The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia

I want to look again at the notorious Demonic Seven of Babylonia In the light of new insights and looking to establish the correct astral associations and also the background to their introduction into Mesopotamian tradition, this then quite standard Babylonian opinion of them from the Demon Series

Raging storms, evil gods are they, ruthless demons, who in heaven's vault were created, are they, workers of evil are they, they lift up the head to evil, every day to evil Destruction to work.

Of these seven the first is the South wind, the second is a dragon, whose mouth is opened that none can measure, the third is a grim leopard, which carries off the young, the fourth is a terrible Shibbu, the fifth is a furious Wolf, who knoweth not to flee, the sixth is a rampant ... which marches against god and king. the seventh is a storm, an evil wind, which takes vengeance.

Seven are they, messengers to King Anu are they,from city to city darkness work they, a hurricane, which mightily hunts in the heavens, are they Thick clouds, that bring darkness in heaven, are they, gusts of wind rising, which cast gloom over the bright day, are they, with the Imhullu the evil wind, forcing their way, are they.

Things however are not so straight forward as it can be seen in the Enuma Elish that they were considered instrumental in the defeat of Tiamat;

Imhullu the atrocious wind, the tempest, the whirlwind, the hurricane, the wind of four and the wind of seven, the tumid wind, worst of all

ll seven winds were created and released to savage the guts of Tiamat, they towered behind him. Then the tornado Abuba his last great ally, the signal for assault, he lifted up.

He mounted the storm, his terrible chariot, reins hitched to the side, yoked four in hand the appalling team, sharp poisoned teeth, the Killer, the Pitiless, Trampler, Haste, they knew arts of plunder, skills of murder.

We actually see there all that is necessary to understand the astral associations as the wind of four and seven relates to Ursa Major in terms of the four directions it was associated with and it's seven stars which were understood as the chariot constellation in Mesopotamia.



There is further confirmation of this in the tradition of the foremost of the Seven relating to Erra symbolized by the Fox star which was at the yoke of the chariot constellation, which would be Alkaid.

Erra among all the gods, among the stars of heaven, the Fox Star Was shining bright and its radiance shone for him. The stars of all the gods were dazzling, the star of Erra is shining bright and its radiant brightness was of warfare, his awe-inspiring brilliance will blaze and all people will perish. among the beasts, the image of their star is the fox,

The star at the shaft of the Wagon, the Fox, Erra, the strong one

That's from the epic of Erra and Ishum which sees the Seven unleashed in all their fury, Erra is the lead star of the Seven and God of Destruction and his vizier Ishum seems to relate to the overall concept of the Imhullu in that he determines when to begin onslaught and when to cease with regards to the crushing of the people of the Earth, but what i've been looking at recently is the aasociation of Ishum with Hendursagga as the epic commences by praising him and relating him to Ishum.

Seven, the Spirit of the Apocalypse

O king of all inhabited lands, creator of the world, O Hendursaja , first born of Enlil holder of the sublime scepter , herdsman of the black-headed folk, shepherd of mankind, O Ishum, zealous slaughterer, whose hands are suited tp brandish fierce weapons!

Looking further into this it transpired that the Seven were very much seen as under the control of Hendursaja who served the Goddess Nazi...

The seven heralds stand at your service, on this very day, as evening approaches, the first of the seven is a fox with a sweeping tail. The second snuffles around like a dog. The third pecks greedily at caterpillars like a raven. The fourth overpowers everything like an enormous carrion-eating eagle. The fifth, although not a wolf, will fall upon a black lamb. The sixth screeches like a hawk, The seventh a shark in the waves. These seven are neither female deities nor male.

That's from the Hymn to Hendursanja and raises all sorts of questions as to why ostensibly the tax collector for the Goddess Nazi/Nanse of the city of Nigin should have such powers at his disposal

You are the accountant of Nindara, king of Niĝin in its spacious location, Nance has placed a mighty symbol in your hand, Hendursaja. The divine mother Nance speaks confidentially with you. She has made the crook and sceptre for its plans flourish in a pure place

You are the accountant of the black-headed. You are the chief constable of the dead people who are brought to the underworld. Chief herald, lord Hendursaja: after Enki had had intercourse with ..., he destined the seven sons that she had borne to him, those seven sons of a crab, for the starvation of heaven; he placed them by at your behest, for the crushing of the people of earth

Now Nanse was the Goddess of social welfare and everything had to be accounted for and for everything due payment made and Hendursanja enforced that, but it's also seen in the hymn that nobody could do anything without his permission, he took enforcement very seriously and was sort of running a Celestial Mafia;

if someone wants to marry a wife, then Utu asks Hendursaja; he does not communicate his wisdom to the man who wants to marry the wife. If Hendursaja tells him that the man may marry the wife, then not only does that person marry the wife but also she bears children;

So all sorts of issues not least Hendursanja being referred to as the foremost son of Enlil which should be Ninurta, the answer for which seems to lie in both Nindara, the King Deity of Nigin and consort of Nanse as well as brother to Hendursanja being of foeign origin, namely Meluhan/Indus valley.

It's recently been considered that Nindara is derived from Nin-Indara were Indara in Northern Mesopotamia related to Indra as in An Indo-European God in a Gudea inxcription, and from a different direction i'm considering the same, and that also his brother Hendursanja represents Vishnu the brother of Indra and leader of the Fish people cult, there were strong connections to the Indus valley culture at Nigin so this suggests something of a union with the Goddess Nanse, daughter of Enki, and thus a Deity obstensibly of Southern Mesopotamia is rather of Indo-European and finds himself related to the cyclic destruction patterns related to Ursa Major, and the Swastika.

Perhaps it transpires then that the Seven should be seen as the original social justice warriors in their service of a curious Nazi cult, those who survived saw their sign as fortunate.

Hello Kantzveldt,
I have not had the time to delve into this latest post but I just wanted to say that I really love your work.
Your post on the Sumerian Vampire cult was brilliant and kept me busy for days following the links and the trails.
Dead languages, cryptic YT groups who talk in code, a lot of high strangeness to say the least.
Thank you.

a reply to: JohnthePhilistine


Hello, yes this is a more in depth look at were that tradition originated, as i've pointed out i think it related to Indo-European traditions of Ursa Major were that grinds through the seasons as it were as a millstone in the sense of the rotation of the Heavens, thus a cyclic process of creation and destruction.

That's sort of reflected in the numerology of the four directions and the seven stars as in the four Lunar quarters, the seven were sometimes accused of dimming the light of the Moon amongst many other things, the whole situation being brought about when the major Deities of the Indo-European Pantheon, Indra and Vishnu, start masquerading as relatively minor Sumerian City state Deities.

It didn't end there and to a considerable extent Christianity had it's basis in the cult of the Goddess Nazi and Hendursaja.

She is concerned for the orphan and concerned for the widow. She does not forget the man who helps others, she is a mother for the orphan; Nance, a carer for the widow, who always finds advice for the debt-slave; the lady who gives protection for refugees. She seeks out a place for the weak. She swells his collecting basket for him; she makes his collecting vessel profitable for him. For the righteous maiden who has taken her path, Nance chooses a young man of means. Nance raises a secure house like a roof over the widow who could not remarry

a reply to: Kantzveldt

S&F for an informative and well written OP!

I don't think it's at all coincidence but the demons sound very similar to the seven sages of Sumeria that were created by Enlil.
I wonder if they truly are one in the same.

a reply to: NateTheAnimator

It's complex but the absence of one inevitably gives rise to the other, both probably early aspects of the cult of Vishnu, in the Erra epic Marduk has despatched the seven sages back into the depths of the Abzu, it's like if you kick those seven weird Monks out of town seven avengers ride in, nearly everyone ends up dead.

Fish people cult

Indus valley community within Sumer

a reply to: Kantzveldt

Nice read OP, thank you. Definitely deserves a S&F.

Regarding topic it reminds me of the Seven rays and universal interconnection

a reply to: Kantzveldt

Absolutely fantastic read and such a well put together and informative OP.

Glancing at the links i have a fair few hours reading up on a subject i have a life long deep interest in.

Thanks OP.

a reply to: Kantzveldt

The second snuffles around like a dog.

Yeah, or a couple of thousand years later...a boar.
I'm guessing that as the swastika/wagon churns through the sky, it points to the various constellations described, or were they attributing those characteristics to each of the seven stars?
The devils also sound a bit like the four-horsemen of the apocalypse, I'm wondering if the stories are linked?
S&F, that's a splendid bit of detective work.

a reply to: beansidhe

The seven are certainly the individual stars of Ursa Major, there is essential dualistic symbolism in that the constellation rotated around Celestial North daily and was understood to drive the entire Heavens and also it can be seen in the four positions indicated in the diagram at the solstice and equinox rising points, so it marked the four quarters of the year.

The season of death began after the summer solstice as the Sun passed into Cancer, which is why in the Hendusaja hymn they are considered born of the crab, the height of summer was associated with heat, fire, draught, pestilence, warfare. death, that could be expected to end at the winter solstice.

The four horsemen will be four ill winds associated with the four directions and the extension of that is the various heralds and woe betides of the Seven.

a reply to: Kantzveldt

Could be the orignal inspiration of the Seven Deadly Sins, and I think they used animals, even in Christianity today as associated symbols with them, like Wrath and a Bear, Pride as Horse, and a pig being a pig. When I saw the Seven Devils, I was thinking Hall of Doom, but then being in the Sky they'd be the Justice League...But in the case of egotistical, psychopathic Devils, it would the "Just Us League", which is funny since the Justice League is based off the idea of Greek Gods high on a mountain top.Lol.

I also never knew that the Big Dipper did that, and would change directions, which probably made it a vital navigation mark, which is why it so prevalent. Four Winds are surprisingly in many mythologies, like a bag of four winds, which might have been in one of your threads about Ninruta.

I'm even wondering if the Aztec had the same idea, and came up with their personification due assuming to how secluded they were from the East.

Tezcatlipoca, god of providence, matter and the invisible, ruler of the night, Great Bear, impalpable, ubiquity and the twilight, the lord of the North

Xipe-Totec, god of force, patron of war, agriculture, vegetation, diseases, seasons, rebirth, hunting, trades and spring, the lord of the East

Quetzalcoatl, god of wisdom, life, knowledge, morning star, fertility, patron of the winds and the light, the lord of the West

Xolotl, god of death, the evening star, and twin brother of Quetzalcoatl

Huitzilopochtli, god of will and the sun, patron of war and fire, the lord of the South.

Ether this mythology been around alot longer then the ice bridge that connected Asia to North America, or it possible their could have been some truth about a God coming from the ocean and then back again to it...But that could have easily have been mistaken identity.

a reply to: Kantzveldt



I noticed the swastika in the center?

So this is in reference to the so called goddess Nazi?

Sorry to burst your bubble but the German nazi swastika arms went in the opposite direction as the one in you star diagram. Either men got it wrong because the stars would never be drawn to go in the opposite direction. Don't take wiki-pedia's word for anything.

Each season of which your big dipper points to has different winds at those different times. could have been primitive men creating gods around their superstitiousness of the seasons. Men by their nature are very superstitious.

Interesting but I am not buying today.

a reply to: Specimen

The Seven against Thebes is thought to be a Greek version based on the theme, there were also the Seven mighty heroes of Uruk in the Lugalbanda myth which is why sometimes Anu and Istar were accused of exploiting the activities of the Seven.

a reply to: ChesterJohn

No the swastika isn't a direct reference to the very much called Goddess Nazi, the case i made was that it was under the control of Hendursanja, who just happened to work on her behalf, and it did tend to be drawn either way around from the earliest times but one thing is certain and that is it will always rotate counter clockwise.

However it was also the case that the activities of the Celestial Seven were seen as reflected upon Earth and so maybe a case could be made for mirroring, but anyway in my diagram i just illustrated the direction they associated with good luck, i don't think anybody ever got things wrong whichever way they drew it.

a reply to: Kantzveldt

Fascinating stuff, but the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei was not named for any deity. Nazi is simply the shortened pronunciation of 'Nationalsozialistische' (and in Bavaria because it was a homonym for a word that meant 'foolish') www.etymonline.com...

a reply to: Byrd

That's true enough more of an historical quirk that the party ended up being called after her, the origin of the Sumrtian bame was;

“’My brother (Enki), what part of you hurts you?’ ‘My throat (zi) hurts me.’ She (Ninhursag) gave birth to Nazi out of it…”

Chiming in to insert a somewhat relevant link to "Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia," sort of a dictionary-like book that lists, well, gods, demons, etc.
It's by Jeremy Black and Anthony Green, a colorful pair.

Link

Harte

a reply to: Harte

On page 31 of that book, Assurnasirpal II is pointing to a series of symbols. Do you (or Kantzveldt) know what the second symbol from the left is?
Here is another example of it, on the right hand side, above the bird - it looks like a wavy 'V' or horns:

a reply to: beansidhe

That's the Furrow sign for the Constellation Virgo, see Virgo-Neolithic Dawn for other examples.

a reply to: Kantzveldt

Aaah, brilliant, thank you very much.

I've been wondering that for a while, as I'd wondered if it wasn't a proto 'tuning fork' many moons ago whilst looking at stones and carvings. Much obliged.

originally posted by: beansidhe
a reply to: Harte

On page 31 of that book, Assurnasirpal II is pointing to a series of symbols. Do you (or Kantzveldt) know what the second symbol from the left is?

The text I linked mentions the furrow constellation a few times, but, alas, does not illustrate it.

Harte

a reply to: Harte

Your (excellent) encyclopaedia lists it as Adad's (Iskur) lightning bolt and this article by Gavin White (colour names are a necessity in this field, it would seem) helps to explain why it links to Virgo and the Furrow. It's a good idiot's-guide to Babylonian skylore, which I enjoyed very much. Make of that what you will.

Thanks to both you and K,

B x