Incantation Bowls, also known as demon bowls or devil trap bowls, are a form of early protective magic found in modern-day Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

 and Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

. Produced in the Middle East during the Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...

 from 6th to 8th century AD (see Asuristan

Asuristan

Asuristan was the province of Assyria under the Sassanid Empire . It corresponds to the Babylonia province under the Parthian Empire.The province for the most part stretched from Mosul to Adiabene....

), the bowls were usually inscribed in a spiral beginning from the rim and moving towards the center. Most are inscribed in Aramaic languages. The bowls were buried face down and were meant to capture demon

Demon

call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...

s. They were commonly placed under the threshold, courtyards, in the corner of the homes of the recently deceased and in graveyard

Graveyard

A graveyard is any place set aside for long-term burial of the dead, with or without monuments such as headstones...

s.

In Judaism and Christianity

A subcategory of incantation bowls are those used in Jewish and Christian magical practice. (See Jewish magical papyri

Jewish magical papyri

Jewish magical papyri are a subclass of papyri with specific Jewish magical uses, and which shed light on popular belief during the late Second Temple Period and after in Late Antiquity...

for context).

Further reading

• Gioia, Ted, "Healing songs", Format: Book, Electronic Resource 2006
• Juusola, Hannu, "Linguistic peculiarities in the Aramaic magic bowl texts", Format: Book, Electronic Resource, 1999.
• Levene, Dan, "A corpus of magic bowls : Incantation texts in Jewish Aramaic from late antiquity", format: Book, Electronic Resource, 2003.
• McCullough, William Stewart, "Jewish and Mandaean incantation bowls in the Royal Ontario Museum", 1967.
• Montgomery, James A., "Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur", 1913.
• Müller-Kessler, Christa, "Die Zauberschalentexte in der Hilprecht-Sammlung, Jena und weitere Nippur-Texte anderer Sammlungen", 2005.
• Naveh, Joseph and Shaked, Shaul, "Amulets and magic bowls : Aramaic incantations of late antiquity", 1985.
• Naveh, Joseph and Shaked, Shaul, “Magic Spells and Formulae : Aramaic Incantations of Late Antiquity", 1993.

External links

• Translation of an incantation bowl
  
• Rare Magic Inscription on Human Skull Biblical Archaeology Review