Episode 15 - The Sorcerers of the Pharaohs
““She comes up from the swamp, is fierce, terrible, forceful, destructive, powerful,
She is a goddess, is awe-inspiring
Her feet are those of an eagle, her hands mean decay
Her fingernails are long, her armpits unshaven,
She is dishonest, a devil, the daughter of Anu,
In view of her evil deeds, her father Anu and her mother Antu, sent her down from heaven to earth.
The daughter of Anu counts the pregnant women daily, follows on the heels of those about to give birth
She counts their months, marks their days on the wall
Against those just giving birth, she casts a spell
“Bring me your sons, let me nurse them. In the mouth of your daughters I want to place my breast!”
She loves to drink human blood, eats flesh not to be eaten, picks bones not to be picked.”
A description of Lamashtu, an Akkadian demon, found in a ritual tablet to ward her off
““My witch and my sorceress is sitting in the shadow behind the brick pile. She is sitting there, practicing witchcraft against me, fashioning figurines of me. I am going to dispatch against you thyme and sesame, I will scatter your sorceries, will stuff your words back into your mouth! May the witchcraft you performed be aimed at yourself. May the figurines you made represent yourself, may the water you drew be that of your own body. May your spell not close in on me, may your words not overcome me.”
The Akkadian Maqlu, or burning, ritual
“They implored you to smash my weapons, do not accept their prayer and their pleading, do not listen to the words of the barbarians, do not eat their bread offerings, do not drink their water, do not accept their incense offerings. Either by their witchcraft or their sorceries or their evil magic, let the weapons on my armies not be smashed, not be bound, not be defeated. I have treated you with respect, I have glorified you, I have honoured you, I am holding the hem of your garments. Victory will be mine, and not the enemy’s”
From the ‘Ki’ war ritual fragment