Asakkū marṣūtu

Namtaru lemnu asakkū marṣūtu, inscribed NAM.TAR ḪUL.GÁL Á.SÀG GIG.GA, is an ancient Mesopotamian medical treatise from the first millennium BC which concerns the “grievous asakku-demons” and the diseases they cause.[1] Originally stretching to at least twelve tablets, it is only partially extant, with parts of around eight of the tablets from the Library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh[2] and a copy of tablet 3 from the temple of Nabȗ in Nimrud, ancient Kalhu.[3] It is recorded, with a somewhat different gloss than one might have expected, in the Exorcists Manual: di-‘u GIG-tu4, di’u marṣūtu,[4] betraying its intended purpose in the combat of the demons and the cure of the ailment they were supposed to have caused, “fever sickness,” a grave disease characterized by a headache,[5] possibly malaria.

The text

The sickness that afflicts the patient is described asakku marṣu ina zumur amēli ittabši, “the dangerous asakku-demon has settled in the body of the man.” It invokes the metaphor of clothing: amēla muttallika kīma ṣubāti iktatam, “he [the asakku-demon] enveloped the miserable man like a garment”; and that of a force of nature: asakku kīma mīli nāru isḫup, “the asakku-demon overwhelmed [him] like the flood of a river.”[6]

The text includes several ritual procedures for combating epidemic fevers and these often involve the manipulation of goats or their offspring. One example involves the placement of a kid on the head of the patient.[7] Piglets (ŠAḪ.TUR.RA) are also sacrificed in pursuit of relief.[8]

References
  1. asakku CAD A/2 p. 326.
  2. Jean Bottéro (1975). Annuaire 1974/1975. École Pratique des Hautes Études, IVe Section, Sciences historiques et philolgiques. p. 99.
  3. D. J. Wiseman, J. A. Black (1996). Literary texts from the temple of Nabȗ (CTN 4). British School of Archaeology in Iraq. p. 19. no. 102.
  4. M J Geller (2000). "Incipits and Rubrics". Wisdom, Gods and literature. Eisenbrauns. pp. 244, 253.
  5. di’u CAD D, p. 165.
  6. Nahum M. Waldman (1989). "The Imagery of Clothing, Covering and Overpowering". JANES. 19: 161, 165.
  7. Irene Huber (2005). Rituale der Seuchen- und Schadensabwehr im Vorderen Orient und Griechenland. Franz Steiner Verlag. pp. 41, 44, 103.
  8. R. Campbell Thompson (1904). The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, Vol. 2. Luzac & Co. pp. 2–43.
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