Ortal-Paz Saar
Biographic Data
| ID | 957593 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ortal-Paz Saar |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ortal-Paz |
| FAMILY NAME | Saar |
| SIGNATURE | SAAR O |
| AFFILIATIONS | Utrecht University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1000-0763 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 5 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 9 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Migraine and Other Headaches in the Mesopotamian Incantation Bowls
Headaches, including those that conform to disorders identified today as migraines, have been attested in magical texts as early as three millennia ago. Ritual practitioners from different traditions and periods have attempted to treat them by using spells, magical materials, and appeals to supernatural entities. This article explores the attestations of migraines in the corpus of late antique Mesopotamian incantation bowls. It begins with the mo…
Cursing Beyond the Grave
This article discusses curses found in ancient and late antique Jewish funerary inscriptions. It begins with a typology of imprecatory texts based on a survey of funerary epigraphy, both Jewish and non-Jewish. It proceeds with an analysis of explicit curse formulae found in a Jewish funerary context: on ossuaries, on the walls of burial caves, or on architectural elements of graves. The article discusses several aspects of these curses, placing t…
Syriac Spells for a Mill and Their Historical Context
This article considers a text-unit known in five Syriac codices and consisting of up to three magical recipes. The target of all these recipes is a mill: two of them are curses ( ˀassārā ‘binding spell’) and intend to stop the mill, while the third one is a counter-spell ( šeryānā ‘loosening spell’), which aims to annul the curse. One of the two binding spells includes a rare example of an Arabic incantation written in Garshuni . The main purpose…
Jewish Curse Tablets
Jewish Curse Tablets
Mesopotamian Double-Jar Burials and Incantation Bowls
The corpus of late antique Babylonian incantation bowls comprises a class of double-bowl sets, consisting of two bowls facing each other, fastened together with bitumen. Occasionally, such bowl sets have been found to contain inscribed egg shells or human bones. The double-bowl configuration is highly reminiscent of the double-jar burial practice attested in Mesopotamia from the second millennium to the sixth century BCE. The double-jar (or doubl…
Jewish Magic before the Rise of Kabbalah, written by Yuval Harari
Aramaic Magic Bowls in the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin
The collection of Aramaic magic bowls and related objects in the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin is one of the most important in the world. This book presents a description of each object and its contents, including details of users and other names, biblical quotations, parallel texts, and linguistic features. Combined with the detailed indices, the present volume makes the Berlin collection accessible for further research. Furthermore, sixtee…
Michael D. Swartz
A Genizah magical fragment and its European parallels
During the Middle Ages magical texts circulated between different geographical regions and, remarkably, also between different religious groups. The article illustrates this interesting phenomenon by presenting an edition of a medieval manuscript fragment uncovered in the Cairo Genizah, T-S AS 144.208. The fragment, dated to the fifteenth century, contains magical recipes in Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic. Some of the recipes have close parallels in Heb…
A Genizah magical fragment and its European parallels
During the Middle Ages magical texts circulated between different geographical regions and, remarkably, also between different religious groups. The article illustrates this interesting phenomenon by presenting an edition of a medieval manuscript fragment uncovered in the Cairo Genizah, T-S AS 144.208. The fragment, dated to the fifteenth century, contains magical recipes in Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic. Some of the recipes have close parallels in Heb…
Michael D. Swartz
A Genizah magical fragment and its European parallels
During the Middle Ages magical texts circulated between different geographical regions and, remarkably, also between different religious groups. The article illustrates this interesting phenomenon by presenting an edition of a medieval manuscript fragment uncovered in the Cairo Genizah, T-S AS 144.208. The fragment, dated to the fifteenth century, contains magical recipes in Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic. Some of the recipes have close parallels in Heb…
Aramaic Magic Bowls in the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin
The collection of Aramaic magic bowls and related objects in the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin is one of the most important in the world. This book presents a description of each object and its contents, including details of users and other names, biblical quotations, parallel texts, and linguistic features. Combined with the detailed indices, the present volume makes the Berlin collection accessible for further research. Furthermore, sixtee…
Jewish Magic before the Rise of Kabbalah, written by Yuval Harari
Jewish Curse Tablets
Jewish Curse Tablets
Mesopotamian Double-Jar Burials and Incantation Bowls
The corpus of late antique Babylonian incantation bowls comprises a class of double-bowl sets, consisting of two bowls facing each other, fastened together with bitumen. Occasionally, such bowl sets have been found to contain inscribed egg shells or human bones. The double-bowl configuration is highly reminiscent of the double-jar burial practice attested in Mesopotamia from the second millennium to the sixth century BCE. The double-jar (or doubl…
Syriac Spells for a Mill and Their Historical Context
This article considers a text-unit known in five Syriac codices and consisting of up to three magical recipes. The target of all these recipes is a mill: two of them are curses ( ˀassārā ‘binding spell’) and intend to stop the mill, while the third one is a counter-spell ( šeryānā ‘loosening spell’), which aims to annul the curse. One of the two binding spells includes a rare example of an Arabic incantation written in Garshuni . The main purpose…
Cursing Beyond the Grave
This article discusses curses found in ancient and late antique Jewish funerary inscriptions. It begins with a typology of imprecatory texts based on a survey of funerary epigraphy, both Jewish and non-Jewish. It proceeds with an analysis of explicit curse formulae found in a Jewish funerary context: on ossuaries, on the walls of burial caves, or on architectural elements of graves. The article discusses several aspects of these curses, placing t…
Migraine and Other Headaches in the Mesopotamian Incantation Bowls
Headaches, including those that conform to disorders identified today as migraines, have been attested in magical texts as early as three millennia ago. Ritual practitioners from different traditions and periods have attempted to treat them by using spells, magical materials, and appeals to supernatural entities. This article explores the attestations of migraines in the corpus of late antique Mesopotamian incantation bowls. It begins with the mo…
History (9 works) · Art (8 works) · Archaeology (6 works) · Literature (6 works) · Archaeology and Historical Studies (5 works) · Judaism (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Ancient history (4 works) · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies (4 works) · History (4 works)