|
Šulak
In the Babylonian magico-medical tradition, Šulak is the lurker of the bathroom or the demon of the privy. Šulak appears in the Babylonian ''Diagnostic Handbook'' (Tablet XXVII), in which various diseases are described and attributed to the "hand" of a god, goddess, or spirit. A "lurker" is a type of demon who lies in wait in places where a potential victim is likely to be alone. When a man attends to excretory functions or elimination, he is exposed and hence vulnerable: "Šulak will hit him!" The "hit" may be a type of "stroke" (''mišittu''). The demon referred to as "The Hitter" or "Striker" elsewhere in the handbook may be Šulak identified by an epithet. A much earlier reference to this demon is found in a Hittite diagnostic text. Ancient folk etymology held that the name Šulak derived from a phrase meaning "dirty hands", due to his dwelling in the ''bīt musâti'' - literally "house of rinse-water", i.e. lavatory. Šulak is described in Akkadian sources as a "rampant" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unclean Spirit
In English translations of the Bible, unclean spirit is a common rendering of Greek ''pneuma akatharton'' (πνεῦμα ἀκάθαρτον; plural ''pneumata akatharta'' (πνεύματα ἀκάθαρτα)), which in its single occurrence in the Septuagint translates Hebrew ' (). The Greek term appears 21 times in the New Testament in the context of demonic possession. It is also translated into English as spirit of impurity or more loosely as "evil spirit." The Latin equivalent is ''spiritus immundus''. The association of physical and spiritual cleanliness is, if not universal, widespread and continues into the 21st century: "To be virtuous is to be physically clean and free from the impurity that is sin," notes an article in ''Scientific American'' published 10 March 2009. Some scholarship seeks to differentiate between "unclean spirit" and "evil spirit" ('' pneuma ponêron'') or "demon" ('' daimonion''). The concept of ''pneuma'' In the Christian scriptures, the word ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urmahlullu
An ''urmahlullu'' (Sumerian language: ur-maḫ lu₂-lu₇) is a fictitious and mythological lion-centaur hybrid creature. They are quadrupedal felines from the waist down and humanoids from the waist up, and have appeared in the folklore and myths of several cultures of antiquity, as well as in European art of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Ancient Assyria and Mesopotamian Culture The urmahlullu ("untamed lion man") is a mythical ancient Mesopotamian beast with a lion-centaur appearance. It was sometimes depicted as holding a club and wearing a cap of divinity. A guardian spirit, its image was used to ward against various malign demons, including the winged death demon Mukīl rēš lemutti and the lavatory demon Šulak.A.R. George (2015). ON BABYLONIAN LAVATORIES AND SEWERS. Iraq, 77, pp 75-106 doi:10.1017/irq.2015.9 Statues of Urmahlullu were sometimes placed outside lavatories, such as those in Nineveh Nineveh (; akk, ; Biblical Hebrew: '; ar, نَيْن ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Babylonia
Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. 1894 BCE. During the reign of Hammurabi and afterwards, Babylonia was called "the country of Akkad" (''Māt Akkadī'' in Akkadian), a deliberate archaism in reference to the previous glory of the Akkadian Empire. It was often involved in rivalry with the older state of Assyria to the north and Elam to the east in Ancient Iran. Babylonia briefly became the major power in the region after Hammurabi ( fl. c. 1792–1752 BCE middle chronology, or c. 1696–1654 BCE, short chronology) created a short-lived empire, succeeding the earlier Akkadian Empire, Third Dynasty of Ur, and Old Assyrian Empire. The Babylonian Empire rapidly fell apart after the death of Hammurabi and reverted to a small kingdom. Like Assyria, the Babylonian state retained ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berakhot (Talmud)
Berakhot ( he, בְּרָכוֹת, Brakhot, lit. "Blessings") is the first tractate of ''Seder Zeraim'' ("Order of Seeds") of the Mishnah and of the Talmud. The tractate discusses the rules of prayers, particularly the Shema and the Amidah, and blessings for various circumstances. Since a large part of the tractate is concerned with the many ''berakhot'' ( en, blessings), all comprising the formal liturgical element beginning with words "Blessed are you, Lord our God….", it is named for the initial word of these special form of prayer. ''Berakhot'' is the only tractate in ''Seder Zeraim'' to have Gemara – rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah – in the Babylonian Talmud. There is however Jerusalem Talmud on all the tractates in ''Seder Zeraim''. There is also a Tosefta for this tractate. The Jewish religious laws detailed in this tractate have shaped the liturgies of all the Jewish communities since the later Talmudic period and continue to be observed by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Triptych, May–June 1973
''Triptych, May–June 1973'' is a triptych completed in 1973 by the Irish-born artist Francis Bacon (artist), Francis Bacon (1909–1992). The oil-on-canvas was painted in memory of Bacon's lover George Dyer (burglar), George Dyer, who committed suicide on the eve of the artist's retrospective at Paris's Grand Palais on 24 October 1971. The triptych is a portrait of the moments before Dyer's death from an overdose of pills in their hotel room.Tóibín, Colm. "Such a Grip and Twist". ''The Dublin Review'', 2000. Bacon was haunted and preoccupied by Dyer's loss for the remaining years of his lifeRussell 1971, p. 151 and painted many works based on both the actual suicide and the events of its aftermath. He admitted to friends that he never fully recovered, describing the 1973 triptych as an exorcism of his feelings of loss and guilt. The work is stylistically more static and monumental than Bacon's earlier triptychs of Greek figures and friends' heads. It has been described as one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anchor Bible
The Anchor Bible Series, which consists of a commentary series, a Bible dictionary, and a reference library, is a scholarly and commercial co-venture which was begun in 1956, with the publication of individual volumes in the commentary series. Over 1,000 scholars—representing Jewish, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, Muslim, secular, and other traditions—have contributed to the project. Their works offer discussions that reflect a range of viewpoints across a wide theological spectrum. As of 2008, more than 120 volumes had been published, initially under oversight of the series' founding General Editor David Noel Freedman (1956–2008), and subsequently under John J. Collins (2008–Present). Each volume was originally published by Doubleday (a division of Random House, Inc.), but in 2007, the series was acquired by Yale University Press. Yale now prints all new volumes as the Anchor Yale Bible Series, while continuing to offer all previously published Anchor Bible tit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
