In Mesopotamian mythology, Pazuzu (sometimes Fazuzu or Pazuza) was the king of the demons of the wind, and son of the god Hanbi, the father of Pazuzu, Enki and Humbaba. He also represented the southwestern wind, the bearer of storms and drought.
The exact meaning of his name is uncertain: the common translation is “Lord of the Earth”: the Sumerian en is translated as a title equivalent to “lord”; it was originally a title given to the High Priest; ki means “earth”; but there are theories that ki in this name has another origin, possibly kig of unknown meaning, or kur meaning “mound”.
Humbaba was the guardian of the Cedar Forest, where the gods lived, by the will of the god Enlil, who “assigned [Humbaba] as a terror to human beings.”
A sculpture of the demon god Pazuzu is installed in two parts at the Institiute of Contemprary Art (ICA) on October 9, 2008 in London. The sculpture forms part of the Suillakku exhibition featuring the work of Italian artist Roberto Cuoghi. The work, in the Lower Gallery at the ICA, takes the form of a huge sound installation in which the artist took an imaginary journey back in time to the sixth century BC to the Mesopotamia of the ancient Assyrians. In this aural landscape visitors to the gallery will be surrounded by the voices of hundreds of people.
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