriptions that in general mean either "wise" or "sage". In several contexts the ''Apkallu'' are seven demi-gods, sometimes described as part man and part fish, associat ...

s'', "sages," and the invocation to make them incarnate. They are arranged in the sick person’s room, close to his bed: It concludes with a lengthy prayer to the god

Nusku Nuska or Nusku, possibly also known as Našuḫ, was a Mesopotamian god best attested as the sukkal (divine vizier) of Enlil. He was also associated with fire and light, and could be invoked as a protective deity against various demons, such as L ...

, who is entreated to "expel the Demon, overcome Evil, and

Šulak In the Babylonian magico-medical tradition, Šulak is the lurker of the bathroom or the demon of the privy. Šulak appears in the Babylonian ''Diagnostic Handbook'' (Tablet XXVII), in which various diseases are described and attributed to the "han ...

, the nightly wanderer, whose touch is death." The third tablet of the series is perhaps why the incantation series is considered significant as it includes the earliest extant list of the ''apkallus''. These come in three forms – ūmu-, fish- and bird-''apkallus'', where the former may mean light and/or day and seem to be of human descent. In contrast to the other extant lists, there are eleven of these primordial beings, in two distinct groups, seven antediluvian and four postdiluvian: At the end of the third tablet, the statues are discarded in the river and the drawings erased from the walls. The fourth tablet is fragmentary.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bit meseri Akkadian literature Clay tablets