Kisir-Ashur

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Kisir-Ashur

Circa Seventh Centuryb.c.e.

Exorcist

Sources

Tablet Collector. Kisir-Ashur, an exorcist of the temple of the god Ashur in the city of the same name, was a medical practitioner with his own personal library, found by archaeologists beneath the floors of his house. Many of these texts comprised incantations and prescriptions to counteract various sicknesses and evils. Also beneath the floors of several rooms were found apotropaic figurines of the sort used in conjunction with the rituals in the texts to ward off evil spirits. Of all the houses with private libraries in Ashur, Kisir-Ashur’s had the largest collection of tablets and a rare writing board made of ivory.

Sources

Olof Pedersén, Archives and Libraries in the Ancient Near East 1500–300 B.C. (Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press, 1998).