Pazuzu

This article is about the Assyro-Babylonian god Pazuzu. For other uses, see Pazuzu (disambiguation).

Assyrian demon Pazuzu, first millennium BC, Louvre Museum.

In Assyrian and Babylonian mythology, Pazuzu (sometimes Fazuzu or Pazuza) was the king of the demons of the wind, 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, eagle-like taloned feet, two pairs of wings, a scorpion's tail, and a serpentine penis. He is often depicted with his right hand pointing upward, and left hand pointing down.

Mythology

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

Wilfred Lambert (1968) identified a fibula with a Pazuzu head at Megiddo and also a Sumerian-Akkadian invocation.

In modern culture

Main article: Pazuzu (The Exorcist)

In the 1971 novel The Exorcist and the movie based on the novel, Pazuzu is supposedly one of the evil spirits that possesses the young girl Regan MacNeil. He reappears in the 1977 sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic. In this movie, 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. In the end, Father Lamont finally defeats the demon and accompanies Regan as she apparently heads toward a life in holy orders.

Pazuzu appears on the album cover of the Gorillaz compilation album D-Sides and as a statue in front of the band's former recording studio, as well as in the promo video for the band's song Dare, the promo video for the song Rockit, and the unmade promo video for Rhinestone eyes.

In his author's bio in the first issue of Warrior magazine in 1982, comic book author Alan Moore claims to be "possessed by the demon Pazuzu."

Pazuzu is the demon that 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).

In the TV series Futurama, Pazuzu is the name of Professor Farnsworth's gargoyle in the 2003 episode Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles.

Also, in the "Goldie," video, by American Rap Artist A$AP Rocky.

External links

• Oriental Institute of Chicago figure of Pazuzu