Demons and Illness from Antiquity to the Early-Modern Period

Siam Bhayro, Ph.D. (2000), University College London, is Associate Professor in Early Jewish Studies at the University of Exeter. His research interests include the Bible, Semitic languages, medicine in the Christian and Islamic orient, and Jewish magic.Catherine Rider, Ph.D. (2004), University College London, is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Exeter. She has published on the history of medieval magic and medicine, including Magic and Religion in Medieval England (Reaktion Books, 2012).

• Preface List of Contributors Introduction, Siam Bhayro and Catherine RiderAntiquity Shifting Alignments: The Dichotomy of Benevolent and Malevolent Demons in Mesopotamia, Gina KonstantopoulosThe Natural and Supernatural Aspects of Fever in Mesopotamian Medical Texts, András BácksayIllness as Divine Punishment: The Nature and Function of the Disease-Carrier Demons in the Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts, Rita Lucarelli Demons at Work in Ancient Mesopotamia, Lorenzo Verderame Late Antiquity Demons and Illness in Second Temple Judaism: Theory and Practice, Ida FröhlichIllness and Healing through Spell and Incantation in the Dead Sea Scrolls, David HamidovićConceptualizing Demons in Late Antique Judaism, Gideon Bohak Oneiric Aggressive Magic: Sleep Disorders in Late Antique Jewish Tradition, Alessia Bellusci The Influence of Demons on the Human Mind According to Athenagoras and Tatian, Chiara Crosignani Demonic Anti-Music and Spiritual Disorder in the Life of Antony, Sophie Sawicka-SykesOver-eating Demoniacs in Late Antique Hagiography, Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe Medieval Miracles and Madness: Dispelling Demons in Twelfth-Century Hagiography, Anne E. Bailey Demons in Lapidaries? The Evidence of the Madrid MS Escorial, h. I. 15., Carolina Escobar-Vargas The Melancholy of the Necromancer in Arnau de Vilanova’s Epistle against Demonic Magic, Sebastià GiraltDemons, Illness and Spiritual Aids in Natural Magic and Image Magic, Lauri Ockenström Between Medicine and Magic: Spiritual Aetiology and Therapeutics in Medieval Islam, Liana Saif Demons, Saints, and the Mad in the Twelfth-Century Miracles of Thomas Becket, Claire Trenery Early Modernity The Post-Reformation Challenge to Demonic Possession, Harman Bhogal From A Discoverie to The Triall of Witchcraft: Doctor Cotta and Godly John, Pierre KapitaniakHealing with Demons? Preternatural Philosophy and Superstitious Cures in Spanish Inquisitorial Courts, Bradley J. Mollmann Afterword: Pandaemonium, Peregrine HordenIndices of subjects and texts

"Ultimately, Demons and Illness admirably performs the important task of reminding modern scholars of premodern health of the integral role played by these complex and shifting entities in the lives of people across the globe and through the centuries." - Rachel Podd, Fordham University, in: Social History of Medicine 32.3 (2019)