Ninurta

/ni noor"tah/, n.

a Sumerian and Babylonian hero god.

* * *

In Mesopotamian religion, the city god of Girsu.

The son of Enlil and Ninlil, he was the god of thunder and of the spring rains and floods as well as the god of the plow. His original name was Imdugud ("Raincloud"), and his earliest form was that of the thundercloud represented as an enormous black bird roaring its thunder cry from a lion's head. Eventually Ninurta was given human form, and his original shape was assigned to his ancient enemy. His festival marked the beginning of the plowing season.

* * *

▪ Sumerian deity

also called  Ningirsu 

      in Mesopotamian religion, city god of Girsu (Ṭalʿah, or Telloh) in the Lagash region. Ninurta was the farmer's version of the god of the thunder and rainstorms of the spring. He was also the power in the floods of spring and was god of the plow and of plowing. Ninurta's earliest name was Imdugud (now also read as Anzu), which means “Rain Cloud,” and his earliest form was that of the thundercloud envisaged as an enormous black bird floating on outstretched wings roaring its thunder cry from a lion's head. With the growing tendency toward anthropomorphism, the old form and name were gradually disassociated from the god as merely his emblems; enmity toward the older unacceptable shape eventually made it evil, an ancient enemy of the god.

      Ninurta was the son of Enlil (Ea) and Ninlil (Belit (Ninlil)) and was married to Bau, in Nippur called Ninnibru, Queen of Nippur. A major festival of his, the Gudsisu Festival, marked in Nippur the beginning of the plowing season.

* * *