BowlamThe Incantation Bowl Index

Small vessels.
Human hopes.
Enduring questions.

Ancient texts. Everyday fears. Spells that outlived their makers. Discover the lives hidden in incantation bowls.

Interior of Harvard bowl 1899.2.658, with circular writing and a small central face.

Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East

Protection,
close to home.

A spell against illness. A shield for a family. Written on ordinary clay, these words reveal what people feared—and what they hoped to keep safe.

Originating in Mesopotamia, in present-day Iraq and neighboring Iran, most bowls were made in the sixth and seventh centuries CE, in late antiquity—a world that changed with the rise of Islam.

Reported bowl findspots: a schematic mapSelected places in the index. Filled circles mark sites with checked published excavation associations, open circles other findspot reports, and a dashed area the Susiana mission report. Modern country borders are shown for orientation. The schematic positions are not excavation coordinates. Arban and Uruk attributions remain uncertain; their question marks have short explanations. IRAQIRANSYRIA TigrisEuphratesPersian Gulf Modern borders · schematic Nippur — Published excavation contextNippur Tell Baruda — Published excavation contextTell Baruda Seleucia — Published excavation contextSeleucia Khorsabad — Reported findspotKhorsabad Nineveh — Reported findspotNineveh Nimrud — Reported findspotNimrud Khafajah — Reported findspotKhafajah Sippar — Reported findspotSippar Babylon — Reported findspotBabylon Borsippa — Reported findspotBorsippa Kutha — Reported findspotKutha Susiana — Regional excavation reportSusiana TURKEYSAUDI ARABIA
ExcavatedReportedRegion

A thousand years later,
the bowls resurface.

1841

Two bowls enter the British Museum

Two inscribed bowls arrive from the Stewart collection. They are still known today as BM 91712 and BM 91739.

1853

The first texts in print

Thomas Ellis publishes bowl texts in Layard’s book. The work of reading their spells begins.

Sources for the story

Erica C. D. Hunter, “Incantation Bowls from Babylon and Borsippa in the British Museum,” opening paragraph and notes 1–3, identifies BM 91712 and BM 91739 as the two bowls acquired in 1841. Their registration date is 26 July 1841. This is a collection date, not an excavation date.

British Museum: BM 91712 and Ellis’s 1853 publication, in Layard, no. 6, pp. 521–522. This Syriac bowl was among the texts Ellis published; its original findspot remains unknown (Moriggi 2014, bowl 10, pp. 64–65).

More pages.
More questions.

Publication records by decade
Scholarly publication records, by decade1850s: 3; 1860s: 2; 1870s: 5; 1880s: 11; 1890s: 26; 1900s: 14; 1910s: 17; 1920s: 7; 1930s: 25; 1940s: 8; 1950s: 6; 1960s: 20; 1970s: 41; 1980s: 31; 1990s: 67; 2000s: 122; 2010s: 210; 2020s: 182. The current decade is incomplete. Exact values are also available in the table.0501001502002501850s: 3 publication records318501860s: 2 publication records21870s: 5 publication records518701880s: 11 publication records111890s: 26 publication records2618901900s: 14 publication records141910s: 17 publication records1719101920s: 7 publication records71930s: 25 publication records2519301940s: 8 publication records81950s: 6 publication records619501960s: 20 publication records201970s: 41 publication records4119701980s: 31 publication records311990s: 67 publication records6719902000s: 122 publication records1222010s: 210 publication records21020102020s: 182 publication records; current decade, incomplete1822020Scholarly publication records, by decade1850s: 3; 1860s: 2; 1870s: 5; 1880s: 11; 1890s: 26; 1900s: 14; 1910s: 17; 1920s: 7; 1930s: 25; 1940s: 8; 1950s: 6; 1960s: 20; 1970s: 41; 1980s: 31; 1990s: 67; 2000s: 122; 2010s: 210; 2020s: 182. The current decade is incomplete. Exact values are also available in the table.01002501850s: 3 publication records185031860s: 2 publication records186021870s: 5 publication records187051880s: 11 publication records1880111890s: 26 publication records1890261900s: 14 publication records1900141910s: 17 publication records1910171920s: 7 publication records192071930s: 25 publication records1930251940s: 8 publication records194081950s: 6 publication records195061960s: 20 publication records1960201970s: 41 publication records1970411980s: 31 publication records1980311990s: 67 publication records1990672000s: 122 publication records20001222010s: 210 publication records20102102020s: 182 publication records; current decade, incomplete2020182
Not a complete census of scholarship.
Provisional coverage: 836 publication records, including 273 awaiting scope review. 39 undated records omitted.
Publication records; current decade marked incomplete
DecadeRecordsAwaiting scope review
1850s30
1860s22
1870s53
1880s114
1890s2611
1900s1410
1910s176
1920s71
1930s2515
1940s83
1950s63
1960s2012
1970s4115
1980s3113
1990s6729
2000s12237
2010s21058
2020s (incomplete)18230

A world of bowls.
One place to explore.

Bowlam brings together the bowls, their words, and their journeys. Our aim: the most complete index possible.

1,965bowls in the index
Bowl documentation coverage1,965 circles, one for each bowl in the index. Selecting a category highlights the number of bowls that have that kind of reference.

1,965 bowls in the index.

Recorded Not recorded in this index

The collection

Meet the collection.

The index brings together 1,965 bowls from 2,323 source records.

Reading the words

Read their words.

1,168 / 1,96559.4% of bowls

Scholarly texts that read and translate the bowls.

Seeing the object

Look closer.

941 / 1,96547.9% of bowls

Photographs and drawings.

Tracing a journey

Follow their journeys.

645 / 1,96532.8% of bowls

Where bowls were found and the collections they have passed through.

The index is still being built.

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