The Divine/Demonic Seven and the Place of Demons in Mesopotamia

The Divine/Demonic Seven and the Place of Demons in Mesopotamia
Author: Gina Konstantopoulos
Publisher: Ancient Magic and Divination
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9789004546141

The Divine/Demonic Seven and the Place of Demons in Mesopotamia investigates and contextualizes the Mesopotamian figures known as the Sebettu, highlighting their political and religious importance across textual and artistic sources from the late third to first millennium BCE.

The Divine/Demonic Seven and the Place of Demons in Mesopotamia

The Divine/Demonic Seven and the Place of Demons in Mesopotamia
Author: Gina Konstantopoulos
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2023-06-12
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004546138

In 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 Mesopotamian 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.

Contemporary Approaches to Mesopotamian Literature

Contemporary Approaches to Mesopotamian Literature
Author: Dahlia Shehata
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 327
Release: 2024-08-15
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9004697578

This volume lays theoretical and methodological groundwork for the analysis of Mesopotamian literature. A comprehensive first chapter by the editors explores critical contemporary issues in Sumerian and Akkadian narrative analysis, and nine case studies written by an international array of scholars test the responsiveness of Sumerian and Akkadian narratives to diverse approaches drawn from literary studies and theories of fiction. Included are intertextual and transtextual analyses, studies of narrative structure and focalization, and treatments of character and characterization. Works considered include the Standard Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic and many other Sumerian and Akkadian narratives of gods, heroes, kings, and monsters.

Theology and the DC Universe

Theology and the DC Universe
Author: Gabriel Mckee
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2023-05-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1978716125

Superman’s first appearance in Action Comics #1 (1938) proclaimed that the character would “reshape the destiny of the world.” The advent of the first superhero initiated a shared narrative—the DC superhero universe—that has been evolving in depth and complexity for more than 80 years. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman have become key threads in the tapestry of the American mythos, shaping the way we think about life, right and wrong, and our relationship with our own universe. Their narrative world is enriched by compelling stories featuring lesser-known characters like Dr. Fate, the Doom Patrol, John Constantine, and the Legion of Super-Heroes. Stories set within this shared universe have explored questions of death, rebirth, the apocalypse, the nature of evil, the origins of the universe, and the destiny of humankind. This volume brings together the work of scholars from a range of backgrounds who explore the role of theology and religion in the comics, films, and television series set in the DC Universe. The thoughtful and incisive contributions to this collection will appeal to scholars and fans alike.

As Above, So Below

As Above, So Below
Author: Gina Konstantopoulos
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2021-09-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 1646021533

This volume addresses the nexus of religion and geography in the ancient Near East through case studies of various time periods and regions. Using Sumerian, Akkadian, and Aramaic text corpora, iconography, and archaeological evidence, the contributors illuminate the diverse phenomena that occur when religion is viewed through the lenses of space and place. Gina Konstantopoulos draws upon Sumerian literature to understand mythicized and semimythicized locations. Seth Richardson and Elizabeth Knott focus on the Old Babylonian period, with Richardson addressing the interplay between law, location, and the gods, while Knott turns from text to image, relocating the reader to Syria and realizing the potential of royal iconography when situated in the “right” space. Shana Zaia moves forward to the first millennium, following the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire as it shifted from city to city, with divine implications. Finally, Arnulf Hausleiter and Sebastiano Lora focus on northwest Arabia, unearthing a local pantheon and situating it among the various influences in the region from the second millennium onward. Covering a broad geographical and temporal scope while maintaining a cohesive focus on the theme, this book will appeal especially to Assyriologists, scholars of the ancient Near East, and specialists in historical geography.

The Encounter with the Divine in Mesopotamia and Israel

The Encounter with the Divine in Mesopotamia and Israel
Author: H. W. F. Saggs
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2016-10-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1474280846

While most of its contemporary religions have faded away, Israelite religion continues to have a major influence in the world. First delivered in 1975 as a Jordan Lecture in Comparative Religion, this volume argues that in its beginnings Israelite religion had much in common with ancient Mesopotamian religion and suggests that its endurance is due to its dynamic development of the concepts it shared with other religions.

Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia

Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia
Author: Jeremy Black
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 192
Release: 1992-05-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780292707948

Ancient Mesopotamia was a rich, varied and highly complex culture whose achievements included the invention of writing and the development of sophisticated urban society. This book offers an introductory guide to the beliefs and customs of the ancient Mesopotamians, as revealed in their art and their writings between about 3000 B.C. and the advent of the Christian era. Gods, goddesses, demons, monsters, magic, myths, religious symbolism, ritual, and the spiritual world are all discussed in alphabetical entries ranging from short accounts to extended essays. Names are given in both their Sumerian and Akkadian forms, and all entries are fully cross-referenced. A useful introduction provides historical and geographical background and describes the sources of our knowledge about the religion, mythology and magic of "the cradle of civilisation".

Demons and Illness from Antiquity to the Early-Modern Period

Demons and Illness from Antiquity to the Early-Modern Period
Author: Siam Bhayro
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 447
Release: 2017-02-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004338543

In many near eastern traditions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam, demons have appeared as a cause of illness from ancient times until at least the early modern period. This volume explores the relationship between demons, illness and treatment comparatively. Its twenty chapters range from Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt to early modern Europe, and include studies of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They discuss the relationship between ‘demonic’ illnesses and wider ideas about illness, medicine, magic, and the supernatural. A further theme of the volume is the value of treating a wide variety of periods and places, using a comparative approach, and this is highlighted particularly in the volume’s Introduction and Afterword. The chapters originated in an international conference held in 2013. "Ultimately, Demons and Illness admirably performs the important task of reminding modern scholars of premodern health of the integral role played by these complex and shifting entities in the lives of people across the globe and through the centuries." -Rachel Podd, Fordham University, in: Social History of Medicine 32.3 (2019) "Given the sheer breadth of its scope, the volume is, of course, illustrative rather than comprehensive in its coverage, yet there is a definite coherence to its content, aided by the introduction and afterword which bookend the work and help begin to draw out the threads of commonality and difference. As such it constitutes a significant and welcome resource for comparative explorations of historical-cultural links between demons, illness, medicine, and magic, while offering a clear invitation to future work." -Matthew A. Collins, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 43.5 (2019)

The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia

The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia
Author: R. Campbell Thompson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2018-09-27
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 1108084613

Reginald Campbell Thompson (1876-1941) studied oriental languages at Cambridge, and in 1899 began his career in the British Museum's department of Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities. Published in 1903-4, this two-volume work made a substantial contribution to modern knowledge of ancient Babylonian demonology and magical practices.

Psalm 91 and Demonic Menace

Psalm 91 and Demonic Menace
Author: Gerrit C. Vreugdenhil
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 507
Release: 2020-07-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004427899

In Psalm 91 and Demonic Menace Gerrit Vreugdenhil offers a thorough analysis of Psalm 91, a text that already in its earliest interpretations has been associated with the demonic realm.