Ideas of Possession in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia

Abstract

Abstract This contribution adds to anthropological and historical studies on spirit possession with textual sources from ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, asking to what extent concepts of possession can be grasped in these two cultures and whether these concepts resemble each other in any systematic way. The discussion focuses on exemplary cases of “negative” possession encountered in healing contexts. It analyzes descriptions of dis-ease states attributed to external superhuman agents (especially demons and spirits of the dead) in medical texts from Mesopotamia and Egypt, comparing their typical symptoms. The survey reveals that while both medical traditions share fundamental beliefs in superhuman agents causing a broad range of dis-ease states by attacking and taking control over human victims, Mesopotamian medical texts offer more specific descriptions of symptomologies akin to possession (in the sense of a displacement of the patient’s self) with characteristic changes in mind, body, and behavior. The less clear articulation of possession disorders in Egyptian medical sources may partially be due to the ambiguity of the case descriptions (where present) or recipe/incantation labels. Nevertheless, several similar themes and explanatory models of superhuman causation of altered states of being and related experiences can be observed in both Egyptian and Mesopotamian traditions.