Idlurugu (Sumerian: i7-lú-ru-gú, also read Ilurugu[1]) or Id (dÍD)[2] was a Mesopotamian god regarded as both a river deity and a divine judge.
For example, Irḫan represented the western branch of the Euphrates[13] while Ḫabūrītum, worshiped in the court of the Third Dynasty of Ur (though likely originally from Sikani), is assumed to be a personification of the Khabur.
[2] It was utilized when no written or oral evidence was available, which according to ancient Mesopotamian jurisprudence meant that the case had to be resolved through the authority of a deity.
[19] The procedure was not necessarily meant to result in death, for example in Nuzi it was customary to make sure the person undertaking it survived, [19] While many references to people dying or expecting to die during it are known from Mari from the Old Babylonian period, a neo-Babylonian literary text indicates that by this time death during the trial was regarded as unusual.
[4] The authority responsible for initiating the procedure seemingly varies between sources, with kings, judges, priests, governors or simply the litigants themselves all being mentioned in various documents.
[4] Idlurugu was the main god associated with the procedure, but other deities could be invoked in relation to it, for example Enki (or his Akkadian counterpart Ea), as well as his wife Damkina and their son Asalluhi.
[21] The cult center of Idlurugu, as well as a location where the trial by water could be undertaken, was Id (modern Hit) on the Euphrates.
[18] There are known instances of individuals from as far west as Emar and as far east as Elam arriving there to undergo the trial, in addition to inhabitants of Mari and northern Mesopotamia.
Charpin suggests that this message should be set within the context of the negotiations with Hammurabi of Babylon about who would control the city of Hit (with the sukkalmah of Elam as mediator).
[29] In a late double column copy of the Weidner god list, Id and Kiša are explained as Ea and Damkina.
[29] The son of Idlurugu and Kiša was the god Šazi,[30] who was responsible for judging the person undergoing the river ordeal in sources from Elam.
[35] A fragment of a myth known from a copy from Ebla mentions a divine tribunal in which Idlurugu (dÍD) takes part alongside the sun god Shamash and Ištaran.
[38] In the Hymn to Nungal, an allusion is made to her sukkal, Nindimgul ("lady mooring pole") saving a participant in the ordeal because he submits to the judgment.
[6] In laments, Idlurugu could appear alongside Enki, Damkina, as well as Amurru, in this case apparently considered to be a god associated with Eridu.
[39] Whether a connection existed between Idlurugu and ṯpṭ nhr, an epithet of the Ugaritic sea god Yam which can be translated as "Judge River," is unclear.
[7] The first word, ṯpṭ, is a cognate of Hebrew shophet[40] and Akkadian šāpaṭu(m), whose meaning can be more accurately translated as "to give decrees.
[42] However, according to Aicha Rahmouni it can be safely assumed that this epithet reflects a similar role of Yam as that played by Idlurugu in Mesopotamia.