in Mesopotamia in the first millennium BC, the air was darkened by flocks of powerful demons, hypostasis of the most violent natural phenomena or morbid events that affected men. Even the gods could be attacked by demons. Requests for protection in the form of prayer, sacrifice, rituals increasingly complex, it became obsessive, medicine became exorcism. Most of all that is known about the practices against the demons come from the collection collected by Ashurbanipal in Nineveh around 630 BC, thousands of tablets, belonged to the library of Nineveh, describing exorcisms, omens and divination. They belong to the same period many thousands of apotropaic amulets to wear around the neck or the wrist, on them is usually portrayed the demon from which you want to protect surmounted by priests in ritual act, it is often also written a text to avoid, for example like this:
"Enchantment.
What we approached the house I am out of bed to escape the terror,
torments me, see me nightmares .
god Al Bine, gatekeeper of the underworld,
they may designate,
by decree of Ninurta, Prince of the Underworld.
By decree of Marduk, who resides in ' Esagila to Babylon.
door latch and know that I am under the protection of the two gentlemen.
Enchantment "
for registration dell'amuleto: HW Saggs, The Greatness That Was Babylon, 1962)
picture, I've taken from http://www.arcadia93.org/demonimesop.html, the the mythological battle between the Asag daemon (Ashakku) and the god Ninurta.
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