entities: ENT_ELAM_NAPIRISHA

The core table — every entity in the database, spanning gods, angels, demons, aeons, prophets, saints, heroes, spirits, monsters, personified abstractions, cosmological realms, and ritual categories. Use category to filter by functional type (146 values: Underworld Deity, Hero, Adversarial Being, Revealer Figure, etc.). Use tradition to filter by tradition. The short_note column contains a scholarly description with source citations.

This data as json

entity_id canonical_name greek_name tradition entity_type category primary_domains tags cult_scope primary_period evidence_confidence review_status inclusion_basis earth_association_score chthonic_flag serpent_flag short_note entity_class
ENT_ELAM_NAPIRISHA Napirisha   Elamite great god / water deity High Deity divine supremacy; life-giving water; healing; Anshan; cosmic order; Middle Elamite kingship       A           Napirisha ("the Great God," Elamite: nap = god, irisha/rīša = great) is the supreme divine figure of the Middle Elamite period (c. 1600-1100 BCE), rising to theological prominence under the Untash-Napirisha dynasty whose very name means "devoted to Napirisha." He is the patron deity of the highland region of Anshan (modern Fars province, SW Iran) and represents the highland Elamite theological tradition in contrast to the lowland Susian tradition centered on Inshushinak. His most tangible monument is the ziggurat city of Dur-Untash (modern Chogha Zanbil, c. 1250 BCE) — the best-preserved ancient ziggurat, a UNESCO World Heritage Site — built by Untash-Napirisha to honor both Napirisha and Inshushinak in a deliberate unification of highland and lowland Elamite divine traditions. His divine domains are centered on life-giving water and healing: he is associated with the waters that sustain life, paralleling the role of Enki/Ea in Mesopotamian theology (wisdom-through-water, the life-principle carried by water). The most famous representation of Napirisha is a bronze statue (c. 1340 BCE, excavated at Susa, now in the Louvre, inv. Sb 2731) — a seated figure in royal garb with hands clasped in the posture of divine service, one of the finest examples of Elamite metalwork. He was paired with Kiririsha as his divine consort in the Chogha Zanbil theology. Potts (1999) pp. 234-260; Carter & Stolper (1984) pp. 44-55. deity

Links from other tables