From the Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation myth, Tablet I:
Mother Hubur, who fashions all things,
Contributed an unfaceable weapon: she bore giant snakes,
Sharp of tooth and unsparing of fang.
She filled their bodies with venom instead of blood.
She cloaked ferocious dragons with fearsome rays
And made them bear mantles of radiance, made them godlike,
(chanting this imprecation)
'Whoever looks upon them shall collapse in utter terror!
Their bodies shall rear up continually and never turn away!'
She stationed a horned serpent, a mushussu-dragon, and a lahmu-hero,
An ugallu-demon, a rabid dog, and a scorpion-man,
Aggressive umu-demons, a fish-man, and a bull-man
Bearing merciless weapons, fearless in battle.
Her orders were so powerful, they could not be disobeyed.
In addition she created eleven more likewise.
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