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What can you do against Lamashtu?

Related Images

  • Fig. 1 - Hand-drawing of the Lamashtu amulet LB 2927 - F.A.M. Wiggerman, 2000: “Lamashtu, Daughter of Anu. A Profile” in M. Stol, Birth in Babylonian and the Bible. Its Mediterranean Setting, Cuneiform Monographs 14, Groningen, p. 221
  • Fig. 2 - A small statue of Pazuzu, the helpful demon in combating Lamashtu - [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pazuzu_demon_figurine,_Iraq,_Neo-Assyrian_period,_900-612_BC,_bronze_-_Oriental_Institute_Museum,_University_of_Chicago_-_DSC07291.JPG)

Lamashtu could not be killed, so the best people could do was to keep her away. This was done either by using protective amulets or magical spells, often used in tandem. This amulet is an excellent example of this.

However, even though some of the signs on the back of the amulet look like real cuneiform signs (the writing system used in Mesopotamia), nothing is written here: it’s gibberish. We call these “pseudo-inscriptions” and we find them also on other Lamashtu amulets. Apparently people believed that merely the sight of something that looked like a magical spell was enough to ward off Lamashtu!

There were other ways to ward off Lamashtu. Click below to read a real spell.

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