ABSTRACT
HUMANS HAVE ENJOYED HORROR since the beginning of civilization or perhaps even earlier. Before the “seventh art” of cinema was born, people enjoyed tales that provoke a somehow pleasurable panicky feeling of fear. According to Mesopotamian mythology, the gods created demons and monsters. For instance, Lamassus were human-headed winged oxen that guarded Assyrian palace doorways and gates to frighten away the forces of chaos. Lamashtu was a very fearful creature, represented with a lioness’ head, a donkey’s ears and teeth, and long fi ngers and fi ngernails, that preyed on unborn and newborn children. Pregnant women oft en wore an amulet depicting Pazuzu, who was charged with defending women and infants from Lamashtu. Pazuzu, a good demon, in addition to protecting pregnant women and their children, guarded humans against plagues and malevolent forces. Pazuzu was depicted with a monster’s face and eagle claws. (Paradoxically, Pazuzu is the Mesopotamian demon that has taken possession of Regan in Th e Exorcist). According to the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem from Mesopotamia and regarded as one of the earliest works of literature, the goddess Ishtar convinced her father to send the Bull of Heaven to kill people but Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, and his friend Enkidu were able to stop him. Earlier, the two friends had killed a giant with a hairy face called Humbaba who guarded Cedar Mountain.
