A clay plaque, six inches tall, was found in the rubble of a house in Nineveh. It shows a creature with a lion’s head and donkey teeth, standing on a boat, gripping snakes in each hand. The inscription calls on the sun god Shamash to bind her. This is a Lamashtu plaque, a stone or clay amulet inscribed with incantations and images of the demoness Lamashtu, used to protect pregnant women and infants from her attacks.
What a Lamashtu Plaque Actually Is
A Lamashtu plaque is a functional magical object. It combines carved or incised imagery with a written spell, intended to trap the attention of the demoness and neutralize her power. The plaque was not decoration. It was a barrier.
Lamashtu herself was a daughter of the sky god Anu. She did not rule the underworld. She roamed the margins, hunting pregnant women and newborns. She would touch the mother’s belly to cause miscarriage, suckle the infant with her poison, and strangle the baby in its crib. The plaque was the household’s answer.
The typical plaque measures between 10 and 20 centimeters. It is made of limestone, clay, or occasionally bronze. The front face shows Lamashtu in full figure, always in profile, always standing on a boat. Around her are apotropaic symbols: the sun disk of Shamash, the crescent of Sin, the star of Ishtar. The text runs in bands, often a command: “O Lamashtu, be adjured by Shamash and his great name.”
Where the Plaque Comes From
Lamashtu first appears in Sumerian incantations around 2500 BCE. The plaques themselves date mostly to the Neo-Assyrian period, roughly 911 to 609 BCE. The best-preserved examples come from the palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh and from the city of Nimrud.
The standard text used on these plaques is known to modern scholars as the “Lamashtu series.” It is a collection of incantations and rituals compiled by the āšipu, the exorcist priests. The series was copied and recopied across centuries. One tablet from the library of Ashurbanipal (K. 2560, now in the British Museum) gives the exact words the priest spoke while placing the plaque: “May she not enter the house, may she not approach the woman in labor.”
The plaques were not mass-produced. Each one was inscribed by a priest for a specific person or household. The name of the mother or the child was sometimes added to the spell.
What the Imagery Means
Every element on a Lamashtu plaque was chosen to control the demon.
The lion head and donkey teeth mark her as a hybrid, a creature outside the natural order. She is not a goddess. She is a monster, and the plaque shows her as such so that the viewer knows what they are dealing with.
The boat is critical. In Mesopotamian cosmology, the underworld was separated from the living world by a river. Lamashtu crossed that river in a boat. The plaque shows her in transit, caught between worlds. She is not yet inside the house. The spell aims to keep her there.
The snakes and scorpion she holds are her weapons. But they also serve as symbols of her domain: the wild, the venomous, the untamed. The plaque does not deny her power. It redirects it.
Around the central figure, the symbols of the great gods form a fence. Shamash the sun god, Sin the moon god, Ishtar the goddess of war and love. Each symbol is a witness. The inscription calls on them to enforce the command.
How the Plaque Was Used
The āšipu performed a ritual to activate the plaque. This happened at the new moon, a time of transition. He recited the incantation, made offerings of flour and oil, and sometimes sacrificed a lamb. The plaque was then placed in the room where the woman would give birth.
The most common position was above the door. Lamashtu was thought to enter through doorways. The plaque faced outward, so that she would see her own image before she saw the mother. The logic was sympathetic: seeing herself, she would be confused or repelled.
Sometimes the plaque was buried under the threshold. In that case, the image faced upward, so that Lamashtu would step on her own face as she crossed. This is a form of sympathetic magic: the demon is literally trampled by her own power.
Women also wore small versions of the plaque as pendants. These were usually made of stone, drilled at the top for a cord. The pendant was worn during pregnancy and removed after the child was weaned.
How It Compares to Other Amulets
The closest parallel is the Pazuzu amulet. Pazuzu was a demon-god who opposed Lamashtu. His amulets show his face or his full body, often with a scorpion tail and wings. Where the Lamashtu plaque shows the demon to control her, the Pazuzu amulet shows her enemy to scare her away. The two were often used together. A Pazuzu head might hang over the bed while a Lamashtu plaque sat above the door.
Later traditions inherited this logic. Jewish amulets against Lilith, another child-stealing female demon, use the same strategy: an image of the demon bound by divine names. The Lamashtu plaque is the oldest known example of this type.
Some modern occultists confuse the plaque with a “cursed object” because of its frightening imagery. It was never cursed. It was a protective tool, as ordinary in its time as a lock on a door.
What People Get Wrong
The most common mistake is calling Lamashtu a goddess. She is a demon, specifically a daughter of Anu. She has no temples, no cult, no offerings of worship. She is bound, not honored.
Another error is treating the plaque as art. It was made to be used. The image and text were not decorative. They were functional. A plaque that was never placed in a doorway was a blank object.
Some assume Pazuzu was evil because of The Exorcist. In Mesopotamia, Pazuzu was a protector. He was frightening to look at, but he was on the side of the household. The Lamashtu plaque and the Pazuzu amulet were allies.
FAQ
What is a Lamashtu plaque?
A stone or clay amulet from ancient Mesopotamia, inscribed with an image of the demoness Lamashtu and a spell to protect pregnant women and infants.
How was a Lamashtu plaque used?
It was placed above doorways or near the bed of a pregnant woman, often after a ritual performed by an exorcist priest. Some were worn as pendants.
What does the imagery on a Lamashtu plaque mean?
The lion head, donkey teeth, snakes, and boat symbolize her monstrous, underworld nature. The surrounding symbols invoke protective gods to enforce the spell.
Is Lamashtu a goddess?
No. She is a demoness, daughter of the sky god Anu, who specifically attacked mothers and infants. She received no worship.
The Lamashtu plaque is a precise tool of ancient protective magic, combining image, word, and ritual to create a barrier against chaos. For more on Mesopotamian amulets, see our guide to Pazuzu amulets and the glossary of Mesopotamian deities. Explore the full mythology hub for related traditions from the ancient world.