Ancient Mesopotamia is rife with demons and spirit entities. Demons can bring famine, plague, drought, pestilence, childhood disease, wasting sickness, insanity and bloodshed. Where exorcism is needed, Ḫulbazizi (Hulbazizi) is the process.
Jump to: The Exorcists Manuals
See also:
It's written on clay tablets in Sumerian and later Akkadian in the late Bronze Age. The language of trade, Akkadian is the best known across the land (3rd - 1st millennium BCE).
Legible writing is barely invented (c. 3400 BCE) and scribe schools are booming. Knowledge of languages is required. Scribe is a popular occupation for women, who in general have more societal freedom in the ancient days.
See also:
Written language allows the Mesopotamians, Greeks, Egyptians and Anatolians to keep records. Mesopotamians compile extensive and detailed kaluti, god lists or offering lists. The lists identify deities, their place in the hierarchy and their entourages.
Demons appear on no god lists. They populate the Underworld and the realm of mortals, some Sumerian, some Babylonian, some Akkadian. Rarely helpful, they're agents of conflict, pain, anger and war.
See also:
Various demons appear in texts and tales, including the sickness-causing udug and those relating to demonic possession and exorcism. Some, like the master of evil wind spirits Pazuzu, are also known in western culture.
The name of the ritual Ḫulbazizi means "the Evil That Is Eradicated" or "Evil be gone". The incantation banishes mimma lemnu or evil overall and includes a spell, ša malṭi eršiya.
See also:
The spell is specifically for getting rid of monsters under the bed. It's true. Many people of the ancient world believe nightmares, insomnia, impotence or similar conditions are caused by a demon or demonic entity under the bed. Or it could be the sum of one's fears.
The incantation is as follows:
He who transgressed the privacy of my bed, made me shrink for fear, and gave me frightening dreams: on the command of Ninurta, the first son, the beloved son, and on the command of Marduk, who lives in the E-sagil in Babylon, he must be handed over to Bedu, the chief gatekeeper of the Netherworld. You, door and door bolt, you must know: (from now on) I fall under the protection of these two divine lords.
— ša malṭi eršiya incantation
See also:
Much of the Ḫulbazizi text and ritual is missing or illegible. The final incantation calls to planet Jupiter, the Pleiades or Seven Sisters in the constellation Taurus; and the deity Irragal (Nergal) to deflect evil from the subject.
Nergal is an Underworld God and the consort or husband of Erishkigal, Goddess of the Underworld. Nergal rules war, death, and disease. He's described as the god of inflicted death or murder.
See also:
The Exorcists Manuals
The Exorcists Manuais also known as a vademecum or handbook, is a collection of scholarly material for those wishing to learn the craft of exorcism, or āšipūtu. The manual includes exorcism rituals, royal rituals, medical knowledge, incantations and omen series.
It begins, "Incipits of the Series belonging to the art of exorcism (mašmaššūtu), established (kunnu) for instruction (izhu) and testing (tāmartu), all to be read out." The handbook is actually two manuals.
See also:
The first revolves around kakugallūtu, “exorcism corpus,” and išippūtu, “esoteric knowledge.” The second is the manual of the exorcist according to the scholar Esagil-kin-apli. It goes on to list works such as the great omen series of astrological (Enūma Anu Enlil) and terrestrial (Šumma Ālu) portents.
See also: