Irḫan
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Irḫan was a
Mesopotamian god Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic. They were thought to possess extraordinary powers and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size. The deities typically wore ''melam'', a ...
who personified the western branch of the
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 ...
, 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 log ...
, and his proposed cosmogonic role.


Name

Irḫan was the Sumerian name of the western branch of the
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 ...
. In Akkadian it was called Araḫtu. These names are
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
s, and most likely both were derived from the Semitic
root In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, 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 bel ...
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: Businesses and organisations * KISH, a radio station in Guam * Kish Air, an Iranian airline * Korean International School in Hanoi, Vietnam People * Kish (surname), including a list of people with the name * Kish, a former ...
and
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 ...
, 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; ) was a Mesopotamian god who was the tutelary deity of the city of Der, a city-state located east of the Tigris, in the proximity of the borders of Elam. It is known that he was a divine judge, and his position in the Mesopo ...
, 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 log ...
, 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 (; DNIN.A.SU">sup>DNIN.A.SU"lord healer") was a Mesopotamian god of the underworld. He was also associated with snakes and vegetation, and with time acquired the character of a warrior god. He was frequently associated with Ereshkigal, e ...
, the tutelary god of
Susa Susa ( ) was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris, between the Karkheh River, Karkheh and Dez River, Dez Rivers in Iran. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital o ...
,
Inshushinak Inshushinak (also Šušinak, Šušun; Linear Elamite: ''Insušinak'', Cuneiform: '' dInšušinak'') was the tutelary god of the city of Susa in Elam. His name has a Sumerian etymology, and can be translated as "lord of Susa". He was associat ...
, and the tutelary god of
Eshnunna Eshnunna (also Esnunak) (modern Tell Asmar in Diyala Governorate, Iraq) was an ancient Sumerian (and later Akkadian) city and city-state in central Mesopotamia 12.6 miles northwest of Tell Agrab and 15 miles northwest of Tell Ishchali. Althou ...
,
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 mu ...
.


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 Lisin was a Mesopotamian deity initially regarded as a goddess and addressed as ''ama'', "mother," who later came to be regarded as a god and developed an association with fire. The name was also applied to a star associated with Nabu, presumed ...
, 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 a people of the ancient Near East. They controlled Babylonia after the fall of the Old Babylonian Empire from until (Chronology of the ancient Near East#Variant Middle Bronze Age chronologies, short chronology). The Kassi ...
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 log ...
, 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 stor ...
(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 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 Akshak ( Sumerian: , akšak) (pre-Sargonic - u4kúsu.KI, Ur III - akúsu.KI, Phonetic - ak-su-wa-ak) was a city of ancient Sumer, situated on the northern boundary of Akkad, sometimes identified with Babylonian Upi (Greek Opis). It is known, ba ...
known from the
Sumerian King List The ''Sumerian King List'' (abbreviated ''SKL'') or ''Chronicle of the One Monarchy'' is an ancient Composition (language), literary composition written in Sumerian language, Sumerian that was likely created and redacted to legitimize the claims ...
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 language, Sumerian deities attested in writing, and remained prominent through many periods of History of Mesopotamia, Mesopotamian history. She was commo ...
known from Kalhu 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 as Nisaba's father." Her parentage is not consistent in other sources. One of the Early Dynastic ''
Zame Hymns ''Zame Hymns'' or ''Zami Hymns'' are a sequence of 70 Sumerian language, Sumerian hymns from the Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia), Early Dynastic period discovered in Abu Salabikh. Their conventional title is modern, and reflects the recurring ...
'' 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 instead indicates that Murum, Ningirima's cult center, was located on the waterway he corresponded to. In the ''zi-pad3'' litanies, Irḫan sometimes appears alongside
Ninkasi Ninkasi was the Mesopotamian goddess of beer and brewing. It is possible that in the first millennium BC 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 a god's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that d ...
s from Early Dynastic and
Ur III period 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 ...
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 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 ...
in an unclear context. Additionally, a
cylinder A cylinder () has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infinite ...
of
Gudea Gudea ( Sumerian: , ''Gu3-de2-a''; died 2124 BC) was a Sumerian ruler ('' ensi'') of the state of Lagash in Southern Mesopotamia, who ruled –2060 BC ( short chronology) or 2144–2124 BC ( middle chronology). He probably did not come from the ...
invokes "pure Irḫan of the
Abzu Abzû or Apsû ( Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ), also called (Cuneiform:, ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: – recorded in Greek as ), is the name for fresh water from underground aquifers which was given a religious fertilising quality in ancie ...
." 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 Akkadian ( ; )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Enc ...
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 (; AN.ŠAR2KI, Assyrian cuneiform: ''Aš-šurKI'', "City of God Aššur"; ''Āšūr''; ''Aθur'', ''Āšūr''; ', ), also known as Ashur and Qal'at Sherqat, was the capital of the Old Assyrian city-state (2025–1364 BC), the Midd ...
. 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 a ...
.


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * {{refend Mesopotamian gods Sea and river gods Snake gods