Sag-gig-ga-meš

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The incantation series inscribed in cuneiform Sumerograms as ÉN SAG.GIG.GA.MEŠ, Akkadian: muruṣ qaqqadi, “headache” (literally “sick-head”), is an ancient Mesopotamian nine-tablet collection of magical prescriptions[1] against the demon that caused grave disease characterized by a headache. Some of its incantations seem to have become incorporated into the later Assyrian work muššu’u, “rubbing”.[2] It is listed on the ninth line of the KAR44,[3]: 244  the work known as the Exorcists Manual, a compendium of the works of the āšipūtu, craft of exorcism, prefixed by the gloss sa.kik.ke4, a phonetic rendition of the series’ opening incipit, én sag-gig é-kur-ta nam-ta-è.[3]: 253 

The text[edit]

Prescriptions against headache have a long tradition within Mesopotamian folk remedy. The Kassite-era physician Rabâ-ša-Marduk authored “Eighteen prescriptions for headache”.

Like many of the other canonical collections of incantations and rituals, Sag-gig-ga-meš probably achieved its final form in the first millennium BC where it was copied down until the Hellenistic period.[4] Its first five incipits are known from a fragmentary catalog.[3]: 237 

Tablet 8 describes a change in mental status (ṭēmu) that the person becomes detached from his body: "They (the demons) altered his mental state, so that he forgets his own flesh."[5] In the ritual part of the text, a lamb is offered up for immolation as a substitute for the sick man.[6]

Primary publications[edit]

  • R. Campbell Thompson (1903). Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, &c. in the British Museum, Part XVII (CT 17). British Museum. pp. 4–8, 25–26. line art.
  • R. Campbell Thompson (1904). The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, Vol. 2. Luzac and Co. pp. 44–97. transliteration and translation
  • Adam Falkenstein (1931). Die Haupttypen Der Sumerischen Beschwörung: Literarisch Untersucht. Zentralantiquariat der DDR. pp. 13f.
  • Deirdre Linton (1970). The series Sag.gig.ga.meš and related incantations. University of Birmingham Dissertation.
  • H. Hunger (1975). "Zur Ordnung der diagnostischen Omenserie". ZA (65): 63–68.

References[edit]

  1. ^ D. O. Edzard (ed.). "Literatur". Reallexikon Der Assyriologie Und Vorderasiatischen Archaologie: Libanukasabas - Medizin (Vol 7). Walter De Gruyter. p. 3.
  2. ^ Barbara Böck (2007). Das Handbuch Muššu'u "Einreinbung". CSIC. p. 71.
  3. ^ a b c M J Geller (2000). "Incipits and Rubrics". Wisdom, Gods and literature. Eisenbrauns. pp. 237–258.
  4. ^ T Boiy (2004). Late Achaemenid and Hellenistic Babylon (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 136). Peeters Publishers. p. 26.
  5. ^ Ulrike Steinert (2012). Aspekte Des Menschseins Im Alten Mesopotamien: Eine Studie Zu Person Und Identitet im 2. und 1. Jt. v. Chr. Brill Academic Pub. p. 255.
  6. ^ E. Lipinski (1987). Cartago, Acta Colloquii Bruxellensis 1986. Peeters Publishers. p. 158.
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