From time immemorial, man felt that he was surrounded by hostile supernatural beings, and magic rites were a weapon against them. Evil spirits lay in wait for him everywhere. Larvas and lemurs lived underground; vampires returned from the realm of the dead to attack the living; Namtar (plague) and Idpa (fever) raged in the cities.
The night was dominated by demons of evil, demons of the desert, demons of the abyss, sea, mountains, swamps, and the south wind. And then there were the succubi and incubi, which sent erotic nightmares; insidious demons by Mask, who were in ambush for unwary travelers; the evil Utuk, a desert dweller; the demonic bull Telal and the destroyer Alal. The souls of people were constantly attacked by harmful demons, which demanded atoning sacrifices and prayers. But the ancient sages knew that there are good spirits, ready even to come to the aid of the victim. The priests of the highest magical cults worshiped the supreme deity, the wise guardian of world harmony.
Such horrors and miracles surrounded the peoples who inhabited the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers: the legendary Sumerians, who settled in the lower reaches of the Euphrates five thousand years before the birth of Christ; the swarthy Akkadians, who subdued the surroundings of Babylon three thousand years before our era; the Elamites, the heirs of the Persians, whose history can be traced back to the IV millennium BC; The "star sages" the Babylonians, the founders of the world power; the Assyrians, who were at first tributaries to Babylon, and later conquered all of Western Asia and Egypt; and, finally, the Medes, whose glory seemed immortal, until it was overshadowed by the Persians, who extended their dominion to all Asian lands.
From wide plains, from temple terraces and towers, the priests gazed intently into the night sky, trying to unravel the great mystery of the universe - to comprehend the root cause of being, the meaning of life and death. They offered prayers to the spirit of the land of Ea and the spirit of the sky, Anu. The reading of spells and incense of aromas, shouts and whispers, gestures and chants - all this, according to the priests, should have attracted the attention of frivolous gods, who always had to remind of the misfortunes of mortals. “Remember,” all those praying persistently repeated, “remember the one who makes sacrifices. Let forgiveness and peace pour out on him like molten copper; let the days of this man be quickened by the sun! - Spirit of the Earth, remember! Spirit of Heaven, remember!
It was not only demons that should be feared: dangerous forces were also in the soul of the person himself. Magic protected, but it also destroyed, becoming a monstrous weapon in the hands of a villain who used it for evil. Believing himself above all laws and religious commandments, the evil sorcerer sent spells and deadly spells on all those he disliked indiscriminately: “This curse will fall on a person with the power of an evil demon. Screeching [sending] at him. [I am sending] a disastrous voice to him. A pernicious curse is the cause of his illness. A fatal curse strangles this man like a lamb. God has inflicted a wound in his body, the goddess gives him anxiety. A screech like the screech of a hyena has overpowered him and wields it.
They believed that some sorcerers have an "evil eye", that is, can kill a victim just by looking at it. Others were said to make figurines - images of their enemies - and burn them or poke them with pins, depending on the degree of harm they wish to inflict on the victim.
The one who casts an image, the one who sends enchantments -
[His] evil face, evil eye, Promotional video:
Malicious lips, malignant tongue, Malicious lips, malicious words, -
Spirit of Heaven, remember!
Spirit of the Earth, remember !.
There were spells against a wide variety of black magic operations and against the ubiquitous demons that secretly penetrate houses, like snakes, bringing women sterility, stealing children, and sometimes falling upon the whole country, like ruthless Asian warriors:
They come down to the earth, [conquering them] one by one, They exalt an unworthy slave,
They drive the free woman out of the house where she gave birth to children, They throw young chicks out of the nest into the void, They drive the oxen before them, they drive the lamb away, Evil, crafty demons.
True, in the midst of fear and confusion, voices are also heard, affirming peace and tranquility; spells go hand in hand with hymns and praises. Fragments of a tablet with a cuneiform text have survived, which reads: "Garlands of flowers … an exalted shepherd … on thrones and altars … a marble scepter … an exalted shepherd, King, shepherd of nations …". But these peacetime songs fell silent as soon as the destroyer demon Namtar spread his black wings. Then the afflicted had to remember Mulga, the lord of the abyss, and his retinue - the spirits of the planets. In mortal horror, they cried out to the gods and spirits, whom they had forgotten about in the days of prosperity, for people are as forgetful as the gods, created in their image and likeness.
Spirit of Mulg, Lord of the Lands, remember.
Spirit of Nin-Gelal, Lady of the Lands, remember.
Spirit of Nindar, mighty warrior Mulga, remember.
Spirit of Paku, Sublime Mind of Mulg, remember.
Spirit of En-Zun, son of Mulg, remember.
Spirit Tishku, Lady of the Host, remember.
Spirit of Utu, King of Justice, remember …
This is the nature of many cuneiform inscriptions found in the royal library of Nineveh, in which King Ashurbanipal in the 7th century BC. collected ancient Akkadian texts. By that time they no longer understood their meaning, but the greater magical power was attributed to them. It was believed that if these mysterious formulas were repeated from century to century, then their effectiveness was beyond doubt. A similar idea that the magic word should be preserved in its original and unchanged form is found among many other ancient peoples. Moreover, having undergone, in fact, only minor modifications, this belief has survived to this day. Bowing to the original text of the Holy Scriptures, Catholics and Judaists continue to read their prayers in Latin and Hebrew, respectively, despite the fact that these languages have long been dead,- how during the reign of Ashurbanipal the Akkadian language was dead.
According to the ancient Akkadian texts, one can get a fairly clear idea of how their authors treated supernatural phenomena. Good and evil for them were the products of the activities of good and evil spirits, which were sent to earth by good and evil gods. The Akkadian world is dualistic: the outcome of the struggle between the forces of light and darkness is not yet predetermined. Over the opponents in this eternal struggle, no moral principles have power: good or bad, any force turns out to be only due to fatal predetermination. Good could give rise to evil, as we see in the example of Mulg, who, while not entirely the embodiment of the evil principle, nevertheless became the father of Namtar, the most cruel of the demons. Good and evil are not necessarily on opposite sides of the barricades: some good spirits dwell in the gloomy abyss of Mulg,and harmful demons coexist in heaven side by side with merciful gods. Considering all this, a person would certainly have fallen victim to the chaos reigning in the universe, had he not resorted to magical art to protect himself from harmful influences.
Magic allowed man to organize society and organize his daily life. Thanks to magic, the arts flourished, merchants prospered, warriors conquered new lands, the smoke of burnt offerings rose over the sanctuaries, hunters wandered in search of prey in the northern mountains, sages gathered in the royal palace to discuss state affairs. The heritage of the ancient peoples of Mesopotamia that has come down to us testifies to a highly developed culture, refined taste and a keen sense of beauty. We still admire the beautiful handicrafts of that era, made from metal, stone, wood, shells and other materials. In these works, elegance was harmoniously combined with simplicity, frank pomp with deeply personal feelings, good-natured humor with cruelty.
The ancient Elamites portrayed their gods as animals. But among the Sumerians and Akkadians, humanoid came to replace the animal gods. The animal nature was subordinated to the human one. On the harp of King Ur, the mythical hero Gilgamesh is depicted, clutching two bulls in a powerful embrace. Further we see a lion and a dog carrying offerings to the deities; a bear holding a harp, "which fills the temple courtyards with joy," and a donkey playing on this harp (a comic image, not alien to medieval artists later on). A fox perched on the paw of a bear drumming on a board and shaking a rattle in front of a carved image of a bull adorning a harp. On the next scene, a scorpion man is dancing, and next to him, a rearing chamois shakes with two rattles. All these pictures are dominated by the violent element of dance.
Merry feasts alternate with solemn sacrifices, and all this people owe to magical rituals that free the soul from fear and awaken fantasy. It was magical goals that prompted people to create carvings and write poems, perform music and erect magnificent monuments of architecture.