Shurpu

Šurpu ("Burning")

Anonymous / tradition · c. 1350-1050 BC (Middle Babylonian compilation, per Geller) · Babylon (Iraq) · scripture

Where Maqlu targets an external witch, this nine-tablet purification series argues that a sufferer's affliction more often traces to the patient's own forgotten sin, an unwitting broken oath or a violated taboo, so the ritual works by exhaustively naming every possible offense until the guilty one is confessed and burned away.