#enmesharra

[ace-of-anunnaki]

Final day: Enmesharra The Calamity King

Enmesharra was among the ancestors of Enlil, an older generation of gods, and appears in myths commonly as an antagonistic figure. In one he contends with Marduk (With Nergal as a jailer) in another with Enlil. In some of these he is killed (put to the sword or burned) but in one, his children the Sebbitti (2and to bottom panel) are beheaded in his place, and he escapes. I like the idea that he represents a sort of “primordial chaos” that contends with Enlil’s order.

He is described as having a “spleandor”/radiance which is taken from him and given to Shamash in one of his executions. (Bottom panel)

A lot of my characterization of him comes from a game of DND that me and some of my friends played, where he was a flayed man in a gold suit as a result of his execution.

[lostpeace]

Enmesharra, Enlil’s evil uncle.

[ace-of-anunnaki]

Enmesharra Sketches

Content Warning: Gore (minor) on the last two sketches

I was hoping to upload this yesterday (friday the 13th) but I wanted to color a few of these.

Enmesharra is Enlil's uncle, an antagonistic force in the myths, father of the Sebitti in some traditions. He could have possibly represented cosmic chaos before Enlil came to power. @yamayuandadu did a great article on him a while back, and also made contributions to his English Wikipedia page which has lots of good info if you want to learn more. I want to do a piece on him, but for the life of me I cannot settle on a design. I haven't posted any sketches on here yet, but I wanted to share some of my ideas:

Enmesharra as Human looking god who may or may not be green

In my designs of Enmesharra where he is human-looking, there isn't much consistency. Sometimes I draw him as tall and skinny, other times as buff. In one sketch I gave him a mask that looks a bit like a Humbaba head. Usually his robe is supposed to be based off of the robes of kings in relief, since he was theorized at some point to be an embodiment of kingship. The only consistent sketches of this version of him is that he has really big hair and gold teeth. (he has a thing for gold apparently)

I like the idea of his body being luminous (like a star) since his attested children the Sebitti are anthropomorphized versions of the Pleiades, and him glowing green/commanding green fire.

Enmesharra as Horrifying Flayed Man

A while ago me and a couple friends payed a Dungeons and Dragons game set in and around Babylon where Enmesharra was the main antagonist, out for revenge after the gods put him and his sons to death. His backstory taken mostly from the myth Enmesharra's Defeat where the god is captured, held in prison by Nergal, and is taken to Marduk's palace and deprived of his "splendor" which is then given to Shamash. Him and his sons are executed in the myth, but I went off the cuff a bit - after his execution by Marduk which in my version involved him being burned and flayed, he (unfortunately) survived, and his followers built him a suit made from gold, leather, and tamarisk wood that allowed him to live on.

Cannot decide if I want gods to have "Gold blood" or bleed red like humans.

He wears a mask similar to the "Babylonian Cyclops" plaque, which was theorized as a possible depiction of him, though I favor that it instead depicts some other monster. Nonetheless I am into the idea wearing a mask resembling this creature.

(The god in this is sometimes identified as Shamash, but is probably Nergal)

Sometimes he wears red, sometimes black, I just can't pick one! I don't get replies very often, but I would like to know which out of these people like the most! I'm super indecisive on his design and I want to make that piece.

[lostpeace]

In one account of the ancient Mesopotamian creation myth, Enlil had to fight his evil uncle Enmesharra, the previous ruler of the cosmos.

Enmesharra has also been associated with carvings of a sun-headed cyclops, though that may or may not actually be him.

[lostpeace]

Enmesharra, a malevolent primordial god of Mesopotamian mythology. 

He was in possession of all divine authority over the cosmos, until he was dethroned by his nephew Enlil.

[enmesarra-love]

Enmešarra the Splendour

I’m a humble amateur student of ancient middle eastern (Sumerian, Hittie, Ugaritic, Syrian etc.) mythology and history. I like to draw my impressions of deities based upon the texts I read, especially those that do not have any surviving depictions and mostly those who are very obscure.

As such I have been loving to death the An Anum God list  (and you may look through it yourself though you might want to consult an online source for it such as the one found at http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu. Sadly there is no completely easily available online treatment of the An Anum and thus it may be a bit hard to get into. In essence it is a God list cataloguing many of the thousands of deities on record in ancient Assyria and Mesopotamia as a whole, consisting of a total of 7 tablets.

Another great source for obscurity is the text K252, which I have been going over for some time, which is an Assyrian Temple and Altar list, showcasing many obscure deities, or even foreign deities granted an altar in Assyria, one of the most surprising appearance among them being the Zoroastrian Ahura Mazda, listed in Col. IX of K252 “As-sa-ra-Ma-za-áš“

As for my name, it is derived from Enmešarra “The Splendour”, Uncle or Ancestor of Enlil who attempted to acquire kingship and who was the father of seven sons who, from my lay perspective, may be identical with the Sebitti, or Seven, that are known to ravage the land alongside Nergal in the Myth of Erra and Ishum.

In the appropriate text called “Enmešarra’s Defeat”, there is the following evocative passage where Enmešarra is told of the doom that is to befall him for rebellion at the hands of Marduk, that made me adopt the name:

"When Enmešarra heard this "He cried "Alas" and his heart burnt. "He opened his mouth and spoke a word, " "Bēl is terrible that I, a god, should not live; "His judgements are terrible that my fledglings should not live."

"Nergal opened his mouth "Addressing a word to Enmešarra, the Splendour, "From the beginning, "From the very beginning, "This has been your answer, Enmešarra."