British Museum

J. B. Segal

Erica C. D. Hunter

The British Museum's collection of incarnation bowls found in Mesopotamia is probably second only to that of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. The function of the bowls, which have magical texts mainly in Jewish Aramaic and Mandaic scripts, is uncertain, but was probably to serve as a trap for evil spirits. This catalogue provides a transliteration, translation and commentary on the text of each of 142 bowls or fragments of bowls. It also includes a typological study of the physical and decorative features of the bowls, some of which have anthropomorphic or zoomorphic drawings, and a glossary and table of scripts.

Roger Openshaw

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