Ishum

Ishum (Išum; possibly the masculine form of Akkadian išātum, "fire") was a Mesopotamian god of Akkadian origin. He is best attested as a divine night watchman, tasked with protecting houses at night, but he was also associated with various underworld deities, especially Nergal (or Erra) and Shubula. He was associated with fire, but was not exclusively a fire god unlike Gibil. While he was not considered to be one of the major gods, he was commonly worshiped and appears in many theophoric names. In bilingual texts he could be associated with Sumerian Hendursaga, but this equation is only attested for the first time in the Old Babylonian period, and the rationale behind it remains uncertain. Both of those gods could be regarded as the husband of the goddess Ninmug, though she was primarily associated with Ishum and only secondarily with Hendursaga.

==Character== Ishum has been characterized as a "benevolent fire-god". It has been proposed that his name was related to the Akkadian word išātum, "fire", cognates of which are present in multiple Semitic languages, both extinct and extant. Andrew R. George proposes that his name was simply the masculine form of išātum. However, there is no clear evidence that he was exclusively a fire god like Gibil (Girra). A possible reference to Ishum as a fire god is present in the Epic of Erra, where he is called a "firebrand" (diparu). He was frequently described as a divine night watchman. Many of his epithets refer to this role, including "Herald (nimgir) of the Street," "Headman of the Street," "Hero who Goes about at Night," "Minister (sukkal) of the Night," "Herald of the Night, Lord of the Street." He could be worshiped as a protective god of the household. However, as noted by Andrew R. George, he should be differentiated from gods of the household in the proper sense, as he was believed to protect houses from without by patrolling the streets at night, not from within.