Humbaba [Akkadian/Mesopotamian mythology]
In ancient Akkadian mythology, the pantheon of gods lived in a magical and sacred cedar forest. This mystical place was protected by a mighty creature called Humbaba (Huwawa in the Babylonian version), who was appointed as the forest’s guardian by the deity Enlil. In modern interpretations, the creature is sometimes called an ogre or a demon.
Humbaba was thought to be undefeatable, for not only was he a physically powerful giant, he was also clad in 7 magical radiances (called ‘auras’ in some translations) that protected the fearsome creature. He was a giant, humanlike creature with a strange face that resembled the entrails of a slain animal (which, if I understand it correctly, was a reference to the Mesopotamian practice of ‘reading’ the guts of animals to find omens. In addition, if the entrails happened to resemble the pattern on Humbaba’s face, this was considered a specific omen). His hands ended in dangerous lion-like claws. When Humbaba spoke, his voice was like thunder and his breath was deadly. It was said that his speech was (like) fire, but I’m uncertain whether this was meant to be taken literally.
Georg Burckhardt’s translation of the Gilgamesh epic provides a more detailed physical description: the monster’s head was adorned with bull-like horns, his body was clad in scales, his feet ended in bird-like talons and his penis was a snake. Humbaba also had a tail, which also ended in a snake. To my great annoyance, I have not been able to acquire a copy of this translation so I had to contact someone who did own a copy and ask for the description.
But I’m digressing. As it turned out, even the mighty Humbaba proved no match for the eponymous hero of the Epic of Gilgamesh. After Gilgamesh and Enkidu travelled to the sacred forest to find the creature, Humbaba appeared before them to deny the heroes entry to the sacred forest. He fought fiercely, but the god Shamash commanded the winds themselves to blind Humbaba (as Gilgamesh was favoured by the sun god Shamash). After a long and fierce clash, the monster was defeated. He pleaded and begged for his life, but was slain nonetheless. Gilgamesh and Enkidu then cut down some of the holy cedar trees to make a giant door, with which they adorned the temple of Enlil.
It is also worth noting that effigies/images of Humbaba were used to protect against evil. Also, Humbaba might originally have been derived from the Elamite deity Humban. To my knowledge, this theory remains unproven.
Sources:
George, A., 1999, The Epic of Gilgamesh: The Babylonian Epic Poem and Other texts in Akkadian and Sumerian, Penguin Books, Great Britain, 228 pp.
Burkhardt, G., 1922, Gilgamesh, Brandus, Berlin (secondhand description)
Black, J. and Green, A., 1992, Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: an illustrated dictionary, University of Texas Press, 192 pp.
(image source 1: Citrushark on Twitter and Reddit. I had to cut the bottom part of the picture because someone said I shouldn’t post a penis snake. Here is the full image, in all its uncensored Mesopotamian glory)
(image 2: an idol representing the head of Humbaba. Image source: Osama Amin on worldhistory.org)
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