Humban ( elx, 𒀭𒃲𒈨𒌍, Humban, ''
dhu-um-ban'', also ''
dhu-ban'', Huban) was an
Elam
Elam (; Linear Elamite: ''hatamti''; Cuneiform Elamite: ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ; he, עֵילָם ''ʿēlām''; peo, 𐎢𐎺𐎩 ''hūja'') was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretc ...
ite god. He is already attested in the earliest sources preserving information about Elamite religion, but seemingly only grew in importance in the neo-Elamite period, in which many kings had
theophoric names
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 ...
invoking him. He was connected with the concept of ''kitin'', or divine protection.
Due to his role in religion of the neo-Elamite person, he was also worshiped by the earliest
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
rulers from the
Achaemenid dynasty
The Achaemenid dynasty ( Old Persian: ; Persian: ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) was an ancient Persian royal dynasty that ruled the Achaemenid Empire, an Iranian empire that stretched from Egypt and Southeastern Europe in the west to the In ...
, as indicated by the
Persepolis Administrative Archives
The Persepolis Fortification Archive and Persepolis Treasury Archive are two groups of clay administrative archives — sets of records physically stored together – found in Persepolis dating to the Achaemenid Persian Empire. The discover ...
, where he is mentioned more often even than
Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazda (; ae, , translit=Ahura Mazdā; ), also known as Oromasdes, Ohrmazd, Ahuramazda, Hoormazd, Hormazd, Hormaz and Hurmuz, is the creator deity in Zoroastrianism. He is the first and most frequently invoked spirit in the ''Yasna''. ...
.
Character
It is likely that while in the west of Elam
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 napappa ...
was regarded as the main god, further east the position of Humban was higher. At the same time, with the exception of texts from the Acheamenid period, Humban does not appear in sources from further east than
Izeh
Izeh ( fa, ايذه, also Romanized as Īz̄eh; also known as Malāmir, Izaj, and Malemir) is a city and capital of Izeh County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 103,695, in 20,127 families.
Izeh also has mines of ...
in
Khuzestan
Khuzestan Province (also spelled Xuzestan; fa, استان خوزستان ''Ostān-e Xūzestān'') is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the southwest of the country, bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf. Its capital is Ahvaz and it covers ...
. According to Wouter Henkelman, such evidence indicates that what is referred to as "Elamite religion" in scholarship was most likely a "patchwork of local traditions."
Humban could be called ''rišar nappipir'', "greatest of the gods" or "great among the gods," though this epithet was also applied to Inshushinak. An inscription of Hanni of Ayapir calls him ''rišar nappirra'', "greatest god." Another of his epithets might have been ''elume'', possibly a loan from
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
Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...
''elû'' ("high," "exalted"), but it is unclear if a passage in which it is attested should be interpreted as referring to the god as Humban the Exalted or if it instead denotes the location of his temple.
Humban's supremacy over other gods could be acknowledged in temples not dedicated to him, for example it is presumed that the Ayapir sanctuary from which the ''rišar nappirra'' epithet is known was most likely dedicated to the local god Tirutur, rather tha Humban.
Kitin
Humban was believed to bestow ''kitin'' upon rulers. The term is often translated as "divine protection," but its meaning was most likely more broad, and in individual sources it might designate concepts such as "god-given royal power," "divinely-enforced legal protection," "legal authority," "legal order" or even "divine emblem." Other gods were believed to bestow it too, for example Inshushinak, Tepti and Tirutur, but the ''kitin'' of Humban was regarded as the most important for the kings in the neo-Elamite period.
It is not clear when did Humban become a god associated with kingship, but it might have been a theological innovation of the neo-Elamite period. Similarly, the term ''kitin'' is largely limited to administrative texts in earlier periods, and only starts to appear in royal inscriptions in neo-Elamite times. In personal names, its use prior to this period is limited to sources from Malyan.
A single mention of ''kitin'' occurs in the so-called "Daivā Inscription" of
Xerxes I
Xerxes I ( peo, 𐎧𐏁𐎹𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠 ; grc-gre, Ξέρξης ; – August 465 BC), commonly known as Xerxes the Great, was the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, ruling from 486 to 465 BC. He was the son and successor of ...
, though only in the
Elamite
Elamite, also known as Hatamtite and formerly as Susian, is an extinct language that was spoken by the ancient Elamites. It was used in what is now southwestern Iran from 2600 BC to 330 BC. Elamite works disappear from the archeological record ...
version, not the accompanying Akkadian and
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
ones.
Worship
Oldest attestation of Humban is the so-called Treaty of
Naram-Sin, whose signatories were the Akkadian ruler in mention (reigned 2260-2223 BCE) and an unknown Elamite monarch, often assumed to be
Khita
Khita, sometimes Hita in Elamite ( ''hi-ta-a''), was governor of Susa and the 11th king of the Awan Dynasty of Elam, around 2280 BCE. He was most likely the grandfather of the famous Elamite ruler Kutik-Inshushinak, who succeeded him on the thro ...
of Awan, though definite evidence is lacking. Humban occupies the second place among the deities listed as witnesses, behind
Pinikir
Pinikir, also known as Pinigir, Pirengir and Parakaras, was an Ancient Near Eastern astral goddess who originates in Elamite religious beliefs. While she is only infrequently attested in Elamite documents, she achieved a degree of prominence in H ...
. His name is written as ''
dhu-ba-an'' in this document. The other divine witnesses enumerated include deities of both Elamite (for example
Simut
Simut or Samut (“Son of Mut”) was an ancient Egyptian priest who held the position of Second Prophet of Amun towards the end of the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. He is known from a number of objects, including his (now lost), Theban tomb ch ...
and Hutran) and western (
Ilaba
Ilaba was a Mesopotamian god. He is best attested as the tutelary deity of the kings of the Akkadian Empire, and functioned both as their personal god and as the city god of Akkad. Textual sources indicate he was a warlike deity, frequently descri ...
,
Ishara
Ishara (Išḫara) was the tutelary goddess of the ancient Syrian city of Ebla. The origin of her name is unknown. Both Hurrian and West Semitic etymologies have been proposed, but they found no broad support and today it is often assumed that ...
,
Manzat
Manzat (; Auvergnat: ''Manzac'') is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.
See also
*Communes of the Puy-de-Dôme department
The following is a list of the 464 Communes of France, communes of the Puy-de-Dôme De ...
,
Ninkarrak
Ninkarrak ( akk, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒋼𒀀𒊏𒀝, '' dnin-kar-ra-ak'') was a goddess of medicine worshiped chiefly in northern Mesopotamia and Syria. It has been proposed that her name originates in either Akkadian or an unidentified substrate lang ...
,
Ninurta
, image= Cropped Image of Carving Showing the Mesopotamian God Ninurta.png
, caption= Assyrian stone relief from the temple of Ninurta at Kalhu, showing the god with his thunderbolts pursuing Anzû, who has stolen the Tablet of Destinies from En ...
) origin. The treaty has been used as evidence of Humban being a god originating in Awan, or already occupying an important position in the "Awanite" pantheon in the third millennium BCE, but Wouter Henkelman suggests that caution is necessary, as he is only mentioned once in this document, while Inshushinak, who on the account of being 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 ...
would not necessarily play a major role in Awan, is mentioned six times.
A text from Susa roughly contemporary with the Naram-Sin treaty mentions a day during which grain was offered to Humban, though it does not specify where did it take place. In the following
Sukkalmah
The Sukkalmah Dynasty (c. 1900-1500 BCE), also Epartid Dynasty after the founder Eparti/Ebarat, was an early dynasty of West Asia in the ancient region of Elam, to the southeast of Babylonia. It corresponds to the latest part of the Old Elamite pe ...
period, the only evidence of the worship of Humban are
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 in administrative texts, such as Kuk-Humban.
In the Middle Elamite period (second half of second millennium BCE), king
Untash-Napirisha
Untash-Napirisha was king of Elam (in present-day southwest Iran) during the Middle Elamite period, circa 1300 BCE. He was the son of the previous Elamite king, Humban-Numena. He was named after Napirisha, an Elamite deity.
He founded and built ...
built a temple of Humban at
Chogha Zanbil
Chogha Zanbil ( fa, چغازنبيل; Elamite: Dur Untash) is an ancient Elamite complex in the Khuzestan province of Iran. It is one of the few existing ziggurats outside Mesopotamia. It lies approximately southeast of Susa and north of Ahv ...
. Humban also appears in the inscription from a stele of king Shilhak-Inshushinak I, in which he occupies the fourth place among the gods listed, after
Napirisha
Napirisha (Linear Elamite: ''Napirriša'') was an Elamite deity from the region of Anshan, and was the main deity of the kingdom from at least the late 3rd millennium BCE. In Elamite, his name means "Great (-''ša'') God (''napir'')"; in cuneiform ...
,
Kiririsha
Kiririsha (Elamite: “great lady”) was a major goddess worshiped in Elam.
Early scholarship incorrectly identified her as one and the same as Pinikir, an unrelated goddess from a different part of Elam.
Character
Kiririsha is regarded as on ...
and Inshushinak. The same king also rebuilt a "residence" (''murti'') of Humban.
![King Ummanaldash captured by the Assyrians](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/King_Ummanaldash_captured_by_the_Assyrians.jpg)
The popularity of Humban seemingly increased in the neo-Elamite period, as indicated by the high number of theophoric names invoking him. At least thirteen neo-Elamite kings or claimants to the throne (roughly a half of Elamite rulers from this period) had such names. Examples include
Humban-haltash III
Humban-haltash III or Umanaldash was the last major ruler of Elam. He belonged to the Humban-Tahrid, "Neo-Elamite", dynasty (c.830–521 BC). He became king 650 BC. During his kingdom, the Assyrian people attacked Elam and occupied Madektu. Th ...
and Tepti-Humban-Inshushinak. For comparison, only two are attested from earlier times, namely Huba-simti from the
Sargonic period and
Humban-Numena Humban-Numena (or Kumban-Numena) was a king of Elam from the Igihalkid dynasty (Middle Elamite Period, mid-14th century BCE). He was a son and successor of King Attar-kittah, as it is attested in his inscriptions from temples in Liyan and in Susa.D. ...
, who reigned around 1350 BCE. Neo-Elamite rulers whose inscriptions mention Humban include Hanni of Ayapir, Tepti-Humban-Inshushinak, and possibly Atta-hamiti-Inshushinak. An inscription of Tepti-Humban-Inshushinak indicates that among the clergy of Humban in his times there was a high priestess.
A number of Elamite topographical names invoked Humban, for example Til Humba, "hill of Humban," located near the western border of Elam, or the town Zila-Humban located in the Fahliyan area, possibly near Kurangun.
Achaemenid reception
In the
Persepolis fortification archive
The Persepolis Fortification Archive and Persepolis Treasury Archive are two groups of clay administrative archives — sets of records physically stored together – found in Persepolis dating to the Achaemenid Persian Empire. The discover ...
, Humban appears more commonly than any other Elamite or Persian deity, with a total of twenty six mentions. For comparison, Auramazdā (
Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazda (; ae, , translit=Ahura Mazdā; ), also known as Oromasdes, Ohrmazd, Ahuramazda, Hoormazd, Hormazd, Hormaz and Hurmuz, is the creator deity in Zoroastrianism. He is the first and most frequently invoked spirit in the ''Yasna''. ...
) appears only ten times. The amount of grain which according to these documents was offered to Humban by the Achaemenid administration was more than thrice as big as that offered to Auramazdā. It has been argued that in this period, he should be regarded as not an Elamite god, but a Persian one.
Mary Boyce
Nora Elisabeth Mary Boyce (2 August 1920 – 4 April 2006) was a British scholar of Iranian languages, and an authority on Zoroastrianism. She was Professor of Iranian Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of the Un ...
went as far as suggesting that the prominence of Humban in the neo-Elamite period influenced the position of Ahura Mazda in religion of the Persians, but Wouter Henkelman considers this proposal to be entirely speculative. It is nonetheless plausible that the concept of ''kitin'', associated with the neo-Elamite period with Humban, was later assigned to Ahura Mazda, as indicated by an inscription of Xerxes using this term. Ahura Mazda's role as a divine kingmaker was also likely modeled on Humban's.
Most of the nineteen priests (eight of them designated as ''šatin'') of Humban known from Achaemenid documents bear linguistically Iranian, rather than Elamit, names (for example Mardunuya and Yama), and the percentage of the latter type of names among them is similar to the ten percent attested among the general populace. Humban could receive offerings alongside gods of various backgrounds, including Ahura Mazda and
Adad
Hadad ( uga, ), Haddad, Adad (Akkadian: 𒀭𒅎 '' DIM'', pronounced as ''Adād''), or Iškur ( Sumerian) was the storm and rain god in the Canaanite and ancient Mesopotamian religions.
He was attested in Ebla as "Hadda" in c. 2500 BCE. ...
.
Most locations where Humban was worshiped in the Achemenid period were towns located close to the royal road network.
Mesopotamian reception
Humban is attested in four theophoric names from
Nippur
Nippur (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Nibru'', often logogram, logographically recorded as , EN.LÍLKI, "Enlil City;"The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory': Vol. 1, Part 1. Accessed 15 Dec 2010. Akkadian language, Akkadian: '' ...
from 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 Babylon ...
, more than any deity of neither
Mesopotamian
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
nor
Kassite
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 Babylon ...
origin with the exception of the
Hurrian
The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Northern ...
god
Teshub
Teshub (also written Teshup, Teššup, or Tešup; cuneiform ; hieroglyphic Luwian , read as ''Tarhunzas'';Annick Payne (2014), ''Hieroglyphic Luwian: An Introduction with Original Texts'', 3rd revised edition, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, p.& ...
, who is present in fifteen names, and
Simut
Simut or Samut (“Son of Mut”) was an ancient Egyptian priest who held the position of Second Prophet of Amun towards the end of the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. He is known from a number of objects, including his (now lost), Theban tomb ch ...
, present in nine names.
In the
neo-Assyrian period
The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew t ...
, Humban was regarded as an equivalent of
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, Bab ...
, as indicated by two commentaries on the incantation series
Šurpu The ancient Mesopotamian incantation series Šurpu begins ''enūma nēpešē ša šur-pu t'' 'eppušu'', “when you perform the rituals for (the series) ‘Burning,’” and was probably compiled in the middle Babylonian period, ca. 1350–1050 ...
. This equation was most likely based on their shared role as sources of royal power in the respective cultures, as no evidence in favor or against attributing any other functions of Enlil (such as determination of fates or control over weather) to Humban is available. Based on the equation of Humban with Enlil and
Anu
Anu ( akk, , from wikt:𒀭#Sumerian, 𒀭 ''an'' “Sky”, “Heaven”) or Anum, originally An ( sux, ), was the sky father, divine personification of the sky, king of the gods, and ancestor of many of the list of Mesopotamian deities, dei ...
with
Jabru
Jabru was a god who according to Mesopotamian god lists was worshiped in Elam. However, he is not attested in any Elamite sources.
Mesopotamian attestations
While Jabru is described as an Elamite god, he is known exclusively from Mesopotamian te ...
in such sources,
Heidemarie Koch
Heidemarie Koch (17 December 1943 – 28 January 2022) was a German Iranologist.
Life and career
Koch was born in Merseburg, Saxony, Prussia, Germany. She studied mathematics as her major between 1963 and 1966. Subsequently, she worked as a teach ...
proposed that Jabru was regarded as the father of Humban. However, Jabru is not attested in any Elamite sources, but only in Mesopotamian ones, and sometimes was himself described as the Elamite counterpart of Enlil. For example, according to 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 ...
'', a god bearing the name Yabnu (''
dia-ab-na'') was the "Enlil of Elam." According to
Wilfred G. Lambert
Wilfred George Lambert FBA (26 February 1926 – 9 November 2011) was a historian and archaeologist, a specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern Archaeology.
Early life
Lambert was born in Birmingham, and, having won a scholarship, he was edu ...
, Yanbu should be understood as the same god as Jabru.
Humban also appears alongside Jabru and
Napirisha
Napirisha (Linear Elamite: ''Napirriša'') was an Elamite deity from the region of Anshan, and was the main deity of the kingdom from at least the late 3rd millennium BCE. In Elamite, his name means "Great (-''ša'') God (''napir'')"; in cuneiform ...
in the text ''Underworld Vision of an Assyrian Prince''. Alexandre Lokotionov notes that this sequence of gods mirrors the reference to Humban in Šurpu, and that its inclusion possibly indicates that to the Assyrians the underworld "could have simply been a repository for the exotic and the unusual."
Ammankasibar, a god whose statue according to the annals of
Ashurbanipal
Ashurbanipal (Neo-Assyrian language, Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "Ashur (god), Ashur is the creator of the heir") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 669 BCE to his death in 631. He is generally remembered as the last great king o ...
was taken to Assyria, has been identified with Humban by some researchers, but there is no plausible explanation for the element ''kasibar'' in his name.
Disproved theories
An early, now discredited, theory proposed by
Georg Hüsing in 1916 aimed to connect Humban with biblical
Haman
Haman ( ; also known as Haman the Agagite or Haman the evil) is the main antagonist in the Book of Esther, who according to the Hebrew Bible was an official in the court of the Persian empire under King Ahasuerus, commonly identified as Xerxes I ...
, Greek mythical figure
Memnon
In Greek mythology, Memnon (; Ancient Greek: Μέμνων means 'resolute') was a king of Aethiopia and son of Tithonus and Eos. As a warrior he was considered to be almost Achilles' equal in skill. During the Trojan War, he brought an army t ...
(based on
Humban-Numena Humban-Numena (or Kumban-Numena) was a king of Elam from the Igihalkid dynasty (Middle Elamite Period, mid-14th century BCE). He was a son and successor of King Attar-kittah, as it is attested in his inscriptions from temples in Liyan and in Susa.D. ...
according to Hüsing),
Egyptian god
Ancient Egyptian deities are the gods and goddesses worshipped in ancient Egypt. The beliefs and rituals surrounding these gods formed the core of ancient Egyptian religion, which emerged sometime in prehistory. Deities represented natural fo ...
Ammon
Ammon (Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; he, עַמּוֹן ''ʻAmmōn''; ar, عمّون, ʻAmmūn) was an ancient Semitic-speaking nation occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok, in p ...
, and Japanese
Hachiman
In Japanese religion, ''Yahata'' (八幡神, ancient Shinto pronunciation) formerly in Shinto and later commonly known as Hachiman (八幡神, Japanese Buddhist pronunciation) is the syncretic divinity of archery and war, incorporating elements f ...
.
While in past scholarship it has been assumed that Humban might have been the model for
Humbaba
In Ancient Mesopotamian religion, Humbaba ( Assyrian spelling), also spelled Huwawa ( Sumerian spelling) and surnamed ''the Terrible'', was a monstrous giant of immemorial age raised by Utu, the Sun / justice / truth god.
Humbaba was the guardia ...
, the guardian of the
Cedar Forest
The Cedar Forest ( Sumerian: 𒄑𒂞𒄑 𒌁giš eren giš tir) is the glorious realm of the gods of Mesopotamian mythology. It is guarded by the demigod Humbaba and was once entered by the hero Gilgamesh who dared cut down trees from its vi ...
in the ''
Epic of Gilgamesh
The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, and is regarded as the earliest surviving notable literature and the second oldest religious text, after the Pyramid Texts. The literary history of Gilgamesh ...
'', this theory is no longer considered plausible today according to
Andrew R. George, who notes that it relied on "unsafe historical conclusions" Humbaba's name has no clear linguistic affiliation, and its writing varies between various locations and time periods, with the original form being Huwawa. Based on attestations from the
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 ...
it was seemingly initially an ordinary personal name in Mesopotamia.
Another no longer accepted theory, in the past supported for example by Walther Hinz, considered Humban to be the same god as Napirisha, with the latter being a "taboo name" of the former. Similarly, Kiririsha was held to be a taboo name of Pinikir rather than a distinct deity. This view has been commonly criticized from the 1980s onward, with some doubts about the former case expressed as early as 1901, and it is no longer supported by experts today. Due to its prevalence in the past, some older publications overestimate the number of inscriptions referring to Humban by treating the logogram
ANGAL or DINGIR.GAL, corresponding to Napirisha (Elamite: "great god;" the
cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sha ...
signs of the logogram have the same meaning in
Sumerian) as representing him instead.
References
Bibliography
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{{refend
Further reading
* Henkelman, Wouter F.M. “Humban & Auramazdā: Royal Gods in a Persian Landscape”. In: ''Persian Religion in the Achaemenid Period'' / La Religion Perse à l’époque Achéménide. Edited by Wouter F. M. Henkelman and Céline Redard, 1st ed. Harrassowitz Verlag, 2017. pp. 273–346. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvckq50d.11.
Elamite gods
Persian mythology