Labasu is not preserved in narrative myth as an individual with a birth-story; instead the entity is attested only in lexical, incantation and ritual lists. In bilingual Sumerian–Akkadian lists Labasu is recorded by the Akkadian form labāṣu and by the Sumerian logographic pairing ᵈdìm.me.A, placing it within the technical DÌM/kamad semantic field of harmful, disease-causing beings. The textual record therefore presents Labasu as a technical demon-name within a classificatory system of malefic agents rather than as a character of a cosmogonic narrative.
No consistent, detailed physical iconography or anatomical description of Labasu is preserved in the cited material. In the surviving sources Labasu chiefly appears as a name in enumerations of hostile spirits and in incantation formulas; the corpora that mention it provide no uniform corporeal portrait and treat the entity primarily as an unseen, malefic force responsible for illness.
Textual sources associate Labasu specifically with disease causation, most often in texts treating fever and related sicknesses (scholarly summaries note links to biphasic fevers without jaundice). Labasu functions as an etiological agent invoked in medical-astrological writings, and in anti-witchcraft and expulsion rites it is enumerated among hostile agents that can be adjured, expelled, or ritually transferred. In many tablets Labasu occurs in close association with Lamashtu and Ahhazu, forming a triad of disease-causing spirits in incantatory practice. The corpus treats it as removable or propitiable by ritual action.
Weaknesses
- ritualexpulsion by Maqlû-style anti-witchcraft rites (burning statues, torch rituals)
- ritualadjuration and transfer formulas that reverse the affliction onto its source (Maqlû reversal formulas)
- ritualincantations of the Utukku Lemnutu series (treatment incantations for demon-caused illness)
- ritualadjuration by heaven and earth and substitution of protective spirits (TIM 9 pattern invoking 'good udug' and 'good lama')
Wards
- ritualMaqlû anti-witchcraft ritual (naming, burning of statues, torch rites to destroy images of hostile agents)
- ritualUtukku Lemnutu incantations (recited treatments to remove demon-caused illness)
- ritualSumerian adjuration pattern (TIM 9) that commands all evil beings to stand aside and installs 'good udug' and 'good lama' as guardians
Lamashtu
The most feared demoness of ancient Mesopotamia — a divine daughter of Anu who preyed on pregnant women, caused miscarriages, and killed infants by nursing them with venom.
Akhkhazu
Akhkhazu (also Ahhazu; Sumerian Dimme-kur) is an Akkadian-era Mesopotamian malignant spirit described as a demon of jaundice who 'seizes' victims, brings fever and plagues, and is cited in later summaries as one member of a triad with Labasu and Labartu. Later popular summaries also describe her as preying on nursing infants while mothers slept.
'Ain Samiya Goblet
Silver cup from the Middle Bronze Age I, discovered in a tomb at Ain Samiya. (Note: 1. Power tier should be "None", but add a note explaining that historical artifacts don't fit into the typical power tier classification. 2. Add a description of its appearance based on it being a sil)
A'annepada
A'annepada (Sumerian cuneiform 𒀀𒀭𒉌𒅆𒊒𒁕; also romanized Aanépàdda) is attested as a historical ruler of the First Dynasty of Ur, flourishing c. 2350 BC. He is recorded in dedicatory and foundation inscriptions as king of Ur and as son of Mesannepada, credited with temple-building and dedication to deities such as Ninhursag and Inanna.
Abu
Abu is a poorly understood Mesopotamian god attested in modern reference summaries. Secondary literature tentatively links him with vegetation and snakes and records that he was often paired with a deity written gu2-la2, but primary details about his cult, iconography, and myths are lacking in the cited sources.
Abzû
Abzû (Sumerian abzû; Akkadian Apsû) is the primordial freshwater abyss in Sumerian–Akkadian cosmology: the deep fresh waters that underlie and surround the earth, source of springs, rivers and ritual holy waters, and a creative principle whose mingling with the salt sea (Tiamat) figures in Mesopotamian cosmogony.
Abī-simtī
Abī-simtī (also rendered Abi-simti, Abisimti) is a named woman attested in third-millennium BCE Mesopotamian documentary and literary texts. She appears in administrative account records as a provider of animals and donor to temple cults and in Sumerian love-song literature as the named beloved/consort addressed by a royal speaker.
Adad
Adad (also Hadad, Haddad; Sumerian Iškur) is the storm- and rain-deity attested in ancient Mesopotamian and Canaanite religious contexts. Sources identify him as a principal weather god whose domain is storms and rainfall and whose name appears across multiple Near Eastern languages and sites, including Ebla (as Hadda, c. 2500 BCE).
Adapa
Adapa is a mythic figure from ancient Mesopotamian (Sumerian and Akkadian) literature: a mortal fisherman and temple sage of Ea at Eridu endowed with exceptional wisdom. He appears in a fragmentary tale in which he breaks the wings of the south wind and is summoned to the divine court; his name was later invoked in exorcistic and ritual contexts as an authoritative identity.
Adonis
Adonis is a mythic mortal youth in ancient Greek tradition, beloved by goddesses (notably Aphrodite and Persephone) whose death and seasonal return are the focus of the women’s midsummer festival Adonia. The cultic practices—planting short-lived 'gardens of Adonis' on rooftops, ritual lamentation, and casting an effigy and withered plants into the sea—symbolically link him to vegetation cycles and Near Eastern dying-and-regenerating god traditions.
Adrammelech
Adrammelech is attested in ancient Semitic textual tradition as a local god of 'Sepharvaim.' The name is commonly glossed as "Magnificent king." In modern times the name has been reused in diverse fictional, musical, and online contexts, but those are creative reworkings rather than continuations of the brief ancient attestation.
Aga of Kish
Aga of Kish (Aga, Agga, Akka) is an Early Dynastic Mesopotamian king recorded in the Sumerian King List, the Tummal Inscription, epigraphic objects, and the Sumerian poem "Gilgamesh and Aga." He functions in texts as a historical/legendary political actor who attempted hegemonic demands on Uruk and was ultimately captured and released by Gilgamesh.
Agasaya
Agasaya is presented in modern secondary sources as a little-attested Semitic war goddess who, according to some summaries, was later absorbed as the warrior aspect of the major Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar. The attestation in available materials is sparse and much inferences about her name, attributes, and later influence are explicitly marked speculative in those sources.
Agum II (Agum‑Kakrime)
Agum II (called Agum‑Kakrime in the inscriptionary tradition) is a Kassite-era Babylonian king known from the Agum‑Kakrime Inscription and later copies. He appears in Akkadian inscriptional and king-list traditions as a royal restorer who recovered and reinstalled the cult statue of Marduk and refurbished the É-sagila, presenting himself as a legitimate shepherd‑king and temple benefactor.
Community Record
- [1]Labasu - Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 'Labasu' entry (accessed via provided research notes).wiki
- [2]Akkadian and Sumerian incantation corpora references (Maqlû, Utukku Lemnutu, TIM 9). Passages and line-citations summarised in the provided research notes describing Maqlû (Tablets I, II, V), Utukku Lemnutu (tablets 2–16), and TIM 9, 63.academic
- [3]LBAT 1597 - astral-medical text reference. Reference in research notes to an astral-medical text (LBAT 1597) listing Lamashtu, Labasu and Ahhazu in an astrological-medical context (region of Leo; Venus and Leo mentioned).academic