Demons & the Sources of Evil

Mesopotamians lived among unseen dangers: classes of demons that prowled the margins, the restless ghosts of the unburied or unhonored dead, and disease-bringing figures like Lamashtu, who threatened mothers and infants. These powers caused illness, nightmares, madness, and misfortune, often acting as the agents through which an angered god's protection, once withdrawn, was breached. Against them people deployed prayers, protective figurines, and the rituals of the exorcist; the fierce demon Pazuzu was even invoked to drive off Lamashtu. This was not mere 'superstition' but a coherent theory of why bad things happen and how order might be restored.