The demons which are mentioned in the incanta- tion texts amount to hundreds. They are of various classes: those which inhabit the field, those which haunt the resting-places of the dead, and the evil demons which inflict physical suffer- ing. It is with the last we are now speciall concerned ; and the means by which these e influences were counteracted occupy a vast number of cuneiform tablets. We possess a great collection of incantations directed against these demons, called by a variety of names, and also against the sorcerers. In many cases the interpretations are provisional.
The utukku of the field and the utukku of the mountain.
The utukku of the sea, and the one that lurks in graves. ae
The evil shedu, the shining alu.
Beside these we have mention of the ekimmu, ‘which seizes hold of a man.’} These incantations fall into various elaborate series.
* Wellh. Reste Arab. Heidenthums?, p. 159: ‘There were men and women who made this art of magic their profession. The witches, however, were more numerous. They distinguished themselves among the Arabs, as among other races, from the male sorcerers by showing themselves more passive than active. Hence the demons do not serve them, but vice versd. In fact they almost seem incarnations of the demons. In the time of Ibn Munkidh the witches rode about naked on a stick between the graves of the cemetery of Shaizar. Similarly they still ride by night on palm sticks through the air, having stripped themselves stark naked, smeared their bodies with cow’s milk, and abjured Islam in a formula of renunciation.’ The witches riding resemble demons in this cepa comp. p. 152, They
astity, drawing the bloud from the other sex, changing them into animals, or robbing them of reason. See Doughty's entertaining »:i.rences, in Arabia Deserta, vol. ii. p. 106f., to the Kheybar witches.
+ Comp. tne Hebrew 135 used of binding and conjuring by the tying of knots, Dt 1811, Ps 586, and 135 frequently used in the plur., Is. 479. 12,
t From the root ekému, ‘to take’ or ‘seize’; see Delitzsch, Assyr. Handw. 8.0. 028. Apparently the word properly means the manes or shade that wanders by night. We have other demons specially mentioned, viz. Li/u and /ilitu, the demons οἱ night (see art. Dkmon), the gallu that attacks the hand, the rabisu and labartu, demons of nightmare, Namtar and aXakku, plague demons. We find some of them pictured on the bound- ary stones. These are the demons of the field, who will inflict punishment on the trespasser or any one who will invade pro- prietary rights, and whose power the owner invokes to defend them. Students of Is 1321 3413f should take note of the fac*
MAGIC, MAGICIAN
One series, consisting of sixteen tablets, known by the natural name of evil demon, contained protective incantations against various classes of evil spirits. Another is called the series of ‘head sickness,’ which covered nine tablets. Two others, have lately been the subject of careful investigation,—the Surpu series by Zimmern, and the Makla series by Tallqvist. Both expressions signify ‘burning,’ since in both the subject dealt with is the burning of images of sorcerers and the incantations recited when this symbolical act was performed. These incan- ‘ations were of superior force, intended to countervail and over- power the baleful influence of the spells used by the hostile sorcerer. Symbolical loosening of knots counterworked the symbolic tying of the same. Sometimes we have the symbolical peeling of several skins of an onion. As night was the time chosen by sorcerers and witches for their work, the three divisions of the night, evening, midnight, and dawn, corre- sponding to the temple watches, were the times chosen for the countervailing incantations and symbolic acts.
The Surpu and Makia@ series formed incantation rituals. Certain formulas were found to be effective, and were therefore preserved for use; but since a certain formula only availed for & particular set of circumstances, it was necessary to preserve as many formulas as possible to meet every case with which the professional exorcizer might be confronted. This exorcizer naturally plays a great part as a controller of the destructive spirits. ne citation, modified from M. Jastrow’s recent work, may suffice. It is taken from the Makia series. First the sufferer describes his troubles (Tallq. ii. col. iii. 148f.)—
‘They have used all kinds of charms To entwine me as with ropes(?) - To catch me as in a bird’s snare, To tie me as with cords, To overpower me as in a net, To throttle me as with a noose, To tear me as a fabric.’
After which the exorcizer says—
*But I, by the command of Marduk, lord of charms, By Marduk, the master of bewitchment, Both the male and the female sorcerer, As with rated I will entwine,
As in a bird’s snare I will catch,
As in a net I will overpower,
As in a noose I will throttle (apatti), As a fabric I will tear.’
The byplay of action that accompanied each phrase of the incantation must be supplied by the reader’simagination. These acts were symbolically performed by the exorcizer on an image of the witch made of bitumen and pitch, of clay or wax. Sometimes the sufferer had been bewitched by concoctions of herbs. In this case other herbs or potions are concocted by the exorcizing priest as a counter charm.