What demoness stalked pregnant women and infants in Mesopotamian belief? Lamashtu was the feared demoness associated with harm to expectant mothers, newborns, and unborn children.
Mesopotamian texts describe Lamashtu as a dangerous supernatural being blamed for miscarriages, infant deaths, illness, nightmares, and other threats to household welfare. She was often portrayed with a lion’s head, donkey’s teeth, a hairy body, long fingers, and the feet of the storm-bird Anzû. These grotesque features emphasized her liminal, nonhuman nature.
Protection against Lamashtu commonly took the form of incantations, rituals, amulets, and figurines. Her principal supernatural opponent was Pazuzu. Although Pazuzu could also bring famine and disease, people invoked his image to repel Lamashtu, especially during childbirth and infancy.
A common mix-up is Lilith, a later Jewish folkloric figure sometimes linked with child danger. Gallu was a class of underworld demon, while Pazuzu was generally the protector against Lamashtu. Lamashtu’s classification also varies: modern summaries call her a demoness, but ancient evidence suggests she could function as an independent goddess-like deity.