The banner outside the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at NYU doesn’t pull any punches. 

It features a scary looking amulet head depicting a guy who was known as King of the Evil Wind Demons.

“This is the demon Pazuzu, who is very famous for being the demon in The Exorcist,” said Dr. Carl Walsh, Archaeologist and Curator at the Institute, referring to the classic horror film from 1973. 

Pazuzu was known to the people of Ancient Mesopotamia, and was invoked to battle the Demoness Lamashtu, who supposedly had an appetite for children The amulets are just some of the items in the exhibition at the  institute’s galleries on the Upper East Side. It’s called “Cursed! The Power of Magic in the Ancient World.” It’s all about the role of magic in ancient societies, where it wasn’t neccessarily tied to the occult, witchcraft or curses, but more a part of everyday life.   

“It was a way of navigating things like childbirth and protecting children from things like snakebites and scorpion stings or just trying to make sure that you know like you have good luck in the legal courts or even finding love and things like that so they connect also with the everyday needs that I think we all relate to today as well,” said Walsh. 

There is a priest’s handbook of spells from Egypt during the Roman Empire, a pendant amulet to protect against the evil eye, a miniature coffin with a curse figure from Ancient Greece and a mixing vessel with a story from the Odyssey and the sorceress Circe.

“This is kind of capturing this moment in the story where Odysseus has realized his men have all been turned into swine, and then he has to basically kind of outwit Circe and force her to turn his men back into men,” said Walsh.   

So there’s the mythology, but also everyday items like an amulet to influence a legal case. 

The exhibition is all about giving visitors a better understanding of how people in the past lived, so they can better relate to them. 

“I think this exhibition does a really good job of thinking of these things that are really connected with people, and what they are doing and their beliefs,” said Walsh. 

Cursed will be on display through Dec. 13. Plan your visit via the website.