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Girra (god)

God of fire and light, Girra accompanied Mesopotamians in their daily lives. He originated as aSumerian god but his cult transcended time. He was worshipped throughout Mesopotamianhistory until the Seleucid period.

Functions

Girra is the god of fire and light (see e.g., Foster 2005: 660-663). As refiner of metals he is alsothe patron of metallurgists (Fr ankena 1957-71: 384).

 As god of fire, Girra was involved in many activities of daily li fe. He played an important role inpurification rituals, where he was commonly invoked together with gods such as Ea, Marduk, andŠamaš (see e.g., Abusch 2002: 149-150). He was also praised in the context of construction dueto his significance in the process of brick making (see for example Sargon's cylinder, line 61 inFuchs 1994: 41, 294).

Girra was equally feared for his potential as destructive fire. He was responsible for the burningof fields (see Dossin 1983).

Divine Genealogy and Syncretisms

 An Old Babylonian god list (TCL 15, 10, also known as the de Genouillac list, see Richter 2004:13-16) indicates that there were originally two gods of fire and light, Girra and Gibil. Thereis only very little evidence from the Old Babylonian period for Gibil's cult (Richter 2004: 157). It isclear from an Assyrian copy of the Old Babylonian version of the Weidner god list, whichinterprets dBIL.GI as dgi-ir-[ra/ru] (see Weidner 1924-25: 10), that Girra and Gibil were merged toform just one god either during the Old Babylonian period (should this interpretating be originallyBabylonian), or shortly after. The latter possibility seems more likely since the general character of the text suggests it was copied and enhanced during a period of political and religious change(see Weidner 1924-25: 3), which could be identified with the rise of Assyria. From around thistime onwards, the names Girra and Gibil are used interchangeably to refer to the same god. Inthis article, the name Girra alone is employed for convenience.

Girra is the son of  Anu and Šala(š), according to the first-millennium incantation series Maqlû,tablet II, lines 136-7 (see Meier 1937: 17-18; Abusch and Schwemer 2008: 144). He is connectedto Ea in ritual contexts (see text K.1279 in Conti 2000: 129).

Girra was syncretised with the younger god Nuska, another deity of fire and l ight. Girra andNuska represented together the two aspects of the planet Mercury as morning and evening star,before Mercury was identified with Nabu alone (Lewy and Lewy 1948: 49). Unsurprisingly, Girrawas also closely associated with Šamaš (see for example Abusch 2002: 140).

In the literary composition EnÅ«ma eliš TT , Girra (in the form Gibil) is l isted as one of the fiftyaspects of Marduk (see Tablet VII, line 115 in Foster 2005: 482).

 

Cult Place(s)

Girra shared a temple with Nuska in Nippur , the é-me-lám-huš ("House of Awesome Radiance").No other specific cult places are attested for Girra.

Time Periods Attested

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The earliest attestations for Girra are found in Early Dynastic III administrative texts from Fara andTelloh (Frankena 1957-71: 384). Girra is encountered in different types of texts throughout thefollowing centuries, most notably incantations (see for example Conti 2000) but also literarycompositions such as Erra and Išum (see Foster 2005: 888-911). The cult of Girra developedwell into Late Babylonian times, see for example the Seleucid ritual SpTU 2, 20: o 9'.

Iconography

Textual evidence indicates that the symbol of Girra is the torch (see for example Šurpû, Tablet IXlines 107-118 in Conti 2000: 128-30). Virtually no iconographic depictions of Girra as personifieddeity have been identified up to date.

Name and Spellings

Written forms:dGIŠ.BAR, dBIL.GI dgi-bil, dgi-ri/dgír-ri, dGIBIL6;

Emesal TT : dmu-bar-raNormalised forms:

Girra, Gira, Giru; Gibil

The name Girra as derived from dGÌR.RA could be a Sumerian rendering of dEr x-ra (Roberts1972: 29, 82). This would suppose a syncretic TT derivation of the former deity from the latter.