The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

M >> Morris Jastrow >> The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

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The demons were always given some shape, animal or human, for it was a
necessary corollary of the stage of religious thought to which the
belief in demons belongs, that the demon must not only be somewhere,
though invisible to mankind, but also _in_ something that manifests
life. Among animals, those calculated to inspire terror by their
mysterious movements were chosen, as serpents appearing and disappearing
with startling suddenness, or ugly scorpions, against whom it was
difficult to protect oneself, or the fabulous monsters with which graves
and pestiferous spots were peopled. Regions difficult of access--the
desert, the deep waters, the high mountains--were the favorite haunts of
the demons. Some of these demons were frequently pictured in the
boundary stones between fields, in order to emphasize the curses hurled
upon the head of him who should trespass on the lawful rights of the
owner of the land.[348] It is to such demons embodied in living form
that epithets such as the 'seizer,' the 'one that lurks,' and the like
apply with peculiar aptness. In a tablet belonging to a long series of
incantations,[349] we find references to various animals--the serpent,
the scorpion, monsters--that are regarded as the embodiment of demons.

In the distinctively religious art, the evil spirits are often pictured
as ugly monsters that were to inspire terror by their very aspect.
Depicted on the monuments, singly or in groups,[350] the shape of wild
animals was given to the head, while the remainder of the body was
suggestive of a human form. With gaping mouths and armed with some
weapon, they stand ready to make an attack. The Assyrian kings, up to
the latest period, acknowledged the power of the demons by making huge
representations of them, which they placed at the approaches, entrances,
and divisions of their temples and palaces, in the hope of thus securing
their protection. The great bulls and lions with human heads--so
familiar to every one--are but another form of the same idea. These
colossal statues were actually known by the name _shedu_, which we have
seen is one of the general terms for 'demon.' But as a general thing,
this personal phase of the demon's existence is lost sight of. Even
though embodied in animal form, the demons could make themselves
invisible to man; and since most of their actions were performed in
secret, so that people were totally at their mercy, the differentiation
of the demons became a factor of minor importance. With so large a
quantity of demons at command, it was difficult to hit upon the one who
was manifesting himself by some evil at any given moment. Accordingly,
instead of a single mention, a number or a group were enumerated, and
the magic formulas pronounced against them in concert. We have one such
group of seven to whom quite a number of references are found in the
incantation texts. A section in one of these texts gives a vivid
description of them:[351]

Seven are they, they are seven,
In the subterranean deep, they are seven,
Perched (?) in the sky, they are seven,
In a section of the subterranean deep they were reared,
They are neither male nor are they female,
They are destructive whirlwinds,
They have no wife, nor do they beget offspring.
Compassion and mercy they do not know,
Prayer and supplication they do not hear,
Horses bred on the mountains, are they
Hostile to Ea[352] are they,
Powerful ones among the gods are they.
To work mischief in the street they settle themselves in the highway.
Evil are they, they are evil,
Seven are they, they are seven, seven, and again seven[353] are they.

These seven spirits, who are elsewhere compared to various animals, have
power even to bewitch the gods. The eclipse of the moon was attributed
to their baneful influence. The number seven is probably not to be taken
literally. As among so many nations,[354] seven had a sacred
significance for the Babylonians; but largely, if not solely, for the
reason, as I venture to think, because seven was a large number. In the
Old Testament seven is similarly used to designate a large number. A
group of seven spirits, accordingly, meant no more than a miscellaneous
mass of spirits, and we may therefore regard this 'song of the seven' as
a general characterization of the demons who, according to this view,
appear to move together in groups rather than singly. Elsewhere[355] we
are told of this same group of spirits 'that they were begotten in the
mountain of sunset,' _i.e._, in the west, 'and were reared in the
mountain of sunrise,' _i.e._, the east; 'that they dwell in the hollow
of the earth, and that they are proclaimed on the mountain tops.'
Evidently a description of this kind is intended to emphasize the
universal presence of the spirits. There is no place where they are not
found; and when we are furthermore told (apparently in contradiction to
what has just been said) 'that neither in heaven nor earth is their name
pronounced (_i.e._, are they known to be), that among the gods of the
earth (_i.e._, the pantheon) they are not recognized, that neither in
heaven nor earth do they exist,' this is but the reverse of the picture
intended to illustrate the capability of the spirits to disappear
without leaving any trace of their presence. They are everywhere and yet
invisible. They come and they go, and no one knows their place. Nothing
is proof against their approach. Of all the demons it is true, as of
this group, that they slip through bolts and doorposts and sockets,
gliding, as we are told, 'like snakes.' Such are the demons against whom
man must seek to protect himself.

The relationship of the demons or spirits to the gods of the pantheon
has been touched upon in a previous chapter.[356] It is sufficient here
to emphasize the fact that the dividing line between the two becomes at
times exceedingly faint. A deity, we have seen, is a spirit writ large;
but often the demon assumes dimensions and is clothed with power that
makes him 'little short of divine.' Strength is the attribute of the
demons as it is the chief feature of the gods. Both classes of powers
influence man's career. The names of the demons are preceded by the same
determinative that is used for the gods. As a matter of fact, many of
the spirits were originally worshipped as local deities in some
restricted territory, which, losing its importance, bequeaths the name
of its protective genius to posterity. In the realm of religious belief,
as in the domain of nature, absolute loss of something that once had
existence does not take place. Something remains. Hundreds of old local
gods of Babylonia thus survived in the literature as spirits or demons.
The tendency towards making a selection out of the great mass of gods
goes hand in hand with the multiplication of spirits that might, as
occasion presented itself, be invoked. In general, the larger affairs of
life were consigned into the hands of the gods; the petty
annoyances--accidents, pains, ill luck, and the like--were put down to
the account of the spirits. The gods were, on the whole, favorably
disposed towards man. They were angry at times, they sent punishments,
but they could be appeased. The spirits were, on the whole, hostile; and
although the Babylonians also invoked favorable and kind spirits, when a
spirit was hostile there was only one method of ridding oneself of the
pernicious influence,--to drive it out by means of formulas, and with
the help of a priest acting as exorciser.

Sorcerers and Sorceresses.

A widespread and apparently very ancient belief among the Babylonians
and Assyrians was that certain human beings possessed demoniac power,
and could exercise it for evil purposes over whomsoever they pleased.
This belief may have originated in the abnormal appearance presented by
certain individuals in consequence of physical deformities or
peculiarities. The uncanny impression made by dwarfs, persons with
misshapen limbs, with a strange look in their eyes, and, above all, the
insane would give rise to the view that some people, for the very reason
of their variation from the normal type, possessed peculiar powers. But
by the side of such as were distinguished by bodily defects, those who
outranked their fellows by virtue of their prowess or of natural gifts,
by keenness of intellect or cunning, would also be supposed to have
received their power through some demoniac source. With the giant and
the artificer there would thus be associated ideas of sorcery and
witchcraft, as with dwarfs, the deformed, and insane. The sorcerers
might be either male or female, but, for reasons which are hard to
fathom, the preference was given to females. Accordingly, it happens
that among the Babylonians, as in the Middle Ages, the witch appears
more frequently than the male sorcerer. The witches have all the powers
of the demons, and in the incantation texts the two are often thrown
together. Just as the demons, so the witches take away the breath of
man, defile his food and drink, or close up his mouth. They are able to
penetrate into the body of men, and thus produce similar physical and
mental disturbances as the animalic demons. In view of this close
relationship between witches and demons, we are justified in regarding
the two as varying aspects of one and the same belief. The witch appears
to be merely the person through whom the hitherto 'invisible' demon has
chosen to manifest itself. From being identical in character with the
demons, the witches reached a stage which made them superior to the
former. They could not only do everything that the demons did, but they
could also control the latter, whereas the demons had no power over
witches. Witches could invoke the demons at their will and bring such
persons as they chose within the demons' power. Various means were at
their disposal for bringing this about. The glance of a witch's 'evil
eye' was supposed to have great power.[357] Terrible were the sufferings
of the one on whom a witch threw the glance that kept the person under
her spell. The 'evil word,' as it was called, and by which the use of
certain magic formulas was meant, was another effective means at her
command for inflicting all manner of evil. Magical potions, too,
compounded of poisonous weeds, appear to have been prepared by them, and
which, entering the body of those whom they desired to punish, had a
disastrous effect. Such means might be denominated as direct. There were
others indirect which were even more effective, and which rested upon
the principle commonly known as 'sympathetic magic.'[358] Under the
notion that the symbolical acts of the sorcerers would have their effect
upon the one to be bewitched, the male sorcerer or the witch, as the
case might be, would tie knots in a rope. Repeating certain formulas
with each fresh knot, the witch would in this way symbolically strangle
the victim, seal his mouth, wrack his limbs, tear his entrails, and the
like.

Still more popular was the making of an image of the desired victim of
clay or pitch, honey, fat, or other soft material,[359] and either by
burning it inflict physical tortures upon the person represented, or by
undertaking various symbolical acts with it, such as burying it among
the dead, placing it in a coffin, casting it into a pit or into a
fountain, hiding it in an inaccessible place, placing it in spots that
had a peculiar significance, as the doorposts, the threshold, under the
arch of gates, would prognosticate in this way a fate corresponding to
one of these acts for the unfortunate victim.

The Exorcisers.

As a protection against the demons and witches, small images of some of
the protecting deities were placed at the entrances to houses, and
amulets of various kinds were carried about the person. Tablets, too,
were hung up in the house,--probably at the entrance,--on which extracts
from the religious texts were inscribed. These texts by virtue of their
sacred character assured protection against the entrance of demons.[360]
But when once a person had come under the baneful power of the demons,
recourse was had to a professional class of exorcisers, who acted as
mediators between the victims and the gods to whom the ultimate appeal
for help was made. These exorcisers were of course priests, and at an
early period of Babylonian culture it must have been one of the main
functions of priests to combat the influence of evil spirits. It was for
this purpose chiefly that the people came to the temples, and in so far
we are justified in regarding incantation formulas as belonging to the
oldest portion of the Babylonian temple rituals. In the course of time,
as the temples in the great religious centers developed into large
establishments, the priests were divided into classes, each with special
functions assigned to them. Some were concerned with the sacrifices,
others presided over the oracles, others were set aside for the night
and day watches which were observed in the temple, and it is likely that
the scribes formed a class by themselves. To this age of differentiation
in priestly functions belongs the special class who may be regarded as
the forerunners of the eastern _magi_ or magicians, and who by powers
and methods peculiar to them could ward off the dangerous attacks of the
demons and witches. The means employed by them may in general be
described as forming the complement to those used by the witches,--the
reverse side of the picture,--only that they were supposed to be
effective against sorcerers, witches, and demons alike. Against the
incantation formulas of the witches, incantations of superior force were
prescribed that might serve to overcome the baneful influence of the
former. The symbolical tying of knots was offset by symbolical
loosening, accompanied by formulas that might effect the gradual release
of the victim from the meshes of both the witches and the demons; or the
hoped-for release was symbolized by the peeling of the several skins of
an onion. Corresponding to the images made by the witches, the
exorcising priests advised the making of counter images of the witches,
and by a symbolical burning, accompanied by certain ceremonies and
conciliatory gifts to the gods, hoped to destroy the witches themselves.
Since, moreover, the favorite time chosen by the demons and witches for
their manifestations was the night, the three divisions of the
nights--evening, midnight, and dawn--that correspond to the temple
watches were frequently selected as the time for the incantations and
the symbolical acts. The address was often made to the gods of night. A
series of incantation formulas begins:

I call upon you, gods of the night,
With you I call upon the night, the veiled bride,[361]
I call at evening, midnight, and at dawn.

The formulas themselves, as we shall see, are characterized by their
large number rather than by any elements that they have in common. At
times they constitute a direct appeal to some god or gods, to some
particular spirit, or to the associated spirits of heaven and earth,
together with a direct indication of what is desired. An incantation
addressed to Nusku, the god of fire, closes:

Fire-god, mighty and lofty one of the gods,
Who dost overpower the wicked and the hostile,
Overpower them (the witches) so that I be not destroyed.
Let me thy servant live, let me
unharmed stand before thee,
Thou art my god, thou art my lord,
Thou art my judge, thou art my helper,
Thou art my avenger.

Preceding the direct appeal, there is usually a recital more or less
detailed of the woes with which one is afflicted. The victim tells of
the pains which torture him. Says one bewitched:

I stand upright, and cannot lie down,
neither night nor day. The witches have filled my
mouth with their knots.
With the aid of _upuntu_ weed,[362]
they have stuffed up my mouth.
The water that I drink have they diminished,
My joy is changed to pain, my pleasure to sorrow.

This recital, which is often wearisome by its length, may or may not end
in a direct appeal to some god or gods. The narrative of woes, however,
is merely introductory to the incantation itself. To prescribe the
formula to be used to the one appealing for help, is the special
function of the priest acting as exorciser. He recites the formula,
which is then repeated by the communicant.

Instead of an appeal to the gods for help, the incantation often
embodies threats hurled in the name of the gods at the demons or witches
in case they do not release their victim. Such incantations appear to
derive their power chiefly through the personage of the exorciser, who
believes himself to be able to control the evil spirits. So in one case,
after the sufferer has poured out his troubles, the exorciser replies,
threatening the witches with the same evils that they have
inflicted:[363]

They have used all kinds of charms
to entwine me as with ropes,
to catch me as in a cage,
to tie me as with cords,
to overpower me as in a net,
to twist me as with a sling,
to tear me as a fabric,
to fill me with dirty water as that which runs down a wall (?)
to throw me down as a wall.

At this point the exorciser takes up the thread and declares:

But I by command of Marduk, the lord of charms,
by Marduk, the master of bewitchment,
Both the male and female witch
as with ropes I will entwine,
as in a cage I will catch,
as with cords I will tie,
as in a net I will overpower,
as in a sling I will twist,
as a fabric I will tear,
with dirty water as from a wall I will fill,
as a wall throw them down.

Accompanying these threats, the actions indicated were symbolically
performed by the exorciser on effigies of the witches made, in this
case, of bitumen covered with pitch.

Corresponding again to the potions prepared by the witches, the priests
prepared draughts compounded of various weeds and herbs that were given
to the victim, or concoctions that were poured over his body. This
constituted the medicinal phase of the priest's labors, and marks the
connection between magic and medicine. Naturally such herbs and weeds
were chosen as through experience had proved effective.

The Gods of the Incantation Texts.

A feature of the incantation texts is the appeal to the gods, which is
seldom, if ever, wanting. Just as the kings sought, by the enumeration
of a large pantheon, to secure the protection of as large a number of
powers as possible, so the priests endeavored to strengthen their magic
formulas by including the mention of all the chief and a varying number
of the minor deities. This invocation of groups of deities, as the
invocation of groups of spirits, became more or less conventional, so
much so that, instead of mentioning the gods individually, the scribe
would content himself with an indication, at the proper point, of the
number of gods to be appealed to,--six, ten, fifteen, as the case may
be, to as many as fifty.[364] Precisely what gods he had in mind we are
no longer in a position to know, but no doubt the chief members of the
pantheon were included in the first place. Lists of these deities are
often added. The superior triad, Anu, Bel, and Ea, head the list, at
times accompanied by their consorts, at times standing alone. The second
class of triads, Sin, Shamash, and Ramman, follow, and then the other
great gods, Nin-ib, Marduk, Nergal, Nusku, and Gibil; and finally the
chief goddesses are added, notably Ishtar, Nin-karrak, or Gula, and Bau.

But besides the chief deities, an exceedingly large number of minor ones
are found interspersed through the incantation texts. Some are well
known, as Nin-girsu, Zamama, and Papsukal. Many of them are found in
other branches of the religious literature or in invocations attached to
historical texts, commemorative of some work undertaken and completed by
the kings; but a large proportion of these powers, not often
distinguishable from mere spirits, only appear once in the literary
remains of Babylonia. It is manifestly impossible, under such
circumstances, to specify their traits. In most cases, indeed, the
phonetic reading is unknown or uncertain. While a considerable
proportion may be put down as local gods, enjoying an independent,
albeit obscure, existence, at least an equal number will turn out to be
mere epithets of gods already known. In all cases where the god's name
actually appears as an epithet, we may be certain that such is the case.
So when a god is called simply _Dainu_, _i.e._, Judge, there can be
little doubt that Shamash, the sun-god, is meant; a god, 'great
mountain,' is none other than Bel; and similarly, such names as
'merciful,' 'hearer of prayer,' 'conqueror of enemy' are manifestly
titles belonging to certain well-known deities, and used much as among
the Greeks the gods were often referred to by the traits, physical or
moral, that distinguished them. As for the residue, who are independent
deities, while of course our knowledge of the Babylonian religion would
be increased did we know more of them than their names, it is not likely
that the worship of these gods, nor the conceptions connected with them,
involved any new principle. A mere enumeration would of course be of
little use. Moreover, such an enumeration would not be exhaustive, for
new deities are found in almost every additional text that is published.
Already this list counts considerably over two hundred. At most, such an
enumeration would merely illustrate what we already know,--the
exceedingly large number of local cults that once existed in Babylonia
and Assyria, and disappeared without leaving any trace but the more or
less accidental preservation of the name of the deity, who was once
regarded as the patron of the place. Lastly it is to be noted that,
besides gods, stars are invoked, as well as rivers, temples, and even
towns,--in short, anything that has sacred associations.

On a different level from the gods enumerated in groups stand those
deities who are introduced into the incantation texts at essential
points individually and for a special reason. Such deities are
comparatively few,--hardly more than half a dozen. These gods may be
called the gods of the incantation texts _par excellence_. Their help is
essential to ensure the effectiveness of the exorciser's task. They
stand in close and direct connection with the troubles from which relief
is prayed for. For physical ills, they act as healers. If the evil for
which the individual or the country suffers is due to some natural
phenomena,--an eclipse of the moon, of which people stood in great
terror, or a deluge or a famine,--the moon-god, the storm-god, some
phase of the sun-deity, or an agricultural god would naturally be
implored; while in a general way the heads of the pantheon, Marduk in
Babylonia and Ashur in Assyria, come in for a large share of attention.

As already intimated in a previous chapter,[365] the god who plays
perhaps the most prominent role in the incantation texts is Ea. He
occupies this rank primarily by virtue of his being the god of humanity;
but another factor which enters into consideration, though in an
indirect fashion, is his character as a water-god. Water, being one of
the means of purification frequently referred to in the texts, acquires
a symbolical significance among the Babylonians, as among so many other
nations. Ea, therefore, as the water-god of the ancient sacred town,
Eridu, acquires additional popularity through this circumstance. The
titles that he receives in the texts emphasize his power to heal and
protect. He is the great physician who knows all secret sources whence
healing can be obtained for the maladies and ills caused by the demons
and sorcerers. He is therefore in a peculiar sense 'the lord of the
fates' of mankind, the chief exorciser, the all-wise magician of the
gods, at whose command and under whose protection, the priest performs
his symbolical acts. Not only does humanity turn to Ea: the gods, too,
appeal to him in their distress. The eclipse of the moon was regarded by
the popular faith as a sort of bewitchment of the great orb through the
seven evil spirits. All the heavenly bodies are affected by such an
event. Anu is powerless. It is only through Ea that Sin is released,
just as though he were a human individual. But Ea is rarely approached
directly. At his side stands his son Marduk, who acts as a mediator.
Marduk listens to the petition addressed to him by the exorcising priest
on behalf of the victim, and carries the word to Father Ea. The latter,
after first declaring Marduk to be his equal in knowledge, proceeds to
dictate the cure. Marduk, accordingly, is given the same titles as his
father, Ea. He, too, is the lord of life, the master of the exorcising
art, the chief magician among the gods.

The importance thus given to Marduk is an indication of a later period,
and must be taken in connection with the supremacy accorded to the god
after the union of the Babylonian states. Originally, Ea is the god to
whom the direct appeal was made. Marduk is an afterthought that points
to the remodeling of the ancient texts after the period of Hammurabi.
Damkina, the consort of Ea, is occasionally invoked, but it is
significant that Sarpanitum, the consort of Marduk, is rarely mentioned.