Today’s guest at Stuff Ya Didn’t Know Fridays is actually a goddess from Babylonian myths-Lamashtu. She was the daughter of Anu and the most terrible and feared of all of the female demons.
Lamashtu preyed upon unborn babies and newborns, but would take the bood of a man when she could get it. She wasn’t nice to look at either with the head of a lion, the teeth of a donkey, and a very hairy body. Her hands were always bloodstained, and she had the nails and feet of the Imdugud bird.
Lamashtu perpetrated a variety of evil deeds: she disturbed sleep and brought nightmares; she killed foliage and infested rivers and streams; she bound the muscles of men, caused pregnant women to miscarry, and brought disease and sickness. Lamashtu was often portrayed on amulets as a lion- or bird-headed female figure kneeling on an ass; she held a double-headed serpent in each hand and suckled a dog at her right breast and a pig or another dog at her left breast.
Interesting. From the picture, I thought at first it was an Egyptian god. I've never heard of any Babylonian myths. Definitely something I didn't know. She is one scary demon. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming by! Yeah- she isn't someone I'd want prowling around my backyard ;)
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