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THE MAGICAL POTENTIAL OF STONES USED FOR CYLINDER SEALS: NEW MANUSCRIPTS OF THE TEXT KNOWN FROM BAM 194 VIII’ 9’–14’1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2016

Krisztián Simkó
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Abstract

Besides their significance in administrative procedures, cylinder seals also played an important role as amulets in ancient Mesopotamia. There are many references to them being used in medical and magical procedures, which sometimes determine their features of magical potential. Thus not only the imagery and inscription of cylinder seals but also the raw material of which they were made contributed to their medico-magical usage (cf. Collon 1987: 119; 1997: 19–20). This paper deals with the last-mentioned feature of cylinder seals, that is their raw material, which is treated in a short series known from BAM 194 viii’ 9’–14’, as well as from another three tablets published here for the first time.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 77 , December 2015 , pp. 203 - 213
Copyright
© The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2015 

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Footnotes

1

Part of this research has been done during my scholarship generously provided by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD). I am grateful to M.J. Geller and J. Taylor for their critical reading of the manuscript. Needless to say, I am alone responsible for all remaining errors.

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