Valerii Ivanov and Ilya Yakubovich (Hrsg.)

Citatio: Valerii Ivanov and Ilya Yakubovich (Hrsg.), hethiter.net/: CTH 766.3.1 (INTR 2025-08-01)


CTH 766.3.1

A Hittite-Luwian text (conjuration and ritual)

introductio



Kurzbeschreibung

This text is devoted to the restoration of a relationship between a child and his parents and contains protective spells against an evil-doer.

Texte

Exemplar AKBo 13.260615/uHaH

Inhaltsübersicht

Abschnitt 1ID=1List of the gods involved in the purification 
Abschnitt 2ID=2List of tools made for the human child
Abschnitt 3ID=3Those who made the tools must take them
Abschnitt 4ID=4Spell for a reconciliation between the child and his parents 
Abschnitt 5ID=5Hittite description of a purifying rite involving the child 
Abschnitt 6ID=6Hittite description of unclear ritual acts 
Abschnitt 7ID=7Spell for the evil spirits turning away from the child  
Abschnitt 8ID=8Spell for the child’s well-being 
Abschnitt 9ID=9Hittite description of a rite of extinguishing fire
Abschnitt 10ID=10Hittite curse against whoever wishes to harm a child

History of publication

This text was published in transliteration in Starke F. 1985a: 260–263 as an unspecified spell and re-edited in transliteration in Torri G. – Barsacchi F.G. 2018b: 292–296.

Tablet characteristics

The two-column tablet is broken at the intercolumnium, but columns two and three are almost fully preserved, except for the bottom of column two and the top of column three. A small fragment of the right lower part of the column one is also extant. Column four is fully lost except for several sings belonging to it but found in the intercolumnium.

Palaeography and handwriting

New Script

Linguistic characteristics

The description of ritual gestures and the curse formula are in Hittite, the rest of the text is in Luwian.

Text transmission

This fragment was found in the House on the Slope.

Intertextuality

The curse against whoever wishes to harm a child (section 10), which has parallels with protection spells in CTH 766.1.1.a (sections 12, 14–15, 18) and CTH 766.2.1 (section 2). In addition, the spell for the evil spirits enjoined to turn away from the human child (section 7) resonates with the partly preserved spell mentioning the evil spirits in CTH 766.1.1.b (section 3).

General information

The structure of this text is different from all the previous ones in that it represents a transitional case between a conjuration and a ritual. On the one hand, it features Hittite passages describing manipulations with ritual artifacts and perhaps even a sacrifice to evil spirits. On the other hand, some of its passages bear formulaic resemblance to other texts booked under CTH 766. The term for ritual (SISKUR) is never mentioned in the preserved part of the text, while the patient is called DUMU.LÚ.U₁₉.LU or simply DUMU, which is consistent with a hypothesis of an extended conjuration.

Editio ultima: 2025-08-01