Birtum (, also spelled Birdu) was a Mesopotamian god who was the husband of Nungal. He was regarded as a deity associated with the

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwor ...

Character

Birtum's name means "

fetter Legcuffs are physical restraints used on the ankles of a person to allow walking only with a restricted stride and to prevent running and effective physical resistance. Frequently used alternative terms are leg cuffs, (leg/ankle) shackles, foot ...

" or " shackle" in Akkadian, and he was likely a deification of such objects. While the word is grammatically feminine, the deity was regarded as male. A similar word, ''birdu'' ("pimple"), is etymologically unrelated to his name. In god lists he appears in the circle of Nergal as one of the gods associated with the underworld.

Associations with other deities

Birtum was the husband of Nungal, the goddess of prisons. It has been proposed that he was a son of Enlil, as his wife was on occasion addressed as the daughter in law of this god. His sukkal (attendant deity) was the god Eturammi (also spelled Eturame), whose name means "do not slacken." It is assumed that he was one of the sukkals who were simply personification of specific commands of their masters, similar to Id's sukkal Nēr-ē-tagmil ("kill, do not spare") or Nergal's sukkal Ugur ("destroy"). Birtum could be regarded as a twin brother of the god Šarrab(u), though sometimes the latter is instead paired with Šâbu instead. The former tradition is documented in the god list ''

An = Anum ''An = Anum'', also known as the Great God List, is the longest preserved Mesopotamian god list, a type of lexical list cataloging the deities worshiped in the Ancient Near East, chiefly in modern Iraq. While god lists are already known from the ...

''. The names of both Birtum and Šarrabu could be written logographically as ^dKAL.EDIN, which literally meant "youngster of the steppe" or "strong one of the steppe." Šarrabu itself might mean "cheater" or "slanderer," though other possibilities have also been proposed, including a possible association with the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

word ''sārab'', " Fata Morgana." In a single source the names of the pair are explained as " Lugal-irra and Meslamta-ea of MAR.KI"

Worship

Wilfred G. Lambert proposed that originally Birtum was worshiped alongside Nungal in a presently unknown city which declined in the third millennium BCE, which lead to transfer of its tutelary deities to Nippur. A well known example of such a process is the case of

Nisaba Nisaba was the Mesopotamian goddess of writing and grain. She is one of the oldest Sumerian deities attested in writing, and remained prominent through many periods of Mesopotamian history. She was commonly worshiped by scribes, and numerous Su ...

, whose cult was transferred from Eresh, which disappears from records after the

Ur III period The Third Dynasty of Ur, also called the Neo-Sumerian Empire, refers to a 22nd to 21st century BC (middle chronology) Sumerian ruling dynasty based in the city of Ur and a short-lived territorial-political state which some historians consider t ...

, to Nippur.

Mythology

In a late version of the myth of

Anzû Anzû, also known as dZû and Imdugud ( Sumerian: ''AN.IM.DUGUD MUŠEN''), is a lesser divinity or monster in several Mesopotamian religions. He was conceived by the pure waters of the Apsu and the wide Earth, or as son of Siris. Anzû was dep ...

, Enlil asks his assistant

Nuska Nuska or Nusku, possibly also known as Našuḫ, was a Mesopotamian god best attested as the sukkal (divine vizier) of Enlil. He was also associated with fire and light, and could be invoked as a protective deity against various demons, such as ...

to summon Birtum. While the fragment in which he explains to Birtum why he needs his help is missing, in the subsequent section of the text he congratulates Ninurta (who he addresses as his lord) on behalf of Enlil and urges him to return the

Tablet of Destinies In Mesopotamian mythology, the Tablet of Destinies ( sux, ; akk, ṭup šīmātu, ṭuppi šīmāti, script=Latn, italic=yes) was envisaged as a clay tablet inscribed with cuneiform writing, also impressed with cylinder seals, which, as a permane ...

after his defeat of Anzû. Ninurta rebukes him and states that he will keep this item for himself.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * {{refend Mesopotamian gods Underworld gods