Demons, Exorcists,
and Spirits:
The Belief in Evil
in Ancient Mesopotamia
John C. Haynes, Jr.
ASH-3200: Ancient Near Eastern Societies
Dr. Tiffany
Earley-Spadoni
August 4, 2021
1
The belief
in evil spirits and demons by the people of Ancient Mesopotamia can be
demonstrated by analyzing literature related to the afterlife, funerary
practices and artifacts, as well as ritual healing and exorcism spells that
were used during that period. In this
paper, I will discuss the general ideas that ancient Mesopotamians had
regarding the various gods and goddesses as well as the afterlife for the
ordinary person. I will then show that
there was a general belief in ghosts or spirits, and specifically spirits who
were considered “evil” by nature of how they behaved post-death and will also
look at belief in demons. Finally, I
will discuss specific rituals related to dealing with the dead, particularly
the bad ghosts and demons that haunted individuals. Primary sources for this area of research
include prose literary works like the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, the
Babylonian flood story Atrahasis, and the Assyrian Myth of Nergal and
Ereshkigal. Additional literary
sources are to be found in magical incantation texts, such as the Akkadian
corpus on magic and divination known as Maqlu.
While there
were a multitude of gods and goddesses worshipped across the cultures of
ancient Mesopotamia, there was a general consensus of belief in the afterlife
of the human soul and that this soul resided in an underworld, or
Netherworld. According to Joann
Scurlock, Mesopotamians believed that humans were created by combining clay
with the flesh and blood of an immortal god.[1] Of the human soul, it was believed that there
were three parts: the baatu, the zaqIqu,
and the eoemmu.[2] Of these three, the eoemmu was
that part which needed the greatest care lest it become an agitated spirit,
living on for eternity. Even the gods
had eoemmu of their own. The
spirits of the dead, if cared for properly, should rest eternally in the
2
Netherworld. However,
as seen in the Assyrian Myth of Nergal and Ereshkigal, the goddess of
the Netherworld, Ereshkigal, at her displeasure could release the souls to
feast upon the flesh of the living.[3] It was believed that the spirit, after death,
continued to feel hunger and thirst and were unable to quench these on their
own.[4] It was possible for a person to enter into
the Netherworld, but only by entering at the gate of Ganzer[5] and proceeding through a
series of gates and challenges and only safely by following sets of rules, lest
a person be seized by the Netherworld.[6] The souls of the dead which were not cared
for properly, could become restless and remain in the land causing problems for
humans. As we shall see, these spirits
would eventually become demons and there were cases where the soul could immediately
become an evil, vengeful spirit.
As we have
seen, the ancient Mesopotamians had a substantive belief in a spirit that
continued to exist after death of the person.
Assuming that proper funerary rituals were conducted (to be discussed in
the next section), the spirit would continue to remain at peace as long as
offerings were given, and the person were remembered by the family and the
descendants of the family.[7] However, according to Scurlock, when the
memory of this eoemmu began to fade over time, the spirit began to
commingle with other deceased of the family into a common ancestor type spirit
known as an eoem kimti. After
further time had passed, collective spirits in
3
the community became known as kimtu rapaatu.[8] In time, these long-forgotten spirits became
demonic, and were referred to as utukku demons.[9] Another curious mention of demons is in the Epic
of Gilgamesh, where we see Gilgamesh pleading for his friend Enkidu who was
seized in the Netherworld. Gilgamesh
states that “the udug demon of Nergal, who spares nobody, did not seize
him.”[10] The text does not embellish on the meaning of
this demon, but it is interesting to contrast this with the Myth of Nergal
and Ereshkigal where it is Nergal as messenger from the heavenly gods who
is sent to the Netherworld[11] and the resulting journey
shows many similarities to that of Enkidu.
There are two other types of “demon” spirits that could form from the
human spirit. There is a class of demons
known as lilu, who formed when young men and women died before having
the opportunity to get married, have children, and enjoy the happiness of
family life. These demons would push
humans to madness and lead to their death.
Lilu would target humans who were of the same age as they were
when they died, but of the opposite sex.[12] The other type of demons are those known as kubu. These were formed when an infant died
prior to birth or shortly afterwards.
The kubu attacked infants and young children.[13]
Much of the
information we have regarding these human spirits and demons come from the
archaeology of homes and temples. Here, scholars
have found ritual tablets and inscriptions from which can be gleamed much about
how these spirits were dealt with. While
royalty often had special temples for the placement of their bodies, most
common families would bury the
4
bodies of their family members beneath the floors of their
homes. Continual offerings of food and
drink ensured that the dead remained quiet and complex rituals ensured the
transfer of the soul from the body to a resting place.[14] Annual festivals of the dead and special
temples would also provide a means of general offerings to all the souls.[15] The dead who had the potential to form lilu
or kubu demons were treated differently. The bodies of infants and the very young were
buried within the walls of the house, not beneath it, or in special cemeteries. And both classes of dead were offered special
rituals to appease them after death.[16] In severe cases of demonic oppression,
special incantation exorcists were called in to deal with the situation.[17] Examples of incantations are found in the
Akkadian text Maqlu. Several
incantations are directed against various forms of demonic activity, some caused
by witchcraft. Incantation Two, Nuska
surbu ilitti Ani, is intended call the god Nuska to be a guardian at night
against evil dreams caused by demons.[18] And Incantation Three, Anassi diparu, gives
power to the exorcist to ward off the utukku-demon, the sedu-spirit,
the lurker-demon, and the ghost.[19]
As I have shown
in this paper, the ancient Mesopotamians had a wide-ranging belief in both the
vengeful spirit of humans after death as well as the demonic in varying
forms. Their varied cultures display an
equal variance of supernatural myth and belief in the afterlife. While I have chosen to limit the number of
gods and goddesses in their pantheons mentioned within this
5
paper, it should not be doubted by the reader that there
were many who also participated in various forms in the life/death/afterlife
cycle of the spirit world. However, it
should be sufficient to determine that the Mesopotamian world included a belief
in a multitude of deities as well as the life after death of the human
spirit. Along with a number of types of
demons and demon-spirits, we can witness to this belief by the care and caution
taken to appease these entities after death and during the cultic year.
6
Bibliography
Abusch, Tzvi. The Witchcraft Series, Num. 37: Maqlu.
Atlanta: SBL Press, 2015
Attia, Annie.
“Epidemics in Mesopotamia,” ANE Today, Vol. VIII, No. 9. (09/2020).
https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2020/09/epidemics-mesopotamia
Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Fluckiger-Hawker, E, Robson,
E., and Zólyomi, G., The Electronic
Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
(http://www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/), Oxford 1998- .
Gurney, O. R. "The Sultantepe Tablets (Continued): VII.
The Myth of Nergal and Ereshkigal."
Anatolian Studies 10 (1960):
105-31. Accessed August 3, 2021. doi:10.2307/3642431.
Scurlock, JoAnn. “Mortal
and Immortal Souls, Ghosts and the (Restless) Dead in Ancient
Mesopotamia,” Religion Compass, 10/4
(2016): 77–82, 10.1111/rec3.12199.
[1]
Scurlock, Mortal and Immortal Souls, pg. 77
[2]
Ibid.
[3]
Gurney, “The Sultantepe Tablets,” pg. 123
[4]
Scurlock, “Mortal and Immortal Souls,” pg. 78
[5]
Black, et. al., “The Electronic Text Corpus,” Line 166
[6]
Ibid, Lines 184 - 198
[7]
Scurlock, “Mortal and Immortal Souls,” pg. 79
[8]
Scurlock, “Mortal and Immortal Souls,” pg. 79
[9]
Ibid.
[10]
Blake, et. al., “The Electronic Text Corpus,” Line 235
[11]
Gurney, “The Sultantepe Tablets,” pg. 113
[12]
Scurlock, “Mortal and Immortal Souls,” pg. 79
[13]
Ibid.
[14]
Scurlock, “Mortal and Immortal Souls,” pg. 78
[15]
Ibid, pg. 77
[16]
Ibid, pg. 79
[17]
Attia, “Epidemics in Mesopotamia”
[18]
Abusch, The Witchcraft Series Maqlu, pg. 8
[19]
Ibid, pg. 10
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