A wheel-thrown pottery bowl with a flat base and simple rim, inscribed in a continuous spiral in the Mandaic script, running from the centre of the interior outward and continuing on the exterior wall. The text carries protective incantations; one names Bashniray, daughter of Shahafrid, and asks protection for her against a lilith, a demoness blamed for harming households and infants. Such bowls, produced across Mesopotamia in late antiquity by Mandaean, Jewish and other Aramaic-speaking scribes for clients of various backgrounds, were typically buried upside down under the threshold or in the corners of a house as apotropaic magic. The British Museum holds a substantial collection of these bowls, catalogued in full by J.B. Segal with E.C.D. Hunter.
Facts
Origins
Date of Creation CountryIraq (findspot region); United Kingdom (current location) 1 Physical Form
MediumWheel-thrown pottery, incised inscription 1 Rights and Reproduction
Reproduction and CopyrightThis atlas describes and cites the bowl and its published translation rather than reproducing an image of it, and describes the object and its protective inscription only, not the Mandaean baptism rite. 1 Subject Matter
Depicted SubjectNo figural image; a spiral Mandaic inscription of protective incantations, naming a named woman and a lilith-demoness. 2 Custody
Current LocationThe British Museum, London 1 Current Custodian Cross-Tradition Connections
Sources
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