This Year, Don't Forget About Lamashtu!

It's Halloween again. Here in North America, the date is marked with costumes and candy. The yards of our city are littered with the symbolism of fear. On my walk earlier today, I spotted Styrofoam tombstones, inflatable undead, plastic dismembered arms, spray-on spider webs (a spider's deathtrap), carrion crows and rats, dancing skeletons, and pumpkins carved with the faces of evil so as to ward it off.

But nowhere did I see an image of Lamaštu, that most feared of Babylonian evils.

Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamashtu

 

Lamaštu was one of the most dreadful beings of the Ancient Near East. She was sometimes called a demon, but like all Babylonian demons she defies easy classification in modern terms. She was the daughter of Anu, the father of the gods, but she was an outcast and a hybrid. She was often ranked among the Utukku (evil spirits) - not because she was born before the ordering of the universe like they were, but because her evil and rebellious plan to eat mankind for dinner put the gods in mind of evil spirits. For this, she was demoted from the rank of goddess to the rank of utukku, given a canine's head by Enlil, and thrown out of heaven.

There is no catalogue of her activities on earth, though she is quite famous for sucking the breath of newborns from their young bodies, thereby causing crib death. She could be turned away by showing her her own image, or that of the demon Pazuzu.

Those who could afford such things could hire an exorcist to ward her off with an incantation. Several such have been immortalized on clay tablets. If you haven't place a likeness of Lamaštu on your front yard this year, you might consider lighting a few candles, offering up a pure white lamb, and reciting one of these incantations for protection. These first two incantations against Lamaštu are quite old and come from early Aššur:

“She is singular, she is uncanny,
She is a child born late in life, she is a phantasm,
She is haunt, she is malicious,
Offspring of a god, daughter of Anu.
For her malevolent will, for her base counsel,
Anu her father dashed her down from heaven to earth,
for her malevolent will, her inflamatory council.
Her hair is askew, her loincloth is torn away.
She makes her was straight to the person without a god.
She can benumb the sinews of a lion, she can still the sinews of a youngster or infant.”

“She is furious, she is terrifying,
She is uncanny, she has an awful glamour,
She is a she-wolf, the daughter of Anu,
Her dwelling in is the grass,
Her lair is in the weeds.
She holds back the full-grown youth in rapid progress,
She yanks out by the breech the premature child,
She brains little babies,
She makes the witnesses swallow the birth fluids.
This spell is not mine; it is a spell of Ninkilim, master of spells.
Ninkarak cast it so I took it up.*"

[Source: Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature

Benjamin R. Foster, Third Edition 2005 CDL Press. 1044 pp.]

*Here I think this refers to Ningirin, goddess of incantations, as the composer of the spell, rather than Ninkilim, goddess of mice and rodents. Ninkarak was a name for the healing goddess, Gula. These lines mean that Ningirin composed the incantation, Ninkarak cast it, and the scribe recorded it.

This third incantation is a little younger and comes from Akkad.

“Anu begot her, Ea reared her,
Enlil doomed her the face of a lioness.
She is furious. She is long of the hand, longer still of the nail.
Her forearms are smeared with blood.
She came right in the front door, slithering over the door frame
She has caught sight of the baby!
Seven seizures has she done him in his belly!
Pluck out your nails! Let loose your arms!
Before he gets to you, valiant Ea, sage of the magical art,
The door frame is big enough for you; the doors are open.
Come, then, begone into the open country!
I will surely fill your mouth with sand, your face with dust,
Your mouth with finely ground mustard seeds!
I exorcise you by Ea's curse: you must be gone!”

[Source: Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature
Benjamin R. Foster, Third Edition 2005 CDL Press. 1044 pp.]

Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamashtu

 

Another juicy spell can be found in Karen Nemet-Nejat's wonderful introductory book: Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia.

“She comes up from the swamp,
is fierce, terrible, forceful, destructive, powerful:
(and still) she is a goddess, awe inspiring.
Her feet are those of an eagle, her hands mean decay.
Her fingernails are long, her armpits unshaven...
The daughter of Anu counts the pregnant women daily,
follows on the heels of those about to give birth.
She counts their months, marks their days on the wall.
Against those just giving birth she casts a spell:
“Bring me your sons, let me nurse them. 

In the mouth of your daughters I want to place my breast!”
She loved to drink bubbling human blood,
(eats) flesh not to be eaten, (picks) bones not to
be picked. (From Lamaštu series, Tablet 1)"

[Source: Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia

Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat, 1998 Hendrickson Publishers. 346pp.]

OK, let's face it: it's probably too late for you to protect yourself for Halloween this year. But if you're still around next Halloween, why not throw up a likeness of Lamaštu on the front lawn? You'll be well protected, and who knows? Maybe even, like the local woman who last year strung headless Barbie dolls like garlands from tree to tree over her front walkway, become the talk of the town!