Zisurrû Explained

Zisurrû, meaning “magic circle drawn with flour,”[1] and inscribed ZÌ-SUR-RA-a, was an ancient Mesopotamian means of delineating, purifying and protecting from evil by the enclosing of a ritual space in a circle of flour. It involved ritual drawings with a variety of powdered cereals to counter different threats and is accompanied by the gloss: SAG.BA SAG.BA, Akkadian: māmīt māmīt, the curse from a broken oath, in The Exorcists Manual, where it refers to a specific ritual on two tablets the first of which is extant.[2]

The ritual

The zisurrû, a word ultimately derived from Sumerian, was used as a defensive measure and drawn on the ground around prophylactic figurines as part of a Babylonian ritual to thwart evil spirits, around a patient's bed to protect against ghosts or demons in much the same manner in which bowls thwart demons and curses, or as a component of another elaborate ritual.[3] It was a component in the Ritual and Incantation-Prayer against Ghost-Induced Illness: Šamaš,[4] and also the Mîs-pî ritual.[5] In the ritual tablet of the Maqlû incantation series, it instructs “Thereafter, you encircle the bed with flour-paste and recite the incantation sag.ba sag.ba and the incantation tummu bītu (“Adjured is the house”).”[6] It occurs in a namburbi performed when preparing to dig a new well and appended to tablet seventeen of the Šumma ālu series.[7] It is incorporated into the Kettledrum rituals, where the circle of flour surrounds the bull whose hide is to form the drum skin.[8] The also appears in the Muššu’u ritual tablet,[2] line thirty-eight.[9] The circle is rationalized in commentaries as representing certain protective deities, LUGAL.GIR.RA and Meslamtae’a according to one.[10] In other rituals a circle might be painted in whitewash or dark wash on either side of a doorway for apotropaic purposes. The choice of flour was crucial to the purpose of the ritual, with šemuš-flour reserved (níĝ-gig) for repelling ghosts, wheat-flour for rituals invoking personal gods and šenuḫa-barley to encircle beds, presumably to counter disease-carrying demons.[11] In the ritual against broken oaths, a catalogue from Aššur gives the incipits of the two tablets as én (abbreviation for én é-nu-ru) sag-ba sag-ba and én sag-ba min sil7-lá-dè.[2] The colophon line of the first of these tablets, which has been recovered, reads KA-INIM-ma ZÌ-ŠUR-ra NIG-ḪUL-GÁL BÚR.RU.DA-kam. The text describes measures to repel, thwart or imprison demons, such as trapping them in a covered fermentation vat.[12]

Primary publications

Notes and References

  1. zisurrû CAD Z, p. 137–138.
  2. Book: Wisdom, Gods and Literature: Studies in Assyriology in Honour of W.G. Lambert . Incipits and rubrics . M. J. Geller . A. R. George . Irving Finkel . Eisenbrauns . 2000 . 233 .
  3. Book: Afroasiatic Studies in Memory of Robert Hetzron: Proceedings of the 35th Annual Meeting of the North American Conference on Afroasiatic Linguistics . The Production and Reception of a Mandaic Incantation . Charles G. Häberl . Cambridge Scholars . 2009 . 133 .
  4. Book: Reading Akkadian Prayers and Hymns . A Ritual and Incantation-Prayer against Ghost-Induced Illness: Shamash . Duane Smith . Alan Lenzi . Society of Biblical Literature . 2011 . 197–215 .
  5. Book: Annuaire 1974/1975 . Jean Bottéro . École Pratique des Hautes Études, IVe Section, Sciences historiques et philolgiques . 1975 . 99–100 .
  6. Book: Mesopotamian Witchcraft: Towards a History and Understanding of Babylonian Witchcraft Beliefs and Literature . Tzvi Abusch . Styx Publications . 2002 . 102, 168 .
  7. The Dogs of Ninkilim, part two: Babylonian rituals to counter field pests . A. R. George . Junko Taniguchi . amp . Iraq . LXXII . 2010 . 135 .
  8. The Rôle of Amulets in Mesopotamian Ritual Texts . Beatrice L. Goff . Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes . 19 . 1 . Jan–Jun 1956 . 750239 . 8 . 10.2307/750239 . 192278844 .
  9. When You Perform the Ritual of 'Rubbing'": On Medicine and Magic in Ancient Mesopotamia . Barbara Böck . Journal of Near Eastern Studies . 62 . 1 . January 2003 . 375913 . 656–661 .
  10. Babylonian Prophylactic Figures . C. Leonard Woolley . Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland . 4 . Oct 1926 . 25221062 . 706 .
  11. Taboo in Mesopotamia: A Review Article . M. J. Geller . Journal of Cuneiform Studies . 42 . 1 . 1990 . 1359877 . 108 . 10.2307/1359877 . 163326320 .
  12. Book: La circulation des biens, des personnes et des idées dans le Proche-Orient ancient: Actes de la XXXVIIIe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale (Paris, 8-10 juillet 1991) . Der Kneipenbesuch als Heilverfahren . Stefan M. Maul . D. Charpin . F. Joannès . Paris . 1992 . 393–394 .

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