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The zisurrû, a word ultimately derived from Sumerian, was used as a defensive measure and drawn on the ground around prophylactic figurines as part of a Babylonian ritual to thwart evil spirits, around a patient's bed to protect against ghosts or demons in much the same manner in which bowls thwart demons and curses, or as a component of another elaborate ritual. [3]
The Sumerians called the practice of using ritual circles zisurrû, meaning "magic circle drawn with flour", [4] and inscribed ZÌ-SUR-RA-a.This was an ancient Mesopotamian method of delineating, purifying and protecting from evil by the enclosing of a ritual space in a circle of flour.
Nungal is the Sumerian goddess who was given the title "Queen of the Ekur". The hymn Nungal in the Ekur describes the dark side of the complex with a house that "examines closely both the righteous and the wicked and does not allow the wicked to escape". This house is described as having a "River of ordeal" which leads to the "mouth of ...
In Sumerian and Akkadian mythology (and Mesopotamian mythology in general) Hanbi or Hanpa (more commonly known in western text) was a member of the udug (dark shadow demons different from the gods of Earth, Wather Fire, Air and Afterlife) and he was the lord of evil, lord of all evil forces different from the gods and the father of Pazuzu. [1]
The Greek Magical Papyri, nearly a millennium after the fall of Mesopotamia, preserve the name of the Sumerian goddess Ereshkigal. [10] The ancient Jewish people were often viewed as being knowledgeable in magic, which, according to legend, they had learned from Moses, who had learned it in Egypt. Among many ancient writers, Moses was seen as ...
The origins of astronomy can be found in Mesopotamia, the "land between the rivers" Tigris and Euphrates, where the ancient kingdoms of Sumer, Assyria, and Babylonia were located. A form of writing known as cuneiform emerged among the Sumerians around 3500–3000 BC. Our knowledge of Sumerian astronomy is indirect, via the earliest Babylonian ...
Marduk (Cuneiform: 𒀭𒀫𒌓 ᵈAMAR.UTU; Sumerian: amar utu.k "calf of the sun; solar calf"; Hebrew: מְרֹדַךְ, Modern: Merōdaḵ, Tiberian: Mərōḏaḵ) is a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of Babylon who eventually rose to power in the 1st millennium BC.
As noted by Davies, for the ancient Greeks—and subsequently for the ancient Romans—"magic was not distinct from religion but rather an unwelcome, improper expression of it—the religion of the other". [63] The historian Richard Gordon suggested that for the ancient Greeks, being accused of practicing magic was "a form of insult". [64]