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Arslan Tash I and other Vestiges of a Particular Syrian Incantatory Thread

"The first incantatory plaque from Arslan Tash contains an incantation to keep harmful night-time creatures from entering the house until the sun rises. This spell is effected through the assistance of a host of deities, including As\s\ur, Horon, and the Sun-deity. In this brief contribution I offer a translation of this incantation from Arslan Tash (AT1) with select comments on particular orthographic, grammatical, and interpretive matters, and I present evidence for the presence of some of these incantational elements in three different sources in the Ancient Near East: Ugarit, New Kingdom Egypt, and the biblical Passover account in Exod 12..."

Author(s):  Conklin, Blane W
Format:  Article
Publisher:  University of Texas
Source:  Biblica 84 (2003) 89-101