Ninurta

Ninurta is best known as a Sumerian god of warfare and martial exploits. A son of Enlil, Ninurta’s primary cult centre was located at Nippur in the temple E.U.ME.A. The consort of Ninurta was identified as either the goddesses Gula or Bau – the latter on account of Ninurta’s close association with the god Ningirsu (though perhaps enjoying separate origins, it seems by historical times that the two gods were essentially thought of as being the one deity).

The cult of Ninurta was both ancient and long-lived. Several Middle Assyrian kings were named Tukulti-Ninurta, a reflection of Assyrian rulers’ natural devotion to this warlike deity. Somewhat later, Assur-Nasirpal II (883-859 BCE) erected a temple to Ninurta next to the ziggurat in his new capital city of Kalhu (Nimrud).

Select Bibliography

” Lugale.” Translation in Jacobsen, Harps, pp. 233-72.

” Anzu.” Translation in Dalley, Myths, pp. 203-27.

Alster, B.

“Ninurta and the Turtle”, JCS 24 (1972), pp.120-125.

Annus, A.

2003 The God Ninurta in the Mythology and Royal Ideology of Ancient Mesopotamia, [SAAS 14], Helsinki, 2003.

Black, Jeremy A.

1987? “The Slain Heroes – Some Monsters of Ancient Mesopotamia”, SMS Bulletin 15 (1987?), pp.19-25.

Cooper, J. S.

1981 The Return of Ninurta to Nippur, Rome, 1978.
[ Rev.: Black, J.A., AfO 27 (1980), pp.154-60; Hallo, W.W., JAOS 101 (1981), pp.253-57].

Dijk, J. J. A. van,

1983 LUGAL UD ME-L‰M-bi NIR-G‰L: Le récit épique et didactique des Travaux de Ninurta, du Déluge et de la Nouvelle Création, 2 volumes, Leiden,1983.

Geller, Mark

1985 “Notes on Lugale,” BSOAS 48 (1985), pp.215-223.

Heimpel, W.

2002 “The Lady of Girsu”, in Jacobsen MV, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2002, pp.155-160.

Hruška, B.

1975 Der Mythenadler Anzu in Literatur und Vorstellung des alten Mesopotamien, Budapest, 1975.

Jacobsen, Thorkild

1988 “The Asakku in Lugal-e”, in Sachs Memorial Volume, Philadelphia, 1988, pp.225-232.

Kramer, S. N.

1984 “Ninurta’s Pride and Punishment”, Aula Orientalis 2 (1984), pp.231-237.

Lambert, W. G.

1986 “The Ninurta Mythology in the Babylonian Epic of Creation”, in Keilschriftliche Literaturen, Berlin, 1986, pp.55-60.

Moortgat-Correns, U.

1988 “Ein Kultbild Ninurtas aus neuassyrischer Zeit”, AfO 35 (1988), pp.117-135.

Moran, William L.

1988 “Notes on Anzu”, AfO 35 (1988), pp.24-29.

Reiner, E. (trans.)

“News of Victory”, in Your Thwarts in Pieces, Your Mooring Rope Cut: Poetry from Babylonia and Assyria, Ann Arbor, 1985, pp.61-67.

Saggs, H. W. F.

1986 “Additions to Anzu”, AfO 33 (1986), pp.1-29.

Vogelsang, M. E.

1986 “Kill Anzu!: On a Point of Literary Evolution”, in Keilschriftliche Literaturen, Berlin, 1986, pp.61-70.

Wiggermann, F. A. M.

1982 “On bin ßar dadme, the ‘Anzu-myth,'” in Kraus AV, Leiden, 1982, pp.418-425.

1989 “Tišpak, His Seal, and the Dragon mušuššu”, in Haex, O.M. et alii (eds), To the Euphrates and Beyond, Rotterdam, 1989, pp.117-133.

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