The Ancient Near East

Schwemer, Daniel

doi:10.1017/cho9781139043021.003

Cited by 24 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…They were then capable of indicating the appropriate healing prescription which, diachronically, consisted of a combination of two different methods: the use of natural remedies and the performance of religious rituals. Though for a long time, western modern academia insisted on addressing these dimensions through an antagonistic approach (firmly separating the two), in recent years, the perspective has changed (vide, for instance, Scurlock and Andersen 2005;Schwemer 2015;and Satiro and Gomes de Almeida 2022).…”

Section: Ancient Mesopotamian Healing Tradition-the Divine Power and ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of Aquatic Fauna on Ancient Mesopotamian Healing Practices—An Environmental Humanities Approach to Human Dependency of Non-Human World

Satiro,

Gomes de Almeida,

Brito

2024

Humanities

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Diachronically, Mesopotamian data pertaining to the religious spheres point to a transversal notion that deities were considered responsible for every cause–effect event observed/experienced by humans in their natural/cosmic surroundings. Such notion is especially visible on texts pertaining to the restoration of human health, where such an aspect was ultimately considered as a divine prerogative. Yet, these textual data also show how natural elements were basilar to the success of healing practices when thoroughly manipulated by specialists. Their examination through a perspective that intertwines the apparatus of History of Religions and Environmental History thus reveals great potential for contributing to the topic of human/nonhuman entanglements in the longue durée. With this paper, we propose to revisit the uses of aquatic fauna as displayed in Babylonian and Assyrian healing texts dated to the second half of the 2nd millennium and the first half of the 1st millennium BC. Although at a preliminary stage, our research has been guided by the combined theoretical-methodological perspective above-mentioned, aiming at highlighting the great importance conferred to these animals. Ultimately, we aim at stressing the importance of addressing the dependence of Mesopotamian specialists and patients on such elements of Nature to better understand this ancient context.

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Section: Ancient Mesopotamian Healing Tradition-the Divine Power and ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of Aquatic Fauna on Ancient Mesopotamian Healing Practices—An Environmental Humanities Approach to Human Dependency of Non-Human World

Satiro,

Gomes de Almeida,

Brito

2024

Humanities

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“…Abusch 2002: 219–46 discusses the invocations of the gods of night and the underworld in the early part of the ritual. Thomsen 2001 and Schwemer 2015 place this ritual in the wider picture of ancient Mesopotamian magic and witchcraft culture. Both emphasise the polytheistic logic at work.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Freedman's Story: an Accusation of Witchcraft in the Social World of Early Imperial Roman Italy (CIL11.4639 =ILS3001)

MacRae

2018

J. Rom. Stud.

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This article proposes a new reading of a late first-century c.e. inscribed dedication from Todi (Umbria) as an accusation of witchcraft, a rhetorical text aimed at propagating a particular story among the local community. Historical and anthropological studies of witchcraft accusations in other societies have emphasised how they can reveal tensions and anxieties that are normally not visible to the observer. By drawing on these studies and close examination of the language and content of the inscription, this article analyses an historical agent's experience of the social structure of early imperial Italy. The accusation is read as a freedman's response to his ambiguous position in a slave society, the ambivalent power of writing in Roman culture and the religious claims of Flavian imperial discourse.

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Magic

Otto

2022

The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology

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The term “magic” is characterized by a complex etymology and by a multifaceted semantic field. Throughout western history, discourses on magic have typically performed one of two social functions: ostracization and othering on the one hand, and fascination and self‐identification on the other. While powerful anti‐magical discourses set the dominant social, political, and legal attitudes toward magic for millennia, at least from late antiquity onwards a practitioner discourse flourished in parallel, leading to the development of “western learned magic,” a textual‐ritual tradition that employed strikingly positive notions of magic. Such positive notions have, over the course of the last few decades, become widespread and influential motifs in popular media, contemporary spiritualities, and new religious movements. In the light of this surprising reversal of the long‐term historical trend, it seems reasonable to argue that classical sociological theories of secularization and disenchantment have been proven wrong. In sum, magic is anything but a self‐evident signifier. Rather, it is a complex cultural concept and a critical category in the study of religion that calls for nuanced modes of redefinition and retheorization.

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The Ancient Near East

Cited by 24 publications

References 483 publications

The Importance of Aquatic Fauna on Ancient Mesopotamian Healing Practices—An Environmental Humanities Approach to Human Dependency of Non-Human World

The Importance of Aquatic Fauna on Ancient Mesopotamian Healing Practices—An Environmental Humanities Approach to Human Dependency of Non-Human World

The Freedman's Story: an Accusation of Witchcraft in the Social World of Early Imperial Roman Italy (CIL11.4639 =ILS3001)

Magic

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