Ušumgallu

Ušumgallu or Ushumgallu^[2] (Sumerian: 𒁔 𒃲ušum.gal, "Great Dragon")^[5] was one of the three horned snakes in Akkadian mythology, along with the Bašmu and Mušmaḫḫū. Usually described as a lion-dragon demon,^[1] it has been somewhat speculatively identified with the four-legged, winged dragon of the late 3rd millennium BCE.

Mythology

Tiamat is said to have "clothed the raging lion-dragon with fearsomeness" in the Epic of Creation, Enuma Elish. The god Nabû was described as "he who tramples the lion-dragon" in the hymn to Nabû.^[6] The late neo-Assyrian text "Myth of the Seven Sages" recalls: "The fourth (of the seven apkallu's, "sages", is) Lu-Nanna, (only) two-thirds Apkallu, who drove the ušumgallu-dragon from É-ninkarnunna, the temple of Ištar of Šulgi."^[7]

Aššur-nāṣir-apli II placed golden icons of ušumgallu at the pedestal of Ninurta.^[8] Its name became a royal and divine epithet, for example: ušumgal kališ parakkī, "unrivaled ruler of all the sanctuaries".^[9] Marduk is called "the ušumgallu-dragon of the great heavens".

In the god list An = Anum Ušumgal is listed as the sukkal (vizier) of Ninkilim.^[10]

See also

• Anzû, a massive bird whose death was sometimes credited to Ninurta
• Dragon, killed by Ninurta
• Seven-headed serpent, killed by Ninurta