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The present article provides an analysis of general traits of those particular extra-human beings conventionally called “demons” found in ancient Mesopotamian religion. Furthermore, methodological problems on the topic are discussed according to a historical-religious point of view.
English version of the paper "Dieux, démons et colère dans l'Ancienne Mésopotamie" (Mythos 4/2010), with some additions.
Archiv für Religionsgeschichte 14.1 (2012), pp. 117-127, 2012
“Demon” is a generic term that hardly fits the various Mesopotamian be- ings, which according to modern scholars are grouped under this category. Despite the evolution of demonic imagery through different periods and sources, these be- ings share a series of common features such as their origin, position and role in the pantheon, liminality, actions and powers, hybridity, and aerial form. In my paper I will analyze these features so as to argue that incompleteness constitutes the main aspect of their nature.
Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso, 2019
O presente artigo tem como finalidade, discutir e analisar através de referências bibliográficas, bem como, fontes originais do recorte temporal aqui pesquisado, entender se o elemento da cosmogonia da Mesopotâmia, conhecido como Pazuzu pode ser caracterizado como um demônio, ou algum tipo de divindade. Entendemos que através desta pesquisa, podemos ter apenas uma ideia básica das atividades do elemento que será aqui trabalho, que possa nos apontar uma possível direção sobre qual sua verdadeira índole dentro da religião da Mesopotâmia. Pretendemos responder algumas das questões abordadas no parágrafo anterior, com o único intuito de dar uma nova opção de pesquisa para futuros pesquisadores que pretendam abordar o tema de forma mais ampla e profunda no futuro. Palavras-chave: Pazuzu, Mesopotâmia, Antiguidade, Demonologia, Religião.
Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni (SMSR), 2019
The mīs pî, lit. “washing of the mouth”, was one of the solemn rituals of Ancient Mesopotamia. Its goal was the induction of the cult statue in order to allow its official installation in the temple. For this purpose, a total iden- tity between the statue and its corresponding divinity was strictly required. The ontological union of two natures was obtained through four processions in four different ritual spaces: the workshop, the riverbank, the garden and the temple. This paper investigates the peculiarities of the mīs pî by paying particular attention to the ritual spaces. The aim is to analyze the “washing of the mouth” in terms of rite of passage, underlining the need to rethink van Gennep’s tripartite scheme.
2014
In the ancient Mesopotamian traditions, as it is also the case in other cultures, the Netherworld is conceived from a double, antagonistic per- spective. On the one hand, being a place of “non-life”, it is perceived and built through the negation or inversion of those symbolic principles which found and distinguish the realm of the living. On the other hand, as “after-life”, the Netherworld is conceived as an extension of life. How- ever, even when it reproduces the world of the living, the Netherworld distinguishes itself from the sphere of life through a series of spatial, tem- poral, and regulatory principles. From a spatial point of view, the image of the Netherworld is built upon two perspectives, that of communica- tion/separation, and that of opposition/similitude. Topographically, the Netherworld is connected to the world of the living through a series of symbolic elements, particularly the river. These symbolic elements, to- gether with others such as the mountain, mark the border between the two worlds, as well as establishing the passage from one dimension to the other. From the point of view of representation, as a place that mirrors life, the Netherworld is conceived as both the human and divine place per excellence, the city. At the opposite side, the Netherworld is identified with the mountain/KUR, place and symbol of otherness. In this study I will analyse the spatial elements that characterize the image of death and the netherworld in the Mesopotamian literary tradi- tion through the perspectives of communication/separation and opposi- tion/similitude. Nelle tradizioni mesopotamiche, così come in molte altre culture, l’al- dilà è concepito come un duplice e contrapposto concetto. Da una parte, in quanto “non vita”, si delinea come una realtà opposta e rappresentata mediante una negazione o inversione di quei valori simbolici della vita stessa. D’altra parte, in quanto “vita oltre la morte”, rappresenta un prolungamento dell’esistenza terrena di cui è una riproduzione, pur es- sendone separata e distinta per una serie di principi spaziali, temporali e normativi. A livello spaziale si delineano due concetti in cui si collocano e strutturano gli Inferi, espressione di quei principi contrapposti di co- municazione/separazione e opposizione/similitudine. Topograficamente, gli Inferi sono collegati al mondo dei vivi attraverso una serie di elementi simbolici, in particolare il fiume, che permettono un contatto e un flusso, sebbene unidirezionale. Questi stessi elementi, assieme ad altri (la mon- tagna), tuttavia, costituiscono anche i confini che separano i due mondi e marcano il passaggio da una dimensione all’altra. Dal punto di vista della rappresentazione, in quanto riflesso della vita terrena, gli Inferi ne riproducono l’organizzazione e sono rappresentati mediante il luogo umano e divino per eccellenza, la città. In quanto opposizione, gli Inferi sono identificati con il KUR, sintesi dell’alterità. In questo contributo analizzerò gli elementi spaziali che connotano l’immagine della morte e del regno infero nella tradizione letteraria me- sopotamica, alla luce dei principi dicotomici di comunicazione/separa- zione e opposizione/similitudine. KEYWORDS Mesopotamia, morte, viaggio agli Inferi, fiume, alterità Mesopotamia, death, descent to the Netherworld, river, otherness (Khabur, Hubur, SiluLIM, Enlil, Ereškigal, KUR, Netherworld geography)
Sotsiologicheskie Issledovaniya, 2020
Fundamentals of the Finite Element Method for Heat and Fluid Flow, 2004
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Journal of Linguistics, 2020
GIOVANNI BRANDI CORDASCO SALMENA, Nossalità, falsa nossalità e magia negli illeciti agricoli e pastorali della codificazione decemvirale, Roma, Studia Juridica XC, L’Erma di Bretschneider, 2023
International Journal of Nursing and Midwifery, 2019
Journal of the Korean Physical Society, 2017
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Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 2009
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