User:Orcahasenteredthechat/Hybrid beasts in folklore

Ancient Middle East
Mythological hybrids became very popular in Luwian and Assyrian art of the Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age. The angel (human with birds' wings, see winged genie) the mermaid (part human part fish, see Enki, Atargatis, Apkallu) and the Shedu all trace their origins to Assyro-Babylonian art. In Mesopotamian mythology the urmahlullu, or lion-man served as a guardian spirit, especially of bathrooms.

The Old Babylonian Lilitu demon, particularly as shown in the Burney Relief (part-woman, part-owl) prefigures the harpy/siren motif.

My additional information

Harpies were human sized birds with the faces of human women. They were once considered beautiful creatures but over time were then considered to be ugly and hideous creatures. Harpies were used for torture, their most known torture was that of Phineus who was said to have offended the heavens. They would torture their victims by taking food from them and polluting what was left with their feces. They would leave just enough for their victims to stay alive.