About this deity
Asag was a monstrous demon in the Sumerian tradition.
Also known as
Parent belief system
Sumerian Religion · Polytheistic · 7 mythsSumerian religion refers to spiritual beliefs practiced from ca. 4500-1900 BCE in Mesopotamia, or modern-day southern Iraq. Many deities were diffused into other Mesopotamian cultures.
Top myths
Background
According to Jeremy Black:
"In the Sumerian poem Lugale, the Asag is a
monstrous demon who is defeated by the god
Ninurta/Ningirsu (in another version by
Adad (Iskur)). The Asag was hideously repulsive
in appearance and his power caused
fish to boil alive in the rivers. He was born from
the mating of An and Ki, and the Asag himself
mated with the kur (mountains) to produce
offspring. He was accompanied by an army of
stone allies (the stones of the mountains). On
one level the defeat of Ninurta in this myth of
the Asag and the stones expresses the unease
felt by the inhabitants of the Mesopotamian
plain about the inhabitants of the Zagros
mountains." [1]
It seems clear that the deity as not pleasant to encounter.
Cite this page
OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. "Asag." OMNIKA – World Mythology Index, OMNIKA Foundation, 21 Jun. 2020, omnika.org/stable/691. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.
OMNIKA (2020, June 21). Asag. Retrieved from https://omnika.org/stable/691
OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. "Asag." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation. Created June 21, 2020. Accessed November 21, 2024. https://omnika.org/stable/691.
