‘For Aḥata-de-'abuh daughter of Imma’, Two Aramaic Incantation Bowls in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin (VA 2414 and VA 2426)*.

This article comprises a new edition of two incantation bowls in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin originally published by J. Wohlstein in 1894. The bowls were written for the same client and appear to have originally been bound together. Both are directed against various types of malevolent forces, but each formula is otherwise distinct. The bowls contain a number of non-standard phonetic spellings, including אתאדאבה for אחתאדבוה ‘A.ata-de-'abuh’, ארדי for ערדי ‘wild asses’, בסי for בסים ‘savoury’, שקוה for שבקוה ‘leave her alone’, and ודלאת for ודלא את ‘and that are not’. Both elements of the phrase זיפו ואזיפו ‘be exorcized and rebuked’ appear to derive from the root זו″ף / זע″ף ‘to be angry; to threaten, rebuke’. VA 2414 is remarkable in that the demon is told to leave the client in favour of the flesh and blood of gazelles and wild asses and, surprisingly, flesh-eating maggots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]