מפגש שלישי- 06.06.23

This meeting was devoted to reading two Babylonian lament-prayers guided by Beatrice Baragli and Yael Leokumovich. We began with an introduction to Cuneiform culture, the urban temples, the cyclic cult, the different types of priests, the cosmology and theological perception of the Mesopotamian cult. We addressed the type of materials and the challenges and limitations posed by them. We then discussed some of the main characteristics of the lament-prayers, Mesopotamian rituals, and their sensorial experience. Then we read selected sections together, in translation, with special emphasis on the first-person utterances, where the priests voice the lamenting deity. Further, we read the often-encountered litanies in the lament-prayers. We then discussed the state of consciousness that these performed prayers could have evoked.