Sickness as a demonic attack (1)

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The concept of savage, rapacious, carnivorous demons who cause sickness is common if not fundamental in Mesopotamian healing magic. Sickness in Greece was also considered as the result of a demonic attack. Already in Homer disease is described as an “attack by a hateful demon” (Odyssey 5.396). In Aeschylus, sickness appears personified to a remarkable degree - the Erinyes are imagined as beasts of prey, “dogs” who want to suck Orestes’ blood, leech the life-force from him (Choëphorae 1054, Eumenides 264-267). The magicians ridiculed by the author of the Hippocratic treatise Sacred Diseases also speak of attacks (ephodoi) of demons or gods.

Sources (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Aeschylus, Choëphorae 1054
Aeschylus, Eumenides 264-267
Hippocratic Corpus, On the Sacred Disease 2
Homer, Odyssey 5.296

Bibliography

Amar Annus

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