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Ninurta (: , possible meaning "Lord fBarley"), also known as Ninĝirsu (: , meaning "Lord f Girsu"), is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with farming, healing, hunting, law, scribes, and war who was first worshipped in early
Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...
. In the earliest records, he is a god of agriculture and healing, who cures humans of sicknesses and releases them from the power of
demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...
s. In later times, as Mesopotamia grew more militarized, he became a warrior deity, though he retained many of his earlier agricultural attributes. He was regarded as the son of the chief god
Enlil Enlil, later known as Elil and Ellil, is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by t ...
and his main
cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...
center in Sumer was the Eshumesha temple in Nippur. Ninĝirsu was honored by King Gudea of
Lagash Lagash (; cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Lagaš'') was an ancient city-state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Al-Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash ( ...
(ruled 2144–2124 BC), who rebuilt Ninĝirsu's temple in Lagash. Later, Ninurta became beloved by the
Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...
ns as a formidable warrior. The Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II (ruled 883–859 BC) built a massive temple for him at Kalhu, which became his most important cult center from then on. In the epic poem '' Lugal-e'', Ninurta slays the demon Asag using his talking mace Sharur and uses stones to build the
Tigris The Tigris ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian Desert, Syrian and Arabia ...
and
Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...
rivers to make them useful for irrigation. In a poem sometimes referred to as the "Sumerian '' Georgica''", Ninurta provides agricultural advice to farmers. In an Akkadian myth, he was the champion of the gods against the Anzû bird after it stole the Tablet of Destinies from his father Enlil and, in a myth that is alluded to in many works but never fully preserved, he killed a group of warriors known as the "Slain Heroes". His major symbols were a perched bird and a plow. It has been suggested that Ninurta was the inspiration for the figure of
Nimrod Nimrod is a Hebrew Bible, biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles, the Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush (Bible), Cush and therefore the great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of Sh ...
, a "mighty hunter" who is mentioned in association with Kalhu in the
Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek language, Greek ; ; ) is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its incipit, first word, (In the beginning (phrase), 'In the beginning'). Genesis purpor ...
, although the view has been disputed. He may also be mentioned in the Second Book of Kings under the name Shendu. In the nineteenth century, Assyrian stone reliefs of winged, eagle-headed figures from the temple of Ninurta at Kalhu were commonly, but erroneously, identified as "Nisrochs" and they appear in works of
fantasy literature Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fan ...
from the time period.


Worship

Ninurta was worshipped in Mesopotamia as early as the middle of the third millennium BC by the ancient
Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...
ians, and is one of the earliest attested deities in the region. His main cult center was the Eshumesha temple in the Sumerian city-state of Nippur, where he was worshipped as the god of agriculture and the son of the chief-god
Enlil Enlil, later known as Elil and Ellil, is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by t ...
. Though they may have originally been separate deities, in historical times, the god Ninĝirsu, who was worshipped in the Sumerian city-state of Girsu, was always identified as a local form of Ninurta. According to the Assyriologists Jeremy Black and Anthony Green, the two gods' personalities are "closely intertwined". As the city-state of Girsu declined in importance, Ninĝirsu became increasingly known as "Ninurta". He became primarily characterized by the aggressive, warlike aspect of his nature. In later times, Ninurta's reputation as a fierce warrior made him immensely popular among the Assyrians. In the late second millennium BC, Assyrian kings frequently held names which included the name of Ninurta, such as Tukulti-Ninurta ("the trusted one of Ninurta"), Ninurta-apal-Ekur ("Ninurta is the heir of llil's templeEkur"), and Ninurta-tukulti-Ashur ("Ninurta is the god Aššur's trusted one"). Tukulti-Ninurta I (ruled 1243–1207 BC) declares in one inscription that he hunts "at the command of the god Ninurta, who loves me." Similarly,
Adad-nirari II Adad-nīrārī II (also spelled Adad-nērārī, which means "Adad (the storm god) is my help") reigned from 911 BCE to 891 BCE. He was the first King of Assyria in the Neo-Assyrian empire. He instigated the first renewed period of major expansion ...
(ruled 911–891 BC) claimed Ninurta and Aššur as supporters of his reign, declaring his destruction of their enemies as moral justification for his right to rule. In the ninth century BC, when Ashurnasirpal II (ruled 883–859 BC) moved the capital of the Assyrian Empire to Kalhu, the first temple he built there was one dedicated to Ninurta. The walls of the temple were decorated with stone relief carvings, including one of Ninurta slaying the Anzû bird. Ashurnasirpal II's son
Shalmaneser III Shalmaneser III (''Šulmānu-ašarēdu'', "the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent") was king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 859 BC to 824 BC. His long reign was a constant series of campaigns against the eastern tribes, the Babylonians, the nations o ...
(ruled 859–824 BC) completed Ninurta's ziggurat at Kalhu and dedicated a stone relief of himself to the god. On the carving, Shalmaneser III's boasts of his military exploits and credits all his victories to Ninurta, declaring that, without Ninurta's aid, none of them would have been possible. When Adad-nirari III (ruled 811–783 BC) dedicated a new endowment to the temple of Aššur in Assur, they were sealed with both the seal of Aššur and the seal of Ninurta. After the capital of Assyria was moved away from Kalhu, Ninurta's importance in the pantheon began to decline. Sargon II favored Nabu, the god of scribes, over Ninurta. Nonetheless, Ninurta still remained an important deity. Even after the kings of Assyria left Kalhu, the inhabitants of the former capital continued to venerate Ninurta, who they called "Ninurta residing in Kalhu". Legal documents from the city record that those who violated their oaths were required to "place two minas of silver and one mina of gold in the lap of Ninurta residing in Kalhu." The last attested example of this clause dates to 669 BC, the last year of the reign of King Esarhaddon (ruled 681 – 669 BC). The temple of Ninurta at Kalhu flourished until the end of the Assyrian Empire, hiring the poor and destitute as employees. The main cultic personnel were a ''šangû''-priest and a chief singer, who were supported by a cook, a steward, and a porter. In the late seventh century BC, the temple staff witnessed legal documents, along with the staff of the temple of Nabu at Ezida. The two temples shared a ''qēpu''-official.


Iconography

On ''
kudurru A kudurru was a type of stone document used as a boundary stone and as a record of land grants to vassals by the Kassites and later dynasties in ancient Babylonia between the 16th and 7th centuries BC. The original kudurru would typically be stor ...
s'' from the Kassite Period ( 1600 – 1155 BC), a plough is captioned as a symbol of Ninĝirsu. The plough also appears in Neo-Assyrian art, possibly as a symbol of Ninurta. A perched bird is also used as a symbol of Ninurta during the Neo-Assyrian Period. One speculative hypothesis holds that the winged disc originally symbolized Ninurta during the ninth century BC, but was later transferred to Aššur and the sun-god
Shamash 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 ...
. This idea is based on some early representations in which the god on the winged disc appears to have the tail of a bird. Most scholars have rejected this suggestion as unfounded. Astronomers of the eighth and seventh centuries BC identified Ninurta (or Pabilsaĝ) with the constellation Sagittarius. Alternatively, others identified him with the star Sirius, which was known in Akkadian as ''šukūdu'', meaning "arrow". The constellation of
Canis Major Canis Major is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is counted among the 88 modern constellations. Its name is Latin for "greater dog" in contrast to C ...
, of which Sirius is the most visible star, was known as ''qaštu'', meaning "bow", after the bow and arrow Ninurta was believed to carry. In the MUL.APIN Ninurta is consistently identified with Mercury, as it is read: "Mercury whose name is Ninurta travels the (same) path the Moon travels." However, in Babylonian times, Ninurta was associated with the planet
Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...
, while Mercury became associated with Nabu.


Family

Ninurta was believed to be the son of Enlil. In '' Lugal-e'', his mother is identified as the goddess Ninmah, whom he renames
Ninhursag Ninḫursaĝ ( ''Ninḫarsang''; ), sometimes transcribed Ninursag, Ninḫarsag, or Ninḫursaĝa, also known as Damgalnuna or Ninmah, was the ancient Sumerian mother goddess of the mountains, and one of the seven great deities of Sumer. She ...
, but, in ''Angim dimma'', his mother is instead the goddess Ninlil. Under the name ''Ninurta'', his wife is usually the goddess Gula, but, as Ninĝirsu, his wife is the goddess Bau. Gula was the goddess of healing and medicine and she was sometimes alternately said to be the wife of the god Pabilsaĝ or the minor vegetation god Abu. Bau was worshipped "almost exclusively in Lagash" and was sometimes alternately identified as the wife of the god Zababa. She and Ninĝirsu were believed to have two sons: the gods Ig-alima and Šul-šagana. Bau also had seven daughters, but Ninĝirsu was not claimed to be their father. As the son of Enlil, Ninurta's siblings include: Nanna, Nergal, Ninazu, Enbilulu, and sometimes
Inanna Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...
.


Mythology


''Lugal-e''

Second only to the goddess
Inanna Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...
, Ninurta probably appears in more myths than any other Mesopotamian deity. In the Sumerian poem '' Lugal-e'', also known as ''Ninurta's Exploits'', a demon known as Asag has been causing sickness and poisoning the rivers. Ninurta confronts Asag, who is protected by an army of stone warriors. Ninurta slays Asag and his armies. Then Ninurta organizes the world, using the stones from the warriors he has defeated to build the mountains, which he designs so that the streams, lakes and rivers all flow into the
Tigris The Tigris ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian Desert, Syrian and Arabia ...
and
Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...
rivers, making them useful for
irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...
and agriculture. Ninurta's mother Ninmah descends from Heaven to congratulate her son on his victory. Ninurta dedicates the mountain of stone to her and renames her
Ninhursag Ninḫursaĝ ( ''Ninḫarsang''; ), sometimes transcribed Ninursag, Ninḫarsag, or Ninḫursaĝa, also known as Damgalnuna or Ninmah, was the ancient Sumerian mother goddess of the mountains, and one of the seven great deities of Sumer. She ...
, meaning "Lady of the Mountain". Finally, Ninurta returns home to Nippur, where he is celebrated as a hero. This myth combines Ninurta's role as a warrior deity with his role as an agricultural deity. The title ''Lugal-e'' means "O king!" and comes from the poem opening phrase in the original Sumerian. ''Ninurta's Exploits'' is a modern title assigned to it by scholars. The poem was eventually translated into Akkadian after Sumerian became regarded as too difficult to understand. A companion work to the ''Lugal-e'' is ''Angim dimma'', or ''Ninurta's Return to Nippur'', which describes Ninurta's return to Nippur after slaying Asag. It contains little narrative and is mostly a praise piece, describing Ninurta in larger-than-life terms and comparing him to the god An. ''Angim dimma'' is believed to have originally been written in Sumerian during the
Third Dynasty of Ur The Third Dynasty of Ur or Ur III was a Sumerian dynasty based in the city of Ur in the 22nd and 21st centuries BC ( middle chronology). For a short period they were the preeminent power in Mesopotamia and their realm is sometimes referred to by ...
( 2112 – 2004 BC) or the early Old Babylonian Period ( 1830 – 1531 BC), but the oldest surviving texts of it date to Old Babylonian Period. Numerous later versions of the text have also survived. It was translated into Akkadian during the Middle Babylonian Period ( 1600 — 1155 BC).


Anzû myth

In the Old, Middle, and Late Babylonian myth of ''Anzû and the Tablet of Destinies'', the Anzû is a giant, monstrous bird. Enlil gives Anzû a position as the guardian of his sanctuary, but Anzû betrays Enlil and steals the Tablet of Destinies, a sacred clay tablet belonging to Enlil that grants him his authority, while Enlil is preparing for his bath. The rivers dry up and the gods are stripped of their powers. The gods send Adad, Girra, and Shara to defeat the Anzû, but all of them fail. Finally, the god Ea proposes that the gods should send Ninurta, Enlil's son. Ninurta confronts the Anzû and shoots it with his arrows, but the Tablet of Destinies has the power to reverse time and the Anzû uses this power to make Ninurta's arrows fall apart in midair and revert to their original components. Ninurta calls upon the south wind for aid, which rips the Anzû's wings off. The god Dagan announces Ninurta's victory in the assembly of the gods and, as a reward, Ninurta is granted a prominent seat on the council. Enlil sends the messenger god Birdu to request Ninurta to return the Tablet of Destinies. Ninurta's reply to Birdu is fragmentary, but it is possible he may initially refuse to return the Tablet. In the end, however, Ninurta does return the Tablet of Destinies to his father. This story was particularly popular among scholars of the Assyrian royal court. The myth of ''Ninurta and the Turtle'', recorded in UET 6/1 2, is a fragment of what was originally a much longer literary composition. In it, after defeating the Anzû, Ninurta is honored by
Enki Enki ( ) is the Sumerian god of water, knowledge ('' gestú''), crafts (''gašam''), and creation (''nudimmud''), and one of the Anunnaki. He was later known as Ea () or Ae p. 324, note 27. in Akkadian (Assyrian-Babylonian) religion, and ...
in Eridu. Enki senses his thoughts and creates a giant turtle, which he releases behind Ninurta and which bites the hero's ankle. As they struggle, the turtle digs a pit with its claws, which both of them fall into. Enki gloats over Ninurta's defeat. The end of the story is missing; the last legible portion of the account is a lamentation from Ninurta's mother Ninmah, who seems to be considering finding a substitute for her son. According to Charles Penglase, in this account, Enki is clearly intended as the hero and his successful foiling of Ninurta's plot to seize power for himself is intended as a demonstration of Enki's supreme wisdom and cunning.


Other myths

In ''Ninurta's Journey to Eridu'', Ninurta leaves the Ekur temple in Nippur and travels to the Abzu in Eridu, led by an unnamed guide. In Eridu, Ninurta sits in assembly with the gods An and
Enki Enki ( ) is the Sumerian god of water, knowledge ('' gestú''), crafts (''gašam''), and creation (''nudimmud''), and one of the Anunnaki. He was later known as Ea () or Ae p. 324, note 27. in Akkadian (Assyrian-Babylonian) religion, and ...
and Enki gives him the '' me'' for life. The poem ends with Ninurta returning to Nippur. The account probably deals with a journey in which Ninurta's cult statue was transported from one city to another and the "guide" is the person carrying the cult statue. The story closely resembles the other Sumerian myth of '' Inanna and Enki'', in which the goddess Inanna journeys to Eridu and receives the ''mes'' from Enki. In a poem known as the "Sumerian ''Georgica''", written sometime between 1700 and 1500 BC, Ninurta delivers detailed advice on agricultural matters, including how to plant, tend, and harvest crops, how to prepare fields for planting, and even how to drive birds away from the crops. The poem covers nearly every aspect of farm life throughout the course of the year. The myth of the ''Slain Heroes'' is alluded to in many texts, but is never preserved in full. In this myth, Ninurta must fight a variety of opponents. Black and Green describe these opponents as "bizarre minor deities"; they include the six-headed Wild Ram, the Palm Tree King, the seven-headed serpent and the Kulianna the Mermaid (or "fish-woman"). Some of these foes are inanimate objects, such as the Magillum Boat, which carries the souls of the dead to the Underworld, and the strong copper, which represents a metal that was conceived as precious. This story of successive trials and victories may have been the source for the Greek legend of the Twelve Labors of Heracles.


Later influence


In antiquity

In the late seventh century BC, Kalhu was captured by foreign invaders. Despite this, Ninurta was never completely forgotten. Many scholars agree that Ninurta was probably the inspiration for the biblical figure
Nimrod Nimrod is a Hebrew Bible, biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles, the Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush (Bible), Cush and therefore the great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of Sh ...
, mentioned in as a "mighty hunter". Though it is still not entirely clear how the name ''Ninurta'' became ''Nimrod'' in Hebrew, the two figures bear mostly the same functions and attributes and ''Ninurta'' is currently regarded as the most plausible etymology for Nimrod's name. Eventually, the ruins of the city of Kalhu itself became known in Arabic as ''Namrūd'' because of its association with Ninurta. Later in the
Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
, in both and , King Sennacherib of Assyria is reported to have been murdered by his sons
Adrammelech Adrammelech (; ''Adramélekh'') is an ancient Semitic religion, ancient Semitic god mentioned briefly by name in the Books of Kings, Book of Kings, where he is described as a god of "Sepharvaim". Sepharvaim (a word which is dual (grammatical nu ...
and Sharezer in the temple of " Nisroch", which is most likely a scribal error for "Nimrod". This hypothetical error would result from the Hebrew letter מ ( mem) being replacing with ס (
samekh Samekh or samech is the fifteenth Letter (alphabet), letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician alphabet, Phoenician ''sāmek'' 𐤎, Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew ''sāmeḵ'' , Aramaic alphabet, Aramaic ''samek'' 𐡎, and Syriac alphabet, Syr ...
) and the letter ד ( dalet) being replaced with ך ( kaf). Due to the obvious visual similarities of the letters involved and the fact that no Assyrian deity by the name of "Nisroch" has ever been attested, most scholars consider this error to be the most likely explanation for the name. If "Nisroch" is Ninurta, this would make Ninurta's temple at Kalhu the most likely location of Sennacherib's murder. Other scholars have attempted to identify Nisroch as Nusku, the Assyrian god of fire. Hans Wildberger rejects all suggested identifications as linguistically implausible. Although the Book of Genesis itself portrays Nimrod positively as the first king after the Flood of Noah and a builder of cities, the Greek
Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...
translation of the Hebrew Bible refers to him as a
giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''wiktionary:gigas, gigas'', cognate wiktionary:giga-, giga-) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''gia ...
and mistranslates the Hebrew words meaning "before
Yahweh Yahweh was an Ancient Semitic religion, ancient Semitic deity of Weather god, weather and List of war deities, war in the History of the ancient Levant, ancient Levant, the national god of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Judah, Judah and Kingdom ...
" as "in opposition against God." Because of this, Nimrod became envisioned as the archetypal idolator. Early works of Jewish ''
midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.
; or ''midrashot' ...
'', described by the first-century AD philosopher
Philo Philo of Alexandria (; ; ; ), also called , was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. The only event in Philo's life that can be decisively dated is his representation of the Alexandrian J ...
in his ''Quaestiones'', portrayed Nimrod as the instigator of the building of the Tower of Babel, who persecuted the Jewish
patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and ...
Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...
for refusing to participate in the project. Saint Augustine of Hippo refers to Nimrod in his book ''
The City of God ''On the City of God Against the Pagans'' (), often called ''The City of God'', is a book of Christian philosophy written in Latin by Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th century AD. Augustine wrote the book to refute allegations that Christian ...
'' as "a deceiver, oppressor and destroyer of earth-born creatures."


In modernity

In the sixteenth century, Nisroch became seen as a
demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...
. The Dutch demonologist Johann Weyer listed Nisroch in his '' Pseudomonarchia Daemonum'' (1577) as the "chief cook" of
Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...
. Nisroch appears in Book VI of John Milton's epic poem ''
Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an Epic poetry, epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The poem concerns the Bible, biblical story of the fall of man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their ex ...
'' (first published in 1667) as one of
Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...
's demons. Nisroch, who is described as frowning and wearing beaten armor, calls into question Satan's argument that the fight between the angels and demons is equal, objecting that they, as demons, can feel pain, which will break their morale. According to Milton scholar Roy Flannagan, Milton may have chosen to portray Nisroch as timid because he had consulted the Hebrew dictionary of C. Stephanus, which defined the name "Nisroch" as "Flight" or "Delicate Temptation". In the 1840s, the British archaeologist Austen Henry Layard uncovered numerous stone carvings of winged, eagle-headed genii at Kalhu. Remembering the Biblical story of Sennacherib's murder, Layard mistakenly identified these figures as "Nisrochs". Such carvings continued to be known as "Nisrochs" in popular literature throughout the remaining portion of the nineteenth century. In Edith Nesbit's classic 1906 children's novel '' The Story of the Amulet'', the child protagonists summon an eagle-headed "Nisroch" to guide them. Nisroch opens a portal and advises them, "Walk forward without fear" and asks, "Is there aught else that the Servant of the great Name can do for those who speak that name?" Some modern works on art history still repeat the old misidentification, but Near Eastern scholars now generally refer to the "Nisroch" figure as a "griffin-demon". In 2016, during its brief conquest of the region, the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signi ...
(ISIL) demolished Ashurnasirpal II's ziggurat of Ninurta at Kalhu. This act was in line with ISIL's longstanding policy of destroying any ancient ruins which it deemed incompatible with its militant interpretation of Islam. According to a statement from the
American Schools of Oriental Research The American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR), founded in 1900 as the American School of Oriental Study and Research in Palestine, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, which supports the research and teaching of ...
(ASOR)'s Cultural Heritage Initiatives, ISIL may have destroyed the temple to use its destruction for future propaganda and to demoralize the local population. In March 2020, archaeologists announced the discovery of a 5,000-year-old cultic area filled with more than 300 broken ceremonial ceramic cups, bowls, jars, animal bones and ritual processions dedicated to Ningirsu at the site of Girsu. One of the remains was a duck-shaped bronze figurine with eyes made from bark which is thought to be dedicated to Nanshe. In February 2023, the E-ninnu temple (Temple of the White Thunderbird), the primary sanctuary of Ningirsu was identified during the excavations led by
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
and Getty Museum archaeologists at the site of Girsu.


See also

* Kajamanu


References


Notes


Citations


Bibliography

* * * *Fadhil, Anmar Abdulillah, and Enrique Jiménez, "Literary Texts from the Sippar Library IV: A “Macranthropic” Hymn to Ninurta", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie 113.2, pp. 193–215, 2023 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links

* Texts ** Narratives about Ninurta **
ETCSL website: Unicode version
an
ETCSL website: ASCII version
**

** ttp://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/myths/texts/ninurta/mythanzu.htm Gateways to Babylon: The Myth of Anzû** Hymns to Ninurt
ETCSL website: Unicode version
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