View source for Alal

{{Short description|One of the names of a Moon goddess}}
{{Unreferenced|date=February 2025}}
In [[Mesopotamian myths]], the '''alal''' was a kind of [[demon]] that, to tempt men, came out of the Underworld and took various forms, temptations that the inhabitants of Babylonia were able to reject by means of amulets.

The Chaldean-Assyrian art represents these spirits in the form of horrible [[monster]]s, as in the [[bas-relief]]s of the Palace of [[Ashurbanipal]] in [[Nineveh]] (now [[Iraq]]), today in the [[British Museum]]) and in small bronzes and clay tablets cooked in the shape of a [[cylinder]], [[cone (geometry)|cone]], or stamp.

Generally these demons are seen as [[theriocephaly|theriocephalous]], with a human body and the head of a [[lion]] with open jaws, the ears of a dog and mane of a [[horse]]. The feet are frequently replaced by bird claws of prey.

== References ==
* {{cite journal |last1=Clermont-Ganneau |first1=Ch. |title=ÉTUDES D'ARCHÉOLOGIE ORIENTALE L'ENFER ASSYRIEN |journal=Revue Archéologique |date=1879 |volume=38 |pages=337–349 |jstor=41735628 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Perrot|first1=Georges|authorlink1=Georges Perrot|last2=Chipiez|first2=Charles|authorlink2=Charles Chipiez|title=Histoire de l'art dans l'antiquité ...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=deFZAAAAYAAJ|year=1903|publisher=Hachette et Cie}}
* {{cite book|author=Gaspar y Roig (Madrid)|title=Mitología universal: historia y esplicación &#91;sic&#93; de las ideas religiosas y teológicas de todos los siglos, de los dioses de la India, El Thibet, La China, El Asia, El Egipto, La Grecia y el mundo romano, de las divinidades de los pueblos eslavos, escandinavos y germanos, de la idolatria y el fetichismo americanos y africanos, etc|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xb5tHNLagAYC&pg=PA193|year=1864|publisher=Imp. y Libr. de Gaspar y Roig|page=193}}

== See also ==
* [[Pazuzu]]
* [[Lamashtu]]

[[Category: Mesopotamian demons]]

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