Ninurta (Nin Ur) in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology was the god of Nippur, identified with
Ningirsu with whom he may always have been identical. In older transcriptions the name is rendered Ninib and in
older commentary he is sometimes seen as a solar deity.
In Nippur Ninurta was worshipped as part of a triad of deities including his father
Enlil and his mother Ninlil. In variant mythology, his mother is
said to be Ninhursag.
Ninurta often appears holding a bow and arrow and a mace named Car-ur to which he speaks when attacking the monster
Asag, and which answers back. Car-ur often takes the form of a winged lion.
In one story Ninurta battles such a monster called Imdugud (Akkadian Anzu). In what may be an
alternate version, another text relates how the monster Anzu steals the Tablets of Destiny which Enlil requires to maintain his rule. Ninurta slays each of the monsters
later known as the "Slain Heroes" (the Dragon, the Gypsum, the Palm Tree King, Lord Saman-ana, the bison-beast, the scorpion-man,
the seven-headed serpent), and finally Anzu is eventually killed by Ninurta who delivers the Tablet to his father, Enlil.
Cults
The cult of Ninurta can be traced back to the oldest period of Sumerian history. In the
inscriptions found at Lagash he is appears under his name Ningirsu, that is, "the lord of
Girsu", Girsu being the name of a quarter within Lagash, the city-state where he was considered the patron deity.
Ninurta appears in a double capacity in the epithets bestowed on him, and in the hymns and
incantations addressed to him. On the one hand he is a farmer and a healing god who releases from sickness and the ban of the
demons in general and on the other he is the god of the South Wind, as the son of Enlil, who was
the angry, jealous god of Air. While Enlil was the father of Ninurta, Enlil's brother, Enki, was Ninurta's mentor from whom
Ninurta was intrusted several powerful Me, including the Deluge.
He remained popular under the Assyrians; two of the kings of Assyria bore the name
Tukulti-Ninurta. Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BCE) built him a temple in
the new capital city of Calah (now Nimrud). In Assyria, Ninurta
was worshipped along with Assur and Mulissu.
In the late neo-Babylonian and early Persian period, syncretism seems to have fused Ninurta's character with that of Nergal. The two gods were often invoked together, and spoken of as if they were one divinity.
In the astral-theological system Ninurta was associated with the planet Saturn, or perhaps as
offspring or an aspect of Saturn. In his capacity as a farmer-god, the Greeks equated Ninurta with their harvest-god
Kronos, whom the Romans in turn identified with their fertility-god Saturn -- hence the current name of the planet.
The consort of Ninurta was Ugallu in Nippur and Bau when he was
called Ningirsu. Many see Ninurta as the equivalent of Mars in Leo.
An engraving in the British Museum identifies Ninurta as the Biblical Nimrod.
Parts of this article were originally from the 1911 Encyclopædia
Britannica article on Ninib.
See also
External links
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