In the Babylonian magico-medical tradition, Šulak is the lurker of the

bathroom A bathroom or washroom is a room, typically in a home or other residential building, that contains either a bathtub or a shower (or both). The inclusion of a wash basin is common. In some parts of the world e.g. India, a toilet is typically i ...

or the demon of the

privy Privy is an old-fashioned term for an outdoor toilet, often known as an outhouse and by many other names. Privy may also refer to: * Privy council, a body that advises the head of state * Privy mark, a small mark in the design of a coin * Privy Pur ...

. Šulak appears in the Babylonian ''

Diagnostic Diagnosis is the identification of the nature and cause of a certain phenomenon. Diagnosis is used in many different disciplines, with variations in the use of logic, analytics, and experience, to determine " cause and effect". In systems engine ...

Handbook'' (Tablet XXVII), in which various

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

s are described and attributed to the "hand" of a

god In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of s ...

, or spirit. A "lurker" is a type of

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, ani ...

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 A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

" (''mišittu''). The demon referred to as "The Hitter" or "Striker" elsewhere in the handbook may be Šulak identified by an

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

. 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 Lavatory, Lav, or Lavvy may refer to: *Toilet, the plumbing fixture *Toilet (room), containing a toilet *Public toilet *Aircraft lavatory, the public toilet on an aircraft *Latrine, a rudimentary toilet *A lavatorium, the washing facility in a mon ...

. Šulak is described in Akkadian sources as a "rampant" or bipedal but otherwise normal looking lion.A.R. George (2015). ON BABYLONIAN LAVATORIES AND SEWERS. Iraq, 77, pp 75-106 doi:10.1017/irq.2015.9 Ancient Mesopotamian medical texts attribute cases of paralysis and stroke to the action of Šulak, a connection possibly due to fears that excessive strain on the toilet could cause such maladies. Protective amulets in the form of the Lion Centaur

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 my ...

, or cuneiform tablets inscribed with spells to ward off Šulak, were often buried in the doorways of lavatories, or in the foundations of the house, or deposited in drainage pipes.

In the Talmud

A similar lavatory demon takes the form of a

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

in the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

(''

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...

'' 67a, '' Berachot'' 62a). This "demon of the privy" ''(Sheid beit ha-Kisset)'' appears also in the

Babylonian Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

: Stroke and epilepsy were closely related in ancient medicine. This law is not included in the

Mishneh Torah The ''Mishneh Torah'' ( he, מִשְׁנֵה תּוֹרָה, , repetition of the Torah), also known as ''Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka'' ( he, ספר יד החזקה, , book of the strong hand, label=none), is a code of Rabbinic Jewish religious law (''h ...

. The "demon of the privy" is the type of

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 ...

that in the early

Christian era The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means 'in the year of the Lord', but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", ...

was regarded as causing both physical and spiritual affliction.Joel Marcus, ''Mark 8–16: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary'', Yale

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. Ove ...

series (Yale University Press, 2009), p. 65
online.
/ref>

Notes

Sources

*Geller, M.J. "West Meets East: Early Greek and Babylonian Diagnosis." In ''Magic and Rationality in Ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman Medicine'', Studies in Ancient Medicine 27 (Brill, 2004), p. 1
online.
*George, A.R. (2015). On Babylonian Lavatories and Sewars. ''Iraq'', 77: pp 75-106. *Rosner, Fred. ''Encyclopedia of Medicine in the Bible and the Talmud''. Rowman & Littlefield, 2000, p. 9
online.
*Stol, Marten. ''Epilepsy in Babylonia''. Brill, 1993, pp. 17, 71, and 7
online.
*Stol, Marten. ''Birth in Babylonia and the Bible: Its Mediterranean Setting''. Brill, 2000, p. 16
online.

In the Talmud

See also

Notes

Sources

Further reading