Nirah

File:Kudurru of Eanna-shum-iddina BM K.3401.jpg

Nirah depicted as a snake on a kudurru (boundary stone). He is often found on the edge of a kudurru, "enclosing" the stone document (land boundary, or entitlement deed).

Nirah was a Mesopotamian god who served as the messenger (šipru) of Ištaran, the god of Der. He was depicted in the form of a snake.

Name and character

The name Nirah means "little snake" in Sumerian.Template:Sfn It could be written with the logogram ^dMUŠ (Template:Langx), as already attested in third millennium BCE texts from Ebla.Template:Sfn However, this logogram could also designate Ištaran,Template:Sfn Ninazu,Template:Sfn the tutelary god of Susa, Inshushinak,Template:Sfn the tutelary god of Eshnunna, Tishpak,Template:Sfn and the primordial river deity Irḫan.Template:Sfn With a different determinative, ^mulMUŠ, it referred to the constellation Hydra.Template:Sfn Syllabic spellings are also attested, for example Ne-ra-aḫ, Ni-laḫ₅, Ni-ra-aḫ and Ni-ra-ḫu.Template:Sfn

Nirah was at times confused with Irḫan,Template:Sfn originally the name of the western branch of the Euphrates, personified as a deity.Template:Sfn The early history of these two deities is not fully understood,Template:Sfn and it has been proposed that their names were cognate with each other, though the view that they shared the same origin is not universally accepted.Template:Sfn

Nirah could be called the "lord of the underworld," though he shared this epithet with many other gods, including Ninazu, Ningishzida, Nergal, and the primordial deity Enmesharra.Template:Sfn

Ropes or intestines could be compared to Nirah in Mesopotamian literature, for example in an inscription of Gudea, in a hymn to Shulgi, and in incantations.Template:Sfn

Iconography

No known sources indicate that Nirah was depicted in anthropomorphic form.Template:Sfn The snakes depicted on kudurru are often identified as depictions of him in accompanying inscriptions.Template:Sfn In many cases, the serpentine Nirah encircles the symbols of other deities.Template:Sfn A snake depicted on a brick with an inscription of one of the two Kassite rulers bearing the name Kurigalzu (Kurigalzu I or Kurigalzu II) found near Der likely can be identified as Nirah.Template:Sfn However, not every snake present in Mesopotamian art is necessarily Nirah, as some of them might instead represent other deities, such as Šibbu, Dunnanu, or the worm god Išqippu.Template:Sfn Horned snakes are most likely representations of mythical beings such as Bašmu rather than Nirah.Template:Sfn

It is sometimes assumed that a god depicted with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a snake, known from cylinder seals from the Sargonic period, might be Nirah.Template:Sfn Frans Wiggermann argues this is implausible, as Nirah was a servant deity, while the snake god is depicted as an "independent lord," and as such is more likely to be Ištaran.Template:Sfn

Associations with other deities

Nirah was regarded as the messenger (šipru) of Ištaran,Template:Sfn though not as his sukkal, as this role instead belonged to the god Qudma.Template:Sfn Ištaran could also be regarded as Nirah's father.Template:Sfn They usually appear together in god lists, and in one late commentary they are identified with each other.Template:Sfn In a single case, Nirah is listed as a member of the court of Shamash rather than Ištaran.Template:Sfn Most likely the first millennium BCE theologians from Sippar responsible for the composition of the inscription addressing him as such relied on the fact that his master was well known as a judge deity, similarly to Shamash.Template:Sfn

Nirah could also be associated with various gods of the underworld,Template:Sfn for example Ningishzida.Template:Sfn In a single Old Babylonian god list Išḫara appears right after him, possibly due to their shared association with snakes.Template:Sfn

In the myth Enki's Journey to Nippur, Nirah acts as the punting pole of the boat of the eponymous god.Template:Sfn

No known source indicates that Nirah had a wife or children.Template:Sfn

Worship

Evidence for offerings dedicated to Nirah is relatively scarce, though it is presumed that he was worshiped at least in Der and Nippur.Template:Sfn An inscription of Esarhaddon listing gods returned to Der confirms that Nirah was worshiped in this city.Template:Sfn An earlier year formula of an unidentified king from the Diyala area mentions a throne and cella of Nirah, possibly also located in Der.Template:Sfn In Nippur, Nirah could be regarded as one of the protective spirits (udug) or doormen (idu) of the Ekur temple.Template:Sfn

Nirah appears in theophoric names from the Sargonic, Ur III, Isin-Larsa, Old Babylonian, Kassite and Middle Babylonian periods.Template:Sfn For example, four names invoking Nirah are known from Kassite Nippur.Template:Sfn It is also possible that the fourth king of the dynasty of Akshak known from the Sumerian King List bore the name Puzur-Nirah, though it has also been suggested that it should be instead read as Puzur-Irḫan.Template:Sfn A single name from Achaemenid Ur might also invoke Nirah according to Frans Wiggermann.Template:Sfn However, Paul-Alain Beaulieu is uncertain if the deity in mention, represented by the logographic writing ^dMUŠ, should be understood as Nirah or Irḫan.Template:Sfn He tentatively transcribes the name in mention as Niraḫ-dān, "Nirah is powerful."Template:Sfn