#girra

pullulū rubû wašrū sikkūrū šīrētum šaknā ḫabrātum nišū šaqummā petûtum uddulū bābū ilī mātim ištarāt mātim Šamaš Sîn Adad Ištar īterbū ana utul šamê ul idinnū dīnam ul iparrasū awātim pussumat mušītim ēkallum šaḫūrša kummu adrū ālik urḫim ilam išassi u ša dīnim ušteberre šittam dayyān kinātim abi ekiātim Šamaš īterub ana kummīšu rabûtum ilī mušītim nawrum Girra qurādum Erra qaštum nīrum šitaddarum mušḫuššum ereqqum inzum kusarikkum bašmum lizzizū-ma ina têrti eppušu ina puḫād akarrabu kittam šuknān šumūšu ikrib mušītim

(TRANSLATION)

The princes are closely guarded, The locking-bolts lowered, the locking rings placed, (Though previously) noisy, the people are silent, (Though previously) open, the doors are locked. The gods of the land (and) the goddesses of the land, Shamash, Sin, Adad and Ishtar Have entered into the lap of heaven. They do not render judgment, they do not decide a case. The night is veiled. The palace, its chapel, the cella are obscured. The traveler invokes god, but the one (who offers) a decision remains asleep. The judge of truth, father of the impoverished girl, Shamash has entered his cella. The great ones, the gods of the night, Bright Girra, Warrior Erra, The Bow, the Yoke, Orion, the Furious Serpent, The Wagon, the Goat, The Bison, the Horned Serpent, May they stand by so that, In the extispicy I am performing, In the lamb I am offering, You may place the truth

Source: Alan Lenzi. Reading Akkadian Prayers & Hymns: an Introduction. Society of Biblical Literature. pp. 71-82.

This is an extispicy prayer that used to be recited when performing divination at night. Its logic follows that, as the city’s activity declines for the night, the main gods retire as well, which makes sense as nighttime was probably very dangerous in ancient times. So instead one ought to seek the guidance of the ilī mušītim “gods of the night”. Here the term refers to the stars and constellations, plus fire god Girra (also called Gibil) and the fierce war-and-plague god Erra (syncretized with Nergal).

The constellation the Babylonians called the Bow, qaštum, is probably part of Canis Major, and the Yoke is Boötes. Orion was called Šitadarrum, Šitadallum or Šidallum, often spelled using the Sumerian logograms SIPA.ZI.AN.AN, meaning “the true shepherd of heaven”. The serpent is Mušḫuššum, one of the 11 chaos monsters reared by Tiamat, but tamed by Marduk and made into his pet in the Enuma Elish. It possibly referred to the Hydra constellation. The Wagon is famously Ursa Major and the Goat is Lyra. The Bison and Bašmum, “horned serpent”, however, are still unidentified.

The appellation “gods of the night” also appears in another prayer as part of the Maqlû (burning) rituals, a series of exorcisms and uncrossings performed in the small hours all the way until dawn.

This prayer unfortunately isn’t that useful for the modern pagan, as it’s a bit too specific, but one may find some use still in the lines rabûtum ilī mušītim / nawrum Girra / qurādum Erra / qaštum nīrum / šitaddarum mušḫuššum / ereqqum inzum / kusarikkum bašmum/ lizzizū (“The great ones” down to “may they stand by”) in nightly stellar invocations for whatever maybe-not-quite-licit matters you may want to perform.

(If you plan on singing or reciting this, please remember that “š” sounds like the English “sh” and “ḫ” is guttural)

Meet the gods:  Girra - god of fire. 

anašši dipāru ṣalmīšunu aqallu  ša utukku šēdu rābiṣu eṭemmu u mimma lemnu muṣabbit amēlūti  ēpiš kišpī ruẖê rusê upšāšê lemnūti ina amāt Ea u Asalluẖi Girra qāmû liqmūkunūši  ẖūlā zūbā u itattukā  quturkunu lītelli ina šamê la'mīkunu liballi šamšu  liprus ẖayyattakunu mār Ea mašmaššu

I raise the torch, I burn your figurines! Utukku demon, šēdu demon, “lurker” demon, ghost And any evil that can seize men, Those who performed witchcraft, magic, sorcery and evil machinations May Girra, the burner, burn you at the command of Ea and Asalluẖi Dissolve, melt and drip away! May your smoke steadily rise into the sky, May the Sun extinguish your embers, May Ea’s son, the exorcist, cut off the terror emanating from you!

—

I’ve previously posted a Babylonian incantation that was part of a larger ritual to get rid of evil spirits (here), and this is another of these incantations, though this one is part of the famous Maqlû (“burning”) ritual, while that other one is part of a different exoricsm rite. Here, incorporating elements of sympathetic magic, one can see the exorcist burn a figurine that represents all the evil that’s affecting the patient: the utukku (Sumerian udug) are half-made featureless shadow beings that, according to Wiggermann (see his paper “The Mesopotamian Pandemonium”), are the by-product of creation; šēdu is like the word daemon, sometimes used to describe good protective spirits (the male counterpart of the female lamassu), other times it refers to actual demons (Hebrew šed is related); the lurker, rābiṣu, waited places where people would be alone and then struck them with illness (often giving them really nasty stuff like strokes); and the eṭemmu (Sumerian gidim) are close to our idea of ghosts, angry shadows of the dead who can’t rest for some reason (some had “unfinished business” but not being properly buried was the most common case, as it deprived the spirit from joining the underworld and could even destroy the spirit’s identity, turning it into something close to an utukku).

The gods called to aid the exorcist are: Girra (also called Gibil), the Old Babylonian god of fire and light, for obvious reasons (he’s invoked, like, 50 times over the Maqlû), syncretized with Nusku/Nuska; Ea, the Babylonian name for Sumerian god Enki, creator of mankind and god of wisdom and magic, who appears in lots of exorcism formulas; and Asalluẖi, the patron god of exorcism later syncretized into Marduk.