Babel und Bibel 9

Proceedings of the 6th Biennial Meeting

of the International Association for Comparative Semitics
and Other Studies

Edited by
L. Kogan, N. Koslova, S. Loesov, and S. Tishchenko
Editorial Secretary
I. Arkhipov

Published for
the Russian State University for the Humanities
by
Eisenbrauns
Winona Lake, Indiana
2016
 ISBN 978-1-57506-448-2

ISSN 1938-5668

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. ♾ ™
 Contents

Contents i

Selected Papers Presented at the 6th Biennial Meeting

of the International Association for Comparative Semitics
M. Bulakh. Was There a Color Term *ḥmr ‘to be red’
in Proto-Semitic? 3
G. del Olmo Lete. The Use of the Infinitive in Sequential
Constructions in Ugaritic 19
Yu. Furman, S. Loesov. Notes on Historical Morphology
of Turoyo 37
V. Golinets. Amorite Animal Names: Cognates
for the Semitic Etymological Dictionary 55
O. Kapeliuk. Neo-Semitic: New Verb Forms, New Usage 87
G. Khan. Remarks on Roots and Stems in the Christian
Urmi Dialect of Neo-Aramaic 105
M. Krebernik. Etymological and Historical Problems
Concerning Akkadian tamkāru ‘merchant’ 119
T. Notarius. The Second-Person Non-Negated Jussive
in the Language of Ugaritic Poetry in Comparative
Semitic Perspective 131
P. Stein. The Cohortative in Biblical Hebrew –
Subjunctive or Energic? A New Approach
from the Sabaic Perspective 155
O. Stolbova. Ethiosemitic–Chadic Lexical Parallels 171
G. Takács. Semitic “Fat”: Some New Etymologies 183
E. Vernet. Etymologischer Ursprung der reduplizierten
und geminierten Wurzeln im Proto-Semitischen 189
M. Vernet. Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Semitic Verbal
Root Incompatibilities: a New Typological Approach 207
ii Babel und Bibel 9

Other Studies
Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Articles
E. Jiménez. May the Reader Not Withhold the Tablet!
On a Formula in Late Babylonian Colophons 227

Reviews
M. Maiocchi. Classical Sargonic Tablets Chiefly from Adab in the
Cornell University Collections (E. Markina) 243
A. Kloekhorst. Accent in Hittite. A Study in Plene Spelling,
Consonant Gradation, Clitics, and Metrics
(A. Sideltsev, M. Molina) 259

Semitic Studies
Articles
T. Fain, J. N. Ford, A. Lyavdansky. Aramaic Incantation 283
Bowls at the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Short Notes
L. Kogan, A. I. al-Da‘rhi, K. McNeer. Vitaly 319
N. Kuzin, S. Loesov. The Sun Also Rises: ko-saləq u=yawmo 325

Old Testament Studies

Articles
C. von Büttner. “My God Was My Help”:
A Note on the Great Isaiah Scroll (Isa 49:5) 337

Abbreviations of Periodicals, Reference Works, Series,

Sources, and Languages 349
 Offprint from:
L. Kogan, N. Koslova, S. Loesov, and S Tishchenko (eds.),
! Babel und Bibel 9: Proceedings of the 6th Biennial Meetings of the
International Association for Comparative Semitics and oOther Studies
© Copyright 2016 Eisenbrauns. All rights reserved.

Aramaic Incantation Bowls

at the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg*

Tatyana Fain
Maimonides State Classical Academy, Moscow
finearamit@gmail.com

James Nathan Ford

Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan
Jn.Ford@biu.ac.il

Alexey Lyavdansky
Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow
andurar@gmail.com

The State Hermitage Museum (SHM) in St. Petersburg houses eleven Aramaic
incantation bowls. Seven of them are inscribed in the Jewish Aramaic square
script, one is inscribed in Mandaic characters, and there are three pseudoscript
bowls. Six of these eleven bowls have been previously published (Shileyko 1921;
Borisov 1939; Borisov 1969). The present paper is the first publication of the en-
tire SHM collection, based on collations of the originals.
Keywords: Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, Mandaic, incantation bowls, the State
Hermitage Museum Collection

1. Publication history
Eight of the eleven SHM bowls come from N. P. Likhachev’s collection.1
The other three Aramaic bowls arrived from the Russian Archaeological
Institute in Constantinople.

* We are most grateful to Alexander Nikitin (the State Hermitage Museum)

for making the collection available to us and providing us with excellent images.
We thank Prof. Matthew Morgenstern (Tel-Aviv University) for his images of the
bowls and for helpful suggestions. We are also grateful to Dr. Sergey Loesov and
Dr. Olga Borovaya for helping us improve our writing. Bowls labeled JNF, Wolfe
and DS are in private collections and being prepared for publication by J. N.
Ford. We would like to thank Ms. Lisa Marie Knothe, Mr. L. Alexander Wolfe
and Mr. David Sofer, respectively, for generously allowing us access to the bowls.
We would also like to thank Prof. Shaul Shaked (The Hebrew University) for
284 Semitic Studies: Articles

The first SHM bowl to see light was S-446 (Shileyko 1921:107–110).
A second one, S-449, was published by Andrey Borisov in Borisov 1939.
Four more bowls appeared in print in Borisov 1969. The remaining five
bowls are dealt with in the present contribution for the first time.

2. Texts and commentaries

This section includes only bowls with genuine texts, not pseudoscript (see
section 3).

SIGLA
˹xx˺ partially preserved letters
[xx] restored letters
[..] missing letters
<xx> scribal omissions
{xx} scribal plusses

I. S-442
Dimensions: 13.3×5.8 cm.
Remarks: the provenance of the bowl is unknown. The bowl was a part of
Likhachev’s collection. From 1938 it has been kept at the Oriental Department of
SHM.
Script: Jewish Aramaic.
Text arrangement: the text runs in a clockwise spiral from the internal bottom to the
rim.
Number of lines: five.
Clients: Maḥlefana son of Rewiṯa.
Contents: the text begins with a list of evils menacing the client. Then there follows
the speaker’s wish that the client be guarded from all evil. After an address to the
client with a biblical verse, there follows an appeal to the demon to leave the cli-
ent.
Linguistic and orthographic features: Ṣ rather than S appears in ṣmlyh ‘his left side’ (l. 3).

permission to quote from unpublished bowls in the Martin Schøyen collection

(labelled MS) and Prof. Dan Levene (University of Southampton) for permission
to quote from unpublished bowls in the Samir Dehays collection (labelled SD).
Bowls labeled LO are being prepared for publication by S. Bhayro, J. N. Ford
and M. Morgenstern. We would like to thank the Barakat Gallery for access to
them. Bowls labeled PC are in a private collection and are being prepared for
publication by J. N. Ford and M. Morgenstern. The research for this article was
supported by the Israel Science Foundation grant no. 1306/12 (Ford) and by Prof.
Eugene Weiner grant (Lyavdansky).!
1 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolay_Likhachyov. On the Likhachev

collection, see also Bolshakov–Stepanova 2012.

 T. Fain, J. N. Ford, A. Lyavdansky, Aramaic Bowls… 285

Biblical quotations: Ps 91:11.

Parallels: almost verbatim parallels to the formula wlʔ ygʕwn byh kl mzyqyh (l. 3) ap-
pear in AIT 16:4, 18:3; JBA 34:2–3.
Editions: Borisov 1969:12f.
Notes: Harviainen 1981:20; Ilan 2011:247, 375; Ford forthcoming a.
Photographs and facsimiles: Borisov 1969, pl. IV.

Transliteration
(1) ṣʕryh wmrʕyh šydy wdywy wsṭny wmzyqy wḥršyn wʕwbdyn (2) byšyn pyg˹ʕ˺ʔ
mll˹tʔ˺ wkysy wytḥtm mḥlpnʔ br rbytʔ mn ˹ʔ˺rbʕ rwḥtyh (3) mn ymynyh wmn ṣmlyh
mn qdmwhy wʔḥwrwhy dlʔ yg˹ʕwn˺ byh kl mzyqyh [l]˹k ʔ˺mrnʔ (4) mḥlpnʔ br rbytʔ
ky mlʔkw yṣwʔ lk lyšmwryk bkl drkk ʔmn ʔmn slh zh wpwq šydʔ (5) byšʔ mn mḥlpnʔ
br rbytʔ

Translation
(1) Pains and illnesses, demons and dēvs and satans and tormentors and
sorcery and evil (2) (magical) acts, affliction-demon, (magic) words and
blows. May Maḥlefana son of Rewiṯa be sealed at his four sides, (i. e.) on
(3) his right and his left, in front of him and in his rear, so that no tormen-
tors will afflict him. To you I say, (4) Maḥlefana son of Rewiṯa: “For he
will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.”2
Amen, Amen, Selah. Go away and depart, evil (5) demon, from
Maḥlefana son of Rewiṯa.

Notes
1. ṣʕryh wmrʕyh ‘pains and illnesses.’ The ending -yh is an orthographic
variant for the old plural definite ending -yʔ.3 Cf. ʔtr drmn šydyh klhwn ‘the
place where all the demons are cast’ (DS 11:7–8); bhhyʔ ʕyzqtʔ dyšlmh mlkʔ
br dwyd dʕlh ṣyryn kl mlʔkyh wšydyh wšydym wptkryʔ ‘by that signet-ring of
King Solomon son of David, upon which are drawn all angels and demons
and demons and idol-spirits’ (JNF 102:6–7); mšbʕnʔ ytkwn rwḥyʔ wšydyh
wšypṭyh wpgʕyʔ ‘I make you swear, spirits and demons and plagues and af-
fliction-demons’ (LO 904:9–10). For the interchange of “definite” and
“indefinite” forms in the present context, compare, for example, wmn šydyʔ
wmn dywyʔ wmn ḥršyn byšyn wmn ʕbdyn tqypyn wmn lylytʔ dmytqryʔ mbkltʔ wmn kl
pyṭyrwtʔ wbyštʔ wmn kl zyqy wmzyqy byšyʔ ‘and from demons, and from dēvs,
and from evil sorcery, and from mighty (magical) acts, and from the lilith

2 Ps 91:11.
3 Juusola 1999:132 lists both forms, but does not include any examples of -yh
in the following discussion (pp. 133–139).
286 Semitic Studies: Articles

who is called mevakkalta, and from all enemies and evils, and from all blast-
demons and tormenters’ (MS 2053/59:7–8). The expression ṣʕryh wmrʕyh
is formulaic, cf. mn ṣʕry wmn mrʕy (AMB B11:3); wkl ṣʕry wkl mrʕy (MS
2053/23:13); wmn kl ṣʕryn wmrʕyn (JNF 159:2–3).
1–2. The text in lines 1–2 (ṣʕryh… wkysy) is an extraposed noun phrase,
it provides a topic for the following sentence, in which this noun phrase is
referred back to via kl mzyqyh ‘all tormentors’ (line 3).This single term
summarizes the list of illnesses and evil forces that opens the text.
2. pyg˹ʕ˺ʔ ‘affliction-demon.’ The usual spelling of the singular form of
this term in the JBA magic bowls is pgʕʔ, but the plural form pygʕy(n) is at-
tested a number of times (e. g., VA Bab 2780:3; KtO 1436:3; cf. MS Or.
Sim. 6, 7a:6, Bohak–Morgenstern 2014) for the usual pgʕy(n). The plene
spelling in the present text accords with Mandaic piga (MD 370) and con-
firms the vocalization with hiriq proposed by Sokoloff in DJBA 887.
kysy ‘blows.’ The reading and interpretation of the name of this well at-
tested class of demons is disputed. Some scholars read kwsy ‘(magic) bowls’
(e. g., AIT 7:13; Geller 1980:58, 60; Hunter 1997:109, 110). The interpre-
tation is based on the assumption that the waw represents qamaṣ. The spo-
radic use of waw to represent qamaṣ in the magic bowls is well documented.4
The consistent spelling of this word with waw in a considerable number of
bowls written by different hands, however, is difficult to explain. Further-
more, when the Jewish magic bowl texts refer to the actual bowl on which
the incantation is written, the ostensibly identical word is consistently written
defectively as ksʔ. We therefore distinguish between the two words and
tentatively follow Naveh–Shaked 1993, who read kysyn ‘blows’ in a similar
context (MSF B19:6 wqṭryn wkysyn wmlltʔ ‘knots, blows, spells’). DJBA 576
derives kysʔ ‘a disease, demon’ from Akkadian kīsu B.
The suggestion to read kwsy as ‘bowls’ is based on the assumption that
in bowls we sporadically have waw for /å/. DJBA 590 does contain a vari-
ant spelling kwsʔ for ksʔ ‘bowl.’ Juusola 1999:54–68 discusses waw for /å/
in JBA, yet he did not include kwsʔ into the list of examples.
wytḥtm mḥlpnʔ br rbytʔ mn ˹ʔ˹rbʕ rwḥtyh ‘May Maḥlefana son of Rewiṯa be
sealed at his four sides.’ For rwḥtʔ ‘sides,’ see DJBA 1064, s. v. rwḥʔ, mean-
ing 3: ‘side, direction, edge.’ In the incantation bowls compare: ḥtymʔ ʕrsh
byt myškbh bʔrbʕ rwḥth ‘her bed and bedroom are sealed at her four sides’
(Müller-Kessler 2013:82); ḥtymʔ ʕrsyh byt myškbyh bʕrbʕ rwḥtyh ‘his bed and
bedroom are sealed at his four sides’ (JNF 266:11). The sealing of the cli-

4 See, for example, Juusola 1999:54–68.

 T. Fain, J. N. Ford, A. Lyavdansky, Aramaic Bowls… 287

ent ‘at his four sides’ recalls the well attested ‘angels on all sides’ formula,
for which see recently Levene–Marx–Bhayro 2014. In fact, line 4 of our
text quotes Ps. 91:11 as an explicit promise of angelic protection for the
client.
mḥlpnʔ ‘Maḥlefana.’ The PN derives from the verb ḥlp ‘to replace; to
sprout forth again’ (SL:458–459; DJBA 465) and may refer to its bearer as
a substitute for a deceased family member.
rbytʔ ‘Rewiṯa.’ This PN undoubtedly derives from the common noun
rbytʔ ‘young girl’ (DJBA 1057). For additional attestations of this name in
Aramaic bowls, see M102:2, 12; VA 2484:16.
3. ṣmlyh ‘his left.’ For the s > ṣ shift in bowl texts written in Jewish Ara-
maic, Mandaic and Syriac, see Ford forthcoming a.
wlʔ ygʕwn byh kl mzyqyh ‘so that no tormentors will afflict him.’ Similarly
wlʔ ygʕ bhwn/bh kl mzyq dʔyt bʕlmʔ ‘so that no tormentor which is in the
world will afflict them/him’ (AIT 16:4–5; AIT 18:3; JBA 34:2–3). The ba-
sic meaning of the verb ngʕ is ‘to touch’ (DJBA 729–730). Geller believes
that Mesopotamian demons inflicted harm on human beings by touching
them.5
4. ky mlʔkw yṣwʔ lk lyšmwryk bkl drkk ‘for he will command his angels
concerning you to guard you in all your ways.’ There are divergences
from MT: 1) plene spelling in lyšmwryk;6 2) omission of yod as a mater lectionis
in mlʔkw, drkk; 3) aleph instead of he in yṣwʔ, which follows a tendency to use
these two matres lectionis indiscriminately in JBA (Borisov 1969:13).
The use of this quotation may had been prompted by the verb ngʕ
(ygʕwn), which is naturally associated with the Hebrew noun negaʕ in the
previous verse (Ps 91:10), lʔ tʔnh ʔlyk rʕh wngʕ lʔ yqrb bʔhlk. On the other
level, our text follows discourse structure of Ps 91:10–11. The quotation
“For he will command his angels…” is a motivation clause for the previ-
ous wish “may Maḥlefana son of Rewiṯa be sealed…” The same discourse
relation exists between verses 10 and 11 in Ps 91.
zh wpwq ‘go away and depart.’ The phrase zh wpwq ‘go away and de-
part’ is a common formulaic pair of imperatives (cf. JBA 6:15, 9:15,

5 See Geller 2007.

6 Borisov points out the unusual spelling at the end of this form (yod before kaf).
He understands the yod as representing šəwā quiescens (Borisov 1969:13), but the at-
tested Babylonian vocalization of our word in Ps 91 is with a šəwā mobile. See
Yeivin 1985:400, 489 and cf. Juusola 1999:44–50. In any case, the yod most likely
indicates a pausal form, lišmorēkā (Matthew Morgenstern, p. c.).
288 Semitic Studies: Articles

48:5, 7; 49:4). Borisov read dhwpwq, but rightly considered the reading du-
bious (Borisov 1969:12).

II. S-443
Dimensions: 17×7.2 cm.
Remarks: the provenance of the bowl is unknown. The bowl was a part of Lik-
hachev’s collection.
The rim of the bowl is chipped in three places. Part of the surface is faded,
almost 25% of the text is lost in every line. There are many affinities with the
bowls found in Nippur (see “Notes”). This may point to the possible provenance
of this bowl.
Script: Jewish Aramaic.
Text arrangement: the text runs in a clockwise spiral from the internal bottom to the
rim.
Number of lines: ten.
Image: a human figure in the center is surrounded by a circle. The text is also en-
closed by a circle near the rim.
Clients: Aḥuy son of Maḥlafta, Hannah daughter of Imma.
Parallels: IM 49972:4 (Hunter 1997), JNF 285; DS 9. Variants of the formula of
the ‘seven words’ are also found in AIT 6:7–9, Geller B:7–9, M163:9–11, MS
1927/62:5–7 (see Levene 2003:130–131).
Editions: Borisov 1969:7–8, 10.
Notes: Hunter 1997:108–113, 124}125 (IM 49972); Naveh–Shaked 1998:58; Juu-
sola 1999:70, 76f.; Levene 1999:295; Levene 2003:131; Müller-Kessler 2005:44,
47; Müller-Kessler 2011:229; Ilan 2011:57, 140, 410, 419.!
Photographs and facsimiles: Borisov 1969, pl. I.

Transliteration
(1) [byšmk mry ʔswʔtʔ ʔsy]˹ʔ r˺bʔ drḥmy mzmn hdyn ksʔ lḥtmtʔ dbytyh dhdyn
ʔḥwy b[r mḥlptʔ] . . . . (2) . . . . . [s]ṭnʔ byšʔ wlwṭtʔ byštʔ ʔmn brwk ʔth yhwh
ʔlhynw ˹ml˺[k hʕwlm] . . . . (3) . . . . . ˹hm˺ytgbyr brwb gbwrʔ ʔnʔ mwmynʔ
wmšbʕnʔ ʕlyky ʔntyn rwḥy byšʔth . . . . (4) . . . . . ˹ḥ˺ršy wmʕwbdy byšy ptkry
wṭwlnytʔ ḥylmy byšy wswṭyṭy tqypy nydry wšbwʕt[ʔ] . . . . (5) . . . . .[wq]rwtʔ dkl
bny ʔynšh mwmynʔ wmšbʕnʔ ʕlykwn bdlʔ tyqrbwn lh lhdʔ ḥnʔ bt ʔmh
d˹m˺[ytqryʔ] . . . . .(6) . . . . . ʔ˹l˺ʔḥwy br mḥlptʔ lʔ blylyʔ wlʔ bymmʔ wlʔ tydmwn
lh lḥnʔ bt ʔmh wlʔ tydmwn lh bkl dmwtʔ by[štʔ] . . . . . (7) . . . . . [lʔ] bdmwt gmlʔ
wlʔ bdmwt ḥzyrʔ wlʔ bdmwt šwrnʔ wlʔ bdmwt gbrʔ wʔyttʔ wlʔ bkl dymywnyn
byš[y]˹n˺ kwl[hwn] . . . . . (8) . . . . . ḥnʔ bt ʔmhdmytqryʔ ʔsyrytwn wḥtymytwn by-
dykwn wbryglykwn bpwmykwn blybykwn wblyšnkwn wkbyšytwn bšwm hlyn šb[ʕ
mylyn dyšmyʔ wʔrʕh kbyšyn bhyn (9) dšwm ḥd]ʔ gyšmwn wmrbyl wšwm tynyytʔ
gšymwn wšwm tlytytʔ tḥbl wšwm rbyʕytʔ mwrdn 7 wšwm ḥmyšytʔ ˹ʔr˺dygl wšwm

7 Or mwr˹ḥ˺n/mwd˹ḥ˺n (DS 9:12: mwdḥn).

 T. Fain, J. N. Ford, A. Lyavdansky, Aramaic Bowls… 289

[šty]˹t˺ytʔ ˹m˺[škbyh]8 . . . . (10) . . . . [ʕlm]ʔwrkbyhwnwbhwn mytkbšyn kl rwḥyn

wkl sṭnyn byšyn bhwn mytkbyš lylytʔ by˹š˺tʔ˹wsṭn˺ʔ byšʔ . . .ʔ lh lh[dʔ ḥnʔ
bt]˹ʔmh˺ . . . . .

Translation
(1) [In your name, Lord of Healings, the great heal]er of mercy. This
bowl is designated for the sealing of the house of this Aḥuy [son of
Maḥlafta] … (2) … evil satan and evil curses. Amen. Blessed are you,
YHWH, our God, Kin[g of the world] … (3) … the one who shows him-
self mighty with vast might. I adjure and conjure you, you, evil spirits, …
(4) … sorcery and evil practices, idol-spirits and demons of the shade, bad
dreams and mighty terrors, vow-demons and oath-demons … (5) … [and
mis]hap of all people. I adjure and conjure you, do not approach this
Hanna daughter of Imma, who [is called] … (6) … to Aḥuy son of
Maḥlafta, neither by night nor by day, and do not appear to Hanna
daughter of Imma, and do not appear to her in any evil fo[rm] … (7) …
[not] in the form of a camel, and not in the form of a pig, and not in the
form of a cat, and not in the form of a man or a woman, and not as any
evil appearances at all … (8) … Hanna daughter of Imma, who is
called<…>. May you be bound and sealed at your hands, at your legs, at
your mouths, at your hearts and at your tongues.And may you be subdued
by the name(s) of these seven [words by which heaven and earth are sub-
dued. (9) Of which the name of the first is] GYŠMWN and MRBYL, the
name of the second is GŠYMWN, the name of the third is TḤBL, the
name of the fourth is MWR(D)N, the name of the fifth is ʔRDYGL, the
name of the [si]xth is M[ŠKBYH] … (10) … [the worl]d and their chari-
ots. And by which all the spirits and the evil satans are subdued, and by
which is subdued the evil Lilith and evil Satan … to th[is Hanna daughter
of] Imma …

Notes
1. [byšmk mry ʔswʔtʔ ʔsy]˹ʔ r˺bʔ drḥmy mzmn hdyn ksʔ lḥtmtʔ dbytyh d-. ‘[In
your name, the lord of healings, the great heal]erof mercy. This bowl is
designated for the sealing of the house of…’ Borisov reconstructed the be-
ginning of this formulaic passage on the basis of AIT 3:1. We follow the
orthography of the corresponding passage in the parallel bowl JNF 285.
Opening appeals to ‘the lord of healings, the great healer of mercy’ are

8 Reconstruction following JNF 285:10 and DS 9:13.

290 Semitic Studies: Articles

quite popular,9 but the identity of this beneficent divine figure is uncertain.
It may refer to Meṭaṭron, who is explicitly called ʔsyh rbʔ drḥmy ‘great
healer of mercy’ in BM 136204:5 (Segal 068A). On the other hand, the
similar epithet mry ʔsw dkwl ḥy ‘Lord of Healing of all the living’ appears in
a context which typically refers to God (cf. S-447:10): hʔnh ktbyt wmry ʔsw
dkwl ḥy ytn ʔsw lʔyh bt byby ‘Behold, I have written and the Lord of Healing
of all the living will give healing to A. daughter of B.’ (Wolfe 50:5).
ʔḥwy [br mḥlptʔ] ‘Aḥuy [son of Maḥlafta].’ Cf. l. 6. According to Borisov,
ʔḥwy is one of the variants of the male name ʔḥʔ ‘brother.’ Ilan 2011:57 is
of the same opinion; the base ʔḥʔ was augmented by the suffix -wy proba-
bly under Iranian influence (ibid. 14). The feminine PN mḥlptʔ is very
popular in the Babylonian Jewish diaspora (Ilan 2011:418f.). Compare the
masculine PN mḥlpnʔ in S-442.
2. ʔmn ‘Amen.’ The phrase ʔmn ʔmn slh is the standard device to mark
the end of a text or the end of a paragraph in Jewish Aramaic bowls.10
The isolated ʔmn is used to mark the end of a paragraph, albeit rarely (JBA
6:12).
2–3. ˹ml˺[k hʕwlm] . . . ˹hm˺ytgbyr brwb gbwrʔ ‘Kin[g of the world] . . . the
one who shows himself mighty with vast might.’ The text in the better pre-
served parallels reads: brwk ʔth yhwh ʔlhynw mlk hʕwlm hʔl hgdwl hgybwr
whnwrʔ hmytgbyr brwb gbwrʔ ‘Blessed are you, Lord, our God, King of the
world, the great, mighty, and awesome God, who shows himself mighty
with vast might’ (JNF 285:2–3; DS 9:3–4).
3. ʔntyn. The 2 f. pl. form of the independent pronoun is not attested in
the Babylonian Talmud, but appears to be preserved as ʔtyn or ʔntyn in the
bowl texts (Juusola 1999:70; JBA 16:8). Paleographically the present form
could also be read ʔntwn, but yod is preferable to waw because the context
points to a feminine form (Juusola 1999:76–77).11
4. wmʕwbdy ‘and magical acts.’ Probably for standard mʕbdy ‘magical
acts.’ The same spelling is attested in the parallel text DS 9:13.12 If the
ʕayin was not pronounced, as in mbdy (YBC 2359:3; SD 38; VA 2496:2, 10,
14; VA 2575:2) and mbdyn (YBC 2359:6), one might posit a shift /maḇdē/
> /muḇdē/ under the influence of the following labial.

9 See also AIT 7:1–2; AIT 19:1–2; AIT 27:1–2; M-K 11b:1; SD 40:1; MS

1927/34:1; MS 2053/197:1; JNF 159:1. Cf. AIT 15:1.

10 For example, S-442:4; S-446:4; S-447:6; S-448:5.
11 For other rare feminine forms in the bowl texts, see Morgenstern forth-

coming.
12 In BM 91742:7 (Segal 019A), read bʕwbdy for Segal’s wmʕwbdy.
 T. Fain, J. N. Ford, A. Lyavdansky, Aramaic Bowls… 291

ṭwlnytʔ ‘demons of the shade.’ According to Sokoloff’s Addenda et Cor-

rigenda to DJBA, the entry ṭwlnytʔ now includes only one reference,
namely, to the text of our bowl (Bo. 107:4). For additional attestations of
ṭwlnytʔ in unpublished JBA incantation bowls see Morgenstern–Ford
forthcoming.
swṭyṭy ‘terrors.’ The word swṭyṭʔ ‘terror’ is usually derived from sywṭʔ
‘fright, type of demon’ (DJBA 800; cf. sywṭʔ ‘fright, terror, panic, pain, suf-
fering’ in MD 325) via reduplication (Epstein 1922:53).13 The same word
appears in Syriac incantation bowls (SIB 7:4; 41:14; MS 2055/28:814).
5. [wq]rwt ʔdkl bny ʔynšh ‘[and mis]hap of all people.’ The reconstruc-
tion is based on the parallel text JNF 285:5.
mwmynʔ wmšbʕnʔ ʕlykwn b-dlʔ tyqrbwn lh ‘I adjure you and conjure you,
do not approach her.’ The preposition b- before the conjunction dlʔ ‘lest,
so that not’15 is superfluous and appears to be a mistake. Compare, for ex-
ample, mšbʕnʔ ʕlk dlʔ tyqṭwl… ‘I adjure you that you do not kill’ (AIT 3:4).
ḥnʔ bt ʔmh ‘Hanna, daughter of Imma.’ Ilan 2011:410 believes that ʔmh
is a (rare) defective spelling of the common Jewish female name Imma
‘mother,’ whereas Borisov 1969:8 relates the name to Hebrew ʔāmā ‘fe-
male servant.’
ḥnʔ bt ʔmh d˹m˺[ytqryʔ] ‘Hanna daughter of Imma, who [is called].’ The
reconstruction is based upon a parallel passage in l. 8 (Borisov 1969:8).
6–7. wlʔ tydmwn lh … [lʔ] bdmwt gmlʔ wlʔ bdmwt ḥzyrʔ wlʔ bdmwt šwrnʔ
‘and do not appear to her … [not] in the form of a camel and not in the
form of a pig and not in the form of a cat.’ The closest published parallel
to this passage is IM 49972:4 (Hunter 1997).16 Other bowls referring to
demons appearing in the form of animals include AIT 7:14–15 and
M 164:8f. (Levene 2007).17

13 DJBA does not have a separate entry for this word and registers it s. v.
‫סיוטא‬.
14 The bowl from the Schøyen collection is to be published in Ford forthcom-
ing b.
15 Cf. DJBA 613.
16 Hunter does not appear to have been aware of the relationship between the
two bowls. In the corresponding passage in IM 49972 the word tlʔ would better
be translated ‘fox’ (cf. DJBA:1223, s. v. tʕlʔ), rather than Hunter’s ‘worms.’ The
same spelling is attested in a similar context in MS 2053/247:4: dmydmyʕ btlʔ
wšwnr ‘who appear as a fox or a cat.’
17 For the topos of apparitions of demons in the guise of animals, see Moriggi

2013.
292 Semitic Studies: Articles

7. šwrnʔ ‘cat.’ The usual word for ‘cat’ in JBA is šwnrʔ. The dialectal
variant šwrnʔ occurs once in BT Ber. 56b in a metalinguistic context,18 and
once more in another incantation bowl (AMB B13:12). For the history of
both forms of the word in Aramaic, see Greenfield 1966:98–100. For the
etymological discussion, see SED II No. 206.
8. ḥnʔ bt ʔmh dmytqryʔ ‘Hanna daughter of Imma, who is called.’
Dmytqryʔ without a following PN is difficult. Borisov 1969:8 attempts to
solve this problem by taking ʔmh as a common noun, “Hanna, who is
called ‘daughter of a maid-servant,’” but both the word order and the ap-
pellation are unusual. The relative clause dmytqryʔ ‘who is called’ modifies
the matronymic of the client, i. e., introduces a nickname of the client’s
mother. The text appears to be defective here, as the expected nickname
has been omitted.
8–9. bšwm hlyn šb[ʕ . . . (9) . . . ḥd]ʔ gyšmwn ‘by the name(s) of these seven
[. . . (9) . . . first is] GYŠMWN.’ Borisov 1969:10 reasonably proposed
completing the lacuna based on AIT 6:7, but erroneously took the aleph
visible after the lacuna as part of the first magic word (reading ʔgyšmwn),
rather than as the last letter of ḥdʔ. AIT 6 indeed contains the formula of
the ‘seven words,’ but with many variant readings. Our reconstruction is
based on the more exact unpublished parallels: bšwm hlyn šbʕ mylyn dšmyʔ
wdʔrʕh kbyšyn byh dšwm ḥdʔ gyšmwn wmrbyl (DS 9:12); bšwm hlyn šbʕ mylyn
dšmyʔ wʔrʕʔ kbyšyn bhyn d[…] (JNF 285:9). Even here, however, minor vari-
ants are present and the reconstruction is not entirely certain.
10. wrkbyhwn‘and their chariots.’ Borisov’s reading wbrbyhwn ‘and with
their lords’ does not accord with the physical evidence of the bowl (see be-
low, Fig. 1) and is not corroborated by the parallels. The preceding word
has been restored as [ʕlm]ʔ ‘the world’ in light of the parallel passage in
DS 9:13: dbhyn kbyš ʕlmʔ wrkwbyh ‘by which is subdued the world and its
chariots.’ Compare also M 163:11 (likewise following a list of seven names):
dbhnʔ šbʕ myly kbyš ʕlmh wrkwbhwn ‘By this (unit of) seven words the universe
and their mount (sic!) is pressed’ (translation by Levene 2013:130).

BT Ber. 56b hrwʔh ḥtwl bḥlwm bʔtrʔ dqrw lyh šwnrʔ nʕśyt lw šynwy rʕ bʔtrʔ dqrw
18

lyh šwrnʔ nʕśyt lw šyrh nʔh ‘If one sees a cat in a dream, if in a place where they call
it shunara, he will undergo a change for the worse [shinnui ra’], if in a place where
they call it shurana, a beautiful song [shirah na’ah] will be composed for him’ (ms.
Florence II-I-7).
 T. Fain, J. N. Ford, A. Lyavdansky, Aramaic Bowls… 293

Fig. 1. [ʕlm]ʔ wrkbyhwn

III. S-445
Dimensions: 16.5×5.5 cm.
Remarks: the provenance of the bowl is unknown. The bowl formerly belonged to
the Russian Archaeological Institute in Constantinople.
Script: Jewish Aramaic.
Text arrangement: the text runs in a clockwise spiral from the rim to the internal bot-
tom.
Number of lines: five.
Image: in the center of the bowl, there is a circle divided into six sectors. There are
traces of letters including aleph and he in the central sectors.
Clients: Safra son of Ḥannah.
Editions: unpublished.

Transliteration
(1) lyšmk {ʕ} ʔny ʕwšh hdyn qyblh lsprʔ br ḥnh dtybṭlwn mynyh kl ḥršy byšy
wnydrh wlwṭtʔ wqrytʔ wšyqwptʔ wptykry wmrwbyh wrwḥy byšth (2) wʔyštʔ wʕrwyth
mynyh mn ʔynyttyh wmn zrʕyh wmn bytyh wmn qynynyh bšwm mykʔl ml[ʔk]h wrpʔl
mlʔkh (3) wṣwryʔl mlʔ[kh w.. m]lʔkh ʔtwn mlʔkyn qdyšyn bṭylw mynyh dsprʔ br
[ḥnh…] (4) wmn [… lw]ṭtʔ wqrytʔ wšyqwptʔ wrwḥy byš[th …] (5) [… dlʔ
yqr]bwn lhwn mn ywmʔ [dnn]˹wl˺[ʕlm ʔ]˹mn˺[ʔ]˹mn˺!

Translation
(1) In Your name I act. This counter-charm is for Safra son of Ḥannah.
May you leave him, all evil sorcery and vow and curse and (bad) accident
and affliction and idol-spirits and merubbeya-demon, and evil spirits (2) and
fever and shivering, him and his wife and his children and his house and
his property, by the name of Michael the angel and Raphael the angel (3)
and Ṣuriel the ang[el and… the an]gel. You, holy angels, remove from Sa-
fra son of [Ḥannah …] (4) and from [ … cur]se and accident and affliction
and ev[il] spirits […] (5) [… that they not come] near them from [this]
day and for[ever. A]men, [A]men.
294 Semitic Studies: Articles

Notes
1. qyblh ‘counter-charm.’ According to Levene 2013, in the corpus
there are only nine bowls designated as qyblʔ. Levene 2011:219 argues that
all the qyblʔ bowls are “intended to return adverse magical actions to their
origin – in these cases identified specifically as individuals who are person-
ally named,” but the text of S-445, as far as can be determined in its pre-
sent state, does not have this feature.
lsprʔ br ḥnh ‘for Safra son of Ḥannah.’ The male Jewish name Safra
(aram. ‘scribe’) is documented by various sources in Late Antiquity, both
in Palestine and in Babylonia, including several incantation bowls (Ilan
2011:387; Ilan 2012:372). For the female name Ḥannah with the ortho-
graphic variants ḥnh and ḥnʔ, see Ilan 2011:365f.
mrwbyh ‘demon.’ For the demon mrwbyh, see Morgenstern–Ford forth-
coming.
2. mn ʔynyttyh ‘from his wife.’ The spelling ʔynyttʔ, with a second yod, is
otherwise unknown to the present writers. The standard orthography is
ʔyttʔ ‘wife.’ The present spelling may reflect a form with an anaptyctic
vowel /ʔinittā/.
4. [dlʔ yqr]bwn lhwn mn ywmʔ [dnn] wl[ʕlm ‘[that they not come] near
them from [this] day and for[ever].’ The reconstructed text is based on a
popular concluding formula mn ywmʔ dnnwlʕlm (cf. AMB B12b:31; M121:5;
Segal 039A:17 etc.). One of the similar formulaic sequences includes the
phrase wlʔ tyqrbwn (AIT 6:10f.), which allows us to reconstruct the same
verb here. There may be one or more words lost at the end of the text, but
no traces are visible with certainty.

IV. S-446
Dimensions: 16.2×6.8 cm.
Remarks: the provenance of the bowl is unknown. The bowl was a part of Lik-
hachev’s collection. In this text, waw and yod are generally distinguished, which is
rare in Jewish Aramaic bowls. The letters kaf, mem and bet are difficult to distin-
guish.
Script: Jewish Aramaic.
Text arrangement: the text runs in a clockwise spiral from the internal bottom to the
rim.
Number of lines: five.
Image: there are three human-like figures with their hands upwards, their bodies
cross in the center of the bowl. They are surrounded by a circle. The incantation
is enclosed by a double circle connected with short perpendicular strokes near the
rim.
 T. Fain, J. N. Ford, A. Lyavdansky, Aramaic Bowls… 295

Clients: no client names. This is a rare specimen of a composition intended to be

an impersonal incantation. The other examples of texts without client names are
Isbell 71, Segal 001A, AMB B2, SIB 49.
Linguistic and orthographic features: the hapax legomenon qlwpydy ‘stocks, shoemaker’s
lasts’ is not listed in DJBA; šwṣṭmy is a phonetic variant of swsṭmyn ‘shackles’; eli-
sion of aleph in syry ‘bound’ (for ʔsyry) and in Hebrew hrṣ ‘land’ (for MT hʔrṣ); pho-
netic spelling of Hebrew mlw (for MT mlʔ).
Biblical quotations: Isa 6:3.
Editions: Shileyko 1921:107–110.

Transliteration
(1) syry wḥtymy šydy dykry wlylyth nyqbt wdywy sṭny wmšmtth (2) wmbklth bkbly
dprzlʔ wbšwṣṭmy dprzlʔ wbqlwpydy dnḥšh mymyryh d (3) hhqwdš brwk hwʔhʔl ʔl ʔl
ḥy ḥy ty thy thy thy ʔhy ʔhy ʔty šm šm šm qdwš qdwš qdwš (4) yhwh ṣbʔwt mlw kl hrṣ
kbwdw19 mwmynʔ lk wmšbʕnh lk20 ʔmn ʔmn slh ʔmn ʔmn slh ʔlhym ʔlhym ʔlhym (5)
ʔlhym šmw yh wwwwwwwww mmmmm21kkkkkkkkkkk hhwhwhhwh yyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
ššššššyšyš […] lllllly (6) sssssssss

Translation
(1) Bound and sealed are male demons and female liliths and dēvs, sa-
tans and ban demon (2) and mevakkalta-demon with iron chains and with
iron shackles and with bronze stocks. (By) the word of (3) the Holy One (lit.
Holiness), blessed be he. (He is) El, El, El, living, living, living(!), THY
THY THY, ʔHY ʔHY ʔTY, name name name, “holy holy holy (4)
YHWH of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.”22 I adjure you and I
conjure you. Amen, Amen, Selah. Amen, Amen, Selah. Elohim Elohim
Elohim (5) Elohim is his name. Yah WWWWWWWWW MMMMM
KKKKKKKKKKK HHWHWHHWH YYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
ŠŠŠŠŠŠYŠYŠ[…] LLLLLLY (6) SSSSSSSSS

Notes
1. syry ‘bound.’ The aphaeresis of ʔ in the passive participle of ʔsr is not
uncommon in the magic bowls (see the examples in Ford 2014:243; Ford–
Morgenstern forthcoming, note to HS 3015:6). The same phenomenon is
common in forms based on historical I-ʔ passive participles in Eastern

19 The first waw looks like yod.

20 Written with a medial kaf.
21 All final mems.
22 Isa 6:3.
296 Semitic Studies: Articles

Neo-Aramaic (see Ford 2014:243, n. 79; Shaked–Ford–Bhayro forthcom-

ing, note to MS 2053/248:1).
šydy dykry wlylyth nyqbt ‘male demons and female liliths.’ Paleographi-
cally, dykry could be read ḥymry or ḥwmry ‘amulet spirits,’23 but the parallel-
ism with nyqbt (for nyqbtʔ) speaks in favor of our reading. Compare, for ex-
ample, bšydy dykry wblylytʔ nyqbtʔ (Isbell 48:5).
2. wbšwṣṭmy ‘and with shackles.’ This is a phonetic variant of swsṭmyn
‘shackles’ (DJBA 794). For similar spellings of the cognate verb, see
Müller-Kessler 2000.
wmbklth ‘and a mevakkalta-demon.’ The etymology of mbkltʔ is unclear.24
The word has been translated ‘tormentor’ or the like (e. g., AMB B1:1–2,
11).
wbqlwpydy ‘and with stocks.’ The lexeme qlwpydy is not listed in DJBA.
Shileyko 1921:110 compared it with Syriac qlbyd ‘mold, shoemaker’s last’
< gr. καλοπόδιον ‘shoemaker’s last.’25 Here, we assume a semantic shift:
‘shoemaker’s last’ > ‘stocks.’
3. hqwdš brwk hwʔ ‘the Holy One (lit. “Holiness”), blessed be he.’ A
variant of the ubiquitous Rabbinic Hebrew divine epithet hqdwš brwk
hwʔ ‘the Holy One, blessed be he.’26 See the discussion by Esh 1957:55–
76. The same epithet is attested in at least one more magic bowl: ʔnʔ {ktb}
ktbyt whqwdš brwk hwʔ ḥwtm ‘I have written and the Holy One (lit. Holi-
ness), blessed be he, will seal’ (JNF 198:7–8). As is well known, hqwdš brwk
hwʔ corresponds both morphologically and semantically to the Aramaic
divine epithet, qwdšʔ bryk hwʔ ‘the Holy One (lit. Holiness), blessed be
he.’27
5. wwwwwwwww mmmmm … Some Aramaic incantations include ap-
parently meaningless series of letters. Here the choice of the letters may be
related to the text. Thus, mem, kaf and he are the initial letters in mlw kl hrṣ
‘the whole earth is full (of his glory).’

Shileyko reads ḥmry, disregarding the yod after the first letter.
23

For a summary of the discussion see Geller 1980:50f., and cf. Schwartz
24

2002:232, n. 6.
25 SL 1367 defines Syriac qlbyd as ‘mold,’ whereas CAL (cal.huc.edu, accessed

28.01.2016) interprets the word as ‘shoemaker’s last,’ in accordance with the

Greek etymology.
26 For an example of hqdwš brwk hwʔ in the magic bowls, see VA 2494:5.
27 See Esh 1957:55. For examples of qwdšʔ bryk hwʔ in Rabbinic literature, see

DJBA:989–990; DJPA:476–477; Chester 1986:354. For an example of the epithet

in the magic bowls, see BM 91741:10 (Segal 016A).
 T. Fain, J. N. Ford, A. Lyavdansky, Aramaic Bowls… 297

V. S-447
Dimensions: 15.5×6.5 cm.
Remarks: the provenance of the bowl is unknown. The bowl was part of Lik-
hachev’s collection.
Script: Jewish Aramaic.
Text arrangement: the text runs in a clockwise spiral from the internal bottom to the
rim.
Number of lines: ten.
Images: all along the rim, there are seven images: 1) a human figure; 2) a snake; 3)
a wasp; 4) an animal with a long neck; 5) a horned animal; 6) a bird; 7) a horse (?).
Images 2, 3, and 7 have inscriptions.
Clients: Mirdukh daughter of Hormizdukh.
Biblical quotations: Allusion to Dan 3:6.
Editions: Borisov 1969:11–12.
Notes: Harviainen 1981:18; Harviainen 1993:35; Harviainen 1995:55, n. 11;
Shaked 1995:203; Naveh–Shaked 1998:54; Juusola 1999:62; Davila 2001:218,
n. 9; Müller-Kessler 2005:15f., 57, 75; Müller-Kessler 2007:83; Levene 2013:97,
n. 126.
Photographs and facsimiles: Borisov 1969, pl. III.

Transliteration
(1) twb mwmynʔʕlky rwḥʔ bštʔ bšwm ʔl (2) ʔylwhy hʔlwhym wʔ˹dw˺[ny]
hʔdwnym mlk mlky hmlkym brwk (3) hwʔ lʕwlm wʕd ˹ʔ˺t˹h˺ śr ʕl kl hsrym
wmrkbwtk ʕl hʔwpnym šlḥ lhd (4) wbd nbd ˹ʔ˺gnmyʔl rbhwn dmšrytyh wyʕyqr yt
rwḥʔ bštʔ dmʕyqlh lmyrdwk bt (5) hwrmyzdwk ʔm dkr ʔm nwqbʔ wšdy ytyh lgw ʔtwn
nwrwʔ yqydtʔ wlšlhbyt ʔyštʔ sṭryʔl qṭpyʔl bšrqyʔl (6) qlṭyʔl yḥyʔyl ʔmn ʔmn slh
hllwyh nwnwn m wnmws wkl mʕys[yn] lk ʔnʔ qry yšmʕʔl srʔ rbʔ wyqyrʔ … (7) …
ʔtwn ml˹ʔ˺kyʔ dmmnn ʕl kl ṭb wbyš ʔtw wsbw y˹t˺[rwḥ]ʔ bštʔ ʔm dkr ʔm ˹n˺w˹q˺bʔ
dnqyṭlh brʔyšh [wb]ṣdʕhy (8) lmyrd˹w˺k bt hwrmyzd˹wk˺ wrmw y˹tyh˺ l˹gw˺ʔtwnʔ
dnrʔ ˹y˺qydtʔ wlšlhwby˹t˺ ʔyštʔ wtwb lʔ typ[gʕ] b[m]˹t˺[n] ḥm˹š˺yn w˹try˺n ˹h˺dmy
q[w]˹mth dmyrdw˺[k] (9) [b]˹t h˺r˹myzdwk wkl˺ š˹wm d˺yt lh mn š˹ʕ˺ʔ dʔ wlʕl˹m
b˺šwm ˹ṣl˺ṣlʔl bšwm … bšw˹m yh˺ y˹h˺ yh yhwh yh yh wbšwm (10) … bšmyh
wbmlkwt[y]h dʔ˹b˺rḥs ˹ʔm˺n ʔmn s˹lh ʔ˺nʔ ktbyt wʔlhh y˹sh˺ bʕgl˹ʔ˺ ʔswt˹ʔ˺
šlm˹tʔ˺

Texts near the images:

Snake: (11) ʔsrt wʔḥdt ʔt rwḥʔ bštʔ (12) wlʔ tydmnlh lmyrdwk bdmwt ḥywyʔ
Wasp: (13) ʔsyrt ʔth (14) rwḥʔ wlʔtydmn (15) lh kzybwrʔ
Horse (?): (16) ʔsyrt (17) ʔt rwḥʔ (18) b[š]th (19) dlʔ (20) tq˹rb˺yn lh (21)
[lmy]˹r˺dwk bt (22) hwrmyzdwk
!
298 Semitic Studies: Articles

Translation!
(1) Furthermore, I adjure you, evil spirit, by the name of (2) El, the God
of Gods and the Lo[rd] of Lords, the King (over) Kings of Kings, blessed
be he (3) forever and ever. You are prince over all the princes and your
chariots are upon the ofanim. Send HD (4) WBD NBD ʔGNMYʔL, the
chief of his encampments, and may he eradicate the evil spirit who op-
presses Mirdukh daughter of (5) Hormizdukh, whether male or female,
and may he cast it into the furnace of blazing fire and to the flame of fire.
Saṭriel, Qaṭpiel, Bašarqiel, (6) Qalṭiel, Yeḥiel! Amen, Amen, Selah, Halle-
lujah. NWNWN M WNMWS and all MʕS[YN] I Invoke you, Ishmael,
the great and august angel […] (7) […] You, the angels who are appointed
over all good and evil, come and take the evil [spirit], whether male or fe-
male, who is seizing Mirdukh daughter of Hormizdukh (8) by her head
[and by] her temples, and cast it into the furnace of blazing fire and to the
flame of fire, and may it not h[arm] the [two hundred] and fifty-two
members of the body of Mirdu[kh] (9) [daugh]ter of Hormizdukh and any
name that she (may) have again, from this moment and forever. By the
name of Ṣalṣalel. By the name of […]. By the name of YH YH YH
YHWH YH YH. By the name of (10) […]. By the name and the kingdom
of Abraḥas. Amen, Amen, Selah. I have written and God will heal a com-
plete healing quickly!!

Texts near the images

(11) You are bound and seized, you, evil spirit, (12) and may you not
appear to Mirdukh in the form of a snake!
(13) You are bound, you, (14) spirit, and may you not appear (15) to
her as a wasp!
(16) You are bound (…), (17) you, evil (18) spirit, (19) so that you may
not (20) approach (21) [Mi]rdukh daughter of (22) Hormizdukh!

Notes
1. rwḥʔbštʔ ‘evil spirit.’ The unusual defective spelling bštʔ ‘evil’ for the
standard byštʔ is used consistently throughout the whole text. This spelling
occasionally appears in unpublished bowls: kl rwḥy bštʔ (JNF 252:2); wmn
lylytʔ bštʔ (PC 147:2); ʔyšth bštʔ (DS 13:9).
 T. Fain, J. N. Ford, A. Lyavdansky, Aramaic Bowls… 299

2–4. ʔl ʔylwhy hʔlwhym … ʔgnmyʔl rbhwn dmšrytyh ‘El, the God of Gods …
ʔGNMYɁL, the chief of his encampments.’ Our text finds a parallel in
Maʕaseh Bereshit, Ch. 6 (British Library 736):28
brwk ʔth yyy ʔlhynw wʔlhy ʔbwtynw ʔlhy hʔlhym wʔdwn kl hʔdwnym ʔlhy
ʔbrhm ʔlhy yṣḥq wʔlhy yʕqb hʔl hgdwl whgbwr whnwrʔ ʔl ʕlywn qwnh šmym
wʔrṣ ʔth hwʔ mlk mlky hmlkym brwk šmk ytbrk šmk … lʕwlm wlʕwlmy
ʕwlmym wlnṣḥ nṣḥym wʕdy ʕd lʕq(b) ʕwlmym … ʔth śr ʕl kl hśrym
wmrkbwtyk ʕl hʔwpnym ʔth šlḥ ly ʔny ʕbdk bn ʔmtk šlḥ ly lhdrk gn-brʔ-dr-gn
dhwʔ mmwnh ʕl mšrty yh wyrḥyb lby wytn ʔwrytʔ wḥwkmtʔ wḥsdʔ blby
wbpwmy
‘Blessed be you, YYY, our God and the God of our fathers, the
God of Gods and the Lord of all the Lords, the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the great and mighty and awe-
some God, El Elyon, Creator of heaven and earth. You are the
King (over) Kings of Kings, blessed be your name. May your name
be blessed … forever and forever and ever, and for all eternity, and
in perpetuity forevermore … You are prince over all the princes
and your chariots are upon the ofanim. You, send me, I, your ser-
vant son of your maidservant, send me HDRK GN-BRʔ-GN, who
is appointed over the servants of Yah, and may he broaden my
heart and put instruction and wisdom and grace in my heart and in
my mouth.’29
4–5. myrdwk bt hwrmyzdwk ‘Mirdukh daughter of Hormizdukh.’ The
names Mirdukh and Hormizdukh are of Iranian origin (see Ilan 2011:223,
240). Reš, dalet and kaf in hwrmyzdwk are strangely written as mirror images
of the familiar shapes:

Fig. 2. hwrmyzdwk ‘Hormizdukh’ (l. 5)

28 Transcription from the website of the Historical Dictionary Project of the

Academy of the Hebrew Language.

29 See also Sefer Raziel 36b (Amsterdam, 1701).
300 Semitic Studies: Articles

5. wšdy ytyh lgw ʔtwn nwrwʔ yqydtʔ wlšlhbyt ʔyštʔ ‘and may he cast it into
the furnace of blazing fire and to flames of fire.’ For this formula, based on
Dan 3:6, see AIT 14:7, with corrections in Epstein 1921:47.
nwrwʔ ‘fire.’ For the spelling, see Juusola 1999:54–68.
6. nwnwn m wnmws wkl mʕys[yn] lkʔnʔ qry yšmʕʔl srʔ rbʔ wyqyrʔ ‘NWNWN
M WNMWS and all MʕS[YN] I Invoke you, Ishmael, the great and
august angel.’ Cf. | ywnwn | nymws | wkl | mswsyn | lk ʔ[…]30!| yšmʕʔl | rbʔ
gybrʔ ‘YWNWN NYMS and all MSWSYN, […] you, Ishmael the great,
mighty …’ (AMB A1:7–8). The readings nwnwn and mʕys[yn] in our text
probably represent orthographic variants of ywnwn and mswsyn.
10. ʔnʔ ktbyt wʔlhh ysh bʕglʔ ʔswtʔ šlmtʔ ‘I have written and God will heal
a complete healing.’ AMB A1:12–13 similarly reads: ʔnh ktbt yy[yy] [y]ʔsy ‘I
have written. YY[YY] will heal.’ For additional phrases of this type in the
magic bowls, usually appearing at the end of the spell, see Ford–
Morgenstern forthcoming, note to HS 3023:8.

VI. S-448
Dimensions: 15×6.4 cm.!
Remarks: the provenance of the bowl is unknown. The bowl was a part of Lik-
hachev’s collection. The script and the image in the center of the bowl resemble
those of the bowls with similar texts, e. g., M-K 3 (HS 3001). All the bowls of this
group (see “Parallels” below) are probably by the same hand. Some of the parallel
bowls come from excavations in Nippur.!
Script: Jewish Aramaic.
Text arrangement: the text runs in a clockwise spiral from the internal bottom to the
rim. In the center of the bowl, inside a circle, there are two words.
Number of lines: five.
Image: in the center of the bowl, within a circle, there is a demonic figure with an-
thropomorphic traits. The text is enclosed by a circle near the rim.
Clients: Bahrandukh daughter of Idi.
Biblical quotations: Zech 3:2.
Parallels: AIT 21, 22, 23; M-K 3, 3a; Isbell 31. The main differences between
these bowls and S-448 are as follows: 1) S-448 omits the words byt(y)h wʔysqwpt(y)h
d in the opening formula ḥtym wmḥtm byt(y)h wʔysqwpt(y)h d-PN; 2) S-448 adds a
biblical quotation Zech 3:2 (Müller-Kessler 2005:16f.).
Editions: Borisov 1969:10–11.
Notes Müller-Kessler 2005:16, 18; Levene 2013:91.
Photographs and facsimiles: Borisov 1969, pl. II.
!

30 Naveh and Shaked read brʔ[…].

 T. Fain, J. N. Ford, A. Lyavdansky, Aramaic Bowls… 301

Transliteration
Inside the circle in the center:
wṣyrt wḥtmt!

Around the circle:

(1) ḥtymʔ wmḥtmʔ bhrndwk bt ʔydy mn kl pgʕyn byšy wmn kl rwḥyn byšyyn (2)
wmn mbkltʔ wmn lylytʔ wmn kl zyqyn wmzyqyn dlʔ tqrbwn lh lbhrndwk bt ʔydy (3)
wyḥtymʔ bytlth šyyryn wmḥtmʔ bšbʕh ḥtmyn mn kl pgʕyn byšyn wmn kl rwḥyn by[šyn]
(4) [wm]n mbkltʔ wmn lylytʔ wmn lṭtʔ wmn kl zyqyn wmzyqyn dlʔ tqrbwn lh
lbhrndwk bt ʔydy mn ywmh (5) dnnn wʕlm ʔmn ʔmn slh wyʔmr yhwh ʔl hśṭwn wygʕr
yhwh bk hśṭn wygʕr yhwh bk hbwḥyr byrwšlym (6) hlʔ zh ʔwd mwṣl mʔš

Translation
Inside the circle in the centre:
You are bound and sealed.

Around the circle:

(1) Sealed and doubly-sealed is Bahrandukh daughter of Idi from all
evil affliction-demons and from all evil spirits (2) and from the mevakkalta-
demon and from Lilith and from all blast-demons and tormentors, so that
they do not come near Bahrandukh daughter of Idi. (3) And she is sealed
with three signet-rings and she is doubly-sealed with seven seals from all
evil affliction-demons and from all e[vil] spirits (4) [and fr]om the mevak-
kalta-demon and from Lilith and from the curse and from all blast-demons
and tormentors, so that they do not come near Bahrandukh daughter of
Idi, from this day (5) and forever. Amen, Amen, Selah. “And the LORD
said to Satan, ‘May the LORD rebuke you, O Satan! May the LORD,
who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this one a stick snatched
from the fire?’”31!

Notes!
wṣyrt wḥtmt ‘You are bound and sealed.’ The form ḥtmt is a defectively
spelled peal passive participle. For additional examples of such spellings,
see Ford 2014:237.
1. bhrndwk bt ʔydy ‘Bahrandukh daughter of Idi.’ The name Bahran-
dukh is Iranian, it occurs in another Jewish Aramaic bowl (Segal 013A).
Ilan reconstructs the original phonetic shape of the name as Bahrām-Dūxt

31 Zech 3:2.
302 Semitic Studies: Articles

(Ilan 2011:213). See also Gignoux 2003:65, no. 342: Vahrām-duxt. The
origin of the name Idi is less clear.32
mn kl pgʕyn ‘from all evil affliction-demons.’ Borisov 1969:10 reads
pygʕyn, but what he interprets as yod is actually part of this scribe’s distinc-
tive pe. Note the form of this letter in the same word in line 3 (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. kl pgʕyn ‘all affliction demons’ (l. 1)

Fig. 4. mn kl pgʕyn ‘from all afflication demons’ (l. 3)

2. wmn kl zyqyn wmzyqyn ‘from all blast-demons and tormentors.’ Bo-

risov’s reading nzqyn wmnzqyn ‘damages!(?) and the ones who bring damage’
was apparently prompted by Montgomery's reading nzqyn in AIT 22 and
23 and nzqʔ in AIT 24, which are almost verbatim duplicates of S-448.
The difficult script, which does not clearly distinguish between zayin and
yod, also contributed to this reading. After corrections in Epstein 1921 and
new editions of the duplicates of S-448, it became clear that all the bowls
read zyqyn wmzyqyn in this context. Thus, the entry mnzqʔ ‘demon’ in
DJBA 686 should be deleted until new textual evidence for this word can
be adduced.!

32 Ilan identifies ʔydy with the PN ʔyty in Isbell 7, which she in turn identifies as

Iranian Itie (Ilan 2011:226). Müller-Kessler transliterates this name in S-448 as

ʔwry (Müller-Kessler 2005:16).
 T. Fain, J. N. Ford, A. Lyavdansky, Aramaic Bowls… 303

VII. S-449
Dimensions: 16.2×6 cm.
Remarks: The bowl comes from the Russian Archaeological Institute in Constan-
tinople. More than one third of the basin is missing.!
Script: Mandaic.!
Text arrangement: the writing is divided into three registers. The text moves! from
section to section in a counterclockwise sense. In part A, only the first two lines
are intact, lines 3–13 are broken at the end and four to five lines are missing. In
part B, some line ends are missing. Part C is intact.The final two lines of the text
are written on the exterior surface above the drawing parallel to the rim.
Number of lines: originally approximately 59 lines (А: 13 lines + 4–5 lines lost; B: 18
lines; С: 21 lines; Outside: 2 lines).
Image: on the outside, parallel to the rim, is a standing female figure facing for-
ward with raised arms. For discussions of its identity see Gordon 1937:98, Hunter
1998:99, Häberl 2009:141.
Clients: Rōzāg(a), daughter of Ērān-xwarrah/Hawwa.
Parallels: Pognon 15 (MIT 7), 16 (MIT 8), 17, 18 (MIT 9), 19, 20, 21; Lidzbarski 1
(MIT 18; VA 2419), 2 (MIT 19; VA 2984); Gordon 1937:M (MIT 26; HSM
1935.1.1); Segal 094M (BM 91714), 095M (BM 91736), 096M (BM 91728),
097M (BM 91740), 103M (BM 135438); Hunter 1998 (IM 60494); MS 2054/50;
VA 2427; VA 2435; VA 2439; VA 2445; VA 2510 X. Most of the published
bowls, save IM 60494, were synoptically compared in Segal 2000:159–162 as
“Refrain D.” For an analysis of its contents, see Häberl 2009.
Editions: Borisov 1939:227–235.
Photographs and facsimiles: Borisov 1939, pl. IV, V.

Transliteration!
A
1 uasuta thuilẖ lpgra uruha
2 unʕšimta đruzag pt
3 x ʕran kurẖ qal [qala]
4 šamana qal h[alšia]
5 đmitbria qa[l gbaria đ]
6 naṣia bqr[aba qal ʕnšia]
7 zidania˹ta đ˺[liṭan]
8 umiš˹t˺[aqpan wmakʕban]
9 nhit [ʕluin azdai uizrun]
10 uprʕ[il …]
11 sh˹aṭ˺[ʕil …]
12 in […]
13 x [……]!
[14–18]
304 Semitic Studies: Articles

B
19 mn kiba đ[l]ʕban umn [mrara]
20 đhinkan gzrnin ulaṭan[in]
21 ašbit alikinun um[u]˹m˺ina l[kin]
22 bazdai uizrun uprʕil iqur[un (…)]
23 rba ushaṭʕil đtišrun [utiš]
24 abqula lruzaga pt ʕra[n kurẖ]
25 mn luṭata đlaṭu umn l[uṭata]
26 đab uʕma umn luṭata [đʕran]
27 kurẖ umn luṭata đ[gubria u]
28 ʕnšia udrdaqu[nia udr]
29 daqauniata đlaṭ[u lruza]
30 g pt hua um[n luṭa]
31 ta đʕgira đ[agrẖ]
32 gzil m[n]˹ẖ˺ u[mn]
33 luṭata ˹đ˺[…]
34 umn luṭa˹t˺[a]
35 đʕbmata
36 umn

C
37 luṭata đlaṭu lruzag pt hua
38 umn luṭata đahia đlplag bt
39 urṣa mn hdadia umn luṭata đ
40 ʕran kurẖ đlaṭat bšu pti
41 kria ašlimtinin anat asia đ
42 masia lu˹ṭ˺ata đmasia mahiata
43 bmlala ˹a˺sia mhiata uluṭata đla
44 ṭui lruzag pt ʕran kurẖ bšum
45 azdai uizrun uiaqarun uru˹p˺ʕil rba
46 uprʕil wshaṭʕil ninsibinin unʕash
47 aṭinin lluṭata đlaṭui lruzag
48 ʕl glala đlbzʕia iʕtbit
49 uktbtinin lkulhn luṭata đlaṭui
50 lruzag ʕl kasa hdta đphara
51 ḏ-[la mš]arai ušadrt[i]nin
52 lluṭata đ[l]aṭui lruzag
53 ʕl mraih˹in˺ šadrtinin
54 alma đhinin ša
 T. Fain, J. N. Ford, A. Lyavdansky, Aramaic Bowls… 305

55 ria ubrka
56 bšumak šurʕil mlaka
57 ubrkʕil mlaka

Text on the exterior surface (as continuation of text):

58 [… ruzag] pt ʕran kurẖ mišria gab[ra] mn [bit] ʕs[iria] umn [bit
zaina33 …]
59 [… s]ala

Translation
A
(1) May there be healing for the body, spirit (2) and soul of Rōzāg
daughter of (3) Ērān-xwarrah. Hark! (4) I hear [a voice], the voice of the
w[eak] (5) who are defeated, the voi[ce of the strong men who] (6) are
struggling in the batt[le, the voice of (7) impious [women] who [curse] (8)
and bea[t themselves and cause pain (to spirits and souls)]. (9) There have
gone down [against them Azdai and Yazrun] (10) and Pri[el …] (11)
Shaṭ[iel …] (12–18)

B
(19) “From the pain of our heart and from [the bitterness] (20) of our
palate we have condemned 34 and cursed.” (21) (And I said to them), I
have conjured you and adjured [you] (22) by Azdai and Yazrun and Priel
and Yaqur[un (…)] (23) the great and Shaṭiel, that you release [and fr]ee
(24) Rōzāga daughter of Ērā[n-xwarrah] (25) from the curses that (people)
have cursed and from the cu[rses] (26) of father and mother, and from the
curses [of Ērān]- (27) xwarrah and from the curses of [men and] (28)
women and little bo[ys and litt]le (29) girls who curs[ed Rōzā]g (30)
daughter of Hawwa, and from [the curs]es (31) of the employee whose
[wages] (32) were stolen from him [and from] (33) the curses that are
[(cursed) in the field] (34) and from the curses (35) that are (cursed) in the
town (36) and from

C
(37) the curses that (people) have cursed against Rōzāg daughter of
Hawwa (38) and from the curses of brothers who did not divide (39) fairly
among themselves and from the curses of (40) Ērān-xwarrah who cursed

33 The spelling bit zina is also attested.

34 Variant translation: “we have resolved (to curse)” (Hunter 1998:105).
306 Semitic Studies: Articles

in the name of the idol- (41) spirits, (and) I have delivered them (the
curses). You are the healer who (42) heals curses, who heals afflictions (43)
with a word. Heal the afflictions and the curses which they (44) cursed
against Rōzāg daughter of Ērān-xwarrah in the name of (45) Azdai and
Yazrun and Yaqarun and Rufiel the great (46) and Priel and Shaṭiel. And
they will take and seize (47) the curses which (people) have cursed against
Rōzāg. (48) Upon a rock that is not split I have sat (49) and I have written
all the curses that they have cursed (50) against Rōzāg upon a new earth-
enware bowl (lit. of the potter) (51) that [has not been u]sed, and I have
sent (52) the curses that they have cursed against Rōzāg (53) upon their
authors; I have sent them (54) until they release (55) and bless (56) in your
name, Šuriel the angel (57) and Barkiel the angel.

Text on the exterior surface (as continuation of text):

(58) [… Rōzāg] daughter of Ērān-xwarrah (like) the releasing of a
ma[n] from pr[ison] and from [jail …] (59) [… S]elah.

Notes
2–3. ruzag pt ʕran kurẖ ‘Rōzāg daughter of Ērān-xwarrah.’ The etymon
of ruzag is the Middle Persian noun rōzāg ‘lightning’ (Claudia Ciancaglini,
p. c.). In line 24 the name is written ruzaga. Ērān-xwarrah comes from the
Middle Persian noun phrase ‘glory of Iran’ (Pavel Lurje, p. c.).
7–8. [ʕnšia] zidania˹ta đ˺[liṭan]umiš˹t˺[aqpan] ‘impious [women] who
[curse] and bea[t themselves].’ For the motif of women who curse and
beat themselves, compare VA 2428:3–4 (quoted below, note to lines 32–
35).
29–30. [ruza]g pt hua ‘Rōzāg daughter of Hawwa (Eve).’ The matro-
nymic hua ‘Hawwa (Eve)’ may be a second name of Ērān-xwarrah. Ac-
cording to MD 117, haua is a common Mandaean woman’s name. On the
other hand, in light of the apparently unhealthy relationship between
Rōzāg and her mother described in the text (lines 26–27, 39–41), pt hua
‘daughter of Eve’may possibly have been used as a pseudonym instead of
the real matronymic, in order to avoid direct reference to the mother-
daughter relation.
32–35. u [mn] luṭata đ[…] umn luṭata đʕbmata ‘and [from] the curses that
[…] and from the curses that are (cursed) in the town.’ The parallelism
suggests that the word bdibra ‘in the field’ should be restored in line 33.
Compare, for example, ai ai đbdibra uai ai đbmata ‘“ay ay” in the field and
“ay ay” in the town’ (Greenfield–Naveh 1985 II, lines 18–19); lwṭtʔ dgbry
 T. Fain, J. N. Ford, A. Lyavdansky, Aramaic Bowls… 307

wynšy dqymyn bdbrʔ wybmtʔ wybṭwrʔ wbyt ʔylhy wbyt knyštʔ ‘the curse(s) of men
and women who stand in the field or in the town or on a mountain or in a
pagan temple or in a synagogue’ (AMB B2:4–5); lwṭtʔ dʔymʔ wdybrtʔ dkltʔ
[wdyḥmtʔ d]qymʔ bdbrʔ wdqymʔ bmtʔ dʕl bwrkyh rbkʔ wʕl ʔpyh šqpʔ wʕrṭyl šlḥʔ
wmyly ʔmrʔ ‘the curse of a mother and a daughter, of a daughter-in-law
[and a mother-in-law, who] stands in the field and who stands in the town,
and kneels upon her knees and beats on her face and strips (herself) naked
and says (magical) words’ (VA 2428:3–4; Bhayro et al. forthcoming).
38–39. bturṣa ‘fairly.’ We thank Ohad Abudraham for this reading. The
parallels known to the present authors read bkušṭa ‘idem.’
40–41. bšu ptikria ‘in the name of the idol-spirits.’ For bšum ptikria in the
parallels (e.!g., BM 135438:22; Segal 103M). The m of bšum has most likely
assimilated to the initial p of the following word (Ohad Abudraham, p. c.).
58. The full text is preserved in many of the parallels. Compare, for
example: atun mlakia šuriuia lluṭta mn iuhnan br akuaruia mišria gabra mn bit
ʕsiria umn bit zina ‘You, angels, release the curse from Y. son of A. (like) the
releasing of a man from prison and from jail’ (BM 91740:13–14; Segal
097M).

VIII. S-508
Dimensions: 13.5×4.5 cm.
Remarks: the bowl comes from the Russian Archaeological Institute in Constantin-
ople. It belongs to the less common type of flat-based bowls (cf. Segal 003A, Segal
106M). One side of the bowl is lost. There is a large apparently empty circle in
the center of the bowl. The inner surface of the bowl is covered with a salt crust,
which renders the text at present almost entirely illegible.
Script: Jewish Aramaic.
Text arrangement: spiral (?).
Number of lines: seven.

3. Pseudoscript bowls
IX. S-444!
Dimensions: 17×7 cm.
Remarks: the provenance of the bowl is unknown. The bowl was a part of Lik-
hachev’s collection.
Script: pseudoscript, imitation of Jewish Aramaic script.
Text arrangement: in concentric circles.
Number of lines: five.
Image: an anthropomorphic figure on one side of interior surface.
308 Semitic Studies: Articles

X. S-450!
Dimensions: 16×6.2 cm.
Remarks: the provenance of the bowl is unknown. The bowl was a part of Lik-
hachev’s collection.
Script: pseudoscript, imitation of Jewish Aramaic script.
Text arrangement: in concentric.
Number of lines: nine.
Drawings and other signs: the center of the bowl is divided by two lines into four sec-
tions; each section contains a circle or a double circle.

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