Abstract
The chalcedony amulet MFA 98.697, which originates from the famous Tyszkiewicz Collection, has been kept in Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts since 1898. The object bears a Sumerian Kultmittelbeschwörung on a thorn bush (Sum. ĝeškiši16, Akk. ašāgum), a shorter version of which was published by A.R. George in 2016. The present paper provides editions of both incantations, including some new readings. In addition to the philological analysis, it explores the magical-medical application of the thorn bush, which might have had an apotropaic use. The object presented here is of great importance, since it provides the first occurrence of an incantation on a particular plant written on a pendant that was used as an amulet during magical-medical activities in ancient Mesopotamia.
Acknowledgements
First of all, we would like to express our sincere thanks to Lawrence M. Berman (Norma Jean Calderwood Senior Curator of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art), who gave us permission to publish the Tyszkiewicz amulet (MFA 98.697 pendant). We are very much indebted to Pascal Attinger (Universität Bern), Uri Gabbay (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Mark Geller and all members of the Keilschriftmedizin Seminar (Freie Universität, Berlin), Manfred Krebernik (Universität Jena and Hilprecht Collection), Szilvia Jáka-Sövegjártó (Universität Heidelberg) and Henri Stadhouders for their suggestions on an earlier version of this paper. Thanks are due to Eugene Trabich for language corrections. The drawings (Fig. 2) are by Z. Niederreiter, who personally examined the MFA 98.697 pendant at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in May 2017. This research was supported by the New National Excellence Program of the Ministry of Human Capacities of Hungary.
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