http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201204/monsters.from.mesopotamia.htm
People have long used fear as a tool to
entertain.
Tales of monsters have been with us since the dawn of time.
They are part of every people’s traditions and folklore, whether told around a
prehistoric campfire or projected on a wide screen with digital sound for
21st-century audiences.
The Epic of
Gilgamesh, shown here in part of the 11th tablet, mentions several types of
monsters, and an older Sumerian tale says Gilgamesh's father was a Lillu, or
blood-sucking demon.
In all the stories, the monsters take their shapes
from our fears of the unknown—be it apprehensions about nocturnal noises from a
forest, or worries over the ominous intentions of races in far-off lands
described by returning sailors. Evidently, some monsters that first materialize
on a remote continent find ways to migrate to one’s own land and take up
residence in a nearby wilderness or wasteland.
Read on...
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