The logo of the Melammu Project

The Melammu Project

The Heritage of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East


  The Melammu Project
  
   General description
   Search string
   Browse by topic
   Search keyword
   Submit entry
  
   About
   Open search
   Thematic search
   Digital Library
   Submit item
  
   Ancient texts
   Dictionaries
   Projects
   Varia
   Submit link
  FAQ
  Contact us
  About

  The Newsletter
  To Project Information >

 

The Lord of the Roof (1)

Printable view
Topics (move over topic to see place in topic list)

02 Religious and ideological symbols and iconographic motifs



11 Language, communication, libraries and education




Keywords
Aramaic language
demons
naming
Period
1st century CE
Roman Empire
Channel
Jewish philosophers and scholars
New Testament


Text
The demon of the epilepsy had the name Lugalurra, who seizes the man. The name is Sumerian and means “Lord of the Roof”. The Lord of the Roof has a parallel in the Gospel of Matthew, as translated into Syriac. The epileptic boy healed by Jesus is said to be possessed by “the Son of the Roof” (bar ˀeggārâ, Matthew 17:15). The same demon is found in the Aramaic incantation bowls and, under the name Rišpi in the Babylonian Talmud, Pesachim 111b. The Babylonian demon of epilepsy lived on in Syrian lore under a very similar name.


Sources (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Babylonian Talmud, Pesachim 111b
Matthew 17:15

Bibliography

Stol 1993, 16-18Stol, M. Epilepsy in Babylonia. Cuneiform Monographs 2. Groningen: Styx Publications 1993.

Amar Annus


URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0001082.php


Illustrations
No pictures


^
T
O
P