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beginning to rewrite article as promised (This is just the beginning; I will be adding much more material in the coming days, all of which will be cited to reliable sources. I have not even started on the "Mythology" section yet, which will almost certainly be, by far, the longest section since there are so many important myths involving Ninurta.
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{{for|the South African genus of lizard|Ninurta coeruleopunctatus}}
{{for|the South African genus of lizard|Ninurta coeruleopunctatus}}
[[File:Cropped Image of Carving Showing the Mesopotamian God Ninurta.png|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Assyria]]n stone relief from the temple of Ninurta at [[Kalhu]], showing the god with his thunderbolts pursuing [[Anzû]], who has stolen the [[Tablet of Destinies (mythic item)|Tablet of Destinies]] from [[Enlil]]'s sanctuary{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=142}} ([[Austen Henry Layard]] ''Monuments of Nineveh'', 2nd Series, 1853)]]
[[File:Cropped Image of Carving Showing the Mesopotamian God Ninurta.png|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Assyria]]n stone relief from the temple of Ninurta at [[Kalhu]], showing the god with his thunderbolts pursuing [[Anzû]], who has stolen the [[Tablet of Destinies (mythic item)|Tablet of Destinies]] from [[Enlil]]'s sanctuary{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=142}} ([[Austen Henry Layard]] ''Monuments of Nineveh'', 2nd Series, 1853)]]


In [[Ancient Mesopotamian religion|Mesopotamian religion]], '''Ninurta''' ({{lang-sux|{{cuneiform|𒀭𒊩𒌆𒅁}}}} {{transl|sux|<sup>[[dingir|D]]</sup>[[NIN (cuneiform)|NIN]].[[𒅁|URTA]]}}, ''lord of barley'') was a god of law, scribes, farming, and hunting. In [[Lagash]] he was identified with the [[city god]] '''Ningirsu''' ({{cuneiform|𒀭𒊩𒌆𒄈𒋢}} {{transl|Xsux|<sup>[[dingir|D]]</sup>[[NIN (cuneiform)|NIN]].[[Girsu|ĜIR<sub>2</sub>.SU]]}}). In the early days of [[Assyriology]], the name was often transliterated '''Ninib''' or '''Ninip''' and he was sometimes analyzed as a solar deity.
'''Ninurta''',{{efn|{{lang-sux|{{cuneiform|𒀭𒊩𒌆𒅁}}}} {{transl|sux|<sup>[[dingir|D]]</sup>[[NIN (cuneiform)|NIN]].[[𒅁|URTA]]}}. The meaning of this name is not known.{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=142}}}} also known as '''Ningirsu''',{{efn|{{cuneiform|𒀭𒊩𒌆𒄈𒋢}} {{transl|Xsux|<sup>[[dingir|D]]</sup>[[NIN (cuneiform)|NIN]].[[Girsu|ĜIR<sub>2</sub>.SU]]}}}} was a Mesopotamian warrior deity who was worshipped in Sumer from the very earliest times.{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=142}} He was the champion of the gods against the [[Anzû (mythology)|Anzû]] bird after it stole the [[Tablet of Destinies (mythic item)|Tablet of Destinies]] from his father Enlil{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=142}} and, in a myth that is alluded to in many works but never fully preserved, he killed a group of warriors known as the "Slain Heroes".{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=142}} Ninurta was also an agricultural deity and the patron god of farmers.{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=142}} In the epic poem ''[[Lugal-e]]'', he slays the demon [[Asag]] and uses stones to build the [[Tigris]] and [[Euphrates]] rivers to make them useful for irrigation.{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=143}} His major symbols were a perched bird and a plow.{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|pages=142–143}}


==Worship==
Ninurta often appears holding a bow and arrow, a sickle sword, or a mace; the mace, named [[Sharur (mythological weapon)|Sharur]], is capable of speech and can take the form of a winged lion, possibly representing an archetype for the later [[Shedu]].
[[File:The Palaces at Nimrud Restored.jpeg|thumb|upright=1.3|1853 restoration of what the city of [[Kalhu]], Ninurta's main cult center in the Assyrian Empire,{{sfn|Robson|2015}} might have originally looked like, based on the excavations of the British archaeologist [[Austen Henry Layard]] there in the 1840s]]


Ninurta was worshipped in Mesopotamia as early as the middle of the third millennium BC by the ancient [[Sumer]]ians,{{sfn|Robson|2015}} and is one of the earliest attested deities in the region.{{sfn|Robson|2015}}{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=142}} He was seen as both a warrior deity and an agricultural deity.{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|pages=142–143}} His main cult center was the Eshumesha temple in the Sumerian city-state of [[Nippur]],{{sfn|Robson|2015}}{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=142}} where he was worshipped as the god of agriculture and the son of the chief-god [[Enlil]].{{sfn|Robson|2015}}{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=142}} Though they may have originally been separate deities,{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=142}} in historical times, the god Ningirsu, who was worshipped in the Sumerian city-state of [[Lagash]], was always identified as a local form of Ninurta.{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=142}} According to the Assyriologists [[Jeremy Black (assyriologist)|Jeremy Black]] and Anthony Green, the two gods' personalities are "closely intertwined".{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=142}}
In [[Nippur]], Ninurta was worshiped as part of a triad of deities including his father, [[Enlil]] and his mother, [[Ninlil]]. In variant mythology, his mother is said to be the harvest goddess [[Ninhursag]]. The consort of Ninurta was [[Ugallu]] in [[Nippur]] and [[Bau (goddess)|Bau]] when he was called Ningirsu.


In later times, Ninurta's frequently violent nature made him immensely popular with the Assyrians.{{sfn|Robson|2015}}{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=143}} In the late second millennium BC, Assyrian kings frequently held names which included the name of Ninurta,{{sfn|Robson|2015}} such as [[Tukulti-Ninurta I|Tukulti-Ninurta]] ("the trusted one of Ninurta"), [[Ninurta-apal-Ekur]] ("Ninurta is the heir of [Ellil's temple] Ekur"), and [[Ninurta-tukulti-Ashur]] ("Ninurta is the god Aššur's trusted one").{{sfn|Robson|2015}} Tukulti-Ninurta I (ruled 1243–1207 BC) declares in one inscription that he hunts "at the command of the god Ninurta, who loves me."{{sfn|Robson|2015}} Similarly [[Adad-nirari II]] (ruled 911–891 BC) claimed Ninurta and Aššur as supporters of his reign,{{sfn|Robson|2015}} declaring his destruction of their enemies as moral justification for his right to rule.{{sfn|Robson|2015}} In the ninth century BC, when [[Ashurnasirpal II]] moved the capital of the Assyrian Empire to [[Kalhu]],{{sfn|Robson|2015}} the first temple he built there was one dedicated to Ninurta.{{sfn|Robson|2015}}{{sfn|Lewis|2016}}{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=143}} The walls of the temple were decorated with stone relief carvings,{{sfn|Robson|2015}}{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=143}} including one of Ninurta slaying the Anzû bird.{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|pages=142–143}}{{sfn|Robson|2015}} Ashurnasirpal II's son [[Shalmaneser III]] (ruled 859–824 BC) completed Ninurta's ziggurat at Kalhu and dedicated a stone relief of himself to the god.{{sfn|Robson|2015}} On the carving, Shalmaneser III's boasts of his military exploits{{sfn|Robson|2015}} and credits all his victories to Ninurta, declaring that, without Ninurta's aid, none of them would have been possible.{{sfn|Robson|2015}} When [[Adad-nirari III]] (ruled 811–783 BC) dedicated a new endowments to the temple of Aššur in [[Assur]], they were sealed with both the seal of Aššur and the seal of Ninurta.{{sfn|Robson|2015}}
In another legend, Ninurta battles a birdlike monster called [[Anzû (mythology)|Imdugud or Anzû]]; a Babylonian version relates how the monster steals the [[Tablet of Destinies (mythic item)|Tablet of Destinies]]—believed to contain the details of fate and the future—from Enlil. Ninurta slays each of the monsters later known as the "Slain Heroes" (the [[Dragon (Ninurta)|Warrior Dragon]], the [[Palm Tree King]], [[Lord Saman-ana]], the [[Battle Bison beast|Bison-beast]], the [[Mermaid (Ninurta)|Mermaid]], the [[Seven-headed serpent|Seven-headed Snake]], the [[Six-headed Wild Ram]]), and despoils them of valuable items such as [[Gypsum]], [[Strong copper|Strong Copper]], and the [[Magilum boat]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=c.1.6.2&display=Crit&charenc=&lineid=c162.122#c162.122 |title=Ninurta's exploits: a šir-sud (?) to Ninurta |date=19 December 2006 |work=The Elctronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature |publisher=[[Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford]] |access-date=29 May 2018}}</ref> Eventually, Ninurta kills Anzû and returns the Tablet of Destinies to his father Enlil.


After the capital of Assyria was moved away from Kalhu, Ninurta's importance in the pantheon began to decline.{{sfn|Robson|2015}} Nonetheless, he still remained an important deity.{{sfn|Robson|2015}} Even after the kings of Assyria left Kalhu, the inhabitants of the former capital continued to venerate Ninurta,{{sfn|Robson|2015}} who they called "Ninurta residing in Kalhu".{{sfn|Robson|2015}} Legal documents from the city record that those who violated their oaths were required to "place two minas of silver and one mina of gold in the lap of Ninurta residing in Kalhu."{{sfn|Robson|2015}} The last attested example of this clause dates to 669 BC, the last year of the reign of [[Esarhaddon|King Esarhaddon]] (ruled 681 – 669 BC).{{sfn|Robson|2015}} The temple of Ninurta at Kalhu flourished until the end of the Assyrian Empire,{{sfn|Robson|2015}} hiring the poor and destitute as employees.{{sfn|Robson|2015}} The main cultic personnel were a ''šangû''-priest and a chief singer, who were supported by a cook, a steward, and a porter.{{sfn|Robson|2015}} In the late seventh century BC, the temple staff witnessed legal documents, along with the staff of the temple of [[Nabu]] at [[Ezida]].{{sfn|Robson|2015}} The two temples shared a ''qēpu''-official.{{sfn|Robson|2015}}
There are many parallels with both and the story of Marduk, who slew Tiamat and delivered the Tablets of Destiny from Kingu to his father Enki.


==Later influence==
A number of scholars have suggested that either the god Ninurta or the Assyrian king [[Tukulti-Ninurta I]] may have been the inspiration for the Biblical character [[Nimrod]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Oxford Guide to People and Places of the Bible |page=218 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-19-534095-2 |url=https://books.google.es/books?id=0P-mASFPEsAC&pg=PA218 |first=Bruce M. |last=Metzger |author-link=Bruce M. Metzger |first2=Michael D. |last2=Coogan |author2-link=Michael D. Coogan |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195146417.001.0001}}</ref>
[[File:Nimrod (painting).jpg|thumb|''Nimrod'' (1832) by [[David Scott (painter)|David Scott]]. Nimrod, the "great hunter" mentioned in {{bibleverse||Genesis|10:8-12|9}}, is believed by many scholars to be inspired by either Ninurta himself or the Assyrian king [[Tukulti-Ninurta I]], named after him.{{sfn|Metzger|1993|page=218}}{{sfn|Robson|2015}}]]


In the late seventh century BC, Kalhu was captured by foreign invaders.{{sfn|Robson|2015}} The temple of Ninurta there was abandoned and never restored.{{sfn|Robson|2015}} Despite this, Ninurta was never completely forgotten;{{sfn|Robson|2015}} a number of scholars have suggested that either the god Ninurta or the Assyrian king [[Tukulti-Ninurta I]] may have been the inspiration for the Biblical character [[Nimrod]], mentioned in {{bibleverse||Genesis|10:8-12|9}} as a "mighty hunter".{{sfn|Metzger|1993|page=218}}{{sfn|Robson|2015}} Later in the [[Old Testament]], in {{bibleverse||2 Kings|19:37|9}}, [[Sennacherib|King Sennacherib]] of Assyria is described being murdered in the temple of "Nisroch", which may be a scribal error for "Nimrod".{{sfn|Robson|2015}}{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=143}} Eventually, the ruins of the city of Kalhu itself became known in Arabic as ''Namrūd'' because of its association with Ninurta.{{sfn|Robson|2015}} In the 1840s, the British archaeologist [[Austen Henry Layard]] uncovered numerous stone carvings of winged genii at Kalhu, which became mistakenly identified as "Nisrochs" in popular literature throughout the remaining portion of the nineteenth century.{{sfn|Robson|2015}}{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|page=143}} In [[E. Nesbit|Edith Nesbit]]'s classic 1906 children's novel ''[[The Story of the Amulet]]'', the child protagonists summon a "Nisroch" to guide them.{{sfn|Robson|2015}} Nisroch advises them, "Walk forward without fear... Is there aught else that the Servant of the great Name can do for those who speak that name?"{{sfn|Robson|2015}}
⚫
==Cults==
The [[cult]] of Ninurta can be traced back to the oldest period of Sumerian history. He was the central figure in the epic ''[[Lugal-e]]''. In the inscriptions found at [[Lagash]] he appears under his name ''Ningirsu'', "the lord of [[Girsu]]", the religious center of the Lagash state where he was considered the patron deity.


In 2016, during its brief conquest of the region, the [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]] (ISIL) demolished Ashurnasirpal II's ziggurat of Ninurta at Kalhu.{{sfn|Lewis|2016}} This act was in line with ISIL's longstanding policy of destroying any ancient ruins which it deemed incompatible with its militant interpretation of Islam.{{sfn|Lewis|2016}} According to a statement from the [[American Schools of Oriental Research]] (ASOR)'s Cultural Heritage Initiatives, ISIL may have destroyed the temple to use for future propaganda{{sfn|Lewis|2016}} and to demoralize the local population.{{sfn|Lewis|2016}}
Ninurta appears in a double capacity in the epithets bestowed on him, and in the [[hymn]]s and incantations addressed to him. On the one hand he is a farmer and a healing god who releases humans from sickness and the power of [[demon]]s; on the other he is the god of the South Wind as the son of Enlil, displacing his mother Ninlil who was earlier held to be the goddess of the South Wind. Enlil's brother, [[Enki]], was portrayed as Ninurta's mentor from whom Ninurta was entrusted several powerful [[Me (mythology)|Me]]s, including the [[Deluge (mythology)|Deluge]].


⚫
==Notes==
He remained popular under the [[Assyria]]ns: two [[kings of Assyria]] bore the name Tukulti-Ninurta. [[Ashurnasirpal II]] (883—859 <small>BCE</small>) built him a temple in the then capital city of [[Kalhu]] (the Biblical [[Calah]], now [[Nimrud]]). In Assyria, Ninurta was worshipped alongside the gods [[Ashur (god)|Aššur]] and [[Mulissu]].
{{notelist}}

In the late [[neo-Babylonian]] and early [[Persian Empire|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, there are similarities between Ninurta and the [[Greek mythology|Greek]] Titan [[Cronus]], whom the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] in turn identified with their Titan [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]].

==Family tree==

{{family tree/start| summery= An fathered Enki, Ninkikurga, Nidaba and Enlil. Enki had sex with Ninḫursaḡ fathering Ninsar; with Ninsar he fathered Ninkurra; with Ninkurra he fathered Uttu. Enlil marries Ninlil, daughter of Nidaba and Ḫaya, fathering Suen, Nergal, Ninazu and Enbilulu. Suen marries Ningal, daughter of ENki and his sister Ninkikurga}}
{{family tree||||||||||||||||||||An||||||||||||An=[[Anu|An]]}}
{{family tree|||||||||||,|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|.| }}
{{family tree||Mh|~|y|~|~|~|Ek|~|y|~|Nk||Nb|~|y|~|Hy||!|||!|Mh=[[Ninhursag|Ninḫursaḡ]]|Ek=[[Enki]]|Nk=Ninkikurga|Nb=[[Nisaba|Nidaba]]|Hy=Ḫaya}}
{{family tree||||||!|||||:|||!||||||||||!||||||!|||!|}}
{{family tree|||||Ns|~|y|~|C|||!|||||||||Nl|~|y|~|El||!|Ns=Ninsar|El=[[Enlil]]|Nl=[[Ninlil]]}}
{{family tree|||||||||!||:|||!||||||,|-|-|-|v|-|-|^|-|.||||!}}
{{family tree||||||||Nk|K||Ng|~|y|~|Es||Eb|||Nt|y|Bb|Nk=Ninkurra|Ng=[[Ningal]]|Es=[[Nannar|Suen]]|Eb=Enbilūlu|Nt=Ninurta|Bb=[[Nintinugga|Baba]]}}
{{family tree|||||||||||!||||||)|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|.||||||!}}
{{family tree||||||||||Ut||||Nn|~|Dz||Ud|||||!|Ut=[[Uttu]]|Nn=[[Inanna]]|Dz=''[[Dumuzi the Shepherd|Dumuzī]]''|Ud=[[Utu]]}}
{{family tree|||||||||||||||||||||||||!||||||!}}
{{family tree||||||||||||||||||||||||Bd|~|y|~|Ns|Bd=''[[Lugalbanda|Banda]]''|Ns=[[Ninsun|Ninsumun]]}}
{{family tree||||||||||||||||||||||||||||!|}}
{{family tree|||||||||||||||||||||||||||Ggm|Ggm=''[[Gilgamesh|Gilgāmeš]]''}}
{{family tree/end}}


==References==
==References==
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===Bibliography===
===Bibliography===
{{refbegin|30em}}
{{refbegin|30em}}
{{EB1911|wstitle=Ninib}}
* {{citation|last=Black|first=Jeremy|first2=Anthony|last2=Green|title=Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary|location=Austin, Texas|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=1992|isbn=0714117056|ref=harv}}
* {{citation|last=Black|first=Jeremy|first2=Anthony|last2=Green|title=Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary|location=Austin, Texas|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=1992|isbn=0714117056|ref=harv}}
* {{citation|last1=Metzger|first1=Bruce M.|author1-link=Bruce M. Metzger|first2=Michael D.|last2=Coogan|author2-link=Michael D. Coogan|date=1993|title=The Oxford Guide to People and Places of the Bible|url=https://books.google.es/books?id=0P-mASFPEsAC&pg=PA218|location=Oxford, England|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-534095-2|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195146417.001.0001|ref=harv}}
* {{citation|last=Lewis|first=Danny|date=15 November 2016|title=ISIS Has Destroyed a Nearly 3,000-Year-Old Assyrian Ziggurat: The ziggurat of Nimrud was the ancient city’s central temple|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/isis-has-destroyed-nearly-3000-year-old-assyrian-ziggurat-180961101/|website=Smithsonian.com|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|ref=harv}}
* {{citation|last=Robson|first=Eleanor|date=2015|title=Ninurta, god of victory|url=http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/nimrud/ancientkalhu/thepeople/ninurta/index.html|website=Nimrud: Materialities of Assyrian Knowledge Production|publisher=Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus, UK Higher Education Academy|ref=harv}}
{{refend}}
{{refend}}


Revision as of 18:40, 5 June 2018

For the South African genus of lizard, see Ninurta coeruleopunctatus.
Assyrian stone relief from the temple of Ninurta at Kalhu, showing the god with his thunderbolts pursuing Anzû, who has stolen the Tablet of Destinies from Enlil's sanctuary[1] (Austen Henry Layard Monuments of Nineveh, 2nd Series, 1853)

Ninurta,[a] also known as Ningirsu,[b] was a Mesopotamian warrior deity who was worshipped in Sumer from the very earliest times.[1] He was the champion of the gods against the Anzû bird after it stole the Tablet of Destinies from his father Enlil[1] and, in a myth that is alluded to in many works but never fully preserved, he killed a group of warriors known as the "Slain Heroes".[1] Ninurta was also an agricultural deity and the patron god of farmers.[1] In the epic poem Lugal-e, he slays the demon Asag and uses stones to build the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to make them useful for irrigation.[2] His major symbols were a perched bird and a plow.[3]

Worship

1853 restoration of what the city of Kalhu, Ninurta's main cult center in the Assyrian Empire,[4] might have originally looked like, based on the excavations of the British archaeologist Austen Henry Layard there in the 1840s

Ninurta was worshipped in Mesopotamia as early as the middle of the third millennium BC by the ancient Sumerians,[4] and is one of the earliest attested deities in the region.[4][1] He was seen as both a warrior deity and an agricultural deity.[3] His main cult center was the Eshumesha temple in the Sumerian city-state of Nippur,[4][1] where he was worshipped as the god of agriculture and the son of the chief-god Enlil.[4][1] Though they may have originally been separate deities,[1] in historical times, the god Ningirsu, who was worshipped in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash, was always identified as a local form of Ninurta.[1] According to the Assyriologists Jeremy Black and Anthony Green, the two gods' personalities are "closely intertwined".[1]

In later times, Ninurta's frequently violent nature made him immensely popular with the Assyrians.[4][2] In the late second millennium BC, Assyrian kings frequently held names which included the name of Ninurta,[4] such as Tukulti-Ninurta ("the trusted one of Ninurta"), Ninurta-apal-Ekur ("Ninurta is the heir of [Ellil's temple] Ekur"), and Ninurta-tukulti-Ashur ("Ninurta is the god Aššur's trusted one").[4] Tukulti-Ninurta I (ruled 1243–1207 BC) declares in one inscription that he hunts "at the command of the god Ninurta, who loves me."[4] Similarly Adad-nirari II (ruled 911–891 BC) claimed Ninurta and Aššur as supporters of his reign,[4] declaring his destruction of their enemies as moral justification for his right to rule.[4] In the ninth century BC, when Ashurnasirpal II moved the capital of the Assyrian Empire to Kalhu,[4] the first temple he built there was one dedicated to Ninurta.[4][5][2] The walls of the temple were decorated with stone relief carvings,[4][2] including one of Ninurta slaying the Anzû bird.[3][4] Ashurnasirpal II's son Shalmaneser III (ruled 859–824 BC) completed Ninurta's ziggurat at Kalhu and dedicated a stone relief of himself to the god.[4] On the carving, Shalmaneser III's boasts of his military exploits[4] and credits all his victories to Ninurta, declaring that, without Ninurta's aid, none of them would have been possible.[4] When Adad-nirari III (ruled 811–783 BC) dedicated a new endowments to the temple of Aššur in Assur, they were sealed with both the seal of Aššur and the seal of Ninurta.[4]

After the capital of Assyria was moved away from Kalhu, Ninurta's importance in the pantheon began to decline.[4] Nonetheless, he still remained an important deity.[4] Even after the kings of Assyria left Kalhu, the inhabitants of the former capital continued to venerate Ninurta,[4] who they called "Ninurta residing in Kalhu".[4] Legal documents from the city record that those who violated their oaths were required to "place two minas of silver and one mina of gold in the lap of Ninurta residing in Kalhu."[4] The last attested example of this clause dates to 669 BC, the last year of the reign of King Esarhaddon (ruled 681 – 669 BC).[4] The temple of Ninurta at Kalhu flourished until the end of the Assyrian Empire,[4] hiring the poor and destitute as employees.[4] The main cultic personnel were a šangû-priest and a chief singer, who were supported by a cook, a steward, and a porter.[4] In the late seventh century BC, the temple staff witnessed legal documents, along with the staff of the temple of Nabu at Ezida.[4] The two temples shared a qēpu-official.[4]

Later influence

Nimrod (1832) by David Scott. Nimrod, the "great hunter" mentioned in Genesis 10:8–12, is believed by many scholars to be inspired by either Ninurta himself or the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I, named after him.[6][4]

In the late seventh century BC, Kalhu was captured by foreign invaders.[4] The temple of Ninurta there was abandoned and never restored.[4] Despite this, Ninurta was never completely forgotten;[4] a number of scholars have suggested that either the god Ninurta or the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I may have been the inspiration for the Biblical character Nimrod, mentioned in Genesis 10:8–12 as a "mighty hunter".[6][4] Later in the Old Testament, in 2 Kings 19:37, King Sennacherib of Assyria is described being murdered in the temple of "Nisroch", which may be a scribal error for "Nimrod".[4][2] Eventually, the ruins of the city of Kalhu itself became known in Arabic as Namrūd because of its association with Ninurta.[4] In the 1840s, the British archaeologist Austen Henry Layard uncovered numerous stone carvings of winged genii at Kalhu, which became mistakenly identified as "Nisrochs" in popular literature throughout the remaining portion of the nineteenth century.[4][2] In Edith Nesbit's classic 1906 children's novel The Story of the Amulet, the child protagonists summon a "Nisroch" to guide them.[4] Nisroch advises them, "Walk forward without fear... Is there aught else that the Servant of the great Name can do for those who speak that name?"[4]

In 2016, during its brief conquest of the region, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) demolished Ashurnasirpal II's ziggurat of Ninurta at Kalhu.[5] This act was in line with ISIL's longstanding policy of destroying any ancient ruins which it deemed incompatible with its militant interpretation of Islam.[5] According to a statement from the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR)'s Cultural Heritage Initiatives, ISIL may have destroyed the temple to use for future propaganda[5] and to demoralize the local population.[5]

Notes

  1. ^ Sumerian: 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒅁 DNIN.URTA. The meaning of this name is not known.[1]
  2. ^ 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒄈𒋢 DNIN.ĜIR2.SU

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Black & Green 1992, p. 142.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Black & Green 1992, p. 143.
  3. ^ a b c Black & Green 1992, pp. 142–143.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an Robson 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d e Lewis 2016.
  6. ^ a b Metzger 1993, p. 218.

Bibliography

  • Black, Jeremy; Green, Anthony (1992), Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary, Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, ISBN 0714117056 {{citation}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Metzger, Bruce M.; Coogan, Michael D. (1993), The Oxford Guide to People and Places of the Bible, Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780195146417.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-534095-2 {{citation}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Lewis, Danny (15 November 2016), "ISIS Has Destroyed a Nearly 3,000-Year-Old Assyrian Ziggurat: The ziggurat of Nimrud was the ancient city's central temple", Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution {{citation}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Robson, Eleanor (2015), "Ninurta, god of victory", Nimrud: Materialities of Assyrian Knowledge Production, Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus, UK Higher Education Academy {{citation}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
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