mušḫuššu


Presentation of Marduk god of muszhusz. Mushrooms (m. mūḫuššu) - a mythical dragon snake of Mesopotamian beliefs, a sacred animal of many gods, best known for his performances at the Ishtar Gate in Babylon. The best known image of this creature, depicted on the walls and gateways of the Babylon procession, shows them as a hybrid with a head, a neck and a snake's torso, the front legs of a lion, the back legs of a bird, its tail and horns on its head. His identification with muszhush, known from the mythology of the serpent-dragon, has become possible thanks to the inscriptions of King Nebuchadnezzar II, describing in detail his construction work in Babylon.

According to the sources, the muszhush was originally the animal of Ninazu, the god of Esznun. During the Akkadian period, or at the beginning of the Babylonian period (18th century BC), he was "inherited" by the god Tiszpaka, when he replaced Ninazu as the guardian god of the city. In Lagash, he was joined by his son, Ninazu, Ningiszzida. Probably after the conquest of Esznunna by Hammurabi (1756), together with the establishment of the national religion, muszhush was associated with the new Babylonian goddess Marduk, and later also with the god Nabu. The Assyrian king of Sennacheryba (689 BC) obtained the Babylonian captivity, which brought the snake-dragon motif to Assyria, where he became the beast of the Ashur state goddess. Bibliography

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