Lamashtu

Lamashtu was a daughter of AN. She resided in Kur, riding on a river by boat with a donkey. She was stigmatized for feeding on the blood of human infants.

Iconography
Lamashtu was depicted as having a "head of a lion, the teeth of a donkey, naked breasts, a hairy body, hands stained (with blood?), long fingers and fingernails, and the feet of Anzû." She was widely blamed as the cause of miscarriages and cot deaths (Sudden infant death syndrome). Mesopotamian peoples protected against her using amulets and talismans. Many cultures and religions believe that the soul lives in the blood, and by drinking the blood of anything you take that soul into you. The practice of blood consumption was often motivated by the quest for immortality. In the influential Sumerian myth of Kiskil-lilla, (the later Semitic Lilith demon) she is described as a mother who devours her children in order that she may live forever. The ancient cult practice of consuming the pure blood of infants, allegedly performed by secret societies, has notably found its way in modern science through blood transfusion techniques. (See also: Mythopedia, Ambrosia)
 * Blood consumption


 * Donkey