* CommonKnowledge: Tiamat is generally thought of as a dragon. While she did apparently ''give birth'' to dragons and sea serpents (among other creatures), her description in a surviving version of the Babylonian creation myth is rather vague (it states that Tiamat represents "the salty water"), and many alleged depictions of her are under contention.
* CompleteMonster: [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Lamashtu]] is the [[AntagonisticOffspring daughter]] of the benevolent god Anu. A savage monster who rejects all goodness, Lamashtu causes famines and droughts, [[{{plaguemaster}} spreading pestilence and disease]] in the process. Not content with this, Lamashtu induces miscarriages and will steal infants to [[WouldHurtAChild murder them]] while also murdering pregnant women and innocent young mortals, rending them apart to eat them herself. So vile is Lamashtu that [[EvenEvilHasStandards even another demon]] like Pazuzu may be invoked against her, being the most terrifying and remorseless monster in the entire pantheon.
* HoYay:
** [[Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh Gilgamesh and Enkidu]] are the biggest examples.
** Inanna and Ninshubur, as Ninshubur is described as Inanna's consort in Literature/InannasDescentToTheNetherworld. It's so obvious that the Babylonians even [[ShesAManInJapan changed Ninshubur's gender]] from female to male to avert the subtext.
** In the myth ''Dumuzi's Dream'', Dumuzi's sister Geshtinanna is assisted by the goddess Geshtindudu, who is described as her adviser and ''girlfriend''.
* ValuesResonance: Ancient though as it might be, the texts of the Mesopotamians show that nothing is new under the sun:
** Pretty much all of the ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh''. See this entry there.
** A recovered text on Humbaba shows it as a noble guardian of the wilds and lamenting the destruction of the environment by humanity.
** Tiamat is a monster, but only on the most literal of senses. She is depicted as a grieving wife who's forced to retaliate against her own children. Quite a lot of sympathy at a time when the combination of being a woman in power and a non-human being would make the end of her portrayal one dimensional.
** Many stories allude to the honour and respect intersex people had in ancient Mesopotamian societies, which definitely ressonates with the current LGBT rights struggle.