Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Akkadian Magical Incantation

I'm taking a class on Ancient Near Eastern Myth and Magic this quarter, and we just got into the texts on Magic. And, since this spell I just read was so similar in it's subject matter to the previous post, I figured I'd let you read it. It's called:

Against Flatulence
Wind, O wind!
Wind, you are the fire of the gods.
You are the wind between turd and urine.
You have come out and taken your place
Among the gods, your brethren.
So next time you're on a hot date accidentally blast one out, instead of looking all embarrased, you can just say this spell, and everything will be okay. Who knows, maybe it even helps prevent skid-marks!

This is from Foster's translation in: Benjamin R. Foster. Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature. CDL Press: Bethesda Maryland, 2005. p.973. (I figured I'd cite it since I copied the whole incantation down, I want to make sure I don't violate any copyrights or anything.)

2 comments:

Jenny and Matt said...

Joshua,

I was going to say:
Your posts have been sparse lately; I know you are terribly busy. Thanks for taking the time yesterday and today to let us into your crazy academic world a bit.

But it's so hard to interpret joking and sarcasm in text sometimes that I thought I sounded too much like a jerk.

So instead I'll say:
Thanks. That will be really helpful!

That can be taken at face value, right?


We miss you guys! Hope to see you again someday!

Joshua said...

Me too!

You jerk.