5 sections of this entry are open to everyone: the summary, the people, the symbols, the lineage and the sources. The other 9 (Name and epithets, In the ancient sources, The myths, Worship and archaeology, How the god was depicted, What scholars debate, After antiquity, Did you know?, Codex relic) are part of the full Codex: PRO opens the whole study of all 500 deities, and without a subscription you can read one full entry a day, just like in the app.
The Mesopotamian gods were worshipped by the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians in the land between the Tigris and Euphrates, the cradle of writing and cities. Each city raised a ziggurat to its patron god, served by a powerful priestly caste. Their myths, such as the Enuma Elish and the Epic of Gilgamesh, are among the oldest in the world.
The Akitu festival opened the new year with processions along Babylon's Sacred Way, and the sacred marriage rite symbolically united Inanna and Dumuzi to ensure fertility. Lamentations, hymns, and divination by animal livers marked daily religious life.
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At a glance
Anzu, also written Anzû or Anzud (Sumerian dIm-dugud, 𒀭𒅎𒂂), is a monstrous bird of Mesopotamian religion, pictured as an eagle with a lion's head and tied to storms and thunderclouds. In third-millennium BCE art it appears as the emblem of Ningirsu, the god of Lagash: the Vase of Enmetena, now in the Louvre (AO 2674), carries four lion-headed eagles gripping lions, ibexes and deer, and the large copper relief from Tell al-'Ubaid shows the same figure holding two deer. The Sumerian texts give it different roles. In the poem Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird, the bird with shark's teeth and an eagle's claws makes the mountains quake, yet it rewards the hero's hospitality with the gift of speed. In the prologue of Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld, Anzud raises its young in the branches of Inana's halub tree and flees to the mountains when Gilgamesh kills the snake at the roots. In the Cylinders of Gudea, Ningirsu's temple E-ninnu is called the white Anzud bird. In the Akkadian narrative known as the Myth of Anzu (the Standard Babylonian version of the first millennium BCE and the Old Babylonian version from Susa), Anzu is set by Enlil to guard the chamber where the god bathes, steals the Tablet of Destinies and paralyzes the gods, until Ninurta (Ningirsu in the Old Babylonian version) defeats him after cutting off the feathers of his wings. This study keeps those traditions apart, because they do not tell the same story and should not be merged into a single myth. ETCSL 1.8.2.2 also says Lugalbanda feeds the Anzud chick honey cakes and meat, tends its nest, and paints its eyes with kohl; Anzud later grants him stamina and strength for his journey.
21 min read · Reviewed on October 14, 2026 · How we research
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Sacred symbols
The giant bird, the lion head, the storm and the Tablets of Destiny
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Family
Parents
According to Ea in the Myth of Anzu, Anzu was begotten by the water of the flood, holy water of the gods of the Apsu, conceived by broad Earth and born from mountain rocks; Wikipedia also records the tradition that makes him a son of Siris
Anzu
Unions
Anzud's wife, mentioned in the Lugalbanda poem
Children
Anzud's chick, fed and adorned by Lugalbanda
Genealogy according to Myth of Anzu (trans. Dalley), Tablet I; Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird (ETCSL 1.8.2.2); English Wikipedia, Anzû
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Sources and further reading
Primary sources
Dalley, Stephanie (trans.), Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others, Oxford University Press (text read at Gateways to Babylon). read
Black, Jeremy A.; Cunningham, Graham; Robson, Eleanor; Zólyomi, Gábor, The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL c.1.8.2.2), University of Oxford. read
Black, Jeremy A.; Cunningham, Graham; Robson, Eleanor; Zólyomi, Gábor, The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL c.1.6.2), University of Oxford. read
Black, Jeremy A.; Cunningham, Graham; Robson, Eleanor; Zólyomi, Gábor, The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL c.1.8.1.4), University of Oxford. read
Black, Jeremy A.; Cunningham, Graham; Robson, Eleanor; Zólyomi, Gábor, The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL c.2.1.7), University of Oxford. read
Musée du Louvre, Département des Antiquités orientales, AO 2674. read
Wikipedia contributors, Tell al-'Ubaid. 2026. open
Name and epithets
The Sumerian name is written dIM.DUGUD, with the bird determinative MUŠEN. IM means wind and DUGUD means heavy; the English Wikipedia article on Anzû glosses imdugud as "heavy wind." In the oldest Sumerian texts the nam…
In the ancient sources
Myth of Anzu, Standard Babylonian version (Epic of Anzu), First millennium BCE (Standard Babylonian version, according to Dalley).
The myths
The theft of the Tablet of Destinies in the Myth of Anzu. The Standard Babylonian Myth of Anzu, read here in Stephanie Dalley's translation, opens with praise of Ninurta, son of Enlil, who "conquered soaring Anzu with h…
Worship and archaeology
The sources opened for this review record no temple or priesthood devoted exclusively to Imdugud. What they show is the bird tied to the cult of Ningirsu, god of Lagash.
How the god was depicted
The basic form is a lion-headed eagle seen from the front, gripping an animal in each claw. The Wikipedia article on Anzû shows an alabaster votive relief of Ur-Nanshe, king of Lagash, found at Girsu and dated to about…
What scholars debate
From emblem of Lagash to thief of the Tablet of Destinies. The texts show the bird in two roles. In the art and texts of third-millennium Lagash, Imdugud is Ningirsu's emblem and gives its name to his temple.
After antiquity
The modern reception of Anzu begins with the rediscovery of the images and texts. Austen Henry Layard's 1853 engraving showing Ninurta pursuing Anzû belongs to the Second Series of Monuments of Nineveh and is reproduced…
Did you know?
When Ninurta's arrow is shot, Anzu makes it fall apart with a four-part command: the arrow returns to the reed thicket, the bow to the copse, the string to the ram's gut and the feathers to the birds.
Codex relic
Stolen Tablets of Destiny. The Tablets of Destiny he snatched from Enlil, granting him for a time power over the cosmos.
The rest of this scroll is sealed
The legends, the myth, the cult and relics are part of the full Codex. You can open 1 full entry for free every day; to open all 500 deities with no limits and no ads, subscribe to Codex PRO.
