Obj. ID: 41407
Sacred and Ritual Objects Amulet, Iraq, ca. 0650
The following description was prepared by William Gross:
The magicians and makers of talismans in the Mesopotamia area in the early second half of the first millennium were Jews. Amulets were often written on bowls of clay, used to entrap the demons against whom the magic formulas were written. The bowl shape amulet was turned top down in the sand of the floor to trap the demon or evil spirit inside. As long as the bowl was not lifted the demon was caged within. here the text is written in Aramaic and in a rare form there is a depiction of the evil spirit at the bottom of the bowl. This example is one of the very finest depictions of recorded bowls. This form of amuletic object is called an incantation bowl, and some examples exist with Hebrew inscriptions.