The fragments listed under CTH 764–766 feature conjurations that are largely presented separately from the description of non-verbal acts, e.g. offerings, whether or not they had to be accompanied by such. Accordingly, they are introduced as Hitt. ḫukmaiš ‘conjuration’ or as its Akkadographic equivalent ŠIPAT, but not as SISKUR ‘ritual (offering)’. We do not have a single mention of a specific performer in connection with this group of texts: apparently the conjurations were treated as folklore and did not require fixed authorship. As for their function, most of the texts grouped under CTH 764–766 concentrate on fighting diseases. The common designation of patients in these compositions is DUMU.NAM.LÚ.U₁₉.LU ‘human child’ / ‘human being’. Since conjurations are short texts, several of them normally occur on a single collection tablet, each being provided with a separate colophon. With regard to their form, several of them contain historiolae (concise mythological narratives). The conjurations assembled under CTH 764–766 are either in Luwian or there are good grounds to believe that they were translated from Luwian. The Luwian language of the Hittite-Luwian conjurations possesses some special features, such as the particle =kuwa “furthermore”, “in turn” and the particle =wa, which is extremely rare in the other Luwian cuneiform texts. The Hittite portions of the compositions of this group were usually compiled in Middle Hittite based on the linguistic criteria. As for their ductus, both Middle Script and New Script tablets are abundantly represented in this corpus (Starke F. 1985a: 218–221).
According to the original version of the Catalogue des textes hittites (CTH), the texts treated here as Hittite-Luwian conjurations can be divided into three groups: CTH 764, Magie et mythe: le dieu négligé “Magic and myth: the neglected deity”, CTH 765, Conjurations contre des maladies “Conjurations against illnesses” and CTH 766, Conjuration de la lune “Conjuration of the Moon” (Laroche E. 1971c: 137–138). Another classification belongs to Starke, who published the transliterations of these texts. Starke believed that most of the conjurations were performed to help a pregnant woman, a woman in labor, or a newborn child. According to his classification, these conjurations are divided into four groups, namely Schwangerschaftsbeschwörungen “conjurations of pregnancy”, Worte der Kamrušepa “words of Kamrušepa”, Beschwörungen mit Nennung eines Götterfestes “conjurations mentioning the feast of the gods”, and Fragmente unsicherer Einordnung “fragments of uncertain classification” (Starke F. 1985a: 202–204). For the principles of our classification, see the introductions to the specific CTH-numbers.
The genre of conjurations is not limited to Hittite-Luwian texts, since there are similar texts composed entirely in Hittite and not showing any Luwian influence. The titles of several conjurations are reflected in catalog tablets. There are instances of conjurations embedded in rituals, which should be distinguished from the ordinary ritual incantations in that they contain mythological allusions rather than explanations of specific rites. Such texts are not treated in the present collection.
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