Demons, Mummies, and Ancient Curses: Should the British Museum Be Afraid?

The British museum already teems with spooky objects. Could an ancient Assyrian artwork prove one curse too many?

Is the British Museum afraid of an ancient Assyrian curse?

Surely not. The famous Bloomsbury museum possesses many spooky treasures that it displays without so much as a shudder. Its collection of Egyptian mummies is the stuff of Hammer horror. It possesses the magical accessories of the Elizabethan magus John Dee and a bronze Mesopotamian demon that fans of The Exorcist will have no trouble recognising as Pazuzu. Yet it is apparently unlikely to place a bid at Bonhams in London on 3 April for a fragment of an Assyrian stele that carries a curse written in cuneiform, even though it owns the other part of the relic. Read more