Mušmaḫḫū

Mušmaḫḫū, inscribed in Sumerian as MUŠ.MAḪ, Akkadian as muš-ma-ḫu, meaning "Exalted/distinguished Serpent", was an ancient Mesopotamian mythological hybrid of serpent, lion and bird, sometimes identified with the seven-headed serpent slain by Ninurta in the mythology of the Sumerian period. He is one of the three horned snakes, with his companions, Bašmu and Ušumgallu, with whom he may have shared a common mythological origin.[1]

Part of a series on
Ancient
Mesopotamian religion
Chaos Monster and Sun God
Primordial beings
Seven gods who decree
Other major deities
Minor deities
Demigods and heroes
Spirits and monsters
Tales
Related topics

Mythology

In Angim or "Ninurta's return to Nippur", the storm god describes one of his weapons as "the seven-mouthed muš-mah serpent" (line 138), reminiscent of the Greek myth of Heracles and the seven headed Lernaean Hydra he slew in the second of his Twelve labours. An engraved shell of the Early Dynastic period shows Ninğirsu slaying the seven-headed mušmaḫḫū.[2]

In the Epic of Creation, Enûma Eliš, Tiāmat gives birth (alādu) to mythical serpents, described as mušmaḫḫū, "with sharp teeth, merciless fangs, instead of blood she filled their bodies with venom".[3]

See also

References
  1. F. A. M. Wiggermann (1992). Mesopotamian Protective Spirits: The Ritual Texts. Styx Publications. p. 164.
  2. Jeremy A. Black; Anthony Green; Tessa Rickards (1992). Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary. University of Texas Press. p. 165.
  3. mušmaḫḫū, CAD M2, pp. 127–128.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.