In addition to this, the stones are embellished with serpents, scorpions, unicorns, and various realistic or fantastic representations of animal forms.

These, it would seem, symbolize the spirits, the sight of which, it was hoped, might act as a further and effectual warning against interference with the owner's rights.[214] A special class of demons is formed by those which were supposed to infest the resting-places of the dead, though they stand in a certain relationship to the demons that plague the living.

A remarkable monument found a number of years ago, and which will be fully described in a subsequent chapter, affords us a picture of some of these demons whose sphere of action is more particularly in the subterranean cave that forms the gathering-place of the dead.

They are represented as half human, half animal, with large grotesque and terror-inspiring features.[215] Their power, however, is limited.

They are subject to the orders of the gods whose dominion is the lower world, more particularly to Nergal and his consort Allatu.