Groningen Cover design: Klaas Meijer ISBN 90 72371 52 6 CIP CONTENTS PREFACE A Statues in the outer gate; the armed gods, the ugallû, and the dogs 58 B Statues in the private rooms; the apkallû, "sages" 65 C The rest of the house; monsters, lahmu, Lulal and Latarak 86 5 Differences between text I and text II 87 A Different sequences of statues 87 B Other differences 88 C The second part of text II 90 B Title and purpose; inventory of figures 91 1 Title and purpose of the ritual 91 2 Inventory of figures in text I/II 102 III TEXT III 105-118 4 ugallu, "Big Weather-Beast", "Big Day" 169 bit mêseri 5 uridimmu, "Mad Lion" 172 6 kusarikku, "Bison" 174 A General observations 105 B text 106 7 girtablullû, "Scorpion-Man" 179 8 urmahlullû, "Lion-Man" 181 C The utukkû lemnûtu incantation Gurney AAA 22 76ff 113 9 kulullû, "Fish-Man" 182 D Commentaries on related texts 115 .

1908

From the earliest times Eastern races, in common with the rest of mankind, have always held a firm belief in the existence of evil spirits, ghosts, and all kindred powers. The phenomenon of death, the mystery of disease and sickness, and all the other events of common occurrence in daily life gave rise to speculations about the unseen world, which gradually led to a distinction, although slight at all times, between good and evil spirits. The early Semitic people of Babylonia, whoever they may have been or wherever they may have migrated from, found a theology ready to their hands in the adopted country, which they took over from.... Even the Babylonians knew that they needed protection against the evil that existed, and sought their answers in the secrets that remained, them remannts of the story of Eden... It is therefore evident that when the Semitic Babylonian took over the learning of his Sumerian predecessors, he seems also to have unconsciously adapted an enlarged his ideas to fit their beliefs, receiving their doctrines in their entirety as worthy of implicit trust, and in the belief that his teachers must necessarily understand the supernatural powers peculiar to their own country. You will learn about: Various types of evil spirits and their classifications and purposes: where they dwell and where they came from- their origin. The truth about seven key evil spirits described in Luke 11:26 when he said, seven other spirits more evil than himself... How babyloinians used charms and magic to seek success and further their sorcery. Discover how secrets that were carried out from the Garden of Eden became key ingredients that Babylonians used in their sorcery. Babylonian cantantions that were to repell spirits. Secrets of the Babylonian tablets. Demons, Schools, Vampires, Hobgoblins, Ghosts, and Kindred Evil Spirits, which Attack Mankind Original goal of this book was to supply the student of Assyrian Demonology with English transliterations and translations, with the necessary notes, etc., of the documents printed in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Parts of Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, etc., which have been recently issued by the Trustees of the British Museum. It includes proof of the fact that a considerable proportion of the magical practices which are in use in the East to the present day were well known to the inhabitants of Mesopotamia several thousands of years ago, and that many of them were borrowed by the Hebrews and other dwellers in Syria and Persia from their neighbors on that Tigris and Euphrates. The Roots of Science In these Babylonian magical records we have by far the most complete picture of the magic of the ancient world. It is a wondrous story that is told by those bricks and cylinders of stamped clay —the story of civilized man’s first gropings for light. For in these venerable writings we must recognize the first attempts at scientific elucidation of the forces by which man is surrounded. Science, like religion, has its roots deep in magic. The primitive man believes implicitly in the efficacy of magical ritual. What it brings about once it can bring about again if the proper conditions be present and recognized. Thus it possesses for the barbarian as much of the element of certainty as the scientific process does for the chemist or the electrician. Given certain causes certain effects must follow. Surely, then, in the barbarous mind, magic is pseudo-scientific—of the nature of science. There appears a deeper gloom, a more ominous spirit of the ancient and the obscure in the magic of old Mesopotamia than in that of any other land. Its mighty sanctuaries, its sky-aspiring towers, seem founded upon this belief in the efficacy of the spoken spell, the reiterated invocation. Thousands of spirits various and grotesque, the parents of the ghosts and goblins of a later day, haunt the purlieus of the^temple, battening upon the remains of sacrifice (the leavings of the gorged gods), flit through the night-bound streets, and disturb the rest of the dwellers in houses. Demons with claw and talon, vampires, ghouls—all are there. Spirits blest and unblest, jinn, witch-hags, lemures, sorrowing unburied ghosts. No type of supernatural being appears to have been unknown to the imaginative Semites of old Chaldea. These must all be ‘ laid/ exorcised, or placated, and it is not to be marvelled at that in such circumstances the trade of the necromancer flourished exceedingly. The witch or wizard, however, the unprofessional and detached practitioner with no priestly status, must beware. He or she was regarded with suspicion, and if one fell sick of a strange wasting or a disease to which he could not attach a name, the nearest sorcerer, male or female, real or imaginary, was in all probability brought to book.. Priestly Wizards The wizard and the witch were known as Kassapu or Kassaptu. These were the sorcerers or magicians proper, and that they were considered dangerous to the community is shown by the manner in which they are treated by the code of Khammurabi, in which it is ordained that he who charges a man with sorcery and can justify the charge shall obtain the sorcerer’s house, and the sorcerer shall plunge into the river. But if the sorcerer be not drowned then he who accused him shall be put to death and the wrongly accused man shall have his house. The Word of Power As in Egypt, the word of power was held in great reverence by the magicians of Chaldea, who believed that the name, preferably the secret name, of a god possessed sufficient force in its mere syllables to defeat and scatter the hordes of evil things that surrounded and harassed mankind. The names of Ea and Merodach were, perhaps, most frequently used to carry destruction into the ranks of the demon army. It was also necessary to know the name of the devil or person against whom his spells were directed. If to this could be added a piece of hair, or the nail-parings in the case of a human being, then special efficacy was given to the enchantment. But just as hair or nails were part of a man so was his name, and hence the great virtue ascribed to names in art-magic, ancient and modern. The name was, as it were, the vehicle by means of which the magician established a link between himself and his victim, and the Babylonians in exorcising sickness or disease of any kind were wont to recite long catalogues of the names of evil spirits and demons in the hope that by so doing they might chance to light upon that especial individual who was the cause of the malady. Even long lists of names of persons who had died premature deaths were often recited in order to ensure that they would not return to torment the livin Mesopotamian Myths and Legends of Babylonia and Assyria, is a book that includes explanations of Babylonian and Assyrian legends and myths as well as the myths themselves. Lewis Spence, in the Preface, describes his purpose in writing the book as providing the reader with "the treasures of romance latent in the subject, the peculiar richness of which has..... That Chaldean magic was the precursor of European mediaeval magic as apart from popular sorcery and witchcraft is instanced not only by the similarity between the systems but by the introduction into mediaeval magic of the names of Babylonian and Assyrian gods and magicians. Again and again is Babylon appealed to even more frequently than Egypt, and we meet constantly with the names of Beelzebub, Ishtar (as Astarte), Baal, and Moloch, whilst the names of demons, obviously of Babylonian origin, are encountered in almost every work on the subject. Frequent allusions are also made to the ‘wise men’ and necromancers of Babylon, and to the ‘ star-gazers ’ of Chaldea. The conclusion is irresistible that ceremonial magic, as practised in the Middle Ages, owed much to that of Babylon. Our information regarding Chaldean magic is much more complete than that which we possess concerning the magic of ancient Egypt. Hundreds of spells, incantations, and omen-inscriptions have been recovered, and these not only enlighten us regarding the class of priests who practised magic, but they tell us of the several varieties of demons, ghosts, and evil spirits ; they minutely describe the Babylonian witch and wizard, and they picture for us jnany magical ceremonies, besides informing us of the names of scores of plants and flowers possessing magical properties, of magical substances, jewels, amulets, and the like. Also they speak of sortilege or the divination of the future, of the drawing of magical circles, of the exorcism of evil spirits, and the casting out of demons.

Orient 45, 2010

The prayers designated as ‰uilla comprise those belonging to the arts of the exorcist (±ipu), and those belonging to that of the cult-singer (kalû). In the present article I draw upon the latter prayers which were written in the Emesal-dialect of the Sumerian language and recited in processions, especially those from/to the Akµtu-house, to investigate the purpose of their recitations in rituals, and furthermore, to seek the possible mythological explanations of the recitations in Babylonian and Assyrian scholarship.

Tessa Rickards is a freelance archaeological illustrator specialising in ancient Mesopotamia. She has worked as an illustrator on numerous international excavations in the Middle East. She is an MA graduate of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.

Archiv für Religionsgeschichte, 2013

The monsters and daimons (demons) of Mesopotamia belonged to a constellation of Zwischenwesen – interstitial beings with supernatural qualities or capacities – that occupied the space between humans and their gods. As the “Other,” if not always the enemy, their alterity was not only inscribed in their bodies but also reflected in their social alienation and geographical isolation. Strikingly imagined, where depicted or described, as morphologically anomalous or hybrid (Mischwesen), the monsters and daimons lacked the kinship affiliations of both city-dwelling humans and their gods and properly dwelt at the wild and inhospitable margins of the known world. This study explores their definition, functioning, and classification in a cosmos in which the overarching conflict was between order and chaos rather than good and evil, in which divinely organized and guarded civilization was ever threatened by the pressing and savage forces gathered in the wilderness beyond the city walls.

Daliah Bawanypeck, Annette Imhausen (eds.) Traditions of Written Knowledge in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia (AOAT 403), 2014

This paper describes the elements of demonology in Mesopotamian texts as background for research on demons in the Hebrew Bible. The demon in Mesopotamian mythological culture was identified with one of the winds bringing illnesses; specifically with the hot wind, which was often connected to the appearance of the spread of infectious diseases. The essay aims to describe some parallel and different phenomena within the concepts of illness-demon-impurity contained in the ancient Near East and biblical text-traditions.

Mesopotamia Kingdom of Gods and Demons, 2024

In the ancient Mesopotamian worldview, misfortune was understood as the result of divine anger caused by a transgression. Illness, social decline, and personal danger were therefore interpreted as signs of a disrupted relationship between humans and the gods. Because the afflicted individual was not always aware of the offense, identifying the responsible deity and cause of anger was essential for recovery.

The present article provides an analysis of general traits of those particular extra-human beings conventionally called “demons” found in ancient Mesopotamian religion. Furthermore, methodological problems on the topic are discussed according to a historical-religious point of view.

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2015

is a BabMed, ERC-Project publication. Alphabetically, Andrew George, Daniel Schwemer, David Kertai, and Eva Götting helped with article issues. Gratitude is due to Irving Finkel, who provided me with crucial texts, and especially to Frans Wiggermann, who read an earlier draft and discussed the amulets during many occasions. The identification of Bidu arose from a chat with Frans in Berlin. Also, Luis Sáenz warned me about several errors. Last but not least, my gratitude goes to Gene Trabich and Cale Johnson. For the publication of the new material and photos, I thank the Trustees of the British Museum and the Louvre. 1. Meissner, "Neue Siegelzylinder," 162, Abb. 3 and 4. For more on the sickbed scene on seals, see the appendix at the end of this paper. 2. These objects are mostly referred to as Lamaštu amulets, which is only partly true because many of the incantations written on them belong, in fact, to the Hulbazizi ("Eradicate that evil!") genre. Thus, a designation Lamaštu-Hulbazizi amulets is more appropriate. An Imprint of Penn State University Press Strahil V. Panayotov 130 of an evil dragon, one of the evil transgressors in the bedroom, as demonstrated by amulet no. 107. Finally, I will speculate that the two healers from the amulets (mythical and/or human) might well represent the two Mesopotamian healing professions, the physician and the exorcist. After the conclusion, I offer an appendix on the sickbed scene on seals. Methods Special attention must be paid to methodology first. Two major studies of the sickbed scene are especially important for this issue. The first belongs to Frank, who published his groundbreaking Babylonische Beschwörungsreliefs more than a century ago, in 1908. Outdated now as it may seem, this book uses a rudimentary methodology of connecting images of the sickbed from the Lamaštu-Hulbazizi amulets with incantations and rituals. Almost 100 years after Frank, in 2007, Wiggermann published the article "Some Demons of Time and Their Functions in Mesopotamian Iconography." He paid special attention to the lamp of Nuska in his discussion of the sickbed on amulet nos. 1, 2, 62, and 63 and demonstrated that the pictorial setting of the sickbed scene from these amulets is directly related to the incantation Nuska šar mūši munammer ukli, "O Nuska, king of the night, illuminator of darkness." The latter is embedded in the ritual bīt mēseri, which is, importantly, not found as text on the amulets but is found on other tablets. Wiggermann also connected an exorcist scene on a Neo-Babylonian amulet no. 107 (fig. 6.15) with a Hulbazizi incantation, ša malṭi eršīya ittiqu, "The one who transgressed the privacy of my bed." 3 So, both Frank and Wiggermann searched for an explanation of the amulets' sickbed scene in texts preserved not on the amulets but in other manuscripts. 4 In other words, linking the text and the image is left to the modern scholar, which brings different personal interpretations into play and opens the emic-etic discussion. The methods that will be employed in this paper are the following: A. Matching texts and images on the same amulet emic approach B. Interconnecting texts and images on different media etic approach C. Interpreting A and B etic approach We can be quite certain that method A yields valid results, since it is emic: the ancient amulet's creator intentionally connected specific texts and images on a single object. On the other hand, methods B and C involve linking texts and images from different objects and manuscripts, so these methods are, necessarily, bound to modern scholarly interpretation, being etic in essence.

1992

Ancient Mesopotamia was a highly complex culture whose achievements included the invention of writing. This illustrated text offers a reference guide to Mesopotamian religion, mythology and magic between about 3000 BC and the advent of the Christian era. Gods, goddesses, demons, monsters, magic, myths, religious symbolism, rituals and the spiritual world are all discussed in alphabetical entries ranging from short accounts to extended essays.

Religion Compass, 2020

This 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.

Animals, Gods and Men from East to West. Papers on archaeology and history in honour of Roberta Venco Ricciardi

L. Verderame, The Seven Attendants of Hendursaĝa: A study of animal symbolism in Mesopotamian cultures, L. Feliu - F. Karahashi - G. Rubio, The First Ninety Years: A Sumerian Celebration in Honor of Miguel Civil (SANER 12), De Gruyter, Berlin, 2017, 396-415, 2017

The almost complete Sumerian hymn 1 dedicated to the god Hendursaĝa contains a long section in which the god is described as a guardian of the night and a psychopomp. 2 In these functions the god is assisted by three groups of seven beings. The first heptad (ll. 78–84), whose components are called " warriors " (ur-saĝ) and may well be related to the later seven demons (Sebettu), 3 are described as sharing features and acting like animals. In this article I will analyse each of the seven animals and their features mentioned in the description of the Seven (the fox, the dog, the raven, the vulture, the wolf, the owl, and the shark), discussing parallels from Sumerian and Akkadian literature in order to highlight how animal symbolism works in ancient Mesopotamia.

This book examines the epigraphy and history of transmission of the cuneiform sources of the Maqlû anti-witchcraft ritual, one of the major compositions of ancient Mesopotamian exorcistic lore and a masterpiece of Babylonian literature. The performance of Maqlû, ‘Burning’, stretched over a whole night and included the recitation of almost a hundred incantations. In the course of the ritual, the victim of witchcraft is transferred from a state of imminent death back to life; he is purified and his bound state undone. The witches are assigned the fate they had intended for their victim by sending the witchcraft back to them. The book consists of three parts: First, an introduction to the Maqlû ceremony as a Babylonian anti-witchcraft ritual is provided; it includes an attempt at giving a step-by-step reconstruction of the ritual drama of Maqlû based on the instructions for its performance and the texts of its recitations. Next, a set of more specialized studies is devoted to various aspects of the cuneiform transmission of Maqlû: the history of the text’s reconstruction; the types of manuscripts; their specific provenance and historical context; variation in the textual transmission as well as spelling conventions and linguistic characteristics. Finally, the manuscripts are presented in ‘hand-copies’ (technical drawings) on the plates in the second half of the book.

2019

A group of seven short late Old Babylonian texts, written in Akkadian, found in the early twentieth century in a grave in Susa, form the focus of this paper. The texts, which have attracted much scholarly attention since their publication in 1916 by Jean-Vincent Scheil, have until now not been collated. They are pre- sented here with improved readings, a new translation, and extensive commentary. The mention in two of the texts of an alleged chthonic “weigher” is philologically disproved: psychostasia, the weighing of souls, did not exist in ancient Meso- potamian religion. The suggestion of some scholars that these Old Babylonian Akkadian texts are witnesses to Elamite, or even Iranian, belief in the weighing of souls is methodically refuted. The nature of the seven so-called Susa Funerary Texts (SFT) is discussed, demonstrating their close contacts to two other well- known Mesopotamian genres—personal prayers and reports of oracular or pro- phetic visions. Finally, the question of their unusual nd spot, viz., in a grave, is discussed and the possibility raised that this peculiar location is a result of the texts’ magical function.

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