06_An_Cranz_586-598_coopia_586-598 10/12/15 10:35 Pagina 590 590 ISABEL CRANZ 590 III. The Figurine in a Vessel As already stated, the custom of manipulating figurines was wide- spread and employed in a variety of different situations in Assyro-Baby- lonian sources. For the present purpose of comparing Zechariah’s vision to Assyro-Babylonian exorcisms, we will focus on rituals in which fig- urines are placed in vessels and buried. These rituals are featured in the following texts: CT 23.15-22+, CT 23.19-21, BAM 323 and W 23287:91- 98. The first ritual to be discussed, CT 23.15-22+, dates to the Neo-As- syrian Period and was found in Nineveh 17. This ritual was carried out in response to an encounter between a living and a dead person and required that the deceased person’s figurine be fashioned out of clay. It is then placed in a gazelle horn which is later buried in the shade of a bush 18: 1. If a dead person ap[pears] to a living person […], [a figurine of the dead person] you make out of clay, its name you write on his left shoulder 2. Into a gazelle horn you place it, you [let it] fa[ce the sunset. Either in] 3. the shade of a baltu-thorn or in the shade of a ašāgu thorn, 4. You dig a pit and bury it. Be[fore Šamaš] he says the following 5. Incantation: “Šamaš, the ghost who was s[et on me and so pursues me … ] 6. Let me praise you.”[He says] t[his three times … ] It is noteworthy that the ritual is accompanied by an incantation to the sun-god Šamaš. This god, who is often viewed as divine judge, is regu- larly invoked in exorcisms against ghosts. Presumably, this is tied to the notion that Šamaš travels through the netherworld, which allows him to function as mediator between the living and the dead 19. An additional point of interest is the place of burial as facing westwards during dusk. Pos- sibly, this was meant to signal that the ghost was expected to follow the sun into the netherworld 20. The request of placing a figurine in a vessel is found in another ritual against ghost affliction, which was also discovered in Nin- eveh (CT 23.15-22+) 21. Here two figurines are fashioned, one of the patient and one of the ghost. The figurine of the living person is cleansed, while 17 See SCURLOCK, Magico-Medical Means, 2. 18 For transliteration and translation of this text, see SCURLOCK, Magico- Medical Means, 202, text 12. 19 See SCURLOCK, Magico-Medical Means, 28-29. 20 Cf. SCURLOCK, Magico-Medical Means, 51. However, not every ritual disposal of a figurine involved a journey to the west. Cf. SCHWEMER, Akkad- ische Rituale, 71. 21 See SCURLOCK, Magico-Medical Means, 2.