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Sky God Anu Research Paper

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The earliest known mention of vampires comes from Ancient Mesopotamia, where people feared and respected Lamashtu, Sky God Anu’s daughter and the most terrible of all female demons1. Dimme, as she was called in Sumerian, was frequently blamed for the dominant struggles experienced by the population, such as bringing nightmares, infesting rivers, killing foliage, miscarriages, diseases and even muscle cramps. Yet perhaps the most dreadful of all her evil deeds was murdering unsuspecting men and children to later devour on their flesh and blood, much like the literary vampires. Lamashtu was depicted as a mythological hybrid, meaning that her body consisted of a combination of body parts coming from various animal species, including humans. In Dimme’s case, this meant a lioness’ head, donkey’s ears and teeth, abnormally …show more content…

This is the main aim of this investigation - to identify and discuss the factors which influenced the constantly changing literary and cultural depiction of vampires. What turned the symbol of threat and horror into a mysterious outsider? To answer this question, I decided to look at three of the most influential pieces of vampire literature from the 19th century, including: John Polidori’s The Vampyre, Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Firstly, I will examine and compare the portrayals of each antagonist in their text. I will then compare the literary and folkloric depictions of vampires to see how faithful the writers’ work is to the original lore, as well as identify the possible reasons behind any alterations made by the

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