Means of substitution: The use of figurines, animals, and human beings as substitutes in Assyrian rituals

In the present article I propose an overview of substitution practices in rituals described in Neo-Assyrian literary and documentary sources. From the most simple and diffused means of substitution (figurines) to the most complex (animals and human beings) I analyze the different use of substitution and of its syntagms as evolving according to complexity. In particular, the main focus will be on the identity transmission and the identification process. Two different ideas of counteracting the evil emerge. One aims at annihilating the evil by directing it back to its source; the other realizes the fate of the patient (death) by the means of a substitute. Three main groups of procedures involv- ing substitution are analyzed: anti/witchcraft rituals, healing rituals involving animals (Incantation of the piglet, A man’s substitute for Ereškigal), the “substitute king”.