Amuleto con la imagen de Lamashtu

fuente foto: British Museum
Amuleto con la imagen de Lamashtu.
Mesopotamia. 800 antes de C

A demonic divinity who preys on mothers and children

This is a protective image of Lamashtu, a fearsome female divinity of the underworld, intended to keep evil at bay. Although she is usually described in modern works as a demon, the writing of her name in cuneiform suggests that in Babylonia and Assyria she was regarded as a kind of goddess. Unlike the majority of demons, who acted only on the commands of the gods, Lamashtu practised evil apparently for its own sake and on her own initiative. There is a cuneiform incantation on the reverse to frighten her away.