Babylonian Magic and Sorcery Being “the Prayers of the Lifting of the Hand,” the Cuneiform Texts of a Group of Babylonian and Assyrian Incantations and Magical Formulæ (Classic Reprint) Leonard W. King: 9781440042034: : Books

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1. 5.0 out of 5 stars

   Source material for Simon’s Necronomicon?

   The incantations on display here are extremely similar to the Simon Necronomicon, they are simply not peppered with Cthonic (Lovecraftian) deity names. There is no mad Arab Alhazred or anything but read side by side there are stunning similarities. Thus, I find this book an invaluable companion volume to the Simon Necronomicon (i.e. the “Avon Books” Necronomicon).Most exciting of all in this book are the numerous plates recreating the clay tablets in the original cuneiform text that the incantations were translated from and the Cuneiform dictionary / glossary.

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2. 5.0 out of 5 stars

   A Highly technical manual

   This book is definately not designed for the novice, rather a professional of Babylonian studies. The book covers Babylonian and Assyrian incantations, ceremomies, and prayers from the 76 cuneiform tablets in the excavation of Nineavah. They were found in the site of Kuyunjuik. The prayers of “lifting the hand” are presented in full with as much technical and related material as possible. The book presents each ritual with details on how to preform the rituals, libations to deities, and what is needed to complete the rituals. The book does contain details to help the novice such as the tablets themselves, an extensive vocabulary, notes, and explainations. There is a good forward from R.A. Gilbert and preface from King himself explaining his expectations of the material. All in all the book does stand up to those expectations and some. One of the most complete Babylonian books that i’ve ever read. a great compliment and companion to Semetic Magic by Cambell Thompson (1908).

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3. 4.0 out of 5 stars

   Good research, not completely convinced about all of it.

   I’m suspicious of some of the translations, but this is a nice piece of scholarly research.

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4. 2.0 out of 5 stars

   not what it claims to be

   This work was a great disappointment to me. The first page will tell you what to expect when you find Samuel Weiser x’ed out the name of the person who was going to write the foreword scratched out. The work is far from being complete. It takes too much for granted in the parts that are missing. Reads like a Masters Theseus that has gone awry. Not really worth your time or money unless you want it strictly for an anthropological source of a few broken and incomplete fragments.

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5. Love it

   Easy to follow

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