| Fertile Crescent myth series |
|
|---|---|
| Mesopotamian | |
| Levantine | |
| Arabian | |
| Mesopotamia | |
| Primordial beings | |
| The great gods | |
| Demigods & heroes | |
| Spirits & monsters | |
| Tales from Babylon | |
| 7 Gods who Decree | |
|
4 primary: |
3 sky: |
Hursag (ḪURSAG, ḪAR.SAG, kharsag) is a Sumerian term meaning "mountain" or "hill".[1][2][3][4]
Mountains play a certain role in Mesopotamian mythology and Assyro-Babylonian religion, associated with deities such as Anu, Enlil, Enki and Ninhursag.
Sumerian ḪURSAG is written as a special ligature (PAxGÍN 𒉺𒂅), but sometimes also etymologized as ḪAR.SAG (𒄯𒊕), written with the signs ḪAR "mountain" and SAG "head",[5] (='mountaintop').
There is a clear association of Ziggurats with mountains. E-khar-sag-kurkura (É.ḪAR.SAG.KUR.KUR-a "house of the mountain of all lands") was the name of several temples, besides Ekur (É.KUR "the mountain house") at Nippur, and others. Morris Jastrow, Jr. interprets Kharsag-Kurkura "the mountains of all lands" as originally referring to the Earth itself, placing the association of specific mountain peaks with the birthplace of the gods in a later period.[6]
The word is used as part of such Sumerian phrases as e-hursag; "House of the Mountains" or a name of Ninhursag's temple at Hi-za, Shulgi's temple at Ur, originally a secular building that was also known as e-nam-ti-la. Other phrases include e-hur-sag-an-ki-a; "House, Mountain of Heaven and Underworld", e-hur-sag-an-na; "House, Mountain of Heaven", e-hur-sag-ga; "House of the Mountains" - a temple listed in Kagal Bog, e-hur-sag-gal-kur-kur-ra; "House of the Great Mountain of the Lands" - a cella of Assur, e-hur-sag-galam-ma; "House, Skillfully-Built Mountain" - cella of Enlil on the ziggurrat at Nippur, usually found in offering lists where it is written hur-sag-ga-lam-ma, e-hur-sag-gu-la; "House, Big Mountain" - a sanctuary at Assur in E-sar-ra, e-hursag-kalam-ma; "House, Mountain of the land" (1) a temple of Ishtar in Hur-sag-kalam-ma at Kish (later known as e-kur-ni-zu) (2) a sanctuary of Enlil, likely e-hur-sag-galam-ma (3) a location on the bank of the Idkal, e-hur-sag-ku-ga; "House, Pure Mountain" - a temple of Gula in Babylon, e-hur-sag-kur-kur-a (and its expanded form e-hur-sag-gal-jur-kur-ra); "House, Mountain of the Lands" - a name for part of the temple at Assur, e-hur-sag-si-ga; "House, Silent Mountain" - seat of Meslamtaea, e-hur-sag-sikil-la; "House, Pure Mountain" - temple of Gula-Ninkarrak to the east of Babylon; e-hur-sag-ti-la; "House which Exterminates the Mountains", a temple of Ninurta in Babylon also home of the Asakku demon and used in some liturgical texts, rituals and the cultic calendar, etc.[7]
Some scholars also identify hursag with an undefined mountain range or strip of raised land outside the plain of Mesopotamia.[8][9]