Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

NUSKU

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 917 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

NUSKU , the name of the See also:

light and See also:fire-See also:god in Babylonia and See also:Assyria, who is hardly to be distinguished, from a certain See also:time on, from a god Girru—formerly read Gibil. Nusku-Girru is the See also:symbol of the heavenly as well as of the terrestrial fire. As the former he is the son of See also:Anu, the god of See also:heaven, but he is likewise associated with See also:Bel of See also:Nippur as the god of the See also:earth and regarded as his first-See also:born son. A centre of his cult in Assyria was in See also:Harran, where, because of the predominating See also:character of the See also:moon-cult, he is viewed as the son of the moon-god See also:Sin (q.v.). Nusku-Girru is by the See also:side of See also:Ea, the god of See also:water, the See also:great purifier. It is he, therefore, who is called upon to cleanse the sick and suffering from disease, which, superinduced by the demons, was looked upon as a See also:species of impurity affecting the See also:body. The fire-god is also viewed as the See also:patron of the arts and the god of See also:civilization in See also:general, because of the natural association of all human progress with the See also:discovery and use of fire. As among other nations, the fire-god was in the third instance looked upon as the See also:protector of the See also:family. He becomes the mediator between humanity and the gods, since it is through the fire on the See also:altar that the offering is brought into the presence of the gods. While temples and sanctuaries to Nusku-Girru are found in Babylonia and Assyria, he is worshipped more in symbolical See also:form than the other gods. For the very See also:reason that his presence is See also:common and universal he is not localized to the same extent as his See also:fellow-deities, and, while always enumerated in a See also:list of the great gods, his See also:place in the systematized See also:pantheon is more or less vague. The conceptions connected with Nusku are of distinctly popular origin, as is shown by his prominence in incantations, which represent the popular See also:element in the cult, and it is significant that in the astro-theological See also:system of the Babylonian priests Nusku-Girru is not assigned to any particular place in the heavens.

(M.

End of Article: NUSKU

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
NUSHKI 		[next]
NUSRETABAD

Site © 2006 - Net Industries