Steine ALS Schutz- Und Heilmittel: Untersuchung Zu Ihrer Verwendung in Der Beschworungskunst Mesopotamiens Im 1. Jt. V. Chr.

The study examines the magical usage of stones in the first millennium BCE in the Ancient Near East. Chapter A (pp. 1-47) outlines the system of ANE mineralogy—chiefly based on the analysis of the lexical lists of ur5-ra=hubullu XVI and the stone identification handbook abnu ikinu—as based on the differences of stones in color and design, not on differences in Mohs hardness or other modern criteria. Even artificially produced stones were subsumed under Sumerian NA4 and Akkadian abnu. Short excursuses touch the significance of stones in the Lugal-e Epic and at the edge of the world in the Gilgamesh Epic. Chapter B deals with the practical side of magic: wearing necklaces of stone pearls, stones as parts of salves and potions, and using stones as apotropaica (pp. 48-58). Chapter C, the core of the study, examines the texts relating to the preparation of strung-bead amulets and necklaces, both their production and their usage in the realm of magical / medical treatment (pp. 59-186. Editions of some of these texts are presented in chapter D (pp. 187-390), supplemented by 39 plates. Chapter E provides the reader with a glossary of 119 Sumerian and Akkadian terms which were considered to designate stones (pp. 391-459).