The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia

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 phenomena of death, the mysteries 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 evil spirits. The early Semitic people of Babylonia, who ever they may have been or wherever they may have migrated from, found a theology ready to their hands in their adopted country, which they took over from its primitive inhabitants the Sumerians doubtless grafting to it many of the beliefs of their forefathers. The primitive Sumerian recognised three distinct classes of evil spirit, namely, first came the disembodied human soul which could find no rest and so wandered up and down the face of the earth, secondly, the gruesome spirits which were half human and half demon, and thirdly, the friends and devils who were of the same nature as the gods. Who rode on the noxious winds, or brought storms and pestilence.