It involved ritual drawings with a variety of powdered cereals to counter different threats and is accompanied by the gloss: SAG.BA SAG.BA, Akkadian: māmīt māmīt, the curse from a broken oath, in The Exorcists Manual, where it refers to a specific ritual on two tablets the first of which is extant.
[2] The zisurrû, a word ultimately derived from Sumerian, was used as a defensive measure and drawn on the ground around prophylactic figurines as part of a Babylonian ritual to thwart evil spirits, around a patient's bed to protect against ghosts or demons in much the same manner in which bowls thwart demons and curses, or as a component of another elaborate ritual.
[7] It is incorporated into the Kettledrum rituals, where the circle of flour surrounds the bull whose hide is to form the drum skin.
[10] In other rituals a circle might be painted in whitewash or dark wash on either side of a doorway for apotropaic purposes.
The text describes measures to repel, thwart or imprison demons, such as trapping them in a covered fermentation vat.