Which ‘Witch’ is Which?, by Kelsie Ehalt

Ancient cuneiform texts describe kišpu, a form of harm enacted through incantations and material manipulation, often misleadingly translated as “witchcraft.” Anti-kišpu texts, produced by āšipu scholars in Assyrian royal contexts, aimed to protect the king’s health. The most extensive of these, Maqlû, contains ninety-two incantations countering such magic. Within it, the kaššāptu (female practitioner) appears as a particularly transgressive figure—foreign, mobile, and aligned with animals and demonic beings like Lamaštu. This paper situates Maqlû within its seventh-century BCE context to explore how gender and aggression intersect in representations of harmful magic across Assyrian thought.