Tuesday, April 28, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org
Prayers and Incantations
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Texts
A Bilingual Litany for EnkiA nearly complete bilingual litany — Sumerian with Akkadian interlinear — in which the gods assemble before Enki and plead with him to return to Eridu. Without you, who makes a decision? Without you, who speaks a word? Now speak, and let your city be built! From a Late Babylonian tablet from Sippar. Translated from Akkadian and Sumerian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church.A Dream Omen TabletA Late Babylonian dream omen tablet from the Ziqīqu tradition — if you see a star, a planet, a temple, a body. The dream reads your future.A Namburbi against the Evil of a SnakeA first-millennium Akkadian namburbi prayer addressed to Shamash, king of heaven and earth — translated from the one preserved copy (VAT 5). The supplicant, who has seen a snake hunting in their house, invokes Shamash's power over life and death, seizes his hem in supplication, and begs to be passed over. Short, complete, and structurally perfect. Translated from Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church.A Prayer to AnuA first-millennium Akkadian shuilla prayer to Anu, god of heaven, structured as three pairs of parallel hymnic epithets followed by a petition for release from evil dreams, sin, and the anger of estranged personal deities. Translated from Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church.A Prayer to EaA first-millennium Akkadian shuilla prayer to Ea, god of wisdom and fresh water, in three movements: a thirteen-line hymnic introduction praising his creative bounty and incantatory power; a fifteen-line supplication for effective speech, long life, and release from witchcraft; and a three-line cosmic crescendo of praise. Translated from Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church.A Prayer to GulaA first-millennium Akkadian shuilla prayer to Gula, goddess of healing, asking her to intercede with angry gods on behalf of a frightened supplicant. Translated from Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church.A Prayer to MardukA first-millennium Akkadian shuilla prayer to Marduk, lord of Babylon — a penitential prayer asking forgiveness of inherited and unknown sins, structured as a sevenfold litany. Translated from Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church.A Prayer to NabuA first-millennium Akkadian shuilla prayer to Nabu, god of writing and scribes, spoken by an elderly supplicant who has prayed all their life and not seen good fortune — seizing the prayer-rope at the end of their years and asking to be shown the light. Translated from Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church.A Prayer to NergalA first-millennium Akkadian shuilla prayer to Nergal, god of death and battle — asking his mercy to calm divine wrath and release the supplicant's offenses. Includes two royal variants naming Ashurbanipal and Shamash-shum-ukin. Translated from Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church.A Prayer to NisabaA first-millennium Akkadian shuilla prayer to Nisaba, goddess of grain and the scribal arts — asking her to intercede with angry personal deities and to release the supplicant's offenses. Includes a royal variant in which Shamash-shum-ukin petitions against ill-boding omens. Translated from Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church.A Prayer to ShamashA first-millennium Akkadian shuilla prayer to Shamash, the sun-god and divine judge — a hymn to his qualities followed by a supplicant's petition for favorable omens, good fortune, and divine mercy. Translated from Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church.A Prayer to SinA first-millennium Akkadian shuilla prayer to the moon-god Sin, structured as a long opening hymn praising his light, authority, and oracular power, followed by a petition for a favorable omen and reconciliation with the supplicant's personal deities. Translated from Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church.A Royal Prayer to NabuNebuchadnezzar II's inscriptional prayer to Nabu, god of scribal wisdom, asking for long life, a firm throne, and victory over enemies — and that Nabu place his name in divine speech before Marduk.A Second Prayer to MardukA first-millennium Akkadian shuilla prayer to Marduk — structured as a formal presentation before the god, with a chiastic petition flanked by two 'capsule' summaries. Used in royal lustration rites. Translated from Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church.A Tamitu to Shamash and AdadA divination oracle-query from first-millennium Babylonia, posing yes-or-no questions to the gods of extispicy on behalf of a field guard — whether the enemy will attack during his watch.A Universal Namburbi to Ea, Shamash, and AsalluhiA first-millennium Akkadian namburbi — an apotropaic ritual prayer to avert the evil of any omen — addressed to the healing triad of Ea (lord of wisdom), Shamash (lord of justice), and Asalluhi (master of incantation). The preserved text includes the cosmic invocation of the three gods, the supplicant's self-presentation, a list of celestial evil omens, and the petition for the winds to carry evil away. Translated from Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church.An Ershahunga to Any GodA Standard Babylonian lament for the appeasing of a divine heart — addressed to an unknown god or goddess whose anger the petitioner has unwittingly drawn. 58 lines in Akkadian, with Sumerian rubric. Ashurbanipal's library, Nineveh.I Wander the SteppeA prophetic oracle from Ishtar of Arbela to Assurbanipal, spoken through a female prophet c. 670 BCE — the goddess wanders the steppe, crosses rivers and seas, and advocates before the divine assembly for her king's life.Image Born in HeavenSix bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian incantations from the Mis pi (mouth-washing) ritual corpus — the ceremony that transformed a carved statue into the living dwelling of a god. From Ashurbanipal's library at Nineveh.Prayer to the Gods of the NightAn Old Babylonian ritual prayer addressed to the stars and nocturnal deities before extispicy. The great gods have retired to heaven; the diviner turns to the celestial ones who remain. Translated from Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church.The Babylonian AlmanacA Neo-Babylonian daily almanac prescribing what is favorable and forbidden on each day of months Ayyaru and Simānu.The Brewer's NamburbiA Neo-Assyrian apotropaic ritual from the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh — Tablet 135 of the Namburbi series. Two incantations and three ritual procedures to restore custom to a brewer's house when trade has failed, invoking Ishtar, Nanaya, and Gazbaya through sympathetic magic, dust from fourteen thresholds, and an erotic attraction spell.The Cow of SinA Neo-Assyrian birth incantation compendium from Ashurbanipal's library — the mythological narrative of the Cow of Sîn struggling in labor, her cries reaching heaven, followed by fifteen medical remedies for women in difficult childbirth and a plant-pulling ritual invoking the plant of life.The Diviner's ManualA Neo-Babylonian professional manual for the diviner — the meta-text describing how to read the signs of heaven and earth. From K.8801, Library of Ashurbanipal, Nineveh.The Foundation RitualA Neo-Assyrian ritual for laying the foundations of a temple, including offerings, reed-bundle dedications to the four winds, an incantation to Enmesharra Lord of the Underworld, and the burial of a gold-crowned figurine of the king beneath the foundation wall. From Ashurbanipal's library at Nineveh.The Great Ishtar PrayerA Standard Babylonian shuilla prayer — the cry of a sufferer to Ishtar, goddess of love and war. First a hymn to her terrible greatness; then lament; then petition. Translated from Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church.The Journey DreamsTablet 9 of the Ziqiqu — Mesopotamian dream omens about journeying to heaven, the Land of No Return, Egypt, Hatti, and the houses of gardeners, brewers, sailors, and farmers.The Letter to the SunA bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian letter from a king to the sun-god Shamash, lamenting the destruction of Babylon by Elamite invaders and accusing the deity of standing against his own city like an enemy.The Lipšur LitanyA Neo-Assyrian lipšur litany from the library of the exorcist Ninurta-muballissu — the entire known world, mountain by mountain and river by river, invoked to release a sufferer from sin and illness.The Naming of Every Sin (Surpu II)Tablet II of the Surpu ('Burning') exorcistic series — the catalogue of sins. Every possible transgression is named, from corrupting word and judgment to tearing the bonds of family, followed by the Great Release invoking every divine power in heaven and earth.The Omens of the EyesTablet 7 of the Sakikkû diagnostic series — a systematic Babylonian medical manual examining the eyes of the sick, from the Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh.The Prayer of Nabu-suma-ukin to MardukAn Akkadian prayer to Marduk by one Nabu-suma-ukin, son of Nebuchadnezzar -- a person overwhelmed by slander, gossip, and scheming, who weeps through every watch of the night and cries out to the god of justice to shatter the bonds of deceit. From a single Late Babylonian tablet in the British Museum (BM.40474). Translated from the Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church.The Prayer of the Arrow StarA complete Neo-Babylonian offertory prayer to Ninurta, the warrior god whose celestial manifestation is Sirius. Recited by a diviner at the heliacal rising of the Arrow Star before performing extispicy. From K.128, Kuyunjik collection.The Purification of the Holy WaterA bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian incantation from the Mis pi (mouth-washing) ritual corpus, describing the purification of the holy water basin used to consecrate divine images. From Ashurbanipal's library at Nineveh.The Restoring of FavorA Neo-Assyrian anti-witchcraft ritual to Ishtar from the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh. A hand-raising penitential prayer against sorcery, gossip, and the evil tongue — for a man whose words have been twisted and whose god, king, and court have been turned hostile by witchcraft.The Spoken WordAn Akkadian physiognomic omen text from the Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh. Tablet 1 of the Kataduggû — part of the Alamdimmû body-reading series. A system of paradoxical speech-omens revealing an ancient Mesopotamian psychology of self-declaration: the one who says 'Let me die!' will not die; the one who says 'Let me live!' will not live.The Three Stars EachA Babylonian star catalog from the Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh — the three divine paths of the heavens mapped to twelve months. The oldest systematic astronomy.The Undoing of Every Curse (Surpu III)Tablet III of the Surpu ('Burning') exorcistic series — the catalogue of curses. Every possible source of curse is named and undone by Asalluhi, from cup and table to the divine pairs of heaven.Two Dingirshadibba PrayersTwo Standard Babylonian incantations addressed to the personal god and goddess — confessions of unwitting sin, petitions for reconciliation, and promises of praise. Genre dingirshadibba, first millennium BCE.Without YouA Sumerian penitential prayer from Sippar cataloguing everything in the cosmos — kingship, justice, nature — that cannot function without the sun-god Utu.