Mashu

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For the Canterbury scene band, see Mashu (band).

Mashu, as described in the Epic of Gilgamesh of Mesopotamian mythology, is a great mountain through which the hero-king Gilgamesh passes via a tunnel on his journey after leaving the Cedar Forest, a forest of ten thousand leagues span. The corresponding location in reality has been the topic of speculation, as no confirming evidence has been found.

One theory is that the only location suitable for being called a "cedar land" was the great forest covering Lebanon and western parts of Syria and, in consequence, "Mashu" is the whole of the parallel Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges, with the narrow gap between these mountains constituting the tunnel. The word "Mashu" itself may translate as "two mountains", from Babylonian twins.