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113-515: The history of grimoires can be traced back to ancient Mesopotamia , where magical incantations were inscribed on cuneiform clay tablets. Ancient Egyptians also employed magical practices, including incantations inscribed on amulets . The magical system of ancient Egypt, deified in the form of the god Heka , underwent changes after the Macedonian invasion led by Alexander the Great . The rise of

226-426: A complicated and extensive syllabary. A considerable amount of Babylonian literature was translated from Sumerian originals, and the language of religion and law long continued to be the old agglutinative language of Sumer. Vocabularies, grammars, and interlinear translations were compiled for the use of students, as well as commentaries on the older texts and explanations of obscure words and phrases. The characters of

339-621: A demonic one, believed to cause physical harm in the Anglo-Saxon world was the dweorg or dƿeorg / dwerg (" dwarf "), whom Storms characterised as a "disease-spirit". A number of charms imply the belief that malevolent "disease-spirits" were causing sickness by inhabiting a person's blood. Such charms offer remedies to remove these spirits, calling for blood to be drawn out to drive the disease-spirit out with it. The adoption of Christianity saw some of these pre-Christian mythological creatures reinterpreted as devils , who are also referenced in

452-635: A language of the Zagros possibly related to the Hurro-Urartuan language family , is attested in personal names, rivers and mountains and in various crafts. Akkadian came to be the dominant language during the Akkadian Empire and the Assyrian empires, but Sumerian was retained for administrative, religious, literary and scientific purposes. Different varieties of Akkadian were used until

565-602: A magician [...] should be apprehended in my retinue, or in that of the Caesar, he shall not escape punishment and torture by the protection of his rank. Christopher A. Faraone writes that "In Late Antiquity we can see that a goddess invoked as Hecate Ereshkigal was useful in both protective magic and in curses. [...] she also appears on a number of curse tablets [...]" Robin Melrose writes that "the first clear-cut magic in Britain

678-476: A matter of increasing interest for late 12th-century writers. Prophetiae Merlini ( The Prophecies of Merlin ), a Latin work of Geoffrey of Monmouth in circulation by 1135, perhaps as a libellus or short work, was the first work about the prophet Myrddin in a language other than Welsh . The Prophetiae was widely read—and believed—throughout Europe, much as the prophecies of Nostradamus would be centuries later; John Jay Parry and Robert Caldwell note that

791-488: A patient could not be cured physically, the Babylonian physicians often relied on exorcism to cleanse the patient from any curses . Esagil-kin-apli's Diagnostic Handbook was based on a logical set of axioms and assumptions, including the modern view that through the examination and inspection of the symptoms of a patient, it is possible to determine the patient's disease , its aetiology, its future development, and

904-554: A precursor to the Socratic method . The Ionian philosopher Thales was influenced by Babylonian cosmological ideas. Ancient Mesopotamians had ceremonies each month. The theme of the rituals and festivals for each month was determined by at least six important factors: Some songs were written for the gods but many were written to describe important events. Although music and songs amused kings , they were also enjoyed by ordinary people who liked to sing and dance in their homes or in

1017-761: A recent hypothesis, the Archimedes' screw may have been used by Sennacherib, King of Assyria, for the water systems at the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and Nineveh in the 7th century BC, although mainstream scholarship holds it to be a Greek invention of later times. Later, during the Parthian or Sasanian periods, the Baghdad Battery , which may have been the world's first battery, was created in Mesopotamia. The Ancient Mesopotamian religion

1130-567: A sacred, ceremonial, literary, and scientific language in Mesopotamia until the 1st century AD. Libraries were extant in towns and temples during the Babylonian Empire. An old Sumerian proverb averred that "he who would excel in the school of the scribes must rise with the dawn." Women as well as men learned to read and write, and for the Semitic Babylonians, this involved knowledge of the extinct Sumerian language, and

1243-416: A significant role in the worldview of Anglo-Saxon magic, noting that in the recorded charms, "All sorts of phenomenon are ascribed to the visible or invisible intervention of good or evil spirits." The primary creature of the spirit world that appear in the Anglo-Saxon charms is the ælf (nominative plural ylfe , " elf "), an entity who was believed to cause sickness in humans. Another type of spirit creature,

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1356-415: A table of Pythagorean triples and represents some of the most advanced mathematics prior to Greek mathematics. From Sumerian times, temple priesthoods had attempted to associate current events with certain positions of the planets and stars. This continued to Assyrian times, when Limmu lists were created as a year by year association of events with planetary positions, which, when they have survived to

1469-439: A treatise, Daemonologie , a philosophical dissertation on contemporary necromancy and the historical relationships between the various methods of divination used from ancient black magic . It was reprinted again in 1603 when James took the throne of England. The widespread consensus is that King James wrote Daemonologie in response to sceptical publications such as Scot's book. European witch-trials reached their peak in

1582-519: A vast mountainous region. Overland routes in Mesopotamia usually follow the Euphrates because the banks of the Tigris are frequently steep and difficult. The climate of the region is semi-arid with a vast desert expanse in the north which gives way to a 15,000-square-kilometre (5,800 sq mi) region of marshes, lagoons, mudflats, and reed banks in the south. In the extreme south, the Euphrates and

1695-625: A witch, what makes a woman more likely than a man to be a witch, how to put a witch on trial, and how to punish a witch. The book defines a witch as evil and typically female. The book became the handbook for secular courts throughout Renaissance Europe, but was not used by the Inquisition, which even cautioned against relying on the work. In total, tens or hundreds of thousands of people were executed, and others were imprisoned, tortured, banished, and had lands and possessions confiscated. The majority of those accused were women, though in some regions

1808-595: Is an-ki , which refers to the god An and the goddess Ki . Their son was Enlil, the air god. They believed that Enlil was the most powerful god. He was the chief god of the pantheon . The numerous civilizations of the area influenced the Abrahamic religions , especially the Hebrew Bible . Its cultural values and literary influence are especially evident in the Book of Genesis . Giorgio Buccellati believes that

1921-414: Is a composite product, although it is probable that some of the stories are artificially attached to the central figure. Mesopotamian mathematics and science was based on a sexagesimal (base 60) numeral system . This is the source of the 60-minute hour, the 24-hour day, and the 360- degree circle. The Sumerian calendar was lunisolar, with three seven-day weeks of a lunar month. This form of mathematics

2034-469: Is accurate to about six decimal digits, and is the closest possible three-place sexagesimal representation of √ 2 : The Babylonians were not interested in exact solutions, but rather approximations, and so they would commonly use linear interpolation to approximate intermediate values. One of the most famous tablets is the Plimpton 322 tablet , created around 1900–1600 BC, which gives

2147-643: Is also a medieval-era Templar Magic Square in the Rivington Church in Lancashire , England. Scholars have found medieval Sator-based charms, remedies, and cures, for a diverse range of applications from childbirth, to toothaches, to love potions, to ways of warding off evil spells, and even to determine whether someone was a witch. Richard Cavendish notes a medieval manuscript in the Bodleian says: "Write these [five sator] words on in parchment with

2260-725: Is associated with the ritual. Goetia was a derogatory term connoting low, specious or fraudulent mageia . Curse tablets , curses inscribed on wax or lead tablets and buried underground, were frequently executed by all strata of Greek society, sometimes to protect the entire polis . Communal curses carried out in public declined after the Greek classical period, but private curses remained common throughout antiquity. They were distinguished as magical by their individualistic, instrumental and sinister qualities. These qualities, and their perceived deviation from inherently mutable cultural constructs of normality, most clearly delineate ancient magic from

2373-597: Is compatible with ergodic axioms. Logic was employed to some extent in Babylonian astronomy and medicine. Babylonian thought had a considerable influence on early Ancient Greek and Hellenistic philosophy . In particular, the Babylonian text Dialogue of Pessimism contains similarities to the agonistic thought of the Sophists , the Heraclitean doctrine of dialectic , and the dialogs of Plato , as well as

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2486-700: Is later depicted as part of the tableau of the divine solar barque and as a protector of Osiris in Duat capable of blinding crocodiles. Then, during the Ptolemaic dynasty , Heka's role was to proclaim the pharaoh's enthronement as a son of Isis, holding him in his arms. Heka also appears as part of a divine triad in Esna , Ptolemaic and Roman capital of the Third Nome of the Thebaid of Upper Egypt , where he

2599-479: Is that demons induce men and women to the sin of lust , and adultery is often considered as an associated sin. Goetia and some (though not all) medieval grimoires became associated with demonolatry . These grimoires contain magical words of power and instructions for the evocation of spirits derived from older pagan traditions. Sources include Assyrian , Egyptian , Persian , Greek, Celtic, and Anglo-Saxon paganism and include demons or devils mentioned in

2712-611: Is the Ars Goetia , included in the 16th-century text known as The Lesser Key of Solomon , which was likely compiled from materials several centuries older. One of the most obvious sources for the Ars Goetia is Johann Weyer 's Pseudomonarchia Daemonum in his De praestigiis daemonum (1577). Weyer relates that his source for this intelligence was a book called Liber officiorum spirituum, seu liber dictus Empto Salomonis, de principibus et regibus demoniorum ("The book of

2825-514: Is the Egyptian word for "magic". According to Egyptian literature (Coffin text, spell 261), Heka existed "before duality had yet come into being . " The term ḥk3 was also used to refer to the practice of magical rituals. The name Heka is identical with the Egyptian word ḥkꜣ(w) "magic". This hieroglyphic spelling includes the symbol for the word ka ( kꜣ ), the ancient Egyptian concept of

2938-415: Is the son of ram-headed Khnum and a succession of goddesses. His mother was alternately said to be Nebetu'u (a form of Hathor ), lion-headed Menhit , and the cow goddess Mehet-Weret , before settling on Neith , a war and mother goddess. Werethekau whose name means "she who has great magic" is also sometimes connected with the force of Heka. As Egyptologist Ogden Goelet (1994) explains, magic in

3051-421: Is uncertain. The Babylonian development of methods for predicting the motions of the planets is considered to be a major episode in the history of astronomy . The only Greek-Babylonian astronomer known to have supported a heliocentric model of planetary motion was Seleucus of Seleucia (b. 190 BC). Seleucus is known from the writings of Plutarch . He supported Aristarchus of Samos' heliocentric theory where

3164-536: The Book of Enoch found within the Dead Sea Scrolls , for instance, there is information on astrology and the angels . In possible connection with the Book of Enoch , the idea of Enoch and his great-grandson Noah having some involvement with books of magic given to them by angels continued through to the medieval period. Israelite King Solomon was a Biblical figure associated with magic and sorcery in

3277-578: The Book of the Dead is problematic: The text uses various words corresponding to 'magic', for the Egyptians thought magic was a legitimate belief. As Goelet explains: Heka magic is many things, but, above all, it has a close association with speech and the power of the word. In the realm of Egyptian magic, actions did not necessarily speak louder than words – they were often one and the same thing. Thought, deed, image, and power are theoretically united in

3390-487: The Bible , such as Asmodeus , Astaroth , and Beelzebub . During the 14th century, sorcerers were feared and respected throughout many societies and used many practices to achieve their goals. "Witches or sorcerers were usually feared as well as respected, and they used a variety of means to attempt to achieve their goals, including incantations (formulas or chants invoking evil spirits), divination and oracles (to predict

3503-571: The Coptic writing system and the Library of Alexandria further influenced the development of magical texts, which evolved from simple charms to encompass various aspects of life, including financial success and fulfillment. Legendary figures like Hermes Trismegistus emerged, associated with writing and magic, contributing to the creation of magical books. Throughout history, various cultures have contributed to magical practices. Early Christianity saw

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3616-414: The Coptic writing system evolved, and the Library of Alexandria was opened. This likely had an influence upon books of magic, with the trend on known incantations switching from simple health and protection charms to more specific things, such as financial success and sexual fulfillment. Around this time the legendary figure of Hermes Trismegistus developed as a conflation of the Egyptian god Thoth and

3729-674: The Earth rotated around its own axis which in turn revolved around the Sun . According to Plutarch , Seleucus even proved the heliocentric system, but it is not known what arguments he used, except that he correctly theorized on tides as a result of the Moon's attraction. Babylonian astronomy served as the basis for much of Greek , classical Indian , Sassanian, Byzantine , Syrian , medieval Islamic , Central Asian , and Western European astronomy. The oldest Babylonian texts on medicine date back to

3842-613: The Jazira , is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to Baghdad . Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf and includes Kuwait and parts of western Iran. In modern academic usage, the term Mesopotamia often also has a chronological connotation. It is usually used to designate the area until the Muslim conquests , with names like Syria , Jazira , and Iraq being used to describe

3955-499: The Knights Templar . Maleficium was defined as "the practice of malevolent magic , derived from casting lots as a means of divining the future in the ancient Mediterranean world", or as "an act of witchcraft performed with the intention of causing damage or injury; the resultant harm." In general, the term applies to any magical act intended to cause harm or death to people or property. Lewis and Russell stated, " Maleficium

4068-710: The Old Babylonian period in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC . The most extensive Babylonian medical text, however, is the Diagnostic Handbook written by the ummânū , or chief scholar, Esagil-kin-apli of Borsippa , during the reign of the Babylonian king Adad-apla-iddina (1069–1046 BC). Along with contemporary Egyptian medicine , the Babylonians introduced the concepts of diagnosis , prognosis , physical examination , enemas , and prescriptions . The Diagnostic Handbook introduced

4181-708: The Prophetiae Merlini "were taken most seriously, even by the learned and worldly wise, in many nations", and list examples of this credulity as late as 1445. It was only beginning in the 1150s that the Church turned its attention to defining the possible roles of spirits and demons, especially with respect to their sexuality and in connection with the various forms of magic which were then believed to exist. Christian demonologists eventually came to agree that sexual relationships between demons and humans happen, but they disagreed on why and how. A common point of view

4294-557: The Testament , he was tempted into worshiping the gods Moloch and Ashtoreth . Subsequently, after losing favour with the god of Israel, King Solomon wrote the work as a warning and a guide to the reader. When Christianity became the dominant faith of the Roman Empire , the early Church frowned upon the propagation of books on magic, connecting it with paganism , and burned books of magic. The New Testament records that after

4407-528: The Vulgar Latin of the Romano-British population, known as " British Latin ". Two of the inscriptions are in a language which is not Latin, although they use Roman lettering, and may be in a British Celtic language . If this should be the case, they would be the only examples of a written ancient British Celtic language; however, there is not yet scholarly consensus on their decipherment. There

4520-438: The marketplaces . Songs were sung to children who passed them on to their children. Thus songs were passed on through many generations as an oral tradition until writing was more universal. These songs provided a means of passing on through the centuries highly important information about historical events. Hunting was popular among Assyrian kings. Boxing and wrestling feature frequently in art, and some form of polo

4633-407: The É , a temple dedicated to the goddess Inanna at Uruk, from a building labeled as Temple C by its excavators. The early logographic system of cuneiform script took many years to master. Thus, only a limited number of individuals were hired as scribes to be trained in its use. It was not until the widespread use of a syllabic script was adopted under Sargon's rule that significant portions of

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4746-701: The (two) rivers") comes from the ancient Greek root words μέσος ( mesos , 'middle') and ποταμός ( potamos , 'river') and translates to '(land) between rivers', likely being a calque of the older Aramaic term, with the Aramaic term itself likely being a calque of the Akkadian birit narim . It is used throughout the Greek Septuagint ( c.  250 BC ) to translate the Hebrew and Aramaic equivalent Naharaim . An even earlier Greek usage of

4859-477: The 19th century with the contributions of figures like Eliphas Levi . Levi, a French occultist and writer, played a pivotal role in reinterpreting and popularizing magical traditions, including Goetia. His works, such as The Key of the Mysterie and Transcendental Magic , synthesized elements of Kabbalah , Hermeticism , and ceremonial magic. Levi's perspective framed Goetia as a means of harnessing and mastering

4972-432: The 1st century BC and 3rd century AD, including Adiabene , Osroene , and Hatra . The regional toponym Mesopotamia ( / ˌ m ɛ s ə p ə ˈ t eɪ m i ə / , Ancient Greek : Μεσοποταμία '[land] between rivers'; Arabic : بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن Bilād ar-Rāfidayn or بَيْن ٱلنَّهْرَيْن Bayn an-Nahrayn ; Persian : میان‌رودان miyân rudân ; Syriac : ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ Beth Nahrain "(land) between

5085-540: The 8,000-year-old remains of early farmers found at an ancient graveyard in Germany . They compared the genetic signatures to those of modern populations and found similarities with the DNA of people living in today's Turkey and Iraq . The earliest language written in Mesopotamia was Sumerian , an agglutinative language isolate . Along with Sumerian, Semitic languages were also spoken in early Mesopotamia. Subartuan ,

5198-544: The English writer Reginald Scot published The Discoverie of Witchcraft , a book intended as an exposé of early modern witchcraft . Scot believed that the prosecution of those accused of witchcraft was irrational and not Christian , and he held the Roman Church responsible. Popular belief held that all obtainable copies were burned on the accession of James I in 1603. In 1597, King James VI and I published

5311-584: The Greek Hermes ; this figure was associated with writing and magic and, therefore, of books on magic. The ancient Greeks and Romans believed that books on magic were invented by the Persians . The 1st-century AD writer Pliny the Elder stated that magic had been first discovered by the ancient philosopher Zoroaster around the year 647 BC but that it was only written down in the 5th century BC by

5424-473: The Mesopotamian population became literate. Massive archives of texts were recovered from the archaeological contexts of Old Babylonian scribal schools, through which literacy was disseminated. Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as the spoken language of Mesopotamia somewhere around the turn of the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC. The exact dating being a matter of debate. Sumerian continued to be used as

5537-472: The Tigris unite and empty into the Persian Gulf . The arid environment ranges from the northern areas of rain-fed agriculture to the south where irrigation of agriculture is essential. This irrigation is aided by a high water table and by melting snows from the high peaks of the northern Zagros Mountains and from the Armenian Highlands, the source of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that give

5650-435: The ancient Greek language as μάγος and μαγεία . In doing so it transformed meaning, gaining negative connotations, with the magos being regarded as a charlatan whose ritual practices were fraudulent, strange, unconventional, and dangerous. As noted by Davies, for the ancient Greeks—and subsequently for the ancient Romans—"magic was not distinct from religion but rather an unwelcome, improper expression of it—the religion of

5763-623: The ancient history of lower Mesopotamia—commenced in the early-third millennium BC with cuneiform records of early dynastic kings. This entire history ends with either the arrival of the Achaemenid Empire in the late 6th century BC or with the Muslim conquest and the establishment of the Caliphate in the late 7th century AD, from which point the region came to be known as Iraq . In the long span of this period, Mesopotamia housed some of

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5876-449: The ancient world. The 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian Josephus mentioned a book circulating under the name of Solomon that contained incantations for summoning demons and described how a Jew called Eleazar used it to cure cases of possession . The pseudepigraphic Testament of Solomon is one of the oldest magical texts. It is a Greek manuscript attributed to Solomon and was likely written in either Babylonia or Egypt sometime in

5989-516: The blood of a Culver [pigeon] and bear it in thy left hand and ask what thou wilt and thou shalt have it. fiat." In medieval times, the Roman temple at Bath would be incorporated into the Matter of Britain . The thermal springs at Bath were said to have been dedicated to Minerva by the legendary King Bladud and the temple there endowed with an eternal flame. Godfrid Storms argued that animism played

6102-630: The broad sense. Witchcraft and non-mainstream esoteric study were prohibited and targeted by the Inquisition . In Christianity , sorcery came to be associated with heresy and apostasy and to be viewed as evil. Among the Catholics , Protestants, and secular leadership of the European Early Modern period, fears about sorcery and witchcraft rose to fever pitch and sometimes led to large-scale witch-hunts . The key century

6215-497: The broader sense, the historical region of Mesopotamia also includes parts of present-day Iran , Turkey , Syria and Kuwait . Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. It has been identified as having "inspired some of the most important developments in human history, including the invention of the wheel , the planting of the first cereal crops ,

6328-410: The chances of the patient's recovery. Esagil-kin-apli discovered a variety of illnesses and diseases and described their symptoms in his Diagnostic Handbook . These include the symptoms for many varieties of epilepsy and related ailments along with their diagnosis and prognosis. Some treatments used were likely based off the known characteristics of the ingredients used. The others were based on

6441-526: The children they had between them, contributed to increase the number of demons. However, the first popular account of such a union and offspring does not occur in Western literature until around 1136, when Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote the story of Merlin in his pseudohistorical account of British history, Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain) , in which he reported that Merlin's father

6554-729: The city of Eridu , the Akkadian kingdoms, the Third Dynasty of Ur , and the various Assyrian empires. Some of the important historical Mesopotamian leaders were Ur-Nammu (king of Ur), Sargon of Akkad (who established the Akkadian Empire), Hammurabi (who established the Old Babylonian state), Ashur-uballit I and Tiglath-Pileser I (who established the Assyrian Empire). Scientists analysed DNA from

6667-469: The city of Uruk and dated to between the 5th and 4th centuries BC. The ancient Egyptians also employed magical incantations, which have been found inscribed on amulets and other items. The Egyptian magical system, known as heka , was greatly altered and expanded after the Macedonians , led by Alexander the Great , invaded Egypt in 332 BC. Under the next three centuries of Hellenistic Egypt ,

6780-614: The cultural mix. Periodic breakdowns in the cultural system have occurred for a number of reasons. The demands for labor has from time to time led to population increases that push the limits of the ecological carrying capacity , and should a period of climatic instability ensue, collapsing central government and declining populations can occur. Alternatively, military vulnerability to invasion from marginal hill tribes or nomadic pastoralists has led to periods of trade collapse and neglect of irrigation systems. Equally, centripetal tendencies amongst city-states have meant that central authority over

6893-421: The cycles of the moon. They divided the year into two seasons: summer and winter. The origins of astronomy as well as astrology date from this time. During the 8th and 7th centuries BC, Babylonian astronomers developed a new approach to astronomy. They began studying philosophy dealing with the ideal nature of the early universe and began employing an internal logic within their predictive planetary systems. This

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7006-445: The development of cursive script, mathematics , astronomy , and agriculture ". It is recognised as the cradle of some of the world's earliest civilizations. The Sumerians and Akkadians , each originating from different areas, dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of recorded history ( c.  3100 BC ) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. The rise of empires, beginning with Sargon of Akkad around 2350 BC, characterized

7119-419: The earlier Old English term wicce . A person that performs sorcery is referred to as a sorcerer or a witch , conceived as someone who tries to reshape the world through the occult. The word witch is over a thousand years old: Old English formed the compound wiccecræft from wicce ('witch') and cræft ('craft'). The masculine form was wicca ('male sorcerer'). In early modern Scots ,

7232-556: The early 17th century, after which popular sentiment began to turn against the practice. Friedrich Spee 's book Cautio Criminalis , published in 1631, argued that witch-trials were largely unreliable and immoral. In 1682, King Louis XIV prohibited further witch-trials in France. In 1736, Great Britain formally ended witch-trials with passage of the Witchcraft Act . The magical revival of Goetia gained significant momentum in

7345-548: The end of the Neo-Babylonian period. Old Aramaic , which had already become common in Mesopotamia, then became the official provincial administration language of first the Neo-Assyrian Empire , and then the Achaemenid Empire : the official lect is called Imperial Aramaic . Akkadian fell into disuse, but both it and Sumerian were still used in temples for some centuries. The last Akkadian texts date from

7458-436: The first five centuries AD, over 1,000 years after Solomon's death. The work tells of the building of The Temple and relates that construction was hampered by demons until the archangel Michael gave the King a magical ring. The ring, engraved with the Seal of Solomon , had the power to bind demons from doing harm. Solomon used it to lock demons in jars and commanded others to do his bidding, although eventually, according to

7571-433: The forces of the spiritual world for personal transformation. He emphasized the moral and ethical implications of magical practice, reflecting the changing intellectual landscape of the time. Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system , in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent . Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq . In

7684-405: The future), amulets and charms (to ward off hostile spirits and harmful events), potions or salves, and dolls or other figures (to represent their enemies)". Medieval Europe saw the Latin legal term maleficium applied to forms of sorcery or witchcraft that were conducted with the intention of causing harm. Early in the 14th century, maleficium was one of the charges leveled against

7797-498: The immolation or binding of a wax or clay image ( poppet ) of a person to affect them magically; by the recitation of incantations ; by the performance of physical rituals ; by the employment of magical herbs as amulets or potions ; by gazing at mirrors, swords or other specula ( scrying ) for purposes of divination; and by many other means. During the Renaissance , the many magical practices and rituals of goetia were considered evil or irreligious and by extension, black magic in

7910-409: The late 1st century AD. Early in Mesopotamia's history, around the mid-4th millennium BC, cuneiform was invented for the Sumerian language. Cuneiform literally means "wedge-shaped", due to the triangular tip of the stylus used for impressing signs on wet clay. The standardized form of each cuneiform sign appears to have been developed from pictograms . The earliest texts, 7 archaic tablets, come from

8023-406: The magician Osthanes , who accompanied the military campaigns of the Persian King Xerxes . Within the Roman Empire , laws would be introduced criminalising things regarded as magic. The practice of magic was banned in the late Roman world, and the Codex Theodosianus (438 AD) states: If any wizard therefore or person imbued with magical contamination who is called by custom of the people

8136-531: The magician Osthanes . His claims are not, however, supported by modern historians. The Greek Magical Papyri , nearly a millennium after the fall of Mesopotamia, preserve the name of the Sumerian goddess Ereshkigal . The ancient Jewish people were often viewed as being knowledgeable in magic, which, according to legend, they had learned from Moses , who had learned it in Egypt. Among many ancient writers, Moses

8249-523: The majority were men. Johann Weyer (1515–1588) was a Dutch physician , occultist and demonologist , and a disciple and follower of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa . He was among the first to publish against the persecution of witches . His most influential work is De Praestigiis Daemonum et Incantationibus ac Venificiis ('On the Illusions of the Demons and on Spells and Poisons'; 1563). In 1584,

8362-472: The methods of therapy and aetiology and the use of empiricism , logic , and rationality in diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. The text contains a list of medical symptoms and often detailed empirical observations along with logical rules used in combining observed symptoms on the body of a patient with its diagnosis and prognosis. The symptoms and diseases of a patient were treated through therapeutic means such as bandages , creams and pills . If

8475-530: The name Mesopotamia is evident from The Anabasis of Alexander , which was written in the late 2nd century AD but specifically refers to sources from the time of Alexander the Great . In the Anabasis , Mesopotamia was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria . The Akkadian term biritum/birit narim corresponded to a similar geographical concept. Later, the term Mesopotamia

8588-584: The negative use of supernatural powers, such as veneficus and saga . The Roman use of the term was similar to that of the Greeks, but placed greater emphasis on the judicial application of it. In ancient Roman society, magic was associated with societies to the east of the empire; the first century AD writer Pliny the Elder for instance claimed that magic had been created by the Iranian philosopher Zoroaster , and that it had then been brought west into Greece by

8701-1036: The offices of spirits, or the book called Empto, by Solomon, about the princes and kings of demons"). Weyer does not cite, and is unaware of, any other books in the Lemegeton , suggesting that the Lemegeton was derived from his work, not the other way around. Additionally, some material came from Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa 's Three Books of Occult Philosophy (1533), and the Heptameron by pseudo-Pietro d'Abano . The later Middle Ages saw words for these practitioners of harmful magical acts appear in various European languages: sorcière in French, Hexe in German, strega in Italian, and bruja in Spanish. The English term for malevolent practitioners of magic, witch, derived from

8814-420: The origins of philosophy can be traced back to early Mesopotamian wisdom , which embodied certain philosophies of life, particularly ethics , in the forms of dialectic , dialogues , epic poetry , folklore , hymns , lyrics , prose works, and proverbs . Babylonian reason and rationality developed beyond empirical observation. Babylonian thought was also based on an open-systems ontology which

8927-427: The other". The historian Richard Gordon suggested that for the ancient Greeks, being accused of practicing magic was "a form of insult". Magical operations largely fell into two categories: theurgy ( θεουργία ) defined as high magic, and goetia ( γοητεία ) as low magic or witchcraft. Theurgy in some contexts appears simply to glorify the kind of magic that is being practiced—usually a respectable priest-like figure

9040-511: The potential risks of interacting with powerful entities. Others view it as a means of inner transformation and self-empowerment. A grimoire (also known as a "book of spells", "magic book", or a "spellbook") is a textbook of magic , typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets , how to perform magical spells , charms, and divination , and how to summon or invoke supernatural entities such as angels , spirits , deities , and demons . While

9153-402: The present day, allow accurate associations of relative with absolute dating for establishing the history of Mesopotamia. The Babylonian astronomers were very adept at mathematics and could predict eclipses and solstices . Scholars thought that everything had some purpose in astronomy. Most of these related to religion and omens. Mesopotamian astronomers worked out a 12-month calendar based on

9266-425: The region after that date. It has been argued that these later euphemisms are Eurocentric terms attributed to the region in the midst of various 19th-century Western encroachments. Mesopotamia encompasses the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, both of which have their headwaters in the neighboring Armenian highlands . Both rivers are fed by numerous tributaries, and the entire river system drains

9379-843: The region coming under ephemeral Roman control. In 226 AD, the eastern regions of Mesopotamia fell to the Sassanid Persians . The division of the region between the Roman Byzantine Empire from 395 AD and the Sassanid Empire lasted until the 7th century Muslim conquest of Persia of the Sasanian Empire and the Muslim conquest of the Levant from the Byzantines. A number of primarily neo-Assyrian and Christian native Mesopotamian states existed between

9492-633: The region for a century as the final independent Mesopotamian realm until the modern era. In 539 BC, Mesopotamia was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire . The area was next conquered by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. After his death, it became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire . Around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthian Empire . It became a battleground between the Romans and Parthians, with western parts of

9605-441: The region its name. The usefulness of irrigation depends upon the ability to mobilize sufficient labor for the construction and maintenance of canals, and this, from the earliest period, has assisted the development of urban settlements and centralized systems of political authority. Agriculture throughout the region has been supplemented by nomadic pastoralism, where tent-dwelling nomads herded sheep and goats (and later camels) from

9718-650: The religious rituals of which they form a part. A large number of magical papyri , in Greek , Coptic , and Demotic , have been recovered and translated. They contain early instances of: In the first century BC, the Greek concept of the magos was adopted into Latin and used by a number of ancient Roman writers as magus and magia . The earliest known Latin use of the term was in Virgil 's Eclogue , written around 40 BC, which makes reference to magicis... sacris (magic rites). The Romans already had other terms for

9831-461: The river pastures in the dry summer months, out into seasonal grazing lands on the desert fringe in the wet winter season. The area is generally lacking in building stone, precious metals, and timber, and so historically has relied upon long-distance trade of agricultural products to secure these items from outlying areas. In the marshlands to the south of the area, a complex water-borne fishing culture has existed since prehistoric times and has added to

9944-465: The site of Aquae Sulis (now Bath in England). All but one of the 130 tablets concerned the restitution of stolen goods. Over 80 similar tablets have been discovered in and about the remains of a temple to Mercury nearby, at West Hill, Uley , making south-western Britain one of the major centres for finds of Latin defixiones . Most of the inscriptions are in colloquial Latin, and specifically in

10057-857: The spread of magical practices was often associated with paganism . This sentiment led to book burnings and the association of magical practitioners with heresy and witchcraft. The magical revival of Goetia gained momentum in the 19th century, spearheaded by figures like Eliphas Levi and Aleister Crowley . They interpreted and popularized magical traditions, incorporating elements from Kabbalah , Hermeticism , and ceremonial magic . Levi emphasized personal transformation and ethical implications, while Crowley's works were written in support of his new religious movement , Thelema . Contemporary practitioners of occultism and esotericism continue to engage with Goetia, drawing from historical texts while adapting rituals to align with personal beliefs. Ethical debates surround Goetia, with some approaching it cautiously due to

10170-465: The subsequent 2,000 years of Mesopotamian history, marked by the succession of kingdoms and empires such as the Akkadian Empire . The early second millennium BC saw the polarization of Mesopotamian society into Assyria in the north and Babylonia in the south. From 900 to 612 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire asserted control over much of the ancient Near East. Subsequently, the Babylonians, who had long been overshadowed by Assyria, seized power , dominating

10283-568: The surviving charms. In late Anglo-Saxon England, nigromancy ('black magic', sometimes confused with necromancy ) was among the witchcraft practices condemned by Ælfric of Eynsham ( c.  955  – c.  1010 ): Witches still go to cross-roads and to heathen burials with their delusive magic and call to the devil; and he comes to them in the likeness of the man that is buried there, as if he arises from death. Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335 – c. 395) had said that demons had children with women called cambions , which added to

10396-538: The syllabary were all arranged and named, and elaborate lists were drawn up. Many Babylonian literary works are still studied today. One of the most famous of these was the Epic of Gilgamesh , in twelve books, translated from the original Sumerian by a certain Sîn-lēqi-unninni , and arranged upon an astronomical principle. Each division contains the story of a single adventure in the career of Gilgamesh . The whole story

10509-550: The symbolic qualities. Mesopotamian people invented many technologies including metal and copper-working, glass and lamp making, textile weaving, flood control , water storage, and irrigation. They were also one of the first Bronze Age societies in the world. They developed from copper, bronze, and gold on to iron. Palaces were decorated with hundreds of kilograms of these very expensive metals. Also, copper, bronze, and iron were used for armor as well as for different weapons such as swords, daggers, spears, and maces . According to

10622-654: The term grimoire is originally European—and many Europeans throughout history, particularly ceremonial magicians and cunning folk , have used grimoires—the historian Owen Davies has noted that similar books can be found all around the world, ranging from Jamaica to Sumatra . He also noted that in this sense, the world's first grimoires were created in Europe and the ancient Near East . The earliest known written magical incantations come from ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq ), where they have been found inscribed on cuneiform clay tablets that archaeologists excavated from

10735-520: The unsuccessful exorcism by the seven sons of Sceva became known, many converts decided to burn their own magic and pagan books in the city of Ephesus ; this advice was adopted on a large scale after the Christian ascent to power. The English word magic has its origins in ancient Greece . During the late sixth and early fifth centuries BC, the Persian maguš was Graecicized and introduced into

10848-518: The use of grimoires by certain Gnostic sects, with texts like the Book of Enoch containing astrological and angelic information. King Solomon of Israel was linked with magic and sorcery, attributed to a book with incantations for summoning demons. The pseudepigraphic Testament of Solomon , one of the oldest magical texts, narrates Solomon's use of a magical ring to command demons. With the ascent of Christianity, books on magic were frowned upon, and

10961-471: The vital force. Due to the importance placed onto names in ancient Egypt Heka was often incorporated into personal names. Some examples include: Hekawy, Hekaf, or simply Heka. The goddess Isis is also sometimes affiliated with Heka being titled Weret Hekau , Great Lady of magic. The Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts depict Heka as a supernatural energy that the gods possess. The "cannibal pharaoh" must devour other gods to gain this magical power. Eventually, Heka

11074-418: The volume of the frustum of a cone or a square pyramid was incorrectly taken as the product of the height and half the sum of the bases. Also, there was a recent discovery in which a tablet used π as 25/8 (3.125 instead of 3.14159~). The Babylonians are also known for the Babylonian mile, which was a measure of distance equal to about seven modern miles (11 km). This measurement for distances eventually

11187-704: The whole region, when imposed, has tended to be ephemeral, and localism has fragmented power into tribal or smaller regional units. These trends have continued to the present day in Iraq. The prehistory of the Ancient Near East begins in the Lower Paleolithic period. Therein, writing emerged with a pictographic script, Proto-cuneiform , in the Uruk IV period ( c.  late 4th millennium BC ). The documented record of actual historical events—and

11300-483: The word warlock came to be used as the male equivalent of witch (which can be male or female, but is used predominantly for females). Probably the best-known characteristic of a sorcerer or witch is their ability to cast a spell —a set of words, a formula or verse, a ritual, or a combination of these, employed to do magic. Spells traditionally were cast by many methods, such as by the inscription of glyphs or sigils on an object to give that object magical powers; by

11413-812: The world's most ancient highly developed, and socially complex states. The region was one of the four riverine civilizations where writing was invented, along with the Nile valley in Ancient Egypt , the Indus Valley civilization in the Indian subcontinent , and the Yellow River in Ancient China . Mesopotamia housed historically important cities such as Uruk , Nippur , Nineveh , Assur and Babylon , as well as major territorial states such as

11526-504: Was a threat not only to individuals but also to public order, for a community wracked by suspicions about witches could split asunder". Those accused of maleficium were punished by being imprisoned or even executed. Sorcery came to be associated with the Old Testament figure of Solomon ; various grimoires , or books outlining magical practices, were written that claimed to have been written by Solomon. One well-known goetic grimoire

11639-644: Was an incubus . Anne Lawrence-Mathers writes that at that time "views on demons and spirits were still relatively flexible. There was still a possibility that the daemons of classical tradition were different from the demons of the Bible." Accounts of sexual relations with demons in literature continues with The Life of Saint Bernard by Geoffrey of Auxerre ( c.  1160 ) and the Life and Miracles of St. William of Norwich by Thomas of Monmouth ( c.  1173 ). The theme of sexual relations with demons became

11752-430: Was an important contribution to astronomy and the philosophy of science and some scholars have thus referred to this new approach as the first scientific revolution. This new approach to astronomy was adopted and further developed in Greek and Hellenistic astronomy. In Seleucid and Parthian times, the astronomical reports were thoroughly scientific. How much earlier their advanced knowledge and methods were developed

11865-500: Was converted to a time-mile used for measuring the travel of the Sun, therefore, representing time. The roots of algebra can be traced to the ancient Babylonia who developed an advanced arithmetical system with which they were able to do calculations in an algorithmic fashion. The Babylonian clay tablet YBC 7289 ( c.  1800 –1600 BC) gives an approximation of √ 2 in four sexagesimal figures, 1 24 51 10 , which

11978-477: Was elevated to a deity in his own right, and a cult devoted to him developed. By the time of the Coffin Texts , Heka is said to have been created at the beginning of time by the creator Atum . Sometimes also being personified as the creator god, presented as a man or child and in some imagery holding two snakes. Heka is also said to be one of the three facets of the creator along with sia and hu . Heka

12091-412: Was instrumental in early map-making . The Babylonians also had theorems on how to measure the area of several shapes and solids. They measured the circumference of a circle as three times the diameter and the area as one-twelfth the square of the circumference, which would be correct if π were fixed at 3. The volume of a cylinder was taken as the product of the area of the base and the height; however,

12204-630: Was more generally applied to all the lands between the Euphrates and the Tigris , thereby incorporating not only parts of Syria but also almost all of Iraq and southeastern Turkey . The neighbouring steppes to the west of the Euphrates and the western part of the Zagros Mountains are also often included under the wider term Mesopotamia . A further distinction is usually made between Northern or Upper Mesopotamia and Southern or Lower Mesopotamia . Upper Mesopotamia, also known as

12317-417: Was probably popular, with men sitting on the shoulders of other men rather than on horses. Heka (god) B C D F G H I K M N P Q R S T U W Heka ( / ˈ h ɛ k ə / ; Ancient Egyptian : ḥkꜣ (w) ; Coptic : ϩⲓⲕ hik ; also transliterated Hekau ) was the deification of magic and medicine in ancient Egypt . The name

12430-519: Was seen as an Egyptian rather than a Jew. Two manuscripts likely dating to the 4th century, both of which purport to be the legendary eighth Book of Moses (the first five being the initial books in the Biblical Old Testament ), present him as a polytheist who explained how to conjure gods and subdue demons. Meanwhile, there is definite evidence of grimoires being used by certain—particularly Gnostic —sects of early Christianity . In

12543-553: Was the fifteenth, which saw a dramatic rise in awareness and terror of witchcraft, culminating in the publication of the Malleus Maleficarum but prepared by such fanatical popular preachers as Bernardino of Siena. The Malleus Maleficarum , (Latin for 'Hammer of The Witches') was a witch-hunting manual written in 1486 by two German monks, Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. It was used by both Catholics and Protestants for several hundred years, outlining how to identify

12656-450: Was the first recorded. Mesopotamians believed that the world was a flat disc, surrounded by a huge, holed space, and above that, heaven . They believed that water was everywhere, the top, bottom and sides, and that the universe was born from this enormous sea. Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic . Although the beliefs described above were held in common among Mesopotamians, there were regional variations. The Sumerian word for universe

12769-590: Was the use of curse tablets , which came with the Romans. Potter and Johns wrote that "Some classical deities, notably Hecate of the underworld , had triple manifestations. In Roman Britain, some fifty dedications to the Mothers are recorded in stone inscriptions and other objects, constituting ample evidence of the importance of the cult among native Celts and others." In 1979–80, the Bath curse tablets were found at

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