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

• Superior document: Ancient Magic and Divination Series ; Volume 20
• VerfasserIn: Konstantopoulos, Gina,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, The Netherlands : : Brill,, [2023]; ©2023
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Edition: First edition.
• Language: English
• Series: Ancient magic and divination ; Volume 20.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (340 pages) :; illustrations.

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.

Table of Contents

The Variable Nature of Demons -- Early Foundations of Literary Evidence and Cultic Use -- The Escalated Use of the Sebettu in the First Millennium -- The Sebettu in Incantations and Household Use -- Iconography and the Pleiades.