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My research focuses on demons and monsters in the ancient Near East, which was the focus of my dissertation, and the role of magic and ritual in Akkadian and Sumerian texts, particularly the broader context of exorcism texts. I am also researching the construction of fictional places and the abstraction of foreign lands in the ancient world.

For 2017-2019, I was the postdoctoral researcher in the Center of Excellence: Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions at the University of Helsinki.

Currently, I am an Assistant Professor in the History of Ancient Western Asia in the Research Center for West Asian Civilization at the University of Tsukuba

konsta.gina.gf[at]u.tsukuba.ac.jp
(change [at] to @)
Supervisors: Piotr Michalowski
Address: New York, NY
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Papers by Gina Konstantopoulos

Research paper thumbnail of Migrating Demons, Liminal Deities, and Assyria's Western Campaigns.
AABNER, 2021
Demons and monsters are inherently moveable creatures: from the late second millennium BCE onward... moreDemons and monsters are inherently moveable creatures: from the late second millennium BCE onwards a number of demons and monsters migrate from their native Mesopotamian contexts, moving westward. Of course, these figures do not remain static throughout their journey, instead acquiring the characteristics of the different cultural contexts wherein they are now found. This paper considers the different representations of several of these demonic figures within the context of the Levant, analyzing their artistic representations as well as the more diffuse textual evidence for them. As the line between demonic and divine was already thin and mutable in Mesopotamia, we see a similar flexibility to their definitions when these figures move into their new contexts. As deities are, generally speaking, less marginal beings than demons, the deities that do move westward, or are employed in the west in Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian sources, do so because they are already demonstrate a more flexible character and wider possible applicability and use. This principle is especially seen in the attestations of one such figure, a group of seven divine-demonic beings known as the Sebettu, who are employed with particular focus in Neo-Assyrian references connected to the western frontier.
Research paper thumbnail of Review of: Michael B. Hundley, Gods in Dwellings: Temples and Divine Presence in the Ancient Near East, vol. 3 in Writings from the Ancient World Supplements. Bethesda: Society for Biblical Literature Publications, 2013
Review of: Michael B. Hundley, Gods in Dwellings: Temples and Divine Presence in the Ancient Near East, vol. 3 in Writings from the Ancient World Supplements. Bethesda: Society for Biblical Literature Publications, 2013
Review of: Michael B. Hundley, Gods in Dwellings: Temples and Divine Presence in the Ancient Near... moreReview of: Michael B. Hundley, Gods in Dwellings: Temples and Divine Presence in the Ancient Near East, vol. 3 in Writings from the Ancient World Supplements. Bethesda: Society for Biblical Literature Publications, 2013. In Rosetta 20 (2017).
Research paper thumbnail of Review of: Jan J. W. Lisman, Cosmogony, Theogony, and Anthropogeny in Sumerian Texts. Vol. 409 of Alter Orient und Altes Testament. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2013
Review of: Jan J. W. Lisman, Cosmogony, Theogony, and Anthropogeny in Sumerian Texts. Vol. 409 of... moreReview of: Jan J. W. Lisman, Cosmogony, Theogony, and Anthropogeny in Sumerian Texts. Vol. 409 of Alter Orient und Altes Testament. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2013. In Rosetta 18 (2015)
Research paper thumbnail of Special Issue: Hic Sunt Dracones: Creating, Defining, and Abstracting Place in the Ancient World
Special Issue: Hic Sunt Dracones: Creating, Defining, and Abstracting Place in the Ancient World
Research paper thumbnail of The Many Lives of Enheduana: Identity, Authorship, and the "World's First Poet."
Presentation and Perception of Powerful Women in the Ancient World, 2021
Pp. 57-76 in Presentation and Perception of Powerful Women in the Ancient World, eds. Sebastian F... morePp. 57-76 in Presentation and Perception of Powerful Women in the Ancient World, eds. Sebastian Fink and Kerstin Droß-Krüpe. Melammu Workshops and Monographs 4. Münster: Zaphon. 2021.

This article traces the different "lives" of Enheduana, moving from her historical origins in the late third millennium BCE to her modern reception.
Research paper thumbnail of The Bitter Sea and the Waters of Death: the Sea as a Conceptual Border in Mesopotamia
Journal of Ancient Civilizations, 2020
The article examines the role of the seas in Sumerian and Akkadian royal inscriptions and literar... moreThe article examines the role of the seas in Sumerian and Akkadian royal inscriptions and literary texts from the third millennium BCE onwards. By tracing the presence of the sea in these texts, it becomes clear that the Upper and Lower Sea – or the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf, though the former could shift geographically – could stand as terminal points for imperial control; as an obstacle or opponent to tackle; and moreover, as markers of distant, even constructed space. Overall, the sea functioned as both a real and imaged border within the Mesopotamian worldview.
Figure 1: Detail of relief depicting the transport of Lebanese cedars, Palace of Sargon II at Khorsabad. Musée du Louvre; AO 19888. Full size: h. 2.16 m; 1. 0.33 m. Photograph by author.
Research paper thumbnail of My Men Have Become Women, and My Women Men: Gender, Identity, and Cursing in Mesopotamia
Die Welt des Orients, 2020
The following essay considers the ways in which masculinity and femininity can be seen as potenti... moreThe following essay considers the ways in which masculinity and femininity can be seen as potentially fluid, rather than rigid, categories in the ancient Near East, and furthermore understood as part of shifting nexus of power and agency-or lack thereof. Specifically gendered insults exploited the fluidity of these categories by focusing in particular on the forced emasculation and feminization of men in the ancient Near East, and these insults were often used as binding threats in treaty texts. Such punishments, as they invariably were, had close associations with the goddess Ištar, who was often responsible for acting as the agent of such enforced change. While the majority of these situations moved one from a position of greater to lesser agency and power (and thus from the masculine to feminine category), the opposite was possible in the ancient Near East. In limited and specific circumstances, women could also gain, in part, some of the agency that was normally reserved for men, a status that could be reflected in the ways in which they were indicated and referred to in texts.
Research paper thumbnail of Demons and Exorcism in Ancient Mesopotamia
Religion Compass, 2020
This essay provides an introduction to the topic of demons and the means of opposing them in anci... moreThis essay provides an introduction to the topic of demons and the means of opposing them in ancient Mesopotamia during the early third to late first millennia BCE. Demons and witchcraft were integrated aspects of the Mesopotamian world. They could threaten individuals, often causing illness or ill fortune, as well as target society as a whole, encroaching upon the protected and ordered world of the Mesopotamian city. There were a number of ways to counter such threats, such as protective amulets and incantantions, but the foremost, particularly in the first millennium BCE, was the figure of the ašipu, or exorcist. A trained ritual professional, the ašipu had a range of tools at his disposal, as well as the protection and sanction of the gods. This article provides an introduction to the issue of demons and exorcism by presenting four key aspects of this complex topic: first, an overview of characteristics and role of demons in Mesopotamia; second, a summary of the two notable demonic figures known as Lamashtu and Pazuzu; third, the demonic and chaotic figure of the witch; and fourth, an overview of the ašipu and his methods.
Research paper thumbnail of Looking for Glinda: Wise Women and Benevolent Magic in Old Babylonian Literary Texts.
Cult Practices in Ancient Literatures: Egyptian, Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman Narratives in a Cross-Cultural Perspective. Proceedings of a Workshop at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York, May 16-17, 2016. ISAW Papers 18., 2020
The Sumerian duology of Old Babylonian literary texts Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta and Enmerka... moreThe Sumerian duology of Old Babylonian literary texts Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta and Enmerkar and Ensuhkešdanna not only details the rivalry between Mesopotamia and Aratta, but also contains a number of insights into magical and ritual practice. Among the different episodes presented in these narratives, this paper will focus principally on a magical battle that occupies a climatic point in the narrative of Enmerkar and Ensuhkešdanna. Here, a duel occurs between a foreign sorcerer who acts on behalf of Aratta and Sagburu, a wise woman from the Mesopotamian city of Ereš, who emerges from the contest triumphant. In contrast to the demonic witch, a figure that often features as an antagonist in Mesopotamian incantation texts, Sagburu is a rare-if not unique-example of a benevolent female practitioner of magic in Mesopotamian texts. Her singular nature is in contrast to the more widely attested presence of such beneficent female figures in Hittite texts, and similarly benevolent-or at least ambivalent-witches and sorceresses in the later Greco-Roman world. Through analyzing the battle between Sagburu and the foreign sorcerer within the context presented by the two Enmerkar texts as a whole, we can explore the particular role Sagburu plays, her connection to divine female agents who empower her own abilities, and the deeper parallels that lie between the battle itself and the role of magic and ritual.

This paper is available open-access at:http://dlib.nyu.edu/awdl/isaw/isaw-papers/18-2/
Research paper thumbnail of Deities, Demons, and Monsters in Mesopotamia.
Ancient Mesopotamia Speaks: Highlights of the Yale Babylonian Collection., 2019
Research paper thumbnail of Inscribed Kassite Cylinder Seals in the Metropolitan Museum
Metropolitan Museum Journal, 2018
The Kassite seals in the Museum are carved in valuable stones that were imported into Babylonia.’ They are inscribed with their owners’ names, familial relationships, and the gods to whom they were devoted. It is notable that four of the sixteen seals belonged to women. Throughout the history of the ancient Near East, including the Kassite period, most seals were owned by men. Many also bear inscriptions that do not identify the owner’s gender. The Museum’s group of four Kassite women’s seals represents a significant sam- ple, constituting nearly a quarter of all women-owned seals from this period.’ Including these four, we know of seventeen seals that belonged to women out of the entire Kassite-period glyptic corpus. The Museum’s four seals may therefore be treated as useful examples rather than as potential outliers. This article investi- gates the seals for insights that can be gained by exam- ining the text together with the image on each seal. The article is thus a departure from previous analyses of the material, for those usually focus on either the text or the image over the other. I a aI a cla inscribed in the cuneiform, or wedge-shaped, script that was used to write both the Sumerian and the Akkadian languages. Sumerian, the oldest written language, is a linguistic isolate unconnected to any other language, and by the mid-second millennium B.c it was purely a written language. At that time, the lingua franca of Babylonia was Akkadian, a Semitic language related to such later languages as Arabic and Hebrew. The Kassites took their own language with them into Mesopotamia, but it is undocumented except for personal names and a disparate assortment of words.* The majority of the inscriptions on the Museum’s Kassite seals are written in Akkadian and feature a heavy use of Sumerograms, or cuneiform signs carrying logographic, rather than syllabic, read- ings. Determinatives are signs that are not vocalized but which provide information on the category of the word to which they are connected. For example, the divine determinative DIGIR, written in translitera- tion as ¢, indicates that the word immediately follow- ing it is the name of a deity. The inscriptions on the four seals of Kassite women in the Museum’s collec- tion identify their owners’ gender by marking their fig.2 Cylinder seal of Kunnaiatum with modern impression and line drawing. Jasper, H. 1% in. (3.9 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of The Right Reverend Paul Moore Jr., 1985 (1985.357.25) fig.1 Cylinder seal of Lamassani, with modern impression and line drawing. Carnelian, H. % in. (2.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Georg Hahn, 1947 (47115.3) ornaments and talismans, the inscriptions of which provide an invaluable source of personal names and information about family relationships in that period.
The Museum’s sixteen seals are all stylistically rep- resentative of the First Kassite Style. Kassite glyptic art is traditionally separated into three categories: First, Second, and Third Style. First Style, the earliest, is often indistinguishable from the glyptic style of the Old Babylonian period, which preceded the Kassite.® This style is easily identifiable, featuring one or more figures, most often human worshippers or divine figures, set beside an inscription presented in clearly divided The four women-owned seals, while united in style, have fundamental differences, including the stone used for each, which provides information on the social status of the seal owners. The stones are carne- lian (figs. 1, 3), jasper (fig. 2), and agate (fig. 4), semi- precious stones that had to be imported into Babylonia from elsewhere, often through the Persian Gulf. Furthermore, the seals of Lamassani and Naramtum (figs. 1, 3) are the only carnelian seals from the Kassite period in the Museum’s collection. Carnelian, the prod- uct of long-distance trade with the Indus region, was especially prized in the ancient Near East, and carne- lian ornaments are well represented among the grave goods of the so-called royal tombs of Ur dating to approximately 2600-2500 B.C.’
On the two women-owned seals that list only a female deity in their inscriptions, Sarpanitum appears without reference to Marduk on figure 1, and the goddess Gula appears on figure 2. Gula, the goddess of healing, is attested as early as the mid-third millennium B.c., gaining prominence from the Old Babylonian period onward. Linked to several male consorts, Gula was a prominent figure in incantations and was invoked for her abilities as a healer.'° Her symbolic animal was the dog, a connection that was cited in textual and artistic sources from the second
There is also a pairing of two male deities ona Kassite seal at the Museum. In the inscription on the seal of Adad-gamil (fig. 8)—“Adad-gamil, Son of Raimkiti, Servant of Sin and Amurru”—are the moon god Sin and the god of the west, Amurru. Amurrv’s epi- thets often connect him to mountains, and the deity was both linked to and worshipped in particular by the Amorites, for whom Sin was also an important deity, a fact that may explain the association of the two dei- ties.!5 Sin is by far the more prominent and widely rep- resented of the two deities, who are often seen together Neither Mamitum nor Sarpanitum shared the popularity of Gula, who was a well-known and widely represented deity. That Sarpanitum appears twice within this group of four seals, once with Marduk and once as an independent figure, suggests that she had a particular significance for women that seems at odds with her relatively infrequent depiction in other areas of Kassite art. The inscriptions of the four Kassite seals owned by women give clear emphasis to the power of
The imagery on several of the cylinder seals com- plicates the picture of direct female identification between the seal owner and the deity named in the inscription. Although the four seals belonging to women all refer to female divine figures in their inscrip- tions, only one depicts exclusively female imagery, the seal of Lamassani (fig. 1), dedicated to Sarpanitum. On this seal, a supplicant figure with upraised hands, This long inscription is a prayer for Inanna’s favor and extols her virtues and powers, asking her to secure the good fortune of Nur-Samaé&, the seal’s owner.
that she will never forget the flood that the gods inflicted upon mankind.”° There are also necklaces from the Royal Tombs of Ur that were strung with fly pendants among their gold, lapis lazuli, and carnelian beads, in an earlier echo of this literary motif.#1 wearing a long robe with an elaborate hem, is shown in profile. She wears a headdress and her hair is gath- ered in a round mass at the nape of her neck. The image of the supplicant goddess, or protective Lama figure, appears frequently in the Kassite period. A stele from Uruk dating to this period, also in the Museum’s collection (fig. 15), depicts a supplicant god- dess in profile, hands upraised, with divine headdress and long robe. The stele’s inscription on her tiered robe reinforces her role as a protective figure, indicat- ing it was dedicated for the life of the Kassite ruler Nazi-Maruttas.®
The inscriptions on the four seals owned by women are among the most elaborate of those on the Museum’s group of sixteen Kassite seals and are here considered alongside the detailed imagery also present on the seals. The inscriptions focus on divine figures and the lineage of the female owners rather than providing information about these women as individu- als, but the extensive length and complexity of the inscriptions indicate that the owners occupied an elite position in the society of Kassite Babylonia. It is not known whether these seal owners actually used their seals as administrative tools or whether the seals were intended primarily as personal ornaments. Women did not, by and large, occupy the economic and legal roles that would require them to impress their own personal seals on such documents, a common use of cylinder seals that belonged to men.** In order to begin to con- tribute to our understanding of aspects of this impor- tant but little-documented period in Babylonian history, we must consider the texts and images on these seals as part of a coherent whole, as did the artisans who made them and the Kassite women for whom they were made. Though we do not know to what extent the own- ers of the seals specified materials, inscriptions, and are juxtaposed with imagery associated with other deities. The inscription on the seal of Naramtum names the gods Nergal and Mamitum, yet the image shows a male worshipper in profile behind a seated dog. the animal closely affiliated with the healing goddess Gula. The polelike element rising from the dog’s head indicates that it is not a living creature but is instead a divine manifestation or a piece of temple statuary, such as the guardian lions paired in front of many Babylonian temples. Although Nergal was the god of plague and pestilence, he also protected against these ailments, and his appearance in the seal’s inscription could be considered to be reinforced by the presence of Gula. The composition is deliberate, with text and image intended as a coherent whole, for none of the seals in this group of sixteen shows evidence that inscriptions were added after the seal’s initial carving or that images were recarved at a later date. It is difficult now to see how Nergal and Mamitum, their female devotee Naramtum, and a male worshipper approaching a dog of Gula were connected, but the entire composition undoubtedly communicated important aspects of the owner’s family and religious affiliations. fig. 14 Cylinder seal of Sumanum with modern impression and line drawing. Hematite, H. 1% in. (2.7 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Nanette B. Kelekian, in memory of Charles Dikran and Beatrice Kelekian, 1999 (1999.325.60) fig. 13 Cylinder seal with modern impression and line drawing. Rock crystal, H. % in. (2.3 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Nanette B. Kelekian, in memory of Charles Dikran and Beatrice Kelekian, 1999 (1999.325.58)
imagery, both the textual and the visual elements of each seal were selected deliberately and thoughtfully with the intent that they work together to convey mean- ings of individual significance. members of the department on both the catalogue and the early drafts of this article, particularly Sarah Graff and Elizabeth Knott, and to the department as a whole for giving me access to the files on these seals, which include important notes and comments by Edith Porada.
Research paper thumbnail of Pigs and Plaques: Considering Rm. 714 in Light of Comparative Artistic and Textual Evidence
Iraq, 2018
Rm. 714, a first millennium B.C.E. tablet in the collections of the British Museum, is remarkable... moreRm. 714, a first millennium B.C.E. tablet in the collections of the British Museum, is remarkable for the fine carving of a striding pig in high relief on its obverse. Purchased by Hormuzd Rassam in Baghdad in 1877, it lacks archaeological context and must be considered in light of other textual and artistic references to pigs, the closest parallel being a sow and her piglets seen in the reliefs of Court VI from Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh. Unlike depictions of pigs on later cylinder seals, where they are often shown as a dangerous quarry in hunting scenes, Rm. 714's pig appears in a more neutral, non-aggressive posture, similar to the sow in the Assyrian reliefs. Although Rm. 714's highly curved reverse would inhibit its use as a mounted or otherwise easily displayed object, the tablet may still have served as an apotropaic object or sculptor's model, among other potential functions.
Research paper thumbnail of The Disciplines of Geography: Constructing Space in the Ancient World
Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History, 2017
This article serves as introduction to a special double issue of the journal, comprised of seven ... moreThis article serves as introduction to a special double issue of the journal, comprised of seven articles that center on the theme of space and place in the ancient world. The essays examine the ways in which borders, frontiers, and the lands beyond them were created, defined, and maintained in the ancient world. They question the intersection of concrete and fantastical, or real and imagined, that existed in both the ancient and pre-modern world, where distant locations become elaborately embroidered by fantastical constructions, despite the concrete connections of travel, trade, and even military enterprise.

** Note this is a pre-print version of the article **
Research paper thumbnail of Shifting Alignments: the Dichotomy of Benevolent and Malevolent Demons in Mesopotamia.
Demons and Illness: Theory and Practice from Antiquity to the Early Modern Period, edited by Siam Bhayro and Catherine Rider. Vol. 5 of Magic and Religious Literature of Late Antiquity. Leiden: Brill, 2017
When set against the more defined positions occupied by demons and monsters in other religions an... moreWhen set against the more defined positions occupied by demons and monsters in other religions and cultures, the demons found in Mesopotamian texts may seem, at first glance, to exist in a perpetual state of disarray, defying attempts at a definitive categorization.1 Much of the time, these supernatural figures serve in malevolent positions, fulfilling their duties as carriers and causes of physical or mental illness, injury or disease. Despite this, demons may also fulfill benevolent roles, often coming to the aid of the exorcist, or āšipu, in his battle to remove a malevolent demon from the afflicted patient. From an initial, cursory analysis, we can easily see how demons may appear to shift from one role to another. Of the three demons, the udug, the lama, and the šedu, all of which switch from one category of acts-or one alignment, we could say-to another, the first two will form the focus of this study; as they are by far the most prevalent of the three to appear in Mesopotamian texts.2

Teaching Documents by Gina Konstantopoulos

Research paper thumbnail of Demons and Monsters in the Ancient and Biblical World
Demons and Monsters in the Ancient and Biblical World

Talks by Gina Konstantopoulos

Research paper thumbnail of 'O, your name' – the Sumerian šìr-nam-erím-ma Hymns and the Invocation of Gods on Behalf of the King.
'O, your name' – the Sumerian šìr-nam-erím-ma Hymns and the Invocation of Gods on Behalf of the King.
Research paper thumbnail of The First is as a Fox: the Role of the Seven Heralds in the Hymn to Hendursaĝa
The First is as a Fox: the Role of the Seven Heralds in the Hymn to Hendursaĝa
Research paper thumbnail of As in Heaven: Astral Representations of the Divine and Demonic in Mesopotamia
As in Heaven: Astral Representations of the Divine and Demonic in Mesopotamia

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