Nergal
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Nergal
Nergal ( Sumerian: d''KIŠ.UNU'' or ; ; Aramaic: ܢܸܪܓܲܠ; la, Nirgal) was a Mesopotamian god worshiped through all periods of Mesopotamian history, from Early Dynastic to Neo-Babylonian times, with a few attestations under indicating his cult survived into the period of Achaemenid domination. He was primarily associated with war, death, and disease and has been described as the "god of inflicted death." He reigned over Kur, the Mesopotamian underworld, depending on the myth either on behalf of his parents Enlil and Ninlil, or in later periods as a result of his marriage with the goddess Ereshkigal. Originally either Mammitum, a goddess possibly connected to frost, or Laṣ, sometimes assumed to be a minor medicine goddess, were regarded as his wife, though other traditions existed, too. His primary cult center was Kutha, located in northern Mesopotamia. His main temple was the E-Meslam and he was also known by the name Meslamtaea, "he who comes out of Meslam." Initially ...
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List Of Mesopotamian Deities
Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively anthropomorphic. They were thought to possess extraordinary powers and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size. The deities typically wore ''melam'', an ambiguous substance which "covered them in terrifying splendor" and which could also be worn by heroes, kings, giants, and even demons. The effect that seeing a deity's ''melam'' has on a human is described as ''ni'', a word for the " physical creeping of the flesh". Both the Sumerian and Akkadian languages contain many words to express the sensation of ''ni'', including the word ''puluhtu'', meaning "fear". Deities were almost always depicted wearing horned caps, consisting of up to seven superimposed pairs of ox-horns. They were also sometimes depicted wearing clothes with elaborate decorative gold and silver ornaments sewn into them. The ancient Mesopotamians believed that their deities lived in Heaven, but that a god's statue was a physical embodime ...
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Ereshkigal
In Mesopotamian mythology, Ereshkigal ( sux, , lit. "Queen of the Great Earth") was the goddess of Kur, the land of the dead or underworld in Sumerian religion, Sumerian mythology. In later myths, she was said to rule Irkalla alongside her husband Nergal. Sometimes her name is given as Irkalla, similar to the way the name Hades was used in Greek mythology for both the underworld and its ruler, and sometimes it is given as Ninkigal, lit. "Lady of the Great Earth". Ereshkigal was only one of multiple deities regarded as rulers of the underworld in Mesopotamia. The main temple dedicated to her was located in Kutha, a city originally associated with Nergal, and her cult had a very limited scope. No personal names with "Ereshkigal" as a theophoric element are known. In the ancient Sumerian poem ''Inanna#Descent into the underworld, Inanna's Descent to the Underworld'', Ereshkigal is described as Inanna's older sister. However, they were not commonly associated with each other. The ...
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Laṣ
Laṣ (''dLa-aṣ''), also transcribed Laz, was a Mesopotamian goddess who was commonly regarded as the wife of Nergal, a god associated with war and the underworld. Instances of both conflation and coexistence of her and another goddess this position was attributed to, Mammitum, are attested in known sources. Name and character The best attested spelling of the name is ''dLa-aṣ''. While a single instance of ''dLa-a-aṣ'' is known from a copy of the Mesopotamian Weidner god list from Ugarit, it is not sufficient evidence to support the conclusion that it was pronounced with a long vowel, and the additional sign might be a scribal mistake. Laz is a transcription commonly used in modern publications, but according to Wilfred G. Lambert Laṣ is the most accurate option in the light of the name being spelled with a '' ṣ'' in an Aramaic inscription from one of the Sefire steles, KAI 222. It is assumed that the name originates in a Semitic language, but a plausible etymology h ...
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Ninshubur
Ninshubur (; Ninšubur, "Lady of Subartu" or "Lady of servants"), also spelled Ninšubura, was a Mesopotamian goddess whose primary role was that of the '' sukkal'' (divine vizier) of the goddess Inanna. While it is agreed that in this context Ninshubur was regarded as female, in other cases the deity was considered male, possibly due to syncretism with other divine messengers, such as Ilabrat. No certain information about her genealogy is present in any known sources, and she was typically regarded as unmarried. As a ''sukkal'', she functioned both as a messenger deity and as an intercessor between other members of the pantheon and human petitioners. Due to the belief that she could intercede with higher ranking deities, Ninshubur was popular in everyday religion, and many theophoric names invoking her and other references to personal worship are known. Her original cult center was Akkil, but in the Early Dynastic Period she was already worshiped in nearby Uruk. She was also int ...
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Ninlil
Ninlil ( D NIN.LÍL; meaning uncertain) was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of Enlil. She shared many of his functions, especially the responsibility for declaring destinies, and like him was regarded as a senior deity and head of the pantheon. She is also well attested as the mother of his children, such as the underworld god Nergal, the moon god Nanna or the warrior god Ninurta. She was chiefly worshiped in Nippur and nearby Tummal alongside Enlil, and multiple temples and shrines dedicated to her are attested from these cities. In the first millennium BCE she was also introduced to Ḫursaĝkalamma near Kish, where she was worshiped alongside the goddess Bizilla, who was likely her sukkal (attendant deity). At an early date Ninlil was identified with the goddess Sud from Shuruppak, like her associated with Enlil, and eventually fully absorbed her. In the myth ''Enlil and Sud'', Ninlil is the name Sud received after marrying Enlil. Nisaba, the goddess of writing, ...
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Mamitu
Mammitum, Mammitu or Mammi was a Mesopotamian goddess viewed as the wife of Nergal, the god of death. Mammitum's name might mean “oath” or “frost” (based on similarity to the Akkadian word ''mammû'', "ice" or "frost"). In the earliest sources she is Nergal's most commonly attested wife, but from the Kassite period onward she was often replaced in this role by the goddess Laṣ. As her name is homophonous with Mami, a goddess of birth or "divine midwife," some researchers assume they are one and the same. However, it has been proven that they were separate deities, and they are kept apart in ancient Mesopotamian god lists. A goddess named Mamma known from Mari is most likely related to the divine midwife Mami rather than to Mammitum. Another being from Mesopotamian beliefs with a homophonous name was ''māmītu'', a type of underworld demon with a goat's head and human hands and feet, known from the late text ''Underworld Vision of an Assyrian Prince'' and absent from oth ...
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Simut (god)
Simut or Šimut (Shimut) was an Elamite god. He was regarded as the herald of the gods, and was associated with the planet Mars. He was also worshiped in Mesopotamia, where he was compared with the war god Nergal. Name Various spellings of Simut's name are attested in Elamite sources, including '' dSi-mu-ut'', ''dŠi-mu-ut-ta'', ''dŠi-mu-ut'' and ''dŠi-mut'', as well as logographic dMAN/dPAP. The last spelling might be related to one of the Mesopotamian names of Mars, mulMAN-''ma'', "the strange star." It is also possible that in at least one location another logographic spelling of his name was NIN.DAR.(A). The spelling "Simut" is the standard in Mesopotamian sources from the Middle Babylonian period, though in earlier, Old Babylonian ones, Šimut (Shimut) appears to be the correct orthography. In neo-Assyrian sources, the name is spelled as "Šumudu" (Shumudu). Functions Simut was known as "god of Elam," ''berir napirra'' (Elamite: "herald of the gods") and ''silhak perir ...
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Ninazu
Ninazu ( sux, ) was a Mesopotamian god of the underworld of Sumerian origin. He was also associated with snakes and vegetation, and with time acquired the character of a warrior god. He was frequently associated with Ereshkigal, either as a son, husband, or simply as a deity belonging to the same category of underworld gods. His original cult centers were Enegi and Eshnunna, though in the later city he was gradually replaced by a similar god, Tishpak. His cult declined after the Old Babylonian period, though in the city of Ur, where it was introduced from Enegi, he retained a number of worshipers even after the fall of the last Mesopotamian empires. Character and iconography According to Julia M. Asher-Greve, Ninazu was initially considered a "high-ranking local god," similar in rank to Ningirsu. His name has Sumerian origin and can be translated as "lord healer," though he was rarely associated with medicine. It is nonetheless agreed that he could be considered a healing ...
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Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere (less than 1% that of Earth's), and has a crust primarily composed of elements similar to Earth's crust, as well as a core made of iron and nickel. Mars has surface features such as impact craters, valleys, dunes and polar ice caps. It has two small and irregularly shaped moons, Phobos (moon), Phobos and Deimos (moon), Deimos. Some of the most notable surface features on Mars include Olympus Mons, the largest volcano and List of tallest mountains in the Solar System, highest known mountain in the Solar System and Valles Marineris, one of the largest canyons in the Solar System. The North Polar Basin (Mars), Borealis basin in the Northern Hemisphere covers approximately 40% of the planet and may be a la ...
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Resheph
Resheph (also Reshef and many other variants, see below; phn, 𐤓‬𐤔‬𐤐‬, ''ršp''; Eblaite ''Rašap'', Egyptian ') was a deity associated with plague (or a personification of plague), either war or strong protection, and sometimes thunder in ancient Canaanite religion. The originally Eblaite and Canaanite god was then more famously adopted into ancient Egyptian religion in the late Bronze Age during the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (late fifteenth century BC), also becoming associated with horses and chariots. In Biblical Hebrew, ''resheph'' is a noun interpreted as "flame, lightning" but also "burning fever, plague, pestilence". Etymology Resheph is known by a multitude of names, including Rahshaf, Rasap, Rashap, Resep, Reshef, Reshpu, Rapha, Repheth, and others that are not standardized. Ebla The name is found in third millennium BCE tablets from Ebla, as ''Rašap'' (''Ra-ša-ap''), listed as divinity of the cities of Atanni, Gunu, Tunip, and Shechem. Rasap wa ...
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Enlil
Enlil, , "Lord f theWind" later known as Elil, is an 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 the Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Hurrians. Enlil's primary center of worship was the Ekur temple in the city of Nippur, which was believed to have been built by Enlil himself and was regarded as the "mooring-rope" of heaven and earth. He is also sometimes referred to in Sumerian texts as Nunamnir. According to one Sumerian hymn, Enlil himself was so holy that not even the other gods could look upon him. Enlil rose to prominence during the twenty-fourth century BC with the rise of Nippur. His cult fell into decline after Nippur was sacked by the Elamites in 1230 BC and he was eventually supplanted as the chief god of the Mesopotamian pantheon by the Babylonian national god Marduk. Enlil plays a vital role in the Sumerian creation myth; he sep ...
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Nanna (Sumerian Deity)
Nanna, Sīn or Suen ( akk, ), and in Aramaic ''syn'', ''syn’'', or even ''shr'' 'moon', or Nannar ( sux, ) was the god of the moon in the Mesopotamian religions of Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Babylonia and Aram. He was also associated with cattle, perhaps due to the perceived similarity between bull horns and the crescent moon. He was always described as a major deity, though only a few sources, mostly these from the reign of Nabonidus, consider him to be the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon. The two chief seats of his worship were Ur in the south of Mesopotamia and Harran in the north, though he was also worshiped in numerous other cities, especially in the proximity of Ur and in the Diyala area. In Ur, he was connected to royal power, and many Mesopotamian kings visited his temple in this city. According to Mesopotamian mythology, his parents were Enlil and Ninlil, while his wife was Ningal, worshiped with him in his major cult centers. Their children included major d ...
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