Shullat and Hanish

Names

Shullat's name appears in cuneiform with several spellings, such as dśu-ul-la-at and dšu-ul-la-at, while Hanish's name is always written dḫa-ni-iš. Shullat could also be represented by the logogram dPA, and Hanish by dLUGAL. Ignace Gelb thought their names came from Akkadian words for despoilment and submission, but Dietz Otto Edzard and Wilfred G. Lambert noted that, though a Semitic origin is certain, the exact meanings are unknown and ancient guesswork cannot be dismissed. Daniel Schwemer later found that no fully convincing etymology for either name has been proposed.

Character

In most known sources, Shullat and Hanish appear as a pair. Douglas Frayne proposed they should be understood as a single deity with a compound name, similar to Ugaritic Kothar-wa-Khasis, but references in an inscription of Shulgi are grammatically singular, and the view that they were a single deity is otherwise not accepted. The god list An = Anum calls them šena-ilān(a), meaning two gods or twin gods. Paul-Alain Beaulieu considered them among deities who entered the Mesopotamian pantheon early in the period of interaction between Sumerian and Akkadian speakers, noting they were not identified with any Sumerian deities but entered as minor deities.

They are assumed to be minor weather deities; Andrew R. George proposed identifying them as personifications of gale, though Daniel Schwemer noted no known sources support Hanish being an independent weather deity. Both were described as warlike and destructive. An omen text mentions the pair marching alongside troops on campaign. George described them as twin agents of destruction.

They may have been associated with Ishkur/Adad, but the extent is uncertain. In a Šurpu passage, they occur near Adad and alongside his children Misharu and Uṣur-amāssu. In astrological texts and An = Anum, Shullat could be identified with Shamash and Hanish with Adad, but elsewhere, such as in the Epic of Gilgamesh, they are treated as separate deities. Twin stars associated with them might correspond to Mu Centauri and Nu Centauri.

Worship

The cult center of Shullat and Hanish is presently unknown. The oldest attestations are theophoric names from the Sargonic period; one name invoking Hanish is known from Adab. They may have been worshiped as personal or family gods. In the Ur III period, king Shulgi of Ur built a temple of Shullat and Hanish, but neither its name nor location are known.

Offerings to them are attested in documents from Umma and Puzrish-Dagan. An individual named Nūr-ilišu built a shrine dedicated to them in Sippar, and they had a priest in that city in the Old Babylonian period. An oath formula from Sippar mentions them: I swear by Umu, by Shamash, by Ishtar, by Ilaba and Annunitum, by the warriors Shullat and Hanish, this is not lies, it is true. They often appear together in Old Babylonian cylinder seal inscriptions.

A taboo of Shullat and Hanish is mentioned in an inscription of the Kassite ruler Agum Kakrime: The one who knows shall show only the one who knows, the one who does not know shall not see. The taboo of Shullat and Hanish: Shamash and Adad, the lords of divination. Another taboo from an oracular text states: The blind, the gap-toothed or the finger amputee shall not approach the place of divinatory decision – this is the taboo Šullat and Ḫaniš. A late syncretic hymn to Ninurta compares his upper back to Hanish, characterized as a deity who establishes plenty and rains down abundance, and his chest to Shullat, whose description is not preserved.

Literature

Shullat and Hanish appear in the Epic of Gilgamesh during the flood narrative. They might be the same figures as the throne bearers of the storm god Adad, though Daniel Schwemer notes this identification is not certain due to sparse evidence. Andrew R. George, however, believes both passages refer to this pair and suggests they could be the personification of the gale, serving as Adad’s vanguard. They also show up in Atrahasis, where they help cause destruction leading to the flood, alongside Errakal and Ninurta.

An Old Babylonian copy of the Adapa myth from Tell Haddad mentions them, but the text is broken. In the Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin, Shullat and Hanish are listed with Ishtar, Zababa, Ilaba, Annunitum, and Shamash as deities the king consults through extispicy. Another legend says Sargon swore an oath of brotherhood with Kish by a similar group of gods. In the Epic of Erra, a ruined area of vegetation is likened to woodland that Hanish had passed through.