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Abstract
Abstract This article tackles the question of divine filiation in the ancient Near East, analysing the Sumerian phrase dumu diĝir-ra-na “the child of his/her god.” This characteristic phrase appears almost exclusively within incantation literature and designates the patient. The article proposes that this phrase implies a specific kind of relationship between the patient and his “personal god(s)” and traces the historical development of the phrase by comparing an up-to-date collection of attestations (included as an appendix) with other phrases indicating the patient in Sumerian and Akkadian sources. The article concludes that dumu diĝir-ra-na first occurs in the Old Babylonian period and is distinct from other terms for patients in that it stresses reconciliation between the patient and the personal god as necessary for the patient’s healing. Texts that include this phrase and express the concept of reconciliation employ a rhetoric that relates a specific role to each speaker.
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