Sin, Pollution & the Anger of God
Sickness meant a god was angry — perhaps for a sin you could not even name.
When trouble struck — illness, loss, bad luck — Mesopotamians often read it as a sign that they had offended a god, knowingly or not, and that their protective deity had withdrawn in anger, leaving them open to demons and disease. The offense might be a moral fault, a ritual lapse, or a transgression one never realized one had committed. Relief came through confession, prayer, and the rites of the exorcist, which identified the cause, appeased the god, and lifted the impurity. The poignant theme of the 'unwitting sin' — being punished for a fault one cannot even name — runs through the wisdom and prayer literature.
Key passages(15)
[... ]... [... ]; [... ] misfortune [ to ] good fortune; [... ] good fortune [ to ] misfortune; [... ]..., who caused dishonesty to be spoken; Who caused the judge to learn [... ]...; Who stands [...
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Incantation: Nisaba, friendly queen, Creator of god and king and mankind, Net of the Anunnaku, the fierce gods, [ She who reconciles ] the angry god, the angry goddess. [ Let ] me send you to (my) ang
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(If) a man, the wrath of god and goddess is against him; his palace and his king are unfavourable towards him, (but) slander him (and) and gossip about him; he is made gloomy by fits of depression; he
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Incantation: Ištar-Kakkabi, goddess of the morning, Mistress of the ladies, elevated among the goddesses, Brightness of the Igigi, light of the lands, Elevated among of the gods, illuminator of the [.
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Quickly, he is favourable to me as [... ] Let me teach the people [... ] is close. His favourable understanding [... ]. From the day the Lord [... ] and the hero Bel got angry [... ] my (own) god reje
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[... ]... [... ] his father [... ] powerful [... ]... walks and [... ]... [... ]... their... [... ] to enemy country [... ] they.... You hold back [... ].... [... ]... [... ].... [... ] Šamaš [... ] s
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[... ]... liʾbu - disease (gloss: break) [... ]: hand of a ghost. [... ] he trod on a [... ] - bird: he will recover. [... ] (gloss: new break). [... ] Šamaš; he will recover. [... ]: hand of Ištar; h
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[... ] the land of [... ]. May Anu and Antu absolve, the [... ] gods; May Elill absolve, who [... ]...; May Ninlil absolve, queen of Ekiur; May Ennugi absolve, throne-bearer of Ellil; May Papsukkal ab
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Incantation: [ It is with you, Marduk ], to heal and keep safe the committing of a beating [... ], (you) who defeated the Asakku-demon. [... ] the taboo of one's god, [ ditto (it is with you, Marduk,
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One year and the next, the appointed time has passed. I turned round: (everywhere was) evil, it was evil indeed. My misfortune keeps increasing; I will not find righteousness. I called out to my (own)
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[... ]... [... ] the Asakku-demon. [..., ditto (it is with you, Marduk, to heal and keep safe) ]; [..., ditto (it is with you, Marduk, to heal and keep safe) ]; To go [... ] of one's friend [..., ditt
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Red kapāṣu - shell, agate, pig-eye - stone, lapis lazuli, serpentine abašmû - stone, date stone, jasper (and) kurgarrânu - stone: 9 stones against birratu - disease of the eyes, for the right hand. Yo
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The leader of Umma set fire to boundary levees. He set fire to the Antasura. He seized all its precious metal and lapis lazuli. He looted the great temple of Tiraš. He looted the Abzu-banda. He looted
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