RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIESgnosticism and syncretism in the formation of these sects, the pagan
component within them allowed the survival of some of Iraq's most
ancient religious traditions.
The third way was the survival of pagan traditions of magic and
astrology in their own right among the people who remained pagan.
In general, the most important legacies of paganism in post-Sasanian
Iraq were its demonic theories of illness and causation, therapeutic
magic, and astral fatalism. Otherwise, among unorganized pagans who
survived into the Islamic period, the old religious traditions were re-
ceding to the level of folklore. The gods were transformed into demons,
and what remained of the old cult survived in folksongs and the
veneration of sacred trees.