Part i: The Sources

Any study of Jewish demonology of Late Antiquity can, and should, rely on two types of sources. On the one hand, we have the rabbinic texts—the Mishna, the Tosephta, the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmudim, the halakhic and aggadic Midrashim—and these tell us much about what the rabbis of late antique Palestine and Babylonia had to say about demons.

In addition to these two main types of sources, we also have some evidence from later Jewish magical texts, especially from the Cairo Genizah, that pre­serve earlier magical spells and recipes, and these too tell us much about the place of demons in late antique Jewish society. However, as these sources do not stem from Late Antiquity, but are medieval copies of what are likely to be late antique originals, they are less useful than the amulets and incantation bowls that come from Late Antiquity itself.

To get a sense of what some of these sources look like, we may begin with four concrete examples, representing each of these sources. Beginning with rabbinic literature, we may cite the famous rabbinic dictum that:

Six things were said about demons—in three (things) they are like the angels of service, and in three (things) they are like human beings.

This statement offers an interesting generalization about the demons, their nature, and their place in the world—in fact, it is the only such generalization found in ancient Jewish sources.^[281] Elsewhere in rabbinic literature, there are dozens, and maybe even hundreds, of references to demons, including both general statements and statements about specific demons, but there are no other attempts to explain where exactly demons belong, and what is their place in the divine hierarchy. Looking at this specific statement we see that it tells us much about the rabbis' conceptualization of demons: They have wings and can fly great distances, they have access to various secrets, they procreate and they die. Implicitly, it also tells us where the demons belong in the celes­tial hierarchy of Jewish monotheism—first comes God, then the angels, who are his underlings and messengers, and then the demons, below whom are we, human beings, who somehow must learn to live in a world influenced by this complex hierarchy of invisible forces. And it is especially the demonic rung of the celestial hierarchy that is complex, since whereas God and his angels do not procreate and never die, which means that their number, and presumably their activities, are fixed and stable, the number of demons alive and active at any different moment clearly fluctuates, adding a measure of instability to an otherwise orderly celestial realm.

While this statement tells us much about the demons, it also leaves much that is unsaid, including the intriguing question of where the demons come from and why exactly they were created; the angels, we all know, are God's messengers who carry out his orders, but what is it that demons do and why did God deem their existence necessary? Moreover, the reader of this passage might know that demons often cause many troubles, and wonder why this is so, but the above statement offers no clues on this issue.

Now we turn from the Babylonian Tamlud to a Babylonian incantation bowl, with a long list of demons that it seeks to thwart. I will quote the entire text here, even though we shall later use only small parts of it:

Bound and sealed are you who are the Lilith, the evil tormentor. Making for your name. So, for your name I am making (this magical act).

May there be healing from heaven for the house of Abandad son of Batgada.

At your right Uziel, at your left Susiel, in front of you Michael, behind you Hananel, above you, the presence of God.

I adjure and put you under oath that you may depart and go out from the house of Abandad son of Batgada and from the dwelling of Sami daughter of Parsita. You demons and plagues and satans and devs and shadow-spirits—you will not go with them on to the bed and you will not go down with them to the land.

In the name of yhwh yhwh the God of Israel whom thousands upon thousands will serve before him and myriads upon myriads will attend before him.

Again, I put under oath and adjure you evil, sorcerous, strong and pow­erful demons in order that you shall depart and go out from the house of Abandad son of Batgada and from the dwelling of Sami daughter of Parsita.

In the name of Zahuvari yhwh the God of Israel and in the name of Zachiriel yhwh the God of Israel, and in the name of Metatron the Prince of the Countenance. For the name of the servant is similar to the name of his master, for it is said: “for my name is within him” (Ex 23:21).

In the name of the twelve names, and by means of the great seal by which are sealed the heavens and the earth, and in the name of Ashmedai the king of the demons, and by means of the signet-ring of Solomon son of David the king of Israel, that you may depart and that you may go out from the house of Abandad son of Batgada and from the dwelling of Sami daughter of Parsita.

If you appear as a pig I adjure and put you under oath by means of yhwh yhwh Sabaoth. If you appear as a pig I adjure and put you under oath by means of yhw yhw.

If you appear as a ram I adjure and put you under oath “‘By Alef- Daleth' or ‘by Yod-He' or ‘by Shaddai' or ‘by Sabaoth' or ‘by the Merciful and Gracious' or ‘by him that is long suffering and of great kindness', and by any substituted name.”

If you appear as a dog I adjure and put you under oath by means of ‘I am that I am'.

And if you do not depart and go out of the house of Abandad son of Batgada and from the dwelling of Sami daughter of Parsita I shall bring against you the shard of a fortunate man and I shall defile you.

And if not, I shall bring against you the staff of a leprous man and I shall strike you.

And if not I shall bring against you a rod of seven pieces that seven sorcerous women are riding and their eight ghosts.

And if not I shall bring against you water from the mouths of seven people with gonorrhoea/discharge and I shall pour it on you and I shall remove you.

And if you do not flee and go out from the house of Abandad son of Batgada and from the dwelling of Sami daughter of Parsita his wife, you demons and afflictions and satans and shadow-spirits, you shall all be under the ban of Rabbi Joshua bar Perahia, Amen Amen Selah.

“Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who surround yourselves with sparks; walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that you have kindled. This came to you from my hand; you shall lie down in sorrow” (Isa 50:11).

“The Lord preserves the simple” (Ps 116:6).

“For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways” (Ps 91:11).^[282]

This is an extremely long and detailed incantation, intended to drive Lilith, and a whole list of other types of demons, out of the house of Abandad son of Batgada and Sami daughter of Parsita—presumably, a married couple. These demons may appear in the form of a pig, a ram, a dog, and perhaps other animals as well, and are driven out with an impressive set of adjurations and threats, coupled with angelic and divine invocations, references to bibli­cal and rabbinic figures, and the citation of biblical verses. In passing, we also learn of their king, Ashmedai, who is well known from rabbinic literature as well. But why these demons came into being, or why they are so dangerous, are questions to which incantation bowls such as this provide no answer. Their aim is to keep the house and its dwellers safe from demons, not to speculate about their exact nature.

From this bowl we turn to a third type of source, namely, Aramaic and Hebrew amulets written on thin sheets of metal and found mainly in present- day Israel, Egypt, Syria, Turkey and Italy. Here, we may briefly look at two dif­ferent examples, both found in the apsis of the Horvat Maon synagogue (in the North-Western Negev) and probably dating to the sixth century CE.^[283] In the first, we read:

[...] I-am-who-I-am. In the name of [ ] Shnrwn, Ereschiel, [ ]el, Mashnid Heshmagron Saksak Dokon Dokon and [ ]el, Barqiel, Uriel, Milhamiel, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, [ ] that you should depart from the head of Natrun, the daughter of Sarah, Amen, Amen, [ the spirit^{[284] [285] [286]] that is called kephalargla that goes into the auditory passage of her ear and does not [ ]. In the name of Nagdiel the angel who is bound by chains which are not of bronze, and [ ] not of iron, and in the name of Nahshur and in the name of Suriel the angel [ ] blast-demons, tormen­tors and shadow-spirits should flee away from her.}

This amulet clearly was commissioned by, or for, a certain Natrun, daughter of Sarah, in very specific circumstances. Suffering from headaches, and perhaps also ear aches, she needed an amulet to drive away all kinds of blast-demons, tormentors and shadow-spirits, but especially one specific demon, called keph- alargla (which happens to be the Greek word for headache), a demon that entered her ears and lodged inside her head. This demon and all his comrades are adjured in the name of several angels to be uprooted from Natrun's ears and head. But where did this demon come from, and why did he attack poor Natrun, and not her next-door neighbour? Such questions will not be answered by the amulets, which seek to expel the demons or to keep them at bay, and not to speculate about them.

A second amulet, found in the same location, introduces us to a different patient and a different scenario:

[...] An amulet proper for Esther, daughter of Tatis, to save her from evil tormentors, from evil eye, from spirit, from demon, from shadow-spirit, from [all] evil tormentors, from evil eye, from [...] from imp[ure] spirit, [...] “If thou shall diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and shall do that which is right in his sight, and shall give ear to his command­ments, and keep all his statutes, I shall put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians. For I am the Lord that heals thee” (Ex 15:26) [...].12

Reading this amulet, we know that it was commissioned by, or for, a certain Esther, daughter of Tatis, as a protection against many different kinds of dan­gers, including the evil eye and a whole host of evil demons. It may have been commissioned because this Esther was suffering from some illness or some misfortune, and did not know its source, but the very vague list of dangers, and even the citation of Exodus 15:26, which only speaks of God's granting of health in a very general manner, tell us that this amulet probably was not com­missioned for the treatment of a specific condition, but was a general apotro- paic device, commissioned to protect Esther from all kinds of evil even before they actually harm her.

From the incantation bowls and the amulets, we turn to the magical recipe books used by Jews in Late Antiquity. Here, we are confronted by a slight prob­lem, since such collections were normally written on papyrus and parchment, and thus disintegrated long ago, but for a few fragments of Aramaic magical papyri from the dry sands of Egypt, which are too small to be of real help for our enquiry.^{[287] [288] [289] But the Aramaic magical recipes kept on being copied by their Jewish users into the Middle Ages, and some of them ended up in the Cairo Genizah, where we finally get access to them. And here too, I would like to cite just one example, which is found in an eleventh-century booklet whose shredded remains I have elsewhere tried to reconstruct?4 Here, we find the last section of an Aramaic adjuration that states:}

... him, and you will perform the mission for me [ ] to his master?, and you will descend upon nn and make [him] bellow like a pig, and make him bellow like a bull and make him bleat [like a ], and make him bark like a dog, and you will not say [to him? that?] I sent you, and do not come out of him until [we loosen you?] and we say, Come out! A(men) A(men) S(ela).i⁵

Here, we see a piece of aggressive magic, intended to send a demon upon its hapless victim, and make him bellow, bleat and bark—either figuratively, as an expression of pain and grief, or in reality, as an expression of sheer madness. And as we already saw that demons can appear in the form of various animals, the fact that they can make one behave like such animals should cause no sur­prise. We also learn that the demon should not divulge the identity of the one who sent it, who might otherwise run into great trouble, either with the law or with his intended victim. He might also encounter a magician as power­ful as himself, who would send the demon back upon those who had sent it, even without knowing their identity. This, we may add, is a type of “counter­offensive” that is found in several incantation bowls, that seek to deflect the harmful demons upon those who had sent them, the assumption being that the demons know very well who the culprit is, even if the bowl producers do not.^[290]

These, then, are four rather representative examples out of many hundreds of demon-related passages in ancient Jewish texts. The problem, as you can already see, is not the absence of the sources, but their abundance and their sheer complexity. The question, therefore, is what do we do with all these sources, and how can we arrange them in some meaningful manner? And it is here that I turn to the second, and more detailed, part of my analysis.