GODS, DEMONS AND ANGER IN THE AKKADIAN LITERATURE 323

ANNE-CAROLINE RENDU LOISEL

Gods, Demons and Anger in the Akkadian
Literature

Attributing emotional states to divine or non-human entities is a way

to give sense to what happens. The topic of demonic beings is deeply
rooted in the concept of Evil and its existence on earth. The present paper
will focus on the human reactions towards suffering and catastrophes,
and how man conceptualizes an emotional state which is not his, but from
which he has to suffer all the consequences. Whereas divine anger is the
main explanation for cosmic tragedies and natural catastrophes, such as
in the Poem of Erra or the story of the Flood, conceptualizing demons is
a very human way of explaining the misfortune and the sufferings oc-
curring in daily life. Physical descriptions of demons are known thanks
to figurines described in narrative or ritual texts; there are also figurative
representations on cylinders, amulets, or on palace walls... frequently rep-
resented as composite or polymorphic identities.1 The canonical Utukkū
Lemnūtu/Udug-hul («evil demons») incantations are the result of a long
and erudite development. They include both rituals and incantations that
will help the priest to chase away demons and prevent their attacks. This
exorcistic literature offers narrative descriptions of demons, highlighting
their demonic deeds and their permanent angry nature; it considers them
as part of another kind of beings, separated from the gods.

* This article is the written version of a paper given at the University of Bonn (Germany)
in the framework of a colloquium organized by Rita Lucarelli on the topic Demonology in An-
cient Egypt: a Comparative Perspective, February 28th – March 1st, 2011. The author would
like to thank Rita Lucarelli and Lorenzo Verderame for giving her the opportunity to present
her researches, in both oral and written forms. The topic was first developed in a French ver-
sion published by the author in the journal Mythos: A.-C. Rendu Loisel, Dieux, démons et
colère dans l’ancienne Mésopotamie, in «Mythos, Rivista di Storia delle Religioni» 4 n. s. (17)
(2010), pp. 99-111. Abbreviations frequently employed in this article are those of the AHw =
W. von Soden, Akkadisches Handwörterbuch, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1959-81, or the CAD
= The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, The Oriental
Institute, Chicago 1956-2010.
1
See: F.A.M. Wiggermann, Mesopotamian Protective Spirits: the Ritual Texts, Cuneiform
Monographs 1, Styx & PP Publ., Groningen 1992; and F.A.M. Wiggermann, Mischwesen A,
in «Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie» VIII, De Gruyter, Berlin-
New York 1993, pp. 222-246.

SMSR 77 (2/2011) 323-332

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 324 ANNE-CAROLINE RENDU LOISEL
The Babylonian Story of the Flood and the Poem of Erra2 are one of
the best examples of the literary development of divine wrath, its descrip-
tion and its explanation. In the former, the great god Enlil became so
angry that he decided to destroy mankind because of the loud noise they
made3. The Poem of Erra is particular in the Akkadian literature in many
different ways. The author – whom the name is preserved, Kabti-ilāni-
Marduk – describes the violent incidents he has witnessed. The poem
gives a mythological sense to the historical and political tragically events
that happened in Babylonia at the beginning of the first millennium4. The
beginning and the end of the text are of the utmost importance for our
research on the divine anger.
At the beginning of the story, the war god Erra (Nergal) is inactive af-
ter a long peaceful time. He is woken up by the gods Sibitti «the Seven»,
created to be his destructive weapons (Erra I, ll. 40-46). In a real plea, the
Sibitti encourage Erra to wage war against humanity. Nothing is better
than fighting (Erra I, ll. 50-59). But, the wrath of the god Erra needs to be
legitimized. To be sure the god Erra would be angry enough to go to war,
they give the ultimate explanation, the absolute and essential reason that
would give rise to such a strong emotional state. The Sibitti do not first
invoke a fault or a misdemeanour that would have been committed by hu-
mans. The Sibitti use the common narrative motif of the human noise one
may find in the Babylonian story of the Flood or in the Enūma eliš. This
noise (hubūru) keeps the gods from sleeping and endangers the whole
creation (Erra I, ll. 81-86)5. By the end of their panegyric of the battle,
Erra is convinced that humanity acts with contempt, in an offhanded man-
ner against his own authority, and deserves to be punished and destroyed.
Acting as a moral conscience, Išum tries (but in vain!) to appease the god
all throughout the poem.

2
For exhaustive bibliographical references of these two texts (editions and commentaries),
see B.R. Foster, Before the Muses, an Anthology of Akkadian Literature, CDL Press, Bethesda
2005 (3e ed.), pp. 278-280 (Flood stories), and p. 911 (Erra). Here, we used the transliterations
of W.G. Lambert - A.R. Millard, The Babylonian Story of the Flood, with the Sumerian Flood
Story, Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake 1999 [1969], and L. Cagni, Epopea di Erra (Studi Semitici
34), Instituto di studi del Vicino Oriente Univ. di Roma, Roma 1969.
3
This topic aroused interesting debates in Assyriology. For the most recent article on
the subject, see P. Michalowski, Presence at the Creation, in T. Abusch - J. Huehnergard, P.
Steinkeller (eds.), Lingering over Words, Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Literature in Honor
of William L. Moran (Harvard Semitic Studies), Scholar Press, Atlanta 1990, pp. 381-396 (with
bibliographical references).
4
Probably the eighth century B. C. but the date is still debated: L. Cagni, Epopea di Erra,
cit., pp. 37-45; B.R. Foster, Before the Muses, cit., p. 880.
5
a-na da-nun-na-ki [r]a-’i-im šah-ra-a2r-ti SIG5-ti ep-ša2 / da-nun-na-ki ina hu-bur UĜ3.
MEŠ ul i-re-eh-hu-u2 šit-tum / na-piš-ti ma-a-ti [gi]-pa-ra ra-hi-iṣ bu-lum «To the Anunnaki
who delight in deathly silence (šahrartu), do a kind deed: the Anunnaki cannot sleep because of
the din of mankind. The beasts are devastating (rahāṣu) meadows, life of the land».

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 GODS, DEMONS AND ANGER IN THE AKKADIAN LITERATURE 325
At the end of the story, after the destruction of the cities of Babylonia,
the great god Erra seems appeased. He thinks back to his emotional state
at the beginning. He knows that it would be an illusion to believe that one
could have calmed down his divine wrath: «like from the mouth of a roar-
ing lion, one cannot pull out a corpse (šalamtu); when someone is furious,
one cannot reason (malāku) with him» (Erra V, ll. 11-12)6.
Such a description of the divine anger, its reason and its consequenc-
es, is deeply rooted in the narrative development of the Flood in Akkadian
literature. In the Babylonian story of Atra-Hasīs, the noise of mankind
(rigmu), a symbolic description of human life and its activities, became a
fateful din (huburu) for humanity.
Whether in Erra or in the Flood’s stories, the divine wrath destroying
mankind in its entirety constitutes a major ambiguity in the relations be-
tween divine agencies and human beings. Behind lies the bitter and ironic
human reflection of his position in the cosmic order. When gods created
mankind, they also imposed a hierarchical but asymmetrical and inequi-
table dependence. Man knows that the whole divine world only survives
because of his regular offerings. At the end of the diluvian catastrophe,
the scene is described with almost a sense of humor or irony: Nintu/Mami
and the Anunnaki are starving:
The gods wept with her (Nintu) for the land. Satiated with despair, she was thir-
sty for beer. Where she sat, in tears they sat; like sheep, they filled the trough.
Their lips7 were thirsted of anguish, they convulsed because of starvation8.

As in the Poem of Erra where the god could not be appeased or able
to control his destructive anger, there is, in the mythological episode of
the Flood, a reflection of the fleeting aspect of humanity, completely
submissive to the emotional ups and downs of the divine superior world.
People suffer and endure this extraordinary divine wrath that can lead to
complete destruction. However, at the end, the god goes back to his first
emotional state and a new relationship between man and the divine is
established.

6
ina pi-i lab-bi na-’i-r[i] ul ik-ki-mu ša2-lam-tu2 / u3 a-šar iš-te-en ra-’i-bu ša2-nu-u2 ul
i-ma-al-li[k-šu2].
7
M. Jaques, Bu-ul-hi-tu, in «Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires»
2003/101(2003), p.113: «Il existe en outre tout un jeu savant, de mot et de sonorité, entre la
faim bubūtum, les maladies liées ou non à la famine, bulhītu, bubu’tu, la nourriture chaude
prescrite dans les textes médicaux, buhrītu et le côté redoutable, angoissant pulhum, puluhtum,
d’une situation où s’exprime la critique détournée et ironique de l’attitude pitoyable des dieux
durant le déluge».
8
i-lu it-ti-ša ib-ku-u2 a-na ma-tim / iš-bi ni-is-sa3-tam ṣa-mi-a-at ši-ik-ri-iš ši-i a-sar uš-bu
i-na bi-ki-ti uš-bu-ma ki-ma im-me-ri im-lu-nim ra-ṭa-am ṣa-mi-a ša-ap-ta-šu-nu bu-ul-hi-ta
i-na bu-bu-ti i-ta-na-ar-ra-ar-ru (Atra-hasīs III, iv ll. 15-23).

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 326 ANNE-CAROLINE RENDU LOISEL
In his daily life, the individual can also be confronted with the divi-
ne anger. It can be appeased with individual prayers, such as the diĝir-
ša3-dab5-ba9. But, as it is exposed in the Utukkū Lemnūtu incantations, it
seems to exist another kind of anger that could not be soothed, but must
be destroyed. The patient falls prey to the demons; these radically angry
beings will induce illness or misfortune.
The exorcistic literature developed in the incantations constitutes an
important and fruitful field of research. The demonic deeds, their natu-
re and their identification are developed in a narrative and mythological
sense. A demonic world can be reconstructed, based on this particular
literature. The following examples are quoted from one of the most im-
portant series, the canonical Utukkū Lemnūtu incantations, in its bilingual
form (Sumerian and Akkadian) in sixteen tablets from the first millen-
nium B.C. These incantations go back to the third millennium B.C., are
known in Old Babylonian libraries of Nippur and are still present in the
Seleucid period10.
As we learn in the incantations, demons were created by the gods to
be the tools, the weapons and the messengers of the divine anger. Since
the second millennium B.C., demons have been able to act on their own.
Their evil deeds can be dangerous for the whole creation: in heaven, they

9
For the topic of the anger of the god with witchcraft, see T. Abusch, Witchcraft and the
Anger of the Personal God, in T. Abusch - K. van der Toorn (eds.), Mesopotamian Magic,
Textual, Historical and Interpretative Perspectives (Ancient Magic and Divination 1), Styx,
Groningen 1999, pp. 81-122. For the anger of the god and the prayers and incantations diĝir-
ša3-dab-ba, see W.G. Lambert, DINGIR.ŠA3.DIB.BA Incantations, in «Journal of the Ancient
Near East» 33(1974), pp. 267-322.
10
The oldest incantations of this type were discovered at Suse (third millennium). The
main Old Babylonian sources were discovered in the libraries of Nippur. Middle-Assyrian
versions are also known (KAR 24; M.J. Geller, A Middle Assyrian Tablet of Utukkū Lemnūtu,
Tablet 12, in «Iraq» 42[1980], pp. 23-51) and parallels were discovered in Emar and Ugarit.
These incantations remained popular in the Hellenistic periods (Uruk, Borsippa, Sippar and
Babylon). R. C. Thompson first published them in 1903-1904 (from his copies in CT XVI and
CT XVII). These incantations were then integrated in the edition of the Chicago Assyrian Dic-
tionary. Some of them were studied by Falkenstein in 1931 (A. Falkenstein, Haupttypen der
Sumerischen Beschwörung [Leipziger semitische Studien NF 1], Hinrichs, Leipzig 1931, pp.
44-76). Geller in 1985 gave a translation and an edition of the Old Babylonian incantations:
M.J. Geller, Forerunners to Udug-Hul. Sumerian Exorcistic Incantations (Freiburger Altorien-
talische Studien 12), Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden - Stuttgart 1985. Some of the incanta-
tions were also translated in German (W. Farber - H.M. Kümmel - W.H.P. Römer, Texte aus der
Umwelt des Alten Testaments, Bd. 2, Religiöse Texte. Lfg 2, Rituale und Beschwörungen I, Güt-
ersloher Verl.-Haus, Gütersloh 1987. In 2007, Geller published a transcription and a translation
of the sixteen canonical tablets of the first millennium incantations in Standard Babylonian.
M.J. Geller, Evil Demons, Canonical Utukkū-Lemnūtu Incantations, Introduction, Cuneiform
Text, and Transliteration with a Translation and Glossary (State Archives of Assyria Cunei-
form Texts 5), Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, Helsinki 2007. A critical edition is expected
and should be published soon by Geller. For the introduction of the Utukkū Lemnūtu incanta-
tions, one may refer to the introductions given by M.J. Geller (Forerunners, op. cit.; Evil De-
mons, op. cit.). The present paper is based on his works.

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 GODS, DEMONS AND ANGER IN THE AKKADIAN LITERATURE 327
attack the Moon (the lunar eclipse is developed as a mythological narrati-
ve in the sixteenth tablet of the series)11; on earth, they spread confusion,
disaster, illness and mental trouble.
Demons frequently appear as breaths or winds12. Invisible, they can
break into a house without being noticed13. Winds and breaths produce
howling sounds that can be interpreted as a demonic presence. This top-
ic is mainly developed in divination, such as in the nineteenth tablet of
Šumma ālu14. One may be attentive to the visual aspects of demons, but
one may not underestimate the noises they produce. In at least twenty-
two omens, their voices (rigmu) are described with a typical and rich
vocabulary15. Every noise must be precisely analysed as it can be a sign
of a specific trouble:
If, in the house of a man, (a demon) is persistently shouting, the house of the man
will be turned to ruin ; if, in the house of a man, (a demon) is growling, the house
of the man will be turned to ruin; if, in the house of a man, (a demon) is roaring,
the house of the man will be turned to ruin; if, in the house of a man (a demon) is
rumbling, the house of the man will be turned to ruin (Šumma ālu XIX, l.12-15)16.

Thresholds, doorways and windows constitute strategic places, ope-

ned both on the outside and the inner parts of the house. Windy by nature,
they are favourable for drafts. Demons live a nomadic existence; they
live in corners, thoroughfares, streets, roads, and crossroads. In the in-
cantations, demons are described as natural meteorological phenomena
or savage animals: they are the South wind, a dragon, a lion, a hurricane,
a storm. These recurring images identify demonic destructive anger to
savage animals, catastrophic meteorological events. The metaphors illu-
strate how violent their anger is and how destructive their attacks are17.

11
This constitutes the main topic of the 16th tablet of the Utukkū Lemnūtu incantations (see
introduction in M.J. Geller, Evil Demons, op. cit., p. XVI).
12
F.A.M. Wiggermann, The Four Winds and the Origins of Pazuzu, in J. Hazenbos - A.
Zgoll (eds.), Das geistige Erfassen der Welt im Alten Orient, Sprache, Religion, Kultur und
Gesellschaft, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2007, pp. 125-166.
13
Utukkū Lemnūtu V, ll. 7-9 and l.11-15; see also Utukkū Lemnūtu VI, l. 78.
14
See transcription in S.M. Freedman, If a City Is Set on a Height, the Akkadian Omen Series
Šumma ālu ina mēlê šakin. Volume 1: Tablets 1-21 (Occasional Publications of the Samuel Noah
Kramer Fund 17), The University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia 1998, pp. 286-293.
15
This research constitutes one of the chapters of the author’s doctoral thesis, submitted
in March 2011 at the University of Geneva: A.-C. Rendu Loisel, Bruit et emotion dans la lit-
terature akkadienne, University of Geneva (2011), under the direction of the professor Antoine
Cavigneaux (Unité de Langues et Civilisations de la Mésopotamie, Département des Sciences
de l’Antiquité, University of Geneva). A publication is under preparation.
16
[DIŠ] ina E2 NA [… GU3.G]U3-si E2 BI kar-meš im-me / [DIŠ ina E2 NA … i-ra-a]g-
-gum2 E2 BI kar-meš im-me / [DIŠ ina E2 NA …] i-šag-gu-um E2 BI kar-meš im-me / [DIŠ ina
E2 NA …] i-ra-am-mu-um E2 BI kar-meš im-me
17
Utukkū Lemnūtu XVI, ll. 5-11.

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 328 ANNE-CAROLINE RENDU LOISEL
In the incantations, demons frequently contrast with gods: demons
are always furious and savage. They are invested by a double anger: on
the one hand, the anger of the god who sent them, and on the other hand,
their own wrath. But whereas divine anger can be dissolved and appea-
sed with offerings and prayers, demonic wrath is permanent. Demons are
deeply evil by nature. The vocabulary emphasizes this permanent furious
aggressiveness: ezzet mārat dAnim «the daughter of An (i.e. the demon
Lamaštu) is furious» (4R 58, r. l.34). Words from the Semitic root ezēzu18
«to be furious, in anger» are employed, highlighting the permanent angry
state of the demon. In mythological texts, this root describes a high emo-
tional state of anger, a warlike and destructive rage for a god or a king. In
hymns, ezēzu is also employed as an epithet for the description of a mood,
a faculty to get angry.
One of the tablets of the canonical Utukkū Lemnūtu incantations
begins with a mythological narrative reporting a demonic attack19: the
evil Utukku-demon roared in the country, destroying sheep barns and
cowsheds, and turning abundant meadows into deserts. The demon acted
mischievously. He roared in a proper time for cultivation. His cry was so
powerful that the land became barren. The scene belongs to what Falken-
stein described as Marduk-Ea type20, that is an etiological narrative for
the ritual. In the dialogue, the god Asalluhi/Marduk explained to his fa-
ther, the great god Enki/Ea, that he saw a demonic attack on a victim. In
answer, Enki/Ea gave him the ritual advice and instructions.
Marduk the foremost son of the Abzu, addressed this word to his father Ea, ‘My
father, the evil Utukku-demon, whose appearance is hostile and who is tall in
stature, is not a god – but his voice is loud and his sheen (melammu) is lofty. He
is shady, his shadow is very dark; there is no light in his body, he always slinks
around in secret places, nor does he ever promenade proudly. Gall is always
dripping from his finger nails, his tread is harmful poison. His belt cannot be
loosened, his arm burn. He fills the target of his anger with tears, nowhere does
he hold back a lament. My father, for the second time, the mighty, enormous,
great, august and tall (demon) is unrivaled. He infects, and like an angry, furious
(ezzu šamru), rising wind, he does not turn back. The storm, which angrily and
furiously (ezziš šamriš) rises up, spins around on its own (axis). The south wind,
18
This is an intensive reduplication of the last consonant. For this linguistic phenomena
in other languages, see F. Skoda, Le redoublement expressif: un universel linguistique. Analyse
du procédé en grec ancien et en d’autres langues, Selaf, Paris 1983 [1982]. For its use in Ak-
kadian, see W. von Soden, Grundriss Der Akkadischen Grammatik, Pontificium Institutum
Biblicum, Roma 1995 [1952], §101; this topic and the root EZZ were studies in the author’s
doctoral thesis, mentioned in n. 15.
19
Utukkū Lemnūtu XII, l.1-12.
20
A. Falkenstein, Haupttypen der Sumerischen Beschwörung, op. cit., pp. 44-76. For a
recent presentation of the incantation typology, see W. Schramm, Ein Compendium sumerisch-
akkadischer Beschwörungen (Göttinger Beiträge zum Alten Orient 2), Universitätsverlag, Göt-
tingen 2008, pp. 16-20.

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 GODS, DEMONS AND ANGER IN THE AKKADIAN LITERATURE 329
when it blows, dizzies people with dust. The north wind when mightily blowing
splits open the broad land. The east wind, which has caused the rain above to
rain down its lightning, makes a man’s body waste away (Utukkū Lemnūtu XII, ll.
14-26 = BIN 2 22, l.25-56; Akkadian version; trad. Geller)21.

At the beginning of the narrative, the demon is like a god: he is tall

and dreadful. He is endowed with the melammu, this supernatural radi-
ance, neither negative nor positive, a prerogative of the divine. This Ak-
kadian term designates a sort of light emanating from the body of a god,
or an object in his possession. Most of the time, it is a frightening radi-
ance coming from the top (the head), lightening like jewels22. The demon
attacker is described as having a disgusting appearance: bile is dropping
from his fingers. He is so angry that his behaviour is destructive and vio-
lent; one may notice the use of the expressive redundancy ezzu šamru /
ezziš šamriš (šur2 huš), synonyms which accentuate each other. The de-
mon is characterized as having a lack of luminosity: he is dark. Here is a
common physical description for anger. On the contrary, someone happy
will be presented as luminous in cuneiform sources. The demon fills the
whole world with tears, despair and sufferings. He keeps going at the vic-
tim, roaring with anger after him, in a destructive war cry. This descrip-
tion focuses on the frightful aspect of the demon and his powerful cry.
The anger of the demons is not really similar to the one of the gods.
The demonic anger is natural, a kind of permanent feature, and above
all, unshakable. On the contrary, gods are not blocked in an emotional
state: there is usually a changing of mood, like the goddess Inana in her
descent to the Netherworld, who can be grieving or mourning, surprised
or angry23. This is not the case with demons: metaphors and metonymies

21
For the transcription and translation, M.J. Geller, Evil Demons, op. cit., p. 158: dAMAR.
UTU mar reš-t[u-u2 ša2 ap-si-i ana a-bi-šu2 de2-a a-mat šu10-a-ti3 i-qa2]-bi / ⌜a⌝-bi u2-tuk-ku
lem-nu ša2 [zi-mu-šu2 nak-ri la-an-šu2 z]⌜u-uq-qur⌝/ ul i-lu ri-gim-[šu2 ra-bi me-l]am-mu-š[u]
ša2-qu-u2 / ur-ru-up ṣil-la-šu2 uk-ku-ul ina zu-⌜um-ri⌝-šu2 nu-u2-⌜ru⌝ ul i-ba-aš2-ši / ina pu-
uz-ra-a-ti ih-ta-na-al-lu-up [e]-tel-liš ul i-ba-a’ / ina ṣu-up-ri-šu2 mar-tu4 it-ta-na-at-tuk k[i-
bi]-is-su i[m-t]am l[e]-mut-tu2 / ni-bit-ta-šu2 ul ip-paṭ-ṭar i-da-[a-šu2] i-ha-am-ma-ṭu / a-šar
i-tag-ga di-im-tu2 uš-ma-al-la-a-[ma š]a2-a-ri ta-nu-qa-⌜tu4⌝ ul i-kal-la / a-bi ina ša2-ni-i e-tel
šur-bu ra-bi ṣe-ri ša2-qu ul im-mah-har / i-la-’i-im-ma ki-ma ša2-a-ri ez-zu šam-ru te-[bi-ma
a]-na ar2-ki-šu2 ⌜ul i-ta-ri⌝ / a-šam-šu-tu4 ša2 ez-zi-iš šam-riš te-ba-ti3 ina r[a-m]a-ni-šu2 i-ša2-
⌜a’⌝ / šu-u2-tu4 ša2 ina za-qi2-šu2 n[i]-ši e-[pe-r]u i-kaš-šu-[šu2] / [iš]-ta-nu ša2 ra-biš ina za-
qi2-šu2 [ma-a-tu2 ra-pa-aš2-ti i-šal-la-qu] / [šad-du-u2 ša2 A]N-e e-liš u2-ša2-az-na-nu bir-qu ša2
zu-[mur LU2].BI u2-sah-ha-hu / [a-mur-ru rag-gu na-a]s-pan-tu4 [ina a-ra-al-li-i? u2-ša2-an-na-
ah] (The sumerian version is more or less similar).
22
E. Cassin, La splendeur divine, introduction à l’étude de la mentalité mésopotamienne,
Mouton & Co, Paris – La Haye 1968, pp. 5-6. In Proto-Izi II, ll.141-143, pulhu «(reverential)
awe» is a synonym for melammu.
23
For a study of the different emotional states of Inana in the Descent in the Netherworld,
see I. Slobodzianek Fureur, complainte et terreur d’Inanna: dynamiques de l’émotion dans les
représentations religieuses littéraires sumériennes, in «Mythos. Rivista di Storia delle Reli-
gioni» 4 n. s. (17) (2010), pp. 27-39.

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 330 ANNE-CAROLINE RENDU LOISEL
are employed in an exaggerated goal. There is no possible affective meta-
morphosis. This kind of emotional indestructibility must be considered
seriously in the exorcistic process. To be efficient, the ritual will not try
to appease the demon, to “untie his anger” as the Akkadian expression
would say. On the contrary, divine anger involves appeasing or propi-
tiating the god with prayers and offerings, so that the god will return to
a better frame of mind. That is another matter with demons. In the Old
Babylonian versions of the Utukkū Lemnūtu incantations, it is said that
udug hul-ĝa2l gu3 e3n nu-tar-ra-bi «The evil demons-Utukkū are indiffer-
ent to cries»24, or that e-ne-ne-ne sisku[r nu]-un-zu-meš a-ra-z[u nu-u]
n-zu-meš «They do not know prayers or supplications»25.
The main objective will be to chase the demon away and help him to
go back to the Netherworld: the priest will fit out the demon with food
and beverages, clothes and shoes, everything he will need for his journey:
«Evil Utukku-demon to your steppe! […] Take your leather pouch, take
your food offering(s), take your leather bag» (Utukkū Lemnūtu VII, l. 152,
ll. 154-156)26.
Demons are sneaky and act insidiously. At the beginning of the nar-
rative text presented above, the demon is described by Marduk as being
something other than a god: ul ilu / diĝir nu “He is not a god” (Utukkū
Lemnūtu XII, l.15). Demons and gods have in common some sonorous and
visual characteristics such as the powerful voice or their awe-inspiring
radiance (melammu). But demons are also ambiguous beings: ul zikarū
šunu ul sinnišāti šunu «They are neither males, neither females»27. In
this exorcistic literature, they are understood as being neither divine nor
human. Because of their very nature, the identification of demons as ma-
lefic agents is difficult. This is a crucial problem in exorcism. To be sure
the ritual will be efficacious, the priest must identify the demonic agent.
He will call all the demonic entities he knows. An evil litany, invocat-
ing the demonic entities in an exhaustive manner (utukkū, alû, rābiṣu,
eṭemmu…)28, is frequently present in these incantations; it seems that this
exorcistic rhetorical strategy will help him not to forget the good one.
The likeness between demon and god is deeply rooted in the issue of the
diabolic imitation. But here, this is not a voluntary impression based on
acts that would confuse the victim. This is more a kind of physical like-
ness that explains this violent and sudden outcry against the individual.
24
M.J. Geller, Forerunners, op. cit., l. 565.
25
M.J. Geller, Forerunners, op. cit., l. 627.
26
en2 udug hul edin-na-zu-še3 […]: u2-tuk-ku lem-nu a-na ṣe-ri-ka […] kuša-edin-la2-zu šu
he2-bi2-in-[ti]: na-a-ad-ka li-qi2-[ma] / šuku-a-zu šu he2-bi2-in-[ti]: ku-ru-um-mat-ka li-i-qi2 /
kuš
a-ĝa2-la2-zu šu he2-bi2-in-ti: na-ruq-qa-ka li-i-qe2 (sum. similar).
27
Utukkū Lemnūtu V, l. 171: (Sum.) u3 munus nu-meš u3 nita nu-meš «they are not fe-
males; they are not males».
28
For an example see: Utukkū Lemnūtu VI, ll.40-67.

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 GODS, DEMONS AND ANGER IN THE AKKADIAN LITERATURE 331
It is difficult to understand why such angry destructive beings are
present on earth. In the incantations, one explanation should be noticed.
It gives a sense to this raging: demons want to be treated as gods although
they are not gods at all:
They keep wandering around in the temples; but since no mašhatu29-flour has
been scattered for them nor any the divine offering has been made for them, their
behavior is aggressive (Utukkū Lemnūtu XIII, ll. 26-28)30.

In another incantation, the alû-demons do not know (idû) or recei-

ve libations or mashatu-offerings31. This is a kind of demonic jealousy:
demons are always in a state of anger, because they are never treated as
deities. Wandering around temples, demons wait for offerings they will
never receive.
Divine wrath and demonic anger highlight each other. Both illustra-
te how fleeting human existence is. On the one hand, divine anger, as
destructive for the whole creation it could be, can be appeased and man
can turn the god to good dispositions, thanks to prayers and offerings.
Incantations help us to understand how people in Ancient Mesopotamia
tried to give sense to the misfortunes and illnesses that happened upon
them without reason. With demons, evil is violent, unpredictable, and
sudden. The exorcistic literature explains the presence of demonic agen-
cies, neither gods nor humans, as ever angry beings, always in search of
evil activities. Understanding the nature of these entities is fundamental
for the success of the exorcistic process. With its appropriate rituals and
incantations, exorcism helps man to fight against demons in daily life,
when medicine and ointment are insufficient. As the Assyriologist Jean
Bottéro recalled, exorcism and magic are the most significant evidence of
human refusal of any form of evil. It shows the essential human will to
drive all kind of sufferings away, and to lead a peaceful life32.

29
The maṣhatu-flour (written also mašhatu, mashatu or logographically ZI3.MA.AD.ĜA2
/ ZI3.MAD.ĜA2) is known in Old Babylonian texts, employed as offering to burn during rituals.
CAD M1, p.330-331 ; AHw II, p. 620.
30
e2 diĝir-re-e-ne-ke4 ba-an-re-r[e-a-meš] / bi-ta-at DIĜIR.MEŠ ir-ta-nap-[pu-du] / zìmad-
ĝa2 la-ba-an-dub-dub-b[e2?-eš] / maš-ha-ti ul is-sar-raq-šu-[nu-ti] / siskur di[ĝir?] bal ub-be2-eš
a-ra2-bi hul ba-an-[u2s] / [ni-qi2-i i-lu] ul [in]-naq-qi2-šu-nu-ti a-lak-ta-šu2-nu lem-ne2-[et]; cfr.
W. van Binsberg - F. Wiggerman, Magic in History. A Theoretical Perspective and its Applica-
tion to Ancient Mesopotamia, in T. Abusch - K. van der Toorn (eds.), Mesopotamian Magic.
Textual, Historical and Interpretative Perspectives (Ancient Magic and Divination I), Styx
Publications, Groningen 1999, pp. 3-34, spec. p. 27.
31
a-la2 hul siskur nu-un-zu-a zìmad-ĝa2 [nu-tuku-a he2-me-en] / MIN ša2 ni-qa-a la i-du-u2
ma-aṣ-h[a-ta la i-šu-u2 at-ta], Utukkū Lemnūtu VIII, l. 14.
32
J. Bottéro, Magie, in Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archaeologie
7, De Gruyter, Berlin-Leipzig-New York 1990, p. 203.

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 332 ANNE-CAROLINE RENDU LOISEL
ABSTRACT

Il contributo si concentra sulle reazioni umane di fronte alla soffe-

renza e alle catastrofi e al modo in cui l’uomo concettualizza uno stato
emozionale non proprio, ma del quale deve patire tutte le sofferenze. La
questione degli esseri demoniaci è profondamente radicata nel concet-
to di Male e della sua esistenza sulla Terra. La concettualizzazione dei
demoni è un modo tipicamente umano di giustificare la sfortuna e le sof-
ferenze della vita quotidiana. La letteratura esorcistica degli scongiuri
canonici Utukkū Lemnūtu offre descrizioni dei demoni, evidenziando le
loro azioni malefiche e il loro stato aggressivo permanente; li considera
come una classe di esseri distinti.

The paper focuses on the human reactions towards suffering and ca-
tastrophes, and how man conceptualizes an emotional state which is not
his, but from which he has to suffer all the consequences. The topic of
demonic beings is deeply rooted in the concept of Evil and its existence
on earth. Conceptualizing demons is a very human way of explaining
the misfortune and the sufferings occurring in daily life. The exorcistic
literature of the canonical Utukkū Lemnūtu incantations offers narrative
descriptions of demons, highlighting their demonic deeds and their per-
manent angry nature; it considers them as part of another kind of beings.

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