Hebrew Bowl

CBS Register: terracotta bowl, 17 pieces, 7 lines of Hebrew around 2 demons

Complete-17 Fr/7 Line Inscription/2 Demons; object is probably wheel-made; a black line runs around the bowl's rim; object has a rounded bottom; text is in concentric circles

Aramaic

Levy: "This bowl was prepared to protect Abuna bar Geribta and Ibba bar Zawithai from a series of evil forces, and its writer drew his power from the garment of Hermes and the Creator of heaven and earth. He threatened the destructive forces with the curses of the Leviathan and Sodom and Gemorrah. The circular format of the text is normal for magic bowls, but the presence of an illustration is unusual, though not unique. The figures are not labelled, and their identities and purposes are not certain. J.A. Montgomery, who first published the Nippur bowls, suggested that the figure with the bound feet is a demon and that the other figure is the sorcerer."

Morgan Library: "The figures painted on this bowl are particularly striking, but their identities and functions are obscure. The American scholar, James A. Montgomery, who first published the Nippur bowls in 1913, suggested that the figure with bound feet is a demon and the other, a sorcerer. Employing curses to deflect malign spirits, the personalized inscription reads in part:

If you harm Abuna bar Garibta and Bayba bar Yawitay, I shall put a spell of the sea and a spell of the sea snake Leviathan upon you. If you harm Abuna bar Garibta and his spouse and his children, I shall bend you like a bow, and span you like a bowstring."