archaeologicalnews:

An ancient drawing of a demon blamed for epileptic seizures has been discovered on a 2,700-year-old Assyrian clay tablet.

University of Copenhagen Assyriologist Troels Pank Arbøll was examining a tablet of ancient writing at the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin when he noticed the drawing of the demon — portrayed with horns, a tail and a snake-like forked tongue.

The tablet came from the library of a family of exorcists who lived in about 650 B.C. in the city of Assur, now in northern Iraq, Arbøll said. But it’s likely it was copied from a much older text. 

The tablet is written in cuneiform — a very early system of letters formed by pressing a triangular stylus into softened clay. Read more.