#kalhu

Ninurta: The Sumerian Hero-God of War

Ninurta (identified with Ningirsu, Pabilsag, and the biblical Nimrod) is the Sumerian and Akkadian hero-god of war, hunting, and the south wind. He first appears in texts in the early 3rd millennium BCE as an agricultural god and local deity of the town of Girsu (as Ningirsu) and the city of Larak (as Pabilsag), both Sumerian communities.

His role as a god of agriculture changed as the cities of Mesopotamia increasingly militarized and began campaigns of conquest, one city against another. Scholar Stephen Bertman writes:

Ninurta began his divine career as a god of irrigation and agriculture. In fact, "The Instruction of Ninurta" is the title of an ancient Sumerian "farmer's almanac." But with the rise of imperialism he was transformed into a young and vigorous god of war.

(124)

Ninurta was the son of Enlil and Ninhursag, but in some stories, Enlil and Ninlil. His wife was Gula, the goddess of healing (though in earlier inscriptions, as Ningirsu, he was married to the goddess Bau (also known as Baba, goddess of dogs, who later becomes Gula).

Although he was chiefly defined by his aggressive nature, he was also associated with healing and protection (hence his association with Gula) and was frequently invoked in magical spells to ward off danger, demons, and disease. He is most often represented as a warrior, sometimes with upraised wings, holding a bow and arrow and carrying his famous mace, Sharur, a weapon capable of speech and reason. In Babylonian art, he stands or runs on the back of a scorpion-tailed lion-beast. Still, as late as circa 1500 BCE, he was still associated with agriculture, growth, and the harvest, depicted as a fully realized individual capable of great deeds but also as flawed as any mortal.

The Assyrian and Neo-Assyrian empires embraced Ninurta as the son of their god Assur, and under the reign of Ashurnasirpal II (884-859 BCE), a great temple and ziggurat were built to the god in Ashurnasirpal II's new city of Kalhu. Seals from this time represent Assur as the winged disc, with Ninurta's name beneath, clearly suggesting the two were regarded as almost equals.

Ninurta was invoked by numerous kingdoms and principalities in ancient Mesopotamia, whether for protection or aid in military matters, from circa 3300 to 612 BCE, when the Neo-Assyrian Empire fell to invaders, and many of their gods fell out of favor. Early in his career, however, he was envisioned as the polar opposite of a war god.

Ninurta's Origin & Significance

The god originated as Ningirsu ("Lord of Girsu") in Sumer, and the earliest texts use this name for the son of Enlil and Ninlil (although one myth suggests he is the son of Enlil and a she-goat). Gudea of Lagash (reign 2144-2124 BCE), noted for his piety and devotion to the gods, dedicated himself to Ningirsu, and Gudea's successor, Ur-Ningursu, would take the god's name to honor him. Gudea is probably best known for the Gudea Cylinders, two terracotta cylinders (dated to circa 2125 BCE) which record his dream in the text known as The Building of Ningirsu's Temple, the longest text in Sumerian yet discovered.

Ningirsu was already recognized as a war god by the 2nd millennium BCE, when he was featured in the Babylonian work The Epic of Anzu. This myth would be revised during the 1st millennium BCE, with Ningirsu's name changed to Ninurta. The god was already known by this later name (whose meaning is unknown) by circa 2600 BCE, and even though Ningirsu would continue to be referenced in Sumer, Ninurta would be the name most Mesopotamians knew and used. Even though he was considered a great warrior-god, champion of the gods, and protector of humanity, Ninurta continued to be associated with agriculture.

The Sumerians are well known for their technological inventions and innovations, and these were notably employed in early agriculture. Orientalist Samuel Noah Kramer writes:

Some of the more far-reaching technological achievements of the Sumerians were connected with irrigation and agruculture. The construction of an intricate system of canals, dikes, weirs, and reservoirs demanded no little engineering skill and knowledge.

Surveys and plans had to be prepared which involved the use of leveling instruments, measuring rods, drawing, and mapping. Farming, too, had become a methodical and complicated technique requiring foresight, diligence, and skill.

It is not surprising, therefore, to find that the Sumerian pedagogues had compiled a "farmer's almanac" that consisted of a series of instructions to guide a farmer throughout his yearly agricultural activities.

(104-105)

This manual, the world's first farmer's almanac, dates to between 1700 and 1500 BCE and begins almost like a fairy tale with the line, "In days of yore a farmer instructed his son..." and then goes on with practical instruction on how to get the most from the land. The piece goes into details on how to prepare the earth, how to plant the seed, even how to drive away birds, and the proper way to harvest the crop. Throughout the 35 lines of text, it seems as though this advice is being given by a father to his son, but in conclusion, the tablet reads, "These are the instructions of Ninurta, son of Enlil. O Ninurta, trustworthy farmer of Enlil, your praise is good." The farmer's instructions to his son, then, were given divine authority.

Ninurta's power and position in the Mesopotamian pantheon would have lent significant weight to any document attributed to him, and especially so considering he would have had to take time out from heroic feats to offer his suggestions. The myths concerning Ninurta share many characteristics with those of the Babylonian god Marduk and the later Greek hero Heracles (Roman Hercules) in that he triumphs over the forces of chaos and establishes order (like Marduk), but his pride, like Hercules, can sometimes get the better of him.

Read More

~ Furniture plaque carved in relief with lion-headed figure.

Period: Neo-Assyrian

Date: ca. 8th–7th century BC.

Place of origin: Mesopotamia, Nimrud (ancient Kalhu)

Culture: Assyrian

Two winged apkallu figures from Room T of the Northwest Palace, Nimrud Gypsum alabaster (”Mosul marble”) Neo-Assyrian period, reign of Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BCE)

Relief panelca, Assyrian, 883–859 B.C.

This panel from the Northwest Palace at Nimrud (ancient Kalhu) depicts a winged supernatural figure. Such figures appear throughout the palace, sometimes flanking either the figure of the Assyrian king or a stylized "sacred tree." The reliefs were painted, but today almost none of the original pigment survives. However, the reliefs themselves retain incredible detail, including intricate incised designs on many of the figures’ clothing.

Gypsum alabaster

Dimensions: 90 1/2 x 73 5/8 x 2 1/4 in. (229.9 x 187 x 5.7 cm)

The Brooklyn Museum collection includes twelve monumental alabaster reliefs from the Northwest Palace of Ashur-nasir-pal II (883 to 859 B.C.E.), King of Assyria. Ashur-nasir-pal II chose to build his palace in the city of Kalhu, also known as Nimrud, along the Tigris river, now in Iraq’s Nineveh Province. Almost three thousand years later, long after Ashur-nasir-pal II’s reign and the fall of the Assyrian empire, Sir Austen Henry Layard, a British archaeologist, rediscovered the palace in 1840 and began excavation with British funding in 1846. Reliefs were excavated from the palace rooms, cut to reduce the weight of each massive piece of stone, packed, and transported. Many arrived in London and remain at The British Museum. 

In 1852, Henry Stevens, an American art dealer working in London, acquired twelve reliefs from The British Museum. The reliefs were shipped to Boston, where they were displayed until 1858 when James Lenox purchased them for The New York Historical Society. When The Society’s collecting mandate changed in the late 1930s, the reliefs were placed on indefinite loan at the Brooklyn Museum until 1955 when Hagop Kevorkian donated funds allowing Brooklyn to purchase the reliefs.

An historic image of relief 55.155, possibly from the New York Historical society in the late 1930s. The image may be of a photographic negative as the relief itself appears inverted.

Since their arrival at Brooklyn in the late 1930s, the reliefs have been on display in various galleries throughout the Museum. Moving these large pieces of stone always presents a challenge, as the reliefs weigh between 1900 lbs. and 4500 lbs. each and many are broken into multiple fragments. When the reliefs were installed in the Kevorkian Galleries, their current location, the fragments were assembled with dowels and plastered to the wall.

The reliefs during the 2002 treatment.

After nearly five decades on display, six of the twelve reliefs were fully conserved in 2002. Each relief was photographed, documented, cleaned, structurally stabilized, furnished with a secure mounting system, and reinstalled. Now, through the generous support of Bank of America, Brooklyn Museum’s conservators will fully treat the remaining six reliefs over the next two years.

In 2015, the Iraqi government announced that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, ISIL, had purposefully destroyed much of the Northwest Palace site, part of a program of obliterating cultural heritage monuments in their original archaeological contexts. This type of violence makes urgent the need to support cultural heritage preservation and unfortunately timely the conservation of these Assyrian reliefs, which have endured, and will endure.

~ Relief from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II with a Cuneiform Inscription and a Depiction of the Deity.

Place of origin: Northern Mesopotamia (Assyria), Kalhu

Date: 883-859 B.C.

~ Ziggurat Brick from the Assyrian Capital City of Kalhu.

Date: 859-825 B.C.

Culture: Assyrian

Place of origin: Mesopotamia