When set against the more defined positions occupied by demons and monsters in other religions and cultures, the demons found in Mesopotamian texts may seem, at first glance, to exist in a perpetual state of disarray, defying attempts at a definitive categorization.1
Much of the time, these supernatural figures serve in malevolent positions, fulfilling their duties as carriers and causes of physical or mental illness, injury or disease. Despite this, demons may also fulfill benevolent roles, often coming to the aid of the exorcist, or asipu, in his battle to remove a malevolent demon from the afflicted patient.
From an initial, cursory analysis, we can easily see how demons may appear to shift from one role to another. Of the three demons, the udug, the lama, and the sedu, all of which switch from one category of acts—or one alignment, we could say—to another, the first two will form the focus of this study; as they are by far the most prevalent of the three to appear in Mesopotamian texts.[21] [22]In examining the potential angle of attack for a discussion concerning the fluid role of demons and other supernatural beings in Mesopotamia, the best approach may be a slightly circuitous one. Instead of approaching first and foremost the nature and character of the demons themselves, I would rather place them in the context of the texts wherein they appear. In treating the texts themselves, which occupy a number of different genres in Mesopotamia, from performative incantations to literary texts, as the narrative background for the demons, we see that the demons quickly appear less as independent agents than as characters occupying clearly defined roles: slotted into a very particular shape within a very particular section of each text's narrative.
If we stray further afield, we can find a useful framing for this argument in Vladimir Propp's work The Morphology of the Folktale, wherein according to Propp's analysis, the function of characters comprises a constant, unchanging element of the fairytale and exists independently of how and, more importantly for our purposes, by whom they are fulfilled.[23] To fall back on old favorites, there is a slot within a text for a wolf and another for a woodsman, and the text requires that whoever occupies those roles appear when and where the text demands, and with the characteristics those roles demand, lest the entire structure of the narrative fall apart.
In other words, the roles require actors, and while the identity of the actors themselves is important, it is superseded by the requirements of those roles themselves. In Mesopotamia, the narrative requirements of a literary text or an incantation dictate the alignment of the supernatural figures that fill it, without theological contortions on the part of the Mesopotamians, by all accounts. If a text requires that benevolent demons appear at one point, and malevolent demons at another, then that, more than any theological considerations of the nature of the demons themselves, dictates their actions and alignment within a certain point in the narrative of the text.Mesopotamian incantations, a body of texts that stretched from the third millennium BC through to the end of the Neo-Babylonian period in the late first millennium, were, at their heart, performative texts, meant to create a definitive and measurable effect; whether by driving out the demon of illness within a patient and restoring him to health, or by acting apotropaically and protecting an individual or location from further and future harm. Despite the intended effective nature of these texts, they contained a structure similar to that of literary texts, with imbedded narratives that require a protagonist (most often the exorcist), with his assistants (helpful supernatural figures), and, of course, an antagonist (the malevolent supernatural figure or hostile witchcraft afflicting the patient). Incantations that focused on exorcism also followed a pattern known as the Marduk-Ea formula, and understanding the demons in the text requires a brief discussion on this topic.
Within the Marduk-Ea incantation formula, the divine stand-in for the exorcist, Asalluhi (replaced, in later texts, by Marduk), examines the problem—or rather demon—afflicting the patient, and attempts to identify the exact cause of the illness. Asalluhi is invariably flummoxed in regards to both the identification of the problem and the potential treatment, and, lacking the knowledge to affect a solution, he consults with his father, Enki/Ea, the god of magic and incantations, concerning the misfortune, witchcraft, or demons afflicting the patient and summarily receives counsel and instructions on how to remove the affliction.
Here, the exorcist remains the primary actor in this text, and Asalluhi is invoked early on as the child of Eridu, drawing on his link to the mystical pure-water source, the Apsu, which lies beneath the city, and on his father, Enki.[24] The format of the incantation itself is strictly defined into rigid sections: the naming and enumerating of the evil demons afflicting the patient; Asalluhi's plea to his father and the instructions he receives from his father in response; and finally, Asalluhi (and thus the exorcist) carrying out those instructions to drive away the demons. These delineations created clear spaces in the text for benevolent and malevolent demons, respectively, to occupy. The benevolent demons appeared in the closing of the incantation, to aid the exorcist in his work, whereas the malevolent demons were listed in the opening of the text itself, as the forces afflicting the patient.[25] [26]The exorcist was not the only individual to combat demons in Mesopotamia. In fact, we see several different figures in Mesopotamia who dealt with illness and its supernatural causes, such as the asu, who was similar to a physician, and the masmassu, who operated primarily in the cultic setting. The supernatural figures known as the udug and the lama interacted predominantly with the asipu.6 The business of the exorcist, most often the asipu, was very much a matter of combat in Mesopotamia. The demons that both embodied and acted as vectors for illness occupied a liminal space in Mesopotamian religious thought, and in order to combat them the exorcist found it necessary to place himself in the same liminal territory these demons occupied, opening himself up to the possibility of attack by the very demons he fought. The ensuing battle could be either implicitly or explicitly stated in the text of the incantation, and many incantations have a narrative quality that resembles the structure and plot found in myths and literary epics.
The stage then set for the asipu’s epic struggles, the exorcist would have access to a number of tools to aid him in achieving victory, thus driving out the demon or witchcraft causing the affliction and so curing his patient.[27] [28]Incantation texts were a major weapon in the exorcist’s arsenal. He also had access to divine favor in order to protect himself: first and foremost, the exorcist was viewed as acting in the stead and with the full authority of Enki, also known in Akkadian as Ea, the god of magic, who gave him the necessary power to combat demons. Added to this, the asipu had the protection of his own personal god, a protective spirit attached specifically to him, who would protect him or appeal to the greater gods upon his behalf. In this same category of protective spirits, we see benevolent demons coming to the aid of the exorcist, being commanded to his service and protection.[29] To confront a demon without these protections was dangerous at best and fatal at worst. Incantations are clear about the fate that awaits those who attempt it: in one instance, a man without the protection of a personal god confronts one demon, and in the process, the hapless, now vulnerable individual is attacked by other demons who carry him off to his presumably grisly fate.[30] The protection afforded the exorcist by his personal god, as well as by the other benevolent spirits who aided him, was essential to his own continued well-being as the very act of exorcism exposed him to the same dangers that confronted his patient.
Given the important role of these figures, it is at first surprising that we see the same demon occupy different, and even opposing, roles. The good udug could, and did, aid the exorcist against the evil udug, even within the narrative space of a single text. Much of this dichotomy was, as discussed, a function of the nature and requirements of the texts themselves; however, having done my level best to open this study by robbing these supernatural figures of their agency as independent beings in Mesopotamian texts, we can see that these figures themselves are not without their own traits and tendencies.
In the full pandemonium of demons and monsters in Mesopotamia, we see that some are firmly set in their roles and rarely shift from their positions as benevolent or malevolent figures.[31] [32] Others, which form the focus of this study, could change allegiances based upon the roles they play—or the roles they are required to play—in incantations and literary texts. This mutable quality of these supernatural figures, or demons, was an integral aspect of their own composition, and is well represented in the two figures that are the focus of this study, the udug and lama. These two demons serve as the exorcist’s assistants, his supernatural protection in incantations, but may also function as the very demons that threaten the patient the exorcist has come to cure. Their ability to switch from positive to negative roles within a text, however, is as much a function of the structure of the texts wherein they appear as it is a result of their own qualities. Before examining each figure in depth, it should be noted that the terms ‘demon’ and ‘supernatural figure’ which I use in this study are not perfect, and carry with them their own baggage that ill applies to how the figures of the udug and lama properly functioned within the context created by Mesopotamian texts.n Despite that, these supernatural figures exist attached to a history of enormous depth and complexity, and that, in turn, exerts its own influence on their actions within texts. Thus, we will engage in a brief discussion of the characteristics of the udug and the lama, before considering how the two figures work in tandem to both help and hinder the exorcist.