MESOPOTAMIAN 'NAMBURBI' RITUALS (Mezpotamskie rytualy 'namburbi')

• Authors: Nowicki Stefan
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The aim of this article is to present a special kind of ancient rituals called 'namburbi'. Therefore, they are shown in a wide context of ancient Near Eastern religion and magic, which explains the sense of their existence. They were performed after a god's decision to punish an individual or a society, which was carried by an evil omen. Among different kinds of rituals connected with divination, 'namburbi' rituals, and only them, were used to prevent imminent and unknown calamities. This characteristic of 'namburbi' rituals is based on many extant omen series, the authors of which recommend to perform 'namburbi' in the case of noticing an evil sign with an uncertain explanation. We can distinguish a few groups of 'namburbi' - these that are against calamities carried by specific terrestrial, celestial, animal or human omens and these that prevent any aftermath of evil sings at all. The last part of the article describes the structure of 'namburbi' rituals, which is hardly changeable. It includes rites of purification, different types of incantations and, in the main part, a suit against the evil sign in the form of a clay figure, which closely reflected a Mesopotamian lawsuit. Concluding, we can presume that 'namburbi' rituals had grown from folk magic and later they reached the highest strata of the ancient society, making up for a marked lack of rites in the official cult and magic. Another conclusion is that we can encounter specific elements of 'namburbi' rituals in the magic and the religion of Asia Minor's and Mediterranean cultures of later times.

Keywords

EN

ANCIENT NEAR EAST; MAGIC; RELIGION; RITUALS

Discipline

• ETHNOLOGY: ETHNOLOGY

• Publisher: Polskie Towarzystwo Orientalistyczne
• Journal: Przegląd Orientalistyczny
• Year: 2008
• Issue: 1-2 (224-225)
• Pages: 23-35
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Nowicki Stefan

• Stefan Nowicki, Uniwersytet Wroclawski, Instytut Filologii Klasycznej i Antycznej, ul. Szewska 49, 50-139 Wroclaw, Poland.

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

09PLAAAA06064