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Any Evil, a Stalking Ghost, and the Bull-Headed Demon
Please always quote using this URN: urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-217763
- Based on first-millennium cuneiform manuscripts from Aššur, Babylon, and Uruk, this article offers an edition of a ritual against an illness conceptualized as the demon ‘Any Evil’. The text sheds light on how the catch-all figure Any Evil corresponds to the idea of a universal cure for any physical ailment, and how the rhetoric of the incantation articulates this relationship and facilitates the active participation of the patient. The ritual instructions of this and a closely related text show that Any Evil is envisaged as a bull-headed, maleBased on first-millennium cuneiform manuscripts from Aššur, Babylon, and Uruk, this article offers an edition of a ritual against an illness conceptualized as the demon ‘Any Evil’. The text sheds light on how the catch-all figure Any Evil corresponds to the idea of a universal cure for any physical ailment, and how the rhetoric of the incantation articulates this relationship and facilitates the active participation of the patient. The ritual instructions of this and a closely related text show that Any Evil is envisaged as a bull-headed, male demon. This points to an adaptation of motifs that are typically associated with ghosts in ancient Mesopotamian thought and raises questions concerning the pictorial representation of Any Evil and its conceptual foundations.…
Author: | Daniel Schwemer |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-217763 |
Document Type: | Journal article |
Faculties: | Philosophische Fakultät (Histor., philolog., Kultur- und geograph. Wissensch.) / Institut für Altertumswissenschaften |
Language: | English |
Parent Title (English): | Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie |
ISSN: | 0084-5299 |
ISSN: | 1613-1150 |
Year of Completion: | 2020 |
Volume: | 110 |
Issue: | 2 |
First Page: | 141 |
Last Page: | 160 |
Source: | Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie (2020) 110:2, 141-160. https://doi.org/10.1515/za-2020-0015 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1515/za-2020-0015 |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | 9 Geschichte und Geografie / 93 Geschichte des Altertums (bis ca. 499), Archäologie / 930 Geschichte des Altertums bis ca. 499, Archäologie |
Tag: | Any Evil; Aššur; Babylon; Bull-Headed Demon; Uruk |
Release Date: | 2022/03/17 |
Date of first Publication: | 2020/11/25 |
Note: | This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively. |
Licence (German): | Deutsches Urheberrecht |