SEMIMYTHICAL BEAST of the Middle East.
Etymology: Akkadian (Semitic) word, translated
as “dragon.” Plural, sirrushu. The proper
decipherment is now considered to be Mushush
or Musrush (plural, mushushu or musrushu),
“glamorous snake.”
Physical description: Covered with scales.
Head like a snake’s, with folds of skin. Single
vertical horn on its head. Forked tongue. Long,
maned neck. Front legs of a lion. Back legs of an
eagle. Slender tail.
Significant sightings: This DRAGONlike animal
appears on bas-reliefs adorning the Ishtar Gate,
an arch built by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar
II in the sixth century B.C. that became
the chief ceremonial entrance to the city of
Babylon. The king’s inscription reads, in part:
“I placed wild bulls and ferocious dragons in the
gateways and thus adorned them with luxurious
splendor so that people might gaze on them in
wonder.” The wild bulls were probably Aurochs
(Bos primigenius), which survived in Europe
until the seventeenth century. The gate was excavated
in 1902 by Robert Koldewey near Baghdad,
Iraq, and is currently located in the Pergamon
Museum in Berlin. Sirrushu also appear in
other Babylonian works of art and on cylinder
seals dating from as long ago as 2300 B.C.
In the Old Testament apocryphal book Bel
and the Dragon, Nebuchadnezzar II is said to
have kept a living dragon in the Temple of Bel
(from the Aramaic baal, “lord”) in Babylon. It
may be this animal that is depicted on the Ishtar
Gate. The book was written as an addition to
the Book of Daniel in the second century B.C.
Possible explanations:
(1) A depiction of a MOKELE-MBEMBE from
Central Africa or a distorted version based
on travelers’ tales about such a creature. The
extent of Mesopotamian knowledge about
Central Africa in the sixth century B.C. is
unknown. The Babylonians and the
Assyrians before them were not particularly
renowned for their seafaring prowess, but
their conquests and trading ventures put
them into contact with people who were. In
particular, the Egyptians may have had
contact with rain forest cultures as early as
3000 B.C. and were probably the first to
circumnavigate Africa about the same time
that the Ishtar Gate was built.
(2) Robert Koldewey identified the Sirrush
as an iguanodontid dinosaur, a family of
heavily built, bipedal or quadrupedal
herbivores known from the Cretaceous of
Europe and North Africa.
(3) An unknown reptile from the Tigris
marshes, perhaps the AFA, suggested by
Peter Costello.
(4) The Desert monitor (Varanus griseus),
suggested by Burchard Brentjes. This
brownish-yellow lizard grows up to 3–4 feet
long and is found from North Africa to
Pakistan.
(5) An imaginary animal incorporating
certain characteristics of the Cheetah
(Acinonyx jubatus), proposed by Robert
Mertens.