Any Evil, a Stalking Ghost, and the Bull-Headed Demon
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...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
De Gruyter
2020
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| In: |
Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie
Year: 2020, Volume: 110, Issue: 2, Pages: 141-160 |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | 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, 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. |
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| ISSN: | 1613-1150 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1515/za-2020-0015 |