Demons of Abortion

In the myth and folklore of the Near East and Europe, Abyzou (Akkadian: 𒁹 𒄷 𒈫 𒁇 Dap.bi.zu) is the name of a female demon. Abyzou was blamed for miscarriages and infant mortality and was said to be motivated by envy (Greek: φθόνος phthonos), as she herself was infertile. In the Coptic Egypt she is identified with Alabasandria, and in Byzantine culturewith Gylou, but in various texts surviving from the syncretic magical practice of antiquity and the early medieval era she is said to have many or virtually innumerable names.

Abyzou (also spelled Abizou, Obizu, Obizuth, Obyzouth, Byzou etc.) is pictured on amulets with fish- or serpent-like attributes. Her fullest literary depiction is the compendium of demonology known as the Testament of Solomon, dated variously by scholars from as early as the 1st century AD to as late as the 4th.

The names of Abyzou

In one magic-related text, the archangel Michaelconfronts Abyzou and compels her to tell him the 40 names that can control her.

In magico-religious practice, the knowledge of the secret name of a deity, divine force, or demon offers power over that entity.

In the Testament of Solomon, the demon herself declares that she has ten-thousands of names and forms, and that Raphael is her antithesis. She says that if her name is written on a scrap of papyrus when a woman is about to give birth, "I shall flee from them to the other world."

Variants on the name of Abyzou appear frequently in charms in languages such as ancient Greek, Hebrew, and Romanian.

Gyllou, Gylou, Gello

Main article: Gello

The female childbirth demon appears frequently in magical texts under her Babylonian name Gyllou or Gylou. In one Greek tale set in the time of "Trajan the King", Gyllou under torture reveals her "twelve and a half names":

My first and special name is called Gyllou; the second Amorphous; the third Abyzou; the fourth Karkhous; the fifth Brianê; the sixth Bardellous; the seventh Aigyptianê; the eighth Barna; the ninth Kharkhanistrea; the tenth Adikia; …the twelfth Myia; the half Petomene.

In medieval texts, one of Gylou's twelve and a half names is given as Anabardalea, a name also associated with Abyzou

Lamashtu, “she who erases”, touched her stomach seven times to kill the child

Over the centuries, pregnancy has appeared to be a dangerous and often even lethal period of life, with many diseases threatening both mother and child. In modern times these diseases are often well recognised and may be adequately treated, with sufficient medical expertise and the appropriate political situation.

In ancient Mesopotamia, the source of pregnancy and childbirth associated pathology was sought in demonology. One specific demon, in particular, was held responsible for diseases of this sort, namely, Lamashtu (Akkadian): “she who erases”.

Daughter of Anu, one of the greater gods, her appearance was as terrible as her work. Equipped with a hairy human body, the head of a lioness, teeth and ears of a donkey, and bird feet with sharp talons, she is often shown standing or kneeling on a donkey, nursing a pig and dog, and holding snakes. Her work included poisoning water with disease, killing plants, bringing nightmares, and causing tetanus in addition to persistent fevers.

However, Lamashtu's principle victims were unborn. Slipping into the house of a pregnant woman, she tried to touch the woman's stomach seven times to kill the child. She would poison newborns by abducting the child from its wet nurse and feeding it with it her own toxic milk. Mothers could also be killed, and she sometimes ate the flesh and drank the blood of adult men, although it is not stated whether they were the fathers or just randomly picked individuals. Recently, the long term mortality of mothers and fathers after pre-eclampsia was studied in a population based cohort.

Although women with pre-eclampsia had a higher long term risk of death, the survival of fathers involved in pre-eclampsia complicated pregnancies was not shortened in any way compared with fathers not involved in this kind of pregnancy.