Ritual Contexts and Mythological Explanations of the Emesal Šuilla-Prayers in Ancient Mesopotamia

Abstract

The prayers designated as Šuilla comprise those belonging to the arts of the exorcist (āšipu), and those belonging to that of the cult-singer (kalû). In the present article I draw upon the latter prayers which were written in the Emesal-dialect of the Sumerian language and recited in processions, especially those from/to the Akītu-house, to investigate the purpose of their recitations in rituals, and furthermore, to seek the possible mythological explanations of the recitations in Babylonian and Assyrian scholarship.