In the Accadian philosophy there was in everything a dualism of spirits. Innumerable hosts of them caused all the phenomena of nature, from the movements of the stars to the life and death, the health and disease of every human being. This dualism was as marked as that of the religion of Zoroaster; everywhere and in everything the good spirits fought against the evil ones, discord prevailed throughout the universe; and on this conception rested the whole theory of sacred magic. Man’s only help against the attacks of bad spirits, and the plagues and diseases which they brought upon him, lay in the invocation of good spirits by means of priests, sacred rites, talismans, and charms. These could put to flight the demons by helping the good spirits in their constant warfare with them. Magic therefore became a system elaborated with scientific exactness, and a vast pantheon of gods became necessary. Hea was the great god of conjurational magic; he was the supreme protector of men and of nature in the war between good and evil. When neither word, nor rite, nor talisman, nor help of the other divinities of heaven availed to help mankind, Hea was all-powerful; and this was because, as Lenormant says,[206] Hea was alone acquainted with the awful power of the supreme name. “Before this name everything bows in heaven and in earth and in Hades, and it alone can conquer the _Maskim_ (a species of evil demon), and stop their ravages. The gods themselves are enthralled by this name, and render it obedience.”
Images of demons were used by the Chaldæans as talismans against the attacks of demons. In a magical hymn to the sun against sorcery and witchcraft, and their influence on the worshipper, the sun is reminded that the images of the bad spirits have been shut up in heaps of corn. The invocation concludes:—
“May the great gods, who have created me, take my hand! Thou who curest my face, direct my hand, direct it, lord, light of the universe, Sun.”[207]
In a hymn composed for the cure of some disease, the priest, addressing the god, speaks of the invalid in the third person:—
“As for me, the lord has sent me, the great lord, Hea, has sent me.——— Thou, at thy coming, cure the race of man, cause a ray of health to shine upon him, cure his disease. The man, son of his god, is burdened with the load of his omissions and transgressions. His feet and his hands suffer cruelly, he is painfully exhausted by the disease. Sun, at the raising of my hands, come at the call, eat his food, absorb his victim, turn his weakness into strength.”[208]