Magical Passages in Ancient Near Eastern Rituals: Liminality, Transformation and Separation

This book focuses on the element of thresholds – makeshift gates, makeshift structures and house doors – as concepts of liminality in ancient Near Eastern magical rituals, and the idea of transformation they reflect.

Readers gain an in-depth understanding of theories of liminality and rites of passage, and how they illuminate fascinating aspects of social behavior and religious and cultic practices in ancient Near Eastern societies, specifically those of Hatti and Mesopotamia. Ritual liminality, manifested in the use of makeshift and permanent architectural elements, was meant to facilitate two different aims: transformation from one category to the other (using makeshift gates and structures) and separation between categories (using house doors). The book presents the pertinent ritual texts in their original languages, analyzes these texts in detail and offers comparative discussions of the different cultures that practiced these rituals.

Magical Passages in Ancient Near Eastern Rituals is suitable for students and scholars interested in ancient religions, rituals and cults, particularly in the ancient Near East, as well as those working on ancient history, philology, anthropology and religious studies more broadly.

Ilan Peled is a historian working at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies, Netherlands. He is the author of Masculinities and Third Gender (2016), Law and Gender in the Ancient Near East (2020) and Magic in the Ancient Near East (2026), and the editor of Structures of Power (2017).