Ninkisunu

**Ninkisunu** (NIN.KIS.UNU “Lord of the city”) is an early rendering of the Semitic ***Nērḡál***, *Nirgal*, or *Nirgali*. He is a Sumerian solar deity, son of Enlil and Ninlil. His main seat of worship was at Gudua (Kutha), present-day mound of *Tell Ibrahim*.

## Iconography

Traditionally, Ninkisunu (Nergal) pairs with his consort Laz. Standard iconography pictures him as a lion, and boundary-stone monuments symbolise him with a scimitar or ceremonial mace often being topped by a (double) lion's head. (Wiggermann 1998-2001e: 223-4). He was depicted as a solar deity, often representing the sun of noontime, but also called "the king of sunset". Portrayals in hymns and myths also depict him as a god of war and pestilence linked to the summer solstice that brings destruction—the high summer being the dead season in the Mesopotamian annual cycle.

## Syncretisms

Much of the syncretism of Ninkisunu occurred at a shared main cult centre, in the city of Kutha (Lambert 1973: 356). The earliest incarnation of the name Nergal is in the Early Dynastic Period, syncretised with Meslamtaea [Meslam(-temple)]. Nergal controls the ilū sebettu, the "Seven Gods" who are particularly prominent in the myth of Erra as agents of death and destruction (Foster 2005: 880-911). From the Old Babylonian Period onwards, Nergal was then syncretised with Erra, a Semitic death god (Wiggermann 1998-2001d: 217).

## Influence

* Ninkisunu was worshipped by the Ammorites as *Girunugal* (Ammorite: 𒀭𒄊𒀕𒃲, dGÌR-UNU-GAL ) and as Nergal throughout Mesopotamia (Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia). His cult was reinvisioned as god of the underworld city, known as Irkalla (Babylonian), who comes to marry Ereshkigal.

* Nergal is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the deity of Cuth (Kutha): "And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal" (2 Kings 17:30). According to the Talmudists, his emblem was a cockerel, and Nergal came to be referred as a "*dunghill cock*".

* In Assyro-Babylonian ecclesiastical art the great lion-headed colossi, serving as guardians to the temples and palaces, seem to symbolise Nergal. In the Neo-Assyrian period, he is attested as a significant figure in official Assyrian cult (Van der Toorn et al. 1999: 622).

* In the late Babylonian astral-theological system, Nergal is related to the planet Mars as a fiery god of destruction and war; and was equated by the ancient Greeks to the war-god Ares.

* Later Christian writers associated Nergal (Ninkisunu) with Satan, based on being a god of fire, the desert, and King of the Underworld.

* Zecharia Sitchen portrays Nergal (Ninkisunu) as an antagonist in his novel, *The Lost Book of Enki*, who “unleashed the nuclear weapons together with Ninurta.”

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Dragon of the Two Flames by Michael Ford
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 oracc, http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/nergal/
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Zolyomi, Gabor (2010). *"Hymns to Ninisina and Nergal on the Tablets Ash 1911.235 and Ni 9672" in Your Praise Is Sweet: A Memorial Volume for Jeremy Black from Students, Colleagues, and Friends*. London: British Institute for the Study of Iraq. pp. 413–428.
4. ↑  Borger R. link title(2004), *Mesopotamisches Zeichenlexikon*, Münster, p.402
5. ↑ Munnich, Maciej M. (2013). *The God Resheph in the Ancient Near East*. Tubingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck. pp. 62–63.
6. ↑ Brooklyn Museum,Irkalla
7. ↑ "Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Kings 17:30". http://clarke.biblecommenter.com/2\_kings/17.htm.
8. ↑ Dictionary of phrase and fable: giving the derivation, source, or origin of common phrases, allusions, and words that have a tale to tell - Ebenezer Cobham Brewer - 1900 - p268
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 *Wikipedia*, Nergal
10. ↑ https://archive.org/stream/hierarchy\_201505/hierarchy\_djvu.txt