Demon Drawing Spotted on Assyrian Clay Tablet

Friday, January 3, 2020



Assyrian Demon Tablet

(Copyright Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Vorderasiatisches Museum/Photo: Olaf M. Teßmer)

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK—According to a Live Science report, a rare drawing of a demon has been discovered on a 2,700-year-old Assyrian clay tablet held at Berlin’s Vorderasiatisches Museum by Troels Pank Arbøll of the University of Copenhagen. The tablet was found in northern Iraq, at the site of the ancient city of Assur, in the library of a family of exorcists. Arbøll said the damaged drawing depicts the demon with curved horns, a long tail, and a forked tongue. The tablet’s inscription, written in cuneiform, describes cures for convulsions, twitches, and other involuntary muscle movements now thought to represent symptoms of epilepsy. The Assyrians called the affliction “Bennu,” and thought the demon caused it, and madness, on behalf of Sîn, the Mesopotamian moon god. For more on cuneiform tablets, go to "The World's Oldest Writing."

https://www.archaeology.org/news/8333-200103-assyrian-demon-drawing

More articles:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/