Mushussu

The mušḫuššu (; formerly also read as sirrušu, sirrush) is a creature depicted on the reconstructed Ishtar Gate of the city of Babylon, originally dating to the 6th century B.C. It is a mythological hybrid, a scaly dragon with hind legs like an eagle's talons and feline forelegs. It also has a long neck and tail, a horned head, a snakelike tongue and a crest.
The form is the Akkadian nominative of the Sumerian , lit. "reddish snake" sometimes also translated as "fierce snake";The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature or loosely as "splendor serpent" ( is the Sumerian term for "serpent". The reading sir-ruššu is due to a mistransliteration in early Assyriology.The Assyrian Dictionary, vol. 10 part II, p. 270.).
==History==
 
Mušḫuššu is associated with Marduk. 
It gave rise to the Lernaean Hydra of Greek mythology and ultimately to the modern Hydra constellation.
Bel and the Dragon, a deuterocanonical Biblical text, relates a story that Koldewey thought involved a sirrush. In a temple dedicated to Bel (Nebuchadnezzar's god), priests had a "great dragon or serpent, which they of Babylon worshiped." 
Daniel, the protagonist of the Book of Daniel, was confronted with this creature by the priests in the apocryphal text. (see Additions to Daniel) They challenged him to match his invisible God against their living god. Eventually, Daniel poisoned the creature.
==Cryptozoology==
German archeologist Robert Koldewey, who discovered the Ishtar Gate in 1902, seriously considered the notion that the sirrush was a portrayal of a real animal. He argued that its depiction in Babylonian art was consistent over many centuries, while those of mythological creatures changed, sometimes drastically, over the years. He also noted that the sirrush is shown on the Ishtar Gate alongside real animals, the lion and the rimi (aurochs), leading him to speculate the sirrush was a creature the Babylonians were familiar with.
The creature's distinctly feline front paws seemed incongruous, and gave Koldewey some doubt. However, In 1918 he proposed that Iguanodon (a dinosaur with birdlike hindfeet) was the closest match to the sirrush (Sjögren, 1980).
Cryptozoological speculation regarding sirrush was also presented by 
Adrienne Mayor and Bernard Heuvelmans.Mysterious creatures: a guide to cryptozoology, Volume 1, George M. Eberhart, ABC-CLIO, 2002, p. 2003
==See also==
*Ningishzida
*Hydra (constellation)
*The Beast (Bible)
==References==
==Bibliography==
*Jerome Clark (1993). Unexplained! 347 Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences, and Puzzling Physical Phenomena. Detroit: Visible Ink Press.
*Bernard Heuvelmans (1958). On The Track Of Unknown Animals. New York: Hill and Wang.
*Willy Ley (1959). Exotic Zoology. New York: Viking Press.
*Karl Shuker (1995). In Search of Prehistoric Survivors. London: Blandford. ISBN 0-7137-2469-2
*Bengt Sjögren (1980). Berömda vidunder, Settern ISBN 91-7586-023-6 
==External links==
*Mushrushu (or Sirrush) artwork from Ishtar Gate & lore
*The Ishtar Gate
*The Cryptid Zoo: Sirrush in Cryptozoology
Category:Babylonian art and architecture
Category:Mesopotamian legendary creatures
Category:Dragons
Category:Archaeological artifacts
Category:Mythological hybrids