In today's research dead-end, I've found a satirical "antique collector's guide" from 1923.
The first section is about 'antiquing ahead', aka 'purchasing cheap tat and holding onto it until it becomes antiques'.
This is hysterical 103 years later, when the cheap tat IS now all fancy antiques.
![Text from a paper about Mesopotamian toilets and plumbing:
Later cultures of the Near East and Europe perpetuated this ancient anxiety of a demon in the lavatory (Stol 1993: 76). Joann Scurlock even proposes to find a far-eastern "equivalent (with sex change) for the Mesopotamian Sulak, räbisu of the lavatory, in the Korean 'toilet maiden'. (106). The similarity lies only in place of residence, however, for in Korea the Toilet Maiden's function is protective, "guarding against the prédations of evil spirits" (Grayson 20) Her role finds a closer parallel in the benign demon enlisted to oppose Sulak, who now makes his entrance.
Unsurprisingly the Babylonians sought, by magic means, to drive Sulak and other demons out of the lavatory, and prevent their return. Among the various apotropaic figurines that could be buried in the foundations of a house, in order to keep wicked and evil powers outside, were lion centaurs. A passage of a Standard Babylonian prescriptive text describes how this benign monster could be enlisted to guard the lavatory (12):
[A long string of Babylonian text]
Clay figurines of Lion Centaurs: you write on their sides: "You shall bar the way of the Upholder-of-Evil.
You bury them at the doorway of the lavatory, left and right.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fnzqfbvnxrwg3eq2dhl33omz/bafkreieudhmvqjct5dg7wfezczwpc2gruayjtbymi25vljc6tvfrvot3wy)
