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The Babylonian World - Historia Antigua

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— Witchcraft literature in Mesopotamia —<br />

Who decides lawsuits like (= in the stead of) Sin and Sˇamasˇ –<br />

Judge my case, hand down my verdict.<br />

Burn my warlock and my witch;<br />

O Girra, burn my warlock and my witch;<br />

O Girra, scorch my warlock and my witch;<br />

O Girra, burn them;<br />

O Girra, scorch them;<br />

O Girra, vanquish them;<br />

O Girra, consume them;<br />

O Girra, consume them completely (lit. mix them together completely).<br />

<strong>The</strong> witch against whom the ritual is directed is a powerful and destructive creature,<br />

as we learn from III 1–16, the opening of the first incantation in Tablet III:<br />

<strong>The</strong> sorceress, she who roams the streets,<br />

Who continually intrudes into houses,<br />

Who prowls in alleys,<br />

Who spies about the broad ways –<br />

She keeps looking (lit. turning) around in front and in back,<br />

Standing in the street she turns (her) foot (movement) around,<br />

And in the square blocks (commercial) traffic.<br />

She robbed the fine young man of his virility,<br />

She carried off the attractiveness of the fine young woman,<br />

With her malignant stare she took away her charms,<br />

She looked at the young man and (thereby) took away his vitality,<br />

She looked at the young woman and (thereby) carried off her<br />

attractiveness!<br />

<strong>The</strong> witch saw me and came after me,<br />

With her venom, she cut off (commercial) traffic,<br />

With her spittle, she cut off my trading,<br />

She drove away my god and goddess from my person.<br />

Again, the fire-god is asked to destroy the agency of evil in III 158–183:<br />

Hand, Hand,<br />

Strong hand of humankind,<br />

Which, like a lion, seized a man,<br />

Like a bird trap, clamped down on a young man,<br />

Like a net, overwhelmed the warrior,<br />

Like a battle net, caught the leader,<br />

Like a trap, covered the strong one.<br />

O warlock and witch, may Girra burn your hand,<br />

May Girra consume, may Girra drink, may Girra wholly consume<br />

(lit. mix together completely),<br />

May Girra roar at your strong hand,<br />

You whose hand bewitched, may he burn your body,<br />

381

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