I wanted to take a moment to ponder the ever increasing fantasy novels that being made into 'childrens' movies and role playing games.
There is a popular card collecting game called Magic the Gathering that is out. Some will say it doesn't come with its own entourage of demonics while others say it does. I'm studying The Two Babylons right now and looked up information on the city of Nineveh. I found that that 'great city' was 'guarded' by bull/men with wings. These are called either shedu or lammasu. Here is a quote:
The bull man is a demon from Mesopotamian mythology. He is a human above the waist and a bull below the waist. He also has the horns and the ears of a bull.
The bull man helps people fight evil and chaos. He holds the gates of dawn open for the sun god Shamash and supports the sun disc. He is often shown on Cylinder Seals.
It appears frequently in Mesopotamian art, sometimes with wings. Statues of the bull-man were often used as gatekeepers. Over time it evolved into a friendly, protective demon.
In Akkadian, he is called Gud-elim, or "The Horned Bull".
Lammasu and shedu are two distintct types of good-aligned creatures in the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Lammasu also appear in the Magic: The Gathering trading card game as the white card Hunted Lammasu in the Ravnica: City of Guilds expansion.
In Demon: The Fallen the lammasu are a house of fallen angels; see Houses in Demon: The Fallen. Lammasu is also a large bull-like creature in service of the Chaos Dwarfs in Warhammer Fantasy Battle.
A bull with a man's head is found among the creatures that make up Aslan's army in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Like the mythical shedu, the bull-man fights evil in the form of the White Witch's army.
In Alexander, Lamassu are seen at the Ishtar Gate in Babylon.
Harmless childrens' movies and games? I personally don't think so. Here's a witness for you -
My husband and I get Netflix movies. I decided to check out Chronicals of Narnia, so I put it on the list. I received an e-mail that said in part, "Chronicals of Narnia shipped today". The next day I received an e-mail that said in part, "Chronicals of Narnia returned, thank you, please rate the movie." Even though the movie is highly acclaimed in christian circles we believe Yahuah let us know in no uncertain terms that movie is unacceptable for us to watch.
Has anyone else found relics from Babylon in other places than 'just' modern religious beliefs?
~d