For Jews and Christians in Antiquity beliefs about demons were integral to their reflections on fundamental theological questions, but what kind of ‘being’ did they consider demons to be? To what extent were they thought to be embodied? Were demons thought of as physical entities or merely as metaphors for social and psychological realities? What is the relation between demons and the hypostatization of abstract concepts (fear, impurity, etc) and baleful phenomenon such as disease? These are some of the questions that this volume addresses by focussing on the nature and characteristics of demons — what one might call ‘demonic ontology’.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors Introduction  Hector M. Patmore and Josef Lössl 1 Demonic Exegesis  Hector M. Patmore 2 Δαίμονες and Demons in Hellenistic Judaism: Continuities and Transformations  Anna Angelini 3 The Demon Asmodeus in the Tobit Tradition: His Nature and Character  Beate Ego 4 Paul’s Suprahumanizing Exegesis: Rewriting the Defeat of God’s Enemies in 1 Corinthians, Romans, and Ephesians  John K. Goodrich 5 Courting Daimons in Corinth: Daimonic Partnerships, Cosmic Hierarchies and Divine Jealousy in 1 Corinthians 8–10  Matthew Sharp 6 Demons and Vices in Early Christianity  Tom de Bruin 7 The ‘Demonogony’ of Tatian’s Oratio ad Graecos: Jewish and Greek Influences  Josef Lössl 8 St. Jerome, Demons, and Jewish Tradition  C. T. R. Hayward 9 Demonic “Tollhouses” and Visions of the Afterlife in Pseudo-Cyril of Alexandria’s Homily: De exitu animi  Emmanouela Grypeou 10 The Naked Demon: Alternative Interpretations of the Alexamenos Graffito  Hagit Amirav and Peter-Ben Smit 11 Negotiating Danger: Demonic Manipulations in Jewish Babylonia  Alexander W. Marcus 12 Demons and Scatology: Cursed Toilets and Haunted Baths in Late Antique Judaism  Ilaria Briata 13 The King of Demons in the Universe of the Rabbis  Reuven Kiperwasser 14 The Gender and Sexuality of Demons in the Art of the Aramaic Incantation Bowls  Naama Vilozny Index