In Akkadian Magic Literature the authors present for the first time the complete corpus of
Akkadian incantations of the Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian periods (ca. 1900-1500 BCE). Each
of the 188 different texts in this volume is edited translated and accompanied by a
philological commentary. The entire corpus is catalogued and thematically sorted (incantations
that concern specific diseases and medical problems incantations against dangerous animals
incantations that relate to humans incantations that relate to supernatural entities and
incantations that relate to inanimate objects). In the Overview the reader will find extensive
discussions regarding the geographical and archaeological setting of the texts their format
and physical properties and various aspects of ancient magical praxis (the practitioners and
the clients the time and place of the magic act and the materia magica involved). The
manipulative strategies revealed in the incantations and the literary and rhetorical devices
used in them are thoroughly studied.
