Lamashtu
Lamashtu is a demonic Mesopotamian deity described with the head of a lion, the teeth of a donkey, naked breasts, a hairy body, hands stained with blood, long fingers and fingernails, and the feet of Anzû. She was believed to feed on the blood of human infants and was widely blamed as the cause of miscarriages and cot deaths. Although traditionally identified as a demoness, she could cause evil on her own without permission from other deities, indicating she was seen as a goddess in her own right.
↻ synthesized from 3 sources
When
- First attested
- 3000 BCE
- Attested period
- -3000 – 0
- Historical notes
- Mesopotamian deity attested in Akkadian and Sumerian sources; protected against using amulets and talismans.
Relationships
- co occurs with
- Enlil, Sharabha, Apis, Buraq, Lakhmu, Hanbi, Lilith, centaur, cherubim, Ziz, mermaids, jinn, Minotaur, griffins, Pegasus, sphinxes, manticore, Anzû, Harpy, Simurgh, Thunderbird, Pamola, Yali, Kamadhenu, Chimera
- enemy of
- Pazuzu
- syncretized with
- Inanna
Mentioned by
- Lilith
- centaur
- cherubim
- Ziz
- mermaids
- jinn
- Minotaur
- griffins
- Pegasus
- sphinxes
- manticore
- Anzû
- Harpy
- Simurgh
- Thunderbird
- Pamola
and 6 more
Sources
Source passages
“An Akkadian incantation and ritual against Lamashtu is edited in Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments vol. 2 (1988). It is glossed as an 'incantation to dispel lasting fever and Lamashtu'.”
#6793 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5
“Lamashtu, ancient Mesopotamian female demons”
#11117 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“Ritual texts from Uruk state that a woman could be given a bronze necklace or amulet of Pazuzu in order to protect her from miscarrying via the interference of Lamashtu.”
#34034 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001