Deliver Me from Evil

This study analyses five aspects of the approximately 450 published Mesopotamian Incantations dating to the period from 2500 to 1500 BC: the incantations' development during this periods; their functions and particular type of suffering, illness; the verbal techniques they use to request or represent helpful divine intervention towards those ends; their accompanying ritual; the information they provide about the ultimate cause of such suffering, that is harmful divine intervention.