Mušḫuššu


The mušḫuššu or Mushkhushshu, is a creature from ancient Mesopotamian mythology. A mythological hybrid, it is a scaly animal with hind legs resembling the talons of an eagle, lion-like forelimbs, a long neck and tail, a horned head, a snake-like tongue, and a crest. The mušḫuššu most famously appears on the reconstructed Ishtar Gate of the city of Babylon, dating to the sixth century BC.
The form mušḫuššu is the Akkadian nominative of the Sumerian , "reddish snake", sometimes also translated as "fierce snake". One author, possibly following others, translates it as "splendor serpent" ( is the Sumerian term for "serpent". The reading sir-ruššu is due to a mistransliteration in early Assyriology.

History

Mušḫuššu already appears in Sumerian religion and art, as in the ":File:Girsu Gudea libation vase.jpg|Libation vase of Gudea", dedicated to Ningishzida by the Sumerian ruler Gudea.
The mušḫuššu is the sacred animal of Marduk and his son Nabu during the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The dragon Mušḫuššu, whom Marduk once vanquished, became his symbolic animal and servant. It was taken over by Marduk from Tishpak, the local god of Eshnunna.
The constellation Hydra was known in Babylonian astronomical texts as Bašmu, "the Serpent". It was depicted as having the torso of a fish, a tail of a snake, the fore paws of a lion, the hind legs of an eagle, with wings, and with a head comparable to the mušḫuššu.