with peculiar power, and again by means of certain
rites of an expiatory or purificatory character. Next, we have the
demons supposed to inhabit the fields, and to whom the ground is
supposed to belong. These were imaged under various animal forms,
serpents and scorpions being the favorite ones. When possession was
taken of the field, the spirits inhabiting it had to be propitiated. The
owner placed himself under their protection, and endeavored to insure
his rights against wrongful encroachment by calling upon the demons to
range themselves on his side. It was customary, especially in the case
of territory acquired by special grant of the monarch, or under
extraordinary circumstances, to set up a so-called boundary stone,[213]
on which the owner of the field detailed his right to possession,
through purchase or gift, as the case may be. This inscription closed
with an appeal to various gods to strike with their curses any intruder
upon the owner's rights. In addition to this, the stones are embellished
with serpents, scorpions, unicorns, and various realistic or fantastic
representations of animal forms. These, it would seem, symbolize the
spirits, the sight of which, it was hoped, might act as a further and
effectual warning against interference with the owner's rights.[214]

A special class of demons is formed by those which were supposed to
infest the resting-places of the dead, though they stand in a certain
relationship to the demons that plague the living. A remarkable monument
found a number of years ago, and which will be fully described in a
subsequent chapter, affords us a picture of some of these demons whose
sphere of action is more particularly in the subterranean cave that
forms the gathering-place of the dead. They are represented as half
human, half animal, with large grotesque and terror-inspiring
features.[215] Their power, however, is limited. They are subject to the
orders of the gods whose dominion is the lower world, more particularly
to Nergal and his consort Allatu. In the advanced eschatology of the
Babylonians the demons play a minor part. It is with the gods that the
dead man must make his peace. Their protection assured, he has little to
fear; but the demons of the lower world frequently ascend to the upper
regions to afflict the living. Against them precautions must be taken
similar to the means employed for ridding one's self of the baneful
influence of the disease-and pain-bringing spirits