Conclusion
It is clear that oneiric aggressive rituals played an important role in late antique Jewish tradition. According to the sources examined above, late antique Jews feared that an evil dream might draw misfortune to the dreamer and sleeplessness might even lead to death.
Like their Babylonian ancestors and Greco- Egyptian neighbors, late antique Jews usually explained the occurrence of good/evil dreams and lack of sleep as a result of a divine/demonic attack. The ancient belief that demons and other non-human beings were in charge of sleep and dreams gave rise to various magical rituals, aimed at controlling and affecting the sleep of a third person with the aid of a demonic/angelic assistant. Therefore, spells for sending evil dreams or causing insomnia in a chosen victim were commonly used by Jews in Late Antiquity for different purposes, as is demonstrated in the passages from shr, HdM, and the bib discussed in this article. Equally, people turned to magicians in order to prevent demons from appearing in their dreams or troubling their sleep and to protect themselves from possible oneiric aggressive incantations, perpetrated to their detriment by a sorcerer or an enemy.Even though the Jewish oneiric aggressive techniques discussed in this essay exhibit, in part, foreign elements (either Old Babylonian or Greco-Egyptian), the extant sources are clearly Jewish and certainly prove a Jewish use of these practices. It is clear that Jews believed and feared oneiric aggressive magic and turned to magicians to purchase apotropaic or aggressive oneiric spells.
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