A minor Babylonian sun-god whose cult was ultimately absorbed by that of SHAMASH, he is one of the most ancient of Babylonian deities. He appears in inscriptions at Shirgulla (formerly Lagash) as NIN-GIRSU or ‘Lord of Girsu’, an area of the city, and is repeatedly designated as the son of BEL or EN-LU of Nippur, whose rulers administered Shirgulla for a time. Ninib has two conflicting attributes: he is the healing god who banishes demons, but he is also the god of war and the chase, armed with awesome weapons. There is some evidence that these two attributes represent different phases of the sun-year, possibly spring (healing) and high summer (destruction) and Ninib may have accumulated them by subsuming qualities of even earlier deities. There’s more confusion, because the contemporary sun-god NERGAL is also seen as the god of the summer solstice. Perhaps we should attribute the vernal sun to NINIB, and leave Nergal in charge of midsummer. Ninib’s astrological planet is Saturn and his sacred animal the pig. His consort is GULA
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