Asalluhi, also spelled as Asarluhi or Asalluhe, also known as Asaralimnuna, Asaralim, Asalim or Asarnuna was a Mesopotamian god primarily associated with the sphere of incantations and exorcism, commonly operating together with his father Enki.
[1] Johandi offers two suggestions, that asar(re) could be a-sar-(re(d)) "swift seed" or a-ari-sar "water impregnating the field plots.
[1] However, the spelling Asalluhi appeared in an incantation against the demon Samana which Finkel dated to the Old Akkadian period.
"[3] The Nippur god list from the Old Babylonian period gives Asalluhi another name called Asarag, which could possibly be translated as "the good Asar."
[12] Earlier incantations had Asalluhi send a messenger to Enki to seek support, but starting in the Ur III period Asalluhi started to occasionally directly seek out Enki in his temple to ask for support, possibly emphasizing the mediating role of temples instead of messengers.
[13] The general structure of the Asalluhi-Enki dialogues starts with Asalluhi noticing a problem and reporting to his father Enki.
[14] Geller argued that during the Old Babylonian period the incantation priest would assume the role of Asalluhi, who would be acting as the messenger for Enki.
In the Sumerian Temple Hymns, Asalluhi is described with more aggressive characteristics, listing epithets like "the strong prince", "the hero", and was even described as a leopard and a storm.
[35] Asalluhi was also said to have granted wisdom to Mesopotamian kings in a couple texts, taking over the role usually reserved for Enki.
[37] In contrast to his usual portrayal as a deity benevolent to humans, some texts, namely Sin-Iddinam's prayer to Ninisina and another Old Babylonian letter relate Asalluhi to plagues.
Oshima believes that Marduk was the god related to disease and sickness and Sin-iddinam's prayer is suggestive of Marduk's possible original role before the identification with Asalluhi,[38] but Johandi disagrees and suggests that Asalluhi may have had a similar role prior to the identification with Marduk as the letter was dated quite early (reign of Sumu-abum), although evidence for Asalluhi's role in human sickness is scarce.
[23] Although previously it was believed that the earliest attested father-son relationship between Enki and Asalluhi dated to the Ur III period, Johandi noted that the relationship between Asar and Enki dated back the Early Dynastic Period.
[53] However, in the Old Babylonian period the syncretism was not yet complete, as one incantation text mentions Marduk and Asalluhi separately and occupying different roles, with Marduk capturing the victim either because of powerlessness or he refused to help,[54] and Asalluhi reporting to Enki and securing a treatment for the victim.
[65] Asalluhi sometimes appears together with Utu in incantation texts, which Johandi interprets as possibly due to influence from syncretism with Marduk,[66] although the sun god was already noted to appear in incantations in connection with deities related to water, including Enki.
[70] Asalluhi appears often with the circle of Enki in offering lists from Nippur and Umma in the Ur III period.
[33] He appears in offering lists from Larsa, Ur and Nippur in the Old Babylonian period, also together with the circle of Enki.
[73] In texts outside of incantations, Asalluhi appears after Enki and Damgalnuna, forming a triad attested since the Ur III period.