The mention of djinn (also spelled jinn), or genies as they are referred to in the West, evokes exotic images of the Middle East from stories like Aladdin and the Magical Lamp and other tales from the 1001 Nights.
Ancient djinn
Although the djinn is associated with Islamic culture, folklore, and religion, they have much deeper roots that stretch back millennia. Some scholars believe that the supernatural beings that would come to be known as djinn were first conceptualized as malevolent demons, while others have argued that they were the primordial gods and goddesses (often associated with nature) of ancient peoples such as the Sumerians and Akkadians. These early primitive deities were supplanted by new pantheons of gods and goddesses, and more sophisticated belief systems. However, they were not fully discarded and continued to hold a position as lesser supernatural beings in the cultures of ancient Mesopotamia.
Although the origins of the djinn seem to be in the deserts of Arabia, the belief in them really took form in the villages and cities of the ancient Near East. In fact, despite having a healthy fear of these supernatural beings, the nomads who roamed the deserts feared the djinn much less than the sedentary peoples. The ancient wanderers of the desert were familiar with their environment and its perils. Moreover, the people who settled in the villages and cities of the Fertile Crescent dreaded the remote plains and deserts that represented the perilous unknown.
Pazuzu was a primordial djinn of ancient Mesopotamia. He was a wind demon whom the inhabitants of Sumerian cities feared 6,000 years ago. According to Assyrian and Babylonian mythology, Pazuzu was the son of Hanpa, who was the lord of all the demons, perhaps an ancient equivalent to the Devil. Like the later djinn of the Muslim period, he was depicted as a human-animal hybrid.
He had the head of
