HittiteBasRelief2Detail AnkaraMuseumAnatolianCivilization

Kusarikku ("Bull-Man") was an ancient

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

n mythological demon shown in artistic representation from the earliest (late

Uruk period The Uruk period (; also known as Protoliterate period) existed from the protohistory, protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia, after the Ubaid period and before the Jemdet Nasr period. Named after the S ...

) times with the arms, torso and head of a human and the ears, horns and hindquarters of a bull. He is portrayed as walking upright and characterized as a door keeper to protect the inhabitants from malevolent intruders. He is one of the demons which represented mountains. He is pictured in late iconography holding a ''banduddû'', "bucket". On a stela of Meli-Šipak, the land grant to Ḫasardu kudurru, he is pictured carrying a spade.

Mythology

In the Sumerian myth, '' Angim'' or "

Ninurta Ninurta (: , possible meaning "Lord fBarley"), also known as Ninĝirsu (: , meaning "Lord fGirsu"), is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian god associated with farming, healing, hunting, law, scribes, and war who was f ...

's return to

Nippur Nippur (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Nibru'', often logogram, logographically recorded as , EN.LÍLKI, "Enlil City;"I. E. S. Edwards, C. J. Gadd, N. G. L. Hammond, ''The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory'': Vol. 1, Part 1, Ca ...

", the god "brought forth the Bison (gud-alim) from his battle dust" and "hung the Bison on the beam". He is one of Tiāmat's offspring vanquished by

Marduk Marduk (; cuneiform: Dingir, ᵈAMAR.UTU; Sumerian language, Sumerian: "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) is a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of Babylon who eventually rose to prominence in the 1st millennium BC. In B ...

in the Epic of Creation, Enûma Eliš. In the prologue of the Anzû Myth, Ninurta defeats the kusarikku "in the midst of the sea". In an incantation against the evil eye of the Lamaštu, an incantation meant to soothe a crying child, kusarikku is portrayed as being ''negeltû'', "roused", and ''gullutu'', "frightened". Along with Ugallu, Girtablullû, and others, are some of the ''

apkallu Apkallu or and Abgal (; Akkadian and Sumerian, respectively) are terms found in cuneiform inscriptions that in general mean either "wise" or "sage". In several contexts the ''Apkallu'' are seven demigods, sometimes described as part man an ...

'' shown on neo-Assyrian palace reliefs, and with figurines – to guard against the influence of evil spirits. The constellation of kusarikku, or gud-alim, corresponds to part of

Centaurus Centaurus () is a bright constellation in the southern sky. One of the 88 modern constellations by area, largest constellations, Centaurus was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one ...

. He was associated with the god of justice,

Šamaš Shamash (Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''šamaš''), also known as Utu (Sumerian language, Sumerian: dutu "Sun") was the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian Solar deity, sun god. He was believed to see everything that happened in t ...

, along with Girtablullû, the " Scorpion-Man", and alim, the "

Bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...

". There were three species of

ungulates Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Euungulata ("true ungulates"), which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. Once part of the clade "Ungulata" along with the clade Paenungulata, "Ungulata" has since been determined to b ...

in Mesopotamia: the

Aurochs The aurochs (''Bos primigenius''; or ; pl.: aurochs or aurochsen) is an extinct species of Bovini, bovine, considered to be the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle. With a shoulder height of up to in bulls and in cows, it was one of t ...

, the

, and the

Water buffalo The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called domestic water buffalo, Asian water buffalo and Asiatic water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also kept in Italy, the Balkans ...

, and it is not always certain as to which of these was represented in some of the earlier text references. There seems to have been a distinction between the Sumerian terms gud-alim, "bison-man", and alim, "human-faced bison".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kusarikku Characters in the Enūma Eliš Mesopotamian legendary creatures Mesopotamian demons Offspring of Tiamat Human-headed mythical creatures Mythological bovines Mountain gods

Mythology

See also

References