Fellowship Report
Hittite magical rituals are primarily designed to neutralize the negative situations such as an illness, epidemic, plague, black magic, divine wrath or any other detrimental phenomena. This is achieved through the practices of analogy, substitution, rites of passage, contact, and transference often accompanied by various incantations. Serving for therapeutic, cathartic and apotropaic purposes, the corpus of Hittite magic rituals comprises over 4000 tablets and fragments, reflecting a diverse array of religious traditions dispersed across the empire. These texts usually provide detailed information about the ritual experts, paraphernalia, and the appropriate time and place for the magical practices. Notably, well-preserved tablets frequently contain explicit records of the name, profession, and provenance of the ritual practitioner. This specificity has made ritual experts some of the most extensively studied figures in Hittite religious practices, resulting in a substantial body of research dedicated to their roles. While the primary focus remains on the practitioners, the texts also make reference to auxiliary participants who, though not central to the ritual, played certain roles in ensuring the proper functioning of the process.
My research at MagEIA has concentrated on the identification of the subsidiary figures within Hittite magical rituals and on an analysis of their respective roles. The primary objective of the research is to shift the focus from the main characters to those who have been largely overlooked, thereby providing insights into the diversity of participants and enhancing our understanding of the overall organization. The side characters can be categorized into three distinct groups: (1) cultic and administrative officials, who have auxiliary functions but never perform a magic ritual alone; (2) artisans and professionals such as blacksmiths, shepherds, weavers, cooks, and many others, who participate directly in the rituals or whose labor is attested within the concept of analogy magic; and (3) individuals from diverse socioeconomic strata, who can also be considered as the marginalized groups. These include prisoners, slaves, war captives, servants, the blind and deaf, and in some instances, women and children. Given the extensive number of Hittite ritual texts, the research has been structured around two core approaches: (1) a comprehensive analysis of texts and the construction of a database of the occurrences (CTH 390-500), and (2) a critical examination of existing literature.
During my four-month research at MagEIA, I was mainly engaged in the development of a database. I conducted two research visits to the Hethitologie-Archiv of the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz, which enabled me to verify the occurrences of the subsidiary characters in Hittite magic rituals. As a result of these visits and my research activities, the database encompassing the entire corpus of magic rituals (CTH 390-500) was successfully created, allowing the project to proceed with the examination of the texts. The research started with a study of the first two categories: (1) cultic and administrative officials and (2) artisans and professionals, and subsequently extended to (3) marginalized groups. The second phase of the research, which entailed an examination of existing literature and the development of a structure for the first article, commenced in June, 2024.
As a direct outcome of the project, two articles are currently in preparation. The first article examining the role of artisans and professionals is scheduled for submission to a Q-ranked journal by the end of the summer semester. Additionally, the findings of this study will be submitted for presentation in the 2nd MagEIA Symposium. The second article, which focuses on marginalized groups, is planned for completion in 2026. Moreover, I completed the study of six unpublished Boğazköy fragments of magic rituals during my research stay. These fragments have been submitted as part of my forthcoming book Unpublished Boğazköy Tablets in the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations (Bo 9032–Bo 9097), which is planned to be published in the DAAM series in 2025. In addition to these academic contributions, a review in Turkish was submitted to Haberler Dergisi, an annual journal of the Türk Eskiçağ Bilimleri Enstitüsü, for publication with the intention of providing an overview of the MagEIA project to the Turkish-speaking students and colleagues. It will appear in the forthcoming volume (http://turkinst.org/-icerik-38-TR-Haberler-Dergisi.asp?l=TR).
Beyond research, my fellowship at MagEIA provided valuable opportunities for interdisciplinary engagement. The scientific environment of the MagEIA-Haus fostered intellectual exchange, enabling the fellows to gain new perspectives from diverse fields, ranging from linguistic analyses to the cultural contexts of magic in different cultures. This scholarly interaction is primarily achieved through the attendance to the twice-weekly MagEIA seminars, which provided a forum for the fellows to engage in discourse on the philological and sociocultural characteristics of magical texts. As part of these seminars, I had the opportunity to deliver two sessions presenting a philological and cultural examination of the ritual of Puliša (CTH 407), performed to counter a plague introduced into the civilian population by returning troops. MagEIA seminars facilitated productive discussions that deepened my understanding of both the dynamics of magic in ancient Near East and the textual structures underlying magical practices. Furthermore, lectures held at the Toskanasaal of the Residenz as part of the lecture series organised by the Würzburg Centre for Ancient Studies (WAZ-Ringvorlesung) and the MagEIA team provided a valuable opportunity to attend presentations by esteemed scholars from various fields of specialization. As a fellow of the Siebold-Collegium Institute for Advanced Studies (SCIAS), I also had the privilege of presenting my research to the colleagues from diverse disciplines residing at the Welz-Haus, as well as members of the Altorientalistik department at JMU. My stay at the Welz-Haus significantly facilitated the expansion of my scholarly network and provided valuable opportunities for numerous fruitful discussions with researchers from various fields.
In conclusion, I extend my gratitude to the PIs of MagEIA, Prof. Dr. Daniel Schwemer (my Gastgeber), Prof. Dr. Daniel Kölligan, and Prof. Dr. Martin Stadler, as well as to the entire team. I also thank the Siebold-Collegium (SCIAS) for providing accommodation during my research period.
