mušḫuššu

{{short description|Dragon-like creature from Mesopotamian mythology}}

{{Infobox mythical creature

|name = Mušḫuššu
{{cuneiform|𒈲𒍽}}

|image = Mušḫuššu on a vase of Gudea, circa 2100 BCE.jpg

|caption = Mušḫuššu holding a gate post on a vase of Gudea {{circa|2100}} BCE. Louvre Museum{{cite book|last1=Wiggermann|first1=F. A. M.|title=Mesopotamian Protective Spirits: The Ritual Texts|date=1992|publisher=Brill Publishers|isbn=978-90-72371-52-2|page=156|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xYX64ZkwkMIC&pg=PA156|language=en}}

|Grouping = Mythological hybrid

|AKA = Sirrush

|Folklore = Babylonian mythology

|Region = Mesopotamia

}}

File:Sirrush.jpg in the Pergamon Museum]]

The mušḫuššu ({{lang|sux|{{cuneiform|𒈲𒍽}}}}; formerly also read as {{lang|sux-Latn|sirrušu}} or {{lang|sux-Latn|sirrush}}) or mushkhushshu ({{IPA|akk|muʃˈχuʃ.ʃum}}) is a creature from ancient Mesopotamian mythology. A mythological hybrid, it is a scaly animal with hind legs resembling the talons of an eagle, lion-like forelimbs, a long neck and tail, two horns on its head, a snake-like tongue, and a crest. The {{lang|akk-Latn|mušḫuššu}} most famously appears on the Ishtar Gate of the city of Babylon, dating to the sixth century BCE.

The form {{lang|akk-Latn|mušḫuššu}} is the Akkadian nominative of {{langx|sux|{{cuneiform|𒈲𒍽}} MUŠ.ḪUŠ}}, 'reddish snake', sometimes also translated as 'fierce snake'.{{cite web|url=http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?searchword=l=muc-huc%20p=N%20a=type@of@serpent&charenc=gcirc&sortorder=textno|title=The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature|publisher=The ETCSL project, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford|date=2006-12-19|access-date=2014-08-25}} One author,{{cite book|last1=Costello|first1=Peter|title=In Search of Lake Monsters|url=https://archive.org/details/insearchoflakemo00cost|via=Internet Archive|publisher=Coward, McCann & Geoghegan|url-access=registration|date=1974|isbn=9780698106130}} possibly following others, translates it as 'splendour serpent' ({{lang|sux|{{cuneiform|𒈲}} MUŠ}} is the Sumerian term for 'serpent'). The older reading {{lang|sux-Latn|sir-ruššu}} is due to a mistransliteration of the cuneiform in early Assyriology{{cite book|editor-last1=Oppenheim|editor-first1=A. Leo|editor-last2=Reiner|editor-first2=Erica|year=1977|title=The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago|publisher=University of Chicago Oriental Institute|location=Chicago, IL|url=https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/cad_m2.pdf|volume=10: M, Part II|page=270|isbn=0-918986-16-8}} and was often used as a placeholder before the actual reading was discovered.{{Cite book |last=Ceram |first=C. W. |title=Gods, Graves, and Scholars: The Story of Archaeology |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |year=1967 |edition=2nd |location=New York |pages=294 |translator-last=Garside |translator-first=E. B. |author-link=C. W. Ceram |translator-last2=Wilkins |translator-first2=Sophie}}