The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia

Written by R. Campbell Thompson London, June 1st, 1903. From the earliest times Eastern races, in common with the rest of mankind, have always held a firm belief in the existence of evil spirits, ghosts, and all kindred powers. The phenomenon of death, the mystery of disease and sickness, and all the other events of common occurrence in daily life gave rise to speculations about the unseen world, which gradually led to a distinction, although slight at all times, between good and evil spirits. The early Semitic people of Babylonia, whoever they may have been or wherever they may have migrated from, found a theology ready to their hands in the adopted country, which they took over from.... Even the Babylonians knew that they needed protection against the evil that existed, and sought their answers in the secrets that remained, them remannts of the story of Eden... It is therefore evident that when the Semitic Babylonian took over the learning of his Sumerian predecessors, he seems also