Description
Book SynopsisIn The Divine/Demonic Seven and the Place of Demons in Mesopotamia, Gina Konstantopoulos analyses the Sebettu, a group of seven divine/demonic figures found across a wide range of textual and artistic sources in Mesopotamia from the late third to first millennium BCE. The Sebettu appeared both as fierce, threatening demons and as divine, protective, figures. These seemingly contradictory qualities worked together, as their martial ferocity facilitated their religious and political role. When used in royal inscriptions, they became fierce warriors attacking the king’s enemies, retaining that demonic nature. This flexibility was not unique to the Sebettu, and this study thus provides a lens through which to examine the place of demons in Mesopotamia as a whole.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Figures and Tables Abbreviations List of Appendices Frequently Cited Texts and Their Editions Introduction Terminology and Defining the Demonic Previous Studies and Writing the Sebettu Seven as a Number of Significance Overview of the Book 1 The Variable Nature of Demons 1 The Mostly Malevolent Udug 2 The Ambiguous Alad 3 The Benevolent Lamma 2 Early Foundations of Literary Evidence and Cultic Use 1 Third Millennium References 2 The Sumerian Narrative of Gilgameš and Huwawa 3 Lugalbanda in the Wilderness: The Torches of Inana 4 The Malevolent Sebettu in Old Babylonian Incantations 5 The Hymn to Hendursaĝa 6 Literary Tropes and the Subservience of Demons 7 Second Millennium Cultic Evidence 3 The Escalated Use of the Sebettu in the First Millennium 1 First Millennium Literary Texts 2 Expansionist Politics: The Initial Stages of the Assyrian Empire 3 Initial Decline 4 Returning to Strength 5 The Last Great Kings of Assyria 6 Ritual and Cultic Connections 4 The Sebettu in Incantations and Household Use 1 The Sebettu in Incantations 2 The Sebettu and the Udug Hul Incantation Series 3 Malevolence and Benevolence: A Survey of the Incantations as a Whole 5 Iconography and the Pleiades 1 The Behavior of the Pleiades 2 Astral Imagery and the Pleiades 3 Iconography and Representations of the Sebettu 4 Seals and the Pleiades Conclusion: Concerning Demons Appendix A: Comparative Epithets of the Sebettu Appendix B: Birds, Deities, and Cries in the Birdcall Text Appendix C: Textual Attestations to the Sebettu Appendix D: Star Maps Appendix E: Catalogue of Cylinder Seals Works Cited Index
