This tablet is inscribed with bilingual (Sumerian and Akkadian) incantations against the evil asakku demon, which together with many other malevolent forces has attacked the sufferer in the head. The first spell describes its evil effects, and the second is recited over a kid, as a substitute to which the evil is transferred so that it can be effectively banished. The tablet is part of a much larger compilation of magical exorcistic texts whose general title is ‘Grievous Assaku.’ This is the eleventh tablet of the series.
7th century BC
From Nineveh, library of Ashurbanipal
W A K3118
H 10 cm W 7 cm TH 2.5 cm
Campbell Thompson 1903- pls 9-11; 1903-4- 28-37
Curtis, J.E. and J. E. Reade, eds. Art and Empire; Treasures from Assyria in the British Museum. London- British Museum Press, 1995.
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