The evocation of spirits, especially in the form of necromancy, is an important branch of the demonology of many peoples; and the peculiarities of trance mediumship, which seem sufficiently established by modern research, go far to explain the vogue of this art.
Especially complicated was the ancient Babylonian demonology; all the petty annoyances of life - a sudden fall, a headache, a quarrel - were set down to the agency of fiends; all the stronger emotions - love, hate, jealousy and so on - were regarded as the work of demons; in fact so numerous were they, that there were special fiends for various parts of the human body - one for the head, another for the neck, and so on.
An exuberant demonology admitted all kinds of interfering causes in the field of human life.
The attempt to harmonize the Stoic demonology with Roman religion led to the Lares being compared with the Greek "heroes" during the period of Greco-Roman culture, and the word is frequently translated ilpcoEs.
But an account of such ceremonies belongs rather to demonology than to the history of the worship of Manes, which are peaceful, well-conducted and beneficent beings, endowed and, so to speak on the foundation, like the Christian souls for whose masses money has been left.