Pazuzu

Bronze statuette of Pazuzu, circa 800 BC –- circa 700 BC, Louvre Museum.

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Ancient Mesopotamian religion
Primordial beings Abzu and Tiamat Lahmu and Lahamu Anshar and Kishar Mummu
Seven gods who decree Four primary Anu Enlil Enki Ninhursag Three sky gods Inanna/Ishtar Nanna/Sin Utu/Shamash
Other major gods Adad Dumuzid/Tammuz Enkimdu Ereshkigal Kingu Geshtinanna Lahar Marduk Nergal Ninurta
Minor gods Agasaya Anunnaki Asaruludu Ashnan Bel Enbilulu Geshtinanna Lahar Mami/Nintu Mamitu Nabu Namtar Nanshe Nidaba Ningal Ninkasi Ninlil Ninsun Nusku Sarpanit Uttu
Demigods and heroes Adapa Enkidu Enmerkar Gilgamesh Lugalbanda Shamhat Siduri Atra-Hasis
Spirits and monsters Utukku Lamassu/Shedu Asakku Edimmu Siris Anzû Humbaba Asag Hanbi Kur Lamashtu Pazuzu Rabisu
Tales Atra-Hasis Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta Enûma Eliš Epic of Gilgamesh
Related topics
Ancient Near Eastern religions Sumerian religion Babylonian religion

In Assyrian and Babylonian mythology, Pazuzu (sometimes Fazuzu or Pazuza) was the king of the demons of the wind, brother of Humbaba and son of the god Hanbi. He also represented the southwestern wind, the bearer of storms and drought.

Iconography

Pazuzu is often depicted as a combination of diverse animal and human parts. He has the body of a man, the head of a lion or dog, talons of an eagle, two pairs of wings, and a scorpion's tail.

Mythology

Pazuzu is the demon of the southwest wind known for bringing famine during dry seasons, and locusts during rainy seasons. Pazuzu was invoked in apotropaic amulets, which combat the powers of his rival,^[1] the malicious goddess Lamashtu, who was believed to cause harm to mother and child during childbirth. Although Pazuzu is, himself, considered to be an evil spirit, he drives and frightens away other evil spirits, therefore protecting humans against plagues and misfortunes.

In modern culture

• In the 1971 novel The Exorcist and the film based on the novel, Pazuzu is supposedly the evil spirit that possesses the young girl Regan MacNeil. He reappears in the 1977 sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic. In this film, Pazuzu is both named as the demon antagonist of Regan MacNeil and the unwitting helper of Father Philip Lamont (played by Richard Burton), as he seeks to finally free Regan from his hold.
• Pazuzu appears on the album cover of the Gorillaz compilation album D-Sides, as a statue in front of the band's former recording studio, in the music videos for the band's songs "Dare" and "Rockit".
• Pazuzu is mentioned in the Simon Necronomicon, a publication of Avon Books that purports to document incantations to invoke "incredible things, beings, and monsters into visible form". He is described therein as "Lord of all fevers and plagues, grinning Dark Angel of the Four Wings, horned, with rotting genitalia," and as the "brother of HUMWAWA". The book claims that he is among the most fearsome of all entities, stating in part: "It is the able magician indeed who can remove PAZUZU once he has laid hold of a man, for PAZUZU lays hold unto death."^[2] Although the book makes the claim that Pazuzu (like all entities listed therein) was of Sumerian origin, critics John Wisdom Gonce III and Daniel Harms document the erroneous nature of such a claim, stating: "Likewise, the demon Pazuzu does not appear in myth until Assyria's rise in the first millennium B.C., long after Sumer's prime ... Thus the beings of the Simon Necronomicon bear little resemblance to either Sumerian myth or Lovecraftian fiction."^[3]
• Pazuzu is the demon that allegedly haunts Adèle Blanc-Sec in Tardi's graphic novel The Demon of the Eiffel Tower (Le Démon de la tour Eiffel, 1976). Pazuzu also appears in "Mummies on Parade" ("Momies en folie", 1978).^[4]

See also

• Enlil
• Edimmu
• Ugallu
• Umū dabrūtu

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pazuzu.

• Figure of Pazuzu - Oriental Institute of Chicago
• Bronze head of Pazuzu - British Museum Highlights
• Pazuzu: Beyond Good and Evil - Metropolitan Museum of Art