$100.00

Outside of the Babylonian Talmud, the Aramaic incantation bowls inscribed with elaborate magical texts are the only major extant written corpus produced by Jews during the late Sasanian and early Islamic periods (ca. 500–700 CE). Contributors Siam Bhayro, Anne Burberry, Shira Eliassian, James Nathan Ford, Tal Ilan, Reuven Kiperwasser, Dan Levene, Alexander W. Marcus, Jason Sion Mokhtarian, Ortal-Paz Saar, Harriet Walker, and Daniel J. Waller approach the amulets through a variety of methodological approaches, including social history, gender studies, linguistics, and digital humanities. The volume includes an up-to-date survey, introductory essay, map of known excavation sites, and bibliographical resources for the vast and diffuse corpus of Aramaic incantation bowls that served a number of purposes, including warding off evil spirits and diseases, overturning curses from human adversaries, and achieving success in court cases, childbirth, or livelihood. The fascinating artifacts presented here transform our understanding of Jewish culture, interreligious interactions, and the varieties of Jewish identity and religion that existed during this formative era.

Alexander W. Marcus is Belzberg Family and Jewish Federation of Edmonton Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Alberta. His upcoming monograph examines the Babylonian Talmud with an analytical focus on late-antique Jewish and Mesopotamian conceptions of danger.

Jason Sion Mokhtarian is Herbert and Stephanie Neuman Professor in Hebrew and Jewish Literature in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Cornell University. He is the author of Rabbis, Sorcerers, Kings, and Priests: The Culture of the Talmud in Ancient Iran (2015) and Medicine in the Talmud: Natural and Supernatural Therapies between Magic and Science (2022).

Review copy requests should be entered into our online form.