Study of Charon 1 Félix Resurrección Hidalgo

Urshanabi was the ferryman of the

Hubur Hubur () is a Sumerian term meaning "river", "watercourse" or "netherworld", written ideographically with the cuneiform signs . It is usually the "river of the netherworld". Usage and meaning A connection to Tiamat has been suggested with par ...

, river of the dead in Mesopotamian mythology. His equivalent in

Greek Mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities o ...

was

Charon In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon (; grc, Χάρων) is a psychopomp, the ferryman of Hades, the Greek underworld. He carries the souls of those who have been given funeral rites across the rivers Acheron and Styx, which separate the ...

. He is first mentioned in the myth of

Enlil and Ninlil Enlil and Ninlil or the Myth of Enlil and Ninlil or Enlil and Ninlil: The begetting of Nanna is a Sumerian creation myth, written on clay tablets in the mid to late 3rd millennium BC. Compilation The first lines of the myth were discovered ...

, where he is called SI.LU.IGI and described as a man.Enlil and Ninlil., Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Robson, E., and Zólyomi, G., The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Oxford 1998-.
/ref> In the

Epic of Gilgamesh The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an 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 begins with ...

, Urshanabi is a companion of

Gilgamesh sux, , label=none , image = Hero lion Dur-Sharrukin Louvre AO19862.jpg , alt = , caption = Possible representation of Gilgamesh as Master of Animals, grasping a lion in his left arm and snake in his right hand, in an Assy ...

after

Enkidu Enkidu ( sux, ''EN.KI.DU10'') was a legendary figure in ancient Mesopotamian mythology, wartime comrade and friend of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk. Their exploits were composed in Sumerian poems and in the Akkadian ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', writte ...

dies. They meet when Urshanabi is involved in the curious occupation of collecting an unintelligible type of "''urnu''-

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more ...

s" in the forest. Urshanabi's ferry is at first powered by unintelligible "stone things", that are destroyed by Gilgamesh, who proceeds to power the boat with 120 stakes he has to make to replace the "stone-things". He is banished from Kur by the immortal survivor of the flood

Utnapishtim Ut-napishtim or Uta-na’ishtim (in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''), Atra-Hasis, Ziusudra ( Sumerian), Xisuthros (''Ξίσουθρος'', in Berossus) ( akk, ) is a character in ancient Mesopotamian mythology. He is tasked by the god Enki (Akkadian: ...

for no discernible reason, possibly for conveying Gilgamesh across the Hubur. They both ferry back to

Uruk Uruk, also known as Warka or Warkah, was an ancient city of Sumer (and later of Babylonia) situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates River on the dried-up ancient channel of the Euphrates east of modern Samawah, Muthanna Governorate, Al ...

where they behold its splendour. His later

Assyrian Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire * Assyri ...

incarnation is called Hamar-tabal, who is described as a horrible monster.

References

{{MEast-myth-stub Mesopotamian gods Epic of Gilgamesh

See also

References