Inshushinak

Inshushinak
Tutelary deity of Susa, god of justice and the underworld
Figure of a smiling god, possibly Inshushinak, from Susa.[1]
Major cult center	Susa
Abode	underworld
Symbol	snake (possibly)
Equivalents
Mesopotamian equivalent	Ninurta

Inshushinak (also Šušinak,^[2] Šušun;^[3] Linear Elamite: Insušinak, Cuneiform: 𒀭𒈹𒂞 ^dInšušinak) was the tutelary god of the city of Susa in Elam. His name has a Sumerian etymology, and can be translated as "lord of Susa". He was associated with kingship, and as a result appears in the names and epithets of multiple Elamite rulers. In Susa he was the main god of the local pantheon, though his status in other parts of Elam might have been different. He was also connected with justice and the underworld. His iconography is uncertain, though it is possible snakes were his symbolic animals. Two Mesopotamian deities incorporated into Elamite tradition, Lagamal and Ishmekarab, were regarded as his assistants. He was chiefly worshiped in Susa, where multiple temples dedicated to him existed. Attestations from other Elamite cities are less common. He is also attested in Mesopotamian sources, where he could be recognized as an underworld deity or as an equivalent of Ninurta. He plays a role in the so-called Susa Funerary Texts, which despite being found in Susa were written in Akkadian and might contain instructions for the dead arriving in the underworld.