Enciclopedia Cattolica Vol. II, 1949 Non-Christian religions Particular topics

Ašipu

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Also known as: ashipu

AŠIPU. - The A. ("conjurer, exorcist") is one of the major priests of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion. His task is, by means of magical acts, to remove from a person the wrath and vengeance of a god or a demon. Therefore the A. is the servant of the god Ea, who, by means of incantations, was victorious over the gods Apsu and Mummu.

The A. has his origin in the city of Eridu, the city of the god Ea. The priest performed the incantations (Sumerian en.tu; Akkadian šiptu), by means of which he could drive out diseases, impurities and sins to which, according to the superstitious belief of the Babylonians, all diseases and misfortunes were attributed. It was therefore natural that the conjurer should be a highly authoritative person and in contact with all classes of society. The A. was consulted also in the case of extraordinary events.

Bibliography

BIBL.: G. Furlani, La religione babilonese e assira, II, Bologna 1929.

Giustino Boson

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By Giustino Boson

How we know signed in print

Translated from the Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II (1949), col. 150.

More by Giustino Boson: Asarhaddon (Assur-ahu-iddin «The god Assur gave a brother») · Assur · Ashurbanipal (Aššur-bāni-aplu "Assur Creates an Heir") · Babylonians · Babylonia of Egypt

Cite this article

Chicago

Boson, Giustino. “AŠIpu.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, col. 150. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949. https://azioneromana.com/article/asipu.

MLA

Boson, Giustino. “AŠIpu.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949, col. 150. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/asipu.

BibTeX

@incollection{ec2_asipu,
  author    = {Boson, Giustino},
  title     = {AŠIpu},
  booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
  volume    = {II},
  pages     = {150},
  note      = {Cited by column},
  publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
  address   = {Città del Vaticano},
  year      = {1949},
  url       = {https://azioneromana.com/article/asipu}
}

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