Planets, Livers and Omens in Mesopotamia

Abstract

Thanks to important and original publications such as those above, the Laffen, Doktoren, Magister, Schreiber and Pfaffen of ancient Mesopotamia gradually crawl out of millennial woodwork: modern scholars are able to reconstruct their philosophy, law, medicine, and theology with increasing confidence and insight. Here, where one monograph and a collection of sixteen essays are reviewed,' the emphasis will be on philosophy (using the word in a broad sense, to include all types of systematic, connective, or reflexive thought). David Brown's monograph treats of that area of Mesopotamian thought and culture where 'science' has been found with the greatest sanguineness, namely astronomy-astrology, while the essays edited by Tzvi Abusch and Karel van der Toorn treat of that area in which it has least been sought, namely magic. We will be suggesting that the two have not little in common. The volume of essays is organised into three parts: I. Theoretical Perspectives, II. Surveys and Studies, III. Texts. In its entirety, the collection constitutes both a very substantial and innovative scholarly contribution to the study of Mesopotamian magic and