Deutsch Intern
  • Extracts from magical texts in antiquity (Greek, Hieratic, Demotic, Akkadian): British Library P 122; British Museum P Chester Beatty 7 and P Leiden/London, British Museum BM 34065
DFG Centre for Advanced Studies MagEIA

Fellowship Report

I was a MagEIA junior fellow from April 2024 to March 2025. Over these twelve months at MagEIA, I was able to make significant strides in my work. I was able to complete the revisions to my PhD dissertation to prepare it for publication. I also completed two publications: a book review of a recent monograph on a group of well-known Mesopotamian demons and a short publication of nine administrative texts from a Neo-Babylonian temple. I also wrote the majority of two article drafts, one of which concerns Mesopotamian amulet usage, based on a conference paper I gave two years ago. MagEIA also provided me with opportunities to build my speaking experience: I gave a public lecture as a part of the Ringvorlesung series put on by MagEIA during the summer semester of 2024, and two conference papers, one of which was at the first MagEIA symposium in the fall of 2024. Most significantly, I began my next large project, which is an updated critical edition and study of a group of Sumerian/Akkadian bilingual incantation texts known as the “zi–pa3 incantations.” Under the mentorship of Professor Schwemer, I put together a preliminary edition of one of the least understood of these texts, a composition called Lugal-Namtar. My funding at MagEIA enabled me to go to the British Museum to examine personally tablet fragments attesting this composition.

            My research at MagEIA benefited immensely from the interdisciplinary nature of the project. The twice-a-week seminars proved an excellent place to learn more about what scholars of other magical traditions are working on and how they approach the textual sources from their own fields. It helped me to feel more comfortable incorporating scholarship from other fields into my work for a more comparative perspective. My presentations in the MagEIA seminars allowed me to showcase the ways in which Mesopotamian magic can speak to other fields in turn. Getting to know specialists in other fields through working in the office together has provided me with colleagues with whom I intend to keep working in the future.

            Although my time here at MagEIA is ending, I am excited to continue my affiliation with the project. I am preparing my next conference paper for the next symposium, an event which I intend to contribute to as long as it continues. I am also looking forward to contributing to the future MagEIA Handbook, a publication which I believe will be of value to students of religion and magic in the ancient world. The collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of the MagEIA Project will follow me into my future work in more personal ways, as well. During my next postdoctoral position, I will be teaching a course on magical traditions of the ancient eastern Mediterranean world, a course which I have been able to put together thanks to what I have learned from my MagEIA colleagues in other fields (in particular, a small Aramaic reading group that a few of us started was extremely enlightening). I have no doubt that I will continue to draw on their expertise as I prepare for this class.

            On a personal level, my time at MagEIA was very special. As my first post after finishing my PhD, it has provided me with a solid stepping stone to furthering my academic career. The mentorship of Professor Schwemer has been indispensable and the connections I have made here have helped me to further my understanding with the various fields of ancient magic on a broad level. MagEIA has allowed me to “cross-train” here at the University of Würzburg and to fill out my skills as an academic, exploring new areas with my research and developing my lecturing skills further. I highly value the time I spent here, along with the colleagues and friends made along the way.

Publications

  • Namtar: Deity, Demon, Agent of Fate (book manuscript completed and revised)
  • Sumerian and Sumero-Akkadian Bilingual “Oath Incantations:” A Critical Edition and Study. (book project, foundational critical editions completed)
  • “The Neo-Babylonian Tablets of the Lawrence Henry Ott Collection in the Yale Babylonian Collection.” (article, Orientalia)
  • “Review of The Divine/Demonic Seven and the Place of Demons in Mesopotamia. By Gina Konstantopoulos. Ancient Magic and Divination 20. Leiden: Brill, 2023. Pp. xvi + 354. €139 (cloth).” (book review, Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Studies)
  • “Cui Bono?: The Beneficiaries of Inscribed Amulets in Ancient Mesopotamia.” (article, drafted)
  • “A Sumerian Lamashtu Incantation with zi–pa3 Structure” (article, drafted)