«Perché non dormi bambino?». Scongiuri babilonesi del II millennio per quietare un bambino

In this article I deal with IInd millennium Mesopotamian incantations to sooth a baby. Four Babylonian incantations are hereby analysed and their structure and motives discussed. A translation of the texts is presented in the Appendix. Incantations to soothe a baby are often associated or directly identified with lullabies, with which they share the aim and some motives, but both show fundamental differences. In incantations, the restlessness of the baby is perceived as an element that disturbs human and superhuman beings of the house. The baby’s cry wakes up the gods of the house, whose wrath may cause harm to the house and their human inhabitants. Thus the baby is the noxious being the incantations aim at exorcising through menaces of evoking supernatural beings (Enkidu, kusarikku).