Lahmu

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Ancient Mesopotamian religion
Ancient Mesopotamian religion
Primordial beings Abzu & Tiamat Lahmu & Lahamu Anshar & Kishar Mummu
Seven gods who decree Four primary Anu Enlil Ki Enki Three sky Ishtar Sin Sama
The great gods Adad Anunnaki Asaruludu Ashnan Enbilulu Enkimdu Ereshkigal Inanna Lahar Nanshe Nergal Nidaba Ningal Ninkasi Ninlil Ninsun Ninurta & his heroic mace Nusku Uttu
Demigods & heroes Adapa Enkidu Enmerkar Geshtinanna Gilgamesh Lugalbanda Shamhat Siduri Tammuz Atra-Hasis
Spirits & monsters Good beings Kingu Kishar Mamitu Siris Zu Evil beings Humbaba Asag Edimmu Hanbi Kur Lamashtu Namtar Pazuzu Rabisu
Tales from Babylon Enûma Eliš Atra-Hasis Marduk & Sarpanit Agasaya Bel Kingu Mami Nabu
Other traditions
Arabian Levantine Near Eastern religions
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Laḫmu or Lache is a deity from Akkadian mythology.

Mythology

Lahmu, "Hairy" is the name of a protective and beneficent deity is a first-born son of Abzu and Tiamat. He and his sister Laḫamu are the parents of Anshar and Kishar, the sky father and earth mother, who birthed the gods of the Mesopotamian Pantheon. Laḫmu is depicted as a bearded man with a red sash-usually with three strands- and four to six curls on his head. He is often associated with the Kusarikku or "Bull-Man." In Sumerian times Laḫmu may have meant "the muddy one". Lahmu guarded the gates of the Abzu temple of Enki at Eridu. He and his sister Laḫamu are primordial deities in the Babylonian Epic of Creation Enuma Elis and Lahmu may be related to or identical with 'Lahamu' one of Tiamat's creatures in that epic.

Some scholars have speculated that the name of Bethlehem actually originally contained a reference to a Canaanite form of Laḫmu, rather than to the Canaanite word for "bread" lehem.

References

• Michael Jordan, Encyclopedia of Gods, Kyle Cathie Limited, 2002
• Black, Jeremy and Green, Anthony. Gods Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia University of Texas Press, Austin, 2003.