Kur

Kur, meaning "Mountain", is the name of both the Sumerian underworld, and of a dragon who appears in early Sumerian myths. Unknown. (1972). "Kur", in Leach, M. (ed) Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend. 3rd ed. p.595-596
== Myths ==
In the myth of Inanna and Ebih, Kur is the name of an enemy nation north-east of Sumer. 
Ninurta and Enki fought and slew Kur. According to the myth of Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Nether World, Enki fought the dragon to rescue Ereshkigal from it, and in some versions of The Feats and Exploits of Ninurta, Ninurta fought the dragon Kur (Asag in later versions) with the assistance of Enki, releasing the trapped waters of the earth with the dragon's death, allowing farmland to be irrigated again. 
== Analysis ==
Kur, through the meaning of "Mountain", represents mountainous regions, and hence the earth itself. They are also associated with foreign lands. Together this fits the description of the Sumerian underworld as a foreign land to the north beyond the mountains which encircle the mortal world. This also fits with the idea of the dragon, in Proto-Indo-European mythology, being the ultimate manifestation of the power of the earth and nature. The story of Ninurta and Kur also fits the pattern of the PIE myth with the dragon storing away the waters of the world, with its death being necessary to release them, and Enki wanting to rescue Ereshkigal from Kur also fits this pattern, as the PIE dragon had imprisoned cattle (who were replaced with princesses in many later dragon myths) who the hero had to rescue. 
The story of Enki trying to rescue Ereshkigal from Kur is thought to be linked to early Greek myths about Persephone. 
Kur, as both dragon and underworld, is the origin of Tiamat (and, by extension, Leviathan), being both a cosmic dragon and a manifestation of a physical place (the sea in Tiamat's case). 
== References ==
Category:Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend
Category:Afterlives
Category:Dragons