They are Seven: Demons and Monsters in the Mesopotamian Textual and Artistic Tradition.

Assyriology;Akkadian;Sumerian;Mesopotamian Religion;Demons;The Sebettu;Middle Eastern;Near Eastern and North African Studies;Humanities;Near Eastern Studies

Konstantopoulos, Gina V.Muehlberger, Ellen ;

University of Michigan

关键词: Assyriology;    Akkadian;    Sumerian;    Mesopotamian Religion;    Demons;    The Sebettu;    Middle Eastern;    Near Eastern and North African Studies;    Humanities;    Near Eastern Studies;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/113660/gvkonsta_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

This study examines the place supernatural creatures (or demons and monsters) held in the textual and artistic record of Mesopotamia. It focuses upon a particular group of demons, known as the Sebettu, or the Seven. The Sebettu are both a means by which to examine the larger problems pertaining to the study of demons in Mesopotamia, and the focal point of a full and detailed study of their own. Attestations to the Sebettu comprise a corpus from 2100 BCE to 300 BCE and cross over a number of textual genres, including incantations, literary texts, royal inscriptions, and divine hymns.Despite being fierce and terrifying demons, the Sebettu appear increasingly in protective, benevolent roles from the latter half of the second millennium BCE onwards. They are shifted over the course of several centuries into the divine pantheon of state deities, while retaining their demonic qualities.It is clear that the Sebettu are characterized by their fierce, military prowess and ability as warriors, and this ability may be directed at the enemies of the state or the state itself. Initially, this study tracks the major Old Babylonian literary works wherein the Sebettu feature. At this stage, the Sebettu are restricted to literary texts and hymns and are not represented in the household sphere. These texts begin to establish a continuity of imagery for the Sebettu, which is followed by the later, first millennium texts such as Erra, where the Sebettu are given a different divine genealogy and fight with Erra against the homeland, as opposed to earlier texts where they are tasked to assist one divine figure or another.All of these texts work together to create a common conception of the Sebettu, which the Neo-Assyrian kings of the first millennium draw upon in royal inscriptions, incorporating the Sebettu into the divine pantheon of Neo-Assyria without loosing the terrifying, potentially destructive force that the Sebettu possess. The dissertation examines the development of the Sebettu over time, analyzing how they are eventually employed in the propaganda of Neo-Assyria as their nature is shifted from demonic to divine.