Reading list

How have scholars defined ritual? The works below offer foundational approaches to ritual, symbolism, performance, and religious practice that continue to shape discussions across anthropology, religious studies, and the humanities.

• Ambos, Claus, and Verderame, Lorenzo (eds.). Approaching Rituals in Ancient Cultures. Questioni di rito: rituali come fonte di conoscenza delle religioni e delle concezioni del mondo nelle culture antiche. Proceedings of the Conference, November 28–30, 2011, Roma. Pisa/Roma: Fabrizio Serra Editore, 2013.
• Bell, Catherine M. Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. Oxford University Press, 1992.
• Grimes, Ronald. Ritual Criticism: Case Studies in Its Practice, Essays on Its Theory. University of South Carolina Press, 1990.
• Kreinath, Jens et al. (eds.), Theorizing Rituals. 1, Issues, Topics, Approaches, Concepts. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2006.
• Michaels, Axel. Homo Ritualis: Hindu Ritual and Its Significance for Ritual Theory. Oxford Ritual Studies Series. Oxford University Press, 2015.
• Seligman, Adam B., Robert P. Weller, Michael J. Puett and Bennett Simon. Ritual and its Consequences: An Essay on the Limits of Sincerity. Oxford University Press, 2008.
• Smith, Jonathan. “The Bare Facts of Ritual.” History of Religions 20, nos. 1–2 (1980): 112–127.
• Stephenson, Barry. Ritual. A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
• Turner, Victor W. The Forest of Symbols. Aspects of Ndembu Ritual. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1967.
• Wheelock, Wade T. “The Problem of Ritual Language: From Information to Situation.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 50, no. 1 (1982): 49–71.

How can ritual texts be interpreted? These studies explore philological, hermeneutic, and methodological approaches to reading ritual texts and understanding the scholarly traditions behind them.

• Balberg, Mira. “Ritual Studies and the Study of Rabbinic Literature.” Currents in Biblical Research 2017.
• Barjamovic, Gojko. “Contextualizing Tradition: Magic, Literacy and Domestic Life in Old Assyrian Kanesh.” In Texts and Contexts: The Circulation and Transmission of Cuneiform Texts in Social Space, edited by Paul Delnero and Jacob Lauinger. SANER 9. De Gruyter, 2015.
• Bell, Catherine. “Ritualization of Texts and Textualization of Ritual in the Codification of Taoist Liturgy.” History of Religions 1988.
• Buc, Philippe. The Dangers of Ritual: Between Early Medieval Texts and Social Scientific Theory. Princeton University Press, 2001.
• Delnero, Paul. How to Do Things with Tears: Ritual Lamenting in Ancient Mesopotamia. Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Records, v. 26. De Gruyter, 2020.
• Gabbay, Uri. “How Should We Read Ancient Mesopotamian Ritual Texts.” In Rituals, Memory and Societal Dynamics: Contributions to Social Archaeology: A Collection of Essays in Memory of Sharon Zuckermann, edited by Gideon Shelach-Lavi, Joseph Maran, and Uri Davidovich. Brepols, 2025.
• Mirelman, S. “Mesopotamian Magic in Text and Performance.” In Mesopotamian Medicine and Magic. Studies in Honor of Markham J. Geller, edited by S. V. Panayotov, & L. Vacín. Leiden: Brill, 2018.
• Watts, James. Ritual and Rhetoric in Leviticus: From Sacrifice to Scripture. Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Magic and divination are inseparable from many ritual practices in ancient Mesopotamia. These works explore incantations, witchcraft, divination, and ritual expertise from both philological and theoretical perspectives.

• Abusch, Tzvi. Mesopotamian Witchcraft. Toward a History and Understanding of Babylonian Witchcraft Beliefs and Literature. Ancient Magic and Divination 5. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2002.
• Abusch, Tzvi, and van der Toorn, Karel (eds.). Mesopotamian Magic. Textual, Historical, and Interpretative Perspectives. Ancient Magic and Divination 1. Groningen: Styx, 1999.
• Frankfurter, David. “Narrating Power: The Theory and Practice of the Magical Historiola in Ritual Spells.” In Marvin Meyer and Paul Mirecki (eds.), Ancient Magic and Ritual Power. Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 129. Leiden: Brill, 1995, pp. 457–476.
• Maul, Stefan M. Zukunftsbewältigung. Eine Untersuchung altorientalischen Denkens anhand der babylonisch-assyrischen Loserituale (Namburbi). Baghdader Forschungen 18. Mainz am Rhein: P. von Zabern, 1994.
• Michalowski, Piotr. “Carminative Magic: Towards an Understanding of Sumerian Poetics.” Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie 71, 1 (1981), pp. 1–18.
• Otto, Bernd-Christian. “Towards Historicizing ‘Magic’ in Antiquity.” Numen 60 (2013): 308–347.
• Schwemer, Daniel. Abwehrzauber und Behexung. Studien Zum Schadenzauberglauben im alten Mesopotamien. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
• Veldhuis, Niek. “Poetry of Magic.” In Tzvi Abusch and Karel van der Toorn (eds.), Mesopotamian Magic. Textual, Historical, and Interpretative Perspectives. Ancient Magic and Divination 1. Groningen: Styx, 1999, pp. 35–48.

Ritual is more than a sequence of actions: it creates meaning, constructs identities, and shapes relationships between people, communities, and the divine. The following works explore ritual as social practice and cultural performance.

• Bourdieu, Pierre. Esquisse d’une théorie de la pratique. Précédé de trois études d’ethnologie kabyle. Genève: Librairie Droz, 1972.
• De Martino, Ernesto. Sud e magia. Milano: Feltrinelli, 1959. (English translation: Magic. A Theory from the South. Chicago: Hau Books, 2015.)
• Lévi-Strauss, Claude. “Le sorcier et sa magie.” Les Temps Modernes, 4e année, 41 (1949), pp. 385–406.
• Lévi-Strauss, Claude. “L’efficacité symbolique.” Revue de l’histoire des religions 135, 1 (1949), pp. 5–27.
• Pongratz-Leisten, Beate, and Karen Sonik (eds.). The Materiality of Divine Agency. Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Records 8. De Gruyter, 2015.
• Smith, Jonathan Z. Imagining Religion: From Babylon to Jonestown. University of Chicago Press, 1982.
• Tambiah, Stanley J. “The Magical Power of Words.” Man N.S. 3, 2 (1968), pp. 175–208.
• Tambiah, Stanley J. “A Performative Approach to Ritual.” Proceedings of British Academy 1979, 65 (1981), pp. 113–169.
• Tambiah, Stanley J. “Form and Meaning of Magical Acts.” In Idem, Culture, Thought, and Social Action. An Anthropological Perspective. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985, pp. 60–86.
• Turner, Victor W. Revelation and Divination in Ndembu Ritual. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975.
• Xygalatas, Dimitris. Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living. New York: Hachette, 2022.