Assyrian & Akkadian Demonology

Some idea of the antiquity of demonology and magical practices might be gathered from notices in the Bible or in ancient classic literature. But remarkable evidence has been brought to light by the decipherment of the cuneiform hieroglyphics, which has opened a way to the study of the rich literature of Babylonia and Assyria, as well as their predecessor civilization, the Akkadians. In regard of historical research, attention has been drawn to the evidence provided concerning such matters as cosmology, the tradition of the Deluge, or the relations of Assyria and Babylon with the people of Israel, and also regarding the religious beliefs and practices of the Assyrians themselves. Regarding demonology, however, some of the Assyrian findings have a special importance. From certain religious cuneiform texts , it appears that besides the public and official religion of the "twelve great gods" and their subordinate divinities, the Assyrians had a more sacred and secret religion, a religion of mysteries, magic and sorcery. These Assyrian religious texts, moreover, together with a mass of talismanic inscriptions on cylinders and amulets, prove the presence of an exceedingly rich system of demonic belief.

Below the greater and lesser gods there was a vast host of spirits, some of them good and benevolent and some of them evil and malignant. These spirits were described and classified with an exactness which is very similar to the arrangement of the choirs and orders of the Christian Demonic Hierarchy. The antiquity and importance of this secret religion, with its mysteries and incantations to the good and evil spirits, may be induced from the fact that by order of King Assurbanipal his scribes made several copies of a great magical grimoire based on an already ancient exemplar preserved  in the priestly school of Erech in Chaldea. This work consisted of three books, the first of which is entirely consecrated to incantations, conjurations, and imprecations against the evil spirits. These cuneiform books are written on clay tablets, much like everything else belonging to that era. Thus each of the tablets of these books ends with the title, "Tablet No. [ ] of the Evil Spirits". There are several ideograms depicted on those tablets, and mass confusion is generated from the fact that many can be deciphered to have more than just one meaning. For example, the ideogram which is rendered as kullulu ("accursed" or "evil")  might also be read as limuttu ("baneful") (Did anybody notice similarities with the Cthulhu Mythos by H.P. Lovecraft or is it just me?). 

Besides being known by the generic name for spirits, udukku ("spirit") a demon is more specifically called ecimmu, or maskimmu (as you can see ec-immu and mask-immu are words coming from the same derivative, however, my Assyrian are really bad, so I can present no further explanation). One special breed of these spirits was the sedu, or divine bull, which is represented in the well-known figure of a man-headed bull common on the Assyrian monuments (referred to otherwise as the Lammasu, or the Assyrian sphinx). This name is regarded to be the source of the Hebrew word for demon. The Assyrian sedu was a beneficent or tutelary spirit. But this is hardly an obstacle to the derivation, for the good spirits of one nation are often regarded as evil by men of their rival races. This was common practice during the spread of Christianity, when the Gods of the old pagan religions were transformed into the devils and demons of the new, but that's another chapter.