Sag-gig-ga-meš explained

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] 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]

The text

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]

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

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

Notes and References

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