Exorcism

[Carlton Bach]

But does the 'possessed' person know they are possessed?

These days they usually do. Exporcisms tend to be performed on willing patients (though there have been a few less than savoury cases among some Free Churchers)

In Antiquity, I would suspect exorcism was less common than later. The concept existed (I very much doubt that it was limited to the Christian population, though their writings are ourt main source for it). However, the ancient world by and large had a much more sanguine approach to spiritual beings, and occasionally being ridden by a demon was not necessarily a bad thing in their eyes (check out what Socrates has to say on his daimon). That meant all manner of strange behaviour could be ascribed to powers that were neutral or even positive, not automatically evil. While Christian mysticism could integraste a considerable variety of behaviours (many of which would have people institutionalised today), it was not this accommodating.