@misc{Nowicki_Stefan_Incarnation_2013, author={Nowicki, Stefan}, copyright={Copyright by Stefan Nowicki}, howpublished={online}, year={2013}, publisher={Instytut Studiów Klasycznych, Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych}, language={eng}, language={pol}, abstract={Only very few pieces of source evidence testify to the existence of the concept of incarnation in the understanding of contemporary people in Mesopotamian culture. Descriptions of incarnation appear with unusual rarity in cuneiform texts, while the carnality of beings belonging to the supernatural world is continually emphasised. In ancient Mesopotamia, although people allowed for the possibility of incarnation, it was limited to a divine spirit animating cult statues, or the possession of a human body by a ghost which was unable to find appeasement after death. Because there exists such scant testimony regarding belief in incarnation, we can recognise the belief in the physicality and carnality of all beings, which abrogated the need for gods, demons and spirits to make an additional intervention in manifesting themselves in carnal form.}, title={Incarnation or carnality? Manifestations of the supernatural world in the human world in Mesopotamian ritualistic texts}, keywords={ancient Mesopotamia, Sumerian literature, Akkadian literature}, }