An ''urmahlullu'' (

Sumerian language Sumerian is the language of ancient Sumer. It is one of the oldest attested languages, dating back to at least 3000 BC. It is accepted to be a local language isolate and to have been spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, in the area that is modern-day ...

: ur-maḫ lu₂-lu₇) is a fictitious and mythological lion-centaur hybrid creature. They are quadrupedal felines from the waist down and humanoids from the waist up, and have appeared in the folklore and myths of several cultures of antiquity, as well as in European art of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance.

Ancient Assyria and Mesopotamian Culture

The urmahlullu ("untamed lion man") is a mythical ancient

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

n beast with a

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

centaur A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse. Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...

appearance. It was sometimes depicted as holding a club and wearing a cap of divinity. A guardian spirit, its image was used to ward against various malign demons, including the winged death demon Mukīl rēš lemutti and the lavatory demon

Šulak In the Babylonian magico-medical tradition, Šulak is the lurker of the bathroom or the demon of the privy. Šulak appears in the Babylonian ''Diagnostic Handbook'' (Tablet XXVII), in which various diseases are described and attributed to the "han ...

.A.R. George (2015). ON BABYLONIAN LAVATORIES AND SEWERS. Iraq, 77, pp 75-106 doi:10.1017/irq.2015.9 Statues of Urmahlullu were sometimes placed outside lavatories, such as those in

Nineveh Nineveh (; akk, ; Biblical Hebrew: '; ar, نَيْنَوَىٰ '; syr, ܢܝܼܢܘܹܐ, Nīnwē) was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul in northern Iraq. It is located on the eastern ban ...

's North Palace, or buried on either side of the lavatory door in homes wealthy enough to have lavatories on the premises. Urmahlullu also appear on Assyrian cylinder seals.

Indus Valley and Harappan Culture

Urmahlullu also appear in cylinder and square seals found in excavations of the Indus Valley city-state of Kalibangan. In one scene, a researcher describes a lion-centaur goddess wearing a head-dress with a long pendant whose body merges with that of the tiger. This goddess is associated with the later Hindu goddess of war.A 2013 book of academic papers—specifically, the paper, "Regional Diversity in the Harappan World: The Evidence of the Seals" by Marta Ameri
chapter 19 pages 365-366 figure K-50A

Medieval Europe

At this time known as sagittarius, lion-centaurs appear a

i

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and a

Etienne de Blois, later King Stephen of England

and was known as "The Sagittary of London Park."

References

{{Reflist Mesopotamian legendary creatures Mythological human hybrids