by iakul

Created on: August 19, 2010   Last Updated: August 20, 2010

The Hurrians, also known as Khurrites, were a nation which occupied the areas of what we now call Syria, Turkey and Iraq around 2500 BC. In Hurrian mythology, Ullikummi was a giant stone monster conceived with a purpose in mind, to help the god Kumarbi overthrow the god Teshub.

The gods attempting to overthrow one another was quite common in Hurrian mythology. The first ruler had been Alalu, who was deposed by his son, Anu, who was in turn deposed by his son, Kumarbi, who, true to tradition, was deposed by his son Teshub, the storm-god.

In this instance though, it wasn't the son deposing the father, but the father attempting to claim back his throne. According to The Song of Ullikummi, Kumarbi had intercourse with a rock, and from it was birthed his son, a being whose body was composed of diorite, which he named Ullikummi. In another variant of the story, the mother of Ullikummi was the daughter of the sea god.

Ullikummi was placed on the right shoulder of Upelluri, the sleeping giant who carried the world on his shoulders while he slumbered.   He grew at an amazing pace, gaining one cubit in a single day and increasing by an acre in the span of a month.

Finally, Ullikummi grew to such a height that he reached the dwelling of the gods in heaven. Sumegi, the sun god was the first to notice, and he fled in alarm to Teshub to warn him. Teshub went into battle against Ullikummi, but failed to do any harm to him. Defeated, Teshub was forced to abdicate.

Teshub then sought help from Ea, the god of water and creation. Ea first consulted with Elil, the god of wind, who had seen Ullikummi when he was still a child. Ea then went to the giant, Upelluri.

So self-absorbed was Upelluri that while he complained that his right shoulder was hurting, he professed that he did not know the cause of it. Looking upon Upellui's right shoulder, Ea found the feet of Ullikummi. Upelluri had also mentioned the cosmic cutter to Ea, a copper saw which had been used to cut heaven and earth apart, and after a search for it, Ea returned with the copper saw to cut down Ullikummi's feet, destroying the stone-being's power.

Here, the end of the story has been lost to us, but it is presumed that the gods prevailed against Ullikummi in their subsequent fight.

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