Irḫan was a
Mesopotamian god
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 substan ...
who personified the western branch of the
Euphrates, which in the first millennium BCE became its main course. The name could also refer to the river itself. The woirship of Irḫan is sparsely attested, and many aspects of his character as a deity are uncertain. Two topics which continue to be a subject of debate among experts are his association or confusion with the snake god
Nirah
Nirah was a Mesopotamian god who served as the messenger (''šipru'') of Ištaran, the god of Der. He was depicted in the form of a snake.
Name and character
The name Nirah means "little snake" in Sumerian. It could be written with the logog ...
, and his proposed
cosmogonic
Cosmogony is any model concerning the origin of the cosmos or the universe.
Overview
Scientific theories
In astronomy, cosmogony refers to the study of the origin of particular astrophysical objects or systems, and is most commonly used i ...
role.
Name
Irḫan was the
Sumerian name of the western branch of the
Euphrates. In
Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to:
* Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire
* Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language
* Akkadian literature, literature in this language
* Akkadian cuneiform, early writing system
* Akkadian myt ...
it was called Araḫtu. These names are
cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical e ...
s, and most likely both were derived from the
Semitic
Semitic most commonly refers to the Semitic languages, a name used since the 1770s to refer to the language family currently present in West Asia, North and East Africa, and Malta.
Semitic may also refer to:
Religions
* Abrahamic religions
** ...
root
In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...
rḫ'', "to go on route." Araḫtu grew in importance in the first millennium BCE, because the eastern branch flowing through cities such as
Kish
Kish may refer to:
Geography
* Gishi, Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, a village also called Kish
* Kiş, Shaki, Azerbaijan, a village and municipality also spelled Kish
* Kish Island, an Iranian island and a city in the Persian Gulf
* Kish, Iran ...
and
Nippur, which was formerly the main course, became difficult to navigate. As a result, the name Araḫtu started to be used interchangeably with Purattu.
The name could be written both syllabically (''ir-ḫa-an'') and
logographically (ÍD.
dMUŠ.DIN.TIR.BALAG). Mixed writings, such as
dMUŠ.''ir-ḫa''.DIN.BALAG, are also attested. It could also simply be represented by the logogram
dMUŠ. However, it could also designate
Ištaran
Ištaran (Ishtaran, sux, ) was a Mesopotamian god who was the tutelary deity of the city of Der, a Sumerian city state positioned east of the Tigris on the border between Sumer and Elam. It is known that he was a judge deity, and his position ...
, his messenger
Nirah
Nirah was a Mesopotamian god who served as the messenger (''šipru'') of Ištaran, the god of Der. He was depicted in the form of a snake.
Name and character
The name Nirah means "little snake" in Sumerian. It could be written with the logog ...
, 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 underworld ...
god
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, ...
, the tutelary god of
Susa
Susa ( ; Middle elx, 𒀸𒋗𒊺𒂗, translit=Šušen; Middle and Neo- elx, 𒋢𒋢𒌦, translit=Šušun; Neo-Elamite and Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼𒀭, translit=Šušán; Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼, translit=Šušá; fa, شوش ...
,
Inshushinak
Inshushinak (Linear Elamite: ''Inšušnak'', Cuneiform: , ''dinšušinakki''; possibly from Sumerian '' en-šušin-a ', "lord of Susa") was one of the major gods of the Elamites and the protector deity of Susa. He was called ''rišar napappai ...
, and the tutelary god of
Eshnunna
Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar in Diyala Governorate, Iraq) was an ancient Sumerian (and later Akkadian) city and city-state in central Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ...
,
Tishpak
Tishpak (Tišpak) was a Mesopotamian god associated with the ancient city Eshnunna and its sphere of influence, located in the Diyala area of Iraq. He was primarily a war deity, but he was also associated with snakes, including the mythical mus ...
.
Character
Irḫan, when understood as a deity, was a deification of the river sharing his name. Snake-like characteristics were most likely ascribed to him, presumably in reference to the many meanders of the river he represented.
Sporadic references to Irḫan as a female figure are also known.
An unresolved problem in scholarship is whether Irḫan should be understood as a cosmogonic deity. Frans Wiggermann argues that the available evidence does not support this theory, with a possible exception being the pairing of Irḫan with Dur, a deity analogous to the cosmogonic mound, Duku, in an offering list from
Ur. He points out that 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 ...
'' makes Irḫan a son of
Lisin, which would not be a suitable ancestry for a cosmogonic deity. However, Wilfred G. Lambert argued that he should be understood as such. He interpreted the
Kassite period
The Kassites () were people of the ancient Near East, who controlled Babylonia after the fall of the Old Babylonian Empire c. 1531 BC and until c. 1155 BC (short chronology).
They gained control of Babylonia after the Hittite sack of Babylo ...
personal name MUŠ-''šar-ilāni'', "MUŠ is the king of the gods," as referring to Irḫan as a theogonic figure. Analogous names invoking other deities, including both traditional pantheon heads and other gods, are also known.
Associations with other deities
Irḫan was at times confused with
Nirah
Nirah was a Mesopotamian god who served as the messenger (''šipru'') of Ištaran, the god of Der. He was depicted in the form of a snake.
Name and character
The name Nirah means "little snake" in Sumerian. It could be written with the logog ...
, the messenger of Ištaran. The early history of these two deities is not fully understood. It has been proposed that their names were cognate with each other, though the view that they shared the same origin is not universally accepted. Wilfred G. Lambert assumed that Irḫan and Nirah were fully interchangeable, and related not only theophoric names with the element
dMUŠ, but also the snakes depicted 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 store ...
(boundary stones) to him. The latter are typically identified as Nirah instead. In some cases it is uncertain if
dMUŠ should be read as Nirah or Irḫan, for example
Paul-Alain Beaulieu
Paul-Alain Beaulieu is a Canadian Assyriologist, a Professor of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto.
Beaulieu earned a master's degree from the Université de Montréal in 1980 under the supervision of Marcel Leibovi ...
is uncertain if the deity invoked in a single theophoric name from Achaemenid Ur, represented by the logographic writing
dMUŠ, should be understood as Irḫan or Nirah. He tentatively transcribes the name in mention as Niraḫ-dān, "Nirah is powerful." It is also uncertain if the fourth king of the dynasty of
Akshak known from the
Sumerian King List
The ''Sumerian King List'' (abbreviated ''SKL'') or ''Chronicle of the One Monarchy'' is an ancient literary composition written in Sumerian that was likely created and redacted to legitimize the claims to power of various city-states and kingd ...
should be read as Puzur-Nirah or Puzur-Irḫan.
A prayer to
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 Sume ...
known from
Kalhu
Nimrud (; syr, ܢܢܡܪܕ ar, النمرود) is an ancient Assyrian city located in Iraq, south of the city of Mosul, and south of the village of Selamiyah ( ar, السلامية), in the Nineveh Plains in Upper Mesopotamia. It was a maj ...
refers to Irḫan (
dMUŠ) as father of this goddess as well as the "gods of the universe." It also identifies him with
Ea. According to Wilfred G. Lambert, this specific genealogy appears to reflect "a desire not to have
Anu
, image=Detail, upper part, Kudurru of Ritti-Marduk, from Sippar, Iraq, 1125-1104 BCE. British Museum.jpg
, caption=Symbols of various deities, including Anu (bottom right corner) on a kudurru of Ritti-Marduk, from Sippar, Iraq, 1125–1104 BCE
, ...
as Nisaba's father." Her parentage is not consistent in other sources.
An
Early Dynastic ''zami'' hymn compares the incantation goddess
Ningirima
Ningirima was a Mesopotamian goddess associated with incantations, attested already in the Early Dynastic period. She was also associated with snakes, fish and water. According to the god list ''An = Anum'' and other sources, she was regarded as ...
to Irḫan, presumably based on their shared connection with snakes and water. However, it has also been proposed that the mention of Irḫan simply indicates that Murum, Ningirima's cult center, was located on the waterway he corresponded to.
In the ''zi-pad
3'' litanies, Irḫan sometimes appears alongside
Ninkasi
Ninkasi was the Mesopotamian goddess of beer and brewing. It is possible that in the first millennium BCE she was known under the variant name Kurunnītu, derived from a term referring to a type of high quality beer. She was associated with both ...
, Ezina(/
Ašnan) and
Šakkan.
Worship
Irḫan is attested in
theophoric name
A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or God's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that deit ...
s from Early Dynastic and
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 ...
Ur. During the latter period, he was worshiped in this city during an annual festival of sowing. A temple dedicated to him is not directly attested, but based on the reference to a priest calling himself "the doorman of Irḫan" its existence is considered to be a possibility. A ''gudu'' priest of Irḫan is also attested. There is no direct evidence that he was ever actively worshiped outside Ur, though he is present in a text from
Nippur in an unclear context. Additionally, a cylinder of
Gudea
Gudea (Sumerian: , ''Gu3-de2-a'') was a ruler ('' ensi'') of the state of Lagash in Southern Mesopotamia, who ruled circa 2080–2060 BC (short chronology) or 2144-2124 BC (middle chronology). He probably did not come from the city, but had marrie ...
invokes "pure Irḫan of the
Abzu
The Abzu or Apsu (Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ), also called (Cuneiform:, ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: — ='water' ='deep', recorded in Greek as ), is the name for fresh water from underground aquifers which was given a religious fertilising quality ...
."
Irḫan's cult apparently largely disappeared after the Ur III period. Only a single reference to Irḫan is presently known from the
Old Babylonian
Old Babylonian may refer to:
*the period of the First Babylonian dynasty (20th to 16th centuries BC)
*the historical stage of the Akkadian language of that time See also
*Old Assyrian (disambiguation) Old Assyrian refers to a period of the Ancient ...
literary corpus. He appears in a small fragment of a myth in which he apparently drinks beer during a divine banquet. According to Frans Wiggermann, a shrine dedicated to him also existed in the Ešarra temple complex in
Assur
Aššur (; Sumerian: AN.ŠAR2KI, Assyrian cuneiform: ''Aš-šurKI'', "City of God Aššur"; syr, ܐܫܘܪ ''Āšūr''; Old Persian ''Aθur'', fa, آشور: ''Āšūr''; he, אַשּׁוּר, ', ar, اشور), also known as Ashur and Qal'at ...
.
A medical incantation prescribes drawing a picture of Irḫan with flour in order to cure
rheumatism
Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including ar ...
.
References
Bibliography
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Mesopotamian gods
Sea and river gods
Snake gods