The Reception of Mesopotamian and Early Jewish Traditions in the Aramaic Incantation Bowls

This article presents several examples of how the Aramaic incantation bowls from late-antique Mesopotamia receive and use earlier traditions preserved in Mesopotamian cuneiform and Jewish alphabetic sources, with a view to demonstrating the importance of the bowls when discussing the earlier process of ‘Aramaic cultural mediation’. Four ways in which the bowls receive the earlier traditions are discussed (formulaic, terminological, conceptual and methodological), which help us appreciate what we should be looking for in other contexts. The clear reception of motifs from 11Q11 in the incantation bowls allows us to bridge the gap between the earlier cuneiform sources and the later incantation bowls.‬