RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIESEgypt, and that augurs and wizards were more numerous among con-
temporary Christians than they had been in Babylonia.^142 At the end
of the eighth century, Nestorian legislation against sorcerers, who were
called devil-worshipers, described contemporary practices. People were
still going to sorcerers to cure illness in the family. A man would go
to a sorcerer to get the permission of a girl's parents for marriage,
and both men and women would give themselves to demons. A priest,
deacon, or layman who was a sorcerer, soothsayer, or exorcist would
write an amulet and mumble a devilish sorcery incantation over it.
Both astronomy and astrology were included in this catalogue.^143
In most cases the acceptability of magic depended on whether it
was performed in the name of demons or in the name of God. Christian
saints combatted demons and sorcery by dispensing ~enana and holy
oil. Jewish rabbis possessed supernatural powers which they exercised
through prayer because of their knowledge of the Torah and their
personal regimen. They had the power of the evil eye, they could bless
and curse, they could interpret dreams, and they could force demons
to obey them by the power of the Torah, such as the demon who
fetched water from the river for Rabbi Papa.J^44 Jews utilized necklace
charms, amulets containing letters of the Holy Name and passages of
scripture, and the seal of Solomon, and they invoked the angels to
drive out or to ward off demons.145
THERAPEUTIC MAGIC AND REDEMPTIVE HEALING
The belief that demons caused evil and sickness belonged to the
most ancient indigenous religious traditions in Iraq and was associated
with Sumerian and Babylonian ideas of redemptive healing and rev-
elation. These concepts go back to the cult of the Sumerian god Ea
(later identified as Marduk) "the Physician," who redeemed people
who were tormented by the demons of sickness. His cult included the
use of ablutions and "the Oil of Life" to rescue the sick from the
power of demons and to heal them. His worshipers hoped to achieve
immortality by eating the herb of life or the fruit of the tree of life.
142 Mingana, Sources syriaques, p. 179.
143 Sachau, Rechtsbucher, I1, 130-33.
144 Neusner, History, pp. 175, 183, 186-88; idem, Talmudic juciaism, p. 58; Rod-
kinson, Talmud, XII, "Baba Metzia," 213.
145 Gordon, "Magical Bowls," pp. 322, 326, 329, 333; Neusner, History, pp. 218,
220,223,225; Rodkinson, Talmud, I1, "Sabbath," 240.