![]() Scholar Gwendolyn Leick notes how "sexual life per se, of the individual and of society at large, was under a potential threat from the wrath of vengeful gods or the malice of demonic forces" (224). Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin (Copyright)All that was clear was that one could be targeted by a god or demon for some exquisite or mundane torment at any time and for reasons which were not always clear. Henceforth there will be disease, miscarriages, impotency, sterility, attacks by wild animals, and all other manner of death waiting in a day. After the flood waters subside, the god of wisdom Enki proposes a plan to re-populate the earth: the gods will create a new kind of human with a shorter life span and greater threats to their lives on a daily basis. ![]() They cover the earth and disturb the god Enlil with their noise to such an extent that he decides to destroy them in a great flood. Further, they live so long that more of them are being born at any given time than those who die. In the Akkadian/Babylonian myth of the Atrahasis, human beings have grown too numerous, too loud, and far too fertile. Demons were not always evil and even those who were, like Pazuzu, were still capable of good deeds. In ancient Mesopotamia, as in other cultures of the ancient world, demons were often sent by the gods as punishment for sin or to remind one of one's duty to the gods and others in one's community. ![]() A daimon could be good or evil, depending on its intentions and the results of a visitation. ![]() The English word "demon" is a translation of the Greek word daimon which simply meant "spirit". The term "demon" in the modern day always carries with it the connotation of evil but this was not so in the ancient world. ![]()
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