Lamashtu is called daughter of Anu in Mesopotamian incantation texts. Her divine parentage made her especially dangerous, as even the gods struggled to restrain her.
Pazuzu, king of the wind demons, was the only force that could drive Lamashtu back to the underworld. Incantation texts describe Pazuzu confronting and expelling Lamashtu from the homes of the living, and his snarling face was hung above cradles as a ward against her predation.
Anu expelled Lamashtu from heaven for her insatiable cruelty, casting his own daughter down to earth where she turned her predation on mortal women and their newborns.
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