Demons in Mesopotamia

The ancient Mesopotamians believed that the underworld was home to many demons,[14] which are sometimes referred to as "offspring of arali".[14] These demons could sometimes leave the underworld and terrorize mortals on earth.[14] One class of demons that were believed to reside in the underworld were known as galla;[15] their primary purpose appears to have been to drag unfortunate mortals back to Kur.[15] They are frequently referenced in magical texts,[16] and some texts describe them as being seven in number.[16] Several extant poems describe the galla dragging the god Dumuzid into the underworld.[17] Like other demons, however, galla could also be benevolent[17] and, in a hymn from King Gudea of Lagash (c. 2144 – 2124 BCE), a minor god named Ig-alima is described as "the great galla of Girsu".[17]

Lamashtu was a demonic goddess with the "head of a lion, the teeth of a donkey, naked breasts, a hairy body, hands stained (with blood?), long fingers and fingernails, and the feet of Anzû."[18] She was believed to feed on the blood of human infants[18] and was widely blamed as the cause of miscarriages and cot deaths.[18] Although Lamashtu has traditionally been identified as a demoness,[19] the fact that she could cause evil on her own without the permission of other deities strongly indicates that she was seen as a goddess in her own right.[18] Mesopotamian peoples protected against her using amulets and talismans.[18] She was believed to ride in her boat on the river of the underworld[18] and she was associated with donkeys.[18] She was believed to be the daughter of An.[18]

Pazuzu is a demonic god who was well known to the Babylonians and Assyrians throughout the first millennium BCE.[20] He is shown with "a rather canine face with abnormally bulging eyes, a scaly body, a snake-headed penis, the talons of a bird and usually wings."[20] He was believed to be the son of the god Hanbi.[21] He was usually regarded as evil,[20] but he could also sometimes be a beneficent entity who protected against winds bearing pestilence[20] and he was thought to be able to force Lamashtu back to the underworld.[22] Amulets bearing his image were positioned in dwellings to protect infants from Lamashtu[21] and pregnant women frequently wore amulets with his head on them as protection from her.[21]

Šul-pa-e's name means "youthful brilliance", but he was not envisioned as youthful god.[23] According to one tradition, he was the consort of Ninhursag, a tradition which contradicts the usual portrayal of Enki as Ninhursag's consort.[23][24] In one Sumerian poem, offerings made to Šhul-pa-e in the underworld and, in later mythology, he was one of the demons of the underworld.[23]

According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, "In Chaldean mythology the seven evil deities were known as shedu, storm-demons, represented in ox-like form."[25] They were represented as winged bulls, derived from the colossal bulls used as protective jinn of royal palaces.[26]