Images

These amulets were inscribed with a spell recruiting the mighty god Ninurta for protection. They were worn around the neck and their size corresponds to the needs of different age groups. From Nimrud and Nineveh, Mesopotamia...

Alongside recipes (derived from various plants) to address mental illnesses, this tablet provides unique drawings as a guide to making magical figurines against demons and sickness. The king-like...

These exorcistic incantations were written on this large clay tablet using both Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform language. Probably from Ashur, Mesopotamia, Iraq, 1300-900 BCE. (The British Museum, London)

Recipes involving plant and vegetable drugs were written on this clay tablet, but the purpose was not mentioned. Unlike many medical documents, it is a doctor's working copy rather than a library reference work...

A medical recipe was written on this clay tablet to prevent miscarriage. It recommends that a women should wear for 3 days a particular species of dried edible mouse which has been stuffed...

Recipes were written in cuneiform inscriptions. They concern conditions such as infertility and pregnancy. Probably from Babylon, Mesopotamia, Iraq. Circa 600-400 BCE. (The British Museum, London)

Pazuzu amulet has two rings for suspension. Pazuzu is a creature from Mesopotamian mythology with a human body, four wings, lion fore-paws, vulture's feet, and a rattlesnake tail. Pazuzu was the demon of the southwest wind...

Amulet depicting a Lamashtu standing on a donkey and suckling a jackal and a wild pig, from Northern Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq, c. 800-550 BCE. Lamashtu prayed on women in childbirth and newborn infants. She has a...

Tomb of Inherkau no. 359 Second chamber, South wall "The great cat of Heliopolis" killing the enemy of the sun, Apophis.

Book of the Dead of Nestanebtasheru (sheet 87): Geb is shown as a semi-recumbent figure stretching out his limbs while the elongated body of Nut arches above him. Her feet touch the ground at the eastern horizon and her fingers...