Reposted by Samuel Hartman
I had the chance to comment in this piece by @derosejason.bsky.social for NPR's All Things Considered.
Samuel Hartman
@bqalisam.bsky.social
105 followers 84 following 81 posts
Dad, dog & cat parent, gardener, baker. BAs in Classics & Ancient Mediterranean Studies & Jewish Studies. Current M.A. student in Ancient Mediterranean Studies.
![The image is a fragmentary papyrus sheet containing the proverbs of Ahiqar in Aramaic written with black ink. The papyrus is on a light blue background.
The image includes a restored Aramaic text and translation which reads:
ב[רי] אל תל[ו]ט יומא עד תחזה[ לי]לה
“My son, do not c[u]rse the day until you see [ni]ght.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yy56wopt4l5emmnn5eecf47p/bafkreianfpztzogzmlsvlnkcp3jpcsdngvate5zvqcwbgzx3e5pwyvkrvm)
![The image shows an ancient grey clay tablet dating back to 600 BCE. Its edges are damaged and a large crack goes through the middle of the it. In the tablet is in a writing system that used wedges to create triangular symbols as a writing system. The tablet contains 6 incantations to quiet a child, but the first is too damaged to make much sense of. So the second text is translated.
The fragmentary text translates to:
Incantation: Offspring of darkness, child of . . . Your mother . . .You have kept your father awake, you mother cannot live a normal life . . . (25) the laḫmu are disturbed, Ea awakens. Be quiet
like still water. Like a sleepless cattle herder, let sleep fall on you. The incantation is not mine; it is an incantation of Ea and [Asal-luhi . . . Incantation.]
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Recite the incantation seven times before and behind him . . .](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yy56wopt4l5emmnn5eecf47p/bafkreicvtvefxkw5vzj2fsxl53f3trjdp24exrwvja6o6fmjlgkcf2ojsm)
![The image shows an ancient grey clay tablet dating back to 600 BCE. Its edges are damaged and a large crack goes through the middle of the it. In the tablet is in a writing system that used wedges to create triangular symbols as a writing system. The tablet contains 6 incantations to quiet a child, but the first is too damaged to make much sense of. So the second text is translated.
The text translates to:
Blind one who does not see, deaf one who does not hear, offspring of darkness, child of . . . . at whose noise, at the noise of whose cries, the laḫmu are disturbed, Ea awakens. May sleep fall on you like a clump of earth in the street, like a baby gazelle, until your wet nurse wakes you. [Incantation.]
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Its ritual: dust from the threshold, dust from the street on the left, dust from a grave-mound, which has not . . . . rub on the baby, mix his spit with oil, sprinkle? his mouth and his boots.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yy56wopt4l5emmnn5eecf47p/bafkreiayjrungturj4gmvkzqo2oovjxf6nyjjwcda5nd4cqnbyqlpgtrfe)
