Kulullû, inscribed 𒄩 𒇽𒍇𒇻, "Fish-Man", was an ancient

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

n mythical monster possibly inherited by

Marduk Marduk (; cuneiform: Dingir, ᵈAMAR.UTU; Sumerian language, Sumerian: "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) is a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of Babylon who eventually rose to prominence in the 1st millennium BC. In B ...

from his father Ea. In later

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

n mythology, he was associated with ''kuliltu'', "Fish-Woman", and statues of them were apparently located in the Nabû temple in

Nimrud Nimrud (; ) is an ancient Assyrian people, Assyrian city (original Assyrian name Kalḫu, biblical name Calah) located in Iraq, south of the city of Mosul, and south of the village of Selamiyah (), in the Nineveh Plains in Upper Mesopotamia. ...

, ancient Kalhu, as referenced on a contemporary administrative text.

Ritual uses

He had the head, arms and torso of a human and the lower body and tail of a fish and was portrayed in sculptures found in palaces and 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 ...

s. With a bitumen smeared clay figurine, he seems to have found special purpose attracting prosperity and divine benevolence to households, as his icon was inscribed ''ri-da hi-ṣib'' KUR''-i er-ba taš-mu u ma-ga-ru'', "come down abundance of the mountain, enter intercession and compliance". He appears in Mesopotamian iconography from the Old Babylonian period onward. The Agum-Kakrime Inscription places his apotropaic icon on the gate of the '' ká-su-lim- ma'', the chamber of Marduk and his divine consort Zarpanītu. He was one of the eleven monstrous spawn of Tiāmat in the Epic of Creation, Enûma Eliš. He is one of the demons listed in tablet VIII of the

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. 1350–105 ...

incantation series, the ritual to counter a curse of unknown origin. He also features in a hymn to Marduk and the gods of the

Esagila The Ésagila or Esangil ( , ''"temple whose top is lofty"'') was a temple dedicated to Marduk, the protector god of Babylon. It lay south of the ziggurat Etemenanki. Description In this temple was the statue of Marduk, surrounded by cult ima ...

. His depiction in Assyrian reliefs is limited to a marine scene in

Sargon II Sargon II (, meaning "the faithful king" or "the legitimate king") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 722 BC to his death in battle in 705. Probably the son of Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727), Sargon is generally believed to have be ...

's palace at

Khorsabad Dur-Sharrukin (, "Fortress of Sargon"; , Syriac: ܕܘܪ ܫܪܘ ܘܟܢ), present day Khorsabad, was the Assyrian capital in the time of Sargon II of Assyria. Khorsabad is a village in northern Iraq, 15 km northeast of Mosul. The great city ...

, ancient Dur-Šarru-kên, a small relief at

Tell Halaf Tell Halaf () is an archaeological site in Al-Hasakah in northeastern Syria, a few kilometers from the city of Ras al-Ayn near the Syria–Turkey border. The site, which dates to the sixth millennium BCE, was the first to be excavated from a N ...

and on an ornamental brass ring found at Har Sena'im, an Ituraean cult site on the southern slopes of Mount Hermon.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kulullu Characters in the Enūma Eliš Mesopotamian legendary creatures Mesopotamian demons Offspring of Tiamat Merfolk Water spirits