19 november 2026 | Ancient Egyptian exorcism and demonology

Ancient Egyptian exorcism and demonology: texts, practices, and interpretations Exorcism and demons are terms we increasingly associate with the realm of fiction and entertainment. However, for many people, both today and in the past, they have represented a reality rooted in religious beliefs and the need to narrate and portray suffering and illness. Exorcism has long posed an interpretative challenge for scholars, straddling the boundary between religion, magic and medicine. As many other ancient cultures, ancient Egypt provides numerous examples of rituals and incantations used to cure patients of illnesses of demonic origin. The approach most commonly used by scholars to interpret these sources is the psychopathological one, or that of ‘retrospective diagnosis’, which regards the figure of the demon as a simple representation of the illness itself. This lecture will seek to examine this interpretation critically, drawing on the available textual and material sources, with the aim of clarifying the role of exorcism in Egyptian culture and society, and of understanding to what extent modern definitions and categories can be applied to the ancient context. Through the analysis of texts, rituals, and practices, the seminar will address the problem of the definition of demon and exorcism within the Egyptian culture, the characteristics of possession in comparison with other religious tradition, the relationship with the healing and religious practice, and the development of the phenomenon through time. Exorcism will thus emerge as a complex and evolving practice, widely present in the everyday life of the inhabitants of the Nile Valley and deeply integrated in ancient Egyptian worldview. Gabriele Mario Conte is postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pisa, within the frame of the project “SENEB – Medicine as Social Practice: An Archaeology of Health and Diseases in Ancient Egypt”. Previously, he obtained his PhD at the University of Pisa with a project on ancient Egyptian demonology and exorcism, recently published by Brepols. Before his current position, he was also a postdoctoral fellow at the Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale and the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, Research Centre in Cairo. His main interests are ancient Egyptian language, religion, magic and medicine, with a particular focus on the cultural and social dimension of healing practice.