Divorcing Lilith: from the Babylonian incantation bowls to the Cairo Genizah
Divorcing Lilith: from the Babylonian incantation bowls to the Cairo Genizah
One of the striking features of ancient Jewish magic is the disappearance of numerous magical spells and formulae that are known to us from the Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls; spells that come to be absent from the register of later Jewish magic. In the present paper we present one exception to this general rule, by editing a Genizah fragment (Hebrew Union College 1029) that contains a spell which is well attested in the incantation bowls. The fragment in question was copied in the twelfth century as part of a larger magical recipe book. One of its recipes, entitled ‘A deed of divorce for Lilith’, contains an anti-demonic get (divorce formula) which is attested in several different versions in the Babylonian incantation bowls, produced half a millennium earlier. In our paper, we offer a synopsis of all these versions, and a detailed assessment of the significance of this discovery.
middle ages, egypt, cairo genizah, aramaic, magic, divorce, lilith, magic bowls
197-217
Levene, Dan
fdf6fd40-020a-4cbb-b953-d5c2dcc6a002
Bohak, Gideon
7b2a8d2d-d7e9-436d-8e9d-d9a09a81ef9c
2012
Levene, Dan
fdf6fd40-020a-4cbb-b953-d5c2dcc6a002
Bohak, Gideon
7b2a8d2d-d7e9-436d-8e9d-d9a09a81ef9c
Levene, Dan and Bohak, Gideon
(2012)
Divorcing Lilith: from the Babylonian incantation bowls to the Cairo Genizah.
Journal of Jewish Studies, 63 (2), .
(doi:10.18647/3091/JJS-2012).
Abstract
One of the striking features of ancient Jewish magic is the disappearance of numerous magical spells and formulae that are known to us from the Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls; spells that come to be absent from the register of later Jewish magic. In the present paper we present one exception to this general rule, by editing a Genizah fragment (Hebrew Union College 1029) that contains a spell which is well attested in the incantation bowls. The fragment in question was copied in the twelfth century as part of a larger magical recipe book. One of its recipes, entitled ‘A deed of divorce for Lilith’, contains an anti-demonic get (divorce formula) which is attested in several different versions in the Babylonian incantation bowls, produced half a millennium earlier. In our paper, we offer a synopsis of all these versions, and a detailed assessment of the significance of this discovery.
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Published date: 2012
Keywords:
middle ages, egypt, cairo genizah, aramaic, magic, divorce, lilith, magic bowls
Organisations:
Jewish History and Culture
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Local EPrints ID: 185081
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/185081
ISSN: 0022-2097
PURE UUID: 08ab47e5-cd55-46f3-8c01-85bf34d7fdaa
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Date deposited: 09 May 2011 10:34
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 03:10
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Author:
Gideon Bohak
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